13 December (Hadit) Liber CCXX, 2:5-6
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(v. 71) 5. Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright.
(v. 72) 6. I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death. -
@CCXX said
"(v. 71) 5. Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright.."
AC, as “the prophet,” is given specific instructions about the New Order. The essential information here is that some of the existing rituals are “good” and some are to be “purged” (revised to conform to the new teachings); some are “evil” and are to be dropped.
Note that “black” cannot mean “evil,” since all of the old rituals are “black,” but some are “good” and some “evil.” Perhaps “black” means simply “Osirian,” since “Osiris is a black god.” In any case, the wording suggests that they are no longer capable of reflecting light to their witnesses.
“Evil” and “good” are polarities entirely atypical of this Book. A purely functional understanding is possible here.
Also, a specifically ritualistic approach is ordained in order that “this Knowledge” “shall... go aright.”
"(v. 72) 6. I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death."
This is one of the most important defining verses of Hadit in the entire Chapter — possibly the most often quoted, as well.
Hadit is the very spark of life, the essence of Life itself. This is what ultimately separates him from Hades and identifies him more closely with that other Hidden One, Amoun, who is very much a God of life and procreation. He is the Central Seed (atom or Atma) within each of us, and also that seed which is scattered and sown with vast prodigality.
The inmost flame of the human heart is stated to be identical to the flame within “the core of every star.” I believe this means actual physical stars in addition to each Khabs; for the Secret Doctrine has long equated human conscionsness with sunlight and starlight, and found consciousness itself in the latter.
But again we are reminded that He, simply, is Life. All life. Each spark, each seed, and all sparks, all seeds. As Yod is both Kether and Chokmah, point and line, so is Had both seed-spark of life and flowing stream of life. “Life” and “the giver of Life” are one and the same, are this Stream. He is, therefore, every bit as omnipresent as Nuit, but with a sublime distinction: the characteristic of Reality as Hadit is always to experience itself as centered in a single out-looking point.
It is, then, self-evident that the “knowledge” of Hadit is “the knowledge of death.” This is clear from two different angles. First, life and death are two aspects of the common idea of Life. (They are the paired attributes assigned to the double-letter Beth, which emerges, throughout this chapter, as one of the best symbols of Hadit.) The Knowledge of one is the knowledge of the other, for the eternal Serpent Life (Hadit) passes rhythmically through both phrases. Yet again, we are already told that Hadit is never known. He is certainly not “known” in time. Nor can he be known (objectified) when what one is IS THAT. To know Him is to be Him; i.e., to Be. There can be no objectification of Life, for that would mean one was apart from it, outside of it. Finally, the real and profound knowledge of Hadit would be samadhi on Life itself, which would dissolve the distinction of an individual point of view, i.e., dissolve the Individuality.