16 December (Hadit) Liber CCXX, 2:14-16
-
(v. 80) 14. Now let there be a veiling of this shrine; now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness!
(v. 81) 15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret.
(v. 82) 16. I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven. -
These passages are harder for me to use as a bhakti focus. It seems to me that the approach might be, first, to recognize that v. 14 marks a state of withdrawing from the inmost to one of its outer layers of inferred truth. It's an unusually appropriate time to use primarily the Ruach to examine the relationship of the Angel and, while I'll continue to watch for these opportunities throughout the day, the current verses, frankly, provide the first invitation I've run into today. So, here we go.
@CCXX said
"(v. 80) 14. Now let there be a veiling of this shrine; now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness!"
This entire chapter is aimed at "hiding" Hadit. Now, having disclosed his attributes as extensively as the "Unextended One" intends, He calls for a veiling, or hiding, of that Truth. It cannot be seen of itself, but only by the blinding light which drapes it. This, it will be recalled, is "starlight;" for Hadit's "house" is Khabs.
Also, a "veiling of this shrine" recalls the Tabernacle of the Wilderness, the Holy of Holies of which was veiled. (The Holy of Holies was the inmost part of the tabernacle, even as Hadit is the inmost part of each of us.) The veil was paroketh (PRKTh). This present veil is pure light, which is devoiring; i.e., it "swallows them up." Perhaps it also means a "stepping down" from Supernal Truth to the L.V.X. of the Rosy Cross.
I begin preparation for today's worship, therefore, by remembering the time when my primary experience of the Angel was his Light, the infusion of L.V.X., and allowing memories of this dyana to focus my attention at a particular level.
Anyway, here goes the Ruach-fed Qabalah!
PS - The "blinding light" at this exact juncture is a marvelous representation of the effect of the "lightning flash" effects of the Path of Peh - perhaps inferred by the fact that this is verse 80 of the entire Book.
"(v. 81) 15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret."
Here begin the numerical puzzles. As with Nuit's "11," I do not think conventional gematria is the primary key. I have accumulated many ideas on this verse over the years and, by proceeding carefully, I believe we can unveil important doctrines.
"I am perfect, being Not." He is Nuit, although in another sense her complement. They are not separate, but identical; not distinct, but, rather, distinctive views of One Thing, even as a volume of space is indistinguishable from the infinite number of geometric points which compose it.
"my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight..." Both "fools" and "just" hint at Aleph and Lamed, even with the lower case letters. I am not sure I know to what these refer exactly, though I assert they cannot be overlooked. Throughout this work, "fools" (a word that tends to show in Kether verses such as this one) has consistently had its common meaning, much more so than acting as an allusion to Aleph.
Let us start, though, by comparing 9 and 8, to try to discover the framework wherein this is meaningful.
I firmly believe the key is in Yesod vs. Hod. I will return to this.
Even as 11 was found meaningful by plenary spelling of its numerals to produce 131, so we must note that 9 = Teth = 419 and 8 = Cheth = 418. Now, this is interesting! Although Teth, 419, is a valid way of expressing the phenomena of Hadit, He is much more keenly known as 418, Abrahadabra, the Key-Word of the Aeon, which veils Him in its very center (again, Had = Sod).
9 = 3^2. 8 = 2^3. Both are the expansion resulting from the interplay of 2 and 3, the Binary and the Ternary. Now, 2 is the play of the Magus, and 3 is the Substance, or Maya, which He molds; that is, they are Chokmah and Binah, Will and Love, Chiah and Neshamah (ChYH + NShMH = 418). The correct way to view Hadit is not by the two-dimensional working out of the idea of 3 (Binah or Gimel), but by the three-dimensional working out of the idea of 2 (Chokmah or Beth); that is, by the Word made flesh, or Will living and expressing itself through the fabric of substance or Love. This is, in fact, just another way of describing the actualization of experience produced by the constant play of Hadit through the infinite aspects of the Body of Nuit. This is the Rosy Cross.
Finally - though very superficially, perhaps suited entirely to the bourgeois - the numeral 9 shows a circle which extends into a line that comes to a final ending. It terminates. This is a profane view of Life. But 8 shows a different view of Life. The numeral 8 is eternal, never ending, infinitely retwining about the same figure without the need to stop or retrace. Of all ten numerals, only 0 also has this characteristic.
