Golden Dawn Skies
by
Frater Zephyros
The
Golden Dawn Skies of America
The study of Sidereal Astrology was a key
discipline that figured into the philosophy of the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn. They incorporated a great
deal of their secrets of the ancient zodiac into the Holy Tarot. This was introduced by first explaining that the regions of
the sky were divided by four and assigned to the aces of the four suits;
connected with the four Watchers. Knowledge
lectures on this map of the skies assign the commencing point of the zodiac to
the bright star "Regulus", found in Leo; measuring Right Ascension and
Longitude from that point. The idea
of this point occurring at the Vernal Equinox, which was once zero degrees Aries
evolved in Astrological circles as contemporary western Astrologers turned away
from the esoteric philosophy and to a psychology-based science.
This ultimately gets connected with the measurement
of time and the creation of a calendar. As
it’s a measurement of time, it also gets connected with a measurement of the
events that take place in the space/time. Prophecy
evolves from this as the course of the stars can be predicted through
mathematical calculation. We can
use such calculations as the movement of fixed stars against their originally
set position at the seasonal cusps in that one year in Taurus.
And we discover a precession of equinoxes that allows the calendar to
unfold and develop a story that correlates with events here on earth.
Of course, we can also study history and examine the nature of events
over a span of time in order to categorize time into certain periods that we can
call Aeons and Manifestations.
With this in mind, we get three distinct ages in
our more recent racial history. The
first is the Aeon of Taurus or the Age of the Pyramids and of Prophecy along
with the establishment of the Starry Gnosis as recorded by the ancient Magi.
Next comes the Aeon of Aries or the Age of the Chariot; described as a
time of tribal conquest with whole nations uprooted and wandering the earth as
nomads; great conquests are recorded as the human race begins to establish its
world order. Then comes the Aeon of
Pisces or the Age of the Church with the building of the Second Temple that is
Rome, which was the church as the Pharoah was Horus in Egypt.
It seems the Aeon of Gemini, which preceded the Aeon of Taurus was the Age of the Deluge, a flooding of water to drown the earth in the inauguration of the Manifestation of Scorpio. As the onset of a Manifestation seems to be a potent time the Deluge would contain awesome power. For the Manifestation of Sagittarius and its co-invocation of the Aeon of Pisces, we also see a great potency with many great and timeless prophets arising in and around its inauguration (from Buddha to Lao Tse and Confucius as well as 'Jesus' or Apollon of Tyana and later, Mohammed).
Aeons
can also be counted by computing 72 years for each degree of the Zodiacal Wheel.
With each Astrological Sign containing 30 degrees, a trip through one
Sign represents one Aeon or 2,160 years. These
aeons each represent a month in the great Zodiacal Year (the Mazzaroth or
Platonic Year) that is in total, 25,920 years in duration; and in complete
harmony with the Yugas of the Vedics. As
well, there are even other methods that others use to compute the exact moment
in time that separates aeons. But
really, I suspect that this changing of the guard is far more gradual and takes
place over hundreds of years.
To
derive the idea that each sign should be 30 degrees comes from the idea that
Spica (Wheat; a major American symbol as we are the breadbasket of the world!)
sitting at 29 degrees Virgo and the head of the Sphinx also being comprised of
Regulus (the King or Queen) basically covers the span of 30 degrees.
Regulus and Spica are 56 (an interesting allusion to the 5○=6□
degree of the Golden Dawn, which brought one into the inner Rosicrucian part of
the order and also the Qabalistic equivalent of NU, being an aspect of Nuit, the
night sky) degrees apart. This is
easily rounded off to 60, providing more mathematics for us.
If we divide 60 into the 2,160 years that comprise an aeon, we get 36
(the number of the decans of the Zodiac).
However, we should note that because of the elliptical nature of the Earth's orbit, the precession of the equinoxes does not actually work in this neat mathematical pattern of 72 years. The suggestion of 72 years would assume a perfecting of the circular nature of the Earth's orbit, which would be the unfolding of 'heaven on earth'. This would seem to be the hidden prophecy inside the idea that the Shemhamphoresch is the 72-lettered name of God. And note that one of the oldest names for God is Enki with 'En' or 'An' or 'On' meaning sky in ancient Sumerian and 'Ki' meaning Earth.
Pat Zalewski of the reformed Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn, makes a significant contribution to the revelation of the Starry
Gnosis with his attribution of the Governors of the Enochian Aethyrs to the
Zodiacal decans. He builds this
based on a very significant lecture written by S.L. MacGregor Mathers (of whom
Crowley owes a great debt); ‘Concourse of the Forces’ in the section ‘On
the Twelve Tribes’. Note that
also, the 30 Enochian aethyrs seems to have a direct correspondence with the 30
aeons of the Gnosticism of Valentinus. Each
Aeon has a name and is a specific archetypal angel.
We call the one now sitting on the throne of Ra, Horus.
In Zalewski’s book, Golden Dawn Enochian
Magick, he quotes Mathers; connecting the four Great Crosses with the
Elemental Tablets of the Enochian system. These
he then attributes to the Ecliptic and the Zodiacal Belt. He also notes Mathers lecture in Book ‘T’ where the
Sephiroth are projected onto a sphere with pillars of the poles (Kether and
Malkuth) of the Earth (North and South Poles; respectively), and the Earth’s
axis (the Middle Pillar) along with the quadrupled pillars of Mercy and
Severity. These, Mathers then
applies to the scheme of the Zodiacal Wheel.
The ancient Astrologers discovered that the
sidereal zodiac moves counter-clockwise over time against their fixed stations
in the sky. This reveals the
dynamic nature of the calendar and was used as a means of prophecy as these
movements were compared to events on earth.
The point in the ecliptic upon which the sun was seen at the moment of
the Vernal Equinox becomes a key indicator for some.
Using this method, the aeons from Taurus forward are marked as follows:
Taurus
– 4138 BCE
Aries
– 1954 BCE
Pisces
– 69 BCE
Aquarius
– 2485ev
Astrology
originated from astronomical observations that were the center of science and
philosophy in ancient Chaldea. They
taught that Regulus rose at the Vernal Equinox around 11,010 BCE, the Zep Tepi,
the "First Times"; known to us as the Aeon of Leo.
This is marked by the recording of the Regulus rising heliacally with the
sun at the Vernal Equinox and denoted the ending of the Atlantean Age (Aeon of
Virgo), which started around 13,170 BCE; using 72 years to a zodiacal degree as
the calendar method. Also, the
Sphinx is believed to have been built around this time as Spica rises heliacally
with the Sun. The Atlantean Age was
when humanity was intimately in touch with ‘the gods’, and probably, the
Aeon of Leo records a certain de-evolution in our original starry nature as a
race in order to involve ourselves in the plane of Malkuth.
