My favorite surrealist painter H.R. Giger turns 70 years old today!  His Alien stuff was OK, but I always preferred his magickal dark fantasy and abstract post-apocalyptic erotica.

Here is a painting of his early muse Li Tobler, who tragically blew her brains out in 1975 (after dating Giger—who woulda thunk it?)

giger_li

21008

 

At Giger’s museum you can buy snowboards and skateboards with his artwork:

new_museum_entrance2 snow_spell2_m snow_temple_mskate_animamia_m skate_samurai_m

MUSEUM HR GIGER
Château St. Germain
1663 Gruyères
Tel.: +41 26 9212200
Fax: +41 26 9212211
E-Mail: info@hrgigermuseum.com

http://www.hrgiger.com/boards.htm 

 

Here is Giger’s Baphomet after the original Elphias Levi engraving.

hr_giger_thespell_IVWitchBaphomet

 

The Blondie video below is quite the oddity, having been shot in Giger’s studio and staring Debbie Harry herself.  The music is so completely opposite of what one thinks of when looking at Giger that it makes the video that much more surreal.  (She reminds me of early Kate Bush in this.)

"Did Giger actually paint your face?"
"Yes," Debbie Harry says. "For some things he painted on photographs, but for the video he used different stencils and an airbrush and he painted my face. I wore a painted body suit. So, yes, I was airbrushed by Giger!"

 

debbie3 debbie6

Giger in 2008:

397px-H._R._Giger 

We love you Hansruedi!  We wish you 70 more!

 

xoxo,

IZabael

 

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This book (From the book: Miracle of the New Avatar Power by Geoff Cobb-Gray (Parket Publishing; 1975), though written like a Qabalistic version of How to Win Friends and Influence People has a reputation in the occult community as being highly effective.  This isn’t much of  a surprise when you realize Cobb-Gray’s “New Avatar Power” is streamlined Hermeticism of the sort found in Golden Dawn and its many derivatives.  So while this book isn’t the “end-all-be-all” of magickal grimoires, it is effective, and I’d like to present how to use it here in this blog.

What I like best is the simplicity of the rituals.  If one desires to make them more complex, you can add whatever magickal trappings you like (colors, banishing rituals, tools, incense, symbols, Entheogens), but NAP works all by itself and is probably the easiest introduction I could ever give into Qabalistic (“High Magick”).   So let’s jump right in.

Step 1:

Write down the date/time and the ritual you are going to perform in your journal.  (If you don’t have a journal, start one just for magick.  This step is important. Don’t skip on keeping track of ALL your rituals!)

Step 2:

THE NEW AVATAR POWER RITUAL

 

Quietly read the following words aloud, listening to what you are saying. Read slowly and carefully, pausing between sentences, and stopping for about three seconds wherever you find three periods (…) in the text. It should take you a full four minutes to read the words aloud from beginning to end. You may record this on your computer and play it back for yourself instead of reading it each time. The point is to completely relax and feel good for a few minutes.

"I am beginning the New Avatar Power Ritual. I call on the Inner Planes to witness. I state my purpose thus: ANKAR YOD HAY VAW HAY.

I begin to wind down, to let go and be rid of all the tensions of my body. To let my muscles relax, unwind and let go.

The tensions are beginning to drain from my body. Soon, a gradual heaviness will start to weigh down my thighs, my arms, my hands, my feet, my legs, my body.

My muscles unwind and let go. All my muscles are relaxing, unwinding, and relaxing.

Very soon I shall feel the unwinding, the letting go. Unwinding and letting go. Unwinding, letting go. Unwinding. Letting Go.

Deeper and deeper…letting go…unwinding and letting go.

The tensions drain from my muscles and they will soon become loose, letting go, relaxing and unwinding.

Breathing easily and deeply. Easily and deeply.

Unwinding and letting go…drifting into the peace and serenity of complete relaxation. And as my body unwinds and relaxes so I enter the peace and quiet, where only these words have meaning, and nothing else disturbs me.

Letting go..unwinding…letting go…unwinding…relax…relax…relax…let go…let go…let go…relax…relax…relax…let go…let go…let go. I now close my eyes gently…

Allow 5 minutes for the New Avatar Power to flood to the surface on its own as you relax.

