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Reading 1: Liber Libræ (XXX) by Saint Aleister Crowley
0. Learn first - Oh thou who aspirest unto our ancient Order! - that Equilibrium is the basis of the Work. If thou thyself hast not a sure foundation, whereon wilt thou stand to direct the forces of Nature?
1. Know then, that as man is born into this world amidst the Darkness of Matter, and the strife of contending forces; so must his first endeavor be to seek the Light through their reconciliation.
2. Thou then who hast trials and troubles, rejoice because of them, for in them is Strength, and by their means is a pathway opened unto that Light.
3. How should it be otherwise, O man, whose life is but a day in Eternity, a drop in the Ocean of time; how, were thy trials not many, couldst thou purge thy soul from the dross of earth?
Is it but now that the Higher Life is beset with dangers and difficulties; hath it not ever been so with the Sages and Hierophants of the past? They have been persecuted and reviled, they have been tormented of men; yet through this also has their Glory increased.
4. Rejoice therefore, O Initiate, for the greater thy trial the greater thy Triumph. When men shall revile thee, and speak against thee falsely, hath not the Master said, "Blessed art thou!"?
5. Yet, oh aspirant, let thy victories bring thee not Vanity, for with increase of Knowledge should come increase of Wisdom. He who knoweth little, thinketh he knoweth much; but he who knoweth much has learned his own ignorance. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool, than of him.
6. Be not hasty to condemn others; how knowest thou that in their place, thou couldst have resisted the temptation? And even were it so, why shouldst thou despise one who is weaker than thyself?
7. Thou therefore who desirest Magical Gifts, be sure that thy soul is firm and steadfast; for it is by flattering thy weaknesses that the Weak Ones will gain power over thee. Humble thyself before thy Self, yet fear neither man nor spirit. Fear is failure, and the forerunner of failure: and courage is the beginning of virtue.
8. Therefore fear not the Spirits, but be firm and courteous with them; for thou hast no right to despise or revile them; and this too may lead thee astray. Command and banish them, curse them by the Great Names if need be; but neither mock or revile them, for so assuredly wilt thou be led to error.
9. A man is what he maketh himself within the limits fixed by his inherited destiny; he is a part of mankind; his actions affect not only what he called himself, but also the whole universe.
10. Worship, and neglect not, the physical body which is thy temporary connection with the outer and material world. Therefore let thy mental Equilibrium be above disturbance by material events; strengthen and control the animal passions, discipline the emotions and the reason, nourish the Higher Aspirations.
11. Do good to others for its own sake, not for reward, not for gratitude from them, not for sympathy. If thou art generous, thou wilt not long for thine ears to be tickled by expressions of gratitude.
12. Remember that unbalanced force is evil; that unbalanced severity is but cruelty and oppression; but that also unbalanced mercy is but weakness which would allow and abet Evil. Act passionately; think rationally; be Thyself.
13. True ritual is as much action as word; it is Will.
14. Remember that this earth is but an atom in the universe, and that thou thyself art but an atom thereon, and that even couldst thou become the God of this earth whereon thou crawlest and grovellest, that thou wouldst, even then, be but an atom, and one amongst many.
15. Nevertheless have the greatest self-respect, and to that end sin not against thyself. The sin which is unpardonable is knowingly and wilfully to reject truth, to fear knowledge lest that knowledge pander not to thy prejudices.
16. To obtain Magical Power, learn to control thought; admit only those ideas that are in harmony with the end desired, and not every stray and contradictory Idea that presents itself.
17. Fixed thought is a means to an end. Therefore pay attention to the power of silent thought and meditation. The material act is but the outward expression of thy thought, and therefore hath it been said that "the thought of foolishness is si n." Thought is the commencement of action, and if a chance thought can produce much effect, what cannot fixed thought do?
18. Therefore as hath already been said, Establish thyself firmly in the equilibrium of forces, in the centre of the Cross of the Elements, that Cross from whose centre the Creative Word issued in the birth of the dawning Universe.
19. Be thou therefore prompt and active as the Sylphs, but avoid frivolity and caprice; be energetic and strong like the Salamanders, but avoid irritability and ferocity; be flexible and attentive to images like the Undines, but avoid idleness and changeability; be laborious and patient like the Gnomes, but avoid grossness and avarice.
20. So shalt thou gradually develop the powers of thy soul, and fit thyself to command the Spirits of the elements. For wert thou to summon the Gnomes to pander thine avarice, thou wouldst no longer command them, but they would command thee. Wouldst thou abuse the pure beings of the woods and mountains to fill thy coffers and satisfy thy hunger of Gold? Wouldst thou debase the Spirits of Living Fire to serve thy wrath and hatred? Wouldst thou violate the purity of the Souls of the Waters to pander thy lust of debauchery? Wouldst thou force the Spirits of the Evening Breeze to minister thy folly and caprice? Know that with such desires thou canst but attract the Weak, not the Strong, and in that case the Weak will have power over thee.
21. In true religion there is no sect, therefore take heed that thou blaspheme not the name by which another knoweth his God; for if thou do this thing in Jupiter thou wilt blaspheme YHVH and in Osiris YChShVCh. Ask and ye shall have! Seek, and ye shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened unto you!
Reading 2: Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross (Themis Aurea), Chapter 1, by Saint Michael Maier
That all laws which bear the title of Themis, ought to respect their profit for whom they were made.
As laws do differ not only in their institutions, but their acceptance; so, if not tyrannically imposed, they Centre in the public good; for if by them humane society is maintained, Justice executed, virtue favoured, so that no man may fear the insolency and oppression of another, we may conclude that they profit and advance a Commonwealth: if every man duly receives whatever belongs to him, he hath no cause of commencing a suit with any, or to complain, much less to engage in a war; but on the contrary, all (as in the golden age) shall enjoy peace and prosperity, but the laws defend this justice by which only peace is established, contention ended, Themis worshipped, and lastly, all things in a flourishing state and condition. Whence the poets advisedly feigned Themis to be the daughter of heaven and earth, to be the sister of Saturn, and aunt to Jupiter, and have done her very much honour, and celebrated her fame, because she so constantly administered Justice: for equity and upright dealing were by her enjoyned, and all virtues which might render men either acceptable to the gods, or serviceable to each other, were to be embraced. She therefore taught them to live justly and contentedly, to shun violence, injuries and robbery; that they should ask nothing of the gods (as Festus observes) but what should favour of honesty and religion, or otherwise that their prayers would have no good issue. She furthermore said that the great God did look down upon the earth, and view the actions of men whether good or evil; and that he severely punished the wicked for their iniquity with eternal punishment; that he rewarded the good for their integrity with a life which shall neither end nor decay.
Others were of an opinion that this Themis was a prophetess amongst the Grecians, and did foretell what should happen, by which endowment she got great authority; so that they esteemed her an enthusiastess, and thought that she had familiarity with spirits, may even with the goddess themselves, from whom she sprung and had her original; to whom also after her decease she was supposed to have returned, where they have enlarged her Commission in relation to mankind. When she was accounted the goddess of justice, by her King's held their dominions; she instructed them in their duties to their subjects, and made the rude multitude pay due homage and subjection to their lawful Princes. She laid the foundations of magistracy and built an orderly structure of politics; for which cause she was in so high estimation amongst the heathens, that they supposed the world by her divinity to be upheld and supported. They erected temples to her, and instituted divine rites and ceremonies in honour of her. The first that was dedicated to her was in Boetia near to the river Cephissus, at which after the flood Ducalion and Pyrrha are said to have arrived; where they inquired of the oracle, how mankind which had perished in the deluge, might again be restored, as Ovid Liber primo.
O Themis, show what art it is that repairs,
Lost mankind, vouchsafed to help our sunk affairs.
This also was allegorically spoken concerning our Themis, that she being very prudent and more beautiful than all her contemporaries, was beloved of Jupiter; but after much sollicitation he was repulsed, and all intercourse broken off till at length she was surprised in Macedonia, and forced to be espoused to him, by whom she was with child, and brought forth three daughters; Equity, Justice, and Peace. She is reported to have had by the same Jupiter a son named Medius Fidius or the righteous, being faith's Guardian; wherefore an oath sworn by his name was sacred and unalterable: and this solemnity the Roman patriarchs challenged to themselves as their due, because it was held an execrable thing for an ingenious man to be fore-sworn.
Although we are confident that there was never upon the face of the earth any such Themis, who after consultation returned that oracle; much less that she was translated into heaven, as the heathens ignorantly imagined; yet we confess that the true idea of Justice, or an universal notion of virtue may herein (though occultly) be insinuated; for out of her springs good laws, and not as some think out of Vice, which is only a thing accidental.
This equity keeps kingdoms in safety, Commonwealths and cities in order, and lastly, improves small beginnings to a great height and degree of perfection.
This equity is that rule by which men ought to frame their words and actions. Polycletus a famous statuary made a book in which was proportionably expressed to the life each member in man's body, and he called this a pattern by which other artificers might examine and prove their pieces. Such rules indeed there are in all arts and sciences named axioms, which by deduction of things from their principles do rightly conclude.
This equity doth so poise all our manners and actions that they are not swayed to injustice and wickedness, whereby very many inconveniences are eschewed which happily might lead us away: for as luxury and riot are the causes of diseases, so injustice hath annexed to it as an inseparable companion loss and punishment: and on the contrary, as health renders men most happy, not only because of itself, but as it is big with other benefits: so by this equity, wholesome laws are enacted to the great comfort and advantage of mankind. But because this is so clear to every rational man, in vain are words spent to demonstrate it.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Readings for March 29th
Reading 1: Liber Cordis Cincti Serpenti (LXV), Chapter III, by Saint Aleister Crowley
1. Verily and Amen! I passed through the deep sea, and by the rivers of running water that abound therein, and I came unto the Land of No Desire.
2. Wherein was a white unicorn with a silver collar, whereon was graven the aphorism Linea viridis gyrat universa.
3. Then the word of Adonai came unto me by the mouth of the Magister mine, saying: O heart that art girt about with the coils of the old serpent, lift up thyself unto the mountain of initiation!
4. But I remembered. Yea, Than, yea, Theli, yea, Lilith! these three were about me from of old. For they are one.
5. Beautiful wast thou, O Lilith, thou serpent-woman!
6. Thou wast lithe and delicious to the taste, and thy perfume was of musk mingled with ambergris.
7. Close didst thou cling with thy coils unto the heart, and it was as the joy of all the spring.
8. But I beheld in thee a certain taint, even in that wherein I delighted.
9. I beheld in thee the taint of thy father the ape, of thy grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime.
10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come -- had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.
13. Then I said: O my beloved, O Lord Adonai, I pray thee to loosen the coils of the serpent!
14. But she was closed fast upon me, so that my Force was stayed in its inception.
15. Also I prayed unto the Elephant God, the Lord of Beginnings, who breaketh down obstruction.
16. These gods came right quickly to mine aid. I beheld them; I joined myself unto them; I was lost in their vastness.
17. Then I beheld myself compassed about with the Infinite Circle of Emerald that encloseth the Universe.
18. O Snake of Emerald, Thou hast no time Past, no time To Come. Verily Thou art not.
19. Thou art delicious beyond all taste and touch, Thou art not-to-be-beheld for glory, Thy voice is beyond the Speech and the Silence and the Speech therein, and Thy perfume is of pure ambergris, that is not weighed against the finest gold of the fine gold.
20. Also Thy coils are of infinite range; the Heart that Thou dost encircle is an Universal Heart.
21. I, and Me, and Mine were sitting with lutes in the market-place of the great city, the city of the violets and the roses.
22. The night fell, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
23. The tempest arose, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
24. The hour passed, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
25. But Thou art Eternity and Space; Thou art Matter and Motion; and Thou art the negation of all these things.
26. For there is no Symbol of Thee.
27. If I say Come up upon the mountains! the celestial waters flow at my word. But thou art the Water beyond the waters.
28. The red three-angled heart hath been set up in Thy shrine; for the priests despised equally the shrine and the god.
29. Yet all the while Thou wast hidden therein, as the Lord of Silence is hidden in the buds of the lotus.
30. Thou art Sebek the crocodile against Asar; thou art Mati, the Slayer in the Deep. Thou art Typhon, the Wrath of the Elements, O Thou who transcendest the Forces in their Concourse and Cohesion, in their Death and their Disruption. Thou art Python, the terrible serpent about the end of all things!
