Life as a Sacrament:

 

Life as a Sacrament:

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

De Sacramento Vero:

"But in the Sacrament of the Gnosis, which is of the Spirit, is there naught hurtful, for its Elements are not only Food, but a true Incarnation and Quintessence of Life, Love, and Liberty, and at its Manifestation thy Lion is consecrated by pure Light of Ekstacy. Also, as this is the strongest so also it is the most sensitive of all Things soever, and both proper and ready to take Impress of Will, not as a Seal passively but with true Recreation in a Microcosm thereof. And this is a God alive and puissant to create, and He is a Word of Magick wherein thou mayst read Thyself with all thine History and all thy Possibility. Also as to thine Eagle, is not this chosen by Nature Herself by Her Way of Attraction, without which harmony Aesthetic and Magnetic thy Lion is silent, and inert, even as Achilles before his Rage in his Tent. Now also therefore I charge thee, o my Son, to partake constantly of this Sacrament for it is proper to all Virtue, and as thou dost learn to us it in Perfection, thou wilt surpass all other Modes of Magick. Yea, in good Sooth, no Herb or Potion is like unto this, supreme in every Case, for it is the True Stone of Philosophers, and the Elixir and Medicine of all Things, the Universal Tincture or Menstruum of thine own Will."

Aleister Crowley: Liber Aleph

Sometimes referred to as Gnosis or Genius, in Thelema it is called Knowledge and Conversation that means Grace, wherefrom there is no-more need to plot a course as the Map is hence illuminated in the light of one’s Holy Guardian Angel. Crowley is indicating a union wherein every emotional, sensual and intellectual faculty is enlivened and congealed in the ecstasy that results from a communion with Spirit, wherein the quintessence of one’s being is brought to the surface and seared in the light of its own Truth, as the elements congeal and establishes Hadit as the conductor of God’s Will. A true incarnation -- a beingness as the complete removal of hindering devices that prior to the experience were placed over the Will of God as a veil, as the magician now understands the nature of God and that he himself is that nature – a Logos and the incarnation of the God-Man --- or the Christ.

Crowley specifically notes that this incarnation leads to activity, as the microcosm receives the Word, he is directed to become the Word and that the manifestation of the Word must be dynamic as it is the reflection of life. His passion becomes the immovable driving force behind every action. How could it be otherwise, as he has seen past the Veil of Death and has experienced eternity; the Divine Kingdom is now his affirmation as pertaining to the Highest Good, and validates his course as travelled in a corrupted world filled with the ignorance thereof. No mere metaphysical speculation, the Adept is moved by certainty and the experience has Knighted him with a sense of purpose as he fearlessly persists towards his aim unto the end.

Thus, in the pure Light of Being his entire History is unfolded to elucidate the potential of his particular incarnation, set as a charge to the fulfilment of his True Will. He was moved to this by providence as his birthright, that the Great Mother was calling to him his entire life and that, in her company he may be certain that there was nowhere else he could ever be, that this was predicted by the Fates themselves, and to accept every hardship as a requisite relating directly to the nature of his Soul and the love he shares with Eternity. This is the union of the Lion and the Eagle, it is the formula of "Love under Will", before which he was ill equipped to become master of even the simplest expression, and is now charged to go forth as a God, and to do his Will upon the world. Once aware of the nature of his attainment, he must remain reverent thereunto, and establish anew in his heart this communion as a sacrament, at the daily partaking thereof.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Against the People:

 

Against the People:

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

DE QUIUSDAM MORBIS DISCIPULORUM:

"And thus, if any Babe of thine be ill at ease, look closely first whether this Love be not the Root of his Distemper. Watch also Idleness, for whoso presseth eagerly forward in Will heedeth little the Affairs of this Fellows. O my Son, if every Man doth his own Will, there is no more to Say! But the Busy-body nor mindeth his own Business, nor leaveth others to mind theirs. Be thou instant therefore with such an one, to cure him by enlightening his Will, and speeding him therein. Remember also that if one speak ill of another, the Fault is first of all in himself, for we know naught but that which is within us. Did not the great Witch-Finder end by confessing that he also was a Sorcerer? We become that which obsesseth us, either through extreme Hate or Extreme Love. Knowest thou not how the one is a Symbol of the other? For this Reason, since Love is the Formula of Life, we are under Bond to assimilate (in the End) that which we fear or hate. So then we shall be wise to mould all Things within ourselves in Quietness and Modulation. But above all must we use all to our own End, adapting with Adroitness even our Weakness to the Work."