Stand up, and say:

I call on Thee, Mighty Arzel, who stands in the East, to assist me this and all my ventures. I know now that New Avatar Power is flooding to the surface."


Step 3:

After reading the New Avatar Power Ritual then read ONE of the following depending on your goal:

 

Invocation for Money

"In the Power of the Names EH-HEH-YEH, YEH-HO-VO-EL-OH-HEEM, & YEH-HO-

VO-AH-VAY-DAH-AHS I place this Invocation with Thee, NEE-TEE-KAH,

Genius of Wealth. Know that I require and command Thee to bring me

gold. Thou has dominion over wealth and Thou shalt begin this very

instant to shape the future such that money shall come to me, enough

and to spare, by the powers of these Words

and Invocation. Be Thou ruled by me the Names SHAH-DYE-ELL-KYE &

AH-DOE-NYE-HA-AH-RETZ. So mote it be."

 

Invocation to Bring Success

"In all my undertakings henceforward I conjure and command Thee,

mighty ELL-YOU-BAIT-ELL, to protect me, bear me up and carry me

forward to the pinnacle of success. Thou shalt give me clarity of

mind to confound my opposers; Thou shalt bend the Laws of the Cosmos

to my and Thy will, bringing each and every one of my desires to

pass. I shall be enwrapped in Thy faultless Powers, and tread ever

higher to that glittering peak which I covet. Hear this, and obey me:

AH-NAH-FAX-EE-TONE which Aaron heard and spoke. Thou shalt guide me

to success. So mote it be."

 

Invocation to Win A Legal Action

"Mighty EYE-EEL-AH-HE-YAH who holds sway over the decisions of men,

Thou shald bring Thy power to bear on my behalf in the legal action

which is pending. I command that I shall be successful in this, my

hour of need. Thou hast the ability to aid me in achieving this

desire. Hear the Word and be obedient to It and me: NAB-RAT-AGLA-SURE-

AN-AT. So mote it be."

 

Invocation For Protection from Evil

"I invoke Thee, GAH-DEE-ELL, in Thy power and wisdom to place around

me a shield against which evil shall be powerless. Those who would

harm me shall be powerless, and their evil shall return to them a

thousandfold. Be Thou ready and able to place this protection, as I

seal it with Thee with the Words: EE-YOTE-EEYAH-VAW-ARE-ZALL. I am

within Thy protection now and my enemies cannot harm me. So mote it

be."

 

Invocation To Excite Love

"Hear me, AH-NAY-ELL & JAHZ-AIR, Thou spirits of Venus and love. I

desire to excite love and passion in the heart of a suitable

partner. Stretch forth Thine hands and pluck the heart strings such

that my desire is returned a hundredfold. I conjure this command

thus: HOR-TA-ELL-RACK-AH-MAY. So mote it be."

 

Invocation To Rekindle A Mate’s Interest

"I invoke Thee, PA-GEE-ELL, to light a flame in the heart of my mate -

a flame that will burn ever higher, so that s/he turns to me in

fervor and in love, blind to my faults, and desiring only to please

me in whatever way s/he can. I command that our companionship shall

become perfect, each fulfilling every need and deisre for the other.

I also demand that any shortcomings, be they physical or mental, be

swept aside such athat our partnership shall be perfect. Hear this

Word of Power, Thou Pagiel and obey me: VEDGE-EED-OR-AH-MEET-EYE. So

mote it be."

 

Invocation to Give Secret Knowledge

"Titanic KAH-DREE-ELL, I invoke Thee. I require Thee to transform me

to one who can know things that are hidden from others. I desire to

know what will befall the future. I wish to know the thoughts of

others. I demand insight into the comings and goings of my fellow

creatures. All this shalt Thou do for me, placing the knowledge

within my mind during both waking and sleeping. I seal this command

thus: EE-BAN-HER-EE-ON-AH-DOH-NYE. So mote it be."

 

Invocation To Give Power Over Others

"Mightiest DYE-NAH-MISS! There are those over whom I would have

ultimate power so tha they obey my every word and thought. Bring Thy

mystic energy to bear on me, such that I radiate your power. Impress

those that I command to bend to my will at all times. I command Thee

with the Words: AH-GAH-LAH-OH-TEEMEE-TYE. So mote it be."