Which returns me to the original idea, that the Key here is in the comparison of Yesod and Hod. I have one absolute confirmation of this: YSVD = 80, and one of its great numbers is 81; HVD enumerates to 15. This present verse is the 15th verse of this chapter, and the 81st verse of the entire Book! It deals with the interrelationship of the Mysteries of Yesod (81) and Hod (15).
To the fools - the "windbags" - Hadit is 9, Yesod. Life is viewed through the organs of procreation which, from the infinite circle of life, extend a single current downward into a finite and mortal termination, even as in the numeral 9. In the verses that follow, Hadit makes entirely clear that He is the "serpent-force." To "the fools" this is expressed primarily through the genitals. It is what, in v. 25, He calls drooping down of His head (cf., again, the shape of the numeral 9).
But to others - "the just," those who have made an "adjustment," those, perhaps, who have set certain currents within themselves into a balanced disposition - He is 8. In Hod, the same "serpent-force" is equally important, but no longer through the vehicle of sexual procreation. Where Yesod corresponds to the genitals, Hod corresponds to the channels of nerve force. Hod is androgynous, sexually self-contained because of the coexistence of opposites, the internal balance of polarities. Here the work, as well as the symbolism, of kundalini is imminently important; and it is as this that Hadit is viewed "with the just." It is what, in v. 26, he calls lifting up His head so that "I and my Nuit are one."
Had is Hod. Even the Hebrew spelling HVD is significant: Vav is the Hebrew conjunction "and," so HVD would have been "The Empress (D) and (V) The King (H)" if only Heh were The Emperor - which it is not! But Heh is the Hebrew definite article "the," so the same letters could be read as ha-Vad (HVD), "The (H) Hierophant (V) and Empress (D)." (See the next verse following.) Unfortunately, however interesting, this does not solve the numerical puzzles of v. 16, so it is not a complete solution: Hod explains, in part, why Had is 8, and reinforces all the other abundant Mercury symbolism but goes no further to resolve the other numerical puzzles. (PS - For those that want a more Chokmah-centered rendering of Hadit, I should mention that H V D are the three paths opening upward into Chokmah.)
Thus for 8 vs. 9.
He then says: "...I am eight, and one in eight." Here are many subtle communications. Several truths are existent at once; but one central idea subsumes them all. Of all of our numerals, only 0 and 8 may be drawn unendingly without lifting the pen or changing direction; and they are the numerals that are traditionally related to infinity. In fact, as 0 & * they express the nature of Nuit (0) and Hadit (8).
Take a string and make a 0. This is Nuit. Double it over to make two 0s tangent to each other, *. Here, the whole is still Nuit — nothing has been added or subtracted — but she appears in mirror image, "divided for love's sake," two perfect replicas of the original 0. Yet, without anything being added, something new is now seen! For the single point where the two circles tangentially touch is now defined and distinct; and this point is the very symbol of Hadit! He has manifested as a result of Her "division;" yet She is no less infinite. Divide (0/2=0), add (0+0=0), multiply (0x0=0) - and Understand.
This is the One in the Eight; or, rather, the "eight, and one in eight."
It has been observed that if an 8 and a 1 are superposed, they essentially make a Caduceus, and also a glyph of balanced kundalini.
Also, the only Qabalistic idea that is, at once, both 8 and 1 is Mercury, who wields that Caduceus; and we have seen throughout that Mercury is a superb representation of the self-description of Hadit. As Hod, Mercury is 8; as Beth, Mercury is Atu I.
There are other numerical ideas - especially the number 414, which is "one in eight," and Azoth, and Ain Soph Aur, &c. - which play this out; but I believe I have stated the essential doctrine.
Not only is 414 AYN SVPh AVR; but AYN SVPh = AVR = 207. This is, therefore, formed symbolically by the "0-*" string analogy I gave before, where the Limitless (AYN SVPh = 207) perfectly duplicated itself without addition or subtraction to form that Same Thing which is here represented by 414.
To continue with the verse:
"Which is vital, for I am none indeed." First, we already know He is "none," i.e., Nuit. But as His nature is To Go, He is the same "none" in deed. Similarly, I take the first phrase to mean that this 8, this Serpent-force &c., is entirely vital. It is the stuff of life. The life of the attained yogi is rich, vital, living, even if the exterior sometimes looks withdrawn &c.
