Powers of the Sphinx
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While the powers of the sphinx, the kerubs, and the elements have remained relatively consistent since Levi published them a century and a half ago, their attributions have shifted here and there. Does anybody have any insight as to what caused the changes? Are they blinds that have been corrected? New understandings that are explained somewhere? References to primary sources would be greatly appreciated.
LEVI (Transcendental Magic/Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum):
Know----------Air/Sylphs------------Eagle/Scorpio
Will------------Earth/Gnomes-------Bull/Taurus
Dare-----------Fire/Salamanders---Lion/Leo
Keep Silent----Water/Undines------Man/AquariusCROWLEY (Liber Aleph):
Know----------Air---------Man--------------Liberty
Will------------Earth------Bull---------------Life
Dare-----------Fire-------Lion---------------Light
Keep Silent----Water-----Eagle/Dragon----LoveCROWLEY (Magick Without Tears / Book of Thoth):
Know----------Air---------Man--------------Liberty
Will------------Fire--------Lion--------------Light
Dare-----------Water-----Eagle/Dragon----Love
Keep Silent----Earth-----Bull---------------LifeMERAL (In The Continuum):
Know----------Air---------Man/Eagle--------------------Liberty
Will------------Earth------Bull----------------------------Life
Dare-----------Fire--------Lion---------------------------Light
Keep Silent----Water-----Dragon/Woman-Serpent-----Love -
There is a definite consistency between the air/water eagle and man changes. I cannot put my mind's finger on it now, but an Eagle is definitely attributed to two. One is combined with man, the other with a Snake/Scorpion.
I did my own research on this a couple of years ago, and found the above to be true, confirmed by Liber 777. BTW, a very powerful tool and map.
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It's common sense versus ancient symbolism. The Eagle flies in the air, and Aquarius is the "Water Bearer."
But Aquarius is Fixed Air, and the Eagle is an alternate symbol for the constellation of Fixed Water that we know as Scorpio.
I think that's probably the root choice of the two versions.
And a lot if the old alchemical drawings and texts use the Eagle for Water too.
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@Aion said
"It's common sense versus ancient symbolism. The Eagle flies in the air, and Aquarius is the "Water Bearer."
But Aquarius is Fixed Air, and the Eagle is an alternate symbol for the constellation of Fixed Water that we know as Scorpio.
I think that's probably the root choice of the two versions.
And a lot if the old alchemical drawings and texts use the Eagle for Water too."
This all makes sense but, I guess, the reason I'm searching for a more definitive answer (if there is one) is that I've been led to understand that symbols like these have very specific meanings and uses on the Astral. I'm wondering if there is specific imagery that should be used as I work towards elevating myself to that realm. Or is this one of those things that I just have to get there and then test it out to find the right answer? Or, I guess alternately, there is no right answer and it's just a matter of convenience in the moment and one symbol/attribution is as good as the next.
@ThelemicMage said
"There is a definite consistency between the air/water eagle and man changes. I cannot put my mind's finger on it now, but an Eagle is definitely attributed to two. One is combined with man, the other with a Snake/Scorpion.
I did my own research on this a couple of years ago, and found the above to be true, confirmed by Liber 777. BTW, a very powerful tool and map."
Yep, in the notes to column 38 of 777(revised), the eagle is attributed to line 21, but Man is still listed as the Kerub of Air.
"THE ELEMENTS
- The Eagle, king of the birds. Man as the Kerub of Air. Ox--actual meaning of Aleph.
- The Eagle-Snake-Scorpion trinity is the Kerub of Water.
- The Lion is the Kerub of Fire.
32 bis. The Bull is the Kerub of Earth."
However, on the Tarot images of the Hierophant and Universe, he has flipped the Man and Eagle so that, read counter-clockwise from lower right, the Man is now He-Water and the Eagle is now Vau-Air. This seems to match Meral's attributions where the Eagle has been dropped entirely from Water and replaced by Dragon/Woman, but I'm coming up short on a source as to when or why Crowley made that switch.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
This is a high quality thread. Thanks, G. E. for sharing your round up of the correspondences with us, and Aion for your common sense and knowledge on the matter.
For simpler elemental work, I can see why it would be desirable to place each kerub with the element it seems most harmonious with in the natural world. I notice that the Bull and the Lion never changed from representing Earth or Fire respectively in any of the lists you sourced, and I don't think it really requires much imagination or explanation as to why those are attributions are harmonious.
