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.”