/freedomzine/ - FreedomZine

>>14439

Continuing…

In Thelemic terminology, in this process of “crossing,” one becomes a “Babe of the Abyss.” After the period of Illumination which is characterized – as mentioned previously – by joy and beauty, there is a corresponding darkness and blankness that occurs. This shift may go back and forth repeatedly but ultimately, if there is persistence, the Mystic comes to the Abyss, the dark night of their soul. This is characterized by various things:

> “[He then] is stripped of all his attainments and of himself as well, even of his Holy Guardian Angel, and becomes a babe of the Abyss…”

–One Star in Sight

The loss of a sense of “presence” of the Absolute/Divine.

Intense feelings of stagnation, impotence, solitude, fatigue, and difficulty. They are essentially opposite of that which is felt in the midst of Illumination; it is the withdrawal of the ‘Beatific Vision’ characteristic of the grade of Lover.

There may even be physical trials of illness and weakness, a sense of oppression by circumstance.

All this serves as a great purification, a great trial by fire, by which the Mystic is purged of attachments. It is the purgation that breaks apart the life of the Mystic, allowing a new stage of attainment to arise from its destruction. It is as if all those darkest corners of the self that were not purged in the initial purification find their way to expression in the Mystic, and this is because the whole individual – the microcosm of the Mystic – must be transmuted in this ordeal. As the Alchemists might say, there is no transmutation without fire. It “cures” the aspirant of being able to settle in any lesser satisfaction than the achievement of the final stage or grade, that of the Hermit.

>• “Thou shalt mingle thy life with the universal life. Thou shalt keep not back one drop.”

–Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni, line 3

>• “…It is attained by the resolve of the Adeptus Exemptus to surrender all that he has and is for ever. It is an annihilation of all the bonds that compose the self or constitute the Cosmos, a resolution of all complexities into their elements…”

–One Star in Sight

In order to Cross the Abyss successfully, one must be purged of all that one has and all that one is. This is what, in Thelema, is metaphorically stated as the draining out of one’s blood into the Cup of Babalon. This is called the “Universal Life” insofar as one has drained out the blood of one’s “individual life,” the separate self, to be merged with the Universal Life. That is, one must release all attachment to everything that one possesses and to everything with which one identifies. This is why this phase is often called “annihilation,” “dissolution,” “cessation,” “self-naughting,” or “self-surrender.”

The Holy Book of Thelema, Liber Cheth, lists in particular the discarding of wealth (attachment to all possessions), health (attachment to the body), and love (attachment to others). These can be simply taken as three symbols that, together, refer to all of one’s attachments.

> “[There] are the Black Brothers, that cry: I am I, they that deny Love, restricting it to their own Nature.”

–Liber Aleph, chapter 157

Failure to do this results in what Thelema calls a “Black Brother,” one who has attained this far yet refuses to give up the self in dissolution; the “Black Brother” is one who insists on retaining a sense of individuality or selfhood and does not drain the blood of their individual life into the Universal Life. However, if one succeeds in persisting to the end, one achieves the final stage.

>>14439

>>14440

Continuing…

The Hermit: The Arising of Nemo

The complete dissolution of the sense of separate self, of the ego, constitutes the attainment of the third grade, the Hermit. One is then, in Thelemic terminology, a “Magister Templi” or “Master of the Temple.” One is an arhat or buddha in Buddhist terminology, and one has achieved moksha, or “liberation,” in Hindu terminology; it is equivalent to Samadhi in the terms of Yoga, the total union of subject and object. Since one is stripped of one’s identity, any sense of self, then one also may be called “Nemo,” which is Latin for “no man” (see The Vision and the Voice, 13th Aethyr for more on this symbolism).

> “The essential Attainment is the perfect annihilation of that personality which limits and oppresses his true self.”

