College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

I liked your question, as I had spent time contemplating this previously also.

There would appear to be an inversion of the equations when describing them in words though. Thus for 2=9 I would say Stability is Change, rather than Change is Stability. The precedent for this being the readily established ones of the Supernals and of Tiphareth. As Jim mentioned the one for 5=6 is God is Man (Deus est Homo), rather than Man (5, the pentagram) is God (6, the hexagram).

The ones for the three Supernals are also well established, see Liber B vel Magi.

8=3 Sorrow is Joy
9=2 Change is Stability
10=1 Selflessness is Self

This just left me to figure out 4=7, which I got as Love (7, Venus) is the Law (4, the number of Law, as the fixation of Will, 2x2).

By reflection that gives us the following list:

1=10 Self is Selflessness
2=9 Stability is Change
3=8 Joy is Sorrow
4=7 Love is the Law
5=6 God is Man
6=5 Man is God
7=4 The Law is Love
8=3 Sorrow is Joy
9=2 Change is Stability
10=1 Selflessness is Self

To answer your question as to what is the difference between any two reflections, such as 5=6 and 6=5, Crowley writes:

"It should also be remarked that every grade has its peculiar magical formula. Thus, the formula of Abrahadabra concerns us, as men, principally because each of us represents the pentagram or microcosm; and our equilibration must therefore be with the hexagram or macrocosm. In other words, 5=6 is the formula of the Solar operation; but then 6=5 is the formula of the Martial operation, and this reversal of the figures implies a very different Work. In the former instance the problem was to dissolve the microcosm in the macrocosm; but this other problem is to separate a particular force from the macrocosm, just as a savage might hew out a flint axe from the deposits in a chalk cliff."
MTP Ch VII

Thanks very much for your response Jim. I can sort of follow your intuitive logic (forgive the oxymoron) there.

"Other things are represented differently in AAA than in the ritual itself."

Yes, I would have to agree with you there. Which made me wonder if the meditation was actually from somewhere else, such as the 'Ritual of Passing through the Waters', which of course is similar in many respects. In point 12 of that ritual it states, "The insight of Horus is given unto him in the power of Hoor and Isis. He is Asar." Although the rest of that ritual does not fit as well with the mediation as does Ritual CXX.

Thanks again.

"The only piece of Liber HHH I have touched on is MMM at the same time practicing the Shin-of-Shin Mental operations, which are almost one and the same, or am I wrong?"

On that note, I was wondering if anyone knew why in paragraph 14 of section AAA it says, "Then shalt thou withdraw thyself from the Vision, gathering thyself into the divine form of Osiris upon his throne."

Why is it not Horus, or is this meditation based on another version of Ritual CXX than that commonly found on the internet?

"That was early Dharana training, comparable to what a Probationer might start from Liber E. Yes, I was referring to the late 1905 period also (but I think it was Burma, not Ceylon)."

Do many Probationers attain Dhyana?

From memory I think they met in Celyon and went to Burma, though the geography isn't important.

"I'm speaking of the phase immediately before that, climaxing in the February 9, 1905 diary entry, "About this full moon consciousness began to break through Ruach into Neschamah;" and he then set out to plan his Abramelin operation for the China trip. (You know the pony story etc. - classic Dom. Lim. stuff.)"

Yes, that was when he was doing sammasati, which I always thought was mainly a 7=4 activity. I don't believe he was doing any formal yoga at that time though.

In 'Confessions' he wrote, "From this date [19th November 1905] till the first week in February, I was intellectually insane. The actual ordeal is described with intense simplicity and passion in 'Aha!' I call it 'the Ordeal of the Veil, the Second Veil' and the 'Veil of the Abyss'. The complete destruction of reason left me without other means of apprehension than Neschamah."

"It's quite clear that AC, at that time, thought he was already a Greatly Honored Adeptus Exemptus, and was putting everything in perspective of that. (That's the basis of so much of this confusion.) But he wasn't, and he came to understand this later."

Was the diagram at the beginning of "Magick", which shows the dates of his attainments (including 9=2), not done by him? I guess he may have written the dates for the earlier Grades, and possibly added the higher ones later, without altering the dates of the earlier Grades.

"That was the pre-scheduled completion (6 months beginning at Easter). But the real braekthrough came in July when he and Fra. D.D.S. reenacted the 5=6 ceremony. And stuff just kept building form there!"

That ceremony with D.D.S. was on the 27th July 1906. And whilst it was extraordinary, Crowley does not appear to have considered it as the completion of the Abramelin operation. The entry in his diary for the following day of the 28th reads: "Twenty-fifth week of A.'. [meaning the Augoeides operation] begins."

Then in 'Confessions' he writes in relation to the experience of Shivadarshana on 9th October 1906, "On the ninth, having prepared a full invocation and ritual, I performed it. I had no expectation, I think, of attaining any special success; but it came. I had performed the Operation of the Sacred Magick of Abra-Melin the Mage."

"BTW, I found the reference I was making to the two levels of 6=5 attainment. In John St. John, on the Fourth Day, at 3:55 PM, Crowley wrote:"

"I add a few considerations on the grade of Adeptus Major 6=5.

