College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Hello Nigris,

I appreciate your acknowledgement of this versing work. It was finally concluded, but took place over some years. I will release it eventually at wizardiaoan.wordpress.com. I believe the final adjustment was the "for why" verse of chapter three. I end the previous verse with this now rather than begin a new one with this. Anyway, your quote of Eshelman's enthusiasm of Crowley's versing, when I factually pointed out his forced versing errors, is the reason I left this board long ago, beyond the fact he threw my magickal child proofs in his trash. Also, I know him to be merely a VI (from some magickal visualizaton), so that he would rather fight about it than be true about it. Further, his order is founded on a V, which is laughable were it not so paltry. I see no reason to be here (other than to reveal true lucidity).

Yes, my magickal feeling is that The Book of Law has 220 verses, this is all it is.

[bib-arch dot org/bar/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=02&ArticleID=06&Page=0]

Besides being a good essay on the origins of the Hebrew script, there is some subtle proof that Heh should be attributed to Aries as "the emperor" here, since the hieroglyph they took to represent Heh symbolized a person giving orders. It likely meant something akin to "foreman," but this can't be used since the supposition is that they were illiterate of the hieroglyph's real meaning.

By contrast, Tzaddi may have its origins with the papyrus plant glyph, the emblem of Lower Egypt, which grows near the water. This does not seem linked to Aries to me.

[www.bib-arch dot org/scholars-study/alphabet-goldwasser-rebuttal.asp]

Edit: The article didn't link in full, sry.

Here is a snippet from my essay on the subject (not quite finished):

Verse numbers were not written at the time of the reception of Liber Legis, but it is clear from the way it was received that it is meant to have verses. This is evidenced by the fact that a new page line of writing is started when there is still ample space left on the line above to start a new sentence. This pattern persists throughout all three chapters of Liber Legis. This allows certainty as to where one verse ends and another begins in many cases.
Where the proper versing becomes ambiguous is when there is no space left in a page line, and a sentence’s beginning occurs immediately in the line below it. When this occurs it cannot be proven by this reasoning alone whether that sentence is part of the same verse, or the beginning of a new one—and indeed there is no way to ultimately prove such one way or the other. It is up to the individual to decide upon what is most likely the correct versing of Liber Legis, and in many cases it is tough to make a solid guess. I have summed up my own preferences and thoughts in the pages ahead, often using grammatometria to inform my decision.
What is clear is that Crowley’s versing for the first chapter of Liber Legis is incorrect. He makes three blatant, forced versing errors. These are:

1. His verses 12 & 13 should be the same verse, as “I am above you...” occurs on the same page line as “...& take your fill of love.” Here Crowley splits the same page line up into two separate verses.
2. His verse 22 should be two separate verses, as there is an obvious page line break between “knoweth me” and “Since I am Infinite Space and the Infinite...” Here Crowley ignores a page line break.
3. His verses 28 & 29 should be the same verse, as “For I am divided...” occurs on the same page line as “...the stars, and two.” Here Crowley splits the same page line up into two separate verses.

Like Jim, I believe occult inspiration allowed Crowley to ascertain the correct number of verses as 220 (although 221 would be interesting as the sum of the svastika on the Mars square), but I think there are definitely errors within his schema. My newest observation is to get rid of that "for why" verse (his II:13), since the period after "not" is in pencil, to read: "Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not for why? Because thou wast the knower, and me." To make up for it, I separate "Behold! the rituals of the old time are black!" into a separate verse [On the first page of the other two chapters, any ambiguous versing is always separated into separate verses except this one].

This being the fourth verse of Liber Legis, we are still in very high states, the communication may be seen as coming from the supremely high then dropping down slowly. It is exactly this high state before any cause for alarm (as to division) has occurred that is meant by the verse. Here Ra-Hoor-Khuit's spell is still completely raised, Shu is mightily raising Nut, keeping her inifinity cresting and alive! This is a magickal spell against the four, against non-magickal manifestation. It sets the tone for the whole book, what it is, which is of the supreme magick rapture.

