Duality and Thelema
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
I love you guys
Intellectually, I can't keep up, as I'm only 17 and have lots of brain yet to develop.
But emotionally, I follow you all more than I can express and seeing you all battle each other with such honor truly helps my own battles, while giving me many directions to follow all along.
I wish I could be up there with you all! One day, one day... -
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
@Dar es Alrah said
"
I must say - you're a very well read young man. I'm not sure I'd heard of the Eleusinian Mysteries when I was your age, never mind looked into them.
I find myself being continually impressed by just how educated young people are these days about a broad range of topics. I assume that's down to the internet, with innate intelligence and curiosity making the most of the these avenues open to it. In short - you seem quite 'up there' to me. "I have my moments
I've felt a draw to mythology since I was five or six years old, so it's always been something I could sit down and talk about. It frustrated me when I was younger that no one else seemed to realize the fact that all the religions everyone seemed so worked up about were just cultural redundancies of older and far more sublime mythologies. Zeus and Hermes made a much better Christianity in my eyes than the Father and Son of my mother's leaning. Ending up in Thelema was just the natural progression of that kind of thinking.And I can tell you that my education(and that of my peers) had absolutely nothing to do with my schooling. In fact, I dropped out last October. The sheer insanity of the school system in this country(the U.S. of course) nearly drove me over the edge. Tainted history, outdated science, taught by people with no handle on their egos whatsoever is not the kind of institution to look for psychological progression. No learning, only superficial memorization of information. Even though I got A's on all of my tests, I was considered a delinquent by the powers-that-be. Then, once I was opened up to Crowley(and all of the Karmic madness that surrounds such an occurrence!), I had my alternative path and out the door I went.
It's like this for so many young people here. We look to our parents, our trusted elders, and we see them even more lost, scared, and confused than we are. Just egos self-destructing in the face of all the chaos. All we can try to do is get out of the way and hope they don't make too big of a mess of the Earth we all hoped to inherit. But I can also tell you that there is a phenomenon altogether unique and magical occurring in the minds of the young. There is an Indigo fire burning behind their eyes; the children readily await the coming of the Hierophant, to be taught something REAL by a teacher that deserves our attention, and to unleash our true creative capabilities.
So, again, thank you for showing me that there actually are adults in the world that are still setting an example and foundation for true evolutionary progression. Warms my heart
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
@Dar es Alrah said
"I was watching a couple of Ted talks by Sir Ken Robinson about **(http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_148916&feature=iv&src_vid=iG9CE55wbtY&v=r9LelXa3U_I:fnlpg5ne)."
Neat, I watched those same talks myself a while back, and I agree with much of what he says. He is certainly a noteworthy contemporary in my book.
By the way, my own understanding of "passive" has rarely been rendered as "intert/incapable" in the framework of my own mind. Although I have come across that in my readings, I more often understand it better as "recieving," which I have always understood to be an action in its own right. "Observation" also comes to mind as an appropriate example.
Activity is no less apparent to a silent mind. In fact, a silent mind would seem to me to be even more aware of any action taking place. By my take, Nuit is all-embracing of Hadit's lordship, even as maintaining the peace of perfect stillness is in itself a call to action. Indeed, how can any of us hope to "achieve Hadit" without the embrace of Nuit? This, of course, implies a reciprocal of equal importance, and I think this thread could use a good dose of 0=2, whether the reality of either of the two parties on the right half of the equation are being imagined or Not (see Liber NV and Liber HAD).
I hadn't realized definitions like "inert" which, to me, imply such underpinnings as "incapability," had become in anyway predominate to people's understanding the concept of "passive." While that emphasis may be important in certain situations or circumstances, it in no way relates to how I commonly understand the term, and I felt a need to come back here and clarify that.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Dar, that etymological analysis was enlightening; thank you for sharing that.
It is now absolutely clear to me that there are indeed important distinctions between "passive" and "receptive" that beg to be clarified for all intents and purposes.
I have to agree the "giving/recieving" terminology is a much more accurate discriptor than "active/passive" for multiple reasons, many of which have already been enumerated.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
I personally think that the word passive is not inappropriate at all, and now that the origin was shared I think so even more.