 

Invocation to Bring Health

"I call Thee ZO-ROE-ELL & SAH-BREE-ELL who hath dominion over

physical and mental health. At my command, banish from (me or name of

party) all diseases, discomfort, sickness and malfunction of body and

mind. Send down Thy beneficial healing rays, for Thou art able to

bring this to pass. During each passing hour Your powers will bring

youthfulness and freedom from pain. I seal this command with the

healing words EEM-AHN-YOU-ELL which Shadrach, Meshach and Abednago

sang in the fiery furnace and were delivered. Thus shall Your powers

dispel this sickness and disease. So mote it be."

 

General Purpose Invocation

"In the Powers vested in Thee, EE-AH-OAT, PATE-AH-YAH, and OH-PEA-

ELL, I command Thine aid. Bring Thy influences to bear on my affairs.

My desire is __ . Thou has heard, and in the Name of VEE-NOKE-OH-TEE-

SEE-AWN, Thou shalt fulfill my will in all things which seem good

unto me. So mote it be."

 

Step 4:

Write down any final thoughts/feelings in your journal.  You are done for the day.

 

Step 5:

Repeat these steps ONCE a day, EVERYDAY, at the same time each day.  Do this until your result manifests or you realize you don’t want the result anymore.  You will definitely get some sort of result.  Most people jiggle lose results close to what they want within hours or days.  Sometimes you get something similar but isn’t quite what you wanted.  You can decide if the manifestation was close enough, or if you need to keep repeating the ritual.  If this is a difficult goal, you may have to repeat the ritual dozens of times of the course of weeks.

 

If you have any questions please come to this thread at The Fool Speaks.  I will be there to answer questions regarding this blog and how to get started into New Avatar Power and magick.

Also note that these instructions are deceptively simple.  Don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it!  If you’ve tried it with sincerity then come to my forums and tell me how “this crap didn’t work” but NOT until you’ve tried!

xoxo,

Izabael

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Halloween Special: Gothic Girl Teaches Goetia

Her presentation is accurate in most respects though she describes herself as an independent Satanist, and the pronunciations of some of her words is most peculiar to say the least, such as “grim-or-ree” for grimoire (grim-wahr), but then again maybe she does it intentionally to sound like Gremory the daemon.

There are three parts to this video and she does a good job of touching on all major points involved in Goetia invocation and includes modern views on daemonology including Chaos Magick “servitors.”

October fun continues all month!! Conjure up those nasties!!

xoxo

Izabael

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What was Aleister Crowley without his women?

This isn’t a heavily researched blog about Crowley’s women, but more of an epiphany.  None of my three favorite creations of Crowley would exist without the women in his life:

There would be no Book of Lies without Leila Waddell, his sexy violinist, whom he was pining over while he waxed philosophical in this book of poetry and Qabalistic puzzles.

   Leila_Waddell  laylah

 

There would be no Liber AL:  Book of the Law, centerpiece of Crowley’s entire system of magick, without his wife, Rose Edith Kelly, who was there to “receive” it.

 Kelly_WEB  photoscrowleyfamily

 

And without his amazing artist Frida Harris, there would be no Book of Thoth tarot deck!

 Lady_Harris_And_Aleister_Crowley

 

Then there is The Vision and the Voice…oh wait…you say his seer was a man for that one?   Ok, well never mind that then :)

Some of Aleister Crowley’s other Scarlet Women:

    Aleister_Crowley     
  • Mary d’Este Sturges . —”Put me in touch with Abuldiz; hence helped with Book 4.”
  • Jeanne Robert Foster . —His Scarlet Women when he took the grade of Magus.
  • Roddie Minor —”Brought me in touch with Amalantrah.
  • Marie Rohling . —”Helped to inspire Liber CXI.
  • Leah Hirsig —”Assisted me in actual initiation; still at my side, An XVII, Sol in Sagittarius.

