Suffering:

 

Suffering:

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

"Man, the bravest of animals, and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering. The meaninglessness of suffering, not suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far."

Fredrich Nietzsche:

Anyone can agree that the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha are perfect, indeed it is a flawless doctrine. The doctrine states that life is suffering, and that desire and attachment leads to suffering and the only way to escape suffering is to detach from these, relinquish desire and follow the path of Buddhism, which demands adhering to the moral injunctions of Buddhism. Although for this doctrine to validate itself one must buy into the idea that suffering is something that needs to be avoided. Herein lies its fundamental flaw, as in death we all escape this suffering and there is nothing in death. So, worshipping death or nihilism is contrary to the feeling of anyone who finds the experience of life to be divine, that the phenomenological experience itself is divine and that the world around us should be embraced and not escaped from. The doctrine opens up the idea of good and evil and assumes a holier than thou attitude from the start and actually misses the mark completely. There is no maturation for any individual without conflict, and the aim is not to find inner peace, the aim should rather be to find harmony with the universe around us. Withdrawing from the world and proceeding with an endless inner dialogue in the most peaceful of surroundings, is no way dissimilar from locking oneself up in a mental institution, crazy people are also scared of everything. It is a doctrine of cowardice and slavery and indeed, as Crowley mentions in Liber Aleph, the only thing Buddha is credited for was giving us the nature of consciousness, the precepts and the noble truths, the doctrine, is not what he is venerated for in our tradition.

Every man and every woman is a universe, we, each, are a microcosm fully imbued with all the elements that pervade the macrocosm. Within us there is violent conflict between these elements, this conflict should be stilled and once it is stilled, we come to the Great Work. The same nature of conflict is present all around us, through Magick we learn that the character of the conflict changes as we change ourselves, hence we are indeed reflecting what is happening internally and changing objective reality as we harmonize the elements inside of ourselves. War is good for progress, it is a fact that cannot be argued against, and the same is true for inner conflict, reflecting the suffering of life. Without it we do not learn, we do not grow, we merely accept the basest nature of ourselves, and the whole idea stands in conflict with what life is. Life, which is change includes adapting and growing, the nature of the universe is evolution, or constant change. Nature does not make mistakes, thus the Buddhists insisting that being alive in this horrible world of suffering is a mistake, is the big mistake. When two forces unite in conflict, the battlefield is made fertile and new life springs from the decay, the same is true for any country that lies in ruins after a war, it is built anew to greater prosperity. Herein lies the Formula of I.A.O. Isis, Mother (Life and Peace), Apophis, Conflict with the Elements, Embracing Suffering (Decay) and Osiris is the flowering of the New Life. A magician knows that the intensity of the ordeal will equate to the level of change experienced, so that while the universe is destroying itself, he basks joyfully in the knowledge that, it is his Will that is done. Suffering makes us stronger and increases the circumference of experience to include a more complete perspective of divinity, thus from the start of one’s incarnation as a magician, there is no aim to escape suffering, but to seek it out and to overcome it by uniting with it, thus learning from it, to be fortified by experience and transcend it.

One may conclude that the nature of Being is never changing, Anata the highest aim of Buddhism remains the same for everyone and that its realization is incumbent to everything that experiences incarnation, so instead of just Anata, the Will is important. What every particular individual does with his incarnation is important, thus Being becomes his canvas, as he aligns his aspiration with the divine Will and becomes a hero with the courage and conviction to embrace pain and fully appreciate his freedom.  

“Love is the law, love under will.”

The Coincidence of Contraries:

 

The Coincidence of Contraries:

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

Anything only exists in relation to its opposite. It is no coincidence that some think about L.V.X. or Ether as the light of creation, that light is the necessary compliment of darkness that establishes our relationship with the formative world. Everything is perfect there is no good or evil, death and decay are the necessary compliments of life and birth, although most view these darker aspects of our reality as perhaps evil or an unwanted result. This is only true when viewing existence from the finite point of view, or from attachment to temporality, which may bring about the paralyzing fear of death. A paralyzing fear which results in limiting one’s experience of life and so some come to the Great Work, courage in the face of truth is a very valiant idea and means that without accepting the above there is no way to accomplish greatness, so that from this, one learns to live life more fully. A magician joyfully partakes in the "world of contending forces” and lives life today in the knowledge that tomorrow may never come, a fact that he is perfectly at ease with. Who can know the full beauty of life without having explored death, and who can know the value of darkness, if such a person has not yet been born into the light?

