Orphism and the Tree of Life:

 

Orphism and the Tree of Life:

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

As for the valuations of the sephirah on the tree of life according to the Orphic theology, these are as follow. Malkuth is attributed to Zagreus (Dionysus) and not Persephone, in fact Persephone is not placed upon the tree of life at all in this rendering that symbolizes the union of the spheres. She is however loosely associated with the 32nd path as united with her mother Demeter, and before this union, she is associated with the uninitiated's aspiration. Hence, for clarity's sake, the path of Tau corresponds in particular to Demeter and the Probationer with Persephone. Next: Hades is attributed to Yesod, this may seem confused, although I assure you it isn't, when guided by common sense and that Artemis is in fact a guardian of this abode and is more accurately placed corresponding to the path of Gimel--connecting Tiphareth to the highest. Hermes is obviously associated with Hod and Aphrodite with Netzach, and a rather interesting result of these correspondences is Hephaestus' association with the Emperor Atu symbolizing his creative toil as being inspired by the force of Netzach. Anyway, I think Tiphareth's corresponding deity is self-explanatory and since this sephiroth is at the centre of the Ruach, Apollo finds his place among the muses there. The last three sephirah Geburah, Chesed and Binah are attributed to Athena, Dionysus and Rhea, and lastly Chokmah to Uranus and Kether can only really be attributed to a later idea and that would be the One or the Good. I wish I could tell you about Da-ath, but unfortunately, Da-ath doesn't exist. As for Zeus, Zeus in this scheme corresponds to Chesed obviously, however, it must be kept in mind that Zeus is the Demiurge and has no value unless complemented by Dionysus, and so, Zeus as far as the qabalah is concerned must rather be attributed to the Adam Qadmon as that from which Being unfolds and represents the Great Work.