–One Star in Sight

Aside from this attainment being characterized negatively by a total dissolution of the sense of self or ego, it is also characterized positively by awakening to the ultimate reality, the transcendence of duality, the complete union of subject and object, or the total identification with the Absolute. These are really two sides of the same coin, so to speak, and lead Mystics to make pronouncements such as “My eye and God’s eye are one eye” (Meister Eckhart) and “I am the Truth” (Mansur al-Hallaj).

Characteristics of this grade include:

Peace: The dissolution of the self means a complete identity with the Infinite and therefore with nothing partial. No event can trouble the individual who has perceived this Reality, for there can be no anxiety or fear of death if there is no one there to die, so to speak. The identification with any partial, component thing has been transcended and therefore any occurrence to these things does not disturb the Hermit. It represents equanimity of the mind raised to highest possible degree.

Energy: New creative powers are conferred upon attaining this grade, for the Mystic has unified her entire self, feeling oneself to be an agent of divine vitality. The superabundant energy of Mystics can be seen historically with those who have had this Mystic experience including St. Paul’s many letters and evangelizing efforts, St. Joan of Arc’s leading the armies of France, St. Ignatius Loyola leading the Jesuits, let alone the histories of figures like Christ or of Buddha who taught for 40 years after his attainment.

The Task: Being cast out of the Abyss and tending to the Garden

> “Those other parts of me that I had left for ever below the Abyss must serve as a vehicle for the energies which had been created by my act. My mind and body, deprived of the ego which they had hitherto obeyed, were now free to manifest according to their nature in the world, to devote themselves to aid mankind in its evolution.”

–Confessions, chapter 66

>>14439

>>14440

>>14441

Continuing…

The complete dissolution, as previously said, leads to what one metaphorically may say is the birth of a New Man, the Master of the Temple or “Nemo.” The mind and body are not destroyed in this attainment, but they are purged of a sense of ego or self.

Although the trance may involve the obliteration of consciousness itself, there is consequent to this the inevitable re-formulation of awareness. This is symbolically called being “cast out from the Abyss.” The symbolism at work is that one has attained the Supernal Triangle of the Tree of Life and then one is “cast out” from it back into the lower Sephiroth of the Tree of Life. One then “re-occupies” one’s body and mind but free of ego.

> “From the Abyss comes No Man forth, but a Star startles the Earth…”

–One Star in Sight

This is essentially equivalent to the Bodhisattva Vow to “come back to the world” to aid others in enlightenment, and it is found in symbolism of people returning from a remote or isolated place to teach humanity (e.g. Jesus returning from the wilderness, Mohammed returning from a cave, Buddha returning from the Bodhi-tree, et cetera).

Thelema uses the symbolism of a “Star that is cast forth to give light to the Earth… [One] appears ‘as a morning star, or as an evening star, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.’ This is then the man himself, save that his separate individuality is no longer present; it is replaced by this single passion to rescue mankind.” (18th Aethyr).

In short, one becomes conscious once again, devoid of ego, to do one’s Work in the world, to accomplish one’s Will purified from the elements of separateness and the sense of self. In Thelema, the symbolism used is that of Nemo “tending his garden.” In the 13th Aetyhr it is stated, “Know thou that every man that is called NEMO hath a garden that he tendeth,” and Crowley comments on this by saying, “Every Magister Templi has a Work to do for the world.”

This Work is the Will of the individual, purified by the Mystic path of imbalance and egotism, invigorated by a reconnection to one’s deepest creative wellspring of power stemming from one’s own Godhead.

>>14440

>>14439

>>14441

>>14442

Another tasty essay on this subject is

The Illusion of the Abyss

"The Illusion of the Abyss" by Benjamin Rowe, copyright 1997

https://hermetic.com/norton/abyss2

I'll just snag a few excerpts…

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The word “abyss” has seen widespread use in the occult community, with many different meanings. In various times and places it has been used to represent everything from the Christian Hell to existential angst. In this century, among the many occultists influenced by Aleister Crowley, the term has taken on a specific reference to the process of transcendence, the events by which a person's awareness transforms from an individualized state into a transcendental or “enlightened” state. Crowley called this process “Crossing the Abyss”.