The trite is not of Hadit, that which is synonymous with the non-infinite. We as people are the numbers spoken of as separate individuals. So the verse is saying that we are all infinite, there is no difference among us in the supreme state, amongst the continuity of Nuit.

A bit of res simplex is needed here, no need to overly complexify it with knowledge and reason.

Regarding the initial progression from M.T. to Magus, I've always liked this image:

www.myspace.com/felicia_travels_nebula/photos/11558182

The particular was raised to and permanently absorbed into Nuit upon crossing the abyss to become the homogeneous waters of the great sea of Binah. After being fermented in this state for however long there forms a seed in the darkness. The infinite now distills back into awareness akin to the all-seeing eye where there is no individual creating obfuscation. This liberates a great boon of life energy akin to the Chiah soul of Chokmah. The beginning stage of the Magus is akin to Mercurius birthing from the great sea as above, a baby's gnosis per Hoor-paar-kraat, the buddha, etc.

The main process as I see it is the distillation of the those universal waters into an enlightened Buddha drop as it were, where one is now fully awakened in contrast to when one was below the abyss and separated from the continuity of Nuit.

@danica said

"... those seven words could be attributed to the 7 stages of alchemy - in that same order -
Visita - Calcination
Interiora - Dissolution
Terrae - Separation
Rectificando - Conjunction
Invenies - Fermentation
Occultum - Distillation
Lapidem - Coagulation

and then, the order of the planets would go as given in Emerald Table, but from Saturn to the Sun - because the direction of our motion is from materia prima to gold

so we would have this attribution:

Visita - Saturn
Interiora - Venus
Terrae - Mars
Rectificando - Jupiter
Invenies - Mercury
Occultum - Luna
Lapidem - Sol"

Hi Danica, I like that you are using the seven alchemical processes I assume as given in Dennis Hauck's The Emerald Tablet. I think these are correct too. My correlations of them to the cakras and the tree can be found a few pages into this essay: issuu.com/wizardiaoan/docs/introduction_to_the_nv_freemasonry

My preferred cakra-planetary attributions follow the reverse Ptolemaic order:

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

This is actually in accord with Basil Valentine's pictographic summary of the process in his Azoth: www.azothalchemy.org/what_is_azoth.htm

Good job Mithros,

I concur with and use the Tree as laid out in your essay. I noticed myself the traditional Kircher tree's discrepancy with Keys XIV and XV. The three paths from Kether go right-left-down as Keys O, I, II—but the three paths from Tiphareth go right-down-left as Keys XIII, XIV, XV. I have wondered if there was some intentional blind so as not to have the Devil upon the middle pillar? I like how the middle pillar is purple now: Saturn as Blue-purple, Capricorn as the same, and Moon as purple (I color Moon purple and Jupiter blue like the spheres of the tree).

I really like Key IV as 2-4, Heh is majestic as Jupiter the King, and the Hierophant is also great as 2-6, as Vau = 6 which emphasizes his solar, light bearing nature. I do not subscribe to Crowley's switch.

I like to call your rules of ordering the paths upon the tree "the nearest sphere first" process of emanation.

Jim, I read your comment which was scattered but good, and noticed you didn't mention what I consider to be the primary symbolism: basically that the 9 often plugs up the perfect balance of the 8. I cannot agree that it primarily refers to Hod and Yesod as you seem to suggest. Here is my comment:

On Hadit as 9 to the Fools and 8 to the Just

The simplest and most direct way to understand what is implied is to recall Hadit refers to himself as “the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle” in II:7.  Imagine this wheel as having eight spokes and laying horizontally in the cube of space.  Each spoke here represents one of the eight Fu Hsi trigrams of the Yijing.  Each spoke also represents one of the eight black or white cubes that fit inside the cube of space as the eight diverse polarities of its vertices.  The 9th point is the axle of the wheel itself.  This 9th point is unaccounted for in the binary scheme and is thus a blockage to the unity of opposites being 0.  This is the primary symbolism I suggest.