31. I turned me about thrice in every way; and always I came at the last unto Thee.
32. Many things I beheld mediate and immediate; but, beholding them no more, I beheld Thee.
33. Come thou, O beloved One, O Lord God of the Universe, O Vast One, O Minute One! I am Thy beloved.
34. All day I sing of Thy delight; all night I delight in Thy song.
35. There is no other day or night than this.
36. Thou art beyond the day and the night; I am Thyself, O my Maker, my Master, my Mate!
37. I am like the little red dog that sitteth upon the knees of the Unknown.
38. Thou hast brought me into great delight. Thou hast given me of Thy flesh to eat and of Thy blood for an offering of intoxication.
39. Thou hast fastened the fangs of Eternity in my soul, and the Poison of the Infinite hath consumed me utterly.
40. I am become like a luscious devil of Italy; a fair strong woman with worn cheeks, eaten out with hunger for kisses. She hath played the harlot in divers palaces; she hath given her body to the beasts.
41. She hath slain her kinsfolk with strong venom of toads; she hath been scourged with many rods.
42. She hath been broken in pieces upon the Wheel; the hands of the hangman have bound her unto it.
43. The fountains of water have been loosed upon her; she hath struggled with exceeding torment.
44. She hath burst in sunder with the weight of the waters; she hath sunk into the awful Sea.
45. So am I, O Adonai, my lord, and such are the waters of Thine intolerable Essence.
46. So am I, O Adonai, my beloved, and Thou hast burst me utterly in sunder.
47. I am shed out like spilt blood upon the mountains; the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away.
48. Therefore is the seal unloosed, that guarded the Eighth abyss; therefore is the vast sea as a veil; therefore is there a rending asunder of all things.
49. Yea, also verily Thou art the cool still water of the wizard fount. I have bathed in Thee, and lost me in Thy stillness.
50. That which went in as a brave boy of beautiful limbs cometh forth as a maiden, as a little child for perfection.
51. O Thou light and delight, ravish me away into the milky ocean of the stars!
52. O Thou Son of a light-transcending mother, blessed be Thy name, and the Name of Thy Name, throughout the ages!
53. Behold! I am a butterfly at the Source of Creation; let me die before the hour, falling dead into Thine infinite stream!
54. Also the stream of the stars floweth ever majestical unto the Abode; bear me away upon the Bosom of Nuit!
55. This is the world of the waters of Maim; this is the bitter water that becometh sweet. Thou art beautiful and bitter, O golden one, O my Lord Adonai, O thou Abyss of Sapphire!
56. I follow Thee, and the waters of Death fight strenuously against me. I pass unto the Waters beyond Death and beyond Life.
57. How shall I answer the foolish man? In no way shall he come to the Identity of Thee!
58. But I am the Fool that heedeth not the Play of the Magician. Me doth the Woman of the Mysteries instruct in vain; I have burst the bonds of Love and of Power and of Worship.
59. Therefore is the Eagle made one with the Man, and the gallows of infamy dance with the fruit of the just.
60. I have descended, O my darling, into the black shining waters, and I have plucked Thee forth as a black pearl of infinite preciousness.
61. I have gone down, O my God, into the abyss of the all, and I have found Thee in the midst under the guise of No Thing.
62. But as Thou art the Last, Thou art also the Next, and as the Next do I reveal Thee to the multitude.
63. They that ever desired Thee shall obtain Thee, even at the End of their Desire.
64. Glorious, glorious, glorious art Thou, O my lover supernal, O Self of myself.
65. For I have found Thee alike in the Me and the Thee; there is no difference, O my beautiful, my desirable One! In the One and the Many have I found Thee; yea, I have found Thee.
Reading 2: From I. N. R. I. - DE MYSTERIIS ROSAE RUBEAE ET AUREAE CRUCIS by Frater Achad
Unto you, O my Son, in whom that Fire burns, I would be as a bellows to fan the Flame into a great burning which shall illume the Darkness wherein thou walkest; so that from a flickering rushlight thou mayest become as a Lamp of Pure Oil, and that thy Lamp may shine forth as an Ever-burning Star of Hope to thy fellow men.
For this reason will I discourse unto you, not of the Cross of Suffering to which thou wert bound and upon which thou tookest thine obligation on behalf of the Universe that Obligation, every Clause of which contained a Secret reference to the Holy Sephiroth, the Emanations of the One from Whom cometh All but rather of that great and complete Symbol of the Rose and Cross concealed within thy breast, upon the back of which is engraved "Magister Iesus Christus--Deus est Homo--Benedictus Dominus Deus Noster qui dedit nobis Signum" and thy Mystic Name as Fra:. R.R. et A.C.
But it is of the face of the Cross that I would chiefly discourse unto thee, for, wearing it upon thy breast, thou art become as the Sun who seeth not His own Face, yet giveth the Light of His Countenance to the Just and to the Unjust with equal Love and Blessing.
...
Thou has, O my Son, the knowledge of the Invoking and Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram, whereby thou mayest control the Elements and the Astral Plane; therefore thou understandest how these Pentagrams should be traced with thy Wand and Will, and how this formula is symbolically shown in the arrangement of the Symbols of the Elements which are shown round the Pentagrams upon the Arms of the Mighty Cross. Thou knowest, too, how the Planetary Rulers, and even the Zodiacal Signs, are to be Invoked or Banished by means of the Holy Hexagram, the true arrangement of which is also shown in this Symbol. But what of the Barbed Rose Leaves which in the Microcosmic Rose were single, and here are shown as Triple in each quarter? What of the Letters and Symbols thereon?
Here indeed is given the Formula whereby the L.V.X. may be drawn from the Cross, and the Key-Word found, and the Word be subtly extracted therefrom. Without this knowledge how cans't thou give the true Signs of thy Grade? Let us therefore analyze the Keyword, as did our Ancient Brethren:
I. N. R. I.
Yod. Nun. Resh. Yod.
Virgo, Isis, Mighty Mother.
Scorpio, Aphopis, Destroyer.
Sol, Osiris, Slain and Risen.
Isis, Aphopis, Osiris..
I. A. O.
Make now the Signs whereby the L.V.X. which is the Light of the Cross, shines forth, and thou hast the meaning of the Rose Leaves of thy Mystic Jewel; leaves that are Ever-Green as Life Itself.
And now, O my Son, go thou and partake of the Mystic Eucharist, even as thou hast been taught by Those who Know. Fortify thyself, for thou hast yet a perilous journey before thee. Thou hast been led unto the Light; bethink thee that there is yet another Rose and Cross, the Rose of Nine-and-forty Petals which is Seven by Seven upon the Cross of Five Squares. The Mysteries of these thou wilt someday know, but not now; for these partake of the nature of that Great Darkness of N.O.X., the Darkness which is as the Light which is Higher than Eyesight; the Pure Darkness of Understanding, or of the Womb of the Lady Babalon, and the City of the Pyramids which is the abode of NEMO.
May thy Mind be open unto the Higher,
Thy Heart a Centre of Light,
And thy Body the Temple of the Rosy Cross.
Vale Frater!
1. Verily and Amen! I passed through the deep sea, and by the rivers of running water that abound therein, and I came unto the Land of No Desire.
2. Wherein was a white unicorn with a silver collar, whereon was graven the aphorism Linea viridis gyrat universa.
3. Then the word of Adonai came unto me by the mouth of the Magister mine, saying: O heart that art girt about with the coils of the old serpent, lift up thyself unto the mountain of initiation!
4. But I remembered. Yea, Than, yea, Theli, yea, Lilith! these three were about me from of old. For they are one.
5. Beautiful wast thou, O Lilith, thou serpent-woman!
6. Thou wast lithe and delicious to the taste, and thy perfume was of musk mingled with ambergris.
7. Close didst thou cling with thy coils unto the heart, and it was as the joy of all the spring.
8. But I beheld in thee a certain taint, even in that wherein I delighted.
9. I beheld in thee the taint of thy father the ape, of thy grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime.
10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come -- had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.
13. Then I said: O my beloved, O Lord Adonai, I pray thee to loosen the coils of the serpent!
14. But she was closed fast upon me, so that my Force was stayed in its inception.
15. Also I prayed unto the Elephant God, the Lord of Beginnings, who breaketh down obstruction.
16. These gods came right quickly to mine aid. I beheld them; I joined myself unto them; I was lost in their vastness.
17. Then I beheld myself compassed about with the Infinite Circle of Emerald that encloseth the Universe.
18. O Snake of Emerald, Thou hast no time Past, no time To Come. Verily Thou art not.
19. Thou art delicious beyond all taste and touch, Thou art not-to-be-beheld for glory, Thy voice is beyond the Speech and the Silence and the Speech therein, and Thy perfume is of pure ambergris, that is not weighed against the finest gold of the fine gold.
20. Also Thy coils are of infinite range; the Heart that Thou dost encircle is an Universal Heart.
21. I, and Me, and Mine were sitting with lutes in the market-place of the great city, the city of the violets and the roses.
22. The night fell, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
23. The tempest arose, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
24. The hour passed, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
25. But Thou art Eternity and Space; Thou art Matter and Motion; and Thou art the negation of all these things.
26. For there is no Symbol of Thee.
27. If I say Come up upon the mountains! the celestial waters flow at my word. But thou art the Water beyond the waters.
28. The red three-angled heart hath been set up in Thy shrine; for the priests despised equally the shrine and the god.
29. Yet all the while Thou wast hidden therein, as the Lord of Silence is hidden in the buds of the lotus.
30. Thou art Sebek the crocodile against Asar; thou art Mati, the Slayer in the Deep. Thou art Typhon, the Wrath of the Elements, O Thou who transcendest the Forces in their Concourse and Cohesion, in their Death and their Disruption. Thou art Python, the terrible serpent about the end of all things!
31. I turned me about thrice in every way; and always I came at the last unto Thee.
32. Many things I beheld mediate and immediate; but, beholding them no more, I beheld Thee.
33. Come thou, O beloved One, O Lord God of the Universe, O Vast One, O Minute One! I am Thy beloved.
34. All day I sing of Thy delight; all night I delight in Thy song.
35. There is no other day or night than this.
36. Thou art beyond the day and the night; I am Thyself, O my Maker, my Master, my Mate!
37. I am like the little red dog that sitteth upon the knees of the Unknown.
38. Thou hast brought me into great delight. Thou hast given me of Thy flesh to eat and of Thy blood for an offering of intoxication.
39. Thou hast fastened the fangs of Eternity in my soul, and the Poison of the Infinite hath consumed me utterly.
40. I am become like a luscious devil of Italy; a fair strong woman with worn cheeks, eaten out with hunger for kisses. She hath played the harlot in divers palaces; she hath given her body to the beasts.
41. She hath slain her kinsfolk with strong venom of toads; she hath been scourged with many rods.
42. She hath been broken in pieces upon the Wheel; the hands of the hangman have bound her unto it.
43. The fountains of water have been loosed upon her; she hath struggled with exceeding torment.
44. She hath burst in sunder with the weight of the waters; she hath sunk into the awful Sea.
45. So am I, O Adonai, my lord, and such are the waters of Thine intolerable Essence.
46. So am I, O Adonai, my beloved, and Thou hast burst me utterly in sunder.
47. I am shed out like spilt blood upon the mountains; the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away.
48. Therefore is the seal unloosed, that guarded the Eighth abyss; therefore is the vast sea as a veil; therefore is there a rending asunder of all things.
49. Yea, also verily Thou art the cool still water of the wizard fount. I have bathed in Thee, and lost me in Thy stillness.
50. That which went in as a brave boy of beautiful limbs cometh forth as a maiden, as a little child for perfection.
51. O Thou light and delight, ravish me away into the milky ocean of the stars!
52. O Thou Son of a light-transcending mother, blessed be Thy name, and the Name of Thy Name, throughout the ages!
53. Behold! I am a butterfly at the Source of Creation; let me die before the hour, falling dead into Thine infinite stream!
54. Also the stream of the stars floweth ever majestical unto the Abode; bear me away upon the Bosom of Nuit!
55. This is the world of the waters of Maim; this is the bitter water that becometh sweet. Thou art beautiful and bitter, O golden one, O my Lord Adonai, O thou Abyss of Sapphire!
56. I follow Thee, and the waters of Death fight strenuously against me. I pass unto the Waters beyond Death and beyond Life.