Aleister Crowley, Liber Aleph:

In this vignette Crowley is instructing Achad on how to deal with his students, first giving a couple of common things that may be assisted and after he mentions busy bodies and how one would go about effectively dealing with this scum. Busy bodies huh?.... thankfully I'm not one of those. Yes, I have had my fair share of run ins with the herd, the hive, the dogs, but I am caught up in my own life and affairs, so much so, that they do not and can not really come between me and that which is attainable of lasting value for myself. Yes, to me a busy body is a pathetic creature, who in its dullness has via its occupation with me and mine managed to make me feel special. The envy of the busy body is what gets us every time, it's this comparison that makes them such a problem for the mage. You'll find that a lot of busy bodies feel that things like equity is important and that hierarchy is an illusion, only a man made idea established to keep certain people at the top of our societal food chain and in charge. They are crusaders for justice, but what is justice to a busy body anyway? They seem to think that they have gotten the short end of the stick, indeed, they have, but I assure you, this is not the fault of society, they have been done in by Nature herself. Thus, you'll find that hubris is an enemy of particular concern for the mage when confronted by the lowliest most ineffectual elements of our society, that group together and congeal creating the most corrosive slime. There is a trend amongst parents that one should never point out a child's shortcomings, or weaknesses, and now as a consequence, everyone is a gold medalist, and from all of this anyone can be president if they work hard enough, and as a result people have become incapable of perceiving their own incompetence, as they have been conditioned to believe it can be rectified, if only they work hard enough, or had enough money to pay to be better. Talents according to this lowly caste are viewed as having been unjustly attained, as if Michael Jordan had to pay to be 7 feet tall and built like Carl Lewis with the reflexes of Bruce Lee having the ball sense of nonother, than Anthony Gatto. (It's not fair, why can't I be special too?) They, in their hearts feel, that if they were born to the right family, they would have been able to buy the same prowess as M.J., they loath themselves and this makes them very bitter, and very mean.

As funny and pathetic as they are, they are also extremely dangerous, especially nowadays. Today they have access to the world wide web, and their inadequacies lead them to trolling, and the reason you never see actualized trolls is because actualized people are accomplished, and subjectively they have no doubts about their own value as human beings. The busy body's insecurities and the fact that these are objective truths founded on its own incompetence, causes it to lash out at those of a higher stature and share its pain with tripe as equally useless as itself. Here is the problem; most people are too incompetent to find the Truth, and so they give up their search, retreating back into their religious safe-houses to foster little Christians who will be exactly the same as them one day. Since there are so many animals camouflaged in human adornments, freethinkers and giants are at risk, I might even say that we are at war, and this is not a war that we can easily win, as while they brood and strategize we have things to do, and combat takes a lot of time and effort in order to be successful. Hence the only safeguard against the onslaught of these sub-humans is the same as it ever was ---- the safeguard is Love ---- and Silence.

“Love is he law, love under will.”

On Discarnate Beings:

 

On Discarnate Beings:

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

DE FORMULA TOTA:

“Here then is the Schedule for all the Operations of Magick. First, thou shalt discover thy true Will, as I have already taught thee, and that Bud thereof which is the Purpose of this Operation.

Next, formulate this Bud-Will as a Person, seeking or constructing it, and naming it according to thine Holy Qabalah, and its infallible Rule of Truth. Third, purify and consecrate this Person, concentrating upon him and against all else. This Preparation shall continue in all thy daily Life. Mark well, make ready a new Child immediately after every Birth. Fourth, make an especial and direct Invocation at thy Mass, before the Introit, formulating a visible Image of this Child, and offering the Right of Incarnation. Fifth, perform the Mass, not omitting the Epiklesis, and let there be a Golden Wedding Ring at the Marriage of thy Lion with thine Eagle. Sixth, at the Consumption of the Eucharist accept this Child, losing thy Consciousness in him, until he be well assimilated with thee. Now then do this continuously, for by Repetition cometh forth both Strength and Skill, and the Effect is cumulative, if thou allow no Time to dissipate itself.”

