There is a secret key to magick. It is
the Key which has been known to the wise since before man appeared on the Earth.
From time to time that Key has almost percolated to the surface either through
magical activity or, more recently, through publication.
It is difficult to say with certainty
that the Templars rediscovered it although this seems more than likely.
Paracelsus knew the half of it for certain as did Eliphas Levi and both men came
within a stroke of declaring its nature.
For some reason the glory of the Key
faded with the death of Levi; the leaders of the great magical revival were left
groping in the dark. Blavatsky, Mathers, Westcott and all the magicians and
witches and warlocks and wizards who followed them were quite ignorant of the
single fact which would have delivered them from their own confusion.
>Aleister Crowley, who came so close to
it, skirted its periphery for forty-three years and died with the words "I am
perplexed" on his lips. And yet it was he who was responsible for the disclosure
of the Key and it was he alone who experimented in the area concerned. With no
knowledge of the real importance of the Book of the Law he discovered half the
Key and then, incredibly, ignored the possibility of completing it.
Let us presume that the Book of the
Law was indeed delivered by the Gods. How then could the Goddess promise
"certainty not faith," if the Key was not to be disclosed there, in that Book?
The Key is in that Book. It is revealed again and again both in the words
themselves and in the cipher of the English Qaballa.
To return for a moment to Eliphas
Levi: in his 'Transcendental Magic' he makes the following statements about a
particular sign:-
"The Quintessence itself is represented by (it)"
"(it) is the sign of the word made flesh."
"This sign, ancient as history, and more ancient."
He goes on to say by what perfumes
this sign should be consecrated. All are perfumes of an essentially female
nature. Yet the sign to which he was referring was that of the pentagram.
It is evident that Levi was not
concerned with any common symbol scratched on stone or metal or the fetishes
which festoon the gathered multitudes at occult tea-parties since he goes on to
mention the Morning Star and the Star of Lucifer, both being alternative names
for the planet Venus; Venus, whose number, seven, occurs seven times on the
Great Seal of the A.'.A.'.
Anyone who has pondered over the sign
of the pentagram in order to fathom its significance will have been totally
dissatisfied by references to the Star of Bethlehem, the elements, microprosopus
and so on, and rightly so. The pentagram, in its essential form, is not a
manufactured symbol, a convenient unicursal glyph. It occurs naturally - in the
heavens.
In their conjunctions the Sun and
Venus form a perfect pentagram every eight years, one point being made in
approximately one year. It is as though these bodies are constantly inscribing
the sign of the pentagram over the Earth - and the Sun and Venus are of supreme
importance regarding the Key to Magick.
"This (56) shall regenerate the world." (AL I:53) 56 = pentagrammic (5) law (6),
or 5 = all, 6 = law. The pentagrammic law, the law of all, shall regenerate the
world.
As the stellar pentagram, the union of
Sun and Venus, regenerates the macrocosm, so the union of Man and the Goddess,
through Woman, regenerates the "little world", the microcosm, through the
preparation of the Elixir of Life. At this time only, at the time of Sun
conjunct Venus, can the Elixir be made.
"That which is above is like that
which is below...for the performance of the miracle of the one substance."
Here also is the solution to the
mystery of the Rose Cross. The Rose is Venus and Woman, the Cross is Man and the
Sun. In uniting these principles the Elixir of Life is produced. The magician
harmonizes and balances the Universe by taking two elements of the microcosm,
Man and Woman, and uniting them in their unity with two elements of the
macrocosm in their unity.
The unity of Man and Woman, Cross and
Rose, is sexual congress. The unity of the Sun and Venus, Cross and Rose, is
their conjunction. When these factors occur in synchronisation the Supreme Rite
may be successfully performed.
The true Rosicrucians have been aware
of the Secret Key for centuries. One need but read again their literature, look
again at their symbols with this information in mind, to see that this is so.
