College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

@AvshalomBinyamin said

"I've generally avoided Goetic evocation, simply because I (mis)understood it to be mainly useful for "black magick" and my focus is on working towards K&CHGA.

But I just read Regardie's "The Tree of Life" this weekend (which, btw, is a very good medium-easy overview of the general magical life process, with more "why's" and "how's" than a lot of beginner books, or Crowley texts).

One thing that caught my attention was that for some people (i.e. people who might have psychological/emotional imbalances) he recommended using Goetic evocation for working through psychological imbalances, as a prelude to an Abramelin operation. The general idea was that you are bringing the complexes to consciousness, and then aligning them with your True Will.

Is this sound advice? Caveats?
What would be the general process? Go through the Goetia one-at-a-time, do a full evocation with all the bells and whistles, and get them each to swear allegiance to your as-yet-unnamed HGA? Or focus on your problem areas and try to find the appropriate Goetic entity to evoke with a more specific command?"

I think you are on the right track. You may want to try exorcism of particular energies as well.

Have you considered it may not be your destiny in this lifetime to achieve what it is you desire? Can you accept that? If you can, then you may be worthy.

However, if you force it, you could end up like one of those babies born severely deformed, only to die in agony.

Regarding your points: 1. - Possibly.
2. and 3. - Very thin ice to be on. To go mad or commit murder will end the game for you in this incarnation, not to mention add to your Karmic debt. So you can accept and aspire, but don't expect.

This is just one man's opinion, but one must not be too attached to anything, good or bad.

P.S. Adding to what Danicia alluded to in another thread, it's the work that counts, not the outcome. (One doesn't dance to get to the other side of the floor.)
Do the work, and let destiny prevail!

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@seekinghga said
"In his writings Crowley used the words "invoke often," quite frequently when detailing the necessary fervor needed to "call" the HGA. He did not mean a ceremony per se, did he? It was more of an allusion to consistent subconscious suggestion to the mind, correct? "

It depends on the stage your at. When you're at the stage of performing ritual invocation of the HGA (say, in an Abramelin-esque operation), it most definitely means to do the ritual frequently. But at many (most?) other times it means more like what you said.

The question is... how to do that. Turning thoughts to the angel is one way, but also witnessing the angel's hand in every change of circumstance is another. Or frequent eucharist. Or mindfulness of the angel in all enjoyment. Or awareness of what is really going on four times a day during Liber Resh. Or a thousand other specific and vague things."

So another possible way of looking what Jim has laid out could be classified as: Turning thoughts etc. - Devotion - Bhakti Yoga; witnessing the Angel's hand... - Knowledge (in that to witness is to know) - Gnana Yoga; Eucharist - Action - Karma Yoga etc.

Also, Crowley used a fair amount of mind-altering substances, which comes more under the related heading of "enflame oneself often," but I think it would be a mistake to start on the path with that as the PRIMARY technique- you don't want to end up like Humpty Dumpty or Phaeton!. IMO, the most important thing the initiate will need is Faith, in order to see themself through the extreme mental and emotional stress that accompanies the high frequencies that the Higher Spirit World resonates at. In other words, without Faith, Courage, and frankly the Grace from the Angel (which could be looked at as simply your own True Will), the vibrations would tear your mind apart!

The best way to prepare and strengthen oneself in Faith and Courage is through: building an emotional connection to ADNI through Devotion-Bhakti Yoga, through Knowledge and Philosophical training - Gnana Yoga, and Eucharist - Action - Karma Yoga.

One last thought, are you ready now to accept your Angel and what that would mean for your current life? What about your family, ambitions, goals, job, bills? Could you abandon all that the instant you realised you must? Or would your mind be torn apart like a ship gnashed against the rocks? What about your world-view? Could you handle your entire understanding of EVERYTHING being rent like an old wine sack? What about the vision? Could it be so different, so alien to the human mind that you're driven mad from some hideous, Picasoesque night-mare? That's where Humility comes into play - Humility from the sheer terror of the meeting of the Infinite with the finite!

@Jim Eshelman said

"Remember also that feeling genuine gratitude opens the heart center - it has a particular physical feel to it when it's authentic."

What are your recommendations as far as opening the various centers (Cakras) in terms of order (first, second, third and so on....) Do you think the current of Initiatory change from the Age of Osiris to Horus has any effect on that? Thanks.

