25 December (Hadit) Liber CCXX, 2:44-45
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(v. 110) 44. Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.
(v. 111) 45. There is death for the dogs. -
Once more, a phrase entirely suitable to the holidays.
"She knows if you've been bad or good..."
I continue my personal observation of the season of the Return of the Light, of which meditation on these passages is just periphery - but they do give a very happy setting for celebration of the civil holiday season.
A few remarks on the verses...
@CCXX said
"(v. 110) 44. Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu."
This verse concludes the Kaph decanate of verses which began nine verses back and which have brought the tone of Jupiter to these teachings on ceremony, celebration, and the like. This verse's doctrine is clear in its own right, especially as to erroneous ideas of death.
@CCXX said
"(v. 111) 45. There is death for the dogs."
In verse 44 we were just told that there is no death; but now we learn that, "There is death for the dogs."
Since there is no death, this cannot refer to the death of any living being. Liber L. uses animals, especially dogs, to refer to the lower aspects of our being, and especially the shadowy and insubstantial reflections which are but poor intimations of the Truth. Dogs are sacred to the Moon, and especially to Hecate. They are, therefore, a proper symbol of illusion and shadow.
It is this - the illusion or shadow, the mere intimation of reality - which dies. The truth endures.
This is verse 45 of this chapter, alluding to the doctrine that Deus est Homo (45=45). It is also verse 111 of the entire Book, disclosing Aleph and other tokens of eternal life. Its message is clear. What we really are does not die. Perhaps the yapping pet at The Fool’s heels; but not The Fool.
As verse 111, this is also the Kether verse of the twelfth, or Lamed, decanate of verses. These ten verses (from 2:45 through 2:54) are a levied judgment. Read them as such - as a Sephirah-by-Sephirah pronouncement of Lamed's judgment, with the present verse as the theme sentence of a paragraph - and there will be many fascinating things made evident in the words.