Aleister Crowley: Liber ALEPH

The practice of magick and the path of initiation is a path of becoming, which is marked by three steps or initiations in every magickal career. The first is birth and symbolized by the Neophyte grade, the last is called Crossing the Abyss and the grade is called the Babe of the Abyss, that if successful the Adept attains the grade of Master of the Temple. We know from Charles Stansfield Jones’ career that he experienced at least the above two, but the quote is referring to Knowledge and Conversation being the central attainment in the practice of Thelemic magick, and perhaps the most relevant to what Thelema sets out to accomplish. From reading the vignette it seems that Crowley is telling Achad about a method for maintaining Knowledge and Conversation, an attainment pertaining to the A.’.A.’. that is marked by two distinct parts of the same grade and these are the Adept Without and the Adept Within and symbolizes the initiation of entering into the College of the Rosy Cross. It is at the entrance of the grade called the Veil of Paroketh that the aspirant stands as Asar-un-nefer, which means that he has completed perfecting himself by completing the Outer Order grades and is called the Formula of Pentagrammaton and symbolized by the Christ as indicated in the name Yod-Heh-Shin-Vau-Heh, he is thus a perfect reflection of the Demiurge--the God-Man and a name which qabalistically corresponds to the ineffable name, Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh. The number of the grade is 65 and represents union between the five and the six pointed stars, and via the Abramelin ritual the aspirant is attempting to raise his consciousness thus piercing the Veil of Paroketh for the union between the Microcosm and the Macrocosm to occur, which in Hindu thought is the equivalent of Atman losing self-awareness and realizing itself as Brahman. This exposes the nature of Being to self, or in other words, he realizes himself as the all within the all, or plainly, he is a god.

The True Will is the awareness of a substratum of consciousness which corresponds to the Logos in Nature and it is by harmonizing the magician’s will, which Crowley calls the Bud-Will with the Logos that the Great Work is accomplished. The Adeptus Without attains knowledge of his True Will, although it is only after harmony has been attained that he becomes an Adeptus Within, ergo the distinction is made between the two in the above quote. The quote corresponds to maintaining Knowledge and Conversation, and not the attainment as such, but indicates the work performed by an Adeptus Within, as having already harmonized his ego at the centre of the Ruach and is in the process of reflecting his Genius into the Astral Triad. In other words, the quote is referring to maintaining balance and power in the continual development of the will during the Adept’s becoming, signifying an evolutionary process that is the performance of the Great Work, or injunctions given to the Adept directly by his Angel. The injunctions are referring to the Bud-Will that serves the Adept as guidance, and Crowley is saying that these must be observed, presumably for the remainder of the magician’s career, that is to say, for the rest of his life, if he is to drain every drop of his Blood into the Cup of Babalon and attain immortality by accomplishing the Great Work. For example; if the Adept is a sculptor who usually works in a clay medium, but one day decides to create a sculpture using a hammer and chisel, it means that he was guided towards this impulse by his True Will and is what is meant by his Angel’s injunction, thus the magician’s passion changes in light of his Angel’s influence. As people we change every day, these changes are usually so minute that they are consciously imperceptible, but on an unconscious level the transformation is immediate, so that the more aware one is of the nature of his or her True Will, the more clearly these changes are perceived, and once such an awareness is generated it becomes the responsibility of a magician to harness and cultivate such impetus in accordance with his will and is what the invocation is meant to accomplish.

The impulse which is symbolized in the above by the sculptor picking up a hammer and chisel is what I will be referring to in the following as the small will, what Crowley means by the Bud-Will as being distinct from the big will or the True Will, the latter emphasizing the nature of the Great Work. Crowley describes working with the small will in two distinct ways, first he says that it must be made into a “Person” and secondly, he describes it as a “Child” and the magician is supposed to produce a new “Child” immediately after giving birth to the preceding one. Henceforth, Crowley says to qabalistically formulate a word to represent the elements of a hammer and a chisel used in the art of sculpting as pertaining to the above example, which I assume is separate from the name of the “Person” that accordingly may be given to the magician at the invocation ceremony by the "Person" himself, thus the formula reflects the elements of the aspect of art that it supposes. The image of the person I suspect, must create itself organically as knowledge of his character increases imbuing the object of admiration into a figure of recognizably distinguished characteristics. Of course, since all of this is dealing with the unconscious, obtaining knowledge of the subject will serve as a type of skrying practice enlivening the creative faculty, and the invocation accordingly must be performed in the Body of Light, such as the invocation of one's Holy Guardian Angel. The “Person” will serve as the object of the magicians admiration and devotion, that to which he must dedicate himself, thereby flooding his consciousness with the nature of his small will, this process is not dissimilar to invoking a god and the magician will have to by saturating his life with the elements of the small will, harmonize with it completely, and this is what is meant by turning the “Bud-Will” into a “Person”, who will become an ‘image of an image’ with which the magician will unite during the course of the ritual until he has completely assimilated all the elements thereof. It is called the small will as distinct for the reason that it merely serves to form part as a compliment of the Adept’s work, whether he is sculpting with clay or using a hammer and a chisel is immaterial, as in the end, his Great Work--the Summum Bonum will be understood as the work of a Great Sculptor, and immortalized as that which pertained to his True Will in its entirety.

