Lunar rituals and "LIBER QOPH vel HECATE"
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I have been attempting to synthesize my basic paganism and my Thelemism, all through the lens of my general training and temperament (ceremonialism as opposed to shamanism, chaos, witchcraft, etc) so I was looking for lunar rituals for the new and full moons that were more in the ceremonialist vein than the ones I know from being a part of the pagan community.
In this hunt I ran into this:
LIBER QOPH vel HECATE
Sub Figura C
Hail Luna, as you rise, IxChel,
Kia, Lady pale,
Queen of dreams, Cast your spell,
Of triple veil
Ar-iadne, Ar-ianhrod, Ar-achne Moerae,
Hail Hecate
Of faces three,
Shining from afar,
Spider of Destiny
In your web of Silver StarsWAXING MOON:
Hail Diana, Huntress,
As you draw your silver bow,
Hail Artemis and Io,
Oh Horned waxing luminous present glow
Nu and numinous maiden crescent shewnHail Clotho, Spinner of life's thread
Drawn forth from Nix Night
Turning Fate's first strands
With nimble hands
Twining twixt the dark and brightFULL MOON:
Hail MoonMother,
Full and fecund, round and bright,
Isis, We draw you down from the night,
With your cauldron-womb of luminous whiteHail Lachesis, Weaver, Craft your web
Weave the lines between the times
Of wax and wane; And tides
Of flow and ebb
Gossamer silver cords
Of dreaming draw together
In your matrix matted of matter and ether
DreamMother, give Birth
As your light shines down to EarthWANING MOON:
Hail, Grandmother Spider,
Crone and crow,
Wisewoman, elder, seer,
Help us face, and destroy
Our fear
Hail Hecate of the Crossroads,
Oh old and ominous presence glowing
Your waning numinous crescent goingHail Atropos, Cutter,
With your waning silver scythe,
You cut
the thread of Life.DARK MOON:
There is a fourth face, though unseen
There is a fourth path, whom few know
A fourth Fate, who awaits
In shadowHail Kali, Blackness,
From whom the kalas of Time emit
Three Norns converged,
Past, present, future merged,
On the path of Blood beyond the Wheel we surge and scryTo Caer Arianhrod, Castle in the Sky
Hail Nought, Not, Nuit, Maat,
Yours the dark and secret artWhile crone's scythe cuts breath and with death
The thread of life appears to dwindle
From No-thing you craft another mask
And re-splice it back, on another track
To Clotho's spindleHas anyone run into this? Worked with it? What are your thoughts? Any notable results?
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,
@hepuck said
"I have been attempting to synthesize my basic paganism and my Thelemism, all through the lens of my general training and temperament (ceremonialism as opposed to shamanism, chaos, witchcraft, etc) so I was looking for lunar rituals for the new and full moons that were more in the ceremonialist vein than the ones I know from being a part of the pagan community.
In this hunt I ran into this:
"LIBER QOPH vel HECATE
Sub Figura C"
Has anyone run into this? Worked with it? What are your thoughts? Any notable results?"
I don't think it will serve any purpose at all, but in a Thelemic context I would not recommend a lunar adoration. The moon does not generate light but only reflects the light of the sun, and that poorly. To adore the moon would be to idolize illusion.
Also the author should have done his homework. The title of liber 100 (liber C) is already taken by Liber Agape.
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@Shunyata said
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,
@hepuck said
"I have been attempting to synthesize my basic paganism and my Thelemism, all through the lens of my general training and temperament (ceremonialism as opposed to shamanism, chaos, witchcraft, etc) so I was looking for lunar rituals for the new and full moons that were more in the ceremonialist vein than the ones I know from being a part of the pagan community.
In this hunt I ran into this:
"LIBER QOPH vel HECATE
Sub Figura C"
Has anyone run into this? Worked with it? What are your thoughts? Any notable results?"
I don't think it will serve any purpose at all, but in a Thelemic context I would not recommend a lunar adoration. The moon does not generate light but only reflects the light of the sun, and that poorly. To adore the moon would be to idolize illusion.
Also the author should have done his homework. The title of liber 100 (liber C) is already taken by Liber Agape."
I don't understand your premises.
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The moon is real. People have walked on it. I can point to it. It is at least as real as anything else. Its pull moves the tides and our blood, and its patterns have deeply affected the entire existence of humanity. If you truly think it is an illusion, then do some math on what would happen to the Earth should the moon disappear. Illusions are epiphenomenal...and yet the moon does stuff.
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Adoration is not idolization. One might adore an idol or idolize something they adore, but they are not the same thing. And neither are exactly the same as worship.