Crowley's description of the process is highly dramatic and equally idiosyncratic. It is also extremely vague, consisting of a few symbols and metaphors that he used throughout his life, without ever attempting to expand or explain them, or to explain in detail the relationship between the transcendental and human levels of being. Perhaps this vagueness is the reason for it popularity; it provides a simple, easily-grasped image, however mistaken it might be.

Crowley perceived the “Abyss” as a literal gap in the stuff of creation, separating the human levels of existence from the transcendental or divine levels. He describes this gap as a region of nullity and terror, in which anything that enters is torn asunder. (In this much, he was following a long-established theme in Hebrew cabalistic lore.) In order to attain to enlightenment, the magician must “leap” into this Abyss, where his human self is ripped apart and destroyed. If he has established enough momentum in his climb towards the divine levels, then the divine spark in himself (freed from its bindings to his human self) will be carried over to the other side of the gap to become a Master of the Temple, the magickal grade equivalent to the basic enlightened state.

Somewhere along the way from one side to the other, Crowley says, the magician must also confront and temporarily become the “Demon of the Abyss”, whose nature is Dispersion. Crowley named this demon Choronzon, a name for Satan from the works of Dr. John Dee; but the characteristics he assigns to the demon owe more to the “Dweller on the Threshold” from Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoni novels. It is unclear how this confrontation relates to the destruction of the magician's human self.

>>14443

Copy / Paste It IS! Happy Quints of 4s!

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Crowley's description of his own “crossing of the Abyss” is recorded in his book The Vision and the Voice. The record conforms closely to his metaphor of the process. However, his depiction disagrees in many ways with those provided by other enlightened people across the years; it also disagrees with my own experience of that process, which was achieved through the same means Crowley used: John Dee's “Enochian” magickal system, coupled with the system of lore from the Western traditions of ceremonial magick and the cabala.

From the perspective of my own experience, the whole “Abyss” concept is nonsense. There is no gap between the divine and human levels of existence; the transcendent being is already constantly present and active in every person. Since this is the case, there is nothing to “cross” or “jump”. The discontinuity, to the extent there is one, is entirely a matter of perspective; the transcendent view is dramatically different from the Self-centered view common to the lower levels. But there is a constant connection and interaction between the divine and the human; they make up a single, undivided system.

Rather than a separation, our normal lack of awareness of the divine aspect of ourselves is a matter of ignorance. Through ignorance, reinforced by a lifetime of conditioning and habit – and reinforced even more by magickal disciplines – the transcendent being in a person is deluded into believing it is something that it is not: an individualized “self” or “soul”, operating in the mundane world through the medium of a personality mask. In its ignorance, it becomes so thoroughly identified with this self (which is a constructed thing) that it becomes unaware that it is anything other than that self. You might think of it as a weird sort of dharana or deep meditation; a concentration on an object of meditation (the self, in this case) so intent that the difference between the perceiver and the perceived disappears.

Achieving transcendence therefore is not a matter of creating a bridge over a gap, or of leaping a gap, or anything of that sort. Rather, it is a matter of awakening the already-present transcendent being from its state of identification with the self, getting it to realize and act from its natural state.

What it takes to do this can vary widely. It might require something a catastrophic as the complete destruction of the “self”, as in the typical Abyss myth; but it could equally be as subtle and gentle as a breath of air slipping out through an open window, leaving the self completely intact. In my own case, it was somewhere between these extremes. There were some long and rather painful steps leading up to it, but the final event was quick, undramatic, and utterly simple.

To put the event in context, there are two main thrusts to the magickal/cabalistic approach to initiation. First, through invocations, astral explorations, meditation, etc., it seeks to open up the hidden portions of the mind (both sub- and superconscious), to bring their activity under conscious direction, and to make use of them to explore and perceive the corresponding aspects of the universe at large. The scope and control exercised by the individual is constantly increased, and the various parts brought into a state of tight coordination.

