"Downwards" initiation?
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Are there known cases of some kind of "downward" initiations? What could you say about such cases? Let me explain what i mean by that if you will:
"Downwards" in a sense where instead of begining the work using mostly the vile parts of the psyche and doing the classic alchemical transmutation to rise progressively up the planes, the initiate starts as, how to phrase it... lets say as a "trapped between two worlds" Magus(or Adept) who needs to learn to "land" to earth and materialise all his "super powers".
How such cases could be related to reincarnation? Why could possibly a man be assigned such an ordeal as performing a "downwards" initiation?
What if a subtle being incarnates itself? Wouldnt it perform such kind of initiation?
Writing this it makes me think about the 2=9 meditation where you breath in and out... life and death=upwards and downwards=breathing. Never ending cycle.
A voice says "both at the same time"...
Or maybe this corresponds best to the childhood of reincarnated adepts? Because they do such a downwards initiation until at adulthood they fully continue from where they left last time right?
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*I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.
In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself.
Ye can have no other Companion.
Many have arisen, being wise. They have said «Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It.»
Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, «Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime.»
I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.
But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher. * Liber Tzaddi 33-41That was my initial thought at least. But a little further on this, think if you will upon the situation that the HGA finds himself in, he needs desperately to fulfill himself my "stooping down" to the shells in order to reclaim those sleeping parts of himself that he thinks of as the Princess to his prince.
Apart from that I think your idea of "vile parts of the psyche" is misleading, the fact that you think in such terms at all is a sign of division in the psyche.
There are various examples of "downward initiations" in the worlds mystery traditions, many of which involve trips through the underworld. The Golden Dawn and A.'.A.'. both have similar setups too.
How this would relate to the idea of reincarnation I couldn't say, because you have star and star, system and system.....I wouldn't presume to comment on the path of another star.
Subtle beings? That's already happened, you are already here manifesting the unmanifest, so you tell me?
I think that your voice: "Both at the same time" has it about right.
For the rest; I'm not sure whether I see reincarnation as even relevant to be honest, the metaphysic of it can be distracting, but maybe that's just me. I find it simpler and more practical to simply think of myself as a manifestation (in rather refracted form) into Assiah of a Briatic consciousness that for now I call my HGA. If I attain to adeptship in this lifetime it is simply because I have applied myself to clearing the way for that manifestation, by tidying up the range of complexes and accidents of my life before beginning (consciously) the Great Work. So to answer your question; yes, in a sense the work prior to K&C could be looked at as a downwards initiation.
Think on this: The path of the A.'.A.'. is the journey inwards. -
Ha ! Super answer. That's a quote i've been trying to find for weeks. It answers for many topics. Golden quote.
I think you're right concerning "the vile parts of the psyche".
Althought i didnt mean exactly such things by "downwards". But it can be seen in many ways. We could also imagine a "classic" system, GD/AA style, with the difference the sephiroth worked begins from Kether and go one by one downwards to Malkuth. Neophytus would be Kether, Ipsissimus woukd be Malkuth. What about this one?
I see many potentialy interesting things with such a modification.
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Frater Achad spoke a lot about turning the Tree upside down.
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@P is for Pomegranate said
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@Archaeus said
"and look where it got him"Kinda my point
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Thought it might have been, and the episode brings to mind Crowley's comments on the subject; that in seeking to turn the tree on it's head he simply demonstrated that he had never understood its true meaning.
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A useful meditation for an Ippissimus, perhaps. Beforehand, seemingly prone to provoke unbalance, too soon and out of perspective.
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@Archaeus said
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@P is for Pomegranate said
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@Archaeus said
"and look where it got him"Kinda my point
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Thought it might have been, and the episode brings to mind Crowley's comments on the subject; that in seeking to turn the tree on it's head he simply demonstrated that he had never understood its true meaning."
That seems again another different thing... an inverted tree, so we still go upwards? Achad had even weirder ideas than me probably. Nice to read the Crowley comentary.
What i really mean gets clearer though: it's a kind of perspective where you consider you're already in Kether. Like that school of Yoga which say basically "there is no way", "everything has already happened" you see? So you're there, Ipsissimus, and the "way" is illusion from the start, but you do it anyway as it has to be done(?). When you do it, as you're already at the highest, you can only go down.
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@Archaeus said
"*I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.
In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself.
Ye can have no other Companion.
Many have arisen, being wise. They have said «Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It.»
Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, «Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime.»
I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.
But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher. * Liber Tzaddi 33-41
"Could we say as wedding with HGA occurs with briatic consciousness, wedding with the Demon occurs with yetziratic consciousness? Or is demonic wedding supposed to increase in intensity up to Adepthood?
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The demon is also the hga
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@Frater Horus said
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"The demon is also the hga"You mean the "good" one(kakodemonos-kalodemonos?), or/and the shadow HGA produces?"
I mean that mincing the hga into bits and pieces only limits it.
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
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@Frater Horus said
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"The demon is also the hga"You mean the "good" one(kakodemonos-kalodemonos?), or/and the shadow HGA produces?"
I mean that mincing the hga into bits and pieces only limits it."
Agreed, not to mention a waste of time, it's far better to experience it than argue about it.