Questions on the Path of Return
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I was doing some reading on a site called 'Work of the Chariot.' I would like to get other opinions on this. They talk about the various approaches to climbing the tree of life. Going straight up the Middle Pillar seems to be what they favor. This is supposed to be the easiest, most balanced, least complicated, least troublesome, least dangerous method. There are many obstacles, it is explained, that one runs into on the outer pillars. A traveler who sticks to the Middle Pillar remains invisible to and unimpeded by these forces and beings of the outer Pillars. They seem to look askance at different routes that are made use of by others for various purposes, including the desire to attempt to bypass the abyss for example, or the desire for powers etc.
Question - Crowley seems to favor sticking close to the Middle Pillar as well. He specifically mentions climbing the Middle Pillar, but then, the path taught by Thelema is really the zig zag pattern of the Path of Return, or the re-tracing of the path of The Flaming Sword and departing from the Middle Pillar as is mentioned under 'The Task of a Zelator' in Liber 185?
From: www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib185.htm
"When authority confers the grade, he shall rejoice therein; but beware, for that that is his first departure from the middle pillar of the Tree of Life."Questions - How is that the same as climbing the Middle Pillar from Malkuth to Kether as he says in De Thaumaturgia?
From: www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib633.htm
"The business of the aspirant is to climb the Middle Pillar from Malkuth to Kether; and though the other Pillars must be grasped firmly as aids to equilibrium, he should in no wise cling to them."Question - In what ways is are the goals of someone that practices Thelema and re-traces the path of the Flaming Sword different from someone who holds firmly to the Middle Pillar as the WOC suggests?
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@kerlem93 said
"Question - Crowley seems to favor sticking close to the Middle Pillar as well. He specifically mentions climbing the Middle Pillar, but then, the path taught by Thelema is really the zig zag pattern of the Path of Return, or the re-tracing of the path of The Flaming Sword and departing from the Middle Pillar as is mentioned under 'The Task of a Zelator' in Liber 185?"
You got a few questions that I don't know how to answer personally, but I felt compelled to say one thing in particular. As far as understand, Tree of Life based Orders progress upward towards the Crown in the manner that they do to underscore balance. Every person has light and dark within them and exposure to this in the diferrent grades causes an aspirant to confront parts of themselves that are out of balance according to the grade in question.
The warning to the Zelator in the system of the A.'.A.'. is due to the fact that the next grade will expound on the inherent imbalance that may exist in the aspirant. Yesod is and the Zealator is still on the MP, but the advacement to Practicus is the deviation from the MP. I might be simplifying it as the paths travelled need to be taken into account, but generally that is the way I interpret it.
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Thanks Mojorison44. I wasn't able to provide links yesterday to the material that I am referring to because the website wasn't coming up, but I went back today and got it.
These are parts of the descriptions of the Middle Pillar paths that they favor:
From: www.workofthechariot.com/TextFiles/Trees-CentralColumn.html
"The “Way of hvhy Elohenu” is a rapid and smooth path up the Central Column that centers upon unconditional love for and surrendering the fruits of work in the world to one’s Chosen Ideal (see Diagram).This path is empowered by remembrance (zakhor) of the Name of one’s Chosen Ideal, usually in the context of a root mantra. Over time, the shells are purified and the soul is able to sustain consciousness in the higher centers. The traveler on this path may stop with the awakening and sustaining of consciousness in the heart Sefirah Beauty/Last. Or, by renouncing the consciousness of the Lord as Creator/ Preserver/Destroyer of the Universe, move on to the witness consciousness of Vast Face in Atziluth (Sefirah Crown/Above) and into the negatively existent roots of the Tree."
"The “Way of Messiah” (see Diagram) is generally one of the fastest and easiest of the Working Paths, but requires an overpowering and unconditional love for a form of Messiah or the Torah (which contains all of them). In Qabalah, Messiah has four “Celestial Heads” corresponding to the Sefiroth of the Inner Court of the Tree. Similar to the Way of hvhy Elohenu, the Way of Messiah is empowered by taking the name of the Chosen Messiah in meditation while visualizing an appropriate form in the heart center. When the consciousness of the traveler moves into Sefirah Beauty/Last, the entire Tree lights up and all the Sefiroth merge into one large heart Sefirah."