That’s all I really had to say.  The Beast isn’t much of a Beast without a Scarlet Woman astride him.

xoxo,

Izabael

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This blog was inspired not just by my love of Greek art–but also–I have to come clean here–my obsession with the Southern Vampire Mysteries (aka. the Sookie Stackhouse books) by Charlaine Harris and the HBO TV-show True Blood.  In recent episodes (taken from the book the Living Dead in Dallas), there has been a maenad (“maened” for the spelling-challenged) character who throws crazy “nature” orgies with the local townsfolk. 

Maenads were the drunken female followers of Dionysus, the god of wine and divine madness.  The term “bacchanal,” or “bacchanalia,” essentially means “divine orgy” and comes from the name Bacchus, the Roman version of Dionysus.  So technically the Greek versions of these orgies weren’t called bacchanals, but are instead are referred to as the “Dionysian Mysteries”. 

The Dionysian Mysteries were holy rituals which used various intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques, such as dancing, music, and sex to remove inhibitions and break down artificial social constraints, thus liberating the followers of Dionysus, allowing them to return to a more primitive, natural, and blissful state of consciousness.

So let’s visit some bacchanals of yesteryear, shall we?  Notice how often Pan, the Goat-God (represented by The Devil card in the tarot), shows up.  He loved to hang out with Dionysus and Bacchus (when know by his Roman name “Faunus”).  He was quite the life of the party!

bacchana

RICCI, Sebastiano
c. 1716
Oil on canvas, 84 x 100 cm
Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice

 

 

15436-bacchanal-of-putti-nicolas-poussin

Bacchanal of Putti by NICOLAS POUSSIN
Date :1626
Technique :Oil on canvas, 74 x 84 cm
Location :Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome

 

 

poussin_bacchanal_before_pan 

Bacchanal Before a Statue of Pan by NICOLAS POUSSIN (1594-1665)

 

pan

Pan copulating with a Goat, from Herculaneum, 1st century B.C.

 

AriadneDionysusPan~c~ToledoMuseumOfArt

(from an Ancient Greek krater)

 

edouard-henri_avril_25-copia2 
An illustration by Édouard-Henri Avril (21 May 1843 – 1928)

 

 bacchanalia-leveque

Bacchanal by Auguste Léveque Bacchanalien, 1864- 1921

 

bacchanal_chagall_1961

Marc Chagall’s (1887-1985) Bacchanal

 

windchime2

Erotic Windchime from Pompei (the city mostly destroyed of the volcano Mount Vesuvius  in AD 79).  These were common household items!  Just had to throw this in as it illustrates how Greeks and Romans had no concept of “obscenity” with reference to erotic art or images of sexual anatomy.

 

orgy2

Red-figure cup by the Pedeius Painter.
Late 6th century B.C., Greece.

 

stamnos 

Detail of a Vase from Stamnos, First century B.C., Greece

 

  aphrodite-cupid-pan

Aphrodite, Eros, and Pan from Delos, c. 100 BC
Athens National Archaeological Museum

 

Fritz-Zuber-Buhler-xx-La-Reine-Bacchanal-xx-Private-Collection

La-Reine-Bacchanal by Fritz Zuber-Buhler (Swiss, 1822-1896)  Originally the Dionysian Mysteries were only for women. 

 

 31944-bacchanal-pablo-picasso

And finally, (perhaps my favorite) a bacchanal by Picasso (1881-1973)

The interesting thing is that orgies were commonly depicted in ancient Greek and Roman art.  There are none in medieval art, when Pan become associated with Satan the Devil, but then in the Renaissance, Pan and bacchanals make a big comeback–which continues right up until modern times.

xoxo,
Izabael

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“How can you believe in magick/God/spirituality?  Are you so naive?”

This is sort of question I do get now and then, and I’d like to address it directly.

Rational minded folks, often intelligent and scientific-minded persons, seem fond of being “agnostic” or “atheist” these days.  I can’t blame them.  They probably polarize off the religious right who is always going on and on about how Creationism should be taught in school.  That pisses them off and rightly so.  So let’s make this clear.  I believe in the foundations of science. I also believe in evolution.  I also believe in “God” and I also believe in “magick.”

For me, magick is attempting to harness and master the power of the subconscious mind.  “God” is a principle of universal oneness–that all energy in the universe is ultimately one.

