The Aeons and Mankind

The concept of Aeons is a discussion about the philosophical and religious development of mankind. As it's subject has within its domain many different cultures and peoples, it is necessarily conducted in general terms. The vital points in man's spiritual/philosophical past have been extracted out so that their conceptual and causal relationships may be articulated in a manner which allows for their meaning to be observed. We begin with the unknown, vast and monotonous period of man's pre-history. 

The Age of the Sacred Earth Goddess-Aeon of Isis

The pre-dawn dark of man's early history stretches back many thousands of years, before mankind possessed the written word with which to record the flow of history. In this darkness, we know that man lived in nomadic bands, hunting and foraging in order to sustain life. 

Nourishment was taken from the flesh of beasts, in large part. Life sustained life through death. Man did not yet possess knowledge of anatomy nor physiology, but he did know one thing, that all things living poured forth hot red blood when pierced or cut, and with the leaking of this fluid the being ceased to be alive. Blood was the elixir of life, that which animated matter and gave it breath. 

Man also knew that all life came forth from the body of the female. Society at this point was unstructured, free from laws and from established custom--mating took place freely and regularly from the time a child began flowering into an adult till they died. The link between the male's seed and the growth of a child had yet to be deduced, to the best of anyone's knowledge children were the product of woman's body and that alone. New life came forth through the vagina, which also poured forth blood--the elixir of life--once per cycle of the moon. Indeed, it is no accident or mere chance that the word 'menstruation" is derived from the ancient Greek word for "moon".

This is the age of the sacred, undifferentiated female. All life, all things poured forth from the female, as the world itself was considered a goddess, now called "Gaia" after the Greek deity, though she no doubt took innumerable forms. Female was both active and passive, force and fluidity. It is from this period that figures of the sacred fertility goddess come, crudely carved out of stone and--to our modern eyes at least--grotesquely obese, her large size representative of natural bounty and abundance. 

The Coming of The Father God, and the Emergence of Monotheism-Aeon of Osiris

After eons of a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence, a new type of life emerged in certain fertile and temperate lands. Gradually, man mastered plants and livestock, and lost his nomadic existence. From hunting and foraging, he progressed to agriculture. This new form of life demanded greater structure and planning, on both the individual and communal scale. People paired up and spread out, no longer living together communally in one place. Crops grew and were harvested in concert with the cycles of the sun, no longer was the lunar cycle--which represented to bounty of the female's body--of paramount importance. 

True monogamy emerged as people spread out and built permanent structures, and with it came the realization that the seed of the man was what induced pregnancy in the female's body. Likewise, both the coming of the rains and the presence of the sun where what brought forth crops from the earth. The father god appeared, first perhaps in the visage of the "Storm God", then in that of the "Sun God", both of which dwelt in the skies above. Where before there was only Mother Earth, now there was also Father Sky. 

Culture changed as well, authority, structure and normative values all began to overtake the animal instincts which man had previously indulged freely. The concept of "Reason"--structured and purposeful thought--emerged as a tool to navigate this new world with. With this new tool, and the advent of the Father God, man conceived of reality as being composed of dual and opposing forces. Summer and winter, life and death, earth and sky, good and evil. From this concept of duality emerged Logic, Patriarchy, the State, Organized Religion etc. etc.

Sometime during this period, the storm and sun gods where combined into one and set above all other deities in importance by a Semitic people who lived somewhere in the vicinity of Cannan. In a similar but anticipatory manner, a great magi named Zoroaster conceived of a monotheistic deity in the Near East, the first religion of its kind to emerge. There was only one god, and all good things flowed forth from him. Disorder, destruction, death--these where all the product of some supremely malevolent being, a flaw in the perfect order of the creator deity. 
This new way of thinking led to a rejection of life, a turning inward. Life was seen as flawed in some deep way, and so Man dreamed of a second, more perfect creation. If one where to live their life in accordance with the good, it was supposed, then all their suffering and weakness would be abolished by the creator deity after their passing. 