Also, if this actually is the right way of going about it, and this is all supposed to be a blind, the eagle is a dead give away for the Air element, just as Aion said. I mean, its a bird...that flies...in the air... Haha.
Interestingly, this would leave Water to be represented by Man, which I think is a win for us Thelemites. Water is the element of Briah, which is entered upon attainment of Tiphareth via K&C, the work of the present Aeon, that of the Conquering Child. We also see Man paired with Water by way of Atu XII. If all of that isn't enough to indicate a harmonious correspondence, there's always the fact our bodies are mostly made of water.
For an altogether different approach, one could look to Atu XIV for a grand appearance of the Lion and the Eagle and possible clues on how to proceed here with the correspondences. With this trump, we can see that the Lion has taken on the bluish qualities of Water and the Red Eagle that of Fire. If we take Crowley's correspondences in Liber Aleph as correct, what we're seeing here may be a representation of the alternating flow of Fire and Water down the Pillars. We would then have some Qabalistic doctrine from the Tarot to reinforce a Water to Eagle, Lion to Fire attribution. This would also go well with traditional alchemy, as Aion mentioned.
"However, on the Tarot images of the Hierophant and Universe, he has flipped the Man and Eagle so that, read counter-clockwise from lower right, the Man is now He-Water and the Eagle is now Vau-Air. "
Wow, I didn't notice that before! I also didn't notice that the Heirophant has the top two facing inwards, probably in reference to the shape of the hexagram, but it may have some bearing on what we're talking about. Lots of food for thought here... I just looked up mem, Water plus he, Aquarius (40 + 5 = 45), and there's a lot of good stuff for 45... Pairing up the cards according to the astrological kerubs to their elements has just blown my mind, particularly The Aeon with Lust.
I'm gonna be up alllll night now.
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45 happens to be the secret number associated with the element of Air.
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@ThelemicMage said
"45 happens to be the secret number associated with the element of Air."
Well, at least of Yetzirah
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
@Jim Eshelman said
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@ThelemicMage said
"45 happens to be the secret number associated with the element of Air."Well, at least of Yetzirah
"Qabalistic research like this and what's been described throughout the trumps seem to indicate that this "swapping" may in fact be deliberate and by design. The Powers of the Sphinx are encountered early on in the system as part of the Grade of Neophyte:
"He shall pass the four tests called the Powers of the Sphinx. (Liber 185)
Examination in The Four Powers of the Sphinx. Practical. Four tests are set. (Liber XIII)To Know, To Will, To Dare, and To Keep Silent: these are the Four Powers of the Sphinx.
As quoted above, the Neophyte is given four distinct practical tests in these Four Powers of the Sphinx. These tests are designed by the Neophyte’s Zelator. Unpublished instructions clarify the basic form of these examinations."
It may very well be that this correspondence issue has to do with passing the tests, working successfully with the elements, and opening to Yetzirah. Regardless, it seems as though the Tarot and Qabalah have much to say on the matter. Perhaps it's another lesson on how everything exists at once in the Four Wolds, and it is up to us to decide what is useful to us as we go along.
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Thanks everyone. The simple answer still eludes me but you've all offered much good food for thought.
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The answer isn't simple.
Or: It's incredibly simple.
One or the other.
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I love you.
Or I hate you.
One or the other.
(translation: I'm fully convinced that you knew that I posted this hoping for a straightforward answer so, I guess... thank you for not giving one.)
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Adam (ADM, "humanity") = 45 as well...
Moving forward, I will be falling back on the astrological/Qabalistic attribution of Aquarius being recognized as an Air Sign as the crucial point of reference to designate a Man = Air attribution for the Powers. It's in Liber 777 as such, and the several diagrams of the Pentagram laid out in Liber ABA and Thoth honor this attribution as well.
My editions of Thoth and ABA, with their diagrams of attributions on the Pentagram, never list "Eagle" as the description for Water (upper-right), but only "Water Dragon". Kind of makes sense when you look at how the sign for Scorpio is drawn, and calls to mind the imagery we get from The Hanged Man.
