The Cup of Suffering and the Sword of Forgiveness

So, for people who don't know me well it might seem weird that my return to blogging is a post about Holy Thursday. People who do know me well know that Lent gives me a raging hard on, and Holy Saturday is the sexiest day of the year...from a mystical point of view, at least in my mind. But then again, I was once accused of being an undercover Catholic priest spying on the occult. (I'm not...)

A lot of our cultural, and for many of us our personal, foundations are tied to the imagery of Christianity. That alone makes it a rich source from which to mine symbolism and ideas for the mystic. Outside of that foundation, it is an important link in the Chain of the Mysteries of which Eleusis and Thelema also are links. So when we take out all the weak minded BS of corrupt institutions and doddering sheeple we can grab hold of some of the force and fire of meaning held within that particular expression of truth.

Now...why Holy Thursday? Because the Gethsemane is an excellent depiction of the ordeal of the Master of the Temple and of the way True Will can not always be fun, but ultimately leads to triumph. Plus it involves symbols that appear in our more contemporary systems as well.

Joshua Ben Joseph, Jesus, prays to the Most High to let the cup of suffering pass from him, but acknowledges he will accept it. He doesn't want to...like at all...but he'll do it, if it's truly what's set before him. He'll get whipped, he'll get his bones broken, and he'll die in agony. Because, it's the work he was made for, it's how he can contribute to the reparation of the world.

Critics like to point to this as a sadism that defies logic. A loving God condemns his son to something incomprehensibly horrific to save his creation from a defect he tricked them into incurring.

We can look at it a little more Gnosticly. God isn't consciously choosing to beat his kid, he is the totality of everything. His plan isn't a crafted product of intellect, it is the Harmony of all potentials moving perfectly together. There is no defect, the condition of the world with its diversions and errors is a state necessary for the totality to manifest into individual pieces.

From that stand point the events are less hate parading as love and are more a man and a given circumstance. A circumstance, full of suffering. But cups....cups are full of ecstasy and fornication. How is a cup of suffering fitting in?

Let's talk about suffering. We often think of magic and mysticism as an answer to suffering...they offer themselves as a means of countering the suffering of the world. But such a process sometimes brings it's own suffering or difficulty. Sometimes what's best for us isn't easy or isn't what we want.

Sometimes we want to have fun. Sometimes we want to be called to something which seems epically cool...but we just aren't. What's worse...sometimes what is best for us to do just seems terrifying or awful. But if it's our Will it will work out.

The cup runs deeper though.

Crowley says in Liber B vel Magi "Now the grade of a Magister teacheth the Mystery of Sorrow".

He describes Babalon's cup of fornication as a cup of sacrifice into which the Saints bleed out every ounce of their being.

In historical studies of famous mystics it is often noted the intense emotional struggles and the gripping depression which routinely characterizes their experiences.

People might say that such superior people who have their shit together on a divine level should be above it all. People who say that are full of shit. Being mystically inclined doesn't mean you have your shit together or are privy to the inside track to awesome. It hopefully gives you perspective and insight, and that can be distracting and sometimes unnerving.

A lot of historians suggest that this tendency to depression is based on the unnerving nature of insight. From a divinely inspired perspective you see the potential, the goodness, the way things could and should be. But as a human you also see things the way they are. That disconnect can be a big let down, it can be endlessly frustrating, and it can seem insurmountable.

The cup of Babalon brings us to Binah, the sphere of Understanding. With this we transcend Knowledge and therefore distinction and we COMPREHEND the world.

Understand. Comprehend. Important words. They can help us really grasp what's going on. When we cross the Abyss we don't go in carrying nothing. We take everything with us. All our knowledge, all our experience, every part of the world we carry with us goes into the cup. That Sacrament...the Eucharistic vessel made from all that is, the sum of your life equated to the world...is how we gain understanding, how we comprehend the totality.

It's a tough process. It's a big sacrifice. But on top of that your perspective shifts to encompass so much more, and so much more closely, than before. You share in a greater sympathy and thus are open to suffering.

