The Pentagram and its Averse
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Here's where I'm at with it
353
I-love-you. I-guard-you,-my-love. I-love-you.
That 5 in the middle, that's big.
The interesting thing about the Pentagram is that even when Spirit is "beneath" the elements, their relationship is still conformed to the Pentagram itself and its symbolic suggestion of a Golden Mean and a mathematical expression of beautiful, naturally evolving relationships.
Now when you point your attentions at the relationships where Spirit is suborted to the other Elements, where the Above order must relent due to the intimacy and interconnectedness of their inherent relationships, then you're no longer viewing into the perfected Above-evolved resulting Order. Instead, you're viewing into the blazing and frigid chaos of the Elements as it is forced to become organized by the power of the relationships of the Pentagram. You're looking downward instead of upward - that level of Spirit.
And so, when you perform a ritual that invokes that lower direction of the Pentagram, as it relates to organizing the chaotic powers of Psyche and Spirit as they evolve upward into being Ordered by the Spirit, if you do not yet know what rules them, to what Beauty and Perfection alone they submit, then you will by the time you're done with figuring it out.
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Upright and averse pentagrams have more in common than different. The essential geometry, relationship of the five elements, number 5, and all sorts of other things are identical.
As I see it, one of the biggest issues in the distinction between the two is whether or not one is an adept.
To the non-adept, one who does not have a secure link to the 'higher' (= inmost), the averse pentagram exalts the elements above Spirit. It places higher valuation. (There is an innate, neurological predisposition in humans to equate vertical elevation with better, stronger, winning, dominant, etc.) Though this would have some highly specialized uses, it generally would be destructive because it reinforces the natural state of the non-adept to the disparagement of the path of spiritual development.
To the adept, though, the meaning changes, because, to the adept, the linkage to something higher / inner / deeper / transcendent to, and governing the aspects of one's personality, has become natural. The conscious relationship to that elevated Spirit point takes but a thought, and the unconscious relationship to it is as easy as breathing. The starting place (rather than distant goal) is one of the upright pentagram; therefore, the averse pentagram signifies something that moves from the normal state. Specifically, it represents the drawing of that Spirit quality downward into manifestation, down through the elements into maximum externalization. It no longer shows Spirit disparaged by the dominance of the elements because there is no way natural for the adept to ever again believe that this is so.
They have different starting points. Therefore, they represent different things.
(There can, of course - as in all things dealing with consciousness - be special instances of a particular individual seeking a particular shift, where the above principles would be intact, but the application of those principles would be different.)
It's IAO vs. OAI: The s'fiyroth in the sequence 10-1-6 for the first (Malkuth uplifted to Kether, before it is centralized in Tifereth) vs. 6-1-10 for the other (starting from centered integration in Tifereth, before aspiring upward to Kether to then plunge with its Spirit-force into Malkuth).
Life up your head. Stoop down your head.
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So...
Regarding the psyche..
The averse pentagram can be seen as focusing the magician's attention on that manifestation of Spirit that is closer to matter, where the elements are closer to manifestation, "denser," more materially real.
I guess, technically, you'd have to stop there. You'd have to say that the averse pentagram just focuses on the elements as they are closer to real manifestation in Assiah. Period.
But, if within the magician's psyche there are remainders of elements whose "love" is not yet "under Will," then using the averse pentagram would certainly stir these into activity.
Another way of saying it, though perhaps not any less poetic, would be that if there are any remainders of elements that have not yet been fully dissolved and recoagulated (Solve et Coagula), then using the averse pentagram would activate these energies in the magician.
Perhaps, one should say that either way, with the use of the pentagram, these energies are stirred into activity, whether they have been fully integrated into the psyche or not. But the averse pentagram specifically invokes the elements focusing more on their raw material power instead of focusing more on their ultimate integration in self-understanding.
So, in Reguli, for example, you stimulate the elements in the context of materialization or action (Assiah). It might be similar to invoking psychic chaos and bondage to the elements for oneself, except that in the context of Reguli, the godnames of the New Aeon are placed in authority over these powers. In that context, the ritual would seem to serve the purpose of first stimulating and then ordering. Or, in other words, the ritual seems to be made in a way that follows the ideal of Solve et Coagula. The "material" is heated, separated, and then recoagulated with a new organizing structure.