@Labyrinthus said

"
@nderabloodredsky said
"Do I detect some sarcasm??"

None at all. I had made nearly all the same observations that you listed and it was refreshing to see someone else not only saw it but went to a fair amount of trouble to lay it all out so plainly. Thank you.

I had more to say but I had a 'ritual' commitment of my own that I had to attend to.

The Tridentine Mass is a beautiful ritual steeped in ancient tradition, as you said. The content is not that bad either, if you ask me. So there is one line where they pray for the conversion of the Jews... so what? I think they mean it in a nice way.

I did not make a study of it but I skim-read through Crowley's Gnostic Mass and it was just page after page of closely copying the Tridentine ritual. I read somewhere that Crowley made Frater Achad convert to Catholicism and receive the sacraments up through Confirmation as part of his training. If true, I would bet there is an interesting story behind all that."

Sorry I mistook the tone there, Labyrinthus. I agree that some of the content is quite beautiful and we use a lot of it in Western Magic; as I'm sure you know, one of the most glaring examples being the last part of the Pater Noster compared with the Qabalistic Cross.

The Tridentine Mass and Christmas Vigil are some of the grandest Pagan events I have ever witnessed. You start out with consecrated fire, then make three deosil processions outside of the Church, which being traditionally designed is surrounded by a low wall of interlocking Vesica Pisces. I'm giddy with mirth as I contemplate that Female symbol as I walk down the main isle and see stone engravings in the floor of long-slender candles with flames spurting forth that any normal, non-brainwashed human being would instantly recognise as Phallic! Then there are these fantastic statues of the Goddess and Archangels, all these Saints, and of course, lots of incense. Oh, and the Chant, if its done well rivals anything the Tibetans do, and I love that as well.

It is well known that the early Church built their churches directly over (or just adapted) the Temples of the Ancient World in Egypt, Greece and Rome, and I think the same was done with some of the Rituals. I mean everyone knows that Easter and Christmas are Equinox and Solstice events that have been celebrated in Ritual since pre-historic times.

However, the Mass as it is, without the proper initiation, has really become a propaganda tool and false-substitute for the real and genuine spiritual experience. It's too bad, but its time, in that incarnation has passed. It must be torn down. But what to build in it's place? That is one of the questions I have sought to answer above.

There is a gulf of understanding that separates the initiate from the ignorant with regard to symbol and religion, and this ignorance is exploited by the ruling elite to facilitate control of the populace and retain control, (which is fundamentally a question of denying the Universal Law of CHANGE). Take the 2000 year domination of ROMAN Christianity, colonisation, slavery, war etc. in the West. Take the oppressive caste system of the Hindu. Take the current persecution and occupation of Tibet etc. etc. etc.

@Steven Cranmer said

"Quite nice!

"a structure none the less on which to build our own Barge, our own ship to carry us to the top of the Holy Mountain and to the highest reaches of Heaven."

I'm sure the imagery above was *(http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib800ship.html:3gevzeo6) "

I wish I could take credit for that.... Just thought is sounded poetic!

@Labyrinthus said

"
@nderabloodredsky said
"1. First of all, having a separate language set aside just for ritual, such as Latin, automatically exalts one's conscious. Add to this that EVERYTHING is chanted according to very strict musical modes dictated by the Sacred Sciences of the Greeks and Egyptians; a study in and of itself.

2. You have a sacred and consecrated space... "

Ye--...

acheummm.

cough....

excuse me....

something in my eye...

... I'll have to get back to you later...."

Do I detect some sarcasm??

That's OK, but just to be clear, I am not promoting the Roman Catholic Tridentine Mass itself, only that one could use the structure of Ritual as an outline to build your own, which I think has been done before? Hmmmm... Let's see.... I think I recall..... Wait ...I believe someone named Crodey, or Crowly or something did that once?

@danica said

"Solitarius,
the work itself is what counts the most."

I second that opinion.

BTW, Jim, does an affiliation with a Golden Dawn, Wiccan or some other magickal group disqualify one as well from A.'.A.'. admittance, or is it primarily other A.'.A.'. lineages. Also, what constitutes admittance as a Probationer into the A.'.A.'.? Is it the taking of the oath?

The Tridentine Mass (as well as the various other rituals such as Benediction and Adoration of the Host, the special Solstice and Equinox celebrations (called Easter Vigil and Christmas Vigil, respectively) contain valuable information to the practicing Magician.

