Hi everyone, I have two things to mention to all my readers today: First thank you to everyone who has been supporting Nu Gnosis magazine and the Gnostic Church of LVX. We've managed to put out some exciting issues over the past couple years and we couldn't have done it without your support.
Second thing: I'm reviving this blog by starting a new tradition. Every equinox/solstice I will give a sneak peek of one of our featured articles in Nu Gnosis. This issue of Volume 3 Number 1 we have many excellent essays and some magickal records to boot; but to wet your pallet a bit I will share Paul Rovelli's thought provoking article titled: 'An Exegesis of Babalon and The Beast' in this article he skillfully researchers and analyses references to Babalon and the Beast as they occur in the Old and New Testament, and then compares and contrasts these references with Crowley's Visions in Liber 418. The research and insight are though provoking and will definitely aid in ones understanding and meditation on these important deities in our magickal system.
So here is a short teaser of the article if you will. The rest of it of course is available through our latest issue which you can purchase here: Nu Gnosis V3 N1
An Exegesis of Babalon& the Beast
Noting that the Jews have the half and that the Hebrew
Qabalah is of integral importance to Thelemic Doctrine, I have often written in
my qablistic thoughts, finding equivalence in the number 13, as a ThRShRQ of
31. And this is certainly valuable in
its own rite. But there seems also a way
to show 13 as the Jewish half with 31 (Key to Liber AL), as the Thelemic
half. In the Hebrew qabalistic text, the
Book of the Concealed Mystery, the beard of the Macroprosopus is divided into
13 sections. Kether, as the head of
Macroprosopus is given seven conformations from which the beard hangs. The whiteness of the beard is said to be the
radiance of the Divine; reaching into the lower emanations and covering the
body of the Ruach: 7+6=13, which by AIQ BKR, reduces to 4 (the Tetragrammaton:
IHVH).
We find a source for this in Daniel 7:9 of the Old Testament
with his description of the Divine:
"As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze."
We also find intimations of this in Crowley’s vision of the 9thAethyr:
“Now then we are passed within the lines of the army, and we
are come unto a palace of which every stone is a separate jewel, and is set
with millions of moons. And this palace is nothing but the body of a woman,
proud and delicate, and beyond imagination fair. She is like a child of twelve
years old. She has very deep eye-lids, and long lashes. Her eyes are closed, or
nearly closed. It is impossible to say anything about her. She is naked; her
whole body is covered with fine gold hairs, that are the electric flames that
are the spears of mighty and terrible Angels who breast-plates are the scales
of her skin. And the hair of her head, that flows down to her feet, is the very
light of God himself.”
The seven conformations from which the beard of
Macroprosopus hangs are:
1st Conformation: The head is prepared in the likeness of a
cranium.
2nd Conformation: The cranium is filled with a crystalline dew.
This is the radiant L.V.X. that we call RHK.
3rd Conformation: The aethyr is formed--skin, clear and congealed.
4th Conformation: The hair (covers the ears; that aren't mentioned in the text).
5th Conformation: The forehead.
6th Conformation: The eye (one non-closing eye; akin to the eye atop the pyramid).
7th Conformation: The nostrils--that breath the breath of the Divine into Malkuth;
giving life/consciousness to matter.
2nd Conformation: The cranium is filled with a crystalline dew.
This is the radiant L.V.X. that we call RHK.
3rd Conformation: The aethyr is formed--skin, clear and congealed.
4th Conformation: The hair (covers the ears; that aren't mentioned in the text).
5th Conformation: The forehead.
6th Conformation: The eye (one non-closing eye; akin to the eye atop the pyramid).
7th Conformation: The nostrils--that breath the breath of the Divine into Malkuth;
giving life/consciousness to matter.
The Microprosopus comprises the Sefirot of the Ruach that
represent the body of the Macroprosopus; Geburah is the left arm, Chesed is the
right arm, Tiphareth is the body or torso, Netzach is the right leg, Hod is the
left leg and Yesod is the genitals. But
in terms of the Macroprosopus, these Sefirot are but a reflection in the Ruach
(part of the Microprosopus) and in the supernal world are pure Sefirot; all
being contained therein.
If we take these six Sefirot and their reflection, as twelve[1]
and add Kether, then we get 13. And in
like fashion, if we work with the Microprosopus and take these six, as twelve
and add Malkuth, we also get 13. So that
this number has a recursive quality of which its secret nature can be said to
be the 4 of the Tetragrammaton. This is
important in that though the Jews apparently attribute the Divine to the male
gender, in actuality, IT is a biune god.
As well, the 13th word in Genesis is HMIM; “of the waters,”
which suggests the attribution of 13 to the Daughter.
The first two letters, IH (Yod, Heh) are the male and
female; Father and Mother. If we add
their values, 10+5, we get 15, which reduces to 6; V (Vau) the Son (Tiphareth
at the center of the Ruach and the body of the biune God) and third letter of
the Tetragrammaton. The supernal Vau is
said to be Da'ath (Knowledge) and the inferior Vau is said to be the Heh-final
of Tetragrammaton; the Bride. So that even the Son is said to have this dual or
biune nature; Vau illuminating the Daughter (Bride), as Yod illuminates the
Mother. And the Vau, as Da'ath shows us
why it is from Tiphareth, we proceed to the Abyss; demonstrated by the bow (the
Veil of Qesheth) & arrow (Sagittarius, as the path that leads to Tiphareth
and has Tiphareth as its point) on the Tree-of-Life.