Now I will look at the 22 paths on the tree of life and how they relate to the Greek mysteries and the tragic story of Dionysus. The twenty-second path is associated with Demeter and symbolizes the Shekinah or what in Hebrew is called Malkah and as per the name, her association with the first sephirah is made clear. Malkah is our ideal vision of the divine feminine, thus she relates to Binah, which is the sphere of the mother, Demeter and Persephony are Rhea’s daughters along with Hestia. At first an aspirant has a distorted image of the mother, she is in a sense broken and this broken image is true for everyone--not just aspirants of the western mysteries, but all of us. She is the Anima and the Animus of Jungian psychology, and the reason men and women seek out partners that unconsciously represent our mothers in the case of men and fathers in the case of women. Thus, bound up by complexes--one has to work to unite Persephony with her mother, so that this image is raised to clarity and perfection. The next path, number 21 is dedicated to Prometheus, and the path relates to fire and symbolizes the will as the passion of the magician, a passionate nature that before his encounter with this path, he was not as acutely aware of. Although, this passion may be in conflict with the magician and so, it is his work to align himself with the will in order to move forward. It is this passionate will that when fully harmonized results in union with the Shekinah and leads to the magician's projection of the Great Work, which is the Adam Qadmon and the magician's own personal god--sometimes referred to as the vision of the Holy Guardian Angel. The next path is the Sun, followed by the Moon, the latter corresponds to Hecate as the goddess of the underworld and symbolizes the unconscious and the Shadow of Jungian psychology. Resh is Helios who drives his chariot across the sky, Helios’ nature being elusive, one hardly ever gets a glimpse at him, although for one who has taken up the journey through the four worlds, there is a very good chance that him and this god will meet and may even become allies. Hephaestus corresponds to the eighteenth path and the Emperor Atu, it connects Yesod to Netzach and together with the nineteenth and fifteenth paths accounts for the zeal generated by one who has made the journey thus far. The way to Tiphareth is made clear and one is transformed and moved to action by the rays of the sun, even though the action required is to venture deeply into the underworld and confront that which has not yet been resolved. The seventeenth path is allocated to Aries and the planet mars, it is symbolic of violent and unexpected change that demands vigilance in order to overcome the circumstances one’s faced with. Pan is associated with the Ego and the Devil Atu of the sixteenth path and Eros is Art and Death is Cerberus, together these cards depict the magician being raised from the astral to the ethical triad, piercing the veil of Paroketh, and the death of Zagreus. The path of Sagittarius symbolized by the Art Atu is the path that connects the Sun and the Moon, and it is along this path where we meet the climax of our hero’s journey. Zagreus was the son of Zeus and Persephony, and he is sometimes referred to as Dionysus Zagreus, it is told that he was so handsome and perfect that he fell in love with himself, and one day while musing at his own reflection--a few Titans saw him and immediately realized that he must be a god. Hence the Titans snatched up the young Zagreus and tore him to pieces, and after tearing the limbs off of his body they started cooking the dismembered god in a big cauldron with the intention of eating him. Zeus found out about what had happened and sent Apollo to rescue his son, but by then it was already too late, the god was already dead and on his way to Hades. The thirteenth path is attributed to the Hanged Man and Charon. Thus, the card is associated with putrefaction, the will as if restrained and unable to help the paralyzing condition, which in this instance is depicted as the soul of Zagreus being ferried across the river Styx. It is a situation that can only be positively affected by what some call grace and demands very little if any action from the subject. Once in his father's arms--Zagreus is resurrected to live life among the gods of Olympus, and he is given a collection of tutors to make sure he's raised properly, and nobody tries to eat him again. The two most memorable of these are Priapus and Selenus, these two helped Dionysus grow up and they are attributed as follows, Priapus belongs to the Lust Atu and Selenus corresponds to the Hermit and the Wheel, before I forget, is the tenth path and corresponds to the Fates and Selenus is path number nine and Priapus corresponds to number eleven. Both Priapus and Selenus were responsible for the young god’s tutelage and marks the beginning of the divine comedy. Priapus for example, once wrote a poem detailing, among other things, his many escapades alongside Dionysus, Pan and the Satyrs. Priapus was a god of fertility and although he was cursed so that he couldn’t perform his man duties, he is a figure of lust and pride--who had a burning enthusiasm for life that he imparted to the young Dionysus, he is a figure of pure joy. But nobody loved the little god more than Selenus, who was known for his wisdom and imparted to Dionysus all that he knew about philosophy and existence and how he should behave and live life as a god. Dike according to these attributions is associated to the eighth path and is symbolized in the Tarot by the Adjustment Atu. She is the Greek version of Maat--the Egyptian goddess who sits in judgement of the dead and decides by weighing a heart against one of her feathers, whether or not the person is allowed to go to the afterlife. Along this path Dionysus is all grown up and now has the responsibility to find balance between his external and internal worlds and establish a reality for himself wherein which he may fulfil his potential as the god of inspiration. Path number seven or Cheth is represented by Nike, the goddess of victory and a companion of Athena, a number corresponding to this path is 418 and is the number of the Great Work and Nike is the Greek goddess of victory. Number six is the path of Hestia, Rhea’s oldest daughter and corresponds to the Lovers Atu, it symbolizes the consummation of the Royal Wedding, where the Adept’s consciousness is flooded with inspiration from the Shekinah in its most direct relation, and it is in the light of this Grace that the daughter is placed upon the throne of the mother. In fact, according to this mythology, upon meeting Dionysus--Hestia relinquished her throne to him, thus giving him authority to rule over the people of Greece. She was most beloved by the Greeks but sought a quieter life and chose Dionysus as her successor, thus giving us a perfect allegory representing the idea of the daughter's place within Thelemic theology--now being the consort of the king of the gods, and inextricably connected to human life on earth and establishes a new perspective about the true nature of divinity. A sense of divinity that stands as the fulfilment of a divine promise; that has at last been realized and is called the Aeon of Horus. The fifth path is Vau and symbolic of initiation, and attributed to Zeus, who is the Demiurge and his connection to the Earth is established at the bottom with the figure of Malkah, who as mentioned represents the Shekinah in Malkuth. The union between Dionysus and Hestia awakens the eld of the King--her father, which is symbolized by the Star and the god Poseidon, the path indicates ecstasy as the passionate inspiration received by aligning all of one’s faculties with the divine will of Chokmah. The Priestess corresponds to Artemis and is the fourth path on the tree, the symbolism indicates the birth of a child, meaning the Magickal Child which is the Holy Guardian Angel, that will guide the magician further along the path. The last paths are as follow, Aleph is Nyx and the Fool, Beth is Aether and the Magus, and Daleth is Phanes. Phanes is the god who gestates in the World Egg, the god of light--who is androgenous and symbolizes the potential for creation, as well as being consciousness itself. He is created as a result of the union between Chokmah and Binah, thus the paths above the Abyss can only be understood within the context of sexual magick, and according to the Tarot this path is that of the Empress.