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I have been doing Full and New Moon rituals most of my life. I have gotten a lot out of them. I don't see any reason to stop doing something I have both benefited from and wish to do out of some desire to enact Thelema as a monotheism.
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So... approaching your question... at which level do you conceive of the Moon in these rites?
My experience of the pagan community in general is that it is Yesod at best. But you seem to be seeking a Qabalistic approach, so the question is whether you see this as a working of:
- Qoph
- Yesod
- Gimel
- Something else
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@Shunyata said
"I don't think it will serve any purpose at all, but in a Thelemic context I would not recommend a lunar adoration. The moon does not generate light but only reflects the light of the sun, and that poorly. To adore the moon would be to idolize illusion."
Hi Shunyata –the Egyptian deity seated across from the table of offerings in the Stele of Revealing is not the solar deity RHK, but lunar deity Khonsu, identified by the lunar crescent surmounted by the solar disk (someone even suggested this symbol is the mark of the Beast - “For he is ever the sun, and she a moon”, AL I:16). On the reverse side of the Stele paraphrase, the doubly-dead priest beseeches the “O Unique One”, which is a reference to Iah, an ancient but little known lunar deity. The scene takes place at Night, the priest looking up at the moon, opening up the starlight abodes, gathering the shining ones (=akhs or perfected righteous) into this glittering light. The key is the moonlight is a reflection of the coming dawn. This whole scene is the NOX formula.
Crowley describes the Night as follows:
The Formula of the New Aeon recognizes Horus, the Child crowned and conquering, as God. We are all members of the Body of God, the Sun; and about our System is the Ocean of Space. This formula is then to be based upon these facts. Our “Evil,” “Error,” “Darkness,” “Illusion,” whatever one chooses to call it, is simply a phenomenon of accidental and temporary separateness. If you are “walking in darkness,” do not try to make the sun rise by self-sacrifice, but wait in confidence for the dawn, and enjoy the pleasures of the night meanwhile.
(New Falcon commentary to Liber Legis, p. 47)
The Stele reveals the New Aeon and these details might explain JD Gunther’s comments in Initiation in the Aeon of the Child on why NOX, and no longer LVX, is now the central formula of the New Aeon.
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Yesod as extension of Binah (3^2=9). The Divine Feminine Principle in it's Yetziratic manifestation.
It's not that I don't understand the limitations of basic paganism. The elemental and limited planetary workings are purely of Assiah and Yetzirah. However, I also feel that we are whole, existential beings, and that as such we are situated in relation to all four worlds, and that equilibrium and proper relation can (and in my opinion, should) be attempted in each of them.
This inclination originally arose for me years ago. I was raised pagan, but at about 10-11 my mother recognized that my tendencies were most likely going to be better addressed by ceremonialism, which led to her buying me Modern Magick, which had recently come out. That led, via Kraig's references and bibliography, to Crowley and Thelema. At first I felt like there was a conflict between the two...ceremonialism has connotations of monotheism, etc. Eventually I came to resolve this through many writings of many authors and my own work.
In addition to this, I very much possess the impulse towards symmetry Crowley mentions in Book 4, part 3 in the chapter on equilibrium. It seems there should be rites of the earth and rites of the Moon in addition to those of the Sun, and that the pagan sabbats and lunar rituals fulfill that need.
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@hepuck said
"In addition to this, I very much possess the impulse towards symmetry Crowley mentions in Book 4, part 3 in the chapter on equilibrium. It seems there should be rites of the earth and rites of the Moon in addition to those of the Sun, and that the pagan sabbats and lunar rituals fulfill that need."
I couldn't agree more with the above sentiments, which connects to an issue raised in another thread on the imbalance of gender energies that seems to plague contemporary Thelema.
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So the definition of the ritual appears to be (please correct if wrong): An adoration and celebration lof the Divine Feminine conceived as Binah-through-Yesod. (Is this approximately right?)
I see no incompatibility at all between, say, the clazssic poetry and forms in Dion Fortune's novels vs. anything you're doing in ceremonial or Thelema.
I'm heading out of town in a few minutes but, as time permits over the weekend, I'll muse about the Muse and see what comes to mind.
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This is from Crowley's "Eight Lectures on Yoga":
".. every student should make a point of salutiing the sun (in the manner recommended in Liber Resh) four times daily, and shall salute the Moon on her appearance with the Mantra Gayatri. The best way is to say the Mantra instantly one sees the Moon, to note whether the attention waves, and to repeat the Mantra untiul it does not waver at all."