Notably, in the
From a physiological perspective, this more than
likely corresponds with the abandonment by our species, in the use of the
Cerebellum as the primary source of perception in our consciousness.
We would turn from this and come to employ and rely upon the two
hemispheres of the Cerebral Cortex as the window of our awareness; transferring
the seat of our consciousness to that, which we now call ‘normal’
consciousness. A shift in
consciousness would occur, which would cost us our direct connection with our
starry nature as we move our ‘assemblage point’ from the Cerebellum to the
Cerebral Cortex. This at the outset
of the Aeon of Leo, is where prophecy and the methods of obtaining prophecy
would become necessary to maintain our link to this higher mode of
consciousness. It is why the
Universe Atu connects Yesod to Malkuth in the Qabalah of the Holy Tarot;
explaining the base of the ancient Egyptian statue of Sphinx being a lion; the
ancient symbol of Leo.
This symbol was so powerful to the ancients that aeons later in the classical age of ancient Greece, it was the central symbol of their mysteries; particularly, the ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’. This myth was the source of their initiatory rites and their public theater; the latter of which originated with the tragedies of the Oedipus cycle penned by Aeschylus. Sophocles and Euripides would follow in their own respective generations, by reworking the cycle as per the tradition of Greek theater. A part of this riddle is expressed through the symbol of the Serpent swallowing its tail. The Oedipus cycle dramatizes this with Oedipus mating with his mother; another version of the more ancient Egyptian myth wherein Osiris mates with his sister Isis, who is championed by their son Horus and recorded in the knowledge lectures of the Court Cards in Mathers Book ‘T’.
From this, the ancients viewed Isis as the mother of life and placed her head upon the Sphinx; ascribing Virgo as the beginning point of the zodiacal circle. The Rosicrucians hint at this in the ‘The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz. But note that the message of the Sphinx reads: “From the epoch of Leo to the future age of Aquarius”. It is from this first point where humanity comes to full involution into matter and the need for prophecy arises, we begin our prophecy for the development of our culture in Malkuth. Spica is the principal star of the constellation. And it’s interplay with Regulus was used by the ancients as the source of prophecy. Indeed, all interactions with the four Cherubic Stars are the source for all the symbolism used in the ancient prophecies.
But our story really begins with the Aeon of Capricorn (circa: 21,810 BCE and the reason why the Sphinx is placed atop the wheel in the Holy Tarot); remembering that the Jews have the half. This gives us our first day of creation and is revealed by its position on the cusp of the MC at the top of the astrological wheel. The Torah reads: In the beginning the gods (Elohim; pl.) created heaven and earth. Well, these Elohim were also called the ‘Sons of God” who fashioned humanity in their likeness. In so doing, they secured our starry nature as they themselves were the stars of the sky. These legions would ultimately split with some becoming very involved in the human race and from which such legends involving Prometheus and Lucifer would emerge. This new class of Elohim would ultimately be called the ‘Nephilim’.
Day two of Genesis (Aeon of Sagittarius; circa: 19,650 BCE)
describes the Elohim dividing the ‘waters’ into two ‘firmaments’; the
earth and the heavens, by dividing the one firmament in the midst of the waters.
In day one, they were created as one and so in day two, they are
separated. This is a perfect
depiction of two lines from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus:
“As all things were from one.” and “That which is above is from
that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above,
working the miracles of one.” This
also suggests the completion of the fall of the Nephilim; “cast out from the
heavens”. And the heavens are eloquently described as the vault or
expanse; spread out over the sky. Qabalistically,
we could say that the Veil of Qesheth is drawn.
This one firmament in the midst is the seed of creation and
the central theme of Alchemy. But
now they are two with half the Elohim of the heavens and half of the earth.
The Nephilim incarnate as humans; impregnating the ‘Sophia’ or
‘Daughters of Men’ to bring immortal life to the clay shells of the lower
firmament. And we have the third
day as the Aeon of Scorpio; circa:
17,490 BCE. By this time
now, we see two races of creatures on the planet, those shells seeking the
immortal life or those whom already have it and those blind shells whom shall
remain unto the death.
It has been taught by mystics from time
immemorial that the one god or universal mind devolves into matter for the
virtue of experience; to become more than the infinitesimal nothing that it
originally is. And so as per Liber
LXV II.6: “Therein
was this virtue, that the One became the all.”
And there’s a perfect complement to this in Liber CCXX I.30:
“This is the creation of the
world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.” And
so the deeply-rooted quest for human experience begins the Aeon of Libra; circa:
15,330 BCE.
We’ve already shown (above) how the fifth day is the
golden age or Aeon of Virgo (circa: 13,170 BCE, note the corresponding
inauguration of the Manifestation of Libra!); where human knowledge reaches a
level of perfection. It was an age
of intelligence and the mastery of those sciences that we have yet to discover
in our own modern age. This time is
where all the most ancient knowledge springs from and is fixed in the model of
the Sphinx that has been encoded into the Holy Tarot. The Aeon of Leo (circa: 11,010) was the patriarchal
complement to this matriarchal age. We
have in this time a great ruler, a man called by the Jews, Abram, who ruled for
61 years.
AL
I.46: "Nothing is a secret key of this law.
Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred &
eighteen."
8850 BCE is the Aeon of Cancer. There seems to be no Biblical information on this aeon; it
being the seventh aeon and according to Hebrew scripture, the day on which God
rested. Saturn is the seventh
planet and is attributed to the cold North; whose station has no Warden in
Masonic tradition; teaching that the ‘Word of God’ comes from this point.
This knowledge is also esoterically expressed in the institution of the
Sabbath; the seventh day upon which God rested from his labor in Genesis.
AL
I.27: "Then
the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely
brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling
perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that
men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all,
since thou art continuous!"
At about 6690 BCE occurs the Aeon of Gemini, which is
completely lost to us due to the devastation of the Deluge.
Note that Noah, the 8th personality introduced into Hebrew
scripture is 600 years old and that there were eight people on the Ark.
And our culture re-incorporates itself to wholeness in Malkuth at the Aeon
of Taurus at approximately 4530BCE. Abram
appears on the scene; known to the Vedics as Brama.
This marks a major milestone in human cultural evolution and development.
At this point the four Watcher Stars (seen as the Guardian Angels of our
race) played a prominent role in the four stations of the sun.
