The Temple of Solomon the King
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The Temple of Solomon the King is Liber 58. However, it has no class assigned to it, and is not part of the A.'.A.'. curriculm in any grade (except for the essay on Gematria in No. 5, which is part of the 3=9 curriculum).
@Zalthos said
"From what I understand, he must've achieved Magister Templi (8=3) in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn before writing this, since the text under question details his attainment and the rituals involved up to this Grade. But, (and I ask this since its published in the Equinox) perhaps the series was prepared in such a way that it bears a deeper semblance to what attainment is like in the A∴ A∴ rather than the Golden Dawn?"
I think you're correctly detecting a certain confusion over the course of this time, because his baseline for measuring these things was in flux for the years leading up to the writing of TSK. I go into this a bit in the introduction of Visions & Voices. No, he never reached 8=3 in the G.D. (He reached 5=6, and then upon completing the work he'd been given, he claimed 6=5. I suppose you could count that Jones later acknowledged him as a 7=4.)
Mostly it's confused. But, for the most part, the baseline through the whole thing is G.D.-level, not A.'.A.'. level. One striking example of this is that his description of Babe of the Abyss in 1905 is pure - pure! - A.'.A.'. Dominus Liminis (and the period that gave the insight for creating the Dom Lim curriculum).
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
@Jim Eshelman said
"I think you're correctly detecting a certain confusion over the course of this time, because his baseline for measuring these things was in flux for the years leading up to the writing of TSK."
Thanks. I knew that grades past 5=6 of Crowley's attainment in the G. D. scale get fuzzy in terms of the events leading to their achievement and who conferred them.
Did he publish anything that gives ideas or glimpses into 9=2 or 10=1 of the G. D.?
@Jim Eshelman said
"But, for the most part, the baseline through the whole thing is G.D.-level, not A.'.A.'. level."
Emphasis added...
I can respect that you don't want to be more specific than that, though. I'm sure a great deal of the questions I have surrounding this material can be solved with repeated readings, application, and further study.
@Jim Eshelman said
"One striking example of this is that his description of Babe of the Abyss in 1905 is pure - pure! - A.'.A.'. Dominus Liminis (and the period that gave the insight for creating the Dom Lim curriculum)."
This is something I will keep an eye out for. One thing I didn't consider until now is that the veils apply this way in scaling the tree; an abysmal crossing in the G. D. scale (which is in Yetzirah all the way up from 5=6 on, right?) would be a Dominus Liminis conferment to the A∴ A∴.
This has me thinking about how applying the elemental grades of Assiah and Dominus Liminis in the G. D. scale might give a glimpse of what its like as a Neophyte of the A∴ A∴.
Love is the law, love under will.
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@Zalthos said
"Did he publish anything that gives ideas or glimpses into 9=2 or 10=1 of the G. D.?"
In reality, there never was a 9=2 or 10-1 in G.D. (There is a nominal 9=2 in the Smaragna Thallasis, but it's just a governing formality grade.) The G.D. itself never worked past 5=6, though some of its successors worked to 7=4 or just past.
"This has me thinking about how applying the elemental grades of Assiah and Dominus Liminis in the G. D. scale might give a glimpse of what its like as a Neophyte of the A∴ A∴. "
Or you could just join Temple of Thelema and actually pass through them!
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
@Jim Eshelman said
"Or you could just join Temple of Thelema and actually pass through them!
"Making slow progress, but a relocation to somewhere much closer to New York is in the works...
I still think its at least another year off, but I hope I'm wrong!
Really just depends on how business goes...
Love is the law, love under will.
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@Iamus said
"
@Jim Eshelman said
" The G.D. itself never worked past 5=6, though some of its successors worked to 7=4 or just past. "
How would G.D. 6=5 and 7=4 match up with A.A. grades?"It's probably not a good idea to be overly precise on this. But let me talk about it in broad terms.
G.D. 5=6 admits to Tiphereth in Yetzirah. (Despite the use of Yetziratic elements by the initiators and a bit of working with Yetziratic things - e.g., visualizations in the Pentagram Ritual, some meditations, etc. - this is the practical "working in Yetzirah" threshold.) - 6=5 and 7=4 then correspond to Geburah and Chesed (respectively) in Yetzirah.