I see the FORM of the Tridentine Mass (as opposed to its CONTENT) to be a potentially perfect Augoeides Invocation, if the intentions are correct. I mean this as a private ritual, not public. What follows is a first draft Magickal analysis of the Tridentine Mass and some hints to its possible uses:

1. First of all, having a separate language set aside just for ritual, such as Latin, automatically exalts one's conscious. Add to this that EVERYTHING is chanted according to very strict musical modes dictated by the Sacred Sciences of the Greeks and Egyptians; a study in and of itself.
2. You have a sacred and consecrated space (and these traditionalists take this VERY seriously, contrasted with the casual, social emphasis of the Novus Ordo (or new Mass).
3. The use of ornate, expensive magickal weapons and garb.
4. Dark, cave-like surroundings lit with bees-wax candles, facing East.
   5a. The Aperges, or magickal cleansing with water and hyssop (a holy herb; makes me wonder what other "holy herbs" might have been used .
5. The Sign of the Cross - Substitute the Qabalistic Cross and LBRP.
6. Psalm 42, with its, "Send forth Thy light and thy truth: for they have led me and brought me to thy holy hill and Thy dwelling place..." could be viewed as the stated magickal goal of the operation, or at least that which expresses the aspiration and intention of the Magician.
7. Confiteor- The Confession. This helps to ritually cleanse and purify the Adept as a preparation for the later Invocation. Also, as in other places, one asks for aid and help form the HGA and the Angels and Saints (Magisters and Magi?).
8. All this has so far been done at the steps at the foot of the alter. The alter is then approached and incensed or purified with Air (or Fire).
9. The famous Kyrie, or Lord have mercy, chanted in Latin and Greek. To me this is like, "Oh Lord (Adonai, HGA,) help me, please." A very sincere request for aid and an expression of the pure intention of the Adept.
10. The Gloria.-- the Sung praises of ADNI. Compare to the "Unity uttermost shown, I adore the might of thy breath..." etc.
11. The Epistle and Gospel - Letters or Sacred Texts, common to most traditions.
12. The Sermon - Traditionally less emphasised in Catholicism, but probably more prominent now as influences/competition from Fundamentalists increases. Obviously unnecessary for a solo Magician, but some form of writing or teaching may be substituted, such as a diary or essays etc.
13. The Creed - It is good for a Magician to consciously agree with what he/she believes subconsciously. It should be written by the Adept them self, and not by any other individual. However, similar ideas will naturally occur among individuals practicing the same spiritual techniques (religion) such as, "Love is the law, love under will." and "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." etc.
14. Here begins the Mass of the Faithful, which subdivides the Mass Proper into two parts, the previous part known as the Mass of the Catechumans. It is important to remember that old Churches used to have a screen dividing the alter and Tabernacle from the eyes of the faithful in the main part of the church, so in essence, the ritual was inaccessible to all but the Priests and Acolytes.
    15.The Offertory - The ancient Hebrews would sacrifice a lamb (and also a goat that they would wipe with blood to carry their sins and then release this into the wilderness). So there was a sacrifice and an atonement. However, how does the FORM benefit us now? Well, the Offertory is a time to prepare what it is you are going to offer up, which in this operation is one's self. This can be looked at from various different levels. Using the formula of the Tetragrammaton, the self is the He final, the Daughter, who is being prepared for her Divine Marriage and Union with her Spouse, the Augoeides. Or it can be looked at from the psychological point of view, as the ego and all that entails (our usual and normal state of consciousness and self-ness) being prepared for union with the Super-Ego. Then one can say also from the rational plane, the plane of thought. Are you self-slain? Have you slayed your point-of-view and can you do so at will and see another point-of-view also at will? etc. Lastly one could look at it form the point of view of consciousness itself. Will you raise your consciousness? Will some greater consciousness descend? There is definitely a theme of self-sacrifice, and the Offertory is the time to prepare for that, to compose oneself for the enflaming that comes next.
15. Further incense here, perhaps of a different type than the initial purification.
16. Washing of the hands. - Again purification through water.
17. The Preface and Sanctus - Praise and Thanksgiving. This attitude reflects the necessary attitude of the Soul to the Spirit. I would also add the idea of "Lust" as another possible attitude of the Soul as Lover.
    19.The Canon Proper - Here, with much aid from various entities such Gods and Goddesses (God the Father, Holy Ghost, Mary), Angels, Saints etc. and of course Adonai, the Sacrifice is consecrated. Here we also have the union of opposites, the union of Shiva/Shakti, male/female, Ying/Yang, the Sperm as Host, and the Cup as Womb (or vagina). As an aside, I would assert that consecration may not the right term here, but rather the action of enflaming oneself. The idea I'm trying to convey is that the union that will take place is not a result of what the Magician has done directly, but the result of conditions conducive to the operation that the Magician has set up. He/She creates a Magickal vortex where the conditions proper for the Union to occur are created.
18. Communion - Ingestion of magickal substance. Whether the substance is bread and wine duly consecrated, or the magickal fluids of the sex operation, or hallucinogenic substances, the Union/Yoga occurs for the self with the Self. After this operation is complete, what remains is something new and glorious, the creation of something that partakes of both consciousnesses.
19. Various post Communion prayers and the Final Sign of the Cross. - the License to Depart, various prayers of thanksgiving, and the safe and gentle return of consciousness to its normal state is appropriate here. LBRP and QC.

