College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Which correspondences are incorrect?

I think some preliminary work would be helpful in dispelling the belief that surrender implies suffering.

The context I was referring to is the GD inner order and equinox ceremonies.

WHo are these cats, and where do they originate? I can find very little info on either of them.

great, now i just need to figure out a good set of 7 corresponding god forms and get painting!

The last week actually, invoking in the morning and banishing in the evening in the Planetary days and hours is what I've been doing. I haven't run into any trouble yet, but maybe that just means I'm not any good yet.

ANd then, closing the whole thing up with the banishing rituals of course?
Curious, if the banishing form of the GRH does not need be performed at the end oof the rite, but just the LBRP and the LBRH, what is the banishing form of the GRP and GRH for?

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@he atlas itch said
"One more question on the LBRP:

The instructions in Liber O do not specifically state doing the Horus Sign of the Enterer and Harpocrates Sign of Silence after the vibration of the divine names. Did Crowley add these two signs to the LBRP or was it already in the GD material?"

One normally would not do this in the Pentagram Ritual.

This question recurring) arises from too casual a labelling of Liber O, Cap. III, Par. 4. The method there listed as "Vibration of God-Names" is properly called "The Vibration of God-Names by the Formula of the Middle Pillar." It isn't a general instruction for use anytime one sees the word "vibrate." Rather, it's a particular technique used (usually in conjunctuion with the assumption of God-forms) for the specific purpose of identifying one's consciousness with that of a particular God. (Notice that this is what Liber O says the two are for.) In the LRP, one is not, for example, identifying oneself with Y.H.V.H.; rather, one is using that Name for a particular purpose.

How would one use them? Many ways, but I'll give one example. Suppose one wanted to do a ritual of the Moon and identify oneself with Artemis. Much of the ritual would be the setup for this: a general banishing, some means of making a primary connection to undifferentiated divine force, a declaration of the purpose of the ritual. Then, getting down to the meat, one might proceed as follows:

• [:10ocsk6m]Attune to the Moon idea by an invoking hexagram ritual of Luna.[/10ocsk6m]
  [:10ocsk6m]Assume the God-form of Artemis.[/10ocsk6m]
  [:10ocsk6m]As Artemis, circumambulate 9 times, building up force.[/10ocsk6m]
  [:10ocsk6m]Upon returning to the west of the altar, still in the God-form of Artemis, use the "Vibration of Divine Names by the Formula of the Middle Pillar" technique to vibrate the name Artemis (once? thrice for Gimel? probably not 9 times!), to loose onself in the image and the name and complete, so far as the magician is then capable, an identification with Her.[/10ocsk6m]"

So you suggest vibrating the name in this manner AFTER the form of Artemis has been assumed? Why not before?

Vau and Tzaddi

What exactly do you mean by "having slight difficulty in figuring out the correct attributions for the points on the Lesser Hexagrams?"

Ok, I see that my man question was answered in an earlier post by Jim. So I'll follow this up with a more detailed question. When performing the Banishing and Invoking rituals, is it simply enough to breath in deeply and then intone the name in a sonorous manner? Is it necessary at all to visualize the letters of the Name or recommended? It seems like a lot of writers have created a lot of confusion around this, seemingly based off a misinterpretation of Crowley's material and an over emphasis upon the Vibratory Technique of the Middle Pillar (and the Middle Pillar exercise in general) in his own writings.

In Liber O, when Crowley says "through the nostrils" does he mean that kind of nasally intonation we hear in Tibetan chanting?

I'am a bit confused at this point how I am supposed to avoid the "Yetziratic shell" of the god images, as I have always considered Egyptian and other such deities to be essentially a combination of a Divine force formulated into a Creative image. For instance, in the Hebrew heirarchy, you have Shaddai EL Chai, the Name that represents the Atziluthic force, and Gabriel, a Briatic form. But in the Egyptian system, Name and Image, Atzliuth and Briah are combined into on "individual" Name and Image. How can I avoid the astral shell of this image?
I have always taken the neurotic behavior of these deities as having a deeper symbolic meaning than the obvious. For instance, I had long ago dropped the notion that Set had "murdered" Osiris out of an act of malice but was instead thrusting him from a place of stagnation into a more dynamic realm of experience (initiation).

thread necromancy!
I was just thinking about this. The two instances I am familiar with using the Vibratory technique of the Middle Pillar are mostly used when performing assumption of god-forms and creating telesmatic images (a process quite similar to assumption of god-forms.).