57. How shall I answer the foolish man? In no way shall he come to the Identity of Thee!
58. But I am the Fool that heedeth not the Play of the Magician. Me doth the Woman of the Mysteries instruct in vain; I have burst the bonds of Love and of Power and of Worship.
59. Therefore is the Eagle made one with the Man, and the gallows of infamy dance with the fruit of the just.
60. I have descended, O my darling, into the black shining waters, and I have plucked Thee forth as a black pearl of infinite preciousness.
61. I have gone down, O my God, into the abyss of the all, and I have found Thee in the midst under the guise of No Thing.
62. But as Thou art the Last, Thou art also the Next, and as the Next do I reveal Thee to the multitude.
63. They that ever desired Thee shall obtain Thee, even at the End of their Desire.
64. Glorious, glorious, glorious art Thou, O my lover supernal, O Self of myself.
65. For I have found Thee alike in the Me and the Thee; there is no difference, O my beautiful, my desirable One! In the One and the Many have I found Thee; yea, I have found Thee.
Reading 2: From I. N. R. I. - DE MYSTERIIS ROSAE RUBEAE ET AUREAE CRUCIS by Frater Achad
Unto you, O my Son, in whom that Fire burns, I would be as a bellows to fan the Flame into a great burning which shall illume the Darkness wherein thou walkest; so that from a flickering rushlight thou mayest become as a Lamp of Pure Oil, and that thy Lamp may shine forth as an Ever-burning Star of Hope to thy fellow men.
For this reason will I discourse unto you, not of the Cross of Suffering to which thou wert bound and upon which thou tookest thine obligation on behalf of the Universe that Obligation, every Clause of which contained a Secret reference to the Holy Sephiroth, the Emanations of the One from Whom cometh All but rather of that great and complete Symbol of the Rose and Cross concealed within thy breast, upon the back of which is engraved "Magister Iesus Christus--Deus est Homo--Benedictus Dominus Deus Noster qui dedit nobis Signum" and thy Mystic Name as Fra:. R.R. et A.C.
But it is of the face of the Cross that I would chiefly discourse unto thee, for, wearing it upon thy breast, thou art become as the Sun who seeth not His own Face, yet giveth the Light of His Countenance to the Just and to the Unjust with equal Love and Blessing.
...
Thou has, O my Son, the knowledge of the Invoking and Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram, whereby thou mayest control the Elements and the Astral Plane; therefore thou understandest how these Pentagrams should be traced with thy Wand and Will, and how this formula is symbolically shown in the arrangement of the Symbols of the Elements which are shown round the Pentagrams upon the Arms of the Mighty Cross. Thou knowest, too, how the Planetary Rulers, and even the Zodiacal Signs, are to be Invoked or Banished by means of the Holy Hexagram, the true arrangement of which is also shown in this Symbol. But what of the Barbed Rose Leaves which in the Microcosmic Rose were single, and here are shown as Triple in each quarter? What of the Letters and Symbols thereon?
Here indeed is given the Formula whereby the L.V.X. may be drawn from the Cross, and the Key-Word found, and the Word be subtly extracted therefrom. Without this knowledge how cans't thou give the true Signs of thy Grade? Let us therefore analyze the Keyword, as did our Ancient Brethren:
I. N. R. I.
Yod. Nun. Resh. Yod.
Virgo, Isis, Mighty Mother.
Scorpio, Aphopis, Destroyer.
Sol, Osiris, Slain and Risen.
Isis, Aphopis, Osiris..
I. A. O.
Make now the Signs whereby the L.V.X. which is the Light of the Cross, shines forth, and thou hast the meaning of the Rose Leaves of thy Mystic Jewel; leaves that are Ever-Green as Life Itself.
And now, O my Son, go thou and partake of the Mystic Eucharist, even as thou hast been taught by Those who Know. Fortify thyself, for thou hast yet a perilous journey before thee. Thou hast been led unto the Light; bethink thee that there is yet another Rose and Cross, the Rose of Nine-and-forty Petals which is Seven by Seven upon the Cross of Five Squares. The Mysteries of these thou wilt someday know, but not now; for these partake of the nature of that Great Darkness of N.O.X., the Darkness which is as the Light which is Higher than Eyesight; the Pure Darkness of Understanding, or of the Womb of the Lady Babalon, and the City of the Pyramids which is the abode of NEMO.
May thy Mind be open unto the Higher,
Thy Heart a Centre of Light,
And thy Body the Temple of the Rosy Cross.
Vale Frater!
Readings for March 28th
Reading 1: From Liber Arcanorum (CCXXXI), by Saint Aleister Crowley
0. A, the heart of IAO, dwelleth in ecstasy in the secret place of the
thunders. Between Asar and Asi he abideth in joy.
1. The lightnings increased and the Lord Tahuti stood forth. The Voice came from the Silence. Then the One ran and returned.
2. Now hath Nuit veiled herself, that she may open the gate of her sister.
3. The Virgin of God is enthroned upon an oyster-shell; she is like a pearl, and seeketh Seventy to her Four. In her heart is Hadit the invisible glory.
4. Now riseth Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and dominion is established in the Star of the Flame.
5. Also is the Star of the Flame exalted, bringing benediction to the universe.
6. Here then beneath the winged Eros is youth, delighting in the one and the other.
7. He is Asar between Asi and Nepthi; he cometh forth from the veil. He rideth upon the chariot of eternity; the white and the black are harnessed to his car. Therefore he reflecteth the Fool, and the sevenfold veil is reveiled.
8. Also came forth mother Earth with her lion, even Sekhet, the lady of Asi.
9. Also the Priest veiled himself, lest his glory be profaned, lest his word be lost in the multitude.
10. Now then the Father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the Sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and Typhon, were bound on his circumference.
11. Also the lady Maat with her feather and her sword abode to judge the righteous.
For Fate was already established.
12. Then the holy one appeared in the great water of the North; as a golden dawn did he appear, bringing benediction to the fallen universe.
13. Also Asar was hidden in Amennti; and the Lords of Time swept over him with the sickle of death.
14. And a mighty angel appeared as a woman, pouring vials of woe upon the flames, lighting the pure stream with her brand of cursing. And the iniquity was very great.
15. Then the Lord Khem arose, He who is holy among the highest, and set up his crowned staff for to redeem the universe.
16. He smote the towers of wailing; he brake them in pieces in the fire of his anger, so that he alone did escape from the ruin thereof.
17. Transformed, the holy virgin appeared as a fluidic fire, making her beauty into a thunderbolt.
18. By her spells she invoked the Scarab, the Lord Kheph-Ra, so that the waters were cloven and the illusion of the towers was destroyed.
19. Then the sun did appear unclouded, and the mouth of Asi was on the mouth of Asar.
20. Then also the Pyramid was builded so that the Initiation might be complete.
21. And in the heart of the Sphinx danced the Lord Adonai, in His garlands of roses and pearls making glad the concourse of things; yea, making glad the concourse of things.
Reading 2: Liber Aleph (CXI), Chapters Ζι - Ζλ, by Saint Aleister Crowley
Ζι
de morte.
Thou hast made Question of me concerning Death, and this is my Opinion, of which I say not: this is the Truth. First in the Temple called Man is the God, his Soul, or Star, individual and eternal, but also inherent in the Body of Our Lady Nuith. Now this Soul, as an Officer in the High Mass of the Cosmos, taketh on the Vesture of his Office, that is, inhabiteth a Tabernacle of Illusion, a Body and Mind. And this Tabernacle is Subject to the Law of Change, for it is complex, and diffuse reacting to every Stimulus or Impression. If then the mind be attached constantly to the Body, Death hath no Power to decompose it wholly, but a decaying Shell of the dead Man, his Mind holding together for a little his Body of Light, haunteth the Earth, seeking a new Tabernacle (in its Error that feareth Change) in some other Body. These Shells are broken away utterly from the Star that did enlighten them, and they are Vampires, obsessing them that adventure themselves into the Astral World without Magical Protection, or invoke them, as do the Spiritists. For by Death is Man released only from the Gross Body, at the first, and is complete otherwise upon the Astral Plane, as he was in his Life. But this Wholeness suffereth Stress, and its Girders are loosened, the weaker first and after that the stronger.
Ζκ
de adeptis r.c. escatologia.
Consider now in this Light what shall come to the Adept, to him that hath aspired constantly and firmly to his Star, attuning the Mind unto the Musick of its Will. In him, if his Mind be knit perfectly together is itself, and conjoined with the Star, is so strong a Confection that it breaketh away easily not only from the Gross Body, but the fine. It is this Fine Body which bindeth it to the Astral, as did the Gross to the Material World so then it accomplisheth willingly the Sacrament of a second Death and leaveth the Body of Light. But the Mind, cleaveth closely, by Right of its Harmony, and Might of its Love, to its Star, resisteth the Ministers of Disruption, for a Season, according to its Strength. Now, if this Star be of those that are bound by the Great Oath, incarnating without Remission because of Delight in the Cosmic Sacrament, it seeketh a new Vehicle in the appointed Way, and indwelleth the Foetus of a Child, and quickeneth it. And if at this Time the mind of its Former Tabernacle yet cling to it, then is there Continuity Character, and it may be Memory between the two Vehicles. This is, briefly and without Elaboration, the Way of Asar in Amenti, according to mine Opinion, of which I say not: This is the Truth.
Ζλ
de nuptiis summis.
Now then to this Doctrine, o my Son, add thou that which thou hast learned in The Book of the Law, that Death is the Dissolution in the Kiss of Our Lady Nuith. This is a true Consonance as of Bass with Treble for here is the Impulse that setteth us to Magick, the Pain of the Conscious Mind. Having then Wit to find the Cause of this Pain in the Sense of Separation, and its Cessation by the Union of Love, it is the Summit of our Holy Art to present the whole Being of our Star to Our Lady in the Nuptial of our Bodily Death. We are then to make our whole Engine the true and real Appurtenance of our Force, without Leak, or Friction, or any other Waste or Hindrance to its Action. Thou knowest well how an Horse, or even a Machine propelled by a Man's feet, becometh as it were as Extension of the Rider, though his Skill and Custom. Thus let thy Star have profit of thy Vehicle, assimilating it, and sustaining it, so that it be healed of its Separation, and this even in Life, but most especially in Death. Also thou oughtest to increase thy Vehicle in Mass by true Growth in Balance, that thou be a Bridegroom comely and wellfavoured, a Man of might, and a Warrior worthy of the Bed of so divine a Dissolution.
0. A, the heart of IAO, dwelleth in ecstasy in the secret place of the
thunders. Between Asar and Asi he abideth in joy.
1. The lightnings increased and the Lord Tahuti stood forth. The Voice came from the Silence. Then the One ran and returned.
2. Now hath Nuit veiled herself, that she may open the gate of her sister.
3. The Virgin of God is enthroned upon an oyster-shell; she is like a pearl, and seeketh Seventy to her Four. In her heart is Hadit the invisible glory.
4. Now riseth Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and dominion is established in the Star of the Flame.
5. Also is the Star of the Flame exalted, bringing benediction to the universe.
6. Here then beneath the winged Eros is youth, delighting in the one and the other.
7. He is Asar between Asi and Nepthi; he cometh forth from the veil. He rideth upon the chariot of eternity; the white and the black are harnessed to his car. Therefore he reflecteth the Fool, and the sevenfold veil is reveiled.
8. Also came forth mother Earth with her lion, even Sekhet, the lady of Asi.
9. Also the Priest veiled himself, lest his glory be profaned, lest his word be lost in the multitude.
10. Now then the Father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the Sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and Typhon, were bound on his circumference.
11. Also the lady Maat with her feather and her sword abode to judge the righteous.
For Fate was already established.
12. Then the holy one appeared in the great water of the North; as a golden dawn did he appear, bringing benediction to the fallen universe.
13. Also Asar was hidden in Amennti; and the Lords of Time swept over him with the sickle of death.
14. And a mighty angel appeared as a woman, pouring vials of woe upon the flames, lighting the pure stream with her brand of cursing. And the iniquity was very great.
15. Then the Lord Khem arose, He who is holy among the highest, and set up his crowned staff for to redeem the universe.
16. He smote the towers of wailing; he brake them in pieces in the fire of his anger, so that he alone did escape from the ruin thereof.
17. Transformed, the holy virgin appeared as a fluidic fire, making her beauty into a thunderbolt.
18. By her spells she invoked the Scarab, the Lord Kheph-Ra, so that the waters were cloven and the illusion of the towers was destroyed.
