The Chaste Woman

Start by looking at the columns of the Tree-of-Life. The Severity (and Strength/Din) of Geburah is in the feminine column under Binah, the Great Mother, the Great Sea. And so the Scarlet Woman wears the Sword of Iron (metal of Mars) as she is told to harden her heart. Her polar opposite, the Beast will conjoin from the masculine column with the force of Mercy from Chesed. These two forces are higher arcs of the sexual forces used by Hod and Netzach in the Formula of ON. Note here the juxtaposition with the male at the lower end of the female column and vice versa. Polarity is the dynamic constant of the Universe.

Part of the research work in this lineage of Our Order is in the detailing of the use of the weapons of the Grades. We’ve found that Crowley’s descriptions of the various weapons falls a bit short. And as the details of the project are outside the scope of this article, we will only say that in Yesod (Zelator) the weapon is the Knife, while the Dagger belongs to Geburah and the Ankh to Tiphareth. With this in mind, the following quote from Runar says much about Geburah and the Chaste Woman:

“When the Dagger continues this lineage from the Ankh, we see that its piercing qualities are needed. For the work of the Dagger happens in the world and no secret and holy chamber. Very needed, for the world that doesn’t listen to word of life, their Christian mercy will inevitably come as death by the daggers (of their own brethren), as their ethics have corrupted their environment, and laid it bare for conspiracies. All fights, but the brothers of the Black Lodge don’t love each other while those of the Great White Brotherhood do. For the Thelemite, the work of the Dagger is the painful self-inquisition of false Love, Hope gone astray and Faith fooled around. Have no mercy in this work or you will marry the ‘Bitch-queen of Maybe.’ And if she wasn't that at first, she will transform to this state, because of your aura and karma. The Abomination of Desolation is a true blessing in comparison to her company. So the work of blades in Geburah is a continuation of the work in Yesod, and the similarities abounds, but its a very different setting.”

Note here that a connection is drawn from the Knife of the Zelator to the Dagger of the Adeptus Major wherein the office of the Scarlet Woman is found. The Zelator learns to and ultimately masters the cutting out of that which would hamper his or her advancement and simultaneously meets with the Ordeal of Choronzon. But the Chaste Woman is first met by the Neophyte, working his way into Yesod. She is his Ordeal of the Nephesch. Or if the Aspirant be a female, it is her own sweetnesses, her own self-indulgences that can destroy her. And as Runar continues:

“Have no patience or time at all for any so-called Thelemite crusaders, oozing of sulphur and glowing of scarlet hell-fires in their inquisition mode, because if you show them your love, they will puke all their bitterness upon you. And they will collapse before your eyes making tear-wet stains everywhere, while they beg to get into your pants, -and if you so much as lift a finger at this part, they will curse you for not being the bitch-queen that allowed their finest dreams remain dreams, so ideal, so pure, so .. vain and unsuccessful. These are best left to their own inquisition, for thereby becoming able to raise the tools of healing. There are parts of Geburah, which is prone to cause trouble for communities now as ever before.”

"There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter." AL II.52

One constant ploy of the chaste woman is easy to recognize in the stories she tells to her friends and lovers. As soon as any intimacy commences in communication, she begins to relate the tale of the tragedy of her existence (these are her tendernesses). Note that there is much manipulation on her part to follow. In this way she will unconsciously fulfill the martial nature of her gender. She will wield her sword with the man seeking to relieve her of her affliction and ultimately curse him for being the bearer of this affliction. Yet the manipulated man comes to believe that he is not deceived, he shrugs with an consigning sigh “Women!…this is the way they are.” The extreme misogynist will even come to feel that if you don’t understand that this is the way women are, you don’t understand women. Further, Runar notes:

"The problem of Geburah as Din (Power) is the lack of balance which many are confronted with. The couple often appears to display a bi-polarity appearing as suppressor and suppressed. They are centered around a division balanced on hate. If they spot the balance too quickly, they are likely to conclude that the balance is evil, because that's exactly what it is – to them – there. The spiral of negativity and destruction is easily recognized in this couple's “loveplay” and it leads to annihilation, because assimilation into nothing is a key to passing on from this stage. But it is a matter of consciousness, if somebody gives in totally to this division of hate and destroys the wrong things in order to cling to a false pride, they are likely to lose the next battle. This center, this division of hate is a heart that can be safely killed by both men and women. But it might be easier to restore the balance by simply ceasing to suppress or being suppressed. Freedom will heal much here, and especially concentrating upon OTHERS Freedom. "

The key observation is to note her self-absorption. The chaste woman recognizes herself as the center of her universe, which is essentially correct. But she cannot see that she is not the center of everyone else’s universe as they are themselves. And she is confounded when they assert their own wants and needs, she is scared to anger and her sword is drawn. She is then quick and harsh in her judgments as she is also equally incorrect. These are sweetnesses, old sweetnesses that lead men to that consigning sigh. This is their own parallel sweetness.