I also think that 45 = ADM = MH (Secret Name of the World of Yetzirah) provides some doctrine for us. Yetzirah does in fact "bear the water" of Briah beause, after all, one has to have opened to Yetzirah and be able to work from it effectively in order to open to Briah. From the perspective of a Neophyte working from Assiah, Yetzirah "contains" Briah in a way, probably much similar to the way Assiah "contains" Yetzirah, if you follow me.
Interestingly, if we again return to how the signs are drawn, we can see how each Zodiac sign chosen for the Powers references the World that succeeds it. For instance, the sign we draw to represent Taurus shows that the bull's horns have a crescent shape, referencing the Moon, and therefore Yetzirah by association. So the symbol for Aquarius clearly tells us that Briah is to follow, Scorpio tells us that the Serpent wisdom lieth in Atzulith, and Leo looks compellingly like a spermatozoon to me.
It is almost as if the symbols themselves urge us to keep moving, to never stagnate in our spiritual progression.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
It seems for everything I typed above, I was addressing more astrological-to-elemental correspondences than anything else. I suppose I got a little carried away with the symbolism there with reference to the Four Worlds.
For what it's worth, I'm going with what's set forth in Liber Aleph, as it seems to be the most succient treatment on the Powers. Liber Aleph was also one of the last books that Crowley ever wrote, being written much later in his life, so I think he'd have it sorted out by then, assuming he was having trouble deciding on an attribution and the different attributions aren't in fact mistakes.
Crowley is supposedly Levi reincarnated, so we can take his attributions are improvements/clarifications on Levi's. Meral's attributions line up with Liber Aleph if you take the Eagle out of the equation. She seems to take some liberties on how to represent Scorpio, but I'm giving her a pass on that considering the array of options available.
To address the notes on Col. 38 in 777, the whole column details "Animals, Real and Imaginary", which is a very general context we should keep in mind when reading the notes. When he mentions an Eagle for the Air element, it's just that: an animal you can use to represent Air. He doesn't say "Eagle or Man is the Kerub of Air" in the notes, but just "Man is the Kerub of Air." Context is key.
I'm willing to bet that the Pentagram diagrams in Thoth, ABA, and MWT don't have the Powers listed correctly for the elements, and that it's a publishing/editing error that's been passed down through successive editions without being corrected.
Crowley described Liber Aleph as an "extended and elaborate commentary on The Book of the Law, in the form of a letter from the Master Therion to his magical son." With that kind of authority, I think it's safe to say that the Master Therion got it right.
Even more simply, Taurus implies the ox, the yoke, the work, and thus Will. Lions are repeatedly representational of courage, bravery, etc. in fairy tales and folklore. They're also quite daring hunters.
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Zalthos, thank you very much for taking the time to think through all of these. Reading through the way you're approaching the question has helped very much to clarify some of my own thinking on the matter. However, there are still too many loose ends for me to really feel confident that any one of these is, in fact, the correct attribution. Not a critique of your reasoning, though. More a critique of the lack of definite answers from the revealers of the mysteries which is what edges me more and more towards my feeling that there are either blinds or unacknowledged errors somewhere in the mess.
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Though not published until after his death, Liber Aleph was actually composed in 1918 and thus pre-dates MWT and Thoth.
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There does seem to be a pretty easy distinction to make between the common sense attribution of Eagle to Air vs. the traditional attribution of Eagle/Serpent/Scorpion to Water. However, this seems to use the same common sense type reasoning that might question why the Water Bearer is the fixed Air sign so I don't find it convincing enough on its own (this also seems to be the confusion behind Levi's misattribution of Aquarius/Water, Scorpio/Air). This is further complicated by Crowley's retention of the Eagle/Serpent/Scorpion imagery in his Death/Scorpio card while, in the same deck, he reorders the heads of the Kerubs in Atus 5, 7, and 21 to suggest Eagle/Air, Man/Water.
@Zalthos said
"Crowley described Liber Aleph as an "extended and elaborate commentary on The Book of the Law, in the form of a letter from the Master Therion to his magical son." With that kind of authority, I think it's safe to say that the Master Therion got it right."
Except The Master Therion wrote The Book of Thoth as well and there are several blatant errors in that book.
@Zalthos said
"Even more simply, Taurus implies the ox, the yoke, the work, and thus Will. Lions are repeatedly representational of courage, bravery, etc. in fairy tales and folklore. They're also quite daring hunters."