For anyone who noticed that I have contradicted most of Crowley's correspondences in 777. There is a very simple explanation for this, and that is, Crowley was wrong. His apparent grasping is evidenced by how many of the gods are scattered throughout the tree in more than one place. There is very little, if any, coherence found with these attributions as presented in 777.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Entering the Cave:

 

Entering the Cave:

 “By the blessed not being confined to a particular habitation, is implied that they are perfectly free in all things; being entirely free from all material restraint, and purified from all inclination incident to the dark and cold tenement of the body. The shady. groves are symbols of the retiring of the soul to the depth of her essence, and there is power energy solely divine, establishing herself in the ineffable principle of things. And the meadows are symbols of that prolific power of the gods through which all the variety of reasons, animals and forms was produced, and which is here the refreshing posture and retreat of the liberated soul.”

Thomas Taylor:

 The lesser mysteries dealt with the Nephesh and the Anima, and it was by way of integrating these through confronting the complexes symbolized by the cave, that the reward was attained. But now, the hero finds himself shrouded in a new kind of darkness, the darkness of Yesod, it is a place which he could only get a glimpse of in his previous state. He realizes that the attainment is not real, that it is but the vision of attainment, an illusion, and further work is a requisite for his release. He must venture back into the cave and wrestle that which is his from the grip of Cerberus, that which at present seems like an impossible feat to achieve, although, there is nothing won and through the journey he finds he has become isolated and that there is no choice, but to finish that which he has begun. There is a warning issued to the Zelator, upon signing his oath, that after he has done so, there is no going back, that his decision will inevitably lead to one of two destinations and that his advancement must be carefully considered. At this point of his journey, he finds himself taken by the divine glory of Briah, although, he stands on the outskirts of the royal city--with the palace in sight, he must secure a proper foundation for himself and a vehicle in order to proceed. The foundation is built upon the Nephesh, and to do this he must confront the demon, as his time spent with Malkuth only detailed the structure of this part of his soul, and like Cerberus, fear of failure and a need for change that led to avoiding the consequences of wrong action, must now be confronted for the journey to proceed. Thus, risking his own peril, he ventures back into the darkness--the land of the dead, to confront that which has previously gone unnoticed. Anyone familiar with the qabalah will notice that the above is describing one who is standing at Yesod, at the center between Malkuth and Tiphareth, it is the first direct sunlight experienced, and although the vision has become clearer, the magician mustn’t allow himself to be captured by its beauty; which could be the consequence for one too eager to proceed; or unwilling to face that which may lead to fulfillment. Without proper integration of the Nephesh, the work is doomed to failure, and in order for this to be achieved, he must bring every faculty to bear upon the attack, indicating the nature of his task. The meadows symbolize Vau of tetragrammaton, the mercurial agent that pervades the universe, wherein all experiences, past, present and future are united in Love. It is the goal of the magician to achieve union with this field of consciousness, indeed, placing himself as enthroned at the centre thereof, however, at this moment his foundation is unstable. He sees clearly the potential of what lies ahead and is struck by the beauty thereof, albeit, at the same time acknowledging the difficulty of the journey and the seeming futility of his efforts thus far. In him arises doubt, and his aspiration is tested, so that he will need to draw force from the intellectual and creative rays of Tiphareth, before confronting death. Hence, the Zelator’s tool is the Knife, which symbolizes the intellect, as his quest demands cunning, and that, it is certainly the most appropriate for the hero, who will have to forge his own self into a weapon, if success is to be attained. Indeed, from the beautiful and eerie meadows upon the fields of Elysium, he must now enter deep into that cave and reclaim his birthright. 