Aldebaran, the Red Eye of the Stellar Bull rose conjunct the Sun on the
Vernal Equinox. Regulus, the Heart
of the Lion, rose conjunct the Sun on the Summer Solstice.
Antares, the Eagle's Eye or conversely, the Scorpion's Heart rose on the
Autumnal Equinox. And Fomalhaut,
the Fishes Mouth rose on the Winter Solstice.
The Zodiacal Wheel is fixed and the Mystery Tradition is born.
The Aeon of Aries, circa 2370 BCE, produces the Covenant of Abraham; the
birth of Moses occurs around 1620-1525 BCE along with the introduction Akhenaten
into Greece, the
Emerald Tablets of Hermes and the Hammurabi Code.
Going back into pre-history at approximately 13,170 B.C.E.;
in a time called the Atlantean Age, the Sun rose with the star Spica (the shaft
of wheat that Isis is holding) on the Vernal Equinox. This is the Aeon of Virgo or Isis. It’s the proverbial ‘Golden Age’ of humanity; found in
all the great myths; the Matriarchal epoch.
From the primordial ‘waters of life’ come the firmaments of the
heavens and of the earth. This is
the fifth day of ‘Creation’ depicted in Genesis and begins the wheel of the
ancient Zodiac as the symbol of the Sphinx signifies.
The next Aeon would be that of Leo; the Lion portion of the
Sphinx. Humanity perfects itself in
the arts and sciences and those great philosophies that make for the immortal
life. The message of the Sphinx
reads: “From the epoch of Leo to
the future age of Aquarius”. The
Aeon of Leo occurs at approximately 11, 010 B.C.E. and the Sun rises for the
first time with the star Regulus. The
great cultures of Babylon, Egypt and India arise and the Sphinx is built.
So the interactions of the two principal pre-Deluge actors, Regulus and
Spica play a significant role from this point forward.
The Aeon of Cancer occurs around 8850 B.C.E. and is the
time depicted Biblically as the ‘Fall’.
In legend, it is when Enlil and Enki manufactured the human race; when
the ‘Sons of God’ mated with the ‘Daughters of Man’ and the most ancient
of gods (Titans, Nephilim) flourished on the earth.
But this ancient world is all but destroyed by the deluge in
approximately 6500 B.C.E.; the Aeon of Gemini, where humanity has mixed up its
language; splintering into a great diversity of languages and we would not see
humanity again flourishing until the age of Taurus; starting in approximately
4530 B.C.E.. This is the aeon that
first holds those guardians of the keys of knowledge and immortality.
It is in this aeon that the four Watcher Stars rise on the four quarters
of the Sun. Aldebaran rises
heliacally on the Vernal Equinox; Regulus rises heliacally on the Summer
Solstice; Antares Rises heliacally on the Vernal Equinox; Fomalhaut rises
heliacally on the Winter Solstice. This
is the last time that this has ever happened.
These four fixed stars form a Grand Cross in the sky and are the guardians at the four gates of the heavens. It is in this starry night sky that this most ancient knowledge has been recorded and passed down to present times. Other stars in the sky also have relevance in their interactions with the constellations and signs as well as the planets that have been carefully studied since time immemorial. However, the constellation of Orion begins the story with the Pleiades as his belt, giving us Alcyone, its brightest star. Alcyone was considered by the ancients to be the center of the sky and the star about which the fixed stars turned upon. Orion, known as the ‘Glorious One’ and ‘He Who Cometh Forth as Light,’ is the hunter in this age of the bull. His belt points to Sirius in the southeast (also in the constellation of Canis Major of the sign of Cancer) and Aldebaron, the Watcher of the East in the constellation of Taurus and in the northeast.
The fourth Cherub is Metatron; also known as Lucifer, who was thrown out of heaven in his love for humanity as per the Greek story of Prometheus; bringing fire (spirit and immortality) to humanity. This story is told in many ways and even Enoch is connected with it. If Enoch is Metatron, then we have an interesting connection between the Enochian system and the Nephilim as well. There’s also a Gnostic connection in that the thirty Aethyrs seem to correlate with the thirty ‘Aeons’ of the the Gnostics.
Taurus was the Aeon of Prophecy...it's at the root of all the mystical knowledge and the source of the mystery of the Sphinx. As a complement to Libra, Taurus is also ruled by Venus, the falling star also referred to as Lucifer. From there, we get the prophecy of three temples being built. The Aeons of Isis, Osiris and Horus. Isis was the matriarchal age and Egypt was the first temple. Osiris was its patriarchal counterpart and Rome was the second temple. We now get to the present era and we are building the third temple now...the United States of America, which will not be completed until the Aeon reaches its time marker.
These three rings on the Wand depicted in the Hierophant Atu refer to this.
As Oriel, the Hierophant takes Venus as a rulership. The Hierophant also now
connects with Netzach on the Tree-of-Life; ruled by Venus. This could be
said to be the Aeon of the Beast; the Aeon of Orien if we consider Taurus as the
Bull and center of the Mithraic mystery that would be remembered in the Piscean
Aeon.
In the fulminating warrior age that follows, the pyramids are built and the mystery of the Sphinx is fixed upon the Starry Gnosis. It is the age of prophecy and the time of the building of the ‘First Temple’; the great Egyptian civilization. Egypt would eclipse in history, all the great cultures that had come before it and rise to a greatness that would not be matched again until the building of Rome. The Aeon of Aries is the age of Akhenaten, Oedipus and Moses (AOM) who are now known to be the same person expressed through different cultural lineages as time had marched along. Its initiation occurs on the Vernal Equinox, approximately 2076 B.C.E. with the vernal point occuring at 29 degrees Aries.
The Aeon of Pisces is foreshadowed at the Autumnal Equinox in 500
B.C.E. with Spica entering its own sign of Virgo. This is the time of ancient Greeks and Dionysus; who is the
Avatar of that aeon as was AOM before that.
Each aeon needs its Avatar. And
Dionysus was the Christ. But the
important prophecy that comes from this time occurs in 147 B.C.E.
Spica rises heliacally with the sun on the Autumnal Equinox and Regulus
enters its own sign of Leo on the Winter Solstice.
This is Babalon astride the Beast; depicted in Atu XI.
It is at this time that we can say Dionysus becomes of legal age and
begins his ministry. But every
Christ gets its anti-Christ in this demiurgic world.
And on the Vernal Equinox of 321ev (3-21-321!), the Roman emperor
Constantine receives from Iraneus the vision of the Roman Chirho (that twisted
Ankh worn on the vestments of the Roman priests to this day) with the prophecy:
‘In hoc signa vinces’, which means ‘In this sign you will have
victory’. And the Roman heresy
manifests.