This is exactly the type of reasoning that started me spinning the wheel in the first place. Ox, yoke, work, Will... sure. But also: Water signifies the unyielding force that wears down even the hardest rock: the unflinching, unwavering Will. Air signifies the endlessly changing and adjusting breath that can Will itself through even the tiniest crack. And Will, at its core, flows from the fount of Chokmah, the head of the pillar of Fire.
Daring applies equally well to a fairy tale lion, a knight in shining armor, an eagle diving into the waves to pluck out a single fish, or a bull charging his challenger for the honor of his mate.
Once I discovered that I could make any permutation work (and work well, for that matter) I realized that it would only really be an effective tool if there was a specific permutation that was correct for the underlying meaning that the symbolism is intended to convey. And that's when I discovered that there were several permutations that have been suggested to be correct.
For me personally, the MWT/Thoth attributions intuitively feel most correct, but I'm not convinced that that isn't just because I've been steeped in the traditional attributions for so long. The feeling isn't deep or convincing and the switch of Eagle and Man that occurs in all three sets of kerubs/sphinxes on the Thoth Atus forces me to consider that, near the end of his life, Crowley either realized or chose to reveal a secret that had, up until that point, been hidden behind a blind, but didn't get the chance to fully explain it in writing.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
@Gnosomai Emauton said
"1. Though not published until after his death, Liber Aleph was actually composed in 1918 and thus pre-dates MWT and Thoth."
Admittingly, I was recollecting that information from memory. Thank you for correcting me.
I'm glad we've at least had a fruitful exchange about this. Its been fun volleying perspectives back and forth. After reading your most recent post on the thread, I'm certainly not as sure as I was (which wasn't very sure, actually) when I wrote that post last night, so thanks again for providing further insight into the matter.
I'm not sure if you read this post by Jim on another recent thread about the powers, but I found it revealing (emphasis mine):
@Jim Eshelman said
"I know five different attribution sets of these by Crowley, in different times, different contexts, etc. I'm disinclined to give an opinion (though I have one <g>) because (1)** at a couple of key points in formal examinations the aspirant needs to struggle with this exact issue and produce an answer**, and (2) my mere opinion certainly isn't important enough to overwhelm the significant advantage of not screwing with these exams. - Source"
I suppose all of our answers lie with Liber Pyramidos and our respective Zelators, wherever and whoever they may be. Best of luck to you on your quest for knowledge, Gnosomai Emauton. Cheers.
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Thanks for the link to that previous thread. I was actually in on that discussion and forgot about that aspect of it.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@ThelemicMage said
"45 happens to be the secret number associated with the element of Air."Well, at least of Yetzirah
"Does this mean the other secret elemental number attributions, (52, 63, 72,) are also Yetziric attributions?
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@ThelemicMage said
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@ThelemicMage said
"45 happens to be the secret number associated with the element of Air."Well, at least of Yetzirah
"Does this mean the other secret elemental number attributions, (52, 63, 72,) are also Yetziric attributions?"
No. They aren't numbers of the elements at all, but rather of the four worlds. 52 is the value of the "secret name" of Assiyah, 45 of Y'tziyrah, 63 of B'riyah, and 72 of Atziylooth.
These have analogies back to the elements or (more specifically) to the letters of Tetragrammaton. But they are not (for example) attributes of the elements themselves, especially not in the sense that the elements exist on one plane.
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Here is the origin of those numbers.
Tetragrammaton is Yod Hé Vav Hé, but those four letters (by a Rabbinical tradition) are spelled differently in each of the four worlds. Yod is spelled YVD in all four worlds. Hé is spelled HY in the first two worlds, HA in the third, and HH in the fourth. Vav is spelled VYV in the first, VAV in the next two, and VV in the third. When you use these different values to "spell Tetragrammaton" in full, you get different values.
For example, in Y'tziyrah, the name is spelled YVD HA VAV HA. These letters add to 45. For the four worlds (from top to bottom) the values are, thus, 72, 63, 45, and 52.
From these numbers are created synthetic words that are really the writing of the numbers in Hebrew letters. These are the "secret names" of each of the four worlds:
Atziylooth: 72 = OB
B’riyah: 63 = SG
Y’tziyrah: 45 = MH
Assiyah: 52 = BN