From this we see that “the fools” or foolish people shout the Word as such to proclaim themselves to be the individual one thing, rather than Hadit as the perfectly balanced and equilibrated no thing.  They reinforce themselves into limited beingness as the manifest axle of the wheel, as the individuality of something counted, something sticking out, something separate and apart.  Teth as 9 is this wildly ferocious and assertive energy of the universal life force becoming mixed with the individuality of self, which is why it is portrayed as a Beast, being negatively prone to become uncontrolled force and low desire.  The axle counted as 9 thus represents that which has become stuck upon itself or trapped in beingness through its continued shouting, which becomes inane foolishness when not in accord with or in consideration of the rest of the universe.

The true speech, will or word of Hadit preserves the balance of the opposites and does not assert itself; it resounds out into the 8 directions and there is no difference within it.  It is thus the speech of “the just,” of those who uphold the truth and virtue of equilibration.  The axle of the wheel is to all accounts missing or absent here, the self is dissolved into the universal 0, where there is no blockage of the individual with the universal life.  The Word issues forth untainted or interrupted by the individuality.  Thus with the just the wheel does not have an axle, there has been no separation into individuality of the universal life force, the individual one is dissolved in the all so that “all is one.”  This is the gnosis of “no difference.”  The word “vital” plays upon the nature of the number 8, being representative of vitality of the life force with its booning energies.  8 is importantly a Fibonacci number; 8 as Ch begins ChIH “Life” in Hebrew, and 8 as J begins Jiva “Living Being; Soul” in Sanskrit.  8 as H represents DNA as the “Ladder of Life.”

In the last it is true that one is meant to take part in both perspectives during one’s course, else there would be no wisdom in Teth, the shining, assertive individuality.  These two opposites of the sun of the conscious individual and the moon of the unconscious universal are the paramount symbols of the whole self.  Hadit is simply calling those that refuse to immerse themselves in the greater universal life and to dissolve their separated selves fools.  The aim is to achieve a perfect balance or blending of the individual and universal states of self, so where one possesses a brilliant conscious that is wise enough to renew, bathe, and immerse itself in the universal, and where even the duality of the two is annihilated into one.

The verse being 81 serially is obviously a play on 1 in 8.

"Don't get it twisted."

It is my view than any solution or English grammatometric order (I have seen both) based upon the grid is nonsense, and that the grid is meaningless. It was drawn after 1912, likely during a bout of asinine analysis by Crowley of the verse.

Someone could cite the solutions/qabalahs that are based on the grid, I do not recall. I do note David Hulse's solution in his Liber CCCXXX ABRAHADABRA used it as a basis as well.

@Jim Eshelman said

"Babe of the Abyss was summer solstice 1909. Master of the Temple was December of the same year as documented in V&V. That is, yes, he walked into the desert a six month old Babe of the Abyss, and walked out an 8=3."

Thanks. Do you accept Crowley's attainment timeline as printed on xvi of The Holy Books of Thelema? [This has him as a 6=5 when he has Liber Legis communicated to him which is interesting]. It has him a 7=4 in January of 1906. It has "Magi" at October of 1906, which it seems is when he took the Oath of Magister Templi; however you surmise the actual move from 7=4 to Babe was Summer Solstice, 1909, then Magister Templi six months later in December, correct?

@Jim Eshelman said

"I keep referring you to "One Star in Sight" and it is apparent that you haven't yet read it; otherwise, you'd know the answer regarding to work of Zayin and Cheth."

Lol I did read it again upon your suggestion, but never made the connection; I assumed the "putting each idea against its opposite" was always a general supernal formula of unity. Thanks for the clarification. I also see the pattern now of working the paths that connect to the sphere you are working towards.

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@Wizardiaoan said
"
@Jim Eshelman said
"The job of the Babe of the Abyss is primarily to abide in the Abyss."

That doesn't sound like hard work, I did it for 9 months before I was even born!"

Well, no, I don't think you did. It requires a well-developed Ruach to abide in the Abyss, and you didn't even have the neurology for that during the nine months you mentioned."

Lol, it was a joke; I figured you would know I was joking. Anyway, your deadpan reply is funny.