It will be seen then, that the quote is dealing with preternatural contact and clearly distinguishes the Hero from the Daemon, the Hero thus being the “Person” or the embodiment of the small will and the object of invocation for the Adept Within. This preternatural being, it may be noted, pertains to tradition in a concentrated way and is uniquely congruent with the will of the Adept, for whom in order to become an Adept Without he had to devote himself entirely to the corresponding tradition and as an Adept Within he has become a proponent thereof making preternatural contact a necessary part of the work of his grade. Hence, he is to unite through constant observation the Lion and the White Eagle that are associated with Chokmah and Binah and the logic behind Crowley’s use of the procreative terminology in the above vignette, the union which is symbolically represented by the Golden Wedding Ring at the Mass, and is the formula of “Love under Will”. The Lion symbolizes the ‘essential masculine’ and the Will as represented by the Logos--the Father in the sphere of Chokmah on the Tree of Life, and in the Holy Tarot this sphere corresponds to Wands, Fire and passion, whereas the opposing sphere is associated with the Mother, and this ‘essential feminine’ nature indicates all the characteristics that are associated with this archetype symbolized by Cups and Water, however in context of the quote, she is particularly attributed to Love and devotion. These two sephiroth are united within the path of Daleth wherein a child is conceived, the womb in this case, is in the position of Da-ath and instead of the way we usually understand the false sephira’s place on the Tree of Life, in this case it is congruent with man’s fall from grace as marking the ontology of human experience, although for the invocation the magician represents all of these elements and the “Child” symbolizes the offspring of inspiration that results from union between the “Person” and the magician as pertaining to the small will.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

On the Masters of Verse:

 

On the Masters of Verse:

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

DE POETIS

For this reason is the Poet called the incarnation of the Zeitgeist, that is, of the Spirit or Will of his Period. So every Poet is also a Prophet, because when that which he sayeth is recognized in the impression as the Expression of their own Thought by Men, they translate this into Act so that, in the parlance of Folk vulgar and ignorant, "that which he foretold is come to pass". Now then the Poet is interpreter of the Hieroglyphs of the Hidden Will of Man in many a matter, some light, some deep, as it may be given unto him to do. Moreover, it is not altogether in the Word of any Poem, but in the quintessential Flavour of the Poet, that thou mayst seek this Prophesy. And this is an Art most necessary to every Statesman. Who but Shelley foretold the Fall of Christianity, and the Organization of Labour, and the Freedom of Women; who but Nietzsche declared the Principle at he Root of World-War? See thou clearly then that these Men were the Keys of the Dark Gates of the Future; Should not the Kings and their Ministers have taken heed thereto, fulfilling their Word without Conflict."

Aleister Crowley: Liber ALEPH

One can't blame Achad for trying, but a poet he most certainly was not.... In the world of literature it is commonly accepted that to analyze art by studying the diachronic unfolding of literary trends leads to more questions of causation than answers, and change seems to always come down to the influence of a select few individuals of every age who drastically impact the status quo, thus transforming literature and philosophy as a result into something new. There is always recognizable residue from the previous school in the current one, and from all the schools past, although the cause of this transformation had been impacted by the poet and not so much the school, and this residue is formal not cultural, as well it is accepted that in turn the zeitgeist's interactions with the text itself gives life to this change, and transforms the work into something greater as it becomes its reflection and changes into something magickal with the power to transform the collective mind of humanity. Indeed poetry is prophesy, and it seems, although a question I burden myself with, that the most irrelevant investigation is inquiring as to what the reason for this may be. God and religion was created by poets, as poetry speaks to us in images, the notion of cave paintings and the effect that these tales must have had on the children, inspiring magickal worlds of dreams inhabited by heroes and monsters, and gods and devils is at the unconscious centre of Man-Soul. The poet, unlike the priest needn't watch his words, he is able to say what he wants, or what he feels, not bound by dogma he is inspired by the world around him which is the true divine, absorbed in his love of humanity into a pedagogical fulfilment and guided by a search for Beauty, he expresses the Soul of the World in equivalence to his own experience, and having not been constrained by moralism, he is able to present such accurately and honestly, without pretense he is the voice of God. Without expectation or judgement, he stands bare before the soul of mankind --- armed only with the poetic perfection of Love and Truth.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

