Levi's Pentagram
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Here is a large pic of the Levi's pentagram:
*(http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9992/600pxpentagram28levi29ak3.jpg)It would be interesting to know more about the various symbols used on the pentagram and the hebrew name meaning. Good links are appreciated.
The most interesting thing would be why Tetragrammaton is symbolised as
TE TRA (Cup) GRAM (Wand) MA (Sword) TON (Disk)? Now we all know Crowley's IHVH Fire Water Air Earth and Bardon's Fire Air Water Earth BUT Levi's Air Water Fire Earth? -
@Modes said
"It would be interesting to know more about the various symbols used on the pentagram and the hebrew name meaning."
The main glyphs are simply stylized variations of the seven planets.
The central ensign is a variation of the Mercury glyph. In fact, it's a glyph for Azoth. It is then consolidated with the glyph for Venus beneath it. Additionally, at their base is the Caduceus. This center ligature has the Alpha above it (fitting into the hollow of the top point of the pentagram, and perhaps also starting the line of thought that the pentagram is also a Pentalpha), and the Omega beneath it reversed (reflected downward) - so it is the point between Alpha and Omega (as Azoth subsumes the Alpha and Omega).
The lower two arms are Saturn, the two horizontal arms Mars, Jupiter is at the top, Sun and Moon are on either side of Mercury-Venus. (There is some stylization that is partly artistic, partly likely symbolic - for example, the squares in the Mars glyph likely had a meaning for Levi, such as the grounding of the iron force, or some aspect of the squaring of the circle.)
The Hebrew has errors - which is part of what makes it obscure. For example, ADM (Adam) uses a medial rather than final Mem. On the Air arm, the Hebrew appears to be HVTh (or even HVCh?), but that doesn't make any sense to me (I'm doing all this off the top of my head, in case that wasn't obvious), so there might be a drafting error. What I would expect there is HVA to complement ADM, but that's not what shows.
"The most interesting thing would be why Tetragrammaton is symbolised as TE TRA (Cup) GRAM (Wand) MA (Sword) TON (Disk)?"
I really think that's just artistic stylization. There are five syllables and five spaces, and he drew them in a clockwise circle (going out of his way to note 2 and 3 letters for the first two syllables). The implements, as well, may be only artistic stylization. Three of them (counting nothing, i.e., space, for Spirit) are adjacent to the right points, two aren't. Of course, the Air Fire Water Earth sequence he displayed is the normal Microcosmic distribution of the Elements.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The central ensign is a variation of the Mercury glyph. In fact, it's a glyph for Azoth. "
How does the glyph for Azoth differ from the normal Mercury glyph?
Dan
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@ar said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The central ensign is a variation of the Mercury glyph. In fact, it's a glyph for Azoth. "How does the glyph for Azoth differ from the normal Mercury glyph?"
There are different variants. Skim through a collection of alchemical paintings and you'll see some of them. (The most common characteristic is that it is paired by, and often flanked by, the Sun and Moon.)
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@Jim Eshelman said
"On the Air arm, the Hebrew appears to be HVTh (or even HVCh?), but that doesn't make any sense to me[...]What I would expect there is HVA to complement ADM, but that's not what shows."
It is a mis-rendering of ChVH.
616
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@KRVB MMShCh said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"On the Air arm, the Hebrew appears to be HVTh (or even HVCh?), but that doesn't make any sense to me"It is a mis-rendering of ChVH, 'Eve'."
Dang, you're right! Each is spelled from the outside in rather than from right to left.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The Hebrew has errors - which is part of what makes it obscure. For example, ADM (Adam) uses a medial rather than final Mem. On the Air arm, the Hebrew appears to be HVTh (or even HVCh?), but that doesn't make any sense to me (I'm doing all this off the top of my head, in case that wasn't obvious), so there might be a drafting error. What I would expect there is HVA to complement ADM, but that's not what shows."
What about the words on the other lines of the pentagram?
L.Lazuli
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I really think that's just artistic stylization."
Researching Levi's pentagram I have found out that Tibetan Bon uses the same elements in the same order as Levi i.e. (Te and the colour white) Spirit, (Tra & blue) Water, (Gram & red) Fire, (Ma & green) Air, (Ton & yellow) Earth = IHVH. See here the Bon emblem:
img219.imageshack.us/img219/1700/yungdrungbon.jpgNow in The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep - Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche teaches that one should go backwards in visualizing the elements i.e. Earth - East, Air- North, Fire - West, Water - South - THAT is HVHI. Let's look at liber 777 Table V CXL - HVHI = 18 path named Chet which corresponds according to Levi:
@Levi said
" CHETH. – To find the Philosophical Stone. "
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Now it is known that this practice in Bon aims at creating the Rainbow body or in Crowley's terms the Body of Light.