But Rome itself is the ‘Second Temple’ as told through the prophecies. It was the egocentricity of the Jews in the creation of their version of the myth to identify these as temples to David or Solomon. Their state never became much of anything and was easily absorbed by Rome. Yet it was the power of their myth combined not only with
other Gnostic thought from the other cultures all mixing in
that part of the world, but also combined with the continuing decadence and
decline in the original pagan faiths. And
a dramatic change in the character of the revealed Gnosis becomes a prevalent
worldview.
As Regulus is the Lion, so the Virgin is denoted by
Spica; one of the principal fixed stars outside the four Watcher Stars.
She sits in the skies; 56 degrees away from Regulus.
Her setting opposite the rising sun marked the Vernal Equinox at the time
of the birth of Christ, the central myth of the Piscean age.
This actually occurs at the Vernal Equinox with Spica rising 29 degrees
Virgo around 500 BCE and probably denotes the birth of Dionysus whom seemingly
incarnates as Apollon of Tyana at around the time of ‘Jesus’.
Virgo is opposite Pisces on the Zodiacal Wheel and we have our portent
for the Aeon of Pisces. Spica rises
in Virgo at the Autumnal Equinox, 100 BCE and denotes the birth of Caesar.
Regulus enters Leo fifty years earlier on the Winter Solstice.
The Autumnal Equinox of 70ev finds Spica rising in Virgo with the Sun and
marks the year Jerusalem is destroyed. And
at the Vernal Equinox of 321ev, the Sun recesses to Aries and marks the victory
of Constantine and the consolidation of the Roman Heresy.
The Roman propaganda machine manages to make the legend of Apollon become
forgotten and attributes his works to Jesus with the help of the skillful hand
of Iranaeus’ Cardinals. We then have the full re-manifestation of the demiurge and
the rise of the Dionysus’ antichrist. This
would cost Europe its history and culture and the loss of a thousand years.
The Rosicrucians observed supernova explosions in the
constellations of Cassiopeia in 1572 ev and Ophiuchus in 1604 ev.
These were thought to represent the ushering in of the ‘Age of
Aquarius’. Cassiopeia (called
Mary Magdalene and Deborah by the early Christians) is the Queen; representing
female sovereignty condemned by its vanity; causing a loss of dignity and
enslaved with the imbalance created by the Patriarchal Age.
Cassiopeia was the ancient Egyptian god ‘Set’, which referred to
being ‘set up as a Queen’. She is the divine splendour of Metatron; also known as
Lucifer and Enoch.
Set is the star Sirius, the 'Dog-Star,' known to the Egyptians as Isis. The Rosicrucians revered Isis as the Initiator as it is she who leads Christian Rosencreutz to the Chemical Wedding. And it is interesting to note that the Freemasons in the United States, evolved out of the Rosicrucian movement, especially through the medium of Benjamin Franklin and his connections in France, would name their hospital, specializing in heart surgery, 'Deborah Hospital'.
And Ophiuchus was known to the Greeks as ‘Serpentarius the Healer’ and was the thirteenth ecliptical sign contrasted with the twelve solar signs of the Zodiac. This clearly suggests the potency of the lunar cycle in healing and points to the idea of a
healing between the genders as a key component of the
Aquarian Age. And there have been
recent proposals by contemporary Astrologers, calling for Ophiuchus to be added
to the twelve traditional signs as a thirteenth sign.
Note here that it was in this time period that Rabelais
would establish his ‘Abbey of Theleme’, Francis Bacon and the Rosicrucian
movement was flourishing and Dr. John Dee along with Sir Edward Kelly were
opening the gate for the incarnation of Babalon with their Enochian evocations.
The Renaissance was in full swing and the Roman Heresy had its grip over
Europe, torn asunder.
And Cornwell even connects this ancient supernova to one
that occurs in the present:
The
last supernova was in 1604 in the constellation Ophiuchus. SN1987A
occurred in the constellation Dorado (The
Goldfish, the Dolphinfish) which is a modern constellation registered in
1603. Its name comes
from the seagoing dolphinfish (Coryphaena
hippurus), as its Hawaiian name, mahi-mahi which has a lustrous skin that
turns blue and gold as the fish dies, which is why this constellation is also
known as the Goldfish.
Dorado’s boundaries lie south of the ecliptic pole (the point at which
a line drawn through Earth’s center, perpendicular to the plane of Earth’s
orbit, intersects the celestial sphere).
The center of Dorado lies about 20 degrees west of the bright star
Canopus in Carina. Which
was once part of the ancient Argo Navis south of the constellation Leo and
Virgo.
A ring of gas now encircles the remnants of SN1987A which is 160,000
light years from Earth, will disintegrate in the next 100 years.
An interesting fact is that the star and it’s ring represent a dot in a
circle which is a symbol for the universe in Hermetic teaching and for the
element hydrogen.
We can turn to the prophecies of Nostradamus, whom himself
was a master of the Starry Gnosis, as he reads the movement of the stars in the
skies. He has some very specific
prophecies that connect well with the teachings of Liber AL vel Legis;
corroborating the return of balance between the genders.
The Magick of Thelema uses sexual methods that require the ‘woman girt
with a sword’; one who has her own power.
Century 10, Quatrain 84
The
natural girl so high, high, not low,
The
late return will make the grieved ones contented:
The
reconciled One will not be without debates,
In
employing and losing all his time.
AL II.52: "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."
Century 10, Quatrain 98
The
bright splendor for the merry maid,
Will
shine no longer, for a long time will she be without [zest]:
With
merchants, ruffians, odious wolves,
All
pell-mell, the universal monster.
[demiurge]
AL III.44: "But
let her raise herself in pride! Let
her follow me in my way! Let her
work the work of wickedness! Let
her kill her heart! Let her be loud
and adulterous! Let her be covered
with jewels, and rich garments, and let her be shameless before all men!"
AL III.45: "Then will I lift her to pinnacles of power: then will I breed from her a child mightier than all the kings of the earth. I will fill her with joy: with my force shall she see & strike at the worship of Nu: she shall achieve Hadit."
A
century after this, Fomalhaut in the early 1700s ev, enters Aquarius; leaving
the sign Pisces. Fomalhaut is the
Watcher star of Pisces Avstrinvs, the Southern Fish which lies at the feet of
Aquarius and drinks the outpouring of the Waterbearer (Aquarius).