On Will:

Of Will:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

"Sayest thou (methinks) that there is a great Riddle, since by Reason of much Repression thou hast lost the Knowledge of thine own Nature?

My son, this is not so; for by a peculiar Ordinance of Heaven, and a Disposition occult within his Mind, is every Man protected from this Loss of his own Soul, until and unless he be by Choronzon disintegrated and dispersed beyond power of Will to repair; as when the Conflict within him, rending and burning, hath made his Mind utterly desert, and his Soul Madness.

Give Ear, give Ear attentively; the Will is not lost; though it be buried beneath a life--old midden of Repressions, for it persisteth vital within thee (is it not the true Motion of thine inmost Being?) and for all thy conscious striving cometh forth by Night, and by Stealth in Dream and Phantasy. Now is it naked and brilliant, now is it clothed in rich robes of Symbol and Hieroglyph; but always travelleth it with thee upon thy Path, ready to acquaint thee with thy true Nature, if thou attend unto its Word, its Gesture, or it's Show of Imagery."

Liber ALEPH: ALTERA DE VIA NATURA, Aleister Crowley:

The will itself is not consciously perceived, it is an unconscious inkling that leads one towards the realization of being, or a substrate manifesting a divine intent within the mind. The realization of the will must be sought consciously in doing and evaluating experience, even that which seemed as failures, were put there as torches of divine providence to illuminate the true character of the will. Even though the will is repressed as a result of each man and woman's need for conformity owing to an innate inability to express one's independence unless one is especially fitted karmically to do so, his will is never lost, merely obscured behind the veil of such repression. Therefore since childhood we are taught that this repression leads to security, that in denying Nature we are assisting ourselves by conforming to a reality that has been already prepared for us, we are urged away from adventure and into slavery. Hence the need arises to strengthen the will, symbolized in the tempering and sharpening of the sword that represents the intellect of the magician, a sword, as he is at war against delusion, and false phantoms which he will need to cut away, in order to unveil the truth within the light. Choronzon is the dweller of the Abyss, and although this was written to Frater ACHAD, these verses may still be applicable for candidates of lesser grades, for instance, Choronzon also manifests to the Zelator and threatens the will of the candidate. Although not of the same magnitude, the threat is real, as for the Magister failure leads to insanity and for the lesser initiate it merely culminates in failure to integrate the will with the shadow, although still a mighty task to accomplish for the attainment of the grade. 

In the above ACHAD is urged to explore the nature of his being and this is done, by exploring the landscape of his unconscious. Tiphareth may fruitfully be considered as symbolic of the light of consciousness, symbolized by the Magick Lamp to illuminate the darkness of the Temple. The Temple in this analogy is the Soul of the magician hence the intellect is utilized in exploring the aspects of the magician's being lost in obscurity, the parts of being which in Jungian terminology relate to the shadow and its integration becomes the work of a Zelator. Hence the knife is the weapon of the Zelator as symbolic of the intellect and its element being air corresponds to Tiphareth on the Tree of Life and the suit of Swords in the Holy Tarot. The Zelator is working in Yesod, which represents the astral plane, an aspect of the psyche that I like to refer to as the landscape of dreams, or just the unconscious. According to the elements this sphere is related to air, although according to the god's it relates to Artemis , who is the goddess of the moon and the twin sister of Apollo. She is the reflection of her brother and the reasoning for Tiphareth and Yesod's positions on the Tree of Life, Apollo thus relates to the sphere of Beauty and his character is that of the Apollonian in contrast to the Dionysian. 

