College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth.

Lines like this have been catching my attention a lot lately. I've been coming to a point where the only ceremonial work that I do is to produce drops of understanding so that I can ultimately attain K&C of the HGA. If this is indeed my goal, am I wasting my time by zigzagging up the tree with the path of Magick? Is there some initiating current that can take me straight up the central pillar instead? And perhaps after I've attained K&C of the HGA, I can explore magck again if it still strikes my interest.

In theory this type of initiation makes sense. In practice, do such initiation schools exist?

Tzaddi / Emperor describes the powers of the self-consciousness to set in order/organize. We consciously define a premise and the subconsciousness will blindly follow deductions from this premise.

"I bring joy to your pleasure, peace to your languor, wisdom to your folly"
This describes the method of equilibrium (lamed)

"All that ye do is right, if so be that ye enjoy it"

To achieve the consciousness of continuity in this life, our self-consciousness must learn to accept a fundamental premise that everything also contains its opposite. We must prove this to ourselves over & over until we learn to accept this premise automatically.

"Before I saw thee, thou wast already with me"

Adonai is so tightly entwined about our being that hardly we notice his presence. In order to "see" Adonai, the coils of the serpent must loosen. We must take a "step back" from Adonai. This makes me think of the Bornless ritual, which was originally an exorcism. Perhaps the attitude of an exorcism is whats needed to loosen his coils and finally understand how close Adonai has always been all along.

Existence is a ravenous storm, by which the black earth we live is born. The eye of the storm is the stillness of the soul, by which we move past this dimly lit portal.

We understand that white & black are one, but to prove this with knowledge (by the intellect) is foolish. Knowledge will only show how one falsehood relates to another falsehood. It can only show you how it is NOT one. So then also be still o my soul that the spell may dissolve! Sew the seeds of knowledge and reap the harvest patiently by silence.

Seek not only the stillness. But also go madly into the frenzy of form. Dance and drink wildly with Bacchus AND seek the stillness therein. Bacchus grows old, becoming Silenus (Speech & Silence / Black & White, etc.) By the light of the rosy cross (union of opposites), the emissary of Pan, may one know the single enduring truth.

As a science student, this is something I've tried to figure out myself. I've never been able to perform any type of ritual that gave me the effect I wanted. I have read books that have helped me tremendously which I directly attribute to my excellent learning abilities in the sciences. Perhaps it was the effect of the ritual that lead me to these books...

Anyways, read a book called "Mind for Numbers". The author discusses some incredibly useful techniques and explains them very well. I believe the techniques explained in this book are the same skills that we use in our occult studies, just presented in a different light. Try to read it with this in mind. This book helped me become a 4.0 student and helped me gain admission to a competitive MD program. Reading the right book is every bit as magickal as performing a ritual after all.

I'm in!

@mark0987 said

"
"Regarding the Banishing, does that relate to Malkuth? - as in are you in effect banishing all the elements of Malkuth, and stepping up into the Tree? The Earth then signifying the Body, or 'this world'? Or am I on the wrong track there?
"

That is debated among occultists. My opinion, the LBRP banishes everything below Tiphareth in terms of unbalanced energies (Tiphareth being the most balanced position on the tree). If you read Crowley's commentary, you are actually performing the ritual on the intersection of Samekh and Peh- which is worth meditation in it's own right."

I think the banishing part with the pentagrams does correlate to work on mulkuth. But after you call upon the four archangels, there is a distinct change in energy in the entire ritual. These four archangels correspond to briah of tiphareth, natzech, hod, and yesod. This arrangement revolves around samekh & peh. I'm inclined to believe that by the time we call upon the archangels we then have centered ourselves at those particular crossroads.

In the evocation of the intelligence of Mercury I see that part of the operation involves utilizing the color scales. Can someone please explain to me why we incorporate the color scales specific to the path of "Beth" rather than the scales of "Hod"? When working with a planetary force, what is the practical difference between incorporating the sephiroth vs. one of the 7 double letter paths?

@Takamba said

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@danica said
"
"":17ezelaq]I was listening to a podcast by Lon Milo, and I was really surprised to hear that he had his experience in his 70's.
"

Lon is 68 now, according to Wikipedia."

Perhaps it was meant "the mid 70s," ie 1976 perhaps?"