Yod illuminating the Mother in the Tetragrammaton explains
the covenant with the Daughter or Bride of Microprosopus (Malkuth, the
Kingdom). This illuminates her, as it
passes into the woman (her womb) and she becomes hidden; the Tetragrammaton now
being expressed as IHVI and the I-final no longer then, signifies the Bride, as
IT ascends to the Supernals, which we can then surmise creates the need for the
descent of the Shekinah or Holy Spirit.
This leaves us with IHV, as we discussed, above. And put on a square, this Tetragrammaton
becomes expressed as: IHVI, IHV, IH & I.
Crowley gives a vision of this in the 9th Aethyr:
The Seer is
lost in wonder, which is peace. And the ring of the horizon above her is a
company of glorious Archangels with joined hands, that stand and sing: This is
the daughter of BABALON the Beautiful, that she hath borne unto the Father of
All. And unto all hath she borne her. This is the Daughter of the King. This is
the Virgin of Eternity. This is she that the Holy One hath wrested from the
Giant Time, and the prize of them that have overcome Space. This is she that is
set upon the Throne of Understanding [Binah]. Holy, Holy, Holy is her name, not
to be spoken among men. For Kor they have called her, and Malkuth, and Betulah,
and Persephone. And the poets have feigned songs about her, and the prophets
have spoken vain things, and the young men have dreamed vain dreams; but this
is she, that immaculate, the name of whose name may not be spoken. Thought
cannot pierce the glory that defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead before
her presence. Memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of Magick are
neither words to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her. Will bends like a
reed in the temptests that sweep the borders of her kingdom, and imagination
cannot figure so much as one petal of the lilies whereon she standeth in the
lake of crystal, in the sea of glass. This is she that hath bedecked her hair
with seven stars, the seven breaths of God that move and thrill its excellence.
And she hath tired her hair with seven combs, whereupon are written the seven
secret names of God that are not known even of the Angels, or of the
Archangels, or of the Leader of the armies of the Lord.
So that leaves us to discuss IH with their values
multiplied; instead of added. This gives
us a value of 50; representing the 50 Gates of Understanding (Binah, the
Mother). But also, 50 is the value of
Nun and the Death Atu, of which it is said of the IH in the Book of the
Concealed Mystery, "...if closely bound together then out of the dead, the
pentad originates." IHVHI then
shows more clearly how the Bride becomes hidden, as the I surrounds the
letters. And it shows how these 50 Gates
are of Understanding; the Father (I) combined with the Mother (H) in Binah, and
that these two are combined, Understanding becomes imbued with Supernal
Wisdom. But in the Tetragrammaton
itself, the Daughter (Heh-final) is left unprotected; not being shut up by any
succeeding letter. In this way, it is
said that Wisdom is opened out into her gates, as the Daughter and the Mother
are both reflections of each other; both being H.An excerpt from the 27thAethyrehoes
this:
And she cries: Lonely am I and cold in the
wilderness of the
stars. For I am the queen of all them that dwell in Heaven, and the
queen of all them that are pure upon earth, and the queen of all the
sorcerers of hell.
stars. For I am the queen of all them that dwell in Heaven, and the
queen of all them that are pure upon earth, and the queen of all the
sorcerers of hell.
I am
the daughter of Nuit, the lady of the stars. And I am the Bride
of them that are vowed unto loneliness. And I am the mother of the
Dog Cerberus. One person am I, and three gods.
And thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing me. For I am cold
as thou art cold, and burn with thy fire. Oh, when shall the war
of the Aires and the elements be accomplished?
of them that are vowed unto loneliness. And I am the mother of the
Dog Cerberus. One person am I, and three gods.
And thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing me. For I am cold
as thou art cold, and burn with thy fire. Oh, when shall the war
of the Aires and the elements be accomplished?
Liber AL velLegisalso takes hold of this in these
verses:
AL:I.24 "I am Nuit, and my word
is six and fifty."
AL:I.25 "Divide, add, multiply, and understand."
AL:I.25 "Divide, add, multiply, and understand."
The 6, as we've shown above, is also the Bride (Heh-final)
and the 50 is the Mother (Understanding/Binah).
In this, we get a whole new set of mathematics. Six times fifty gives us 300, the number of
Shin and the trinity of spirit; even IHV (the three flames shown on this
letter), as shown above. And six plus
fifty gives us NV (Nu, the essence of Nuit or the firmament). However, the division remains somewhat of a
riddle, as we don't end up with a whole number.
0.12 however, can be said to show that from the Ain Soph (0) the L.V.X.
or Aur is placed into Kether (1), which then transmits to both (2) of the other
Supernals. And so it is the Hebrew
Qabalah that opens up for us, the Thelemic Qabalah.
To read the full article which includes graphics and indepth analysis from the old and new testament access our magazine Nu Gnosis V3 N1.