It is said that Demeter was visited in a dream by Persephone, who informed her about her abduction to Hades and on hearing this, Demeter set out to rescue her daughter. She was accompanied by Dionysus and was in a car drawn by snakes and held two torches to illuminate their path, with which the pair proceeded on their mission by night. Thomas Taylor and Platonism in general--ascribes the soul to what we in Thelema call spirit, which is inextricably tied in with the nature of Hadit. The aim of Thelemic magick is to make Hadit conscious and this occurs by harmonizing our spiritual natures with that of our intuitive and intellectual faculties. Persephone is Hadit in darkness and indicates that the magician has not yet established congruence with this most essential part of his being, and as Hadit seeks to find expression--Persephone also yearns for release. Thus, she visits Demeter in a dream, an allegory well suited to the nature of the feeling which may lead a common person onto the path. The serpent is a symbol of the intellect, Dionysus is the Fool as the Neophyte, Demeter and Persephone symbolize the Anima and then the cave is the unconscious. The nous is concerned with the intelligible world, the world of archetypes, those things that stimulate the creative faculty and results in its expression. The nous being our connection to the forms, it can be seen qabalistically as one’s connection to the archetypes of the supernal triad--their nature when experienced, must come from a sense of physical and emotional displacement--such as the ecstasy induced during these mysteries. Although for this union to yield any beneficial result, it must be brought down through the three worlds beneath the Archetypal in a controlled manner, and this necessity establishes the intellect and ego’s importance, as represented by the Apollonian nature in Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy. This is what is symbolized by the serpents, who may be understood as recondite imagery of the intellect, as this is but the start of the hero’s becoming, and union with this faculty is still not yet fully conceptualized. Thus, the hero rushes forth into the mouth of peril to rescue his beloved--so that, within this trial led by almost certain failure, he proceeds to confront that which is hoarding the flame of his aspiration. Brazenly moving forward, the Zelator’s only concern at this point, is bringing to bear every faculty he has in service to the rescue, from which, if successful, he may free his will from that by which it is afflicted.

 

Persephone and the Lesser Greek Mysteries Part 2:

 

Persephone and the Lesser Greek Mysteries Part 2:

 

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

 

“We may observe farther concerning these dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries, that as they were intended to represent the condition of the soul while subservient to the body, we shall find that a liberation from this servitude, through the purifying disciplines, potencies that separate from evil, was what the wisdom of the ancients intended to signify by the descent of Hercules, Ulysses, etc., into Hades, and their speedy return from its dark abodes.”

Thomas Taylor: The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries

 