@Jim Eshelman said

"If it's unexpected, someone hasn't been paying attention! You're describing a Uranian type experience for perhaps the most Neptunian stage in all psychospiritual development."

Heh, well in my defense it seems Crowley wasn't expecting it too much either, from what you quote above: "I cannot even say that I crossed the Abyss deliberately...I found myself in a truly surprising state..." I'm sorry, I don't get the Uranian/Neptune thing.

@Jim Eshelman said

"Summary of his 8=3 attainment? Do you mean the process or the consequences?"

I was just wondering the time frame when you thought he moved to babe of the abyss to Magister Templi, when his experience subsided, etc. It seems you think it was all during his 30 aethyrs working.

@Jim Eshelman said

"The main proactive task of 7=4 involves the higher Bhakti-Yoga (Para-Bhakti) and working the Paths of Zayin and Cheth before surrendering to the Abyss. Also bringing his Ruach structure and contents to its apical climax by his composition and publication of his thesis."

"Klīm, Krishnāya, Govindāya, Gopī-jana, Vallabhāya, Swāhā!" Why not work the path of Vau or Heh/Tzaddi also, and could you summarize you imply by working the paths of Zayin and Cheth out of curiosity?

Thanks for the quotes, Crowley comments well upon the 8=3 and above.

Thanks for the response.

@Jim Eshelman said

"The job of the Babe of the Abyss is primarily to abide in the Abyss."

That doesn't sound like hard work, I did it for 9 months before I was even born! By "Grace" my implication was that it is beyond the Adept's sphere to initiate its onset, that it is the grace of Binah. However I do see per the "momentum" connotation and way of thinking about it which I like too, that it was self-willed behavior in action and devotion that brought one to that point. Still, I am not sure everyone who builds up momentum in general will have the same fortunate result--the momentum seems of a special kind. But then again, by the attainment to 7=4, one should have probably worked out how to attain that special kind of desirable momentum. Even so, the whole event, being by nature the unexpected (and a critical, pronounced change), it seems will always be of the nature of a great surprise.

You quote Crowley: Confessions, "I cannot even say that I crossed the Abyss deliberately. I was hurled into it by the momentum of the forces which I had called up."

I had thought Crowley was one who rather did initiate the abyss event upon himself by taking on the skrying of Enochian's 30 aethyrs, but I guess my view is flawed here. Do you have any summary of Crowley's 8=3 attainment? Thanks for stating your 6=5 views, it seems you are saying karmic attachments are alleviated in Lamed on to Geburah, freeing one up to be led by the unitary angel.

@Jim Eshelman said

"The Task of the 6=5 includes the Path of Kaph."

Not sure why it would pre-dominantly, as Kaph connects Chesed to Netzach. You call charity, selflessness, renunciation, etc., "mainenance activities" in Chesed, what do you then see as the major work?

@Jim Eshelman said

"My preferred imagery is that one finds onself standing atop the flat, square surface of a (hopefully) balanced-built pyramid, complete but for its upper part; standing here at night, under naked heavens of the body of Nuit, in mindful mystery and awaiting the landing of the completing part."

Yes the pyramid description is very true. I have just found the entire mystery is contained in Crowley's unique version of Key XIX as Sun, whether really intended or not. The fertile earth is the pyramid of aspiration, but the wall is the abyss experience itself separating microcosom from macrocosm, as the top of the pyramid from its base. The symbolism is a bit too complex to discuss here, but if you draw a pyramidical triangle of 36 units base length and height, it gives the dimensions of the abyss as separated from the squared base. That is the Nv Pyramid I'v been working on, with the magickal square of the sun behind it. Crowley's Key XIX is a metathesis of the initiatory progress as steps, my conclusion is the card is meant to be. [Other formations of the card have the two children stepping out of the Nigredo into the Albedo, where behind the wall is the third circle of the Rubedo.].

^ = 12 units base and height
-- = abyss is 6 units height
N = square in the triangle of 18 units base and height.