19. Then the sun did appear unclouded, and the mouth of Asi was on the mouth of Asar.
20. Then also the Pyramid was builded so that the Initiation might be complete.
21. And in the heart of the Sphinx danced the Lord Adonai, in His garlands of roses and pearls making glad the concourse of things; yea, making glad the concourse of things.
Reading 2: Liber Aleph (CXI), Chapters Ζι - Ζλ, by Saint Aleister Crowley
Ζι
de morte.
Thou hast made Question of me concerning Death, and this is my Opinion, of which I say not: this is the Truth. First in the Temple called Man is the God, his Soul, or Star, individual and eternal, but also inherent in the Body of Our Lady Nuith. Now this Soul, as an Officer in the High Mass of the Cosmos, taketh on the Vesture of his Office, that is, inhabiteth a Tabernacle of Illusion, a Body and Mind. And this Tabernacle is Subject to the Law of Change, for it is complex, and diffuse reacting to every Stimulus or Impression. If then the mind be attached constantly to the Body, Death hath no Power to decompose it wholly, but a decaying Shell of the dead Man, his Mind holding together for a little his Body of Light, haunteth the Earth, seeking a new Tabernacle (in its Error that feareth Change) in some other Body. These Shells are broken away utterly from the Star that did enlighten them, and they are Vampires, obsessing them that adventure themselves into the Astral World without Magical Protection, or invoke them, as do the Spiritists. For by Death is Man released only from the Gross Body, at the first, and is complete otherwise upon the Astral Plane, as he was in his Life. But this Wholeness suffereth Stress, and its Girders are loosened, the weaker first and after that the stronger.
Ζκ
de adeptis r.c. escatologia.
Consider now in this Light what shall come to the Adept, to him that hath aspired constantly and firmly to his Star, attuning the Mind unto the Musick of its Will. In him, if his Mind be knit perfectly together is itself, and conjoined with the Star, is so strong a Confection that it breaketh away easily not only from the Gross Body, but the fine. It is this Fine Body which bindeth it to the Astral, as did the Gross to the Material World so then it accomplisheth willingly the Sacrament of a second Death and leaveth the Body of Light. But the Mind, cleaveth closely, by Right of its Harmony, and Might of its Love, to its Star, resisteth the Ministers of Disruption, for a Season, according to its Strength. Now, if this Star be of those that are bound by the Great Oath, incarnating without Remission because of Delight in the Cosmic Sacrament, it seeketh a new Vehicle in the appointed Way, and indwelleth the Foetus of a Child, and quickeneth it. And if at this Time the mind of its Former Tabernacle yet cling to it, then is there Continuity Character, and it may be Memory between the two Vehicles. This is, briefly and without Elaboration, the Way of Asar in Amenti, according to mine Opinion, of which I say not: This is the Truth.
Ζλ
de nuptiis summis.
Now then to this Doctrine, o my Son, add thou that which thou hast learned in The Book of the Law, that Death is the Dissolution in the Kiss of Our Lady Nuith. This is a true Consonance as of Bass with Treble for here is the Impulse that setteth us to Magick, the Pain of the Conscious Mind. Having then Wit to find the Cause of this Pain in the Sense of Separation, and its Cessation by the Union of Love, it is the Summit of our Holy Art to present the whole Being of our Star to Our Lady in the Nuptial of our Bodily Death. We are then to make our whole Engine the true and real Appurtenance of our Force, without Leak, or Friction, or any other Waste or Hindrance to its Action. Thou knowest well how an Horse, or even a Machine propelled by a Man's feet, becometh as it were as Extension of the Rider, though his Skill and Custom. Thus let thy Star have profit of thy Vehicle, assimilating it, and sustaining it, so that it be healed of its Separation, and this even in Life, but most especially in Death. Also thou oughtest to increase thy Vehicle in Mass by true Growth in Balance, that thou be a Bridegroom comely and wellfavoured, a Man of might, and a Warrior worthy of the Bed of so divine a Dissolution.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Readings for March 27th
Reading 1: Liber Ararita (DCCCXIII), Chapter VII, by Saint Aleister Crowley
0. Then in the might of the Lion did I formulate unto myself that holy and formless fire, כדש, which darteth and flasheth through the depths of the Universe.
1. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the earth melted into a liquor clear as water.
2. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the water smoked into a lucid air.
3. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the air ignited, and became Fire.
4. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O Lord, the Fire dissipated into Space.
5. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O Lord, the Space resolved itself into a Profundity of Mind.
6. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the Mind of the Father was broken up into the brilliance of our Lord the Sun.
7. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the Brilliance of our Lord was absorbed in the Naught of our Lady of the Body of the Milk of the Stars.
8. Then only was the Fire Qadosh extinguished, when the Enterer was driven back from the threshold,
9. And the Lord of Silence was established upon the Lotus flower.
10. Then was accomplished all that which was to be accomplished.
11. And All and One and Naught were slain in the slaying of the Warrior 418,
12. In the slaying of the subtlety that expanded all these things into the Twelve Rays of the Crown,
13. That returned unto One, and beyond One, even unto the vision of the Fool in his folly that chanted the word Ararita, and beyond the Word and the Fool; yea, beyond the Word and the Fool.
Reading 2: From G.H. Frater S.R.M.D, The Vision of the Universal Mercury
"We stood upon a dark and rocky cliff that overhung the restless seas. In the Sky above us was a certain glorious sun, encircled by the brilliant rainbow, which they of the Path of the Chameleon know.
"I beheld, until the heavens opened, and a form like unto the Mercury of the Greeks 1 descended, flashing like lightning; and he hovered between the sky and the sea. In his hand was the staff 2 wherewith the eyes of mortals are closed in sleep, and wherewith he also, at will, re-awakeneth the sleeper; and terribly did the globe at its summit dart forth rays. And he bare a scroll whereon was written:
Lumen est in Deo,
Lux in homine factum,
Sive Sol,
Sive Luna
Sive Stelloc errantes,
Omina in Lux,
Lux in Lumine
Lumen in Centrum
Centrum in Circulo
Circulum ex Nihilo,
Quid scis, id eris.
F.I.A.T. - (Flatus. Ignis. Aqua. Terra. - Air. Fire. Water. Earth.)
E.S.T. - (Ether. Sal. Terrae. Ether, the Salt of the Earth.)
E.S.T.O. - (Ether. Subtilis. Totius. Orbis. The subtle Ether of the whole universe.)
E.R.I.T. - (Ether. Ruens. In. Terra. The Ether rushing into the Earth.)
In fidelitate et veritate universas ab aeternitate.(Let it become. It is. Be it so. It shall be..)
Nunc Hora.
Nunc Dies.
Nunc Annus,
Nunc Saeculum,
Omnia sunt Unum,
Et Omnia in Omnibus.
A.E.T.E.R.N.I.T.A.S. - (Ab Kether. Ex Chokmah. Tu Binah. Ex Chesed. Regina Geburah. Nunc Tiphareth. In Netzach. Totius Hod. Ad Yesod. Saeculorum Malkuth. "From the Crown, out of wisdom- Thou, O Understanding art Mercy, Queen of Severity. Now the Perfect Beauty, in the Victory, of all Splendour, for the Foundation of the Ages of the Universe)
Then Hermes cried aloud, and said:
"I am Hermes Mercurius, the Son of God, the messenger uniting Superiors and Inferiors. I exist not without them, and their union is in me. I bathe in the Ocean. I fill the expanse of Air. I penetrate the depths beneath."
And the Frater who was with me, said unto me:
"Thus is the Balance of nature maintained, for this Mercury is the beginning of all movement. This He, this She, this IT, is in all things, but hath wings which thou canst not constrain. For when thou sayest 'He is her' he is not here, for by that time he is already away, for he is Eternal Motion and Vibration."
Nevertheless in Mercury must thou seek all things. Therefore not without reason did our Ancient Fraters say the Great Work was to "Fix the Volatile." There is but one place where he can be fixed, and that is the Center, a center exact. "Centrum intrigono centri."11 The center is the triangle of the Center.
If thine own soul be baseless how wilt thou find a standing point whence to fix the soul of the Universe?
The Christ from the Christ, The Mercury from the Mercury, Through the Path of the Cross, Through the life of the Light, God shall be thy Help.
"Christus de Christi,
Mercury de Mercurio,
Per viam crucis,
Per vitam Lucis
Deus te Adjutabitur"
0. Then in the might of the Lion did I formulate unto myself that holy and formless fire, כדש, which darteth and flasheth through the depths of the Universe.
1. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the earth melted into a liquor clear as water.
2. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the water smoked into a lucid air.
3. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the air ignited, and became Fire.
4. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O Lord, the Fire dissipated into Space.
5. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O Lord, the Space resolved itself into a Profundity of Mind.
6. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the Mind of the Father was broken up into the brilliance of our Lord the Sun.
7. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the Brilliance of our Lord was absorbed in the Naught of our Lady of the Body of the Milk of the Stars.
8. Then only was the Fire Qadosh extinguished, when the Enterer was driven back from the threshold,
9. And the Lord of Silence was established upon the Lotus flower.
10. Then was accomplished all that which was to be accomplished.
11. And All and One and Naught were slain in the slaying of the Warrior 418,
12. In the slaying of the subtlety that expanded all these things into the Twelve Rays of the Crown,
13. That returned unto One, and beyond One, even unto the vision of the Fool in his folly that chanted the word Ararita, and beyond the Word and the Fool; yea, beyond the Word and the Fool.
Reading 2: From G.H. Frater S.R.M.D, The Vision of the Universal Mercury
"We stood upon a dark and rocky cliff that overhung the restless seas. In the Sky above us was a certain glorious sun, encircled by the brilliant rainbow, which they of the Path of the Chameleon know.
"I beheld, until the heavens opened, and a form like unto the Mercury of the Greeks 1 descended, flashing like lightning; and he hovered between the sky and the sea. In his hand was the staff 2 wherewith the eyes of mortals are closed in sleep, and wherewith he also, at will, re-awakeneth the sleeper; and terribly did the globe at its summit dart forth rays. And he bare a scroll whereon was written:
Lumen est in Deo,
Lux in homine factum,
Sive Sol,
Sive Luna
Sive Stelloc errantes,
Omina in Lux,
Lux in Lumine
Lumen in Centrum
Centrum in Circulo
Circulum ex Nihilo,
Quid scis, id eris.
F.I.A.T. - (Flatus. Ignis. Aqua. Terra. - Air. Fire. Water. Earth.)
E.S.T. - (Ether. Sal. Terrae. Ether, the Salt of the Earth.)
E.S.T.O. - (Ether. Subtilis. Totius. Orbis. The subtle Ether of the whole universe.)
E.R.I.T. - (Ether. Ruens. In. Terra. The Ether rushing into the Earth.)
In fidelitate et veritate universas ab aeternitate.(Let it become. It is. Be it so. It shall be..)
Nunc Hora.
Nunc Dies.
Nunc Annus,
Nunc Saeculum,
Omnia sunt Unum,
Et Omnia in Omnibus.
A.E.T.E.R.N.I.T.A.S. - (Ab Kether. Ex Chokmah. Tu Binah. Ex Chesed. Regina Geburah. Nunc Tiphareth. In Netzach. Totius Hod. Ad Yesod. Saeculorum Malkuth. "From the Crown, out of wisdom- Thou, O Understanding art Mercy, Queen of Severity. Now the Perfect Beauty, in the Victory, of all Splendour, for the Foundation of the Ages of the Universe)
Then Hermes cried aloud, and said:
"I am Hermes Mercurius, the Son of God, the messenger uniting Superiors and Inferiors. I exist not without them, and their union is in me. I bathe in the Ocean. I fill the expanse of Air. I penetrate the depths beneath."
And the Frater who was with me, said unto me:
"Thus is the Balance of nature maintained, for this Mercury is the beginning of all movement. This He, this She, this IT, is in all things, but hath wings which thou canst not constrain. For when thou sayest 'He is her' he is not here, for by that time he is already away, for he is Eternal Motion and Vibration."
Nevertheless in Mercury must thou seek all things. Therefore not without reason did our Ancient Fraters say the Great Work was to "Fix the Volatile." There is but one place where he can be fixed, and that is the Center, a center exact. "Centrum intrigono centri."11 The center is the triangle of the Center.
If thine own soul be baseless how wilt thou find a standing point whence to fix the soul of the Universe?
