College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

@Tinman said

"Anyone have a take on this:

www.elephantjournal.com/2011/05/why-yoga-means-union-the-spiritual-historical-and-psychological-reasons-and-why-patanjalis-yoga-sutras-had-nothing-to-do-with-i

To summarize part:

"Patanjali, who’s philosophy of the Yoga Sutras is becoming increasingly influential in Western yoga circles, never emphasized yoga as union, but rather described yoga as suspension, as restriction, as duality."

WHA!?"

my take is that Patanjali was (is) a *practical *author, oriented toward getting you going - doing the practices - not thinking about them, - ehm, especially not thinking 😄 - yogašcittavrttinirodhah
his point was: do this 'exercises' step-by-step, achieve this state where there are no more thought-streams (vrtti); this state is Yoga.

and there's a translation of Patanjali's Sutras that simply translates the word 'yoga' as 'union':
www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yogasutr.htm

Hehehe!
I stands separate and distinct.
Doer (I) and the deed done.
Thou: Doer & Deed are One
(and are observed by a Third, who is secret to the many and the known)

IT = 19 = Manifestation

"The first is Kether, the pure Being invented as an aspect of pure Nothing. In his manifestation, he is not One, but Two; he is only One because he is 0.

Crowley, Book of Thoth"

1 and 9 = 10 = 1 and 0

@Wizardiaoan said

"
you are using the seven alchemical processes I assume as given in Dennis Hauck's The Emerald Tablet"

nope 😀

I just used Av's post and reversed the sequence of the planets 😀 -- because it's clear that (in the path of initiation, as considered from its beginning) we go from Saturn to the Sun, not the other way around.

"L. Sahasrara = Moon
O. Ajna = Mercury
I. Vishuddha = Venus
R. Anahata = Sun
T. Manipura = Mars
I. Svadhisthana = Jupiter
V. Muladhara = Saturn"

I disagree with that attribution of planets to chakras; and not sure at all about the use of VITRIOL formula above Tipharet...
but the idea of connecting the 7 letters of the formula to the 7 chakras is sure tempting 😄

@Tinman said

"I also note: 48 = woman. So we are placing a recognition of woman on our forehead (amongst other things)"

youtu.be/mKV3GC0RER

😆

@Tinman said

"Current impression, for me, is that 179 represents the bondage with which we are each individually enslaved by our own "True Wills"... pity or pride (neither play a strong factor for me in the essence of the number which is the binding of Hermit to Star, Player to Path)."

Yes. I see where you are coming from with those influences -- I can also see how reconciling the Hermit and the Star may be difficult when it comes to self-pity.

I always go by the rule of thumb of how a number personally resonates with us...and how that makes us grow in our understanding. I was (more or less) just throwing different techniques out there with explanation...using strict Tarot guidelines can be useful, too.

Just as an exercise, if I personally took your ideas further, it would go something like this:

Self-pity (without the negative bias) could be considered like fuel to be transmuted into aspiration (Star) -- like strength? Or, one could say, the "Secret Seed" (Yod) which corresponds to the Hermit? Nine is also the number of Yesod...it could be linking mind (Player) to the aspiration (Path)? The Spirit is sometimes referred to as Yod -- and the coordination of the Hermit seems to have some qualities of Geburah -- like the Spirit coordinating the elements in the Pentagrammation. I also find it interesting that both Trump paths lead to Tiphareth from the "Force" side of the Tree...the root cause of pity and/or pride both seem like forces that can enable change (whether from Chokmah or Chesed).

Or 179 could be the Pick 3 on my Lotto card. 😉

@Tinman said

"179 = (17 x 9) + (17 + 9)"

Nice correlations! Didn't see that when I was working with it! 😀

"At the core of my thoughts is a simple question: what passes for inspiration?"