" He who would know the greatest secrets of nature, let him regard and contemplate the minima and maxima of contraries and opposites. Profound magic it is to know how to extract the contrary after having found the point of union."

Giordano Bruno:

True magick comes from this contemplation, Samadhi has its own result and is not a result in itself. The ultimate Samadhi is to lose oneself in the beloved, from whence an entirely new condition is created and it could be said that with every union new contraries are established and a new universe is created. These new opposites didn’t just appear, they had always been there, although union was necessary to attain insight as they were obscured, these new opposites again will necessitate the need for union, and so the magician evolves not by chance but through an act of will he is affecting his own becoming. The effect it has, is to have one’s perspective shifted from that of a contender, to that of a god or creator, who through union has positioned himself in control of two opposing principles, and this is the magick of Agape and Thelema.

This idea of life being pure joy is unique to Thelema, that the Christians can have their Devil and the Buddhists can have their suffering, and that it is the work of each and every individual to find the beauty locked away in the grotesque and the joy in the melancholia, and even God in Satan. The world religions with their monastic traditions have missed the point and have limited their insights into the nature of god by limiting their experience of life and nature through objective moral bias. It is also very interesting when considering Buddha’s attainment, that he went directly against what was expected and became an ascetic, even leaving a wife, child and a fortune behind, to become a hero and a Saint. It indicates a character not only of immovable aspiration and courage, but of an unshakable individualism also needed for such an exploration. And to me it seems, that all great prophets went against the grain and followed their inner calling, these prophets were noteworthy as individuals. A monastic life is certainly limiting to the Spirit and as life is pure joy, there is nothing that may impoverish one’s experience and stunt a person's development besides restriction, all things experienced may only expand consciousness and widen one’s circumference to include a greater understanding of what god is.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

A Psychic Journey: Skrying Puella

 

A Psychic Journey: Skrying Puella

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

Puella means a girl and is attributed to Libra and Venus and Air of Water. It is a very auspicious figure and indicates love and union in all respects, she symbolizes the harmonious coming together of opposites and fruitful new beginnings.

Vision no 1:

I was in a house but the spirit called it a studio, when I asked. First, she was an old lady, then I saw a young girl sitting on a bed, who turned into a beautiful woman. I tested the old lady and she was gone. The spirit told me to put my hand on her heart, then she grabbed my arms and we started dancing in a spiraling motion. She told me that everything is possible there, that she loves me and wants me inside of her and that dreams are made there. The vision was strange, the spirit kissed and hugged and clung to me throughout the vision. Since we were the only ones in a house it felt like we were lovers. It especially felt like this while seated at a dining table and the spirit having prepared a meal for me, with her hand upon my leg and staring deeply at me while I was eating. At times the spirit fondled her breasts or pulled me onto the bed sensually and at other times she would merely show affection in the manner of a polite and loving spouse. There were at one-point giant spiders that crawled all over me, and when I tested them, they were still there. I asked the spirit what they were doing there and she told me that where we are, is my bad dream and she wants to make it better. Then we looked at the sun through the window and the spirit exclaimed that it was a beautiful day outside, as if she missed being outside. I started paying closer attention to the house we were in, it was dark and damp, the only furniture was a dining table, and two chairs with a bed and a tremendous amount of books on a bookshelf. Then the spirit came up to me and she embraced and held me, telling me how much she loves me, and I could feel the warmth of her breasts pressing against my chest. I told her that I was going to go and kissed her hand, she told me that she loves me and started kissing both my hands, and that she wants me to come back. I said I will and ended the vision.