My mistake. I think he must have been around 65 when it happened. In this interview (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M0FOaAzqWI) he describes the experience towards the end in avid detail. He said it happened only 3 years ago. Given that this video was in 2016, he must have been around 65 when it went down.

I was listening to a podcast by Lon Milo, and I was really surprised to hear that he had his experience in his 70's.
If this already happened to you, how old were you?
EDIT: He must have been around 65 when it happened
(Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M0FOaAzqWI)

And a question regarding the AA, how frequently do people who make it past the neophyte grade reach K&C of the HGA in their lifetime?

"Had! The manifestation of Nuit" - First line of Liber AL.

I've understood Hadit to be the first point of manifestation, yet beyond duality. I didn't think that unity was outside the scope of manifestation since Kether is still below the veils of the unmanifest.

-93

I can't seem to find a good explanation of these two sets of elements. I understand that the microcosmic elements refer to the elements of the fixed zodiac cross. Is it the cardinal or mutable elements that correlate to the macrocosmic elements?

What is the practical application of these different sets of element? Are there any good resources available for understanding these?

Thank you!

93

"Day Three
Who's eye is that? I wonder - sight penetrating through the darkness - Fury, raw power unchecked and let loose.
"

I suspect this is the eye of the Magician/Magus. When comparing PFC's Magician to RWS Magician, we can see that there was a blind in the RWS. In the RWS, the magician's gaze is not directed where he is pointing. This tells me that there is a hidden occult significance that was attempted to be hidden and is likely important.

In Sepher ha-Zohar, it is said that Beth was created before Aleph. Is my interpretation of this correct?

AIN SVP = 207
AIN SVP AVR = 414

In the creation of the boundless light (414), we double the boundless (207). So the first instance of doubling or duality (Beth) is actually seen in the veils of the unmanifest, BEFORE the beginning of Whirlings (Aleph).

Is this the correct reasoning for Beth being created before Aleph?

I had an interesting epiphany about this card.

Zayin is the Disposing Intelligence. It represents "discrimination". To dispose something is to set it aside. The sword is a symbol of this because it represents air, and can cut things into pieces which resonates with discernment.

This path connects 3<---->6

3 is the number of growth & expansion. It's also a saturnian number, which represents restriction, boundaries, etc. These two qualities are one and the same. When something is divided into many parts, that creates the illusion of expansion

6 is the number of reciprocation. 6 is the number that "interfaces" with all the other number in a harmonious way and applies their principals in perfection.

So for 6 to apply the principals of 3 (expansion, understanding, etc) it must use Zayin, which can expand and reduce the whole through the power of discernment.

I was thinking about Raphael, and I realized that the image of the lovers contains his image. You can't see his face, but I think that must be Raphael.

Reason I see this, is because the first two letters Resh & Peh demonstrate the same action of Zayin that I described.
Resh is the solar light from AIN SVP AVR. The Peh from the boundless light represents the power of speech, which separates and gives things form. So Raphael's formula contains the clue that the undifferentiated light is differentiated into manifestation through the principal of separation & disposition. This sounds an awful lot like the path of Zayin!

And interestingly enough, the Lovers by Paul Foster Case has a picture of Raphael behind the man & the woman, which supports this perspective!

http://i.imgur.com/idZCSpD.png

Case's work attributes a musical note to each of the Hebrew letters through their planetary/zodiacal attribution. According to the tzaddi/heh switch, this means the "Heh" should be vibrated with as an A#/B_flat. Does this switch cary over to this level, or are there other reasons for keeping the frequency at C?

I'm trying to understand how to interpret some hebrew words that have double letters.
The word I'm trying to understand is "KLLI" which means "Collective" from The Collective Intelligence of the path of Resh.

I get thrown off when I see two of the same letters next to each other. Can someone please critique my analysis? I've interpreted the two Lameds to express Lamed through the lens of the number "2".

K=Kaph - Palm, guiding authority. The "destiny" of a person is said to be written on your palms, hence this is a reflection of the cosmic will or True Will's authority over the unfolding of all events

LL = Lamed x 2 = I interpreted two Lameds to be the expression of duality. The Law of duality established by the subordinate reflection of Kether -> Chokmah is what entices the life-breath of NO-THING to move.

I= Yod = a flame, the principal of coition between the self-conciousness and subconsciousness which is realized in a state of super-consciousness. The light given by this state allows one to see the same life breath (aleph) permeating the many, as implied by the two Lameds.