So considering some of the information here, when performing the various Banishing and Invoking rituals, it is only neccessary to simply intone the divine names deeply, without making use of the Vibratory Technique of the Middle Pillar. So when performing the LIRP, I don't need to visualize my Kether, the Name entering my Tiphareth etc., I simply just deeply intone the Name...? This seems far more sensible.

On another note, Crowley never makes any mention of the GD Invoking and Projecting Whorls, which work upon pretty much simlar lines.

@Kraven said

"Can the oil be made with the raw materials in separate jars and mix them later or will this turn out muddy? Don't want to resort to buying essential oils but the equipment to extract them isn't budget friendly. "

just buy the essential oils, its really the best route to go.

@TheSilent1 said

"
@AHIH_RVA said
"I believe the product is supposed to have a rather fiery constitution. Some people are more sensitive to the oils, though, I've seen a few people with large red patches left on the skin days after application."

That mainly occurs with very cheap essential oils. Cheap essential oils are, generally speaking, not even essential oils, they are a "fragrance" oil, i.e. synthetic garbage. Quality oils may heat you up but should NEVER burn the skin as described above. I wouldn't put anything on my skin that I would not also be able to ingest (even in a small quantity)."

high quality essential oil of cinnamon bark is going to burn the skin.

I prefer to use cinnamon bark oil, I think the stinging sensation is essential to the application of the oil.

Dharana. My question is this, how in the hell does one sit down in asana and actually go about doing this as set down in Liber E. I find this practice highly infuriating, but mainly because I fond the idea of noting the nature and frequency of each break as highly distracting especially when the breaks are so frequent it seems asinine to even note them! I've also noticed that Liber E skips over Pratyahara completely! Should I at least try to gain some ability with Pratyahara?
When I'am simply witting in my asana and practicing rhythmic breathing I tend to focus my thoughts on the breath cycle, and when a distraction or a wandering thought comes up, I simply and gently return to focusing on my breath. I practice this in the morning and I've become fairly proficient about quieting my mind in this manner. I do this in the morning. Recently, in the evenngs, after spending a few moments calming and quieting my mind with breathing, I attempt to go about practicing Dharana as laid out in Liber E, but as soon as I begin my mind is like a shit storm, and I can't even concentrate on the subject for the smallest fraction of a second!
Any advice for getting started?

I'd also like to note that at this time, I haven't the least interest in practicing Raja Yoga in full, I would really just like to increase my ability to focus my mind for purposes of practical meditation and ceremonial magick.

Tracing the Pentagrams in the secondary color upon the primary color ground, I had never considered anything like that before.
I know its getting off topic, but I've begun prforming the LIRP with a pale blue Pentagram, but when I perform the banishing form of the ritual, I use a flaming red Pentagram. The inspiration for this concept was lifted from teh Star Ruby, and the designs of the Probationers (i think) robe, where the Pentagrams are in scarlet.

That's interesting I've never seen reference to it being performed in that manner.

I was troubled over the Thelemic idea of attributing Green to Earth, sonsidering as Crowley mentions, the interconnectedness of the colours on the scales. But,, in performing the GIRP, I can think of no better color for tracing the Pentagrams of Earth in than Green.

I used to do this alot, I'd walk around boggling and jumbling all this stuff in mind. It all seemed so big and relevant at the moment, and I would always feel like I had figured out some super valuable conceptualization that nobody had ever conceived of before and that it was of utmost value. I think such things are valuable at least in those moments. But like any house of cards, they either stood or fell when put to the test of some practical application. I'd say a good 99% of it was useless nonsense but it was an important process becasue it showed that was at least thinking about things and getting the wheels turning.
These days my brain doesn't do it quite so much, and I'm mostly thankful for that because it sometimes indicates that I'm reading too much and practicing to little.

I have a question concerning column XI in 777. I am confused what the attributions of the planets listed with the zodiac mean. For nstance, Aries, being firey has the symbols of Sol on the left, and Jupiter on the right and so on. Crowley gives an odd explanation of these which I have never encountered in astrological writings. Could anyone elaborate on this for me?

Also, there is no attribution of the elements given to the planets, am I to suppose these are "as for the Sephiroth?"