In the Bible, Fomalhaut is called Albemuth and seems to predict the
nature of the nature of the Aeon of Horus:
[Joel 2:28.30] "And it
shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and
your young men shall see visions.
The
Age of Prophecy (Egypt) was a Matriarchal time in that the power of the throne
was seccessioned through the Queen. It
was a time when the lower river of the manifestation was seen as holy or we
could not have found any significance in the Starry Gnosis or the virtues of
blood (the Egg). This changed in
Rome with the full establishment of the Patriarchy.
Now, the bloodline was transmitted through the male (the Sperm).
Note that what shall come to pass here and now is the Aeon of the Child
Horus (the union of Egg and Sperm or the Serpent coiled about the Egg).
[Joel
2:29] Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out
my spirit.
And
we have entered the age of the ‘Common Man’, where the non-Royal classes
have formed their own mass oligarchy, at least in the United States of America;
leading the western world. The path
to Immortality will no longer be a secret of royal classes, whom were the only
ones even to receive an education. Thomas
Jefferson changed that by bringing education to the masses.
[Joel 2:30] "And I will
give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of
smoke.”
And what Crowley has to say about the Tower Atu is undeniably
synchronistic as he describes the nature of the Aeon of Horus as a time of war
and blood until every human being on the earth has a chance to exert the force
of each their own True Will. He
really believed that this was a truth worth working towards and felt that it
would ultimately be fulfilled in the Aeon of Maat (Capricorn and back to the
true beginning of the ‘Platonic Year’, when the circle of time completes one
full rotation of the Wheel. Nelson
Mandela said it a bit more eloquently when he said:
“Until the philosophy that holds one race superior and another inferior
is finally and totally permanently abandoned, everywhere, there will be war.”
XVI
The Tower (or War)
This card is attributed to the letter Pe, which means a mouth; it refers to the planet Mars. In its simplest interpretation it refers to the manifestation of cosmic energy in its grossest form. The picture shows the destruction of existing material by fire. It may be taken as the preface to Atu XX, the Last Judgment, i.e., the Coming of a New Aeon. This being so, it seems to indicate the quintessential quality of the Lord of the Aeon.
At the bottom of the card, therefore, is shown the destruction of the old established Aeon by lightning, flames, engines of war. In the right-hand corner are the jaws of Dis, belching flame at the root of the structure. Falling from the tower are broken figures of the garrison. It will be noticed that they have lost their human shape. They have become mere geometrical expressions.
This suggests another (and totally different) interpretation of the card. To understand this, it is necessary to refer to the doctrines of Yoga, especially those most widely current in Southern India, where the cult of Shiva, the Destroyer, is paramount. Shiva is represented as dancing upon the bodies of his devotees. To understand this is not easy for most western minds. Briefly, the doctrine is that the ultimate reality (which is Perfection) is Nothingness. Hence all manifestations, however glorious, however delightful, are stains. To obtain perfection, all existing things must be annihilated. The destruction of the garrison may therefore be taken to mean their emancipation from the prison of organized life, which was confining them. It was their unwisdom to cling to it.
The above should make it clear that magical symbols must always be understood in a double sense, each contradictory of the other. These ideas blend naturally with the higher and deeper significance of the card. There is a direct reference to this card in the Book of the Law. In Chapter I, verse 57, the goddess Nuith speaks: "Invoke me under my stars! Love is the Law, Love under Will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God".
The dominating feature of this card is the Eye of Horus. This is also the Eye of Shiva, on the opening of which, according to the legend of the cult, the Universe is destroyed. Besides this, there is a special technical magical meaning, which is explained openly only to initiates of the Eleventh degree of the OTO; a grade so secret that it is not even listed in the official documents. It is not even to be understood by study of the Eye in Atu XV. Perhaps it is lawful to mention that the Arab sages and the Persian poets have written, not always guardedly, on the subject. Bathed in the effulgence of this Eye (which now assumes even a third
sense, that indicated in Atu XV) are the Dove bearing an olive branch and the Serpent; as in the above quotation. The Serpent is portrayed as the Lion Serpent Xnoubis or Abraxas.
These represent the two forms of desire; what Schopenhauer would have called the Will to Live and the Will to Die. They represent the feminine and masculine impulses; the nobility of the latter is possibly based upon recognition of the futility of the former. This is perhaps why the renunciation of love in all the ordinary senses of the word has been so constantly announced as the first step towards initiation.
This is an unnecessarily rigid view. This Trump is not the only card in the Pack, nor are the "will to live" and the "will to die" incompatible. This becomes clear as soon as life and death are understood (See Atu XIII) as phases of a single manifestation of energy.
Crowley notes that this Atu could have been named
‘War’. And to complete this,
Mars is Horus, who sits on the seat of Ra in the Thelemic sub-Aeon of Horus.
At present, we are a warrior culture and the very might of the world.
It has been our calling to bring our ‘Manifest Destiny’ of Liberty to
the world. We have from our
earliest beginnings been involved with the ideal of being a ‘City on the
Hill’. So this is our work in
preparing for that more enlightened world to come; the Aeon of Aquarius when
Spica will rise heliacally at the Autumnal Equinox.
It’s been a time of not only almost constant war for this country, but
amazing developments in the technology of war and hence, technology in general
as the fruit of war. In the
meantime, Regulus has yet to enter Virgo, which will happen in 2012ev.
This is the time when the Sun will be aligned with the center of the
Milky Way Galaxy.
Fomalhaut is intimately connected with this ‘New World’
country as on the Vernal Equinox of 1723ev it appears for the first time in its
own Sign of Pisces as it entered the Sign of Aquarius at the start of the Aeon
of Pisces. Spica is also about to
set upon the western horizon; connecting these two in a relationship that
Astrologers refer to as a ‘paran’. And
at sunrise on July 4, 1776ev Sirius (The Beast) is conjunct the Sun over
Philadelphia (where the Declaration of Independence was signed); a date
deliberately chosen in a place deliberately chosen by the Signers.
This is connected with the Egyptians noting that Sirius rose over the floods of the Nile, which demarked the re-vitalization of their fields. These are the waters of the two lands, the two firmaments. It certainly reveals the Rosicrucian current connected with the founding of the United States (also by virtue of its Founding Fathers who were Rosicrucians); an order that was in its time, a manifestation of the Great White Brotherhood. It should be apparent that the Starry Gnosis begins to reveal the unique
nature of the destiny of this ‘Superpower’ that would
even incorporate this Egyptian and Masonic symbolism into the ‘Great Seal of the United
States’ with an unfinished pyramid and the ‘Eye of Horus’ above it.
