&"Omen&" and &"Oracle&" of The Equinox
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One was drawn from the Holy Books by bibliomancy. Crowley had a special personal copy of the three-volume Holy Books set ("Thelema") made for A.'.A.'. in 1908, so that it had Libri 61, 65, 7, 220, 27, and ARARITA all in it - he would drop his magical ring into this and see what word it fell on.
The other was a toss of the Yi Ching.
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The Word was used, in certain circumstances, as a password; but the others were oracular. In particular, the Yi Ching hexagram applied to the 6 months altogether, and each line of it applied especially to one of the months.
While AC tended to express these as oracular (but didn't say much about them in actuality - see occasional remarks in his published diaries), subsequent work (for example, over the last 20 years of monitoring these in Temple of Thelema) has taught us some fine points on the matter. I would now say that the hexagram shows optimum counsel for the time, to which it is recommended one conform ones decision making.
Hence, our Equinox ritual, with reference to the hexagram of the season, includes the line, "May its counsel guide us in our choices, and open a window of understanding upon the hour." (Please note that I'm the only one at liberty to disclose this sort of thing; please don't pressure other members to follow suit
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