Sun and Moon:

 

Sun and Moon:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

TO THE MOON.

HEAR, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, 

Bull-horn'd, and wand'ring thro' the gloom of Night.

With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide 

 Night's torch extending, through the heav'ns you ride:

Female and male with silv'ry rays you shine, 

 And now full-orb'd, now tending to decline. 

Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon, 

 Whose amber orb makes Night's reflected noon: 

 Lover of horses, splendid queen of night, 

 All-seeing pow'r, bedeck'd with starry light, 

 Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife, 

 In peace rejoicing, and a prudent life: 

 Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend, 

 Who giv'st to Nature's works their destin'd end.

Queen of the stars, all-wise Diana, hail! 

 Deck'd with a graceful robe and ample veil. 

 Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, 

 Come, moony-lamp, with chaste and splendid light, 

 Shine on these sacred rites with prosp'rous rays, 

 And pleas'd accept thy suppliants' mystic praise.

The Moon is symbolic of the lower astral or unconscious, the Sun corresponds to the intellect. Any form of ceremonial magick is a process of illuminating the unconscious with the rays of intellect. Thus, traditionally the relationship between sun and moon on the Tree of Life reflects this idea. This idea is also associated with the hierarchy inherent in ceremonial invocation, with the names associated with the spheres following from the God name to the name of the spirit of that sphere. What a magician is doing, is illuminating the unconscious with the light of the intelligence of any given sphere and establishing rapport with its universal correspondences. For the Greeks this was no different and they ascribed names to the Soul and the Intellect of each planetary influence in order to bring about this shift in perception and unite with the god associated to any particular sphere. So, each sphere was credited with having a soul and intellect, these were essentially the lesser suns and moons. The Moon is feminine and attributed to the astral or unconscious and the Sun is masculine and intellect. So, the practitioner may in this find an alternative, non-Hebraic method of invoking the gods. Within the relationships between man and the gods, the gods are the active roles and we become passive, but in fact, our interaction with the sphere is creating a whirling force of inspiration, that needs to be integrated sensibly by the magician. Thus, the lunar sphere is linked to the other divinities, as the sphere from which we receive this inspiration. Here Thomas Taylor notes this: "As in each of the celestial spheres, therefore, the soul of the ruling deity is of the female, and the intellect is of the male characteristic, it is by no means wonderful that the Moon is called in this hymn "female and male.'' Thus, an invocation of Diana may have consisted of three hymns or dramas to reflect these different aspects, one for Diana (Goddess), one for Thalia (Soul) and one for Liknitan Bacchus (Intellect), which translates to The Bearer of the Vine and associated with Luna. Here is a quote to illustrate the above point by Marcilio Ficino: from The Theology of Plato:  ''The professors (says he) of the Orphic theology consider a twofold power in souls, and in the celestial orbs ; the one consisting in knowledge, the other in vivifying and governing the orb with which that power is connected. Thus, in the orb of the earth, they call the gnostic power Pluto, but the other Proserpine." He goes on to give the corresponding names of all the spheres, but I think the above suffices to illustrate the validity of the point. The method of invocation must have been explored in some depth by these ancient priests, as they associated the intellect of the magician with Apollo who was likened to the invisible sun. This shares a similarity again, to the Hebrew method, where the magician acts as a descendent of Abraham and prophet of God in order to render the operation successful. The souls of the planets were associated with the Muses, owing to their inspirational capacities, thus it is said that these influences revolve around the invisible sun called Apollo. Here is another quote by Marcilio Ficino to illustrate this point: "From all which the Orphic theologists infer, that the particular epithets of Bacchus are compared with those of the Muses, for the purpose of informing us that the powers of the Muses are, as it were, intoxicated with the nectar of divine knowledge ; and in order that we may consider the nine Muses, and nine Bacchuses, as revolving round one Apollo, that is about the splendour of one invisible Sun."  

So, the Sun or intellect analyses reality. This perception is absorbed by the unconscious and its manifestation in the physical world relies on the Ego’s unique dealings with the world, those things that are not useful are then discarded and stored by the unconscious. This is what is meant by Apollo being the twin brother of Artemis, as the moon reflects the light of the sun, and accounts for the location of Tiphareth and Yesod's positions on the Tree of Life. The ego and the unconscious as per the above analogy are generated at the same time and the realm of the unconscious grows via the Ego’s dismissal of those things that it is unable to integrate and express, these form part of the Shadow and the landscape of the unconscious. The sun illuminates the lower and is the source of our connection with the divine, this is indicated in the following quote by Proclus: “those who are skilled in divine concerns attribute two hands to the Sun; denominating one the right hand, the other the left.” The right hand in this quote may be interpreted as the active hand drawing divine influence, and the left hand is the hand which passes it on to the lower. Another quote by Thomas Taylor also serves to illustrate the solar nature: “the reason is obvious why the sun is called Jupiter, a solar Jupiter being one of his attendants. But there is also another reason for this appellation. For what Jupiter is in the intellectual that the sun is in the sensible order of things.” This last quote draws a perfect parallel with the Tree of Life, when we consider the positions of Tiphareth and Chesed, and how each of these spheres link the world below them to the world above, Tiphareth links Briah to Yetzirah and Chesed links Atziluth to Briah, hence illuminating the part of the tree beneath them with the light from above.

TO THE SUN.

HEAR, golden Titan, whose eternal eye

With matchless sight illumines all the sky.

Native, unwearied in diffusing light,

And to all eyes the object of delight:

Lord of the Seasons, beaming light from far,

Sonorous, dancing in thy four-yok'd car.

With thy right hand the source of morning light,

And with thy left the father of the night.

Agile and vig'rous, venerable Sun,

Fiery and bright around the heav'ns you run,

Foe to the wicked, but the good man's guide,

O'er all his steps propitious you preside.

With various-sounding golden lyre 'tis thine

To fill the world with harmony divine.

Father of ages, guide of prosp'rous deeds,

The world's commander, borne by lucid steeds.

Immortal Jove, flute-playing, bearing light,

Source of existence, pure and fiery bright;

Bearer of fruit, almighty lord of years,

Agile and warm, whom ev'ry power reveres.

Bright eye, that round the world incessant flies,

Doom'd with fair fulgid rays to set and rise;

Dispensing justice, lover of the stream,

The world's great master, and o'er all supreme.

Faithful defender, and the eye of right,

Of steeds the ruler, and of life the light:

With sounding whip four fiery steeds you guide,

When in the glittering car of day you ride,

Propitious on these mystic labours shine,

And bless thy suppliants with a life divine.

“Love is the law, love under will.”