"A third major type of Working Tree that involves the exclusive use of the Central Column is the “Way of the Treasuries of the House of Elohim” (see Diagram), which is associated with King David. The Sefiroth on this Tree are collectively named “Treasuries.” The House of Elohim is the Temple of the Lord hvhy On High. Hence, by this Tree, King David intended to build the Temple of the Lord hvhy in the hearts of all Israel. Tree of the Treasuries of the House of ElohimThe use of the Central Column alone eliminates the distractions of the Right and Left Columns, as well as any interference from their inhabitants. The disappearance of the side columns results in various changes in the patterning and names of the Sefiroth."
And then you have the "Other" paths that they talk about. From what I can tell, I believe Thelema follows the path of the Saint that is referred to here:
From: www.workofthechariot.com/TextFiles/Trees-WayOfSaint-Wizard.html
"Like the Ways of the Angels of Elohim and the Angels of Destruction, the Working Trees known as the “Way of the Saint” and the “Way of the Wizard” are opposite in nature and intent. The Way of the Saint involves an arduous progression up the Tree in which all the Sefiroth of all three Columns are traversed one by one through a specific sequence of letter-gates (see Diagram) In occult literature, this path is often confused with the Way of the Wizard. The wizard moves up the Tree in the identical manner as the saint, but in exactly opposite order and using different lettergates (see Diagram). The Wizard’s Path begins with ritual purification to gain access to the Column of the Right through the Gate of the Yod y. The Saint’s Path begins with trials by fire via the Gate of the Samek c to bankrupt the ego and engender complete surrender to the Will of the Divine.
The "Way of the Saint " and the "Way of the Wizard"The wizard seeks to acquire power out of selfish desire for personal control, and the saint seeks to respond with righteous intent to the dictates of the Divine Will. For this reason, a wall of fire blocks the gate between the Sefiroth Power/Fire and Wisdom/East on the Way of the Wizard, obstructing progress into the three supernal Sefiroth. As with black magicians, the Gate of the Ayin i between Sefiroth Understanding/North and Crown/Above short-circuits wizards through the Abyss into the negatively existent roots, thereby preventing very powerful wizards from gaining access to Atziluth and disrupting the Creation. There is no wall of fire in the gate linking Sefiroth Mercy/Water and Understanding/North on the Way of the Saint. On this path, the Gate of the Heh h from Sefirah Wisdom/East gives access to Sefirah Crown/Above, so movement into the supernal Sefiroth and Atziluth is smoothly accomplished. The Tree of the Saint is keyed to the Name hvhy; the Tree of the Wizard is keyed to the Name Olam (,lvi)."
From:http://www.workofthechariot.com/TextFiles/Trees-WayOfAngels.html
"The Working Trees that exclusively involve the Columns of the Right and Left are respectively called the “Way of the Angels of Elohim” and the “Way of the Angels of Destruction.” The Ways of the Angels of Elohim and the Angels of Destruction both involve mastering endlessly counteractive, self-enforcing rules that govern mazal (alzm, Fate, Sans. karma) and acquiring power under conditional intent. The “Way of the Angels of Elohim” (see Diagram) is also called the “Right-Handed Path,” and those who traverse it are often referred to as “white magicians.” They engage in disciplines, routines of behavior, and rituals intended to cultivate love of the Lord hvhy, righteousness, and purity in order to pass the inspection of the gatekeepers who guard the Column of the Right on the Tree. Attachment to their righteousness, goodness, and their priestcraft keeps those who ascend the Tree via the Way of the Angels of Elohim in the Right Column, and generally preempts them from repositioning into the Central Column.