Now we know that Crowley uses HVHI in Star Ruby and anti-clockwise (as Bon does also) with different attributions of the elements but he aims at CHETH. In order not to expand - the LBPR aims not at CHETH.For Crowley fans - going clockwise we get HIVH = 26 path named Ayin:
"AYIN. – To force Nature to make him free at his pleasure. "
Levi's element ritual:
"Their signs are: the hieroglyphs of the Bull for the Gnomes, who are commanded with the sword; those of the Lion for Salamanders, who are commanded with the bifurcated rod or magic trident; those of the Eagle for the Sylphs, who are commanded by the holy pantacles; finally, those of the Water-Carrier for Undines, who are commanded by the cup of libations. "
Now according to Crowley's IHVH element attributions we get that Levi's using HVHI but according to Levi's pentagram glymph and Bon I get HVIH = 19 path Teth:
" TETH. – To possess the Universal Medicine. "
Now Crowley, I think, alludes in The Book of Lies ch 69 that he knows about the water - fire element switch in his system and Levi's:
"The chapter alludes to Levi’s drawing of the Hexagram, and is a criticism of, or improvement upon, it. In the ordinary Hexagram, the Hexagram of nature, the red triangle is upwards, like fire, and the blue triangle downwards, like water. In the magical hexagram this is reversed; the descending red triangle is that of Horus, a sign specially revealed by him personally, at the Equinox of the Gods. (It is the flame descending upon the altar, and licking up the burnt offering.) The blue triangle represents the aspiration, since blue is the colour of devotion, and the triangle, kinetically considered, is the symbol of directed force."
@Levi said
"in Kabalah, the Macroprosopus, the Microprosopus and the two Mothers"
So if in Levi the Microprosopus is symbolized by fire and Macroprosopus by Water so the two Mothers i.e. Heh should be Air and Earth? IHVH = Water, Air, Fire, Earth?
All in all I am confused but I think I found out that Bon and Levi agree which each other on the sequence of elements but not with GD! Tibetan Bon, being a ritual based system, and Crowley aim at the same letter - CHETH.
I would welcome people to shed more light on Bon Elements and it's ritual practice compared to Western Ceremonial Magic.P.S. I'm leaving the discussion on the element colours for some other time but I'm impressed with the Bon ones....
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AUM AH HUM, Gichtel has the answers to my questions. See his diagrams. I will try to make an article about that - but there's a lot of info. Salutations (or kudos
) to The Beast in perfecting the Pentagram ritual in Liber ABA. I Love him so much! 
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Okay, noone is responding so I'll give it a go.
Levi's pentagram has the same element distribution as the GD pentagram.Air - Mars - Pentacle - Alpeh
Earth - Jupiter - Dagger - He
Fire - Saturn - Wand - Yod
Water - Venus - Cup - ChetLevi writes about the Pentacle and Dagger switch in his Transcendental Magic Ritual.
Going from left to right we get AHICh. Seeing horizontally there is ChVH and ADM - uniting them as written in Levi's book we get IChVH - we unite the right side of the pentagram with the left i.e. Fire I + Water Ch and Air Vau + Earth He thus we get the Sun, Adam and the Moon, Eve united in IChVH. Thus Levi's Tetragrammaton is identical with the GD.
Levi brings the symbolism of the hexagram to his pentagram glyph. So we need to use it to understand the pentagram. It is the Microcosmic hexagram because of the Stauros layout.
ymboldictionary.net/library/graphics/symbols/bwhexagram.jpgAlpha & Omega is at the same points as the pentagram. The downward triangle is composed of Air - Aleph + Water - Chet = 9 = Omega. The upward triangle is Earth - He + Fire - Yod = 15 = 6 = Alpha. On the pentagram the same elements and Alpha & Omega form a triangle too (I hope you see them). Ezekiel's Tetragram has the same element attributions and so Vertically has Omega and horizontally Alpha.
Now the Stauros is a glyph of Levi's Tetragram or should I say John's Tetragram. The Male is Vertical and the Female is horizontal according to Levi so Male is the Sun and Female the Moon. The right side of the hexagram Air - Aleph + Earth - He = 6 = The Sun and the left is Water - Chet + Fire - Yod = 18 = 9 = The Moon."It looks like KPR(hiding) on the left & possibly MChR(shining) on the right...I'm having trouble making out the bottom-most letter."
Interesting idea! But what about the number symbolism 300+ 248=548=17=8=Mercury? Any other ideas about those two names anyone?