Perhaps not servitude or imprisonment as the Platonist would have us believe, but rather, an imbalance of the Nephesh, from which the aspirant has become unable to find satisfying expression, that leads to frustration, and indeed, in some cases, especially in the coward’s or the Buddhist’s case, perceived as imprisonment. The Platonic and Buddhist negation of the material world is easily comprehendible when considering the plight of most humans, although, as we are told in Liber AL vel Legis, existence is pure joy, so, one must therefore conclude that there has to be some trouble afoot with this type of nihilistic mysticism. If the Nephesh is ignored, how can one truly attain to the most complete realization and experience the beauty and fullness of life, and cause change to occur through the expression of one’s True Will? I guess the nature of reality answers the question for us, hence, the material world is not a prison, it is an unhealthy relationship in most cases which needs to be worked on and rehabilitated, but never excluded as entirely incongruent with the path towards attainment--when harmony within and without may successfully be established. Hence, we find here--at the opening of the play, all the elements of the initiation, the Cave and Persephone during incarceration is the Nephesh and Animus obscured in darkness, and Cerberus symbolizes that which is to be attained, these qualities of the psyche are hidden from the aspirant and a journey of heroism is required to put these qualities to work and is the aim of the initiation. Thus, Persephone in her servitude to Hades is bound within as confronted by this three-headed-devil-dog---Cerberus, who keeps her paralyzed and in place while she pines for her release. One can easily envision the form that such a play would have taken; to imagine oneself bound and blind in a damp, dark, secluded cave is rather easy, and the only comfort to be found was the wailing of longing from beyond an imperceptible threshold, all the while, being confronted by the tormenting howls of some demon in the dark on the opposite end of the cave. Persephone was given a pomegranate which comforted her, and the story of beauty and the beast was told for the first time, she manages to see another side of Hades and indeed falls in love. Here is the first indication of both the Bacchic and Apollonian natures present within the play, as the victim becomes the hero and as a result sees herself for the first time, this acknowledgment is thus what enlivens her will, and fortifies her for the journey ahead. It is love that strengthens her; but how this was enacted is anyone’s guess, although, I assume, there may have been some touching involved and perhaps even drugs, which would have led to fullness of the experience and the capacity--for her, to find peace in the underworld.

 

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Persephone and the Lesser Greek Mysteries Part 1:

 

Persephone and the Lesser Greek Mysteries Part 1:

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

Herein the soul is likened to Persephone imprisoned by Hades; and the lesser mysteries were meant to instill a type of longing within the soul for its release. I can only assume, that a lot of what was involved in these mysteries would have been contemplative and devotional, and clearly, it does resemble the Probationer, who after having studied the student curriculum--upon signing the Oath, is endowed with a similar aspiration. Thus, Hades represents the physical body and the material world, according to and is viewed by Taylor as a prison for the soul. The soul has forgotten its nature and laments for emancipation, that is the deeper cause of dissatisfaction with oneself and the world, attachment therefore leads to suffering. The lesser mysteries seem to have been meant to lead the initiate towards the soul’s longing and eventual awakening, and only after this initiation, were the initiates allowed to partake in the higher mysteries. The Dionysian and Apollonian aspects of the tragedy accurately correspond to this, as Dionysian ecstasy--experienced by the soul and the longing for its release from the shackles of materiality. Perhaps it is that the mysteries invoked in the initiates a fuller and more joyful and creative experience of life, and the reason they were held in such high veneration. It is probable that their emancipation resulted from what they experienced during the higher mysteries, as having been the true nature of consciousness. The experience of pure consciousness, or at least a glimpse thereof--served to unveil to them their true natures, thus, transforming their suffering into joy, as it culminated in the expression of their True Wills--attained as a consequence.

In order to leave Hades; Persephone had to make her way out through a dark and treacherous cave. She had been rescued by Zeus who took pity on her situation--after witnessing the lamentation of her mother, he thus made it, that she would only spend half the year in Hades, and the other half will be spent reunited with Hera. The time spent in Hades was during winter and autumn, when Nature was believed to be wailing along with her, thus the world turned dark and the natural things died or went away, as Gaia pined for her beloved companion. Persephone, her mother and the monsters of Hades are associated developmentally with the Animus or Anima, and the Shadow. These parts of the psyche are very deeply felt and worked with by the Neophyte, for whom the Anima has been obscured by his ignorance of the goddess, which summons a vampire, who threatens to lead the Neophyte astray. The integration of the Shadow with the Ego forms a large part of overcoming the ordeal, which leads to the Neophyte’s projection of the Great Work, or the map that will serve him along the path of return. This projection is his God and is entirely unique, as it took the Neophyte’s work with the Tarot and these unresolved psychic issues to conceive his own Great Work, this, being the aim of initiation--establishes a link between the initiate and the Supernal Triad, or the great mother in Binah and the Will of Chokmah. The great mother in Greek mythology is Rhea and her lower form Hera is the Greek equivalent of Juno and manifests in Malkuth to the Neophyte, and her daughter is Persephone. Persephone and Hera’s reunion represents the Anima which is an aspect of the shekinah once work with the lower astral has been completed, that must be united with in order to be born into the new life. The Outer Order grades may be conceptualized as the courtship between the Fool and the Goddess, and once complete union is attained, they are wedded in Tiphareth, where the daughter is placed back upon the throne of the mother, this is the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, or what is called in Thelema, Knowledge and Conversation with one’s Holy Guardian Angel. The story of Persephone and her escape from Hades was the narrative of the lesser mysteries, that would have had the same effect as the Neophyte initiation, which Crowley said gives the initiate direction. The will then unites with the shekinah, that in their union produces the Adam Qadmon as projected onto the Tree of Life, and becomes a representation of the Neophyte’s Angel, his own personal god--who he will aspire to unite with throughout the outer grades. After the initiation the magician becomes Dionysus, or embodies the deeper understood characteristics of the Fool, thus, his life takes the form of a Greek tragedy, as he embarks upon the hero’s journey.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