The heterogeneity of the tasks of the grades serve a coherent system meant to become homogeneous parts of a whole unified under will, which in the quote Crowley refers to as the Soul. These heterogenous practices relate to the elemental weapons and gives us the reason for their distinguished characteristics. As a Neophyte the candidate is given Arcanorum which will serve as a functional map for the Great Work, and although it is merely a projection, it serves a teleological purpose for the magicians work. Hence the Neophyte is also tasked to create a Pantacle with a symbol of the universe carved into it, this symbol being nothing less than a representation of the magician's Soul. The Zelator is given two tasks and these relate to the above quote, the first task is yoga, and the second is to practice the meditations in Liber HHH. The aim of the first of these practices is to strengthen the will, which is associated with the intellect and the magical weapon of the grade, and the second is concerned with the unconscious, or as Crowley calls it in the quote "Night". I hope that from this analysis of the vignette it is clear, that in order for freedom to be attained there must be established a creative congruence between Night and Day, a notion found throughout Liber Pyramidos, or in other words one must establish a mutual and conscious dialectic between the intellect and the unconscious. It is the first practice mentioned which in the quote is called the "conscious Striving", in fact this pertains to all the practices, although in this particular case it is yogic meditation meant to strengthen the magician's will that leads to illuminating the shadow for the second task to be achieved. It is via this connection and the magician's exploration of his own being, the "Word", the "Gesture" and its "Show of Imagery", that he may attain to the unity and accomplish the Great Work. 

"Love is the law, love under will."

Against Tyranny:

Against Tyranny:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

"Therefore, o my Son, be thou wary, not bowing before the false Idols and ideals, yet not flaming forth in Fury against them, unless that be thy Will.

But in this Matter be prudent and be silent, descerning subtly and with acumen the nature of the Will within thee; so that thou mistake not Fear for Chastity, or Anger for Courage, and since the fetters are old and heavy, and thy Limbs withered and distorted by reason of their Compulsion, do thou, having broken them, walk gently for a little while, until the ancient Elasticity return, so that thou mayest walk, run and leap naturally and with Rejoicing. 

Also, since these Fetters are as a Bond almost universal, be instant to declare the Law of Liberty, and the full Knowledge of all Truth that appertaineth to this Matter; for if in this only thou overcome, then shall all Earth be free, taking its Pleasure in Sunlight without Fear or Phrenzy. Amen."

Liber Aleph: ULTIMA THESIS DE AMORE, Aleister Crowley:

Although the tyrant may be perceived as an enemy of mankind, in actuality the tyrant is an enemy in so much as he can never be a friend to the world, for he seeks control in contrast to freedom. Hence for one who seeks to liberate all, the tyrant must be seen in this light, not as an adversary but a necessity, the darkness which is needed to obscure the truth for it's obvious illumination under the light. Clearly the tyrant is society written of in the quote, and as liberation occurs the lie is exposed for the malignancy that it holds for us all, the imprisonment on offer is revealed in the light of truth, so to speak. Therefore the initiate feels compelled with outrage to stand up and confront this dishonest system, and in doing so, he runs the risk of failing to keep silent.

To liberate oneself, it is insisted, that the will must be fortified, that at this stage there is a tendency to overlook certain relationships, or forms within one's own psyche that have through life become habitual in sympathy to "the false Idols and ideals" of the Black School that threaten to drown the initiate in a sea of chaos unless his sword is rightly tempered. Hence in his confused whirlpool of delusion, whether he likes it or not, the norms and rules of that which he mistrusts and has broken free from through great struggle and courage, and that to which he has no relation becomes the example of what has to be followed, as guided by the utility of his intellect, and amounts to a need for repressing his emotions and following suit for the sake of survival. Herein is the essence of the curse against the Black School, that the magician may acquiesce support without becoming a fixture in their corrupt system and not fall back to worship the false gods of his past. This retreat back into darkness, does not occur as a willed action, it is a failure to integrate and to unify the foundations of his being and to place the intellect in charge of the emotions. The point is stressed to indicate the importance of the task, important as indicating the difficulty of the task, that now, for perhaps the first time, the threat is real and must be dealt with absolutely.