The Christ from the Christ, The Mercury from the Mercury, Through the Path of the Cross, Through the life of the Light, God shall be thy Help.
"Christus de Christi,
Mercury de Mercurio,
Per viam crucis,
Per vitam Lucis
Deus te Adjutabitur"
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Readings for March 26th
Reading 1: Liber A'ash vel Capricorni (CCCLXX) by Saint Aleister Crowley
0. Gnarled Oak of God! In thy branches is the lightning nested! Above thee hangs the Eyeless Hawk.
1. Thou art blasted and black! Supremely solitary in that heath of scrub.
2. Up! The ruddy clouds hang over thee! It is the storm.
3. There is a flaming gash in the sky.
4. Up.
5. Thou art tossed about in the grip of the storm for an aeon and an aeon and an aeon. But thou givest not thy sap; thou fallest not.
6. Only in the end shalt thou give up thy sap when the great God F. I. A. T. is enthroned on the day of Be-with-Us.
7. For two things are done and a third thing is begun. Isis and Osiris are given over to incest and adultery. Horus leaps up thrice armed from the womb of his mother. Harpocrates his twin is hidden within him. Set is his holy covenant, that he shall display in the great day of M. A. A. T., that is being interpreted the Master of the Temple of A.'.A.'., whose name is Truth.
8. Now in this is the magical power known.
9. It is like the oak that hardens itself and bears up against the storm. It is weather-beaten and scarred and confident like a sea-captain.
10. Also it straineth like a hound in the leash.
11. It hath pride and great subtlety. Yea, and glee also!
12. Let the magus act thus in his conjuration.
13. Let him sit and conjure; let him draw himself together in that forcefulness; let him rise next swollen and straining; let him dash back the hood from his head and fix his basilisk eye upon the sigil of the demon. Then let him sway the force of him to and fro like a satyr in silence, until the Word burst from his throat.
14. Then let him not fall exhausted, although the might have been ten thousandfold the human; but that which floodeth him is the infinite mercy of the Genitor-Genetrix of the Universe, whereof he is the Vessel.
15. Nor do thou deceive thyself. It is easy to tell the live force from the dead matter. It is no easier to tell the live snake from the dead snake.
16. Also concerning vows. Be obstinate, and be not obstinate. Understand that the yielding of the Yoni is one with the lengthening of the Lingam. Thou art both these; and thy vow is but the rustling of the wind on Mount Meru.
17. Now shalt thou adore me who am the Eye and the Tooth, the Goat of the Spirit, the Lord of Creation. I am the Eye in the Triangle, the Silver Star that ye adore.
18. I am Baphomet, that is the Eightfold Word that shall be equilibrated with the Three.
19. There is no act or passion that shall not be a hymn in mine honour.
20. All holy things and all symbolic things shall be my sacraments.
21. These animals are sacred unto me; the goat, and the duck, and the ass, and the gazelle, the man, the woman and the child.
22. All corpses are sacred unto me; they shall not be touched save in mine eucharist. All lonely places are sacred unto me; where one man gathereth himself together in my name, there will I leap forth in the midst of him.
23. I am the hideous god; and who mastereth me is uglier than I.
24. Yet I give more than Bacchus and Apollo; my gifts exceed the olive and the horse.
25. Who worshippeth me must worship me with many rites.
26. I am concealed with all concealments; when the Most Holy Ancient One is stripped and driven through the marketplace I am still secret and apart.
27. Whom I love I chastise with many rods.
28. All things are sacred to me; no thing is sacred from me.
29. For there is no holiness where I am not.
30. Fear not when I fall in the fury of the storm; for mine acorns are blown afar by the wind; and verily I shall rise again, and my children about me, so that we shall uplift our forest in Eternity.
31. Eternity is the storm that covereth me.
32. I am Existence, the Existence that existeth not save through its own Existence, that is beyond the Existence of Existences, and rooted deeper than the No-Thing-Tree in the Land of No-Thing.
33. Now therefore thou knowest when I am within thee, when my hood is spread over thy skull, when my might is more than the penned Indus, and resistless as the Giant Glacier.
34. For as thou art before a lewd woman in Thy nakedness in the bazaar, sucked up by her slyness and smiles, so art thou wholly and no more in part before the symbol of the beloved, though it be but a Pisacha or a Yantra or a Deva.
35. And in all shalt thou create the Infinite Bliss, and the next link of the Infinite Chain.
36. This chain reaches from Eternity to Eternity, ever in triangles -- is not my symbol a triangle? -- ever in circles -- is not the symbol of the Beloved a circle? Therein is all progress base illusion, for every circle is alike and every triangle alike!
37. But the progress is progress, and progress is rapture, constant, dazzling, showers of light, waves of dew, flames of the hair of the Great Goddess, flowers of the roses that are about her neck, Amen!
38. Therefore lift up thyself as I am lifted up. Hold thyself in as I am master to accomplish. At the end, be the end far distant as the stars that lie in the navel of Nuit, do thou slay thyself as I at the end am slain, in the death that is life, in the peace that is mother of war, in the darkness that holds light in his hand as a harlot that plucks a jewel from her nostrils.
39. So therefore the beginning is delight, and the End is delight, and delight is in the midst, even as the Indus is water in the cavern of the glacier, and water among the greater hills and the lesser hills and through the ramparts of the hills and through the plains, and water at the mouth thereof when it leaps forth into the mighty sea, yea, into the mighty sea.
Reading 2: Liber Aleph (CXI), Chapters Wq-Wr, by Saint Aleister Crowley
Wq
SEQUITUR DE HIS VIIS.
Now the Path of Ayin is a Link between Mercury and the Sun, and in the Zodiac importeth the Goat. This Goat is called also Strength, and standeth in the Meridian at the Sunrise of Spring; and it is His Nature to leap upon the Mountains. So therefore he is a Symbol of true Magick, and his Name is Baphomet, wherefore did I design him as an Atu of Thoth, the Fifteenth, and put his Image in the Front of my Book, The Ritual of High Magick, which was the second Part of my Thesis for the Grade of Major Adept, when I was clothed about with the Body called Alphonse Louis Constant. Now the Goat flieth not as doth the Eagle; but consider this also that it is the true Nature of Man to dwell upon the Earth, so that his Flights are oft but Phantasy; yea, the Eagle also is bound to his Eyrie, nor feedeth upon Air. Therefore this goat, making each leap with Fervour, yet all Times secure in his own Element, is a true Hieroglyph of the Magician. Mark also, this Path sheweth One continuous in Exaltation upon a Throne, and so is it the Formula of the Man, as the other was of the Woman.
Wr
DE OCULO HOOR.
I say furthermore that this Path is of the Circle, and of the Eye of Horus that sleepeth not, but is vigilant. The Circle is all-perfect, equal every Way, but the Vesica hath bitter Need, and seeketh thy Medicine, that is of right compounded for High Purpose, to ease her Infirmity. Thus is thy Will frustrated, and thy Mind distracted, and thy Work lamed, if it be not brought to Naught. Also thy Puissance in thine Art is minished, by a full Moiety, as I do esteem it. But the Eye of Horus hath no Need, and is free in his Will, not seeking a Level, or requiring a Medicine, and is fit and worthy to be the Companion and the Ally of thee in thy Work, as a Friend to thee, not Mistress and not Slave, that seek ever with Slyness and Deceit to encompass their own Ends. There is moreover a Reason in Physics for my Word; study thou this matter in the Laws of the Changes of Nature. For Things Unlike do in their Marriage produce a Child which is relatively Stable, and resisteth Change; but Things like increase mutually the Potential of their particular Natures. Howbeit, each Path hath his own Use; and thou, being instructed in all Ways, choose thine with Discretion.
0. Gnarled Oak of God! In thy branches is the lightning nested! Above thee hangs the Eyeless Hawk.
1. Thou art blasted and black! Supremely solitary in that heath of scrub.
2. Up! The ruddy clouds hang over thee! It is the storm.
3. There is a flaming gash in the sky.
4. Up.
5. Thou art tossed about in the grip of the storm for an aeon and an aeon and an aeon. But thou givest not thy sap; thou fallest not.
6. Only in the end shalt thou give up thy sap when the great God F. I. A. T. is enthroned on the day of Be-with-Us.
7. For two things are done and a third thing is begun. Isis and Osiris are given over to incest and adultery. Horus leaps up thrice armed from the womb of his mother. Harpocrates his twin is hidden within him. Set is his holy covenant, that he shall display in the great day of M. A. A. T., that is being interpreted the Master of the Temple of A.'.A.'., whose name is Truth.
8. Now in this is the magical power known.
9. It is like the oak that hardens itself and bears up against the storm. It is weather-beaten and scarred and confident like a sea-captain.
10. Also it straineth like a hound in the leash.
11. It hath pride and great subtlety. Yea, and glee also!
12. Let the magus act thus in his conjuration.
13. Let him sit and conjure; let him draw himself together in that forcefulness; let him rise next swollen and straining; let him dash back the hood from his head and fix his basilisk eye upon the sigil of the demon. Then let him sway the force of him to and fro like a satyr in silence, until the Word burst from his throat.
14. Then let him not fall exhausted, although the might have been ten thousandfold the human; but that which floodeth him is the infinite mercy of the Genitor-Genetrix of the Universe, whereof he is the Vessel.
15. Nor do thou deceive thyself. It is easy to tell the live force from the dead matter. It is no easier to tell the live snake from the dead snake.
16. Also concerning vows. Be obstinate, and be not obstinate. Understand that the yielding of the Yoni is one with the lengthening of the Lingam. Thou art both these; and thy vow is but the rustling of the wind on Mount Meru.
17. Now shalt thou adore me who am the Eye and the Tooth, the Goat of the Spirit, the Lord of Creation. I am the Eye in the Triangle, the Silver Star that ye adore.
18. I am Baphomet, that is the Eightfold Word that shall be equilibrated with the Three.
19. There is no act or passion that shall not be a hymn in mine honour.
20. All holy things and all symbolic things shall be my sacraments.
21. These animals are sacred unto me; the goat, and the duck, and the ass, and the gazelle, the man, the woman and the child.
22. All corpses are sacred unto me; they shall not be touched save in mine eucharist. All lonely places are sacred unto me; where one man gathereth himself together in my name, there will I leap forth in the midst of him.
23. I am the hideous god; and who mastereth me is uglier than I.
24. Yet I give more than Bacchus and Apollo; my gifts exceed the olive and the horse.
25. Who worshippeth me must worship me with many rites.
26. I am concealed with all concealments; when the Most Holy Ancient One is stripped and driven through the marketplace I am still secret and apart.
27. Whom I love I chastise with many rods.
28. All things are sacred to me; no thing is sacred from me.
29. For there is no holiness where I am not.
30. Fear not when I fall in the fury of the storm; for mine acorns are blown afar by the wind; and verily I shall rise again, and my children about me, so that we shall uplift our forest in Eternity.
31. Eternity is the storm that covereth me.
32. I am Existence, the Existence that existeth not save through its own Existence, that is beyond the Existence of Existences, and rooted deeper than the No-Thing-Tree in the Land of No-Thing.
33. Now therefore thou knowest when I am within thee, when my hood is spread over thy skull, when my might is more than the penned Indus, and resistless as the Giant Glacier.
34. For as thou art before a lewd woman in Thy nakedness in the bazaar, sucked up by her slyness and smiles, so art thou wholly and no more in part before the symbol of the beloved, though it be but a Pisacha or a Yantra or a Deva.
35. And in all shalt thou create the Infinite Bliss, and the next link of the Infinite Chain.
36. This chain reaches from Eternity to Eternity, ever in triangles -- is not my symbol a triangle? -- ever in circles -- is not the symbol of the Beloved a circle? Therein is all progress base illusion, for every circle is alike and every triangle alike!
37. But the progress is progress, and progress is rapture, constant, dazzling, showers of light, waves of dew, flames of the hair of the Great Goddess, flowers of the roses that are about her neck, Amen!
38. Therefore lift up thyself as I am lifted up. Hold thyself in as I am master to accomplish. At the end, be the end far distant as the stars that lie in the navel of Nuit, do thou slay thyself as I at the end am slain, in the death that is life, in the peace that is mother of war, in the darkness that holds light in his hand as a harlot that plucks a jewel from her nostrils.