That the stars were somehow connected
with the successful performance of sexual magick was a fact well known to
Aleister Crowley. It was so obvious to him that he figured genethliacal charts
(omitted from the published version of Rex de Arte Regia) for the consummation
of each operation of this nature. None of these charts betrays a knowledge of
the Key to WHEN such rites should be performed. This is also evidenced by the
prolific number of such operations recorded in his diary.
Nevertheless, he did combine sexual
magick with the rite of the pentagram in Chapter 25 of the Book of Lies and he
did refer to Venus in her Babalon aspect, her name of seven letters. It was this
chapter which misled the Rosicrucian order, the O.T.O, into the belief that he
had discovered the Key and it was this assumption which led to his initiation
into that Order. He became Baphomet X', Most High and Holy King of Ireland,
Iona, and all he Britons within the Sanctuary of the Gnosis, with no knowledge
of the Key and he spent the remainder of his life pursuing it. Had he but looked
at the Book of the Law he would have seen
"Thou knowest not, nor shalt thou know
ever. There cometh one to follow thee: he shall expound it."
Had he taken note of this, the inane
rituals over which the uninitiated lodges of the O.T.O. have struggled for years
might never have been written.
It is evident to anyone who has
studied astrology that its use as a divinatory technique is a perversion of its
original and pristine purpose, albeit a justifiable perversion. Astrology was
developed purely and simply as a means of indicating when certain actions should
be performed. The emphasis recently placed on Sirius, the Dog-Star, demonstrates
a raw misunderstanding of this principle. The Egyptian Dog-Festivals were a
celebration of the fecundity of the Nile Valley as presaged by the rising of
Sirius, not a propitiation of the God of the Gods as has been suggested. That
the Nile deluge was signalled by the appearance of Sirius was all that was
important since it was the basis of the Egyptian agricultural calendar. The
priests who had this knowledge had power over the people. As initiates they knew
two mysteries undreamed of by the non-initiate. They knew that the supreme deity
is female and they knew that the critical factor in the performance of any
practical magick is WHEN.
It would be absurd to sunbathe during
an English winter, equally so to reap the harvest in February. Everything has
its time and season and magick is no exception to his. As the Sun and Moon
affect changes in the Earth's climate, so do the stars affect the affairs of
men.
It is not our purpose here to teach
astrology but to show it to be a necessary adjunct to the performance of magick.
In reference to the Heavenly or Blazing pentagram Eliphas Levi declaimed that
its representation should be constructed of the seven metals on virgin white
marble. Again we have an allusion to Venus, white marble being sacred to her and
again we have the number seven in reference to the pentagram. This last point
would seem to be an absurdity not only in he disparity of the numbers but also
in the impossibility of alloying the seven metals. So what did he mean? There ha
long been a tradition that Venus contains within herself a synthesis of the
other planets. The Golden Dawn expressed this concept in its fifth knowledge
lecture which contains a diagram of the ten Sephiroth within the symbol of
Venus.
Only the diagram was given; its
significance was not explained and another part of the Key was both revealed and
concealed. By the word 'metal' Levi actually meant 'planet'. This furnishes
another clue as does Al II:55:-
"Thou shalt obtain the order and value
of the English alphabet; thou shalt find new (42) symbols to attribute them
unto."
Leaving the obtaining of the order and
value of the English alphabet aside for the moment, the word 'new' in the verse
given above is equivalent in value to the word 'star'. In other words the verse
may be taken to mean that one should seek out star symbols through the English
Qaballa. Before resorting to the calculator it is worth while to take a look at
the straightforward star references:
"Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!" (I:12)
"they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men." (I:15)
"Invoke me under my stars!" (I:57)
"The Five Pointed Star." (I:60)
"if under the night-stars...thou...burnest mine incense..." (I:61)
"I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every
star." (II:6)
"these are for the servants of the Star & the Snake." (II:21)
"the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body." (II:62)
"blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely star!" (II:79)
"Show thy star-splendour." (III:38)
and the list goes on.