Vision no 2:

I saw a tiny woman in a pink floral dress, she kissed my hand and said, she’s glad I came back. She had blonde hair and seemed very happy, she kissed me and I saw little children running and she said that, we can make anything together. Then she was standing directly in front of me, she had enormous wide eyes, her appearance was startling, although her presence was welcoming and very loving. Her character was exceedingly endearing and I noticed that we were standing on water. Then she said, “it’s where I live and it is just that way” around us was damp and there were what looked like people pulsating together in a sexual frenzy. The bodies soon became giant mushrooms that filled the entire place, we were surrounded by mushrooms and they changed the water that we were standing on into a different quality, like blood but muddy. Then the mushrooms changed back into an orgy and I soon found myself back in the house we were before. There was a man and the little children tore him apart, it was very violent and startling to witness, the spirit was very upset. She told me that she can see bad dreams again, and being upset she sat down. She started playing with a bracelet on her left arm and said “this is you, why did you give it to me?” Curious and upon closer inspection I saw that the bracelet had a little head in the shape of my face, it looked like a charm bracelet. That's when I ended the vision.

Vision no 3:

She came as soon as I projected her character and she seemed surprised that I was there. She took my arms and we started floating upwards and then we started spiraling like a whirlwind. Once back on the ground we were standing in a confined space, she drew down levers on both sides, then she took my face with both hands, her palms pressed against my cheeks, she told me that I am beautiful and it makes sense that we are there together. She walked away after embracing me and suddenly she was swimming in a stream, back and forth in front of me. The water was inviting and she said I can swim with her, that there were no crocodiles in the water. She came out of the water and I could see the droplets on her skin and her presence was warm and comforting. A giant serpent came out of the water, but it was friendly towards us, as it was her serpent. She told me not to worry about the serpent that everything is fine and that’s when I ended the vision.

Vision no 4:

I first saw scales and the flashing, then a woman holding a sword and the scales, and she was wearing a green dress. Then I was standing in front of the table and on it was the sword which I picked up and I saw the spirit, she has the most frightening face, but she exudes love and I am very comfortable with her. Behind her I saw a woman and a man sleeping together. She led me to a table and gave me some food to eat. While eating she held me from behind with her arms embracing my chest and shoulders. When I had finished eating, she told me, “everything is always hard but it is worth it, everything we can see is worth it.” Then she gave me a ring by placing it on my finger with a star ruby in and there was already a ring on my finger, which she took off and she put it on her necklace to wear as a pendant. Then the vision ended.  

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Anima-Mundi:

 

Anima-Mundi:

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

" Is this ' natural instinct' sense or intellect? If the former. Is it Internal or external? Clearly it is not external; but if internal, where is the internal sense from which they could have their foresight, their arts and artifices, their precautions, expeditions, to meet various conditions, both present and future? There must be some proximate principle, i.e. a form of intelligence peculiar to each animal, which determines its actions. The divine and universal intelligence is merely the principle that gives it intelligence, through which it understands."

"The swallow makes its nest, the ants their cave, the spiders their web or nets, in one way only, than which they could not make them more admirably or suitably. . . . Who knows whether the spirit of man is rising upwards, that of others moving downwards? At least it is to be referred to a defect of light and divine force that men hesitate and deliberate in all that belongs to the means of life, the modes of worship and defence, for if all knew perfectly, all would be governed in the best, and consequently in one way only."

Giordano Bruno:

In the above Bruno is talking about how animals are more connected to the World-Soul, as their actions are instinctual and for all intents and purposes perfect. Primitive man used to be like this, we used to navigate like animals and even insects do, depending upon the earth’s magnetic field. This is in a sense the divine Will of the world that we have come out of touch with. The aim is harmony with Nature from where the True Will is the driving force. Attaining to this does not mean a life without conflict, it only means that a person has learned who and what he or she truly is and have started living in accordance with the divine will of creation, of which we are all finite aspects.

I have started suspecting that intelligence has drawn a wedge between man and the Soul of the World. We have become detached on account of our superior place within Nature’s hierarchy, we don’t just look to nature for creative insights, we now look to the archetypal world as well. It is our link to the archetypal world that has made transcendent experience possible, but it has also placed it slightly out of reach for most to use intently for furthering development. A lot of people, I suppose, have become complacent as a result of the work necessary for attaining this union and Bruno states this is due to “a defect of light and divine force that men hesitate and deliberate”. We are entirely caught up in a way of life that has in a sense become mechanical, we have shunned our place in the divine hierarchy for a very paradoxical reason and the reason, is our inability to acknowledge the fact that we are animals as well as gods. To explore the animal soul is the first step in a magician's career, this exploration in turn unfolds to us the landscape of the sub-conscious, the world of dreams, where archetypes manifest to speak to our intellects. We are through this practice directly making contact and harmonizing our souls with the Soul of the World.