(It just occurred to me, but I wonder if there is any Tarot Trump connection here with this process???)

So, I am suggesting that the FORM of the Tridentine Mass is an excellent formula for the High Magickal Operation of Yoga (Union). The CONTENT is culturally/socially/politically dependent, and should be treated with those considerations in mind. Crowley borrowed heavily and eclectically from many religious traditions and practices, and I do think he would have appreciated intelligent, creative, and analytical Magicians creating their own Augoeides Invocations. What I expose here in the Tridentine Mass is a skeleton that is probably much older than we realise, but a structure none the less on which to build our own Barge, our own ship to carry us to the top of the Holy Mountain and to the highest reaches of Heaven.

I recommend you try Pen (nib) and Ink on Quality Paper.

I just re-read about this in Magick ABA. In the appendix and notes, I think on the discussion of the LBRP, there is some information about how Aiwass may have been used at Cefalu, and that one of the CA OTO lodges instructed their initiates to use it etc. etc.

Personally, at this time I prefer not to use it because it interferes with perfect simplicity of the sentence one is intoning. The HGA is Atah (or Eheh) at the crown, and I bring or invite that energy down as low as I can to Malkuth. I do not usually touch my groin, but point to and visualise my feet. (I do not actually point to my feet, but imagine the hilt of a sword or spear touching my feet or the ground I am standing on.) I do not want to energise the sexual seat at this time, but rather include my whole being. Also, the feet are considered unclean and insulting in Middle Eastern culture, and so including the feet in the ritual confirms and sanctifies ALL of YHWH's creation, even the low and "unclean".

I don't think there is anything wrong with adding Aiwass or another name there, especially if one is concsiously in union with the HGA, but then I would think the English sentence as, "For thine (my Lord and Angel), who is [NAME] or who is called [NAME], is the Kingdom, Power, and Glory unto the ages etc." Theoretically, I suppose one could add Yesod and the other Sephirah as well, but then it's not as simple and clean.

I tried Jim's experiment and it was a little like de ja vu; I think I have done this before. When I imagined it in the LBRP, my experience wasn't so much a feeling of union, but rather of expansion. That was for the Pentagrams, but when I added the Hexagrams (traditional) above and below me (the "box" described in Magick ABA) I get a sensation of infinite high and infinite low (Nuit and Hadit if you will). It feels like a vacuum, an elevator shaft and I feel very large (or small, in certain cases). So perhaps one could say that the horizontal plain is the perfectly equilibrated manifest something, and the vertical plane is the perfect un-manifest nothing. That may not be the best description, but the feeling I get is one of expansion, power, solidness, protection, contrasted with a feeling of dissolution, either in Heavenly blissful rapture, or Hellish eternal torture (which is the nature of dissolution, the Abyss etc. depending on the perfection of the Adept (or the Initiate, like Phaeton, who went too far, too high, too fast!)

The angels, I visualise as helpers, watchers and protectors, who help to hold and bear one up in moments of great difficulty.

Actually, I think desecration is the proper term. I think Jim has mentioned in other posts why one might want to desecrate a magickal object, for instance you have new or better tools and you no longer have need of a tool, so then one would desecrate it in order to clear it. At least that's what I recall.

ditto.

