16 April - (Earth) Liber LXV, 1:12-14
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12. Then was there silence. Speech had done with us awhile.
There is a light so strenuous that it is not perceived as light.
13. Wolf's bane is not so sharp as steel; yet it pierceth the body more subtly.
14. Even as evil kisses corrupt the blood, so do my words devour the spirit of man. -
Even as evil kisses corrupt the blood, so do my words devour the spirit of man.
You have a date with a much older woman. She is rich and powerful and she has a penthouse in the hotel where you are also staying. You know you are in the lands beyond the sunset because the local radio station plays Country and Western music—the funky, bluesy variety you might expect in a David Lynch movie. It is ten at night, and the plan is to meet her in her room for dinner, and then who knows what. Circumstances prevent you from arriving until midnight. The kitchens are now closed, and so there will be no food. This is as it should be because all food is a manifestation of the sun in his day aspect. It is now midnight and this is the hour of the greatest darkness, and this is the queen of the underworld you have come to court. She is old, with children and grandchildren—the brood of night—gods of sleep, dreams, and black, black night. But like Hades, and more tellingly, like the Roman Pluto she is exceedingly wealthy. This is Qoph, the sun hidden and silent, the new/witch moon without even the barest sliver of light, either fading or growing. You have flirted with her the entire night because of this, because you are ambitious. The servants—a young man and woman—who cleaned your room are from the card of the Devil—the old design. As such, ambition brought you here, also a secret interest in perversions. Netzach lends her power of attraction to Proserpine, and glimpses of her thighs and breasts as you lift her in your arms are not unacceptable. You prepare to enter that total eclipse, to abandon, for awhile at the very least, your standards, your honor, your high opinion of yourself and to allow the waters of the deluge close over you. Fermented shark is a delicacy of the far north, and for those who know, the surface characteristics of smell and appearance that keep most at bay are in fact the beginnings of an exquisite ecstasy. Her kisses will surely slay you. All this takes place in the high desert, which means that all that happens in this place is sacred to Nuit.
Love and Will
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"12. Then was there silence. Speech had done with us awhile.
There is a light so strenuous that it is not perceived as light.- Wolf's bane is not so sharp as steel; yet it pierceth the body more subtly."
The adept and his angel converse in a Kingly manner. Union through silence. Union of such an intensity the adept is physically overcome by it.
"14. Even as evil kisses corrupt the blood, so do my words devour the spirit of man."
Just as a cancer infects and corrupts cells in human blood, the Will of the Angel gradually becomes the Will of the Adept.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"**12. Then was there silence. Speech had done with us awhile.
There is a light so strenuous that it is not perceived as light. **"There seems to be a relationship between the silence and the light. This is like saying that when there is silence there is light. Speech had done with us awhile seems to relate to the light so strenuous or sounds that you never hear until all normal sounds cease. Then we hear nature which is not perceived as sound. This also has a relationship to complete darkness where we seem to find some light coming from somewhere, that we had not seen before. This still seems to be referencing the image behind the image or the unseen image.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"12. Then was there silence. Speech had done with us awhile.
There is a light so strenuous that it is not perceived as light."Is this possibly a mistranscription of tenuous.
Another possibility would be tenebrous.
What is strenuous light?
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93,
The line means that the energy of the light - its strength (hence "strenuous") - is so great, it lies beyond our perception. It isn't a mistranscription.
EDIT:
It follows from the line before it. Realization that there is such an energy in the Universe produces the stunned state of mind described there.93 93/93,
Edward