There is a doctrine in the qabalah which places this inverted purpose as the enemy or Satan, which states that as the name of god symbolizes the fall of man when looking at it on the Tree of Life from above the name is uncorrupted, although from below it becomes inverted or corrupted. Hence, to follow the word of god is actually a mistake when the word is objective, as given to us by the Church. It is through the acceptance of Satan as our savior, that strides may be made towards truth. Here of course Satan is referring to the animal soul. In order to fully inflame the Ruach with the potential for creation we must entirely integrate this part of our beings. Satan in its realized form as represented by the Devil Atu is thus a symbol of the ego, that has attained power and moved from inverted Satan towards realizing its godliness.

Magnetism or the earth and each individual’s magnetic field is interesting, as at a certain point with respect to the formula of I.A.O. a magician dies, to be resurrected. This is an ongoing theme throughout life, but especially for a magician, who has by an act of will affected this evolution, thus he has become painfully aware of it. The ego dies to be resurrected via this ordeal, and this resurrection is always a transfiguration of the ego, from whence it will find itself standing upon a higher plateau of experience necessitating adaptation. Perhaps it is the magnetic field or the Soul of the World, that serves as one of the properties which lead to successful rebirth and pulls the soul back together.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

A Bit About the A.’.A.’.

 

A Bit About the A.’.A.’.

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

I have become aware that some people misunderstand what the A.’.A.’. is, firstly it does not mean Alcoholics Anonymous, the initials stand for Astron Argon, which is Greek for Silver Star, so it is the Order of the Silver Star. It is a modern mystery school founded along the Rosicrucian method of student and teacher, meaning that once a person becomes a member, he only knows his or her instructor and later the students under them. It is the modern incarnation of the Great White Brotherhood and it is specifically a Thelemic Fraternity. The order is broken up into three orders, the G.D. the R.C. and the S.S., these are attributed to the three triads of the Tree of Life and correspond to the levels of consciousness relating to the Sephiroth.

One does not have to be a member or have a family member who is a Freemason, or a Martinist or any other lesser fraternity to join the A.’.A.’. as some people believe, to reiterate the A.'.A.'. stands alone. Members are not expected to be rich either, an assumption that some hold, which I personally find very strange. It has been called a society of the elect, which it most certainly is, although elect merely indicates that members of the order are imbued with certain characteristics from which they have attained the capacity to do the work of the order successfully, since it is a magickal order, you could say that these characteristics are psychic in nature, but certainly not monetary. One merely has to get in contact with a formal member of the order, sign the Probationer’s Oath and do the work of the Grade in order to join as a Neophyte. Once a Neophyte, the aspirant becomes a member of the G.D. or Outer Order, the grades of which are associated with the Pentagram, called the elemental grades and it is then the job of each aspirant to perfect him or herself as to become ready for entering the R.C. also known as the Inner Order or Inner Sanctuary. There is no exchange of money between instructor and student, one is graded on merit alone, the work is what is important. Crowley realized that two ways of corrupting a system such as this, is the exchange of money for grades and knowing the other members, which usually results in a popularity contest, therefore members don't meet and accepting money for formal instruction is grounds for expulsion from the Order. Upon entering the R.C. one becomes an Adept, meaning that the initiate has attained to Knowledge and Conversation with his Holy Guardian Angel, from whence the work deals with the Hexagram, thus and Adept starts uniting the 5 and the 6 pointed stars to accomplish the Great Work.

The A.’.A.’. is an order meant to cultivate Adepts, it's not a popularity contest, nobody cares about grades, only the work is important, and the only person who will ever really know your grade is your instructor. The S.S. or Order of the Silver Star refers to the Secret Chiefs, those Adepts who have attained immortality and guide the evolution of humanity. Nobody really knows who they are, but we consider them to be ascended masters, from whom some have chosen to incarnate. Indeed, the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but here it is. It is not a lodge or group such as Freemasonry, O.T.O. or Martinism, it is a mystery school, wherein each member is responsible for his or her own work. I hope that for whoever is interested or curious, that this has cleared up any confusion and answered some questions you may have had about the A.'.A.'..