Our
Founding Fathers fully understood their destiny and the unique role that the
country they were creating had to play in the new aeon.
( Cf. http://cura.free.fr/xxv/22sibly.html
) As Freemasons they saw this and put an important Masonic symbol on the
dollar bill and into the Emblem of the United States of America.
We can speculate that this interim period, the 288 years from when
Formalhaut entered Pisces and Regulus enters Virgo, is perhaps a window
connecting both ages and giving some credence to my theory that no aeon has an
exact starting date. Of course, we
can clearly see that this period involves a major paradigm shift in human
consciousness; intimately connected with the emergence of the United States into
a world power.
The Aeon of Aquarius has another major advent and that is
April 8, 1904ev and the Prophet Aleister Crowley’s (the Master Therion)
reception of Liber AL vel Legis; The Book of the Law.
It is from this date that the Thelemic calendar starts.
But the mathematical calculation of the manifestation of the Aeon of
Horus takes place just after the death of the Prophet (who in his own lifetime
didn’t think any clear generation of the Aquarian Age would manifest for
another several hundred years; corresponding with the idea that we will enter
Aquarius when in the Vernal point occurs in Aquarius in 2597 ev), when on the Vernal Equinox in 1950ev (AN XLVI), the mathematical model
plays its hand.
This is shown to us in the generation born in and around
this time as they would be the generation that changes the face of America and
the world in the late Sixties of the Twentieth Century ev.
America certainly is the ‘Third Temple’ to be constructed as so many
prophets have talked about when attempting to interpret the Starry Gnosis.
Noting that the Founding Fathers of the United States were Rosicrucians
and Freemasons with this important knowledge of the Starry Gnosis, it’s not
surprising that another set of high grade Rosicrucians and Freemasons would do
the same for the Golden Dawn.
To take this to the present time, we have some clues that
again, show a great initiatory period for the United States of America; covering
a period starting 1723ev with Formalhaut entering Pisces with Uranus (the planet
of Revolution) being discovered also in this period. This extends through 1776ev
and will be covered in detail below. And it goes forward to 2012ev when Regulus enters Virgo; the
home of Spica (remember these two are the stars connected with the Sphinx).
Star
chart for Philadelphia 1776
As
we can see from the U.S. Birthchart above, Sirius is conjunct the Sun.
An examination of the stars heliacally rising on that date gives us
Castor and Betelgeuse, which figure prominently into the American experience as
we will show below. But Sirius, the dog star, in its conjuction with the Sun
gives us the idea of the mundane becoming sacred; the ordinary becoming
charismatic with even small actions leading to large consequences. This is certainly a source of the sense of destiny that we
have as Americans. And America’s
mundane ‘pop-culture’ today, is spread over the entire planet.
And Sirius is the Beast; the Christ of the Third Temple.
We are Rome, we are Egypt; we’ve adopted the same symbols and
incorporated much of their greatness into our own.
Hitler and the Third Reich was our anti-christ as so will be the Middle
East as we carve out the ‘New World Order’; the ‘Rending of the Veil’.
It is incumbent upon us at this point in time to begin to look for clues
to the nature of the year 2012 and Regulus’ entry into Virgo.
That will probably be an end to this intiatory era and the beginning of
the first major epoch in this aeon as we move from there to approximately 2,500
ev; the last point of reference for the Aeon of Horus.
Astronomical
View of Sunrise
Aldebaran conjunct Uranus rises just before first light;
followed by Mars. At first light,
Venus is rising conjunct Jupiter and paran Betelgeuse. Then come Betelgeuse and Rigel; rising heliacally with the
Sun; followed almost immediately by Pollux. Aldebaran is the ‘Watcher of the East’ who strives to
achieve with uncompromising integrity. Note
that the Declaration of Independence, which echoes Pico de Mirandola’s: Oration
on the Dignity of Man, discusses the inalienable rights of man or basic
human dignity. Uranus is of course
the planet of revolution and Mars the planet of war.
Venus is Isis conjunct Jupiter the King; a potent symbol of the Aquarian
Age. And this is the scene in the
pre-dawn sky!
Rigel is the Educator that brings knowledge and Gnosis as
well as the foot of Orien; touching the river.
This is the foot of the Pharoah that was the symbol for the giving of
education, civilization and protection. How
interesting indeed it is that the Founding Fathers would for the first time in
history, call for the education of the masses.
Betelgeuse is in the shoulder of Orien, who was known to the Egyptians as
Osiris. Betelgeuse is a huge red
star that is considered one of the great stars and an omen of great success
without complications.
Pollux is the twin of Castor; both known as Romulus and Remus in the myth of the founding of Rome. Pollux represents the painful process of learning and discovering; a symbol of the tortured artist who sees the more difficult side of things and is struggling to come into a clearer light. How interesting our Statue of Liberty when it says: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free”. Really, this small window of time in Philadelphia is one of the most fascinating and auspicious moments that one could possibly be looking at on this planet.
From Madamme Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky:
"We
are at the close of the cycle of 5,000 years of the present Aryan Kali Yuga or
dark age. This will be succeeded by an age of light. Even now under our very
eyes, the new Race or Races are preparing to be formed, and that is in America
that the transformation will take place, and has already silently commenced.
This Race will be altered in mentality and will move toward a more perfect
spiritual existence."
August 11, 1999ev gave us an eclipse of the Sun at 18◦24’
E, which becomes a sensitive point on
September 11, 2001 when at 8:46am (as the first plane hit the north tower of the
World Trade Center in Manhattan), Venus, the goddess of vengeance is at that
exact point. In the New York City
chart, Mercury is on the Ascendant in Venus-ruled Libra with the Scorpionic Sun
having just entered the twelveth House of Undoing. And note that Venus was also conjunct Regulus at both the
August and September dates.
Regulus promises success if revenge is avoided.
But Regulus and Venus (18 degrees Leo) also work together here to echo
that theme. And of course, Venus is
Isis, the head on the Sphinx. She’s
in Leo, the body of the Sphinx, which is a lion (beast).
The
movement of Regulus into Virgo is also marked by a change in the Tarot where the
Trump, "Strength" with a woman holding a lion's mouth shut is changed
into "Lust" with a woman (Babalon) riding the back of a beast.
This beast is the Solar Lion and it was this beast seen in August 11,
1999 over Europe and it is this, which was the King of Terror Regulus).
So as the heart of the Lion moves into Virgo we see a figurative Sphinx
being shaped in the heavens.