At the same time, the cabalistic side of the work seeks to bring about an ever-increasing synthesis in the _contents_ of the mind. Through the use of correspondences, the chaos of raw experience is gradually reduced. Ideas and experiences get organized into hierarchies, each level abstracting something from the lower ones, so that ever-greater numbers of events become instances of ever-simpler ideas. Eventually things coordinate into an elegant system of archetypes, energies, and relationships.

>>14443

>>14444

>Quints of 4s?

Still,Happy Quads of 4s… I mean, no need to get out ahead of oneself…

Maybe next time, amirite?

Continuing… Going On About My Development…

(Remember, this is Benjamin Rowe's experience…)

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By the time the person has achieved and absorbed the highest purely human level and become an “Exempt Adept”, both these processes have pretty much been exhausted. Those parts of the person's being that are capable of being controlled and coordinated by the individual self are as integrated as they are ever going to be. The contents of the mind have been reduced to an integrated scheme and an encompassing philosophy. He is the Compleat Individual, so to speak. Such people – as Crowley notes – tend to become leaders of “schools of thought” for spreading their philosophy; or they become priests or social leaders of some sort.

Crowley talks about the next stage of the process as if it were something to be consciously decided; but in fact, if it happens out of anything except necessity, the person is probably jumping the gun. (I should note that the description that follows is from my own experience, coordinated with a very few other people's; your mileage may vary. And this applies only to the magickal/cabalistic approach; it doesn't seem to occur – at least not with the same severity – in the more mystical approaches of the Eastern systems.)

The Exempt Adept now enters into a period of increasing “dryness”, what I call “wandering in the wasteland”, following the myth of the Grail Knights . I don't know how this associates with the so-called “dark night of the soul” – descriptions of that never resonate for me. He has reached a point of diminishing returns in both his magickal and cabalistic endeavors.

His magickal work still raises his consciousness above its normal level; but instead of staying at that higher level, he always seems to fall back to the point where he started, or advances only the most minute increment – far too little for the amount of effort expended. And such advances as he makes eventually turn out to be only variations on what he has already accomplished, not something truly new. There seems to be some sort of asymptotic principle in effect. Each increment he moves above his current level requires substantially larger amounts of effort; he can expend all the energy at his command without getting to a stable higher level.

A similar state exists with respect to his cabalistic work. He continues to make elaborations on his synthetic scheme, but finds that new additions and expansions decrease in frequency. At the same time he becomes aware that there are aspects of existence that cannot be fit into his present scheme without destroying it utterly and starting over from scratch; he doesn't know what these aspects are, exactly, but he can sense them looming over the horizon.

And his finely coordinated Self seems to be spinning its wheels in most of its endeavors. He can still act out the functions of the Exempt Adept, but gets less pleasure and fulfillment out of doing so. He can't get a grip on things, on a way to use this great Self of his; he feels like he is trying to act in a frictionless environment.

>>14443

>>14444

>>14445

Concluding the essay by Benjamin Rowe, "The Illusion of the Abyss":

(his experience)

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The reason for all this is that the Adept is looking for something that isn't there – that is, a continuation of the path as he has experienced it so far, with its blinding revelations, ecstatic highs, encompassing archetypes, etc. There just isn't any more of that, above his current level; such things are characteristic of the human-accessible magickal realms, not the transcendent realms. But he doesn't know that.

Needless to say, the Adept in this situation is a pretty miserable character. Not all the time; usually he can go about his business in the character of the Adept without any difficulty. But periodically the futility of it all hits, and the despair and desperation can reach incredible levels of intensity. What he wants, more than anything, is to get OUT, without seeing any way of doing so. Like the mythical Christ on his cross, he calls out to his god, and gets no answer. All he can do is suffer alone.

But even despair has its limits; when nothing one does can have any effect on the situation, one eventually just gives it up. He gets beyond hope of anything happening, beyond despair that nothing is happening, and just lives life as it comes, without any particular plans or expectations, without any desire beyond the moment. He goes on because that is what he does, and for no purpose. This whole process can go on for a long time. In my own case, the period of increasing despair lasted over five years, the period of “just living” lasted another five.