Please don't imagine this as a know-it-all-type lecture. Imagine it as a student throwing out his theory for discussion.
But this is why, in the context of the other thread, I think of the ritual as something that really stirs up the psyche to the point of being quite destabilizing (heating the material) before it separates and organizes the elements according to their New Aeon understanding (self-understanding). That's a process one has to live through while one's elements have been stirred into powerful stimulation. In using the New Aeon godnames for this purpose, you could say that the whole point of the ritual is to first upset and then re-right the pentagram. The righting of the pentagram seems inherent in the ritual, given that the higher-level godnames are given authority over the elements. Still, for the "beginner," whose psyche has much to dissolve and recoagulate, it all but promises a pretty wild ride as the ritual's inherent purpose is played out in the psyche.
Thoughts?
(If such theorizing about the nature of this ritual is frowned up by the Administration, please feel free to delete it.)
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@Jim Eshelman said
"To the adept, though, the meaning changes, because, to the adept, the linkage to something higher / inner / deeper / transcendent to, and governing the aspects of one's personality, has become natural."
Yes! That's beautiful.
Thanks for that, Jim.Holy Book time:
@Liber VIII said
"20.O God of mine, Thou art like a little white goat with lightning in his horns!
21.I love Thee, I love Thee.
22.Every breath, every word, every thought, every deed is an act of love with Thee.
23.The beat of my heart is the pendulum of love.
24.The songs of me are the soft sighs:
25.The thoughts of me are very rapture:
26.And my deeds are the myriads of Thy children, the stars and the atoms.
27.Let there be nothing!
28.Let all things drop into this ocean of love!
29.Be this devotion a potent spell to exorcise the demons of the Five!
30.Ah God, all is gone! Thou dost consummate Thy rapture. Falútli! Falútli!
31.There is a solemnity of the silence. There is no more voice at all.
32.So shall it be unto the end. We who were dust shall never fall away into the dust.
33.So shall it be.
34.Then, O my God, the breath of the Garden of Spices. All these have a savour averse.
35.The cone is cut with an infinite ray; the curve of hyperbolic life springs into being.
36.Farther and farther we float; yet we are still. It is the chain of systems that is falling away from us.
37.First falls the silly world; the world of the old grey land.
38.Falls it unthinkably far, with its sorrowful bearded face presiding over it; it fades to silence and woe.
39.We to silence and bliss, and the face is the laughing face of Eros.
40.Smiling we greet him with the secret signs.
41.He leads us into the Inverted Palace.
42.There is the Heart of Blood, a pyramid reaching its apex down beyond the Wrong of the Beginning.
43.Bury me unto Thy Glory, O beloved, O princely lover of this harlot maiden, within the Secretest Chamber of the Palace!
44.It is done quickly; yea, the seal is set upon the vault.
45.There is one that shall avail to open it.
46.Nor by memory, nor by imagination, nor by prayer, nor by fasting, nor by scourging, nor by drugs, nor by ritual, nor by meditation; only by passive love shall he avail."@Jim Eshelman said
"It's IAO vs. OAI: The s'fiyroth in the sequence 10-1-6 for the first (Malkuth uplifted to Kether, before it is centralized in Tifereth) vs. 6-1-10 for the other (starting from centered integration in Tifereth, before aspiring upward to Kether to then plunge with its Spirit-force into Malkuth).
Lift up your head. Stoop down your head."
@Liber Tzaddi said
"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.
- Thus shall equilibrium become perfect. I will aid my disciples; as fast as they acquire this balanced power and joy so faster will I push them.
- They shall in their turn speak from this Invisible Throne; their words shall illumine the worlds.
- They shall be masters of majesty and might; they shall be beautiful and joyous; they shall be clothed with victory and splendour; they shall stand upon the firm foundation; the kingdom shall be theirs; yea, the kingdom shall be theirs.