This Mantra Gayatri, I believe, goes somewhat like this, see Book 4 part 1 (Mysticism) for the proper letters, I can't type them all right now.
"Aum! tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat" -
@Jim Eshelman said
"So the definition of the ritual appears to be (please correct if wrong): An adoration and celebration lof the Divine Feminine conceived as Binah-through-Yesod. (Is this approximately right?)
I see no incompatibility at all between, say, the clazssic poetry and forms in Dion Fortune's novels vs. anything you're doing in ceremonial or Thelema.
I'm heading out of town in a few minutes but, as time permits over the weekend, I'll muse about the Muse and see what comes to mind."
Yes, that is right.
As always, thank you for your time and efforts, I really do appreciate it.
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93,
**The Atlas Itch **wrote:
"Hi Shunyata –the Egyptian deity seated across from the table of offerings in the Stele of Revealing is not the solar deity RHK, but lunar deity Khonsu, identified by the lunar crescent surmounted by the solar disk (someone even suggested this symbol is the mark of the Beast - “For he is ever the sun, and she a moon”, AL I:16). On the reverse side of the Stele paraphrase, the doubly-dead priest beseeches the “O Unique One”, which is a reference to Iah, an ancient but little known lunar deity. The scene takes place at Night, the priest looking up at the moon, opening up the starlight abodes, gathering the shining ones (=akhs or perfected righteous) into this glittering light. The key is the moonlight is a reflection of the coming dawn. This whole scene is the NOX formula. "
I'm looking at the reproduction of the Stele in Magick in T & P, and having trouble seeing a lunar crescent under the deity's solar disk. I don't think it's there. There's the tail of the solar uraeus serpent instead, the same as we've always had it shown.
The 'Modern' translation of the reverse side of the Stele given in The Holy Books of Thelema talks of "O Unique One who shines as the moon,' with the word 'em' (= 'as' written as 'm,' using the hieroglyph for an owl) being the preposition. There's similar phrasing in the other two, Brugsch Bey and Gardiner-Gunn. This phrase is a simile in all three of them, not a *designation *of a lunar deity.
I think your idea is interesting, but none of the three published translations comes to this conclusion. Do you have a source for this idea you've suggested?
93 93/93,
Edward
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93 Edward
Apologies - you’re right about the Egyptian deity sitting across from the table of offerings (I’m going from memory and crossed conversations held with someone in the past). The lunar crescent is missing on the deity, which therefore identify it as a solar deity.
On the other hand the lunar allusions on the reverse Stele paraphrase can be found on this thread starting with my question about half-way down the page:
www.lashtal.com/nuke/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-1494-start-30.phtml
93 93/93
T -
I have read some recent scientific evidence that is stating that during mitosis, the earliest parts of cellular division there is a significant period of time when the newly forming entity is existing with no brain, but that the heart has been clearly evloved.
I do believe that this little bit of information provides the magickal worlds and spiritual paths with much to chew on. Our heart, our source for emotions, feelings, and the chemical recations that transpire with in the biological structure is the first driving force of our being, not the analitical, logical, rational mind.
It has also been resently shown how our skin is the master of information processing, overriding all other senses and modes of information gathing.
I find these facts very validating for me, as a person who lives her life by monitoring/ controling and using my emotional body to make my desicions in life.
What does this have to do with Lunar Rites???
well for me, since I understand that all things come from one source, and that source is Love, ANY thing that I do in my life that makes me feel love, and be love ect is worth doing.IMo this world is being saturated by an addictive quality (addicted to external sources, as well as addiction to the biochemical reaction that are occuring on a molecular level) that is allmost devoid of all positive lilfe enhancing feelings, and that any action/thought/habit that increases the magnitude of (for lack of a better term) positive vibration energies is worth doing and doing as often as possible.
I do agree with this conclusion
""I couldn't agree more with the above sentiments, which connects to an issue raised in another thread on the imbalance of gender energies that seems to plague contemporary Thelema.""
As a teen when I first read Crowleys works I was first of all turned off by his addictive personality traits, but also the sexist, attittude I read and encountered in those in my world that followed his teachings. I felt as if my femine side was not to be incourage, except for the sexual parts. It definately gave me the felling of an old boys club, as I could not relate to all the pomp and circumstance that I saw in the rites. I understood what they were doing, on the subconscious level, but felt as if the rites had little geniune feeling, and for me my spiritulaity is A LOT of feelin, and very little thinking.