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Love and Will:

 

Love and Will:

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

Objective morality of good and evil such as that given to us by the organized religions of the world, the religions of the slaves, indeed designed to be as the owners of slaves, limit us in our search for divine truth. This truth embedded in the heart of every man and woman can only be found in the immediacy of the divine around us. So, what these religions tend to do is separate us from this union by giving us a made-up set of rules to follow to misplaced attention, in order that we may one day find ourselves seated next to some imagined god. This idea is limiting to the Will, as each’s Will naturally strives towards an impossible end, as it is an infinite end, and it is within the striving or becoming, that we find God inside of our limited selves. The Adam Qadmon and Shekinah are two very important qabalistic principles, that basically can be understood as our idea of what god is, both in its indifferent and entirely personal respects, being the Adam Qadmon. And the Shekinah, who in Thelema is our Mother Babalon, and relates to the Holy Spirit, that inspires Agape, meaning Love of God and for God. These ideas are naturally of such a character that limiting them by analysis seems like blasphemy. Although these ideas have taken on a new meaning in the Aeon of Horus, wherein each and every human being is the Crowned and Conquering Child, a God, or Goddess who no longer needs the superstition of the Old Aeon to maintain a connection with that which is truly divine. Herein lies its own difficulty, which is that of responsibility, as there is no compass in this New Aeon, the shores are yet unexplored, but as ever they are eternal. To find truth without direction is a hard task and so we are fitted with the responsibility to know ourselves at the beginning, hence the self is one’s only map towards truth. Who am I, is to say what is eternity, or what is God?

In order for any of us to find our True Wills we must explore, those things that we love, the things that fill us with joy are hints to the nature of each’s being and after we must look to the things to which we are averse and ruminate on what the reason for the aversion may be. As all human beings are animals, how is it, that another person can find beauty in that by which I am repulsed, what do they see or feel that I don't? This is how we explore the nature of our souls, each of us is entirely unique, and in our uniqueness lie one’s very important relationship with Nature. To fully unite with Nature is the aim of magick, she is our mother; and she guides us through life and often her face provokes panic. We are always reminded by this rumination never to avert our eyes and cower away, to stay strong, as in her lay the gifts of magick power. Perhaps one may admit, that the most terrifying, the most uncomfortable parts of her, are the ones that we must most strive to understand and to fall in love with. This falling in love is continual and it is a struggle, as it should be, indeed it is violent and painful and very beautiful. It is this love of life and struggle, that in a sense must be one’s lover, through whom we continually grow and develop insights that without her, were impossible .  

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Thelema and the Upanishads: Isa-Upanishad

 

Thelema and the Upanishads: Isa-Upanishad

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

ISA-UPANISHAD

PEACE CHANT OM!

That (the Invisible-Absolute) is whole;

whole is this (the visible phenomenal);

from the Invisible Whole comes forth the visible whole.

Though the visible whole has come out from that Invisible Whole,

yet the Whole remains unaltered.

OM! PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!

The Invisible Absolute who is Nuit as the Queen of Heaven and finds her first manifestation in Kether wherein Hadit is perfectly united with her. The Supernal Triad is wholly abstract and sometimes called the Saturnian Triad, which links the Demiurge to the realm of Forms. Ergo, in the above the aspirant is affirming his connection to eternity by means of the noetic faculty. By contemplating perfection and acknowledging the Great Mother in the above mantra he affirms the aim of the work, which is the dissolution of self into pure consciousness.

I

ALL this, whatsoever exists in the universe,

should be covered by the Lord. Having renounced (the unreal),

enjoy (the Real). Do not covet the wealth of any man.

The Lord in this Upanishad is Adonai, and symbolic of Knowledge and Conversation with one’s Holy Guardian Angel. It is via this union between an adept and his angel that illusion is destroyed, and the True Will is enlivened in the life of the magician.

II

IF one should desire to live in this world a hundred years,

one should live performing Karma (righteous deeds).

Thus thou mayest live; there is no other way.

By doing this, Karma (the fruits of thy actions) will not defile thee.