As well as in Life, there was also evil in man. He was a deeply flawed being, it was supposed, in need of perfection, alteration, salvation. Man turned against himself, against the animal nature that he had embraced in the old way of life, which he now saw as an evil mode of existence in which reality was seen as one whole, and not two opposite forces. 

Continued in part two, where the Advent of the Dying God and the Aeon of Horus are discussed.

__________________

Of Slaves and Slave-Masters

Slavery, in its purest form, is the most opposed of all states to the natural form and function of man--for man, being alive and an expression of the love and beauty of the universal divine, is--like all life--naturally active in the most broad and powerful sense of that word. As well as this it may be observed that man, possessing consciousness of a degree and a type higher than that of any other animal which has ever stepped forth on the land, swam through the waters, or glided through the skies of this great and vibrant sphere we call Earth is gifted with the ability to experience and participate in the universal unfolding of being more than any other conscious being we know of.

It is thus a truth that in order to enslave a man, one must chain him--for man unchained sets no limit on his activity, whether physical or purely mental. But use of the chain and whip demands advantage of force, and when the slaves outnumber the slave masters by a wide margin no such strength exists.

Better, then, to have the slave chain and whip himself, to enforce his own bondage, if one wishes to exert such control over him. This requires new chains and implements of brutality, which produce through their use a submission of a more sublimated degree, wherein the slave does not even realize his bondage, but rather is deceived into thinking himself free. The chains of slavery being restrictions placed upon man's true nature, and the crime of slavery being the utmost of all blasphemies which may be performed, it is thus said that the word of sin is restriction.

But man, being no automaton, can never be truly fooled. Though he may not know that he is truly a slave, he often glimpses snatches of the world beyond his small cell, and suspects that things are not as they seem.

 

" WHO has not, at some period during his life, experienced that strange sensation of utter bewilderment on being awakened by the sudden approach of a bright light across the curtained threshold of slumber; that intoxicating sense of wonderment, that hopeless inability to to open wide the blinded eyes before the dazzling flame which has swept night into the corners and crannies of the dark bedchamber of sleep?"

 

 

 But as these snatches of light are but dreams, glimpses of a reality beyond that in which the slave lives, they appear a strange, distorted, or frightening visions, and are themselves no true knowledge. The slave, desperate for freedom to his core, is prone to accepting as his creed what in truth may be no more than a reflection, distorted like one's image seen through a polished bronze mirror:

 

 "Yet as the moments speed by the sight grows accustomed to the dazzling intruder; and as the blinding, shimmering web of silver which he has thrown around us melts like a network of snow before the awakening fire of our eyes, we perceive that the white flame of bewilderment which had but a moment ago enwrapped us as a mantle of lightnings, is, but in truth, a flickering rushlight fitfully expiring in an ill-shapen socket of clay. And likewise in the darkness, as we pass along the unlit arches of the vault, or the lampless recesses which, toad-like, squat here and there in the gloom, dimly at first do the mouldings of the roof and the cornices of the {167} walls creep forth; and then, as the twilight becomes more certain, do they twist and writhe into weirdly shapen arabesques, into fanciful figures, and contorted faces; which, as we advance, bat-like flit into the depths of a deeper darkness beyond."

 

Such is the depravity and soullessness of the slave-masters that even these glimpses of the world as it truly is are corrupted, and put to their own, special use. For the slave-masters themselves seldom sleep, in their Dark Temple. For though men need rest, and the slave-masters have many puppets among our kind, they themselves are not our ken.  