Basically, the alchemical "squared circle" glyph is the initiatory pyramid (see Michael Maier's Emblema XXI from his Atalanta Fugiens). unurthed.com/category/alchemy

The two children are the male and female in in the square of the delta triangle. Above their microcosmic duality is the wall which is the abyss that separates them from the apex of the triangle, which is the macrocosmic unity of the sun. Further the 36 unit triangle can be divided into 7 sections 6 units apart as the seven cakras. The 6 unit abyss is found to be right between the 4th and 5th cakras, which can be correlated to Chesed and Binah.

Yes I made the Adept up to 7=4 to be too shaky lol, I retract that. I was more referring to the onset of the abyss experience, where one may feel "peaked" or shaky in a religious kind of perichoresis, kind of like stacked geometries. You say you've been able to read a few case studies: of what nature is its onset?, how long is the white heat prolonged?, when do the reverberations subside and even out? Is the principle nature a snuffing out of the separate or limited viewpoint of self, an absorption into the infinite, etc?

I was implying that there is a greater unity with the Dao by "firm basis," that it is much harder to get into a rut, lose one's truth, to waver off the path, etc., where a new, improved unity with the source of truth has been established.

Heh, I see what you are infering that they made a mysterious word up to hide the fact they were worshipping Sophia, they surely wouldn't hide the fact by starting to worship the devil in her place! How did the rumors or myth that Baphomet was a goat god emerge then? I still wonder if there wasn't something to it to start with. The doctrine that has evolved is astonishing, Levi's image of Baphomet is psychically powerful, Crowley took his name as Magus, Book 370 was written, etc.

@Jim Eshelman said

"Actually, while this remains true of the 7=4, the occurence is part of the initiation into 6=5."

Sorry Jim I have not been able to aquire your A.A. book yet, I am interested as to what major factors you postulate cause the 4-3 abyss event? Further do you think it can be self-willed or self-began? I do not hold this view, it seems rather a "grace of God," that one can only purify towards. Do you think the karma is completely burnt up in 6=5? While I see Geburah as going toward a burning up of both the karma and ego, I think Chesed continues this work via charity, selfless service, renunciation, etc.

I posit at the end of Chesed one attains to a shining perfection of the microcosmic self, a little circle, which proves to be irresistable bait for the macrocosm. It thus seems to me that neither the karma nor the ego is completely balanced until that point, which is itself still precarious due to the separate self being by nature illusion, or rather not having a solid basis (like a tight rope walker). It seems then that only after the attainment to 8=3 can one really rest upon a firm basis, being unshakably united with Nuit which paradoxically may be unity with the flux rather than the stable. It seems to be a critical transformation, night and day compared to the lower spheres. How would you rate its immensity?

Hi, I remarked that the Exempt Adept's karma must have been equalled out in this Life to get "beamed up" to Binah as it were, to which Jim concurred. I just wanted to state Crowley expounds upon this same idea in his Liber Thisharb (CMXIII) very well:

"2. ...The Abyss is passed by virtue of the mass of the Adept and his karma. Two forces compel him: (1) the attraction of Binah, (2) the impulse of his karma; and the ease and even the safety of his passage depend on the strength and direction of the latter."

No, "mass" doesn't mean that obese people have it easier! I think it may refer a bit to incarnation, that it may take several reincarnations to attain even to the purity of Exempt Adept, not sure.

@Jim Eshelman said

"BaPhVMeTh (Beth Peh Vav Mem Tav) = ShVPhYA (Shin Vav Peh Yod Aleph)"

I'm familiar with this fact, it is rather fascinating. Using a Greek based Latin, serially VENVS = 81 = BAPHOMET, which reverberates the 5 and 8 fibonacci numbers by number of letters.

What do you think was the motivation for the worship of Baphomet? On one level it seems the concealment of the "beauteous thing" with the "loathsome thing", but I wonder if a type of Luciferean or pan/devil worship was not present. There seems to be the worship of Venus as Lucifer symbolically as the inner lunar light, within the solar.