In fact I have found that when I try to think about the mysteries, I start to loose my grips (which IMO is why so many CM seem to end up in PSY wards, or have to take a break from their magickal practice.) Yet when I allow my self to just feel the mysteries, to fell the information I am recieving, to feel my world I am in harmony with my surroundings and the universe unfolds my will, for my will is in alinment with a higher will, a force more then my limited egotisical will.
As a very girlie girl, I am shinning my best when I am allowed the freedom to express my inner emotions and feelings of love towards all the beautiful manifestions I see in my world.
I am in love with this world, with the beauty I see and rejoice at any opportunity to express that love. I see lunar rites as my celebration of my feminine nature, of my emotional side, of my shadow self, of the beauty, and peace, and wonder that lays with in the mystery of the Moon, and its pull on us.
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Atlas Itch, 93,
Yes, that's an interesting thread on Lashtal, though as several people noted, it needs real scholars of the period to clear things up. Since the reverse of the Stele is basically selections or paraphrases of the standard text of the Book of the Dead, though, I'm not sure we should read too much into them in relation to the man who had the Stele made.
What does intrigue me - and I doubt anybody could trace the process of how this happened - is the fact that Iah or Yah is the God-Name on the Tree of Life associated with Chokmah. How a lunar deity could have become the Atziluthic Name of the sephirah at the top of the Fire Pillar is a real mystery. I'm tempted to guess there is no connection, and that it's just one of those curiosities that crop up to tempt us into over-speculation. But .. ?
93 93/93,
Edward
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Veronica, 93
"I do agree with this conclusion
""I couldn't agree more with the above sentiments, which connects to an issue raised in another thread on the imbalance of gender energies that seems to plague contemporary Thelema."""
Could it be that Thelemites are more likely to do something constructive about fixing the balance than anyone else? That we don't accept each other as final authorities? We create a lot of our own rituals, and we're not afraid to try something new. It's as if the Presiding Committee at Archetypal HQ said, "Well, the Christians aren't going to do anything - let's try the small but raucous rabble and see if they'll come up with some constructive channeling of energies to fix the old imbalance."
93 93/93,
Edward
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@Edward Mason said
"How a lunar deity could have become the Atziluthic Name of the sephirah at the top of the Fire Pillar is a real mystery."
But the sephiroth are balanced. So though Chokmah is the Root of Fire, its color in Atziluth is a watery blue. Though it's titled Ab, the Father, the word Chokmah is a feminine noun in Hebrew, as is its translation in Greek (sophia), Latin (sapientia), and German (Weisheit), and Wisdom is personified as a woman in various allegories. Its number, 2, is the number of the High Priestess in the tarot, which corresponds to the moon, and P F Case (among others) sees The High Priestess as a representation of Chokmah in one of its aspects.
I'm just sayin'.
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@Edward Mason said
"What does intrigue me - and I doubt anybody could trace the process of how this happened - is the fact that Iah or Yah is the God-Name on the Tree of Life associated with Chokmah. How a lunar deity could have become the Atziluthic Name of the sephirah at the top of the Fire Pillar is a real mystery. I'm tempted to guess there is no connection, and that it's just one of those curiosities that crop up to tempt us into over-speculation. But .. ?
"93 Edward
I pondered that question when researching the Stele and one far-out idea that came to mind was that the ancient Egyptian lunar deity Iah/Yah might be the origins of the Yah-weh cult when the Hebrews were in Egypt – keeping in mind the fact that aside from the Merneptah Stele there is hardly any archaeological evidence to support the Biblical story.
Btw hieroglyph V28, the Khonsu weave, signifying Iah, was presumably the inspiration for Crowley’s otherwise rather bizarre poetic paraphrase:
O thou that glitterest in the moon!
I weave thee in the spinning charm;
I lure thee with the billowy tune.93 93/93
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@Veronica said
"I see lunar rites as my celebration of my feminine nature, of my emotional side, of my shadow self, of the beauty, and peace, and wonder that lays with in the mystery of the Moon, and its pull on us."
*"La nuit est belle" *
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How interesting!
"O thou that glitterest in the moon!
I weave thee in the spinning charm;
I lure thee with the billowy tune. "Thus the feminine is a "weave" and, as someone else pointed out, a "reflection."
And another herself has pointed out, "I am receiving" is a necessity to her.
Personally, I love this lunar rite.
[edit] but wait, I'm ignorant
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I have to say that this thread epitomizes my entire experience in the magickal/pagan community over the course of my life.
We had an earnest question plus earnest answers. We had a disagreement. Some tangential aspect of esoterica came up and people got all scholarly.
All we need is a fire and someone to get naked and we have every party I've ever been to.