The Great Work of an adept is in perfect harmony with nature and so, if he follows his True Will, these deeds are perfect and can never defile his soul. Hence from his vantage point there really is only one course forward and that is to do his Will undeterred.

III

AFTER leaving their bodies,

they who have killed the Self go to the worlds of the Asuras,

covered with blinding ignorance.

Hadit, who must come to realization in this life in order to unite with Nuit, is awakened within the Soul and informs the True Will of a magician via his awakening. Hadit may accurately be compared to Atman, and the means to achieve this realization is through initiation. The aim of awakening necessitates purifying the Soul and perfecting it through the practice of magick. Magick is thus the higher path. People who do not follow the higher and bind themselves to the lower nature of their souls, are in a sense defiling their souls and hiding the nature of their true selves even further, so that in death they must be purified in order to free this true self, and this is experienced as hell. This is one interpretation, but another is that the Asuras and hell, are the Shadow and the complexes that do not serve the True Will, which need to be destroyed in the fire upon the altar. This purging the Soul of its impurities is often painful and may easily also be compared to hell.  

IV

THAT One, though motionless, is swifter than the mind.

The senses can never overtake It, for It ever goes before.

Though immovable, It travels faster than those who run.

By It the all-pervading air sustains all living beings.

The True Will is the unconscious driving force of Being to come to complete realization. We are not aware of its nature although the effect it has on the Soul is that of inertia, it, in one respect corrects wrong actions and in another facilitates the actions of one who is already doing his Will. The True Will corresponds to the awakening of the True Self and thus in the above verse is attributed to the nature of Atman. It also follows that union between an adept and his angel leads to reflecting divine inspiration into the world of matter, the sempiternal nature of this storehouse is indicated in the above also as that which informs the Great Work and realization of the True Will.

V

IT moves and It moves not.

It is far and also It is near.

It is within and also It is without all this.

The ineffable nature of the divine is here expressed, as mentioned in the previous comment, the nature of which is sempiternal. It is without form and all form, from the realm of ideas to all the worlds manifested within the Demiurge. Nuit as nothing, from her inspiration as Babalon our mother and descending into the world of matter as the Shekinah encompasses all of creation. The Logos of the universe and the Logos of the human soul are all equally divine and perfect when viewed from this union between Hadit and Nuit. As the lower is always just a reflection of the higher and vice versa, there is nothing in the universe that is not entirely divine. Although it is only by misunderstanding, that this nature of the divine is corrupted and it is this corruption which necessitates the Great Work.

VI

HE who sees all beings in the Self

and the Self in all beings,

he never turns away from It (the Self).

 

VII

HE who perceives all beings as the Self,

for him how can there be delusion or grief,

when he sees this oneness (everywhere).

Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.

Liber AL: Chapter 1, verse 22:

We are taught within Thelema to unite ourselves with all opposites, even those ideas that we have are repulsed by must be united with, to such a degree that we learn to love them. This is quite the task, but it certainly makes sense when viewed through what is taught in the above verse, the nature of this union is Agape, universal love and does not mean love for god, but the universe as a whole. Every man, every woman and everything in the universe is united within this Self, which is called Parabrahman. To forget that, would mean to fall from it, and via certain yogic practices we may remind ourselves as to the nature of the Work and maintain our connection with the divine.

VIII

HE(the Self) is all-encircling, resplendent,

bodiless, spotless, without sinews,

pure untouched by sin, all-seeing, all-knowing, transcendent, self-existent;

He has disposed all things duly for eternal years.

This is the union between Hadit and Nuit, wherefrom subject becomes one with object and the ego is dissolved into the body of the Goddess. Omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient beingness reflects this union between Atman and Brahman, as he attains godhood and experiences the formless and eternal nature of Being.

IX

THEY enter into blind darkness who worship Avidya (ignorance and delusion);

they fall, as it were, into greater darkness who worship Vidya (knowledge).

 

X

BY Vidya one end is attained; by Avidya, another.

Thus we have heard from the wise men who taught this.

 

XI

HE who knows at the same time both

Vidya and Avidya,

crosses over death by Avidya

and attains immortality through Vidya.