Though I’m a fan of the physical sciences, modern psychology is a joke to me.  They seem about 1000 years behind what was being taught in ancient Greece!  I find Hermeticism, which found its roots in Plato, and picked up steam over the years with insights from Persia, China, and India, to be a lot more useful in understanding who I am and how to make my life a better and more enjoyable place to live.  Hermeticism has found modern outlets with the Golden Dawn, and later Thelema. 

But don’t these types of philosophies talk about demons, angels, magick, spells, gods and the sort?  How can that stuff be scientific?

It’s not scientific the same way Geology is.  We are dealing with the mind, emotions, and our connection to things that cannot be tested or measured with scientific instruments.  Rituals, symbols, and all the trappings of magick are effective ways of staging a drama for the subconscious mind so that it can better lead us to our desires. 

Our subconscious mind contains many strange and wonderful things–some things which function as angels, or demons, for example.  They can be tapped into and utilized.  I do not say they have an external reality necessarily–only that from the human psyche’s point of view they have validity and can lead to change in a person’s behavior–and therefore lead to results on the material plane. 

Modern science, for all its wonderful achievements, is not particularly suited to understanding and utilizing the subconscious mind.  Science balks at ideas of universal oneness (unless its purely theoretical as in quantum mechanics), scorns concepts such as “spirit” and “soul,” and doesn’t seem particularly interested in making people happy or harmonious.  In fact, the most notable achievement of science in the last 100 years is the nuclear bomb.  Science alone is failing our world. 

Magick is not afraid to tackle difficult concepts such as God.   Magicians attempt to bring methodology and rationality to discussions of divinity.  Nor is magick afraid to ask for joy on Earth–a magician has no need for concepts such as heaven or hell.  We are primarily concerned with our own planet and how we can make it better for ourselves and those around us.

The great thinkers of old times were not agnostic or atheist.  They were persons of God and science at the same time.  I simply strive to be the same. 

 

xoxo,

Izabael DaJinn

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In the last blog, I introduced Thelema, and in this blog I’m going to introduce the Book of the Law itself.

 

The Book of the Law (also known as Liber AL) is the only book a Thelemite needs.  Even the other “holy books of Thelema,” divinely inspired by Crowley, are not necessary or even desirable. 

The sublimity of the Book of the Law is in its simplicity.  Whereas other philosophies and religions usually need at least one gigantic book (if not many!), Thelema is content with one short book divided into three small chapters.

The origins of the Book of the Law are fascinating, as they began with Crowley and his wife doing some magick in an Egyptian pyramid, but they are not pertinent.  Whether Liber AL was written, or “transcribed” from Crowley’s “higher self,” is neither here nor there.  The Book of the Law holds up on its own as a spiritual and philosophical gem.  There is nothing quite like it.

The Book of the Law is a “bible” in the sense it gives us a cosmology of the universe and practical philosophy for being happy in the world.  However, there is no heaven or hell in Thelema–only those which we create for ourselves on Earth. 

 

So how does one approach this book for the first time?  Is it poetry?  Is it symbolic?  Is it literal?

I admit I found Liber AL confusing the first few times I read it.  I think that’s normal as its writing style is peculiar.  The Book of the Law is written in a fashion where every word, punctuation mark, and odd spelling make a difference.  The book is layered with meanings, some obvious, some subtle.  In many ways it’s MEANT to frustrate the conscious ego-mind, so that our true essence can shine through.  In case, I didn’t make it clear enough in my last blog:  The obsessive and chronic noise of the ego-mind is what blinds us to the true nature of the universe and hides its infinite joy from us.  The Book of the Law’s very writing style helps combat this tendency of the ego-mind to take control and make everything about itself.

 

To begin, you should know that the Book of the Law is broken up into three chapters, each with a different speaker.

The first chapter is spoken by Nuit.

The second chapter is spoken by Hadit.

