@Frater INRI said
"Once 8=3 has been really attained, there is no need to revisit previous stages of development."
Every incarnation, no matter what level one has previously attained, one starts all over. "Revisiting previous stages" is exactly what one does. (However, the steps go faster, since it's a recap.)
Remember, there are a new body, a new Nefesh, and a new Rooach to train.
@Selene said
"Does Thelema have a position on monotheism or polytheism?"
Nothing specifically stated that way. There are multiple deities in Liber Legis, and Thelema tends to distance itself from monotheistic religions - but that's not the same as saying that Thelema has a position on the subject.
The A.'.A.'., however, has this to say at the very start:
@Liber LXI said
"Should therefore the candidate hear the name of any God, let him not rashly assume that it refers to any known God, save only the God known to himself. "
@Selene said
"So, does that mean that one can be both a Thelemite and either a polytheist or a monotheist as one chooses?"
In my very humble opinion, yes.
Having written the above, here is an excerpt from one of my diaries from the mid-1990s.
Bahlasti - BAHLAShTY [Hebrew] - is 358, Messiah and all the rest (or, without the Heh, 353 = Hermes).
Ompehda - OMPHDA [Hebrew] - is 200, the Sun! These two fierce exclamations are thus common elements of Tiphereth. They represent the poewr of the Pentagram (358) and the Life, Love, Liberty, and Light of Sol (200). It is with this singular Glory that what we here represent as Horus ravages the desecrated husks of prior religions.
@phoinix93 said
"
"These two fierce exclamations are thus common elements of Tiphereth. They represent the poewr of the Pentagram (358) and the Life, Love, Liberty, and Light of Sol (200). "
So interpreted thus this phrasespeaks of the K&C of the HGA. and the spitting on of the "crapulous creeds" of the slave gods might be interpreted as the freedom from them given by ones HGA. So all in all this phrase is forshadowing of the freedom recieved from the 5=6 initiation?"
Among other things... Yes!
From my diary...
...this Wand is "the wand of the Force of Coph Nia." What is this? Crowley originally missed the words during the dictation. It was Rose who later wrote in, "Force of Coph Nia." Regardie pointed out that this bears a strange relationship to Ain Soph - the old Greek "S" looks like "C" - as though someone who had never seen Hebrew psychically saw AYN SVPh, understanding intuitively the import of the letters, but getting forward-backward all mixed up,. Okay, I thought, that might be plausible. But the idea only works if we can explain why a Greek-style letter - "C," not "S" - was used. Why not "Soph Nia?" Well, I thought, maybe this was to cue us to interpret it in Greek. Okay, so we have a "Double Wand of Power," which might be the "wand of the Limitless Force" =- Ain Soph means "limitless" - if we can only figure why we are cued to Greek. The answer is immediately obvious on adding it up:
COPh NIA = 831
831 is the value of the Greek word PhALLOS, phallus. The "Double Wand of Power," the "Wand of the Limitless Force," is the "Wand of the Force of the Phallus."
831 is also Greek for "pyramid," and the value of Aleph spelled in full.