Silver Hexagram of 48 Rays
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I'm looking for more information on the Silver Hexagram of 48 Rays (surrounding the triangle on the hood of the Practicus robe).
Why 48 rays? What is significant about the number 48? What does it mean? Why does it correspond to this period of the adepts growth?
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@Tinman said
"Why 48 rays? What is significant about the number 48? What does it mean? Why does it correspond to this period of the adepts growth?"
There is nothing handed down (that I can think of), so you're just getting what I've discerned myself.
The simplest thing: 48 is the value of Kokav (KVKB), which not only is the name of the planet Mercury but literally means "star."
The number 8 is extremely important in the symbolism of A.'.A.'. "things." Read Liber A and see it's importance in the structure of the tools, plus the 8-colored cross on the breast of the robe, etc. 48 is its 8's expression through the hexagram. (On the robe it is literally a 6-pointed figure within an 8 inch circle.)
There's some other stuff - it's escaping my memory at the moment, in my gematria notebooks at home. I think the KVKB thing is the main point. (The 8-based symbolism of the hexagram balances the 3 of the interior triangle.)
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Thanks Jim. Crowley talked a bit about 48 in one of the Aethyrs (19th?) in his commentary, but in your book the name adds up differently (due to the reasons you explain in the book).
He used Cheth, Lamed, Yod - something like the absolute reconciler - bearing the secret seed in the grail with balance... (I'm going from memory at the moment). That made the connecting path for me to see 48 as 40 (mem) + 8 (cheth) - which gave me a "being open to new experiences" sort of vibe...
Then another source (random bible website) was saying 48 = 6x8 = 6 (man) x 8 (new beginnings) - or man making his future - and I saw the correspondence with the Practicus grade there...
4+8 = 12 = 3
48= 4 x 12and then there is Mome Raths... and the story of Ham....
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I note this from Jim's commentary to Liber AL, 1:3. Every man and every woman is a star:
"“Star” is here, apparently, Khabs. Each of us is, at our core, Khabs; but our lives, our veils etc., are Khabs am Pekht, “Light in extension.” (I have developed this more extensively for initiates of the Artisan Degree of Temple of Thelema.) This, as 451 (the Greek Konx Om Pax), is of course the central idea of the name A.'.A.'.. Knowledge of self, and of our way, and of the world, is encompassed in the phrase, “Light in extension,” and our ability to witness that L.V.X. “Khabs” is related to Kokav, Mercury, “star” (hence the eight words of this verse?). Every man and every woman is Kokav."
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I should add that I think there is a kundalini reference here. The silver "eye in the triangle" appears over the forehead (on the hood of the robe) in 2=9, then flowers into the 48-rayed hexagram in 3=8.
There is a great deal of the inner vision (add your own supplements to this) quite awake byh 2=9, and, though it isn't in any official reference I can find, I've not known anyone get past 2=9 without some significant kundalini movement. (If nothing else, it's hard to imagine this with the asana/pranayama practices that have been undertaken). Then, in 3=8 (the matter having become safe IMVHO by what has opened up previously), there is a specific important practice to develop this sooner.
And Practicus is traditionally called (even in A.'.A.'.) "the unicorn of the stars." I can't get past the idea that the concentration of this energy to the forehead level ties into both that title and the symbolism of the robe.
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I also note: 48 = woman. So we are placing a recognition of woman on our forehead (amongst other things), as both a brand and a vision of what we are working towards... this is in 3=8... and then in 8=3 we "become women" (ie, in the sense of our relationship with HGA - brothers of the AA are women, etc...)
48 = "starting something great ? being open and available to new experiences ?
... I'm still working it out ...
I also find a lack of 48 popping up in google searches through Crowley material (I mean besides verse numbers)... does anyone have a random 48 mention that might shed some additional light?
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I think you're maming it far too hard. The answer is simple and elegant, not tortured and exhaustive. I think it is probably entirely KVKB (and the general expansion of
, since that's the central idea of the number. -
@Tinman said
"I also note: 48 = woman. So we are placing a recognition of woman on our forehead (amongst other things)"
