FOLLOW A WORD THROUGH THE COLLECTION
Search the corpus.
Phrase search ignores case and repeated whitespace. All-words search finds whole words anywhere on the same page. OCR errors can affect results.
17 matching pages
Page 1 of 11913 · PDF PAGE 31
CHAPTER III THE ALTAR THE Altar represents the solid basis of the work, the fixed Wiir of the Magician; and the law under which he works. Within this altar everything is kept, since everything is subject to law. Except the Lamp. According to some authorities the Altar should be made of oak to re- present the stubbornness and rigidity of law; others would make it of Acacia, for Acacia is the symbol of resurrection. The Altar is a double cube, which is a rough way of symbolizing the Great Work; for the doubling of the cube, Hke the squaring of th…
1913 · PDF PAGE 96
84 Little Miss Muffett unquestionably represents Malkah; for she is unmarried. She is seated upon a "tuffet"; id est, she is the unregen- erate soul upon Tophet, the pit of hell. And she eats curds and whey, that is, not the pure milk of the mother, but milk which has undergone decomposition. But who is the spider? Verily herein is a venerable arcanum con- noted! Like all insects, the spider represents a demon. But why a spider? Who is this spider " who taketh hold with her hands, and is in King's Palaces "? The name of this spider is Death. It…
1913 · PDF PAGE 179
…esires, dark, sweet, and clinging; and this again with half its weight of lignum aloes, which symbolizes Sagittarius, the arrow,' and so represents the aspiration itself; it is the arrow that cleaves the rainbow. This arrow is "Temperance" in the Taro; it is a life equally balanced and direct which makes our work possible; yet this life itself must be sacrificed! In the burning up of these things arise in our imagination those terrifying or alluring phantasms which throng the " Astral Plane." This smoke represents the " Astral Plane," which lie…
1913 · PDF PAGE 46
…both the understanding of the Magician and that sorrow and compassion which results from the contemplation of the Universe. The Cinnamon represents Tiphereth, the Sun — the Son, in whom Glory and Suffering are identical. The Galangal represents both Kether and Malkuth, the First and the Last, the One and the Many, since in this Oil they are One. These oils taken together represent therefore the whole Tree of Life. The ten Sephiroth are blended into the perfect gold. This Oil cannot be prepared from crude myrrh, cinnamon, and galangal. The attem…
1913 · PDF PAGE 19
CHAPTER I THE TEMPLE THE Temple represents the external Universe. The Magician must take it as he finds it, so that it is of no par- ticular shape; yet we find written, Liber VII, vi, 2: "We made us a Temple of stones in the shape of the Universe, even as thou didst wear openly and I concealed." This shape is the Vesica Piscis; but it is only the greatest of the Magicians who can thus fashion the Temple. There may, however, be some choice of rooms; this refers to the power of the Magician to reincarnate in a suitable body.
1913 · PDF PAGE 39
…these names; they represent " principles," whose operations chemists have found it more convenient to explain in other ways. But Sulphur represents the energy of things, Mercury their fluidity, Salt their fixity. They are analogous to Fire, Air and Water; but they mean rather more, for they represent something deeper and subtler, and yet more truly active. An almost exact analogy is given by the three Gunas of the Hindus; Sattvas, Rajas, and Tamas. Sattvas is Mercury, equable, calm, clear; Rajas is Sulphur, active, excitable, even fierce; Tamas…
1913 · PDF PAGE 151
CHAPTER XI THE CROWN THE Crown of the Magician represents the Attainment of his Work. It is a band of pure gold, on the front of which stand three pentagrams, and on the back a hexagram. The central pentagram contains a diamond or a great opal; the other three symbols contain the Tau. Around this Crown is twined the golden Uraeus serpent, with erect head and expanded hood. Under the Crown is a crimson cap of maintenance, which falls to the shoulders. Instead of this, the Ateph Crown of Thoth is sometimes worn; for Thoth is the God of Truth, of …
1913 · PDF PAGE 153
141 It also represents Hadit, of which one can here only quote these words: "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, there is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one." The serpent is also the Kundalini serpent, the Magical force itself, the manifesting side of the Godhead of the Magician, whose unmani- fested side is peace and silence, of which there is no symbol. In the Hindu system the Great Work is repre…