As remarked in another thread, the symbolism of the 7 in 6 makes its appearance in two of the Seals of the great occult organizations of Theosophy (Venus here symbolizes 7) and Freemasonry (G is the 7th letter of English):

www.ts-adyar.org/emblem.html
www.edgewoodmasons.org/edgewood-lodge-history.ph

The symbolism is too voluminous to really delve into, but it does signify Nuit the Ain as the free inner self. There is also indication that the deepest self is the all self "I am above you and in you...", that the innermost is the all or outermost (the vesica pisces)--bad news for the black brothers in other words!

Chiming back in to say it is possible that I have found what III:73 is referring to, that it is a type of magickal square of the 65 sheets. I'm actually surprised I've not heard of this solution before, as it is the simplest really. Anyway when one does this, the horizontal and vertical sums both total to 737, which is opposite the verse of III:73 as 373. The matrice can be arranged 5x13 or 13x5 with the same sum total result of 737.

S(1-22) + S(1-22) + S(1-21) = 253+253+231 = 737. The whole thing seems to be a play upon 373 and 443 as LOGOS and O LOGOS, "The Word" = 93.

Here is what I mean:

5 4 3 2 1 = 15
10 9 8 7 6 = 40
15 14 13 12 11 = 65
20 19 18 17 16 = 90
3 2 1 22 21 = 49
8 7 6 5 4 = 30
13 12 11 10 9 = 55
18 17 16 15 14 = 80
1 22 21 20 19 = 83
6 5 4 3 2 = 20
11 10 9 8 7 = 45
16 15 14 13 12 = 70
21 20 19 18 17 = 95

147 156 143 152 139

I don't find that anything is revealed textually by this, just numerically.

The "Logos Holograph" of 373 is amazing as a snowflake, symbolizing the purity of the LOGOS = 373. It is apt to mention AL III:73 in this regard as 373, as by the instruction to "paste the sheets" it is meant the analysis of the "The Word" (incidentally which equals 93 in Serial English). I have both thought it to mean the Tarot Keys in the past (perhaps as 37 Keys), as well as the actual sheets of Liber Legis, though I am not sure what wisdom would gained by so doing. Note there is also an encoding of The Word as O LOGOS = 443 in its number of manuscript pages:

I: 22 = 2+2 = 4
II: 22 = 2+2 = 4
III: 21 = 2+1 = 3

443 = O LOGOS, then as above we see that 373 = LOGOS--thus there may be some mystery with the arrangement of the sheets. I have pondered them upon the hexagram, but 65 isn't a star number...it is 5x13 though, which is a star number.

www.biblewheel.com/gr/GR_LogosStar.a

I have been trying to work with the 36 & 37 numbers for a while. 36 is solar, but also the serial value of Nu in Greek (14+22), as well as the circle's 36 divisions.

37 is mystically the point in the circle I think (see the star numbers below where the 37th dot is the center of the hexagram), but lunar in relation to 36. There is a flipping of symbolism in them. As I say I have been trying to understand them for some time, and one image I got was the scarab beetle pushing the sun, where the sun is 36 and the scarab is 37. Thus Khephra I saw as of 37. Skipping ahead, just yesterday I made the leap in understanding that Baphomet is linked to 37 (which is significant to you via your portrait icon). I saw it by realizing Crowley's Liber number is CCCLXX as 370, the book of which is all about Baphomet. 37 plays into the magickal square of the sun, where it is often the number of its outer perimeter, and 37 equals all the diagonal sums. 37 is the innerness of the sun. I personally posit there are 37 Tarot Keys (37+56 = 93), which is partly why my interest is peaked. I ascribe 36 to the Ain Soph and 37 as the Ain--by this it is seen that Baphomet is the most secret god of the Ain. This itself may be a solution to 8, 80, 418 = 506, as BAPHOMET = 506 in Greek-based Latin.

As far as 37 : 73 it is extremely important in number philosophy, there are words that equal 37 serially and 73 metrically: ChKMH being one of them, ALLAGH "Change" in Greek being another. 37x73 is the sum of Genesis I:1...

www.biblewheel.com/gr/GR_73.a
www.biblewheel.com/gr/GR_LogosStar.a