16 July (Fire) Liber LXV, 4:11-13
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11. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and prate of their feats of wine-bibbing.
12. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and revile the guests.
13. The guests dally upon couches of mother-of-pearl in the garden; the noise of the foolish men is hidden from them. -
I'm really trying to get these verses.
Kinda feels like we're being introduced to the type of behavior that stems from having a little too much fire. Being a little too spirited. Loud, proud, boastful, arrogant, domineering, etc.
Not sure who these guests are though. I'm kinda lost.
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93,
A truly free person might be able to live anywhere - all places are home, all phenomena particular dealings of God with their souls. They are always guests, passing through without attachment.
The purse-proud penniless ones, on the other hand boast of their accomplishments and possessions, as if to anchor their identity, their worth, through claims of their prior attainments.
93 93/93,
Edward -
"**11. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and prate of their feats of wine-bibbing.
- There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and revile the guests.
- The guests dally upon couches of mother-of-pearl in the garden; the noise of the foolish men is hidden from them.**"
Arm-chair occultists who don't "get" it can make all the noise they want. They can disparage, doubt, ignore, pontificate, or whatever. It doesn't change the actual experience of those who know the inner states from experience.
Notice that this starts a change in the orientation of the chapter. Until now, we have heard the words of the Angel. Here begin the remarks of the Adept (or, as Crowley was careful to distinguish, of the Master - perhaps because he wanted to characterize those outside the door as Black Brothers - or perhaps because he equated "the door" with Daleth?).
"11. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and prate of their feats of wine-bibbing."
Braggerts who actually have little or nothing of value. I'm not yet inclined to limit this to "outside of Daleth" - the behavior is typically the same for those ego-incarcerated andi ntellect-dominated ones who simply have not attained to the K&C (i.e., are outside the Veil of Paroketh). If you can't hold your wine, you can at least stand outside the tavern and brag about how much you can drink.
"12. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and revile the guests."
And, of course, mock those who actually know what they're talking about.
"13. The guests dally upon couches of mother-of-pearl in the garden; the noise of the foolish men is hidden from them."
Wow... not even in the tavern anymore... they're in the reception garden beyond. Very cool. Probably music playing (because they're not just out of earshot - something is hiding the prattle). Lessons here about having your attention on something else of your choosing, rather than resisting the thing you don't want. Lessons also about our own smallness, since the voices outside the tavern are also our own reactive and rattle-trap voices that persist (in their own pocket) even when our main center of attention is in a different stratum of consciousness.
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11. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and prate of their feats of wine-bibbing.
12. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand at the door of the tavern and revile the guests.
13. The guests dally upon couches of mother-of-pearl in the garden; the noise of the foolish men is hidden from them.My first reaction is to wonder why we need to be told this, unless it is perhaps a warning or an curse on some of us, or what?—I'm not really sure because we can either ignore the fate of the foolish men and go on being guests or we are not guests, and are just damned, mired in all our self-importance? There is no indication to put aside our foolish ways, just a description of how things are.
But, what a strange and provocative turn in tone, style, and theme. And okay, this is a bit of a stretch, but purse-proud penniless is such an odd phrase I just got stuck on it and started to read something into the three words all starting with a 'P.' Peh, the twenty-seventh path? The Blasted Tower, or the House of God usually includes two figures falling from the height of a lightning blasted tower, coins falling from their pockets as well.
In the classical sense of the card, and following in the same vein as some of the other posts for this days meditation, the foolish men are the self-aggrandizing posturings of the ego—thoughts of self importance and bravado, ticking off mystical accomplishment like merit badges.
The suggestive nature of the card and path aside, the implication from the last line is that there are some who are beyond this—the guests. And again, just following the leads of other posts, especially Jim's recent assertion that these chapters are more kin to various sephiroth, than they are about the elements themselves, I am apt to associate the garden with Netzach.
My most personal associations are with the notion of these braggarts, who spend too much time in taverns, the foolish men, as bachelors. These lonely men are contrasted with those who dally—clearly a sexual reference—a suggestion of sexual relations. To dally on couches is to make-out, to feel-up, to explore and melt into the caresses and advances of another. So I wonder if these bachelors are black brothers or just posers, tragic figures, but not as tragic.
EDIT: just to acknowledge that many of my thoughts are echoed, mostly in Jim's post, but others as well. I was not able to post yesterday due to rl conflicts, and I purposefully did not read the other posts very carefully, though I did browse them a little, as I wanted to have my own process. But now that I am catching up on what others have said, I am aware even more than I was when I wrote the main body of my comments above, how much was already on the table in a similar vein.
Love and Will