In summary:
KLLI = Collective
This word as a whole tells me that there is a law that is necessary and it creates the appearance of the many. This law has its roots in duality. But within the many, there is the life breath that permeates the many and is One. The flame represents this type of illumination of knowing the collective, and it is part of the light of the "Resh" in the term "Ruach"

I've encountered some confusion while studying the the images of the tarot, specifically relating to the hierophant and the emperor, I'm hoping someone can give me some clarification. I understand the emperor to express (on one particular level), the consciousness' ability to "order" or "classify" the images formed by the empress. These images are the refined action of high priestess, and are the consequence of what my attention has been placed on. As the subconscious serves the self-conciseness these images, it is through the emperor that we find the divine order of these impressions and make the correct attributes. The hierophant is the subconscious response to this "right knowledge", and gives the student a state of mind that we call "Intuition". The faculty associated with the hierophant is "hearing" which is also the sense associated with akasha, spirit, 0, etc..

On a practical level, this made a lot of sense to me. By proper knowledge of liber 777 and it's correspondence, we can build parts of the inner temple through symbols, and in turn we can "hear" the voice of our own intuition which guides us in this process.

Looking back on my own experience, I've had many meditations where I used very wrong attributions. Yet, despite these wrong attributions, I have still acquired these states of illumination, where I get the "sense" that I have uncovered some kind of inner-truth. I've been attributing that inner-knowing with the voice of the hierophant (as venus corresponds to the throat). What is troubling is, that these states of so-called "illumination" are not necessarily dependent on me having the right knowledge and I believe are extremely misleading. It makes it difficult for me to trust the results of any of my meditations. Perhaps my understanding of the hierophant is wrong? Has anyone else encountered this problem?

In Liber AL, Nuit says that Hadit is the manifestation of Nuit. I understood "manifestation" to be essentially an active process, thus Hadit is that active process.

"Every Man and Woman is a star". These "stars" are manifestations of Nuit. At the centre of every star is nuclear reaction driving the core of every star. I've interpreted the "core" of the star to be Hadit, and not the star itself.

We are instructed to worship the Khabs. Hadit later explains that the Khabs (which means "star") is his house. Specifically he makes it clear that this house is not an extension of him.
"I am not extended, and Khabs is the name of my House"

This is what confuses me. If Hadit is "Kether", all emanations come from that point. Including Tiphareth. These are all extentions of Kether, no? I'm assuming the star/khabs is referring to Tiphareth. How is it that the Khabs is the House of Hadit, but not an extention of Hadit?

Thanks for the clarification. I've been studying ritual 8, and I've got a few more questions!

"...You provide a body at a lower level of manifestation than the spirit normally occupies (Assiah is a lower vibratory rate than Yetzirah), and incarnating it temporarily."

"...The technique isn't to bring the spirit up to your level, but for you to adjust your level to that of the spirit"

This makes sense to me in ritual 8, where we provide an astral body of the talismanic image. I am attuning my consciousness to that vibrational state in yetzirah, where the spirit can occupy the talismanic image. But when I consider a body of smoke however, this is where I get confused. I am no longer attuning my consciousness to the vibration of the spirit, but now the spirit is changing its vibration to meet me in assiah, which appears to contradict the definition of evocation. Whats the flaw in my reasoning?

During the specific invocation, we start by ascending the ladders of colors up to atziluth, then back down to yetzirah.
We then switch between a grey mantel and end with a light purple mantel. Is visualizing a purple mantel the same thing as ascending back up the ladder to the briatic aspect of the principle, or does it have a more precise meaning (i.e maintaining the vibration of yetzirah, but just referencing a higher chain of command?). I'm inclined to believe the latter, because we want to remain attuned to spirit.

You describe a visualization in which a vortex of indigo rayed violet increases in intensity upon the pentacle. Within is a grey astral light with the talismanic image of the spirit shining through and "striving" to manifest. I interpreted this to mean the magician is essentially building a channel to assiah (indigo rayed violet) that the spirit can act upon. And as you said, the spirit can manifest if the visualization is harmonious with its nature, so the grey light is providing a microenvironment for it to manifest. Is my interpretation correct?

Lastly, could you please explain why we use the color ladders of Beth instead of 8th Sephiroth? They both refer to mercury, how did you decide which one to use?

Thanks again!