I don't recall what the gland is called, but women have an extra gland in our body. This glands sole purpose is to make a woman forget the pain and suffeing of childbirth.
My own body it seems is working against me, for the sake of the species.
Sure wished it worked on wiping out other memories.....
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
@Dar es Alrah said
"
I declare... I just don't understand how us watery and earthy females manage to get up in the morning without the the stimulation of you men... and obviously there has to be a man somewhere behind me pulling my strings and putting words into my mouth too - as my intellect is so obviously inferior to you lot.. oh my wise Lords and Masters of Magick! Please, please - rouse me from my static, latent forces and insert your dynamic potency into my latency! Oh hang on... that was too enthusiastic wasn't it...? pretends to be passive once more so as not to upset the men."
It seems someone wandered out of the kitchen.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
@Middleman said
"
@Dar es Alrah said
"I declare... I just don't understand how us watery and earthy females manage to get up in the morning without the the stimulation of you men... and obviously there has to be a man somewhere behind me pulling my strings and putting words into my mouth too - as my intellect is so obviously inferior to you lot.. oh my wise Lords and Masters of Magick! Please, please - rouse me from my static, latent forces and insert your dynamic potency into my latency! Oh hang on... that was too enthusiastic wasn't it...? pretends to be passive once more so as not to upset the men."
It seems someone wandered out of the kitchen."
Priceless.
Although it may end up being your last post, tact is a vital skill my friend, learn it.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
@Dar es Alrah said
"
@Middleman said
"It seems someone wandered out of the kitchen."It seems something wandered out of the zoo."
Seems all this talk of Duality is descending to the level of Nephesh?
Remember: As Brothers (and Sisters) fight ye!
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
Really?
You think?
Ya know what thou, Dar is a big girl and can speak for herself, but.......
If you know that what you are saying is going to illicit a negative response, and the comments really do not add at all to the growth and health of life.....And I know that it is known to many of the regulars and longtime posters, that some members are extremely different, explosive and in the cyber world may seem extreme....
Why would you carry it on?
do you think she forgot, do you think she came back for more?
Janet is an extremely carring, considerate and honest young lady and I know I count my lucky stars that she was able to return to TOT, with her head on straight and her passion on her sleeve.She is not a bird, she is a human being with feelings.
I spend hours a day in my kitchen, and I love it. I am a wonderful human being, maybe if more people spent time in the kitchen learning how to nurture life, life that was brought into this plane through suffering you blokes can only dream up, maybe then you can experience passion, and understand what the F she is getting at.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
Awww... But you've misinterpreted my man-compliment.
Dar is a ferocious bird of prey in the intellectual realm, and I don't think she aspires to anything less.
And you yourself have shown more courage in dealing with me than most, and at one time in particular when I was particularly bent and really appreciated the pushback.
At times, I require gloves as well, so there's no lesser-than intended.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
@Sardonyx said
"Awww... But you've misinterpreted my man-compliment.
Dar is a ferocious bird of prey in the intellectual realm, and I don't think she aspires to anything less.
And you yourself have shown more courage in dealing with me than most, and at one time in particular when I was particularly bent and really appreciated the pushback.
At times, I require gloves as well, so there's no lesser-than intended."
Which was why I quoted Liber AL, not to make a holier than though statement, I find it helps to look at these things with a healthy dose of humour.
Apologies though for any offences caused though.
The whole us/them mentality thing, be it in regards to gender, race, or whatever is laughable to be honest, and I find that when I notice it creeping into my sensorium I tend to put it in it's place with humour PDQ.
That doesn't stop the ol' lizard brained tribalism in me sometimes getting out of hand, call it a post-patriarchal Aeon hangover. 2000+ years of hard wired (often by necessity) bigotry doesn't just disappear over night.
I consider myself quite liberated really, but I'll admit to occasionally having thoughts that are beneath me.