"Let the Scarlet Woman beware! If pity and compassion and tenderness visit her heart; if she leave my work to toy with old sweetnesses; then shall my vengeance be known. I will slay me her child: I will alienate her heart: I will cast her out from men: as a shrinking and despised harlot shall she crawl through dusk wet streets, and die cold and an-hungered." AL III.43

Pity, compassion and tenderness are the fruits of narcissism. The Scarlet Woman, the woman of wholesome means, asserts herself with the code of the Warrior, respecting the light that is the center of each and every being she encounters along the way…the egalitarian comradery that is the mark of the Warrior. As soon as pity enters her view, she has distinguished herself as above the other, she goes back to the old egregore, hastening back to chastity.

Her child is the result of her attainment, but with the false ego on the throne of her femininity, her lust of result, indeed her lust is but alienation; not given to that mystical energy that is the electro-magnetic agent obtained through orgasm, but orchestrated to constrain the man for whatever end. The clever and misogynistic man will use this against her and either abuse her physically, or abuse her emotionally. Otherwise he will always be disposed against her in the secret sanctuary of his own heart.

"Let Mary inviolate be torn upon wheels: for her sake let all chaste women be utterly despised among you!" AL III.55

The name so often associated with women and the sea is as much a derivative of Mars as has been suggested above. But in this case, she is stubborn, that lying specter of the centuries that refuses to fulfill the functional office of Babalon, the Earth…she refuses to look outside herself as she is shut up inside herself. And all that she can see is her own wants, her own needs, her own dreams; seeking them no matter who she tramples or what the cost, even to her own future fulfillment…her own child.

There's three types of manipulated men; the Provider, the Bully and the Clown. The Provider brings home the bacon so that the chaste woman can enjoy a certain lifestyle...emotional, spiritual and intellectual intelligence are unimportant...and even physical beauty. The Bully has the muscles (or large penis) that expresses machismo and again, physical beauty is generally unimportant as are emotional, spiritual and intellectual intelligence. The Clown is your general Renaissance Man, he has the emotional, spiritual and intellectual intelligence, may possibly be even fashionable and at least is flashy in wardrobe...might wear unusual clothing...but most important, is generally the confidante of woman. But the Chaste Woman will never marry him, though she loves him the most.

The Chaste Woman is chaste because she has never given nor would she ever give her heart to a man. Yes, she may as the modern version of the Chaste Woman does, give her sex and lots of it. But with each sexual contact, her heart becomes that much more hidden in her narcissistic fortress. The Manipulated Man is her fool and her toy...even the Clown may lay in faint hope for her 'favors'. But she has plotted either for money or for someone to protect her...to keep her and make her feel safe and secure. And that is all she wants...though sometimes, she may try to change him...to make him (the Bully and the Provider) more like the Clown (kind and considerate, a true friend) and she'll sigh, if only the Clown had the money and/or the machismo.

But instead, these men play dumb...indeed, they really are dumb...she's the winner of the game...in the end, they don't even get her sex, which she's become so alienated from that she can't even enjoy it in the narcissistic fashion she once was able to. She gets the money and he does all the physical labor around the house. Or even, she divorces his ass, marries the Clown, paying for everything with his money. There, even the Clown is kept...so grateful for sex that he's happy to be her 'cabana boy'.

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet writes poignantly on the changing situation of the Chaste Woman, prophesied in Liber AL:

"Woman for the most part indulge in sex always with the secret intention of giving birth. This, though it may not be accepted by the modern psychologist, who seeks to read into the sex act a higher purpose or some other emotional function, is the woman's basic drive. Most are unconscious instruments, but in their inner beings and the subconscious parts, it is this idea that has allowed them to lend themselves to the act...Today, therefore, when the function of procreation is being forcibly restricted by the demands of society, --and in some cases the restriction is even imposed by governments for the protection of citizens who are threatened with extinction by the galloping rise in population, --woman's inner consciousness is undergoing a change in this matter. The so-called 'needs' of the physical--that is, the habit Mother Nature has imbedded in the physical, constitution for her procreative designs--must now seek some other stimulus in order to find satisfaction...Indeed it is possible to say that being the direct instruments of Mother Nature, women today have the possibility of rising to become instruments of the Divine Shakti, uplifted in their beings to lend themselves for the descent of a higher humanity."

This is the Scarlet Woman. To her is all power given--consciousness; not a baby or motherhood. That's why she wields a sword; the power of mind, which is the house of consciousness in contrast with the unconscious procreational drive.