39. So therefore the beginning is delight, and the End is delight, and delight is in the midst, even as the Indus is water in the cavern of the glacier, and water among the greater hills and the lesser hills and through the ramparts of the hills and through the plains, and water at the mouth thereof when it leaps forth into the mighty sea, yea, into the mighty sea.
Reading 2: Liber Aleph (CXI), Chapters Wq-Wr, by Saint Aleister Crowley
Wq
SEQUITUR DE HIS VIIS.
Now the Path of Ayin is a Link between Mercury and the Sun, and in the Zodiac importeth the Goat. This Goat is called also Strength, and standeth in the Meridian at the Sunrise of Spring; and it is His Nature to leap upon the Mountains. So therefore he is a Symbol of true Magick, and his Name is Baphomet, wherefore did I design him as an Atu of Thoth, the Fifteenth, and put his Image in the Front of my Book, The Ritual of High Magick, which was the second Part of my Thesis for the Grade of Major Adept, when I was clothed about with the Body called Alphonse Louis Constant. Now the Goat flieth not as doth the Eagle; but consider this also that it is the true Nature of Man to dwell upon the Earth, so that his Flights are oft but Phantasy; yea, the Eagle also is bound to his Eyrie, nor feedeth upon Air. Therefore this goat, making each leap with Fervour, yet all Times secure in his own Element, is a true Hieroglyph of the Magician. Mark also, this Path sheweth One continuous in Exaltation upon a Throne, and so is it the Formula of the Man, as the other was of the Woman.
Wr
DE OCULO HOOR.
I say furthermore that this Path is of the Circle, and of the Eye of Horus that sleepeth not, but is vigilant. The Circle is all-perfect, equal every Way, but the Vesica hath bitter Need, and seeketh thy Medicine, that is of right compounded for High Purpose, to ease her Infirmity. Thus is thy Will frustrated, and thy Mind distracted, and thy Work lamed, if it be not brought to Naught. Also thy Puissance in thine Art is minished, by a full Moiety, as I do esteem it. But the Eye of Horus hath no Need, and is free in his Will, not seeking a Level, or requiring a Medicine, and is fit and worthy to be the Companion and the Ally of thee in thy Work, as a Friend to thee, not Mistress and not Slave, that seek ever with Slyness and Deceit to encompass their own Ends. There is moreover a Reason in Physics for my Word; study thou this matter in the Laws of the Changes of Nature. For Things Unlike do in their Marriage produce a Child which is relatively Stable, and resisteth Change; but Things like increase mutually the Potential of their particular Natures. Howbeit, each Path hath his own Use; and thou, being instructed in all Ways, choose thine with Discretion.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Readings for March 25th
Reading 1: Liber Lapidis Lazuli (VII), Chapter I, by Saint Aleister Crowley
1. My God, how I love Thee!
2. With the vehement appetite of a beast I hunt Thee through the Universe.
3. Thou art standing as it were upon a pinnacle at the edge of some fortified city. I am a white bird, and perch upon Thee.
4. Thou art My Lover: I see Thee as a nymph with her white limbs stretched by the spring.
5. She lies upon the moss; there is none other but she:
6. Art Thou not Pan?
7. I am He. Speak not, O my God! Let the work be accomplished in silence.
8. Let my cry of pain be crystallized into a little white fawn to run away into the forest!
9. Thou art a centaur, O my God, from the violet-blossoms that crown Thee to the hoofs of the horse.
10. Thou art harder than tempered steel; there is no diamond beside Thee.
11. Did I not yield this body and soul?
12. I woo thee with a dagger drawn across my throat.
13. Let the spout of blood quench Thy blood-thirst, O my God!
14. Thou art a little white rabbit in the burrow Night.
15. I am greater than the fox and the hole.
16. Give me Thy kisses, O Lord God!
17. The lightning came and licked up the little flock of sheep.
18. There is a tongue and a flame; I see that trident walking over the sea.
19. A phoenix hath it for its head; below are two prongs. They spear the wicked.
20. I will spear Thee, O Thou little grey god, unless Thou beware!
21. From the grey to the gold; from the gold to that which is beyond the gold of Ophir.
22. My God! but I love Thee!
23. Why hast Thou whispered so ambiguous things? Wast Thou afraid, O goat-hoofed One, O horned One, O pillar of lightning?
24. From the lightning fall pearls; from the pearls black specks of nothing.
25. I based all on one, one on naught.
26. Afloat in the aether, O my God, my God!
27. O Thou great hooded sun of glory, cut off these eyelids!
28. Nature shall die out; she hideth me, closing mine eyelids with fear, she hideth me from My destruction, O Thou open eye.
29. O ever-weeping One!
30. Not Isis my mother, nor Osiris my self; but the incestuous Horus given over to Typhon, so may I be!
31. There thought; and thought is evil.
32. Pan! Pan! Io Pan! it is enough.
33. Fall not into death, O my soul! Think that death is the bed into which you are falling!
34. O how I love Thee, O my God! Especially is there a vehement parallel light from infinity, vilely diffracted in the haze of this mind.
35. I love Thee. I love Thee. I love Thee.
36. Thou art a beautiful thing whiter than a woman in the column of this vibration.
37. I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
38. But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.
39. Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my soul! Thy God is like the cold emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou radiatest thy little light.
40. When Thou shall know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in Thy great N.O.X.
41. What shalt Thou be, my God, when I have ceased to love Thee?
42. A worm, a nothing, a niddering knave!
43. But Oh! I love Thee.
44. I have thrown a million flowers from the basket of the Beyond at Thy feet, I have anointed Thee and Thy Staff with oil and blood and kisses.
45. I have kindled Thy marble into life -- ay! into death.
46. I have been smitten with the reek of Thy mouth, that drinketh never wine but life.
47. How the dew of the Universe whitens the lips!
48. Ah! trickling flow of the stars of the mother Supernal, begone!
49. I Am She that should come, the Virgin of all men.
50. I am a boy before Thee, O Thou satyr God.
51. Thou wilt inflict the punishment of pleasure -- Now! Now! Now!
52. Io Pan! Io Pan! I love Thee. I love Thee.
53. O my God, spare me!
54. Now!
It is done! Death.
55. I cried aloud the word -- and it was a mighty spell to bind the
Invisible, an enchantment to unbind the bound; yea, to unbind the bound.
Reading 2: From Liber Sæculi (CDXVIII), the 16th Æthyr, by Saint Aleister Crowley
Now at last he appears in the gloom. He is a mighty King, with crown and orb and sceptre, and his robes are of purple and gold. And he casts down the orb and sceptre to the earth, and he tears off his crown, and throws it on the ground, and tramples it. And he tears out his hair, that is of ruddy gold tinged with silver, and he plucks at his beard, and cries with as terrible voice: Woe unto me that am cast down from my place by the might of the new Aeon. For the ten palaces are broken, and the ten kings are carried away into bondage, and they are set to fight as the gladiators in the circus of him that hath laid his hand upon eleven. For the ancient tower is shattered by the Lord of the Flame and the Lightning. And they that walk upon their hands shall build the holy place. Blessed are they who have turned the Eye of Hoor unto the zenith, for they shall be filled with the vigour of the goat.
All that was ordered and stable is shaken. The Aeon of Wonders is come. Like locusts shall they gather themselves together, the servants of the Star and of the Snake, and they shall eat up everything that is upon the earth. For why? Because the Lord of Righteousness delighteth in them. The prophets shall prophesy monstrous things, and the wizards shall perform monstrous things. The sorceress shall be desired of all men, and the enchanter shall rule the earth.
Blessing unto the name of the Beast, for he hath let loose a mighty flood of fire from his manhood, and from his womanhood hath he let loose a mighty flood of water. Every thought of his mind is as a tempest that uprooteth the great trees of the earth, and shaketh the mountains thereof. And the throne of his spirit is a mighty throne of madness and desolation, so that they that look upon it shall cry: Behold the abomination!
Of a single ruby shall that throne be built, and it shall be set upon a high mountain, and men shall see it afar off. Then will I gather together my chariots and my horsemen and my ships of war. By sea and land shall my armies and my navies encompass it, and I will encamp round about it, and besiege it, and by the flame thereof shall I be utterly devoured. Many lying spirits have I sent into the world that my Aeon might be established, and they shall be all overthrown.
Great is the Beast that cometh forth like a lion, the servant of the Star and of the Snake. He is the Eternal one; He is the Almighty one. Blessed are they upon whom he shall look with favour, for nothing shall stand before his face. Accursed are they upon whom he shall look with derision, for nothing shall stand before his face.
And every mystery that hath not been revealed from the foundation of the world he shall reveal unto his chosen. And they shall have power over every spirit of the Ether; and of the earth and under the earth; on dry land and in the water; of whirling air and of rushing fire. And they shall have power over all the inhabitants of the earth, and every scourge of God shall be subdued beneath their feet. The angels shall come unto them and walk with them, and the great gods of heaven shall be their guests.
But I must sit apart, with dust upon my head, discrowned and desolate. I must lurk in forbidden corners of the earth. I must plot secretly in the by-ways of great cities, in the fog, and in marshes of the rivers of pestilence. And all my cunning shall not serve me. And all my undertakings shall be brought to naught. And all the ministers of the Beast shall catch me and tear out my tongue with pincers of red-hot iron, and they shall brand my forehead with the word of derision, and they shall shave my head, and pluck out my beard, and make a show of me.
And the spirit of prophecy shall come upon me despite me ever and anon, as even now upon my heart and upon my throat; and upon my tongue seared with strong acid are the words: Vim patior. For so must I give glory to him that hath supplanted me, that hath cast me down into the dust. I have hated him, and with hate my bones are rotten. I would have spat upon him, and my spittle hath befouled my beard. I have taken up the sword against him, and I am fallen upon it, and mine entrails are about my feet.
Who shall strive with his might? Hath he not the sword and the spear of the Warrior Lord of the Sun? Who shall contend with him? Who shall lift himself up against him? For the latchet of his sandal is more than the helmet of the Most High. Who shall reach up to him in supplication, save those that he shall set upon his shoulders? Would God that my tongue were torn out by the roots, and my throat cut across, and my heart torn out and given to the vultures, before I say this that I must say: Blessing and Worship to the Prophet of the Lovely Star!
1. My God, how I love Thee!
2. With the vehement appetite of a beast I hunt Thee through the Universe.
3. Thou art standing as it were upon a pinnacle at the edge of some fortified city. I am a white bird, and perch upon Thee.
4. Thou art My Lover: I see Thee as a nymph with her white limbs stretched by the spring.
5. She lies upon the moss; there is none other but she:
6. Art Thou not Pan?
7. I am He. Speak not, O my God! Let the work be accomplished in silence.
8. Let my cry of pain be crystallized into a little white fawn to run away into the forest!
9. Thou art a centaur, O my God, from the violet-blossoms that crown Thee to the hoofs of the horse.
10. Thou art harder than tempered steel; there is no diamond beside Thee.
11. Did I not yield this body and soul?
12. I woo thee with a dagger drawn across my throat.
13. Let the spout of blood quench Thy blood-thirst, O my God!
14. Thou art a little white rabbit in the burrow Night.
15. I am greater than the fox and the hole.
16. Give me Thy kisses, O Lord God!
17. The lightning came and licked up the little flock of sheep.
18. There is a tongue and a flame; I see that trident walking over the sea.
19. A phoenix hath it for its head; below are two prongs. They spear the wicked.
20. I will spear Thee, O Thou little grey god, unless Thou beware!
21. From the grey to the gold; from the gold to that which is beyond the gold of Ophir.
22. My God! but I love Thee!
23. Why hast Thou whispered so ambiguous things? Wast Thou afraid, O goat-hoofed One, O horned One, O pillar of lightning?
24. From the lightning fall pearls; from the pearls black specks of nothing.
25. I based all on one, one on naught.
26. Afloat in the aether, O my God, my God!
27. O Thou great hooded sun of glory, cut off these eyelids!
28. Nature shall die out; she hideth me, closing mine eyelids with fear, she hideth me from My destruction, O Thou open eye.
29. O ever-weeping One!
30. Not Isis my mother, nor Osiris my self; but the incestuous Horus given over to Typhon, so may I be!
31. There thought; and thought is evil.
32. Pan! Pan! Io Pan! it is enough.
33. Fall not into death, O my soul! Think that death is the bed into which you are falling!
34. O how I love Thee, O my God! Especially is there a vehement parallel light from infinity, vilely diffracted in the haze of this mind.