But we’ve had not only our role to play in the
affairs of Europe; of which, Nostradamus has more than several quatrains devoted
to. He seems to predict quite
clearly the rise of Hitler and even the possible importance of Osama bin Laden.
Hitler as has become known, based the philosophy of the Third Reich and
Himler’s S.S. on propaganda derived from a perversion of Thelemic and
Rosicrucian Magick along with the work of Neitzche and the Social Darwinists.
He effectively becomes the second antichrist following Constantine and
Irenaeus and in complement the ‘Christ’ that was Crowley. The
shadow he cast over Thelema is not unlike the shadow that Constantine cast over
Gnosticism; the original and true Christianity that the Rosicrucians would later
take up.
The following Quatrain of Nostradamus is proving
notable in the present:
Century
10; Quatrain 72
The year thousand nine hundred
ninety nine seventh months,
From the sky there will come a
great King of Terror
To bring back to life the great
King of Angolmois,
Before and after Mars to reign by
good luck.
Nostradamus noted the Solar Eclipse 18◦21’ Leo; August 11, 1999ev. The King of Terror is Regulus, the heart of the Lion; the most fierce of animals and Angolmois is Mongolia; the people defeated by Mohammed’s armies. To add to this, Regulus was rising at dawn on [the seventh month] August 11, 1999ev over Europe; the ancient Christian enemy of the Muslim world that was responsible for pushing back the Mongols from the Middle East with the emergence of Mohammed’s Islamic theater. This marked the bombing of Belgrade by NATO; but one step in the events of the Third World War that is underway. As well, September is just before October (which is Latin for Eight). Regulus next rose at dawn over New York on September 11, 2001ev! That’s what makes the World Trade
Center towers so very significant. Osama bin Laden enters the world stageon the heels of this
bombing in 1999ev and of course, consummates his infamy on September 11, 2001ev.
Notice also that Regulus is seated over Venus in
the sky; a reversal back to the formal symbol of the Sphinx. The Islamic world is insisting on keeping its old ways; even
though the world itself is moving at rapid pace to the future.
And Denebola also rises heliacally with the Sun.
This star is the Nemean lion that symbolizes the goddess worship done
away with at the onset of the Patriarchal Age and the star represents the
individual who goes against the conventional views of society and becomes either
the persecutor or the persecuted; an apt description of bin Laden.
Star
Chart for eclipse, August 11, 1999 ev
Century
1; Quatrain 87
Earth-shaking fire from the center
of the Earth.
Will cause the towers around the
New City to shake:
Two great rocks for along time
will make war,
And then Arethusa will color a new
river red.
Oil comes from the ‘center of the earth’ and is
the key to American involvement in the Middle East.
And of course, it is well known that America’s insatiable appetite for
oil is at the center of its foreign policy.
Well, Arethusa is the ancient Roman province of Syria!
And oh how Iran and Iraq have played into this whole affair.
Things become even
To better understand the American role in world
affairs, we need to both understand Sirius and its role in America’s destiny.
In the Gemini Rising birthchart of the United States, the brightest star
of the Sign of Gemini, Sirius (vide supra), was conjunct the Sun at to12◦
44’ Cancer in 1915ev; during the first world war, which established the
United States as a lesser world power. This
is followed by a solar eclipse in Aquila in 1918ev in Aquila (the constellation
of the Eagle that rules the United States); accompanied by a supernova in that
constellation that was also conjunct Jupiter and squared by Mars.
And in the Sagittarius rising birthchart of the United States, Sirius had
precessed to13◦ 19’ Cancer in 1945ev; when America
established itself as a major world power.
In 1946ev, after the end of WWII, the U.S. quietly
set up a number of German scientists in the American southwest to develop the
principal weapon on the emerging ‘Cold War’; the Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile. In this same year, the
United Nations was formed and the state of Israel was set up in the Middle East.
This seems a fulfillment of another Nostradamus prophecy as one can
especially infer from it, a third world war:
Century
2; Quatrain 46
After a great misery for mankind
an even greater approaches.
The great [cycle] of the centuries
is renewed:
It will rain blood, milk, famine,
iron and pestilence,
Int eh sky will be seen a fire,
dragging a trail of sparks.
It is important that the reader get a clear
perspective on the ancient view of the ‘dog-star’, Sirius.
This star was considered the star that our Sun orbited; the center of the
Milky Way Galaxy. This star becomes
the central identity of our Galaxy as our Sun is the central identity of our
race. In a sense, it is the source
that feeds our Sun and the source of the Will of the Universal Mind; ruling over
destiny. It’s involvement in the
U.S. birthchart implies our predominant importance in world affairs; our
‘manifest destiny’. It is said
that every President must become a third degree Freemason. This knowledge of the Starry Gnosis seems to confirm that the true
source of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny in the early 20th Century
ev, has a secret history of origin
that wouldn’t be openly revealed by our government to its citizenry.
And what is to come?
Century
9; Quatrain 44
Leave, leave Geneva everyone!
Saturn will change wealth to
weapons,
RAYPOZ wil exterminate all the
opposition.
Before the invasion the heavens
will show signs.
Raypoz is said by Hogue to be a cryptogram for
Zopyros, the Babylonian betrayer. Babylon
was located where now stands present-day Iraq.
Hogue goes on to talk about Geneva being the second capital for the
United Nations. It is in Geneva in
1955ev that 72 countries (number of the Shemhamphoresch!) met to discuss the
peaceful use of nuclear power. Of
course, some countries misused the knowledge they obtained from these meetings;
particularly Iraq. Now, Nostradamus
also used phonetic cryptograms in his employment of formal names.
Note that RAIPOS = OSIRAP and that using his ‘green’ language of
letter substitution, we can end up with the word OSIRAK, which is the name of
the site of the former Iraqi nuclear weapons reactor; located outside Baghdad.
The other part of this prophecy talks about Saturn
changing wealth to weapons or as an alternative translation, Saturn changing
itself from gold into iron. We are
in the midst of three successive Saturn-Pluto oppositions.
Pluto is of course, the higher arc of Mars (Qabalistically attributed to
the metal Iron). With the first
opposition of these two planets taking place on August 5, 2001ev; ending with
the last one to occur on May 28, 2002ev, we have the possible duration of this
war. Anytime any of the outer
planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are involved in a conjunction, we’ve always
witnessed a forward movement in history. That’s
why these are called the
generational planets.
The Starry Gnosis needs to be
understood in order to correctly assess prophecy and its true meaning.