It is said in the Book of the Law that
when counted well the Stele of Revealing is equal to 718 and it was demonstrated
in TNE Vol 1 that the eleven lettered expression 'Azure lidded' equals that
number when counted well through the English Qaballa.
The number 718 can be approached in
two ways -
1) 71 = Venus, 8 = infinity; Venus to
infinity.
2) 7 = Netzach = Venus, 1 = unity, 8 =
infinity; the Goddess is one forever.
The only expression in the Book of the
Law which adds directly to 718 is "It shall not fade but miraculous
colour shall come back to it day after day." (III:10)
"It shall not fade" equals 156 which
is the value of "the Lovely Star" mentioned at the end of Chapter Two. A
manufactured pentagram must eventually fade but the pentagram in the heavens
will always maintain its integrity - and its effect.
The Book of the Law makes many overt
references to the stars as we have seen but in order to understand this general
principle in a more particular sense the veiled and symbolic emphases must be
investigated.
Sun + Venus = (36 + 71) = 107. Being
(1) and none-being (0) are expressed in the Goddess (7). The formula expressed
here is that when the Sun conjuncts Venus the Supreme (131), Universe (131),
rite is to be performed and the Feast of The Equinox (of the Gods =107) partaken
in.
Serpent = 131 = Universe
The snake = 107 = Sun + Venus = of the
Gods (Equinox)
Words and phrases with the value of
107 are to be found throughout the Book of the Law. Of these the most
immediately significant, apart from the above, are:-
"I swear it by (the vault =107) of my body." (I:32)
"Come (before =107) me in a single robe." (I:61)
"Servants of the star & (the Snake =107)." (II:21)
"I am (the Snake =107) that giveth knowledge." (II:22)
"(count well =107) its name & it shall be to you as 718." (III:19)
"All (before =107) me." (III:29)
"So that (thy light =107) is in me." (III:38)
"I will alienate (her heart =107)." (III:43)
"I am the Hawk-headed Lord of (silence =107)." (III:70)
One part of the formula is
insufficient. The conjunction of Sun and Venus must be reflected in the
microcosm by the conjunction of Man and Woman. Man = 36, Woman = 46; 36 + 46 =
82 = balanced. No variation should be made. Homosexuality is not a Key. Nor is
masturbation except insofar as sorcery is concerned, and here we are referring,
not to sorcery, but to the Supreme Universal rite.
"The rituals shall be half known and
half concealed" - half the day the stars can be seen; for the remaining half
they are hidden. The essence of these rituals is given in the Book of the Law.
"There is a secret door that I shall
make to establish thy way in all the quarters." (813)
The number 813 expresses the total
value of the planets and reveals the infinite (8) unity (1) of the trinity (3).
Furthermore, when the number of the sun and of man, 36, is subtracted from the
total, 813, to express everything that is not man, that is, the divinity, the
number remaining is 777! The three faces of the Goddess. Here again Crowley came
within an ace of the secret. That the synthesis of all the planets is expressed
in Venus and that when the Sun forms a conjunction with her the grand Elixir may
be prepared.
Conjunctions with other planets are
therefore of great importance as is the position of the moon. Of this we can say
nothing here except to give our reason for revealing the secret which has been
so jealously guarded for centuries.
The 1980s will provide great
opportunity for Thelemites to give the 93 current its first great surge of
power. The first of these blasts of starpower will occur in April 1981 and
throughout the early eighties there will be stellar configurations of an almost
unique character.
"I am the warrior Lord of the forties,
the eighties cower before me."
Now is the time to prepare. The
opportunity will not present itself again in our lifetime.
The non-initiate will read these words
and pass them over. He may find the essay of interest but he will not act. "My
colour is black to the blind."
The Key is both revealed and
concealed. Only the adept whose supreme initiation is imminent will understand
the real significance of the foregoing. It is for him to look deeper into the
Law and to make his calculations. To him will be revealed "The blue & gold...of
the seeing" and the "secret glory."
"Show thy star-splendour, o Nuit!
Bid me within thine house to dwell."
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