The third chapter is spoken by the child of Nuit and Hadit.  His name is Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

 

These are all Egyptian names, and I will explain each one in turn.  They are generally meant to be taken symbolically, though the odd thing is if you want to work with them as literal “gods” they will very much come alive for you.   Sometimes I think of Nuit as a real goddess whose ethereal presence becomes almost tangible–and at other times I think of her as only a symbol for all the infinite possibilities around me.  There is no contradiction here.  Different sorts of perceptions gives different truths on different levels.  It’s only small and limited minds who can’t hold contrary ideas in ones head at the same time and ACCEPT both as truth, each in their own fashion.

 

NUIT-  Nuit (Sometimes call Nu, Nuith, Nut, etc.) is described sometimes as a vast circle whose circumference has no bounds, and sometimes as the starry night sky personified.  Her Egyptian representation usually shows her as a nude woman with a body of stars arched across the heavens.

 nuit1

 

HADIT-  Hadit, who traditionally is a red globe with wings in Egyptian mythology, is also various descried as a single “point” and also as a “snake.”  The simplest way is to think of Hadit is as our “soul” deep within our body somewhere as a latent possibility.  Through our bodies and our actions he manifests  his true nature.

 

 hadit

RA-HOOR-KHUIT-  He is half Hawk (head) and half man (body).  To put it simply, he symbolizes us as humans.  Hadit is the spark within.   Nuit is the infinite space without us.  We ourselves our their child.  We are Ra-Hoor-Khuit.  We are the conjunction between the infinitely small, Hadit, and the infinitely large, Nuit.  This conjunction is fiery, active, and even occasionally warlike, hence the martial quality of the third part of the Book of the Law.

 

  RaHoorKhuit

 

The Book of Law doesn’t need to be read in order.  I suggest jumping around and focusing on passages that catch your eye.  Some parts are much easier to understand than others.  Let the Book of the Law speak to you at your own level.

 

I’ll give some of my favorite quotes from each chapter:

 

Chapter I, Nuit speaking:

“Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!  I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.” –I.12-13

“Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.” –I.22

 

Chapter II, Hadit speaking:

“I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.” –II. 22

“I am the secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one.” –II.26

 

Chapter III, Ra-Hoor-Khuit speaking:

“Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms.” –III.17

“…I will bring you to victory & joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn not back for any!” –III.46

 

 

This image will help tie the three speakers together:

 nuit_hadit_star

“My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red.” –I.60

 

What does it mean?

 

Hadit is the red dot. 

“I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.” –II.6

 

Hadit is always the center, and Nuit is always the circumference.  As he himself says in Chapter 2:

“In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.” –II.3

 

Therefore the outside circle, which is dotted to show it is without limit, is Nuit.  She is the infinite possibilities, the blank canvas on which Hadit is to create his desire, i.e. express his true nature in a manifested form. 

Hadit is everywhere the center because he burns inside of every man and woman.   Nuit is everywhere without us.  Hadit is unique inside of every human, but we are all a part of each other’s Nuit because we are external to each other.  Never forget that YOU ARE COMPLETE IN AND OF YOURSELF.  (If you are chasing external things to make yourself feel good, you’ve already made a crucial mistake.  Studying Liber AL can help you rectify this.)

 

The pentagram symbolizes Ra-Hoor-Khuit, their child. 

 

“Every man and every woman is a star.” –I.3

In magick and Hermeticism, “5″ has long been considered the number of man. (Why?  Stand with your legs apart and arms straight out to your side and you are in the shape of pentagram–also because of the five elements [fire, water, air, earth, spirit], and five digits on each limb, etc.

 

Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the conjunction, i.e. child, of Nuit and Hadit.  He symbolizes us as humans, for our consciousness is the spark of divinity, the bliss of impact between Hadit and Nuit.

Within us is Hadit.  Without is Nuit.  We ourselves are Ra-Hoor-Khuit–at least when we are at our best.  The main point of the Book of the Law is help us refine our natures until we are glorious burning stars of joy and radiance.

 

Though distinctly three, the three are also one, and together form a complete a system:

“Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be glad. Thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our age long love. Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one; we are none.”– II.66

 

So why all the poetry and symbolism to describe the universe?  The Book of the Law creates a vivid understanding of the natural flow of the universe.  It does so in such a way that a more straightforward description of the universe would not.  Also it appeals to a higher functioning thought process than the purely rational.  It is written in a language that is meant to resonant on a deeper level than what we are normally accustomed to.