This question - in isolation - has been in my thoughts for a few days now. I feel compelled to comment on it. I am so thoroughly familiar with the question of "Biblical Inspiration" from my own days among the moderate Evangelical academics that I'm fascinated by the way in which my own understanding of the term has evolved over time to this point, with The Book of the Law and other importantly classed documents.

I think I can say it pretty simply. I no longer care for spiritual authority based arguments of "divine inspiration." It's too easy for me to quickly relativize both "divine" and "inspiration." I'm looking for genius. I want to tune into the organizing genius.

I will say that the genius of our meditation text has me feeling rather dumbfounded and naked recently.

Regarding the ravishing of Ganymede. It's a marking, you know. When you have sex with someone, hormones are released that make you feel more and more connected to that person. It creates a certain stability and fixedness in the relationship. That imagery is shocking, I'm sure, but that's the heart of it. He is ravished and inwardly bonded and branded with love for Adonai.

The also correspond to the quarters of the Sun, from sunset around to noon; and the three of them excluding midnight also map the three forms of the Magical Image of Tiphereth.

I answer my own question after further digging: but if anyone has further insight, that would be helpful too:

Confessions, ch 58 Elaine Simpson

Or the harlequin patterns of the priestess at bottom, center.

Bring me through midnight to the sun 😉

@Tinman said

"Some remarks on the board had me hitting up John St. John again to see what new information I could pull from it's pages. (Someone made the remark it's full of Crowley humor and I'm digging it)."

Crowley was not trying to be funny. That’s what makes it such a laugh. At the end of his retirement he writes:
12th day
1.14. I read through this volume of the Record; and I dissolve my being into quintessential laughter.
The entries are some of them so funny! ... Previously, this had escaped me.

@Tinman said

"Interesting modeling the verses to the 27 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (22 letters + 5 finals) - do you finish with the 5 finals in order of numerical value?"

Yes. As I wrote, "strict numeric value of letters from 1 through 900."

"Why would Tzaddi be associated with the Black Brothers exposing themselves without fear?
What is it about Verse 17 that is different than verse 18 - they both seem to be the "True" symbol of the black brothers, but one maybe is private and one public (esoteric vs exoteric?)?"

I read the two verses as continuous, *i.e., *not separate or contrasted but simply the one continuing from the other. They show up, and they don't try to hide, etc.

For the rest, we can continue to speculate or "think out loud." Peh is Mars. Tzaddi is Aries, the day-house of Mars. Mars in the daylight, out in the open? Certainly there is no trouble seeing The Emperor as a reasonable symbol of the bounded, controlling, paternalistic ego staking its claim. (The 18th figure looks to me like an averse pentagram.)

"Which actually leads to another Black Brother question. Are the Black Brothers = Brothers of the Left Hand Path = Sensualists??? Are Black Brothers basically hedonists for their own pleasure, where as Masters of the Temple of hedonists for the Universe's pleasure?"

That wouldn't be the most common characteristic. It isn't a trait of Klingsor, for example. But what does the book mean by "sensualist"? The way this idea would fit the Black Brothers is if "sensualist" referred to the Nephesh isolated from anything deeper, and especially the mortality trying to hold itself immortal.

I agree that the tarot cards can represent "simple" ideas... although trying to explain exactly what "Tzaddi+Aries+Natural Consciousness+Yesod->Netzach" mean... understanding that... there are a lot of nuances that are not so simple.

I suppose it's a taurian tendency towards stubborness, or a drive to think for myself and question authority (in a respectful and engaging manner hopefully since it's your "house" here)... but I can't get away from the fact that on his very own deck of cards, AC has gone and put some very christian symbols and in both instances they seem to be somewhat placed "in the dark" (ie. the lamb out of the light, and the pelican with the lower moon):

The Agnus Dei (and not a lamb, though I agree it reflects an aspect of Aries) has definite Christian connotations and Crowley was doing his best to throw them, and their religion, to the lions...

From wiki-

"Agnus Dei is a Latin term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to refer to Jesus Christ in his role of the perfect sacrificial offering that atones for the sins of humanity in Christian theology, harkening back to ancient Jewish Temple sacrifices."