The actual awakening of transcendent being seems an anticlimax after the wasteland period. Even now, four years after the fact, I am uncertain exactly what triggered the moment when it awoke. All I recall is that some chance remark by a person in an online discussion group caused me to make an assessment, and the being noted that it was no longer identical with the self, but was aware without dependence upon the facilities of the individualized “soul”. It was now the no-thing-ness of Binah, instead of identifying with the differentiated activities of the lower spheres. It could put the self on, like a set of clothes, and off again at will.

What happened then is another story. But a few things to note:

– Despite being very unpleasant, there was no destruction of the individualized self involved; the transcendent being simply “stepped out” of it, leaving it more or less intact, for the moment. A rather substantial re-orientation of it took place later, but it was still undamaged.

– There was no “jumping into the Abyss”; in fact, no Abyss as such.

– There was no confrontation with the Demon Choronzon, or any other supposed “denizen” of the “Abyss”. No apparently external horrors of any sort, not even Chthulhu.

– No particular invocations were involved in triggering the event. It took place during an hiatus in my Enochian work, and that work was directed to other purposes in any case.

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As for "Enochian Work", I'll also include here a link to "The Vision and the Voice"

LIBER XXX AERUM vel Saeculi sub figvra CCCCXVIII

https://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/index

> inb4 I start quoting from that too!'

>>14446

> inb4 I start quoting from that too!

OK, (You) talked me into it…

(from the Introduction)

https://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/intro418

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THE CALL OR KEY OF THE THIRTY AETHYRS

O Ye Heavens which dwell in the first Aire, ye are mighty in the parts of the Earth, and execute therein the Judgment of the Highest! Unto you it is said: Behold the Face of your God, the beginning of Comfort, whose eyes are the brightness of the Heavens, which provided you for the Government of the Earth, and her unspeakable variety, furnishing you with the power of understanding to dispose of all things according to the Foresight of Him that Sitteth on the Holy Throne, and rose up in the Beginning, saying: The Earth, let her be governed by her parts, and let there be Division in her, that the glory of her may be always ecstasy and imitation of orgasm. Her course, let it run with the Heavens; and as an handmaid let her serve them. One season, let it confound another, and let there be no creature upon or within her the same. All her members, let them differ in their qualities, and let there be no one Creature equal with another. The reasonable Creatures of the Earth, and Men, let them vex and weed out one another; and their dwelling-places, let them forget their Names. The work of man and his pomp, let them be defaced. His building, let it be a Cave for the Beast of the Field! Confound her understanding with darkness! For why? It repenteth me concerning the Virgin and the Man. One while let her be known, and another while a stranger: because she is the bed of an Harlot, and the dwelling-place of him that is fallen.

O ye Heavens arise! The lower heavens beneath you, let them serve you! Govern those that govern! Cast down such as fall. Bring forth with those that increase, and destroy the rotten. No place let it remain in one number. Add an diminish until the stars be numbered. Arise! Move! and appear before the Covenant of His mouth, which He hath sworn unto us in His Justice. Open the Mysteries of your Creation, and make us partakers of THE UNDEFILED KNOWLEDGE.

>>14447

OH? You wish to begin the work?

https://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/aethyr30

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The Cry of the 30th Æthyr Which is Called TEX

I AM in a vast crystal cube in the form of the Great God Harpocrates. This cube is surrounded by a sphere. About me are four archangels in black robes, their wings and armour lined out in white.

In the North is a book on whose back and front are A.M.B.Z. in Enochian characters. (zbma)

Within it is written:

I AM, the surrounding of the four.

Lift up your heads, O Houses of Eternity: for my Father goeth forth to judge the World. One Light, let it become a thousand, and one sword ten thousand, that no man hide him from my Father's eye in the Day of Judgment of my God. Let the Gods hide themselves: let the Angels be troubled and flee away: for the Eye of My Father is open, and the Book of the Aeons is fallen.