I.A.O. and the Birth of Tragedy:

I.A.O. and the Birth of Tragedy:

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

In the Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche makes a very interesting observation concerning the way in which tragedy plays out in history, demonstrating that initiation is a truly universal phenomenon and not unique to the individual. The premise of his work on tragedy, is that in order to become, meaning to consciously create oneself, one has to experience inspiration of a Dionysian character before it is expressed by an Apollonian character. The Dionysian character is a trance like state, or a state of ecstasy generated by direct experience with Nature and ecstatic in the sense that its true nature cannot be presented in Apollonian art, as it is a state that cannot be intellectually perceived and any attempt at doing so fails or falls short of the aim. The experience leads to Buddhist detachment, after the trance is experienced interactions with the objective world become meaningless, as the illusion of Maya is seen for what it is, the subject longs to be swept away by it again and so he starts exploring through the medium of his art. It is not a need to create, it is more a need for reexperience, he longs to be in the company of the Muses once more, thus his expression becomes a love song to them, and this is the nature of Apollonian ecstasy, which manifests from a longing for the company of that which is truly divine. In the beginning of the Apollonian trance the work is easy and effortless, as if, the artist is overflowing with the light of the experience, however, after some time the creative impulse is eroded and inspiration is lost, or the Muses have gone. The pernicious effect of the loss of inspiration leads to the final unfolding, which is a yearning for creativity as experienced by the Apollonian, and outside of the field of true inspiration, the yearning is first sought in the medium of art, although, having lost touch with the Muses it becomes an entirely intellectual and soulless expression. He compared this development to three chapters in ancient Greek history, first there is the period of the Mysteries, that are associated with Orphism, then came the Hellenistic period with its focus on intellectualism and philosophy, and finally the greatness of these people ended with the Alexandrian period culminating in their genocide. Although the progress of their civilization had ceased at that point, and so, this culling has been interpreted as a form of suicide by Nietzsche, who insists that at the height of any civilization the final manifestation in art is a type of uninspired expression, as if the soul in their art had vanished and any attempt at art is merely an attempt at rekindling the flame of creativity. It is rather interesting that in his exploration of these ideas, Nietzsche anticipated that Germany would succumb to the same impulse, as marked the end of the Alexandrian. To bring this idea into a Thelemic, magickal framework, it could well be interpreted as symbolized in the formula of I.A.O. or perhaps, O.I.A. and A.O.I, it keeps revolving, so to speak, always following a trajectory of evolution, or becoming, to use Nietzsche’s expression. Isis is symbolic of the Apollonian and gives birth to the creation, which leads to the Alexandrian that must perform an act of self-sacrifice leading to the encounter with Apophis and finally death and rebirth is experienced in the ecstatic Dionysian trance symbolized by Osiris culminating in the initiation, from where the tragedy will be performed again.

 “Love is the law, love under will.”