35. I love Thee. I love Thee. I love Thee.
36. Thou art a beautiful thing whiter than a woman in the column of this vibration.
37. I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
38. But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.
39. Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my soul! Thy God is like the cold emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou radiatest thy little light.
40. When Thou shall know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in Thy great N.O.X.
41. What shalt Thou be, my God, when I have ceased to love Thee?
42. A worm, a nothing, a niddering knave!
43. But Oh! I love Thee.
44. I have thrown a million flowers from the basket of the Beyond at Thy feet, I have anointed Thee and Thy Staff with oil and blood and kisses.
45. I have kindled Thy marble into life -- ay! into death.
46. I have been smitten with the reek of Thy mouth, that drinketh never wine but life.
47. How the dew of the Universe whitens the lips!
48. Ah! trickling flow of the stars of the mother Supernal, begone!
49. I Am She that should come, the Virgin of all men.
50. I am a boy before Thee, O Thou satyr God.
51. Thou wilt inflict the punishment of pleasure -- Now! Now! Now!
52. Io Pan! Io Pan! I love Thee. I love Thee.
53. O my God, spare me!
54. Now!
It is done! Death.
55. I cried aloud the word -- and it was a mighty spell to bind the
Invisible, an enchantment to unbind the bound; yea, to unbind the bound.
Reading 2: From Liber Sæculi (CDXVIII), the 16th Æthyr, by Saint Aleister Crowley
Now at last he appears in the gloom. He is a mighty King, with crown and orb and sceptre, and his robes are of purple and gold. And he casts down the orb and sceptre to the earth, and he tears off his crown, and throws it on the ground, and tramples it. And he tears out his hair, that is of ruddy gold tinged with silver, and he plucks at his beard, and cries with as terrible voice: Woe unto me that am cast down from my place by the might of the new Aeon. For the ten palaces are broken, and the ten kings are carried away into bondage, and they are set to fight as the gladiators in the circus of him that hath laid his hand upon eleven. For the ancient tower is shattered by the Lord of the Flame and the Lightning. And they that walk upon their hands shall build the holy place. Blessed are they who have turned the Eye of Hoor unto the zenith, for they shall be filled with the vigour of the goat.
All that was ordered and stable is shaken. The Aeon of Wonders is come. Like locusts shall they gather themselves together, the servants of the Star and of the Snake, and they shall eat up everything that is upon the earth. For why? Because the Lord of Righteousness delighteth in them. The prophets shall prophesy monstrous things, and the wizards shall perform monstrous things. The sorceress shall be desired of all men, and the enchanter shall rule the earth.
Blessing unto the name of the Beast, for he hath let loose a mighty flood of fire from his manhood, and from his womanhood hath he let loose a mighty flood of water. Every thought of his mind is as a tempest that uprooteth the great trees of the earth, and shaketh the mountains thereof. And the throne of his spirit is a mighty throne of madness and desolation, so that they that look upon it shall cry: Behold the abomination!
Of a single ruby shall that throne be built, and it shall be set upon a high mountain, and men shall see it afar off. Then will I gather together my chariots and my horsemen and my ships of war. By sea and land shall my armies and my navies encompass it, and I will encamp round about it, and besiege it, and by the flame thereof shall I be utterly devoured. Many lying spirits have I sent into the world that my Aeon might be established, and they shall be all overthrown.
Great is the Beast that cometh forth like a lion, the servant of the Star and of the Snake. He is the Eternal one; He is the Almighty one. Blessed are they upon whom he shall look with favour, for nothing shall stand before his face. Accursed are they upon whom he shall look with derision, for nothing shall stand before his face.
And every mystery that hath not been revealed from the foundation of the world he shall reveal unto his chosen. And they shall have power over every spirit of the Ether; and of the earth and under the earth; on dry land and in the water; of whirling air and of rushing fire. And they shall have power over all the inhabitants of the earth, and every scourge of God shall be subdued beneath their feet. The angels shall come unto them and walk with them, and the great gods of heaven shall be their guests.
But I must sit apart, with dust upon my head, discrowned and desolate. I must lurk in forbidden corners of the earth. I must plot secretly in the by-ways of great cities, in the fog, and in marshes of the rivers of pestilence. And all my cunning shall not serve me. And all my undertakings shall be brought to naught. And all the ministers of the Beast shall catch me and tear out my tongue with pincers of red-hot iron, and they shall brand my forehead with the word of derision, and they shall shave my head, and pluck out my beard, and make a show of me.
And the spirit of prophecy shall come upon me despite me ever and anon, as even now upon my heart and upon my throat; and upon my tongue seared with strong acid are the words: Vim patior. For so must I give glory to him that hath supplanted me, that hath cast me down into the dust. I have hated him, and with hate my bones are rotten. I would have spat upon him, and my spittle hath befouled my beard. I have taken up the sword against him, and I am fallen upon it, and mine entrails are about my feet.
Who shall strive with his might? Hath he not the sword and the spear of the Warrior Lord of the Sun? Who shall contend with him? Who shall lift himself up against him? For the latchet of his sandal is more than the helmet of the Most High. Who shall reach up to him in supplication, save those that he shall set upon his shoulders? Would God that my tongue were torn out by the roots, and my throat cut across, and my heart torn out and given to the vultures, before I say this that I must say: Blessing and Worship to the Prophet of the Lovely Star!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Readings for March 24th
Reading 1: Liber Tzaddi (XC) by Saint Aleister Crowley
0. In the name of the Lord of Initiation, Amen.
1. I fly and I alight as an hawk: of mother-of-emerald are my mighty-sweeping wings.
2. I swoop down upon the black earth; and it gladdens into green at my coming.
3. Children of Earth! rejoice! rejoice exceedingly; for your salvation is at hand.
4. The end of sorrow is come; I will ravish you away into mine unutterable joy.
5. I will kiss you, and bring you to the bridal: I will spread a feast before you in the house of happiness.
6. I am not come to rebuke you, or to enslave you.
7. I bid you not turn from your voluptuous ways, from your idleness, from your follies.
8. But I bring you joy to your pleasure, peace to your languor, wisdom to your folly.
9. All that ye do is right, if so be that ye enjoy it.
10. I am come against sorrow, against weariness, against them that seek to enslave you.
11. I pour you lustral wine, that giveth you delight both at the sunset and the dawn.
12. Come with me, and I will give you all that is desirable upon the earth.
13. Because I give you that of which Earth and its joys are but as shadows.
14. They flee away, but my joy abideth even unto the end.
15. I have hidden myself beneath a mask: I am a black and terrible God.
16. With courage conquering fear shall ye approach me: ye shall lay down your heads upon mine altar, expecting the sweep of the sword.
17. But the first kiss of love shall be radiant on your lips; and all my darkness and terror shall turn to light and joy.
18. Only those who fear shall fail. Those who have bent their backs to the yoke of slavery until they can no longer stand upright; them will I despise.
19. But you who have defied the law; you who have conquered by subtlety or force; you will I take unto me, even I will take you unto me.
20. I ask you to sacrifice nothing at mine altar; I am the God who giveth all.
21. Light, Life, Love; Force, Fantasy, Fire; these do I bring you: mine hands are full of these.
22. There is joy in the setting-out; there is joy in the journey; there is joy in the goal.
23. Only if ye are sorrowful, or weary, or angry, or discomforted; then ye may know that ye have lost the golden thread, the thread wherewith I guide you to the heart of the groves of Eleusis.
24. My disciples are proud and beautiful; they are strong and swift; they rule their way like mighty conquerors.
25. The weak, the timid, the imperfect, the cowardly, the poor, the tearful -- these are mine enemies, and I am come to destroy them.
26. This also is compassion: an end to the sickness of earth. A rooting out of the weeds: a watering of the flowers.
27. O my children, ye are more beautiful than the flowers: ye must not fade in your season.
28. I love you; I would sprinkle you with the divine dew of immortality.
29. This immortality is no vain hope beyond the grave: I offer you the certain consciousness of bliss.
30. I offer it at once, on earth; before an hour hath struck upon the bell, ye shall be with Me in the Abodes that are beyond Decay.
31. Also I give you power earthly and joy earthly; wealth, and health, and length of days. Adoration and love shall cling to your feet, and twine around your heart.
32. Only your mouths shall drink of a delicious wine -- the wine of Iacchus; they shall reach ever to the heavenly kiss of the Beautiful God.
33. I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.
34. In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself.
35. Ye can have no other Companion.
36. Many have arisen, being wise. They have said "Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It."
37. Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, "Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime."
38. I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
39. Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
40. My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.
41. But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher.
42. Thus shall equilibrium become perfect. I will aid my disciples; as fast as they acquire this balanced power and joy so faster will I push them.
43. They shall in their turn speak from this Invisible Throne; their words shall illumine the worlds.
44. They shall be masters of majesty and might; they shall be beautiful and joyous; they shall be clothed with victory and splendour; they shall stand upon the firm foundation; the kingdom shall be theirs; yea, the kingdom shall be theirs.
In the name of the Lord of Initiation. Amen.
Reading 2: From the Tao Te Ching of Saint Lao Tzu
The way of nature is not contrived,
yet nothing which is required
is left undone.
Observing nature, the wise leader knows this,
and replaces desire with dispassion,
thus saving that energy, otherwise spent,
which has not been wasted away.
The wise leader knows
his actions must be
without the use of forced energy.
He knows that more
is still required,
for he also knows
that he must act
without deliberate intent,
of having no intention.
To act without contrived intent
is to act without contriving,
and is the way of nature,
and so is the way of the Tao. (Cap. 37, "The Exercise of Leadership")
From the principle which is called the Tao,
the sky, the earth, and creativity are one,
the sky is clear, the earth is firm,
and the spirit of the inner world is full.
When the ruler of the land is whole,
the nation too is strong, alive and well,
and the people have sufficient
to meet their earthly needs.
When the daytime sky is dark
and overcast like night,
the nation and its people
will surely suffer much.
The firmness of the dew filled earth
gives it its life;
the energy of the inner world
prevents its becoming drained of strength;
its fullness prevents it running dry.
The growth of all things
prevents their dying.
The work of the leader should ensure
the prosperity of the populace.
So it is said,
"humility is the root
of great nobility;
the low forms a foundation
for the great;
and princes consider themselves
to be of little worth". (Cap 39, "Sufficiency and Quietness")
0. In the name of the Lord of Initiation, Amen.
1. I fly and I alight as an hawk: of mother-of-emerald are my mighty-sweeping wings.
2. I swoop down upon the black earth; and it gladdens into green at my coming.
3. Children of Earth! rejoice! rejoice exceedingly; for your salvation is at hand.
4. The end of sorrow is come; I will ravish you away into mine unutterable joy.
5. I will kiss you, and bring you to the bridal: I will spread a feast before you in the house of happiness.
6. I am not come to rebuke you, or to enslave you.
7. I bid you not turn from your voluptuous ways, from your idleness, from your follies.
8. But I bring you joy to your pleasure, peace to your languor, wisdom to your folly.
9. All that ye do is right, if so be that ye enjoy it.
10. I am come against sorrow, against weariness, against them that seek to enslave you.
11. I pour you lustral wine, that giveth you delight both at the sunset and the dawn.
12. Come with me, and I will give you all that is desirable upon the earth.
13. Because I give you that of which Earth and its joys are but as shadows.
14. They flee away, but my joy abideth even unto the end.
15. I have hidden myself beneath a mask: I am a black and terrible God.
16. With courage conquering fear shall ye approach me: ye shall lay down your heads upon mine altar, expecting the sweep of the sword.
17. But the first kiss of love shall be radiant on your lips; and all my darkness and terror shall turn to light and joy.
18. Only those who fear shall fail. Those who have bent their backs to the yoke of slavery until they can no longer stand upright; them will I despise.
19. But you who have defied the law; you who have conquered by subtlety or force; you will I take unto me, even I will take you unto me.
20. I ask you to sacrifice nothing at mine altar; I am the God who giveth all.
21. Light, Life, Love; Force, Fantasy, Fire; these do I bring you: mine hands are full of these.
22. There is joy in the setting-out; there is joy in the journey; there is joy in the goal.
23. Only if ye are sorrowful, or weary, or angry, or discomforted; then ye may know that ye have lost the golden thread, the thread wherewith I guide you to the heart of the groves of Eleusis.