At least most of the guys and gals on here are actually working on it.93 93/93
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
-
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As the title of this thread suggests, this is an enormous subject that I expect will foster little more than vague, far-reaching statements (which I rather like, actually). I'm curious as to people's experience in encountering "Pairs of Opposites," specifically in esoteric study.
One of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life was in a dream I had some years back. At this point in my life, I was absolutely obsessed with Gender, and why manifested existence has taken the forms it has; why two sexes? why ten fingers, ten toes, etc? But I always found myself coming back to Gender. The dream climaxed in a Union with a "Knowledge-Bearing Light," who bestowed a communication upon me that answered all my seeking and offered me much much more, which I promptly partook of. What happened next is something I can hardly describe, but "peace unutterable" would be the closest attempt I could make.
An obvious consideration in the context of Gender is Nuit and Hadit. However, at present, I find myself deeply concerned with 666, Lion-Serpents, and Solar-Phallic imagery in general. To me, while this is all cognate with sunlight and semen (and thus seemingly opens up a whole world of mythological allegory between sexual conception and the sun's light upon the earth), it would paradoxically seem to be a marriage between Lunar and Solar imagery: it is a composite of the Lunar Serpent, who sheds it's skin as the moon sheds it's shadow, and the Solar Lion, with its powerful transmissive roar and round solar face.
I suppose there are always multiple ways of reading the same thing: one could easily attribute the sun to the serpent, as the serpent never closes its eyes, while the sun never gives up its light; it takes it's light with it, and it is we who are left in the darkness of night. However, as I've almost exclusively seen the Lion-Serpent presented in a Solar-Phallic context, its left me to wonder if there is a corresponding Lunar-Ovic (so to speak) image that I am missing. Or maybe the appropriate context for the Lion-Serpent imagery does lie in a Lunar-Solar Union, and therefore may be symbolic of the Child principle itself. But this comes at odds with the Chokmah attributions I have heavily considered, as the Lion-Serpent is "The Beast," in my understanding
Qabalistically, I've also noticed that one can take the Paths in Pairs. Starting from the Bottom of the Tree, or the Tail of Nechushtan, its starts off wonderfully: The Universe and The Aeon (Spirit), The Sun and The Moon, and The Emperor and The Tower all seem to fit well together as pairs. Has anyone had much experience with studying the Paths in this context?
Also Qabalistically, every one of the Three Gates is rendered by two horizontally oriented Sephiroth. I can't help but believe there is incredible significance to this, and I'm hoping someone here can embellish on this regard.
The Father & Mother and Son & Daughter of Tetragrammaton can also be read in pairs, Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively.
Some really huge ones for me lately have been Hate & Love and Relationship & Identity. I actually intend to write an essay on Relationship & Identity soon. These two ideas represent to me the two fundamental approaches to Deity: any given religion will either encourage a relationship to deity or an identity with deity. While I typically have always held identity as superior, recent experiences have begun to reveal to me that Identity is actually created by Relationship, and perhaps even vice-versa.
On Hate & Love: somethings that have always stuck with me (and I believe this is all from the first part of Eight Lectures on Yoga) in my studies have been Crowley's convictions that it is infinitely more fruitful to scrap the rules and make your own, and also the idea that the mind hates routine. This, of course, is all my attempt to convey his statements in my own terms, and not necessarily a direct quotation. While this has typically left me almost completely dismissive of the very system I am aspiring to, I am reminded of how very near hate is to love itself, and perhaps one must do what one hates daily, even as one does what one loves daily, in order to achieve Balance.
This is getting really long, and I do wish to hear what anyone has to say about this, so I will reel it in and bring it to a close here. I hope all of this isn't too terribly disjointed.
Love is the law, love under will.
@Middleman said
"Seriously though, I've always thought that 'receptive' was a better word than 'passive' as both sides are 'active'."
Its an etymological problem then.
I'm sure Dar knows exactly what she means by passive, and I'm equally sure that others know exactly what they mean by it.
The moral is, if your going to use a potentially contentious term in a discussion and it causes friction, its worth while discussing exactly what each party means by choosing that particular word. Otherwise we'll just get more of these off-topic posts.