In the same way an infant can not voice its disatisfaction, the magician has lost harmony with the world around him, he is misunderstood and as nobody can hear him, his emotions are over stimulated and results in frantic outbursts directed to the entire outside world. And just as the infant the magician is born into a new world, he must not only learn to walk but must learn the rules that govern the foreign reality which he has been plunged into. With a heightened sensitivity, this is the hardship that lays before him, to accept reality on its terms, so that one day when equilibrium has been established he may once again "walk, run and leap and with Rejoicing". But until such freedom is attained he is urged to "declare the Law of Liberty" so that he may obtain to the promises therein. The quote regarding this, I think, should be seen as subjective, that he is affirming his place among the elements. To remain steadfast in this way, fortified by a tempered will is said to be the only way to attain mastery, following the harmony he must acquiesce by his effort and his silence. As Crowley says at the end of the vignette, "then shall all Earth be free, taking its Pleasure in Sunlight without Fear or Phrenzy", qabalistically this could be interpreted as "Earth" being Malkuth at the renewal of the World symbolized by the Princess of Disks and the "Sunlight", of course, is Tiphareth, although in the Tarot this state is symbolized by the Six of Disks and its congruence with the Ace of Swords, and the "Fear and Phrenzy" indicates a will that is in constant flux and instead of being master of, is subject to the elemental forces around it. Which means, as the book was written to Frater ACHAD who himself having been a Master of the Temple and not a mere a Neophyte, that the result of his ordeal, if it is overcome, would be the crystalization of the magician's will in Malkuth and the completion of the Great Work.

"Love is the law, love under will."

Asceticism and the Proposition of Meaning:

Asceticism and the Proposition of Meaning:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

Since Buddha came up with a few truths, albeit they were coherent and a few precepts, I still wish to explore his failure in some more detail as it seems vital for us to forego what has been taught in his destructive doctrine. Let me start off controversially stating, that the Black School successfully proposes meaning, and the White School subverts this meaning in order to evolve. One may think of the Black School as the rules that govern our pluralistic reality, without which there would be nothing but chaos and no sanctuary for the White School. For it is only within such a structure that the White School can survive and grow and structure, instead of chaos is owing to the governance of a system of philosophic precepts held in place by the Black School of magick. It would be an absurdity for me to state that a cantaloupe is not a cantaloupe, although a cantaloupe is certainly not a watermelon or an apple, it is a fruit however that shares a striking resemblance to the former but it has absolutely nothing in common with a boob. You see, these rules of correspondence not only help us to navigate life, knowledge of their differences give understanding and expands the mind creatively, which serves an auxiliary function in the art of magick. Here we have the rocky, but fundamentally necessary relationship between the White School and the Black School of magick, we need them as they need us, for without the findings of the White School the Black School perishes and that means all of us.

Without these rules, as I have already stated, there is no progress, merely resignation, and this leads to death, inevitably. The ascetic in his negation welcomes such a death of spirit, in forcefully plunging himself into chaos, and hypocritically insisting that he is serving as a martyr for the sake of us all, as if we were lemmings. But most of us, I think, can agree, that we don't want to blindly follow the leader of such a nihilistic perspective, that we value life, that we intuit a better relationship, if not today, this intuition is strong enough that it forces us to strive for future generations. Meaning is important to us, and willfully succumbing to the authority of the Black School, in order for me to find the freedom wherein I may serve to do so, is an option, that when contrasted to the nihilism of Buddha, seems to be the better choice.

As every object in reality is understood by the presence of its functional concept, there is an underlying spirit that connects us all, and from this universal concept of unity we begin to perceive the multitude. The differences can only be appreciated from perceiving the union derived from the functional concept or L.V.X., hence from such an observation, it seems logical to conclude that we strive for Agape, wherein we intuit evolution. The mystic negates this realization by way of a suicide pact he has made with the goddess, and from which he means to take the multitude with him, as he vocally advocates for the annihilation of self with sweet sounding words meant to deceive as he has been deceived. 

In order to find the equivalence of any two things one must first establish their empirical differences, this notion of variance is not an illusion as the mystic claims, in fact, it is the foundation upon which meaning rests. For instance, the opposite of O is S, however they are united by a substrate called love, as they are both letters of an alphabet, and this notion becomes the auxillary of creation, but only insofar that their distinct characters are emphasized, may they be united by will to form meaning. Once union is attained, the functional concept is perceived in its totality, contradictions cease and from this is manifested a mutually congruent dialectic that we may call love, as if having fallen back into the world of multiplicity, although with a better understanding of the relationships. Herein we find the creative evolution, a willed change that may never have taken place unless the above conditions had been met. This, in my mind, is what magick means, it is looking very closely, and finding that which makes every man and every woman a star, unique and co-equal, gods of creation aflame with spirit, joyfully dancing within the light of life, and love and liberty, and peacefully one with the body of the goddess.

"Love is the law, love under will."