24. My disciples are proud and beautiful; they are strong and swift; they rule their way like mighty conquerors.
25. The weak, the timid, the imperfect, the cowardly, the poor, the tearful -- these are mine enemies, and I am come to destroy them.
26. This also is compassion: an end to the sickness of earth. A rooting out of the weeds: a watering of the flowers.
27. O my children, ye are more beautiful than the flowers: ye must not fade in your season.
28. I love you; I would sprinkle you with the divine dew of immortality.
29. This immortality is no vain hope beyond the grave: I offer you the certain consciousness of bliss.
30. I offer it at once, on earth; before an hour hath struck upon the bell, ye shall be with Me in the Abodes that are beyond Decay.
31. Also I give you power earthly and joy earthly; wealth, and health, and length of days. Adoration and love shall cling to your feet, and twine around your heart.
32. Only your mouths shall drink of a delicious wine -- the wine of Iacchus; they shall reach ever to the heavenly kiss of the Beautiful God.
33. I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.
34. In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself.
35. Ye can have no other Companion.
36. Many have arisen, being wise. They have said "Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It."
37. Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, "Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime."
38. I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
39. Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
40. My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.
41. But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher.
42. Thus shall equilibrium become perfect. I will aid my disciples; as fast as they acquire this balanced power and joy so faster will I push them.
43. They shall in their turn speak from this Invisible Throne; their words shall illumine the worlds.
44. They shall be masters of majesty and might; they shall be beautiful and joyous; they shall be clothed with victory and splendour; they shall stand upon the firm foundation; the kingdom shall be theirs; yea, the kingdom shall be theirs.
In the name of the Lord of Initiation. Amen.
Reading 2: From the Tao Te Ching of Saint Lao Tzu
The way of nature is not contrived,
yet nothing which is required
is left undone.
Observing nature, the wise leader knows this,
and replaces desire with dispassion,
thus saving that energy, otherwise spent,
which has not been wasted away.
The wise leader knows
his actions must be
without the use of forced energy.
He knows that more
is still required,
for he also knows
that he must act
without deliberate intent,
of having no intention.
To act without contrived intent
is to act without contriving,
and is the way of nature,
and so is the way of the Tao. (Cap. 37, "The Exercise of Leadership")
From the principle which is called the Tao,
the sky, the earth, and creativity are one,
the sky is clear, the earth is firm,
and the spirit of the inner world is full.
When the ruler of the land is whole,
the nation too is strong, alive and well,
and the people have sufficient
to meet their earthly needs.
When the daytime sky is dark
and overcast like night,
the nation and its people
will surely suffer much.
The firmness of the dew filled earth
gives it its life;
the energy of the inner world
prevents its becoming drained of strength;
its fullness prevents it running dry.
The growth of all things
prevents their dying.
The work of the leader should ensure
the prosperity of the populace.
So it is said,
"humility is the root
of great nobility;
the low forms a foundation
for the great;
and princes consider themselves
to be of little worth". (Cap 39, "Sufficiency and Quietness")
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Readings for March 23rd
Reading 1: Liber Lapidis Lazuli (VII), Chapter VI, by Saint Aleister Crowley
1. Thou wast a priestess, O my God, among the Druids; and we knew the powers of the oak.
2. We made us a temple of stones in the shape of the Universe, even as thou didst wear openly and I concealed.
3. There we performed many wonderful things by midnight.
4. By the waning moon did we work.
5. Over the plain came the atrocious cry of wolves.
6. We answered; we hunted with the pack.
7. We came even unto the new Chapel and Thou didst bear away the Holy Graal beneath Thy Druid vestments.
8. Secretly and by stealth did we drink of the informing sacrament.
9. Then a terrible disease seized upon the folk of the grey land; and we rejoiced.
10. O my God, disguise Thy glory!
11. Come as a thief, and let us steal away the Sacraments!
12. In our groves, in our cloistral cells, in our honeycomb of happiness, let us drink, let us drink!
13. It is the wine that tinges everything with the true tincture of infallible gold.
14. There are deep secrets in these songs. It is not enough to hear the bird; to enjoy song he must be the bird.
15. I am the bird, and Thou art my song, O my glorious galloping God!
16. Thou reinest in the stars; thou drivest the constellations seven abreast through the circus of Nothingness.
17. Thou Gladiator God!
18. I play upon mine harp; Thou fightest the beasts and the flames.
19. Thou takest Thy joy in the music, and I in the fighting.
20. Thou and I are beloved of the Emperor.
21. See! he has summoned us to the Imperial dais.
The night falls; it is a great orgy of worship and bliss.
22. The night falls like a spangled cloak from the shoulders of a prince upon a slave.
23. He rises a free man!
24. Cast thou, O prophet, the cloak upon these slaves!
25. A great night, and scarce fires therein; but freedom for the slave that its glory shall encompass.
26. So also I went down into the great sad city.
27. There dead Messalina bartered her crown for poison from the dead Locusta; there stood Caligula, and smote the seas of forgetfulness.
28. Who wast Thou, O Caesar, that Thou knewest God in an horse?
29. For lo! we beheld the White Horse of the Saxon engraven upon the earth; and we beheld the Horses of the Sea that flame about the old grey land, and the foam from their nostrils enlightens us!
30. Ah! but I love thee, God!
31. Thou art like a moon upon the ice-world.
32. Thou art like the dawn of the utmost snows upon the burnt-up flats of the tiger's land.
33. By silence and by speech do I worship Thee.
34. But all is in vain.
35. Only Thy silence and Thy speech that worship me avail.
36. Wail, O ye folk of the grey land, for we have drunk your wine, and left ye but the bitter dregs.
37. Yet from these we will distil ye a liquor beyond the nectar of the Gods.
38. There is value in our tincture for a world of Spice and gold.
39. For our red powder of projection is beyond all possibilities.
40. There are few men; there are enough.
41. We shall be full of cup-bearers, and the wine is not stinted.
42. O dear my God! what a feast Thou hast provided.
43. Behold the lights and the flowers and the maidens!
44. Taste of the wines and the cakes and the splendid meats!
45. Breathe in the perfumes and the clouds of little gods like wood-nymphs that inhabit the nostrils!
46. Feel with your whole body the glorious smoothness of the marble coolth and the generous warmth of the sun and the slaves!
47. Let the Invisible inform all the devouring Light of its disruptive vigour!
48. Yea! all the world is split apart, as an old grey tree by the lightning!
49. Come, O ye gods, and let us feast.
50. Thou, O my darling, O my ceaseless Sparrow-God, my delight, my desire, my deceiver, come Thou and chirp at my right hand!
51. This was the tale of the memory of Al A'in the priest; yea, of Al A'in the priest.
Reading 2: Psalm 152 - Death-Rebirth by Strephon Kaplan
For every season there is a choice.
A time to die and a time to live,
A time for decrease and a time for increase.
For every beginning there is an ending,
A time for regression and a time for growth,
A time for saying goodbye and a time for greeting.
For anything new the old must go,
A grave must be dug and new seed planted,
A sacrifice made as well as fulfillment created.
The days of our years are numbered by eternity.
What was will never again be.
The songs that have been sung are only an echo.
We are as grains of sand in the infinitude of oceans.
Our consciousness illumines life for only an instant.
We are as nothing in a transcendent now.
And what we have we have not.
What we are we will not be.
What we can become is already
A burden on our shoulders.
Where is my life going? asks the seeker.
To what end are all my choices?
And for what purpose have I been born or unborn?
Yet still will I say my refuge is in what is.
My salvation is in what I do with what life brings me.
My longing is within the sacred.
When I am no more the rains will still fall,
The seasons will swirl into eternity,
And the voice of my lips will be somebody's song.
For I am not alone in my common humanity.
I am not alone in the journey towards wholeness.
I am at peace where the center guides me.
And I shall live in all my dying.
1. Thou wast a priestess, O my God, among the Druids; and we knew the powers of the oak.
2. We made us a temple of stones in the shape of the Universe, even as thou didst wear openly and I concealed.
3. There we performed many wonderful things by midnight.
4. By the waning moon did we work.
5. Over the plain came the atrocious cry of wolves.
6. We answered; we hunted with the pack.
7. We came even unto the new Chapel and Thou didst bear away the Holy Graal beneath Thy Druid vestments.
8. Secretly and by stealth did we drink of the informing sacrament.
9. Then a terrible disease seized upon the folk of the grey land; and we rejoiced.
10. O my God, disguise Thy glory!
11. Come as a thief, and let us steal away the Sacraments!
12. In our groves, in our cloistral cells, in our honeycomb of happiness, let us drink, let us drink!
13. It is the wine that tinges everything with the true tincture of infallible gold.
14. There are deep secrets in these songs. It is not enough to hear the bird; to enjoy song he must be the bird.
15. I am the bird, and Thou art my song, O my glorious galloping God!
16. Thou reinest in the stars; thou drivest the constellations seven abreast through the circus of Nothingness.
17. Thou Gladiator God!
18. I play upon mine harp; Thou fightest the beasts and the flames.
19. Thou takest Thy joy in the music, and I in the fighting.
20. Thou and I are beloved of the Emperor.
21. See! he has summoned us to the Imperial dais.
The night falls; it is a great orgy of worship and bliss.
22. The night falls like a spangled cloak from the shoulders of a prince upon a slave.
23. He rises a free man!
24. Cast thou, O prophet, the cloak upon these slaves!
25. A great night, and scarce fires therein; but freedom for the slave that its glory shall encompass.
26. So also I went down into the great sad city.
27. There dead Messalina bartered her crown for poison from the dead Locusta; there stood Caligula, and smote the seas of forgetfulness.
28. Who wast Thou, O Caesar, that Thou knewest God in an horse?
29. For lo! we beheld the White Horse of the Saxon engraven upon the earth; and we beheld the Horses of the Sea that flame about the old grey land, and the foam from their nostrils enlightens us!
30. Ah! but I love thee, God!
31. Thou art like a moon upon the ice-world.
32. Thou art like the dawn of the utmost snows upon the burnt-up flats of the tiger's land.
33. By silence and by speech do I worship Thee.
34. But all is in vain.
35. Only Thy silence and Thy speech that worship me avail.
36. Wail, O ye folk of the grey land, for we have drunk your wine, and left ye but the bitter dregs.
37. Yet from these we will distil ye a liquor beyond the nectar of the Gods.
38. There is value in our tincture for a world of Spice and gold.
39. For our red powder of projection is beyond all possibilities.
40. There are few men; there are enough.
41. We shall be full of cup-bearers, and the wine is not stinted.
42. O dear my God! what a feast Thou hast provided.
43. Behold the lights and the flowers and the maidens!
44. Taste of the wines and the cakes and the splendid meats!
45. Breathe in the perfumes and the clouds of little gods like wood-nymphs that inhabit the nostrils!
46. Feel with your whole body the glorious smoothness of the marble coolth and the generous warmth of the sun and the slaves!
47. Let the Invisible inform all the devouring Light of its disruptive vigour!
48. Yea! all the world is split apart, as an old grey tree by the lightning!
49. Come, O ye gods, and let us feast.
50. Thou, O my darling, O my ceaseless Sparrow-God, my delight, my desire, my deceiver, come Thou and chirp at my right hand!
51. This was the tale of the memory of Al A'in the priest; yea, of Al A'in the priest.
Reading 2: Psalm 152 - Death-Rebirth by Strephon Kaplan
For every season there is a choice.
A time to die and a time to live,
A time for decrease and a time for increase.
For every beginning there is an ending,
A time for regression and a time for growth,
A time for saying goodbye and a time for greeting.
For anything new the old must go,
A grave must be dug and new seed planted,
A sacrifice made as well as fulfillment created.
The days of our years are numbered by eternity.
What was will never again be.
The songs that have been sung are only an echo.
We are as grains of sand in the infinitude of oceans.
Our consciousness illumines life for only an instant.
We are as nothing in a transcendent now.
And what we have we have not.
What we are we will not be.
What we can become is already
A burden on our shoulders.
Where is my life going? asks the seeker.
To what end are all my choices?
And for what purpose have I been born or unborn?
Yet still will I say my refuge is in what is.
My salvation is in what I do with what life brings me.
My longing is within the sacred.
When I am no more the rains will still fall,
The seasons will swirl into eternity,
And the voice of my lips will be somebody's song.
For I am not alone in my common humanity.
I am not alone in the journey towards wholeness.
I am at peace where the center guides me.
And I shall live in all my dying.
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