(P.S. - Distinction is to be made between attainment of this grade in the natural and in the spiritual world. The former I long since possessed.)"

"And the latter - the attainment in Briah - he had not "long since possessed." It was the initiation he was working on for the retirement."

"With this statement to key us, the whole document becomes quite clear. "

In 'The Temple of Solomon the King' it says, "The ostensible object of this Retirement was to discover for certain whether by the use of the plain strightforward methods accessible to the normal man he could definitely attain Samadhi within a reasonable time. In other words, whether the methods themselves were valuable."

93,

I believe that the yoga training that you are referring to, that corresponds to the tasks of a Dominus Liminis, took place about half a decade earlier. Whilst in Mexico in 1900 Crowley began doing the practice that would later be written down as the instruction of part 3 of Liber 3, where he stopped various thoughts arising depending on whether he was wearing his R.C. lamen or not. Then shortly after, around the beginning of 1901, was when Eckenstein taught him pratyahara and dharana. He then of course headed to Ceylon to meet Bennett, who taught him asana and pranayama. All of which resulted in his attainment of dhyana around October 1901.

The period I have been referring to is the end of 1905, and through 1906. He wasn't really doing any yoga practices at that point. He was performing Liber Samekh as he travelled across China. This had been preceded by the exercises described in Liber 474 through to verse 20. Then, as described in verse 21 of Liber 474, he recalled the simplicity of the task of the Adeptus Minor, and applied himself thereto with fresh energy in a more direct manner. This all culminated on 9th October 1906 when he performed Liber ThROA and attained Shivadarshana, which he saw as the completion of his Abramelin operation, as described in verse 23 of Liber 474.

So I guess I am currently having difficulty in understanding how the experience of Shivadarshana is not attributed to Tiphareth, if we take Crowley's 1906 Abramelin operation as his attaining to the Grade of 5=6.

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93,

Just to clarify, does that mean that you attribute Liber 474 to the work of the Dominus Liminis? And the experience of Shivadarshana to Tiphareth?

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93,

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain that so thoroughly. I think I can see where you are coming from now. At the very least you have given me much food for meditation.

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93,

Thanks very much for explaining that more fully. Though I would have thought that Crowley was considered a 5=6 in the A:.A:. sense before 1906, as the reception of Liber AL in 1904 would surely have to be considered as at least K&C of HGA.

As far as I am aware Crowley always claimed to have crossed the Abyss whilst walking across China in 1906. It was near the start of that journey that Bennett taught him sammasati, which he would later write down as Liber 913. It was also at that time that he experienced the discontinuity of phenomenon and of the ego, which threw him into the Abyss, and which he would later write down as the instruction Liber 474. It was for this reason that I really liked your attribution of Liber 913 to the path of Cheth, and Liber 474 to the path of Zayin.

In Liber 474 it explains why he aspired yet again to the K&C of HGA, and performed the Abramelin operation at that time "with the simplicity of a child", being a Babe of the Abyss.

In Liber 418, in relation to a notariqon of TARO, it says "tres annos regimen oraculi", being Latin for "three years is the regimen of the oracle". In the footnote to this Crowley wrote, "Refers to time required to assimilate the Initiation of 8=3. For three years is 156 weeks; and 156 = BABALON".

I totally concur with you that he took up the mantle of the office of 8=3 on 3rd December 1909 (after his ceremony with Neuburg on Mt. HUFA). Exactly 156 weeks earlier would have been 7th December 1906, which is when Crowley received the first letter from D.D.S. in Samadhi-Dhatu. He then dined with him on the 10th, and wrote, "He thinks my attainment makes me a Master of the Temple. He goes further and says that I am the 'the' Master - the Logos - the next Buddha". The following day, on the 11th, he received the third letter from D.D.S. which contained the words: "How long have you been in the Great Order, and why did I not know? Is the invisibility of the A:.A:. to lower grades so complete?"

I don't have a copy of the Algerian Diary with me, for Crowley's record of the 3rd December 1909. So to totally paraphrase it, he says something like, I will now write to my superior in the Order, and take up that which has been lying so near to hand, meaning the mantle of the office of 8=3.

In John St. John he takes the Oath of the Abyss. I don't know where he states that it is the purpose of the operation to attain 6=5. He does say, (after having gone through four days that he related to the 5=6 grade), "Thence one might proceed to some symbolic passage through the 6=5 grade - though of course that grade is really symbolic of this soul-journey, not 'vice versa' - and through 7=4; so perhaps - if one could only dare to hope it! - to the 8=3 attainment." Where does he say that the purpose of the retirement is 6=5?

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93,

Hi, I am new to this group. I was just perusing your archives, and the content and information was of such a high quality that I couldn't resist signing up and getting involved.

As I see that Jim is on the list, I have a question that has bothered me for several years in relation to John St. John. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I believe that it was in "M&M of A:.A:." that it was put forward that the John St. John working was Crowley attaining to the Grade of 6=5. As Crowley was an 8=3 at the time (or more correctly part of the way through that three year initiation), I am wondering what I am missing. Is it being suggested that the lower Grades needed to be reworked at a higher level? Could this please be explained in greater detail?

Thanks very much.

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