Arise! Arise! Arise! Let the Light of the Sight of Time be extinguished: let the Darkness cover all things: for my Father goeth forth to seek a spouse to replace her who is fallen and defiled.

Seal the book with the seals of the Stars Concealed: for the Rivers have rushed together and the Name הוהי is broken in a thousand pieces (against the Cubic Stone).

Tremble ye, O Pillars of the Universe, for Eternity is in travail of a Terrible Child; she shall bring forth an universe of Darkness, whence shall leap forth a spark that shall put his father to flight.

The Obelisks are broken; the stars have rushed together: the Light hath plunged into the Abyss: the Heavens are mixed with Hell.

My Father shall not hear their Noise: His ears are closed: His eyes are covered with the clouds of Night.

The End! the End! the End: For the Eye of Shiva He hath opened: the Universe is naked before Him: for the Aeon of Saturn leaneth toward the Bosom of Death.

[Figure: This is an isosceles triangle with height about 7 times the base. It extends with base on a true vertical from the left. A line extends vertically upward from the apex, equal to the length of the base. A trefoliate of three isosceles triangles of base slightly smaller than the first triangle and sides equal to the first triangle is created at the upper tip of the line. The tree component triangles of the terfolate meet the upper tip of the line with their apices — one vertically and two to right and left.]

The Angel of the East8 hath a book of red written in letters of Blue A.B.F.M.A. in Enochian (amfba). The Book grows before my eyes and filleth the Whole Heaven.

Within: “It is Written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God.”

I see above the Book a multitude of white-robed Ones from whom droppeth a great rain of Blood; but above them is a Golden Sun, having an eye, whence a great Light.

I turned me to the South: and read therein:

Seal up the Book! Speak not that which thou seest and reveal it unto none: for the ear is not framed that shall hear it: nor the tongue that can speak it!

O Lord God, blessed, blessed, blessed be Thou for ever!

Thy Shadow is as great Light.

Thy Name is as the Breath of Love across all Worlds.

[Figure: This is a swastika or fylfot cross. It is widdershins, with each bend going to the right when viewed down one arm from the center. All elements are either vertical or horizontal, none diagonal.]

(A vast Svastika is shewn unto me behind the Angel with the Book.)

Rend your garments, O ye clouds! Uncover yourselves! for the Love of My Son!

Who are they that trouble thee?

Who are they that slew thee?

>>14452

Continuing fromThe Cry of the 30th Æthyr Which is Called TEX

https://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/aethyr30

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O Light! Come thou, who art joined with me to bruise the Dragon's head. We, who are wedded, and the Earth perceiveth it not!

O that Our Bed were seen of Men, that they might rejoice in My Fertility: that My Sister might partake of My Great Light.

O Light of God, when wilt thou find the heart of man — write not! I would not that men know the Sorrow of my Heart, Amen!

I turned me to the West, and the Archangel bore a flaming Book, on which was written AN in Enochian (na). Within was drawn a fiery scorpion, yet cold withal.

Until the Book of the East be opened!

Until the hour sound!

Until the Voice vibrate!

Until it pierce my Depth;

Look not on High!

Look not Beneath!

For thou wilt find a life which is as Death: or a Death which should be infinite.

For Thou art submitted to the Four: Five thou shalt find, but Seven is lone and far.

For she is “lone and far”, i.e., beyond the Abyss.

O Lord God, let Thy Spirit hither unto me!

For I am lost in the night of infinite pain: no hope: no God: no resurrection: no end: I fall: I fear.

O Saviour of the World, bruise Thou my Head with Thy foot to save the world, that once again I touch Him whom I slew, that in my death I feel the radiance and the heat of the moving of Thy Robes!

Let us alone! What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?

Go! Go!

If I keep silence — Or if I speak each word is anguish without hope.

And I heard the Aethyr cry aloud “Return! Return! Return! For the work is ended; and the Book is shut; and let the glory be to God the Blessed for ever in the Aeons, Amen.” Thus far is the voice of TEX and no more.