The "Way of the Angels of Elohim" and the "Way of the Angels of Destruction"White magicians use the Name hvhy and other power names to invoke powerful angels and to manifest and use creative powers. Most orthodox religious Jews also cultivate love, righteousness, and levitical purity to be able to ascend the Column of the Right and attain virtual angelic states, mostly in the lower heavens. However, unlike white magicians, they do not generally desire or seek to wield creative or healing powers. The ascension of the Column of the Right can be very slow, as the amassment of purity and merit required to pass through the gates involves considerable time, often lifetimes.
The “Way of the Angels of Destruction” (see Diagram) is also called the “Left-Handed Path,” and those who traverse it are often called “black magicians” or “sorcerers.” They engage in disciplines, routines of behavior, and rituals intended to cultivate hatred of the Lord hvhy-as-Adversary, sinfulness, and impurity in order to pass the flaming swords of the Kerubim who guard the Column of the Left. Black magicians use the Name hvhy and other Divine Names to invoke powerful demons (Jinn) i.e. destructive angels, and to manifest and use destructive powers. Attachment to their unrighteousness, hatred, and ritualistic process keeps them in the Column of the Left, and preempts them from moving into the Central Column.
The black magician thinks that through rituals, talismans, and force of personal will that he/she can actually gain control over elemental spirits and the Jinn, and direct them to act in accord with his/her beckoning. Since demons want to feed on the valuable shells of these magicians when they break up at death, in order to get the power to incarnate physically themselves or gain access to deeper hells, they go along with the game. Hence, the Jinn are often quite willing to give the sorcerers low level occult powers, coveted material prizes, or apparent control over elemental spirits, which the demons see as having little value compared to the vital energy of the shells they seek to gain.
The Left-Handed Path is very rapid because of the intense focus of the mind in hatred for God-as-Adversary. This path can therefore yield some results in a relatively short time, but inevitably ends in the destruction of the sorcerer because he/she cannot withstand the power channeled through their shells from the higher Sefiroth. Most do not make it past the Gate of the Tzade o between the Sefiroth Power/Fire and Understanding/ North. Very powerful black magicians, who make it up the Column of the Left without shattering their shells, are denied access to Atziluth (World of Emanation) by the action of the Gate of the Ayin i (“Gate of the Unclean Servants”) between the Sefiroth Understanding/North and Crown/Above. This gate redirects such souls into extinction via the Abyss at the invisible Sefirah Knowledge/First."
So, from a Thelemic point of view, what would be the shortcomings of choosing one of the Middle Pillar paths described above as opposed to the path of the Saint for example?
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93,
I'd like to point out that you're quoting non-Thelemic source material on a Thelemic forum. The problem this could lead to would be like a Christian asking a Buddhist: "Yes, but what about being saved so you don't go to hell?" The terms of reference are quite different, and a dialogue between the two systems is very difficult to achieve. The Buddhists "hells" aren't the same as the Inferno of Christian dogma.
"So, from a Thelemic point of view, what would be the shortcomings of choosing one of the Middle Pillar paths described above as opposed to the path of the Saint for example?"
Any system has "saints," or people who have realized the goals, or a large part of them, of the particular system. A list of Thelemic saints is given in the Gnostic Mass, and one that includes women is included in the Thelemic Mass of Temple of Thelema.
93 93/93,
Edward -
"I'd like to point out that you're quoting non-Thelemic source material on a Thelemic forum. The problem this could lead to would be like a Christian asking a Buddhist: "Yes, but what about being saved so you don't go to hell?" "
The Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar are non-Thelemic sources, so is the Bible, and Revelations and many other topics. Those are all hot topics about which people discuss Thelemic views all the time. I'm asking about the Thelemic view on the different paths that are presented here and why the path that Thelema chooses has been prefered over these others.
"Any system has "saints," or people who have realized the goals, or a large part of them, of the particular system. A list of Thelemic saints is given in the Gnostic Mass, and one that includes women is included in the Thelemic Mass of Temple of Thelema."