 

Now I leave you with one more favorite passage (from Chapter 1) to interpret on your own:

 

26. Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bending down, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, & her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.

27. Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!

28. None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two.

29. For I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.

30. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.

 

xoxo,

Izabael

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What is Thelema?

Thelema, means “Will” in Greek, and is a philosophy based on the The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley.

 

The Book of the Law (Liber AL) is small, poetic, and symbolic book on the nature of the universe and our place in it. 

 

“Every man and every woman is a star,” the Book of the Law proclaims–that is to say, every man and every woman is complete and whole unto themselves.  We all have the divine spark.  We are all of us the center of our own universe, and need not be subservient or dependent upon anyone or anything external to us.  A Thelemite is someone who adheres to this philosophy.

 

As a Thelemite, I’m regularly confronted with misconceptions about it–if indeed anyone has heard of it as all.  Aleister Crowley’s notorious reputation doesn’t help matters either.  So in simple language let me tell you guys what Thelema means to me:

 

First of all some things Thelema is NOT:

 

1.  Thelema is NOT hedonism.

2.  Thelema is NOT magick.

3.  Thelema is NOT about deifying Crowley.

4.  Thelema is NOT complicated.

 

Thelema IS:

 

1.  Thelema is freedom.

2.  Thelema is personal responsibility.

3.  Thelema is often tied to high magick by tradition, but its principles are for everyone.

4.  Thelemites do enjoy things of sense and pleasure upon the earth, but all our joys are dedicated to something higher than ourselves and our ego-mind.

5.  Thelemites are congruent and without hypocrisy.  They find divine presence in the low and lofty things of the Earth without distinction, therefore there is no need to hide our material-plane passions–they become our driving force towards finding divinity in everything, all the time.

 

“DO WHAT THOU WILT” is the most famous phrase from the Book of the Law.  This phrase is also the most misunderstood. 

 

“Do What Thou Wilt” is not a call to hedonism, but a call to personal responsibility.  The words are chosen carefully as the Book of the Law does not say “do what you want,” but instead “do what thou wilt.”

 

Do what you WILL–not what you “want.”

 

What you “Will” is deeper than superficial wants.  Your “True Will” is something at the core of your being, far deeper than your ego-mind with all it’s petty delusions and desires.  The ego-mind is that part of you that’s incessantly rambling in your head about “I need this” or “I want that.”   The ego-mind is that which goes around in circles, “Should I do this? Should I do that?” 

 

The Will, however, goes deeper than words or emotions.  Our Will is the very essence of who are.  Our Will is what cuts through the circle of mental masturbation and has us take action.   Action is the very essence of Thelema. 

 

To take “right action” with as little time spent in my head as possible, defines me as a Thelemite.

 

That doesn’t meant you can’t plan, but doing your True Will can only be done at one specific point in time:  RIGHT NOW.  Your focus throughout life must be in the present moment.  In every moment lies the ability to do your True Will, to take action that is not only right for that moment, but attunes you to your proper orbit in the world, and helps ensure all your future actions are for the best as well.

 

And remember, Thelema isn’t about a promised land after you die.  Following your True Will leads to joy and pleasure right now, in this world, here on Earth. 

 

Understanding your True Will takes time, and the Book of the Law, though sometimes seemingly confusing with it’s non-typical use of language, helps break through the ego-mind–leaving little cracks where the sun of the True Will starts to shine through. 

 

Next blog, I will give an introduction to the Book of the Law, and how to approach reading it for the first time.   Until then, there are full copies of it all over the web including this one if you want to check it out now.

 

xoxoxo,

Izabael

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Bukowski as Hierophant

72-5-hierophant

 

The Hierophant (Trump V. in the tarot) is about expressing deep spiritual truths and teaching them to others.  The card also carries the subtext of expressing the sexual desires of the Hierophant himself (Taurus is ruled by Venus after all.) 

 

And then we have Charles Bukowski, whose genius by now I hope needs no espousing, who fits right in there, the man of our time.

 

bukowski1 

If Crowley is the Magus of the new Aeon, then I dub Charles Bukowski its Hierophant.

 

t05hierophant

 

kisses & bites,

Izabael

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