In the name of the Lord of Initiation. Amen. "
@Legis said
"Please don't imagine this as a know-it-all-type lecture. Imagine it as a student throwing out his theory for discussion. "
Me too. It's fun to discuss. The way I see it goes like this:
Spirit isn't dictated by the elements or vice versa - it's Word is To Go. Spirit is an element - it is the All-Identity doing Its Thing (the Force of Life). We have the "self" and how that relates with what is "outside" of what we call "self." Whether "identity" is led by the elements, or we consider the elements to be led by "identity," they are just two ways of looking at the same coin - either passively or actively. The Fool and the Magician. Nuit and Hadit. 0 and 1. 1 by nature sees self and other, thus it is two. 2=0 - the only two ways of seeing the Universe and the Adept has equilibrated these perspectives.
hermetic.com/crowley/magick-without-tears/mwt_05.html
What I enjoy about the verses above from Liber VIII is that only by "passive love shall we avail."
Whether the 5 is averse or upright is a matter of perspective or "where the magician stands" (in Malkuth or Tiphereth) as Jim shows with the IAO vs. OAI. Liber V (for example) causes the wand (or the will) to represent the 5, but opposite the way that is traditionally taught and psychologically imprinted through energized enthusiasm - and it is drawn under the direction of the magician. The psychology of the practitioner sees that the Spirit is Will and practices this upright, but then, true Understanding from the 5 to no-identity (3 or Binah) is the Path of the Chariot - the Spirit in the Grail "led" by the 4 elements - which is related to the averse. This Grail is the Cup of Babalon, which holds the Blood of the Saints - the Universal Life. To me it can also be considered owning evolution, but also being led by it. I like that you related the 353 idea, which is the Path of the Chariot. Liber V shows this with the knocks.
It is this conjoining of opposites under will that leads to under Will. The magician needs a way to unite with all images in Love, as the comment says in Liber V. A device to eliminate "evil." Make no difference and bind nothing! When the line between outside and inside, or self and environment, white and black, becomes blurred in Love, the Perfect Happiness has a foothold to enjoy and see all circumstances of the "Divine Will," within or without, and identifies with both - and this is the mark of the Adept. That's just one aspect, but it's a pretty one.
There is also an aspect of weilding this Power of Divine Will when the opposites are conjoined...above AND below.
At first, I thought this thread was a personal note involving treating domesticated animals well, and then, maybe a dissenting opinion from Michael Vick...
knock, knock, knock
knock, knock, knock, knock, knock
knock, knock, knockPETAGRAM
Great thoughts, Legis. I enjoyed your take.
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"Petagram" -
I HATE mystakes like that. lol
Had to fix it.
If I seem marmish, it's for the sake of those who don't understand it so well. What you're saying seems, to me, to be what the ritual itself teaches to those who don't know that beforehand, but it certainly teaches it more experientially than technically.
I'm the kind of guy who... if some kid was intent on getting good and drunk for their first time... I'd tell them everything I knew about it beforehand: don't do it around people you don't trust, give someone else your keys and your phone in case you have a stupid impulse, count your drinks, pace it out and learn your tolerance, etc..
Totally lame like that. lol..
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@Legis said
""Petagram" - I HATE mystakes like that. lol
Had to fix it. "
I didn't even notice at first - when I did, I imagined the averse Petagram as Grumpy Cat. Meow.
@Legis said
"What you're saying seems, to me, to be what the ritual itself teaches to those who don't know that beforehand, but it certainly teaches it more experientially than technically. "
Yes. Definitely. Except that everyone is different. The map of Paris is not even close to the city of Paris. And we aren't all Paris, for sure. But I think we all agree on one point - the experience of the ritual is completely different than wondering what it may be like...
@Legis said
"I'm the kind of guy who... if some kid was intent on getting good and drunk for their first time... I'd tell them everything I knew about it beforehand: don't do it around people you don't trust, give someone else your keys and your phone in case you have a stupid impulse, count your drinks, pace it out and learn your tolerance, etc.."
I'm very much like that too. It's even worse when one's intuition is heightened...then frustration can set in when you can't stop the problem/pain that you see about to happen to someone else...and people think you're marmish or jumping to conclusions.
I was more inclined to be a caregiver at my outset.
I learned to enjoy the Demon too.