Had 8=3 ever really existed in a G.D. context, it would have corresponded to Binah in Briah. That transition would have marked the "working in Briah" threshold.
In A.'.A.'., the transition to Yetzirah is made at 2=9 (Yesod in Yetzirah). - The 1=10 work opens to Yetzirah. - And 5=6 (Tiphereth in Briah) is the opening of Briah (because completion of Dominus Liminis work opens the veil to Briah).
A further confusion is that G.D. is a system of "initiate then do the work" - e.g., be admitted to 5=6 and then take on the 5=6 work. A.'.A.'. is a system of "do the work then initiate" - e.g., do the work that makes you a 5=6, and then get it confirmed. This is mentioned because of some confusions from the "trying to get exact correspondences between degrees in the two systems." One would say that the A.'.A.'. 2=9 is equal to the G.D. 5=6 if you mean that the initiation rituals are written on the same formula and each is the threshold to Yetzirah. But one would say that the A.'.A.'. 1=10 is equal to the G.D. 5=6 if you mean that they are doing substantially the same work.
So, back to your question:
If A.'.A.'. 2=9 opens to Yetzirah and 5=6 opens to Briah, while G.D. 5=6 opens to Yetzirah and 8=3 opens to Briah, then you happen to have two grades in each system that fall in between. More or less, you can expect that the A.'.A.'. 3=8 and 4=7 are the same level of development of the G.D. 6=5 and 7=4.
In practice, that's a reasonable and imprecise approximation. Traditional G.D. 6=5 has a lot in common with A.'.A.'. Yesod, and a bit with Hod; whereas G.D. 7=4 (being a strong, balanced meeting of Gnana and Bhakti yogas) is like an A.'.A.'. 3=8 and 4=7 blend. - In Temple of Thelema, there is significant overlap between the 6° and A.'.A.'. 2=9 and 3=8, and significant overlap between the 7° and A.'.A.'. 4=7 (with a bit of 3=8).
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Thanks Jim, that's along the lines of what I was thinking, but with most of my difficulties clarified. The whole "initiate then do the work" vs. the A.'.A.'. method has been a source of confusion for me for a while...
Are there any good sources of info on G.D. grades beyond Adeptus Minor? Regardie's book largely cuts off at that point.
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@Iamus said
"Thanks Jim, that's along the lines of what I was thinking, but with most of my difficulties clarified. The whole "initiate then do the work" vs. the A.'.A.'. method has been a source of confusion for me for a while...
Are there any good sources of info on G.D. grades beyond Adeptus Minor? Regardie's book largely cuts off at that point."
There were never any G.D. grade rituals beyond 5=6. There are rituals from successor orders, but not from the G.D., which ceased to exist in (or soon after) 1900.
The Stella Matutina (or, rather Smargna Thallasus) rituals of 6=5 and 7=4 have been published in a Pat Zalewski book.(The manuscripts are mostly complete. A couple of pages of the original were left out by Falcon Press during the publication.)
I have Mathers' 6=5 ceremony from the A & O in private manuscript, it hasn't been published; and the general consensus (mostly based on nothing having been found) is that there was never an A & O 7=4. (If there was, I can tell from internal clues in the 6=5 that it was a fairly minor thing.) Waite's rituals from Fellowship of the Rosy Cross have survived, and many collectors have them; I never share my copies because a version of that fellowship (possibly a legitimate successor; the head of it is well respected) is still alive and working.
An earlier Waite 6=5 ritual (from a time after Stella Matutina and before F.R.C.) was published more or less accurately by Regardie in the Door Stop Edition of his G.D. book.
Temple of Thelema has fully developed rituals through 8°. While the Geburah and Chesed levels are rewrites / evolutions from earlier generations of the tradition, the 8° is a whole different level of ritual from an ancient Neshamah-triggering formula never used in the Golden Dawn.
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@Faus said
"Just a curiosity but, can such similar structure be found in other initiation systems like Martinism or Aurum Solis?"
Aurum Solis has three "halls" - Malkuth, Yesod, Tiphereth ascending the worlds. They also have a stage beyond that.
Martinist? Little more than Freemasonry.