This is the real pain. Not the struggles of whips and carrying crosses but hanging on a cross embracing a flawed disjointed world into your being. The moment where you breach the barrier  between yourself and the infinite and you feel isolated and alone. That feeling afterwards where you know how good it should be but you feel so much for the world around you and its pain. Suffering.

But the cup of suffering is a chalice of ecstasy.

Crowley also says in Liber B: "Let the Magus then contemplate each in turn, raising it to the ultimate power of Infinity. Wherein Sorrow is Joy."

We accept the cup. We move forward. We get shit done. We go balls deep into our True Will regardless of difficulty. We finish like the boss of all bosses.

When Jesus accepts the cup, he gets taken by the Sanhedrin. Peter takes a sword, cuts off the ear of one of the assailants, and then Jesus stays Peter's hand and heals the soldier. The sword isn't a tool of rage, but rather of forgiveness.

The sword isn't Peter's tool, rather it is a tool allowing the illustration of the implementation of Will. In ceremonial magic this is the purpose of the sword. It represents the directional element of Will projected into being. In a way it represents the triumph of accepting who you are. You follow the force of your trajectory and carry the things around you into their necessary motions.

We forgive that sense of suffering and triumph such that the the suffering becomes joy. We succeed. We help bring things to where they should be. We do this by extending our Will into the world and actualizing it.

Drinking from the cup takes us to the point where we know who we are and what we're doing. Commanding the sword carries that experience into reality. That's the point where suffering and joy equate. The success that comes from our efforts. Simply sitting on your duff smug in your attainment and doing no work is failure (and usually betrays that the attainment is imaginary anyway). Failure from a will-less choice to be ineffectual isn't joy.

I would also note that the cup and the sword of course mate together, male and female showing the interplay of reception and projection.

So drink deep, wield the sword, and make your Thursday holy.

Modern Solomonic Magic

A few years back I began occasionally presenting angel conjuration rituals at the local OTO body, William Blake Lodge. We mostly did a conjuration based on Mathers's Greater Key of Solomon but at one point I decided to experiment with using the Solomonic structure to create a conjuration based on Thelemic imagery.


Some participants found that the Thelmic imagery spoke to and inspired them more than the more traditional Kabbalistic imagery. Most reported that the spirit seemed to arrive but with kind of a "what are you even doing?" sort of feeling coming from the spirit until we began using divine and angelic names, at which point the spirit seemed in their perception to kind of "snap to" and pay attention more ardently. 

This result is interesting in that several people mentioned this impression to me, and if it is the case it would suggest that yes, our modern magical practices do invoke appropriate forces, but the classic ways do tend to exert control over the spirits as that is their nature. I do not know precisely what things people asked for or what they got, but people reported being happy with their results. 

I would love to hear what results people get from experimenting with this.

Thelemic Solomonic Evocation v.1

Fr. VH

Preparation of the Circle

Let the circle me marked out in salt, or chalk, or carved into the ground as described.

As the circle is drawn Liber Lapidis Lazuli is read.

Ablution

Once the circle is drawn all exit the space devest themselves of their street clothes, wash in spring water and abramelin oil and put on white EGC robes. As they wash they say:

“He that is righteous shall be righteous still, he that is filthy shall be filthy still, deem not of change: ye shall be as ye are & not other.” AL 2.57 - 58

Before using the water it is consecrated by tracing the symbol of water followed by the rose cross above it and imbuing it with light while saying:

“Aye! Feast! Rejoice!! There is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.” AL 2.44

When this is accomplished all return to the temple and stand in the circle.

Consecration of the Circle

From the center of the circle let the Karcist recite before the altar, facing the high altar in the east:

“Oh circle of stars whereof our father is but the younger brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, before whom time is ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the understanding dark. Not to thee may we attain unless thy image be love. Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke thee.

Then the priest answered and 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. Oh 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.”

Let one participant advance to the East. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Chaos. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Theoricus he will say:

“Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising, even unto Thee who art Ra in Thy strength, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Uprising of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Night!”