Integral to this is an understanding of which constellations belong to
which of the nations of the earth. Moira
Timms in her book; Beyond Prophecies & Predictions, provides the most
eloquent description of this:
If
a star map is superimposed over the Earth with the pole star (Polaris 28 Gemini
- Ursa Minor) placed over the terrestrial North Pole, we have a celestial clock
making one revolution daily. The noon point of that map (like Greenwich)
is the Great Pyramid of
If
the map is placed with the Khema over the Land of Khem (Egypt)- specifically,
directly over the apex of the Great Pyramid - then Taurus falls over the Taurus
Mountains of southern Turkey. Ursa Major, the Great Bear, rambles over
Russia; the head of Draco the Dragon coils up over China; Orion (the warrior)
over Iran/Iraq. Aries the Ram over Rome, and Capricorn (identified with
the god Pan) falls over Panama, Panuco, and Mayapan (the old name of the
Yucatan). Aquila the Eagle spans the United States. The analogies
are obvious, and quite impressive. This is one of the clearest examples of
the law of 'As Above, So Below'.
Our view of the Solar system is
centered at the North Pole, which features the constellation of Draco.
The myth of the dragon or serpent is an essential idea of the Starry
Gnosis. It involves the teaching
that humanity must attain Gnosis or at the death of the individual soul, the
soul is devoured (or dispersed) by the Draco.
If this soul has attained Gnosis or in Thelemic terms, Adeptship, this
dragon becomes the gateway to the galaxy of stars and a higher evolutionary
development. But if not, it is
re-coagulated and again incarnated into this life.
This is a perfect allusion to Choronzon in Thelemic dogma; indeed, it hold the key to
the successful traversal of the Abyss. The
body of Draco is then the belly of the beast, where humanity and all the species
of life on earth are formulated.
Nostradamus’ reading of the movement of the stars
created prophecies that predict the coming of a new Avatar with the Aeon of
Aquarius. And he seems to recognize
that this new ‘Christ’ won’t be in any way similar to the one that came at
the start of the Aeon of Pisces. These
prophecies can easily be interpreted validate Crowley as Nostradamus’
prophecied Avatar of the Aquarian Age as well as describing the inaugural events
of this aeon. It is also important
to note that all the quatrains in the present work are taken from Notstradamus:
The Complete Prophecies by John Hogue.
And in his work, he notes that every prophet of the last
one-hundred-fifty years does not fit in with the list of quatrains that he
provides that in his analysis; specifically deal with this new Avatar.
He looks at
The criteria he uses is as follows:
“A man from the East at home in the West: a
spiritual catalyst finds his teachings welcomed in the West, primarily in Europe
and North America.”
“The Rod of Hermes (after the caduceus wand of
Hermes implying the teaching is non-dualistic).”
AL I.45: "The
Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!"
Century 2, Quatrain 29
The man from the East will come
out of his seat,
Passing across the Apennines to
see France:
He will fly through the sky, the
rains and the snows,
And strike everyone with his rod.
Interestingly enough, Crowley also took his inner
order initiation in the Golden Dawn with MacGregor Mathers in France.
Century 10, Quatrain 75
Long awaited he will never return.
He will appear in Asia [and be] at
home in Europe:
One who is issued from great
Hermes,
And over all the Kings of the East
will he grow.
Crowley traveled extensively in Asia; born in Europe and
came to head the ‘Order of the Temple of the East’. His teachings were based on the Hermetic Starry Gnosis of the
Golden Dawn; linked to the ancient Rosicrucians.
Century 5, Quatrain 54
From the Black Sea, and great
Tartary,
There will be a king who will
come to see France:
[He] will penetrate through
Russia and Armenia,
and in Byzantium [Istanbul] he
will leave his bloody rod.
“The outlawed teacher: the status quo religions
will try to prevent such teachers from traveling freely around the world.
Century 1, Quatrain 96
Temples and sects altered by
fantasy:
He will harm the rocks rather
than the living,
Ears filled with ornate speeches.
Crowley was a master of imagery and very ornate in
his use of symbolism in his writings.
“The mystic rose:
the rose or red color, along with all the shades of sunset, symbolizes
teachings from the East and is applied to the colors worn by disciples of the
Eastern teachers.” Crowley’s
mystic rose was an important symbol in his sexual Magick. This combined with his sacred rood that was the key symbol to
his solar-phallic Magick and the Rod of Hermes as noted above.
(cf. Liber XXXVI)
Century 5, Quatrain 96
Upon the middle o the great
world—the rose,
For new deeds public blood shed:
To speak the truth they will have
closed mouths.
Then at the time of need the
awaited one will come late.
Century 9, Quatrain 51
Against the red sects religions
will conspire,
Fire, water, steel, the [ac]cord
through peace to weaken,
On the point of dying, those who
will contrive,
Except one who above all the
world will ruin.
“Mars and flame.
The new religious rebellion against the dogmas of the past is symbolized
by a red and rebellious flame. Many
prophets foresee a purification of humanity by fire.
It is for us to choose whether this fire is one of global warming and
world ethnic wars, or a fire of new religious self-awareness and
consciousness.”
Connected with this quote, Hogue provides reference
to three presages that come from Nostradamus’ almanacs of 1564 and 1565 that
corroborate this idea but are not a part of the quatrains of the centuries.
These almanacs are predictions for the particular years that they were
written in. And so I feel Hogue
makes a bit of a logical leap here. However,
Crowley provides an eloquent corroboration in his essay on the Aeon Atu:
In Crowley’s essay on this Atu, he implies the
nature of the Aeon of Horus as he describes the prophecy of the old version
of this Atu; called ‘The Last Judgment’.
“The card therefore represented the destruction of the world by
Fire.” In his formulation of the
new version of the Atu, he asserts that this prophecy was fulfilled with his
reception of Liber AL vel Legis and correspondingly, Horus (Mars) taking
his seat on the throne of Ra.
Hogue continues:
“Diana Dhyana: the Moon and
meditation. The science of
self-observation is one of the main tenets of the new religion.
The Moon applies either to the feminine and intuitive aspects of the new
religion or to the name of one or more of the spiritual catalysts.”
Of course, the Thelemite is the individualist; as
compared to the ‘herd consciousness’ of the corrupted aeon.
A thorough examination of Crowley’s system for attainment will show
that it revolves around the Hermetic Axiom; ‘Know Thyself’.
Self-observation is
Crowley’s skrying of the 27th Enochian
Aethyr (presented in the previous chapter) provides greater insight into Diana
and the moon. I’ve
extrapolated some of his footnotes to his record of his skrying of this aethyr
to further corroborate the lunar guidelines provided by Hogue: