The hand as the magickal instrument par excellence
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I am reading a little book, "Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" by J. Edward Cornelius.
On page 14 he writes that Crowley referred to the hand as the "magickal instrument par excellence".Does anyone know where Crowley refers to the hand this way? The author does not indicate.
Thanks so much.
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Manus = Hand
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@Takamba said
"Manus = Hand"
Are you referring to Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae ?
But I do not see anything in there about the hand as the magical instrument par excellence.
93 93/93
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@AliceKnewI said
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@Takamba said
"Manus = Hand"Are you referring to Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae ?
But I do not see anything in there about the hand as the magical instrument par excellence.
93 93/93"
Perhaps you're looking for some exact quote that doesn't exist. In performing the qabalistic cross, Crowley has often written that thumb held before the forefinger & middle is "preferred" over a wand. He may have somewhere said "better than," I'm not going to dig just to find this for you.
The hand is one of the things that makes man more uniquely god than other creatures. The hand, sometimes described in Yod by Crowley, is the symbol of the Will. I'm not giving you exact quotes and exact locations. You do the work, I've shed a little light.
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I'm not aware of a specific quote from A.C. about this.
As Takamba said, the hand as the Qabalistic Yod indicates Will.
Also, consider the 2 hands as the two aspects of the wand (the Yin and the Yang; the two Pillars); 5 fingers on each (Microcosm), 10 fingers in toto....I think it makes perfect sense about hand being "the magical instrument per excellence" even if we look at it from a purely physical point of view: all the instruments & tools we use are a sort of extension of our own body; and hands are actual parts of our body, such that they have the greatest diversity of spacial movement (in comparison to all the other body-parts).
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Though all things be born in the mind
They are birthed through the hands -
Though all things be born in the mind
They are birthed through the hands -
You can use the hands in many many ways, i dont see a bodypart more polyvalent than them. Combining fingers(qabalistic cross) and palms(mudras). You can project energy(star ruby), or charge separetely fingers and produce special results by making them interact thus prepared(bardon step 4 technique). Many mini-rituals and personal techniques can be invented following these principles(bardon step 4 again).
As Crowley was elite alpinist he may have had tremendously powerful and awaken hands. Where blood goes qi follows. Also ability of hands to resist very cold weather are very good indicator of qi flow there. It can be good to exercice hands both muscular wise and qi wise but be careful about the tip of the fingers as the terminaisons of meridians and nerves are there. The center of palms (lao gong) are said to be "moving chakras" and can be used easily(according to one's skill)to equilibrate other chakras, elements and meridians.
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I found the specific quote I was looking for.
From the Book of Thoth, page 88, IX, the Hermit:"The card is attributed to the letter Yod, which means the Hand. Hence, the Hand, which is the tool or instrument par excellence, is in the centre of the picture."
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@AliceKnewI said
"I found the specific quote I was looking for.
From the Book of Thoth, page 88, IX, the Hermit:"The card is attributed to the letter Yod, which means the Hand. Hence, the Hand, which is the tool or instrument par excellence, is in the centre of the picture."
"Ah, so the confusion stems from the author of "Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" misquoting Crowley to say, "magical instrument par excellence." As the hand is the tool or instrument that fashions all other tools or instruments, it is indeed the "tool or instrument par excellence," though maybe not "magical" per se.