I understand that. Im not so much concerned with the title that they are giving the path, but I would be interested in hearing some viewpoints, from a Thelemic perspective on why Crowley didn't prescribe any one of these other paths. Thelema has very definite reasons for doing what it does, the way that it does it. I'm trying to gain a deeper understanding of what those reasons are, in this context. That means that it also has very definite reasons for not taking these other routes. It's a pretty simple question. Why wouldn't you go up one or the other of the sides, or follow the zig zag up the tree in the opposite direction, or go right up the middle? You know Crowley would have a whole lot of oppinions to express about it, and very definit reasons for doing it this way instead of that way. I'm looking for what people think those oppinions and reasons would be, or what their own oppinions and reasons are.
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93,
"Why wouldn't you go up one or the other of the sides, or follow the zig zag up the tree in the opposite direction, or go right up the middle?"
One simple reason is that the aspirant is re-tracing the Lightning Flash - the direction the divine light took on its way down the Tree. To get back to the Start, we follow the route - all of it - that led to where we are now. Technically, that route is the path of the Serpent, since the connecting paths of the Tree are, in practice, more experientially significant than the sephiroth.
There is no absolute rule about how to use other material, or other texts. The Zohar is not, though, a major source of study for most Thelemites today. It can be, but it's a difficult text, and we have enough difficulty already learning to comprehend all the significances of the Book of the Law and the other Holy Books.
I view things this way:
Crowley was given a text that he was told was massively important, and he then spent a little over four decades figuring it out. After those 40-odd years, and having trained various other people, he was able to die.The Book of the Law doesn't wholly replace the earlier texts, but it establishes a new way of looking at all that material, and a new way of making it all come together. What I think you're seeing is a mass of Qabalistic material, of which the Book of the Law is just one part, and the methods Crowley espoused seem to be just one route among many routes. A Thelemite is someone who has already felt drawn to working with the Book of the Law, and the other texts are only going to be studied incidentally, if at all. If and when that additional study takes place, it will be in the light of what our Book of Law tells us - not the other way round, with older texts that the Book replaces being used as the standard for assessing the Book.
93 93/93,
Edward -
"One simple reason is that the aspirant is re-tracing the Lightning Flash - the direction the divine light took on its way down the Tree. To get back to the Start, we follow the route - all of it - that led to where we are now."
Ok, that is a pretty good start. I'm not putting it down, I mean, I appreciate that, but I'm still looking for a little bit more than just to say "because that is the way we came." That's a little bit better than just saying "because", but not a whole lot better.
"The Zohar is not, though, a major source of study for most Thelemites today. It can be, but it's a difficult text, and we have enough difficulty already learning to comprehend all the significances of the Book of the Law and the other Holy Books."
I know. I have actually read that you have to read the Zohar while in the spiritual realm, otherwise it can't be fully understood.
"The Book of the Law doesn't wholly replace the earlier texts, but it establishes a new way of looking at all that material, and a new way of making it all come together."
That would be great to know more about, especially if it says anything about why you don't want to take one of these other routes being discussed.
"A Thelemite is someone who has already felt drawn to working with the Book of the Law, and the other texts are only going to be studied incidentally, if at all. If and when that additional study takes place, it will be in the light of what our Book of Law tells us - not the other way round, with older texts that the Book replaces being used as the standard for assessing the Book."
I think I understand what you're getting at here. The only reason that I would study other texts incidentally is if I was able to say that I have fully explored all other traditions, understand them fully, understand the Book of the Law completely, (which it is still questionable if even Crowley ever did, since there was this major decoding and understanding which he admitted that he was never able to fully unravel.) had reached the level of Ipsissimus and had had enough direct experience of the spiritual realms that I was able to investigate everything personally, from an omniscient view point, and could say definitively that every tradition besides Thelema and the Book of the Law was folly, and had only incidental information to offer. Crowley himself, certainly, had based his positions on thorough study of as many different spiritual traditions and points of view as was possible to the point that he could speak eloquence, confidence and authority on the vast majority of them. Based on that, he was able to arrive at his own decisions. That is what I am trying to do, to the best of my own ability, and not just to say "Well I figure that this guy I'm following was really smart, so I don't have to understand it all myself." I have done lots and lots of reading on Crowley and Thelema, quite a big pile of stuff on alchemy, Jung, Plato, the Golden Dawn, hermetic philosophy, Rosicrucianism, Greek mystery schools, Freemasonry, Qabalah, Kabbalah, Cabala, Wicca, Shamanism, Voodoo, quantum physics, theosophy, sacred geometry, Buddhism, yoga, tantra, tarot, etc. I have watched hundreds of hours of videos on the same subjects. I maintain my own blog where I post articles, videos, websites, and personal writings on these subjects. I have participated in rituals with well known occult figures, and friends alike, that are Thelemites and/or voodoo practitioners. I have attended numerous Thelemic and pagan festivals. I meditate, practice yoga, recite a mantra day and night whenever I am awake, perform daily rituals of the pentagram, hexagram, resh and the Middle Pillar, yet, I know I'm only scratching the surface. So, yes, I explore many points of view. In fact, all points of view, as openly as I can. To me, that is part of the spirit of Thelema.