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Okay, let's ride on. We see that in order to fit the pentagram into the microcosmic hexagram we have to flip it horizontally i.e. in order to draw it we start from the lower left which is FIRE and not EARTH. And that is in accord with Crowley who wrote that some people saw the pentagram burning, and of course he uses the Wand to draw it which represents fire. There are other accounts of seeing the pentagram as burning blue. We get Mars as the Right-hand which is in accord with the Qabbalistic Cross.
The funny part is that in the new edition of the Gems from the Equinox Regardie does the mistake of writting in the LBPR draw a Earth pentagram preferable with the Wand.
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@Modes said
"The funny part is that in the new edition of the Gems from the Equinox Regardie does the mistake of writting in the LBPR draw a Earth pentagram preferable with the Wand.
"Why is this a mistake? As a default, the Wand (or equivalent) is used to draw all pentagrams.
And that's not a Regardie error (or language limited to a recent edition of anything) - it's just the text of Liber O.
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Sorry, Jim, my mistake - I tried to match the Pentagram with the Microcosmic Hexagram - which do not match because the important part is that the Pentagram matches with the Macrocosmic Hexagram which does so if we flip horizontally Levi's Microcosmic Hexagram.
The mysterious part is that the GD Qabbalistic Cross is not in accord with Levi - Dogma et Rituel part 2:
""For example, the initiate said raising his hand to his forehead, “For thine,” then added “is,” and continuing as he brought down his hand to his breast, “the kingdom,” then to the left shoulder, “the justice,” afterwards to the right shoulder, “and the mercy” – then clasping his hands, he added, “in the generating ages.” Tibi sunt Malkuth et Geburah et Chesed per aeonas""
The Martinist literatue I have agrees with Levi's Cabbalistic Cross. I looked at the Tree and I see that the GD QC uses Macrocosmic correspondences (i.e. above Tiphareth) while Levi, Martinist use Microcosmic (below Tiphareth). Why is that?
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@Modes said
"Sorry, Jim, my mistake - I tried to match the Pentagram with the Microcosmic Hexagram - which do not match because the important part is that the Pentagram matches with the Macrocosmic Hexagram which does so if we flip horizontally Levi's Microcosmic Hexagram."
They operate on two quite distinct planes. I wouldn't expect any necessary "matchn."
"The mysterious part is that the GD Qabbalistic Cross is not in accord with Levi - Dogma et Rituel part 2:
""For example, the initiate said raising his hand to his forehead, “For thine,” then added “is,” and continuing as he brought down his hand to his breast, “the kingdom,” then to the left shoulder, “the justice,” afterwards to the right shoulder, “and the mercy” – then clasping his hands, he added, “in the generating ages.” Tibi sunt Malkuth et Geburah et Chesed per aeonas""
"Oh, you mean the left-right switch? Yes, Levi was (at least for the public) perpetuating the Roman Catholic style which has one facing the Tree of Life rather than being the Tree of Life.
What Levi did in private is anyone's guess. Remember, Levi wasn't like the typical occult writer today. He was more the Deepak Chopra of France in his day, read very widely by all sorts of "general public," and writing with an eye to bringing magical philosophy into their Roman Catholic sensibilities.
"I looked at the Tree and I see that the GD QC uses Macrocosmic correspondences (i.e. above Tiphareth) while Levi, Martinist use Microcosmic (below Tiphareth). Why is that?"
I don't see how you are making this micro/macro breakdown. I'm not at all clear what you mean by the above sentence. But possibly what I just wrote addresses it?
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What I meant is that there is a swich in the Tree when one reaches from below Tiphareth (Microcosm) to above Tiphareth (Macrocosm) i.e. Hod - Chesed and Netzach - Geburah. Man (backed to the Tree), being a Microcosm MUST show this switch. That is my theory on Levi's QC. What do you think, Jim?
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@Modes said
"What I meant is that there is a swich in the Tree when one reaches from below Tiphareth (Microcosm) to above Tiphareth (Macrocosm) i.e. Hod - Chesed and Netzach - Geburah. Man (backed to the Tree), being a Microcosm MUST show this switch. That is my theory on Levi's QC. What do you think, Jim?
"Can't confirm or deny because, really, I don't care one way or the other. To me it's just a piece of artwork.
I would question confusing it with Micro/Macro labels and just refer to it as "facing the Tree" or "backed into the Tree."
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Okay, Jim, another nail.
You know about he polarity switch in the Pentagram right? You know that the Tree does not show that polarity switch i.e. it is always Female, Neutral, Male? I think that's why Levi's QC is like that - he shows the polarity switch. -
I really haven't watched this thread closely enough to know that without retracing the whole thing.
But I'd have to ask: which Levi pentagram? He drew it differently in various places and the symbols aren't consistent across them. That's one reason I just take it as a piece of artwork for a popular book.