After studying more about sex, entheogenic substances, shamanism, pagan history etc. it has become so completely obvious to me what a ceremony should be. Without the above elements, any of these ceremonies are just like running a circuit (like a lamp) with no electricity.

The only exception, is that really earnest people will want something to happen, even if it's unconscious, and that in and of itself can create an experience; but just think if you added that power with the methods listed above, it would be dynamite!

@JPF said

"At the age of 18 I left a very comfortable home in Los Angeles and went on a long pilgrimage, travelling mostly by thumb. I can't say I have any regrets. I was often cold, and hungry, and isolated--but who can complain, when one is witness to so many miracles?

The Powers that Be seem to reward one's refusal to accept limitation...and isn't that really what "work" is?

In the end, the question is: Are you willing to be a Slave? Are you going to follow your own Will, or accept that imposed upon you by our society, which dictates that a man is only valuable insofar as he contributes to the consumerism we espouse as a people?

Most will convince themselves that every step towards "gainful employment" is a positive one. Such self-deception may befit the masses, but some are called to a higher occupation."

@JPF said

"
@Veronica said
"Poverty is very time consuming, yes it is. The energies I see spent on maintaining that attitude are tremendous! But IMO poverty is an attitude, and does not have to be a reality.
"

To the contrary: never did I have more time on my hands than when I was a beggar. "

Yeah....Ive been thinking about the verse, "Leave everything behind and follow me." Except I am are not talking about the Church, or some exterior Deity, but one's own Higher Self. Poverty does have it's advantages-I find that we do what we do and our lives naturally find equilibrium. I wish I knew more people who like you have abandoned everything and made their way anyway. Although, there are lessons to be learned on either path.

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@nderabloodredsky said
"thanks for your responses so far, but I just want to highlight that there is seemingly a conflict between the two quotes, one, that the HGA is equivalent to the Higher Self, and two, that it is not. So I am trying to determine which one it is."

Yes. There is both accidental and intentional ambiguity on this matter.

My view is that the question isn't relevant until one gets to the threshold of the event; and, at that point, the question becomes irrelevant. (That's not "fun with words." That's me using every trick I know to say what I mean.) "

Well, O.K. , but in the above quote, he says Crowley spoke in "no uncertain terms", so I don't see why there is ambiguity on this matter, accidental or otherwise.

"
Honestly, I don't think knowing whether it is a or b is going to help anyone make the link faster. For example, it doesn't affect method. Furthermore, all the terms being debated have a totally different meaning in the face of the actual experience.

"Also, if HGA = True Will, and if HGA does NOT = Higher Self, then logically the True Will does NOT = Higher Self.
I am not convinced that the above argument is correct, so I am looking for other opinions...."

HGA does not equal True Will. Furthermore, the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is not the same experience as the Discovery of the True Will. (In some occassions, they may occur more or less at the same time.)

This is one of the most misleading yet commonplace errors floating around some Thelemic circles."

This helps. Thanks. I do wish you could answer some more of those questions, though.

"
If it helps (though maybe it's too poetic to communicate conventionally), I settled sometime back on saying that the True Will is the Voice of the HGA speaking to and through us - often long before the K&C, and certainly after it."

thanks for your responses so far, but I just want to highlight that there is seemingly a conflict between the two quotes, one, that the HGA is equivalent to the Higher Self, and two, that it is not. So I am trying to determine which one it is.

Also, if HGA = True Will, and if HGA does NOT = Higher Self, then logically the True Will does NOT = Higher Self.
I am not convinced that the above argument is correct, so I am looking for other opinions....

Again, quoting Regardie in, "The Eye in the Triangle",

"...its secret [O.T.O.'s] was more a matter of personal accomplishment than a form of verbal initiation. It is really useless to describe the method, not because it is a secret, but only because its successful employment demands the ability to concentrate the mind and to visualize keenly, and these are faculties not commonly found."

Can any one demonstrate or describe what the faculties of visualisation and concentration are? I assume that would be part of a standard meditation regime, right? Nothing having to do with sex, per se, right?

@Alrah said

"It's not mine either! Quite frankly - working out how this all worked made my head hurt, and I had a mathematician to consult too. I can give you the formula, but unless you are willing to put the work into understanding it, then there's no point, is there? The formula would be the most basic terms I can put it in. Sorry."