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93,
"I appreciate that, but I'm still looking for a little bit more than just to say "because that is the way we came." That's a little bit better than just saying "because", but not a whole lot better. "
I was referring here to the Lightning Flash, which is the sequence of the sephiroth from One (Kether) to Ten (Malkuth). It's a matter of tracing the Light back to its supernal source-point.
"EM:
The Book of the Law doesn't wholly replace the earlier texts, but it establishes a new way of looking at all that material, and a new way of making it all come together.
Kerlem 93:
That would be great to know more about, especially if it says anything about why you don't want to take one of these other routes being discussed. "I didn't go at it that way. Absorbing three million words on Qabalah, Kabbalah and Cabala (Thelemic, Hebraic and Christian-Hermetic) isn't my style. I did, though, spend years poking into this and that, knowing the only thing I wanted to avoid was that awful Crowley character. Once I came into contact with serious Thelemites (as opposed to posers with bad tattoos and worse attitudes) there was an immediate click. I don't know if following intuitive leaps is faster or slower than going at it empirically. But I'm not an empirical person. Once the inner voice says "THAT," then that's where I head.
The Book of the Law is a lifelong study, and you're right in noting Crowley never cracked all of it. The Book even says there are things he'll never know. The best word I have for it might seem lame - I take it as a "mood." You get from it a way of approaching everything, and once you've clicked with that, the details eventually sort themselves out. Formal practices reinforce and expand on the growing understanding, just as the growing understanding should reinforce the practices.
The actual system or systems, the actual working of the path, are determined from that "mood." O perhaps I should say, the three moods of the three chapters: for me personally, the overriding set of qualities in each chapter is greater than the specific instructions, advice or poetry. Link with Nuit , by developing an appreciation for that concept. After, locate and identify with Hadit, and see where that leads you. HeruRaHa comes in its own way, in its own time, and can't be forced.
Obviously, you might need to follow a different track. But we have star and star, system and system, and there's no need for one to know well the other.
93 93/93,
Edward -
"I was referring here to the Lightning Flash, which is the sequence of the sephiroth from One (Kether) to Ten (Malkuth). It's a matter of tracing the Light back to its supernal source-point."
I got that part.
"Once I came into contact with serious Thelemites (as opposed to posers with bad tattoos and worse attitudes) there was an immediate click."
I can see that. That's one of the reasons I have been coming back to this forum.
"I don't know if following intuitive leaps is faster or slower than going at it empirically. But I'm not an empirical person. Once the inner voice says "THAT," then that's where I head."
I like this type of approach. I rely heavily on intuitive leaps myself, but I also, often, take advantage of the time to investigate things more empirically when I have that opportunity. Many times, the way that I find a thing that I want to study in more depth, and more empirically, is something that I have found through intuitive means. Sometimes you have to make a decision though, time runs out, or you hit a fork in the road and you have to leap intuitively towards your goal and there isn't time for being overly analytical.
"You get from it a way of approaching everything, and once you've clicked with that, the details eventually sort themselves out. Formal practices reinforce and expand on the growing understanding, just as the growing understanding should reinforce the practices."
I'm always looking for my next click.