1913 · PDF PAGE 101
…rcury is fixed. One can then take the Holy Dagger, and separate the Caput Mortuum from the Elixir. Some Alchemists believe that the beef represents that
1913 · PDF PAGE 81
69 H. G. Wells has said that "every word of which a man is ignorant represents an idea of which he is ignorant." And it is impossible per- fectly to understand all things unless all things be first known. Understanding is the structuralization of knowledge. All impressions are disconnected, as the Babe of the Abyss is so terribly aware; and the Master of the Temple must sit for 106 seasons in the City of the Pyramids because this coordination is a tremendous task. There is nothing [)articularly occult in this doctrine concerning know- ledge and…
1913 · PDF PAGE 41
…h a handle of iron ; the lash is com- posed of nine strands of fine copper wire, in each of which are twisted small pieces of lead. Iron represents severity, copper love, and lead austerity. The Dagger is made of steel inlaid with gold; and the hilt is also golden. The chain is made of soft iron. It has t,^^ links. ^ 1 This is true of all magical instruments. The Hill of Golgotha is the circle, and the Cross the Tau. Christ had robe, crown, sceptre, etc. ; this thesis should one day be fully worked out. " See The Equinox, No. V, " The Vision an…
1913 · PDF PAGE 180
…eyes gradually opens. Some people think that these are the " eyes of imagination." Those with more experience understand that this truly represents things seen, although those things are themselves totally false. At first the seer will perceive gray gloom ; in subsequent experiments perhaps figures may appear with whom the seer may converse, and under whose guidance he may travel about. This " plane " being quite as large and varied as the material Universe, one cannot describe it effectively; we must refer the reader to Liber O and to Equinox …
1913 · PDF PAGE 135
…s" is one of the many meanings of the aphorism "solve," correspond- ing to the "coagula " implied in Samadhi,and this Pantacle therefore represents all that we are, the resultant of all that we had a tendency to be. In the I)hamniai)ada we read: All that wc are from mind results; on mind is founded, built of mind; Who acts or speaks with evil thought him doth pain follow sure and blind. So the ox plants his foot, and so the car wheel follows hard behind. All that we are from mind results; on mind is founded, built of mind; Who acts or speaks wi…
1913 · PDF PAGE 152
…of gold is the eternal circle of perfection. The three pentagrams symbolize the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while the hexagram represents the Magician him- self. Ordinarily, pentagrams represent the microcosm, hexagrams the macrocosm; but here the reverse is the case, because in this Crown of Perfection, that which is below has become that which is above, and that which is above has become that which is below. If a diamond be worn, it is for the Light which is before all manifestations in form ; if an opal, it is to commemorate that s…
1913 · PDF PAGE 172
…nd Greater Keys of " Solomon " are rather better, but we know of no perfect example. The design on the cover of " The Star in the West " represents an early effort of Fra. P.
1913 · PDF PAGE 79
…oceeds. One form ^ of magical cup has a sphere beneath the bowl, and is supported upon a conical base. This cup (crescent, sphere, cone) represents the three principles of the Moon, the Sun, and Fire, the three principles which, according to the Hindus, have course in the body.* This is the Cup of Purification; as Zoroaster says: '*So therefore first the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral water of the loud-resounding sea." It is the sea that purifies the world. And the " Great Sea " is in the Qabalah a name of…
1913 · PDF PAGE 87
… cards, is called " Cups ") is the letter Mem (the Hebrew word for water), which has for its Tarot trump the Hanged Man. This Hanged Man represents the Adept hanging by one heel from a gallows, which is in the shape of the letter Daleth — the letter of the Empress, the heavenly Venus in the Tarot. His legs form a cross, his arms a triangle, as if by his equilibrium and self-sacritice he were bringing the light down and establishing it even in the abyss. Elementary as this is, it is a very satisfactory hieroglyph of the Great Work, though the st…