The above indicates that uniting the lower and the higher is essential for complete realization to occur. Without first establishing a firm foundation in hell, complete union is unattainable, qbalistically, these are associated with the Nephesch and the Ruach, and the unconscious and the intellect, and it is only by harmonizing these parts of the Soul that any higher insights into the nature of Being may be gained. It is striking too, that Vidya is the means through which immortality may be attained, and accordingly corresponds to the Ruach with the same emphasis and meaning that the ancient Greeks placed on the noetic faculty.

XII

THEY fall into blind darkness who worship the Unmanifested

and they fall into greater darkness who worship the manifested.

XIII

BY the worship of the Unmanifested one end is attained;

by the worship of the manifested, another.

Thus we have heard from the wise men who taught us this.

XIV

HE who knows at the same time both the Unmanifested (the cause of manifestation)

and the destructible or manifested,

he crosses over death through knowledge of the destructible

and attains immortality

through knowledge of the First Cause (Unmanifested).

The Soul is both corporeal and incorporeal, matter and our physical bodies, are equally parts of the Demiurge as the invisible world. The invisible sempiternal world and the temporal material world are both equally storehouses of influence, that must be united with, in order to raise the Soul to higher levels of divine experience. Death is the great teacher, and it is by experiencing temporality that one may fully live and find peace in death and it is via uniting the Soul and the All-Soul, or raising Hadit to conscious awareness, that the Great Work is achieved.

Strive ever to more! And if thou art truly mine – and doubt it not, and if thou art ever joyous! – death is the crown of all.

Ah! Ah! Death! Death! Thou shalt long for death. Death is forbidden, o man, unto thee.

The length of thy longing shall be the strength of its glory. He that lives long & and desires death much is ever the King among the Kings.

Liber AL Chapter 2, Verses 72,73, 74:

 

XV

THE face of Truth is hidden by a golden disk.

O Pushan (Effulgent Being)! Uncover (Thy face) that I,

the worshipper of Truth,

may behold Thee.

XVI

O PUSHAN!

O Sun, sole traveller of the heavens,

controller of all, son of Prajapati, withdraw Thy rays

and gather up Thy burning effulgence.

Now through Thy Grace I behold Thy blessed and glorious form.

The Purusha (Effulgent Being)

who dwells within Thee, I am He.

It is only through sincere devotion that Knowledge and Conversation may be attained, a state of being, from whence all delusion falls away and one is guided by the pure light of Truth. It is also noteworthy how even in the Upanishads the attainment is reliant, not merely on the work, but the readiness of the aspirant is indicated as this union relies on “Grace”. The Sun is here remarkably, also expressed, as pertaining to Tiphareth, where one gets a first glance at the unity and attains Knowledge and Conversation with one’s Holy Guardian Angel. Purusha is thus related to Asar-un-nefer and the Ruach, which establishes the connection between Heaven and Earth, from whence Being is unfolded.

XVII

MAY my life-breath go to the all- pervading and immortal Prana,

and let this body be burned to ashes.

Om! O mind, remember thy deeds!

O mind, re- member, remember thy deeds! Remember!

Immortality is attained in the work we do, not some notion of the hereafter, the Soul must be made complete in the here and now. If one’s life is devoted thusly, “death is the crown of all”. Once union is attained the True Will becomes the Soul’s expression through the particular work one is called to, as guided by one’s relationship with the divine and the inspiration received. This is the task of an adept, to give every drop of his life's blood to the cup of Babalon, in a sense, it is achieved via the struggle for maintaining authenticity and remaining steadfast. It is only in death that the work is complete, and the journey is done.

XVIII

O AGNI (Bright Being)!

Lead us to blessedness by the good path.

O Lord !

Thou knowest all our deeds, remove all evil and delusion from us.

To Thee we offer our prostrations and supplications again and again.

Here ends this Upanishad.

This Upanishad is dedicated to Agni, who is an aspect of Atman. Within a Thelemic context, one may think of it as the difference between the Holy Guardian Angel and Hadit. Hadit being the eternal self as Atman, and Agni being a reflection of each individual Soul, he is called Lord, such as Adonai. Hence this verse indicates the yearning of an aspirant to his angel and is in harmony with the Thelemic formula for attaining Knowledge and Conversation with thine Holy Guardian Angel.

All quotes are taken from Liber AL vel Legis and The Upanishads, translated by Swami Paramananda. 

“Love is the law, love under will.”