Fair enough!

What's the formula?

I came across some ideas in Regardie's, The Eye of the Triangle, and I was hoping someone could expound on the aim of religion, the True Will, The Higher Self, the K.& C. of the HGA. etc.

A. The Higher Self and the K.&C. of the H.G.A.:

On page 463, Regardie writes regarding Crowley,

"If Aiwass was his own Higher Self..." and

"...Aiwaz, is none other that mine one Holy Guardian Angel...."

Then, in a foot-note on pg. 508,

"I would like to insert this parenthetical demurrer about the conventional occult identification of the HGA with the so-called higher Self. Crowley considered this identification a heresy and an abomination, and he expressed himself in no uncertain terms about it. For example, in 'Magick Without Tears,' he wrote:

'We can readily concur the the Augoeides, the "Genius" of Socrates, and the "Holy Guardian Angel" of Abremelin the Mage, are identical. But we cannot include this "Higher Self"; for the Angel is an actual Individual, with his own Universe, exactly as man is; or, for that matter of that, a bluebottle. He is not a mere abstraction, a selection from, and exaltation of, one's own favourite qualities, as the "Higher Self" seems to me....
I can, for instance, work myself up to a "Divine Consciousness", in which I can understand, and act, as I cannot in my normal state. I become "inspired", I feel, and I express, ideas of almost illimitable exaltation. But that is totally different from the "Knowledge and Conversation of their Holy Guardian Angel", which is the special aim of the Adeptus Minor. It is ruin to that Work if one deceives oneself by mistaking one's own 'energized enthusiasm' for external communication. the parallel on the physical plane is the difference between Onanism and sexual intercourse....
I believe that the HGA is a Being of this (angelic) order. He is something more that a man, possibly a being who has already passed through this stage of humanity, and his peculiarly intimate relationship with his client is that of friendship, of community, of brother hood, or fatherhood.'"

Also,on the same topic, on page 453, Regardie writes,

"Not only had he [Crowley] stated that the next step for man is the "knowledge and conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel".... It was in that experience that in his later years he came to denominates as the discovery of the True Will.'

Questions:

1. What then, is the difference between the K.&C. of the H.G.A., knowing one's True Will, the Higher Self?
2. Is he saying that K&C of HGA = knowing True Will?
3. Or is knowing True WIll come with Union with the Higher Self?
4. Are we supposed to have Union with the HGA, or is He/She/It an entity and intelligence outside ourselves and independent from, that we converse with only, and not strive for Union with, or both?
5. Is the HGA similar to the Shamanic notion of, "Spirit Guide", "Totem" etc. ?

B. the Aim of Religion, Union, Mystical Experience and Higher States of Consciousness:

On pg. 456-57, Regardie writes,

"The aim of religion always has been the induction of the mystical experience, super-consciousness as he [Crowley] occasionally called it, after the Yogis."

and, further, quoting Crowley from, the "Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw",

"The mystic attainment may be defined as the Union of the Soul with God, or as the realization of itself, or-there are fifty phrases for the same experience."

Also, on page 451, Regardie writes,

"There is an essay "Energized Enthusiasm" in the Equinox IX where a definite stand is taken on the marriage of religious ceremonial and sex, the worship of Dionysius, Aphrodite and Apollo-which he translated for us as the worship of wine, women and song! The unpublished commentaries to The Book of the Law contain page after page of patient, careful striving to explain what he felt so keenly about this."

Further Questions:
6. So then, is the goal, or aim of religion, the induction of mystical experience?
7. Is the induction of the mystical experience, and therefore religion, the worship of, or through, wine, women and song? Or sex, drugs and rock & roll?
("The new religion, the electric church; the only way to go. I was born to rock and roll.... etc.")
8. Is the purpose of the mystical experience, and therefor the purpose of religion, the Union of the Soul with God?
9. Can the Union of the Soul with God be rephrased as, self-consciousness with super-consciousness, or the Self, or True Self, or Higher Self?
10. Is, therefor, God-the Higher Self?
11. Is the Great Work this Union?
12. Where does the "ecstatic experience" fit in with this? Is it the mystical experience?
13. It is it the same as "energised enthusiasm"? Is it the Serpent Power and/or Kundalini, but of different degree of magnitude?
14. The 'unpublished Commentaries" have since been published, right? Is there a particular edition that is best?

Thank you.