Then let one participant advance to the South. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Psyche. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Philosophus he will say:

“Hail unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy triumphing, even unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy beauty, who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the Mid-course of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Morning!”

Then let one participant advance to the West. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Eros. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Practicus he will say:

“Hail unto Thee who art Tum in Thy setting, even unto Thee who art Tum in Thy joy, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Down-going of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Day!”

Then let one participant advance to the North. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Babalon. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Zelator he will say:

“Hail unto thee who art Khephra in Thy hiding, even unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in Thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Evening.”

Then let each return to the center of the circle.

When all are at the center the Karcist shall make the rose cross above the altar and say:

“Now let there be a veiling of thise shrine: now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness.” - AL 2.14

After this pause for a space and contemplate the presence of the divine light.

Invocation of the Highest

Let the Karcist face the East and invoke the Holy Guardian Angel with these words:

“In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.” AL 2.3

“I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. ‘Come unto me‘ is a foolish word: for it is I that go.”

“IO IO IO IAO Sabao Kurie Abrasax, Kurie Mithras, Kurie Phalle, IO Pan, IO Pan Pan, IO Ischuros, IO Athanatos, IO Abrotos, IO IAO, Kyrie Phalle, Kyrie Panphage, Kyrie Pangenetor, Hagios, Hagios, Hagios, IAO”

“I adore thee in song

I am the Lord of Thebes, and I

The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;

For me unveils the veiled sky,

The self-slain Ankh-af-na-knonsu

Whose words are truth, I invoke, I greet

They presence, O Ra-Hoor-Khuit!

Unity uttermost showed!

I adore the might of Thy breath,

Supreme and terrible God,

Who makest the gods and death

To tremble before Thee: -

I, I adore thee!

Appear on the throne of Ra!

Open the way of the Khu!

Lighten the ways of the Ka!

The ways of the Khabs run through

To stir me or still me!

Aum! Let it fill me!

The light is mine; its rays consume

Me: I have made a secret door

Int o the House of Ra and Tum,

Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.

I am thy Theban, O Mentu,

The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!

By Bes-na-maut my breast I beat;

By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.

Show thy star splendour, O Nuit!

Bid me within thine House to dwell,

O winged snake of Light, Hadit!

Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!”

Conjuration

“0. Deeper and deeper into the mire of things! Farther and farther into the never-ending Expansion of the Abyss.
1. The great goddess that bendeth over the Universe is my mistress; I am the winged globe at her heart.
2. I contract ever as she ever expandeth;
3. At the end it is all one.
4. Our loves have brought to birth the Father and Creator of all things.
5. He hath established the elements; the aether, the air, the water, the earth, and the fire.
6. He hath established the wandering stars in their courses.
7. He hath ploughed with the seven stars of his Plough, that the Seven might move indeed, yet ever point to the unchanging One.
8. He hath established the Eight Belts, wherewith he hath girdled the globes.
9. He hath established the Trinity of Triads in all things, forcing fire into fire, and ordering all things in the Stable Abode of the Kings of Æ.
10. He hath established His rule in His kingdom.
11. Yet the Father also boweth unto the Power of the Star 418 and thereby
12. In his subtlety He expandeth it all into twelve rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays are One.” Liber ARARITA 6:0-13

By Eheieh and Metatron we stir the world, by Yah and Ratziel we move thee forth, by YHVH Elohim and Tzafkiel we receive thee! By the name EL! We call and command thee Bariel! By the force of Tzadkiel we stir thee to action Bariel! By the presence of Sachiel we conjure thee with us Bariel! By the name of Iophiel we direct thee Bariel! By the hand of Hishmael thou art present Bariel! Hear our commands and answer our seeking, by the name of EL whose mercy is unending, by the name of EL from whom all gifts flow, by the name of EL, rich and fertile, by the name of EL whom you hold dear, we command you rightly.

All make their requests of the spirit.

License to depart

By the name of EL go forth Bariel and see to this work. Travel swiftly and in peace that you may succeed, and come again quickly when you are called. By EHIH, YAH. YHVH ELOHIM, and EL go forth and fulfill your commands!