The last sentence primarily says that His name is not spelled Heh-Daleth, as AC probably first thought. This sets up for the next verse. But I also note that The Emperor & the Empress are Sulphur and Salt and other obvious sexual polarities. There is the formulation of IV + III = VII = Cheth, 418, &c. But this is explicitly not meant here.
"(v. 82) 16. I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven."
First, we already know He is "eleven, as my bride is eleven," for He truly is of the stuff of Nuit. But the rest of the verse - for all of its simplicity - has been terribly difficult for students in the past.
The correct spelling is
V A D
(Vav Aleph Daleth)
By letter values, 6 + 1 + 4 = 11.
By Tarot values, V + 0 + III = 8.
The resulting implicit name, Vadit, is Latin for “He goes."Notice that these three letters correspond to three of the four Paths connecting to Chokmah; and Hadit's correspondence to Chokmah (at one level of symbolism) has been clearly established. Heh, the remaining Path, is The Star, or Khabs, the name of His House, and exteriorizes into the consciousness of Tiphereth.
There may also be a secondary meaning here. For example, The Empress is Venus; and The Hierophant is Taurus, ruled by Venus. Or perhaps He is saying that He is “Love [The Empress], the Revealer of the Mysteries [the Hierophant].”
-
Today (as every day), let me aspire to express my Going mindfully and with balance, not automatically and unconsciously.
-
@BoTL said
"(v. 80) 14. Now let there be a veiling of this shrine; now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness!
(v. 81) 15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret.
(v. 82) 16. I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven."Today there is commotion all about me. There are unresolved issues, disorganized projects, and a fly by the seat of my pants type of reality. I feel like the fool tossed about in the wind and water. I feel the blindness and am a bit lost, but I yearn to realize the light. When I stop and calm myself - there is that something that never leaves me, that strengthens me, and pushes me on. Dare I say that enjoy this turmoil? Am I causing it? Maybe, but in these verses I'd much rather aspire to beauty! Let me find that light and beauty today despite my blindness!
-
Fascinating. Swirling insanity here, too, and I'm mostly moving immune through it (like the bluescreen movie shot where the hero strolls purposefully away from the cascading explosions behind).
Very interesting.
-
@Jim Eshelman said
"...like the bluescreen movie shot where the hero strolls purposefully away from the cascading explosions behind..."
Love that image.
-
"(v. 81) 15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret."
One in eight brings to mind Kether "in" Hod. The Hebrew name for Mercury (attributed to Hod) is Kokab, which also means "star", again giving the idea of Hadit, as Kether, within his house, the Khabs. This seems to fit quite nicely with the correspondences outlined above.
-
" being Not"
Not=LA (lamed-aleph)
"with the just I am eight"
lamed-aleph - the fool and justice -- 0+8 by the trumps
"my number is nine by the fools"
Not sure if this is too much of a stretch, but "bal" is another way to say "not" in Hebrew. I'm no expert, but I think "La" implies "never", while "Bal" implies "not anymore"
Bal=Not (beth-lamed) 1+8 by the trumps
-
I thought of the Tao, and the call to unlearn what has been learned, in the symbolism of veiling the shrine.
Removing the veil ( the second or third time?), we find that we are blind - seeing the same object that had been veiled while experiencing it in a new or alternative fashion.
Have we changed the past?
-
Oh let there be a veiling of the shrine.....
Oh, my my my...
When I read these words I recall two specific moment in my life.
The week before I gave birth,
It seemed as if I was in a hurricane of light,Before I could bring my babe into my world,
I felt as if I had a million and one things
That HAD to be done,
That had to be cleaned
And sorted and ready.If you have ever been pregnant,
Or lived with a pregnant female
You will experience
What is called nesting.Before birthing you bring light
To your home
It helps to keep things alive,
Things like little babies.
But fellas, don't often seem to understand
The eminence,
And impending pressure
Before birthing.The compelling urge to clean is a fascinating biological habit, and is one of the primary reasons for our survival. Nothing cleans better then light and elbow grease.
When I read these verses I have always read it as a Being, being born of noble cause, but whose character is questioned, instead of his paternity.