The Pelican feeding it's young on the Empress card:

From wiki-

"In medieval Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood when no other food was available. As a result, the pelican became a symbol of the Passion of Jesus and of the Eucharist. It also became a symbol in bestiaries for self-sacrifice, and was used in heraldry ("a pelican in her piety" or "a pelican vulning (wounding) herself"). Another version of this is that the pelican used to kill its young and then resurrect them with its blood, this being analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus."

Again we have another christian symbol.

Now I'm willing to explore these symbols as meaning something "other" or "deeper" than the christian meaning...

I'm not adept at alchemy or it's language but I'm trying to get there specifically because I don't believe that the symbols on the card are merely "artistic fine points" or "glamour", but communicate a definite idea that was intended to be part and parcel of the card's makeup.

From www.alchemywebsite.com/animal.html

"
The reddening or formation of the Red Stone was pictured through the symbol of the Pelican. The white pelican bird with its long bill reaching down over its breast, was in medieval times mistakenly observed piercing its breast with its bill and feeding its young on its own blood. What actually happens is that the bird regurgitates food it has caught earlier and its young feed on this ground up fish, bits of which fall onto the breast of the pelican and it appears as if its breast is bleeding. This myth of the sacrificial act of the Pelican in feeding its young on its own blood, was more powerful than the prosaic reality and during medieval times the Pelican became a symbol for ChristÕs sacrifice of his blood. Alchemists also took this symbol aboard and readily incorporated it into their symbolic menagerie.

The reddening marked the formation of the Red Tincture, which transformed the masculine forces of the soul, ennobled them, and brought them into a new harmony and was often symbolised by the appearance of a Red King in the flask. In our inner work, we begin to possess the red tincture when we have entered on the task of transforming the raw energies of the masculine component of our souls, sometimes pictured by the alchemists as a knight brandishing a sword, into a more creative force.
"

The reddening marked the formation of the Red Tincture... often symbolised by the appearance of the Red King... which is the next card in the deck... or maybe now I'm stretching it too far...

There is also mention of the fifth OTO degree in reference to fully understanding the Pelican... yet another reason I don't see these bits and pieces as "artistic fine points" devoid of interesting and perhaps even enlightening nuances to the simpler meaning of the card. I can't say that I know what's in the fifth degree that is communicated about the Pelican but if it's an act of stomping out the past... I'd say we're not just dealing with the formula that you gave:

"For The Emperor, you need to get Tzaddi, Aries, the Natural Consciousness, and Yesod opening to Netzach"

But we're dealing with:

Book of Thoth, pg 24

"From the foregoing it will be clear that the Tarot illustrates, first of all, the Tree of Life in its universal aspect, and secondly, the particular comment illustrating that phase of the Tree of Life which is of peculiar interest to those persons charged with the guardianship of the human race at the particular moment of the production of any given authorised pack."

Yeah, you did say that 😉

If you mean literal, physical birthing, that it has to eventuate in Malkuth - which brings me back to Qoph, the Corporeal Consciousness, which is primarily about the way that subconsciousness builds physical bodies.

This is essentially the same information that underabloodredsky gave with some illustrations added.
Hieroglyphics
Stele

@IChTUS 93 said

"

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

"

Also we could play in many ways:

For instance :

volatilizing the fix= joy from sorrow fixing the volatile= sorrow from joy mind freedom= "change of stability"(of "harbors") is selflessness
...

To emphasize interactions, retroactions, hidden correspondances...

LOL, no.

Preston's mini-bio here includes some of the basics I already know about his mother's life:
www.imdb.com/name/nm0002545

The key to researching her is to spell the name "Desti" instead of the more pretentions form. You may find these links interesting:

www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8z09p28z
unjobs.org/authors/mary-desti
www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDMiracle.htm
www.librarything.com/author/destimary