Man is chained through culture, through his idea of self and the demands society places upon it, through philosophy, through society, and through religion. His languages, his sciences, his philosophies, his creeds, they are all implicit in his enslavement, for they all demand restriction of thought through adherence to them. Even reason, the long trumpeted savior of man, is in truth but another jailer, one more servant of twilight:

 

"Words! ... words! ... words! They have shackled and chained you, O children of the mists and the mountains; they have imprisoned you, and walled you up in the dungeon of a lightless reason. Fancy has been burnt at the stake of Fact; and the imagination cramped in the irons of tort and quibble. O vanity of vain words! O cozening, deceitful art! Nimbly do the great ones of to-day wrestle with the evil-smelling breath of their mouths, twisting and contorting it into beguilements, bastardising and corrupting the essence of things, sucking as a greedy vampire the blood from your hearts, and breathing into your nostrils the rigid symbols of law and of order, begotten on the death-bed of their understanding."

 

Law and order. The very name on the foul temple of incest from which the slave-masters blaspheme and corrupt mankind. All powers which are complicit with it are demons to be cast down into the pit. He who revolts for the sake of social or political ideals does naught but rearrange the order and design of the false idols which stand within the Dark Temple.

The enemy is legion, he can be found wherever union between opposites is resisted, wherever the universal nature of all things being one as god is denied. He who becomes free in himself is a slave no longer, and forever--for he has realized that he is human, and cannot truly be made slave unless he is asleep. He was always a King, as he possessed the spirit and will to free himself, he had but to realize it. Those who lack the spirit and will are doomed to sleep forever, and know only slavery.

 

"Yea! deem not of change: ye shall be as ye are, & not other. Therefore the kings of the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve. There is none that shall be cast down or lifted up: all is ever as it was. Yet there are masked ones my servants: it may be that yonder beggar is a King. A King may choose his garment as he will: there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty."

 

 

The war against the Dark Temple is not fought through force of arms, or political action. For these things are and will always be of the slave and slave-master. For they are lies which use man up for their own ends, and leave his soul empty at the end. Instead, it is fought within the soul of man, who becomes a King by taking all opposites into himself, thus joining (but not becoming) god.

 

"As a slave who is bold becomes a warrior, so a warrior who is fearless becomes a king, changing his battered helm of strength for a glittering crown of light; and as the warrior walks upright with the fearlessness of disdain in his eyes, so does the king walk with bowed head, finding love and beauty wherever he goeth, and whatever he doeth is true and lovely, for having conquered his self, he ruleth over his self by love alone, and not by the laws of good and evil, neither proudly nor disdainfully, neither by justice nor by mercy. Good and Evil is not his, for he hath become as an Higher Intelligence, {216} as an Art enshrined in the mind; and in his kingdom actions no longer defile, and whatever his heart inclineth him to do, that he doeth purely and with joy....for he is free-born from the delusions and the dream of opposites, and sees things as they are, and not as the five senses reflect them on the mirror of the mind."

 

 

To become free is to unite with god, to enter the true Heaven. To do this, one must experience death, though their physical body is stilled not, but still beats with life. One such as this creates meaning through their own action, they sever their chains and turn them against the slave-masters themselves. No longer bound to the restrictions of their culture and society, they conquer, and their strength serves as a beacon, lighting the way through the Dark Temple for their brothers and sisters who seek freedom.

 

"Life is a horror, a writhing of famished serpents, yet I care not, for I laugh. The deserts awe me not, neither do the seas restrain the purpose of my mirth. Life is as prisoner in a dungeon, still I laugh; for I, in my strength, have begotten a might beyond the walls of prisons; for life and death have become one to me --- as little children gambolling on the sands and splashing in the wavelets of the sea. I laugh at their pretty play, and upon the billows of my laughter do I build up the Kingdom of the Great in which all carouse at one table. Here virgins mingle with courtesans, and the youth and the old man know neither wisdom nor folly.

I have conquered the deserts and the forests, the valleys and the mountains, the seas and the lands. My palace is built of fire and water, of earth and of air, and the secret place within the sanctuary of my temple is as the abode of everlasting mirth. All is love, life, and laugher; death and decay are not: all is joy, purity, and freedom; all is as the fire of mystery; all is all; for my kingdom is known as the City of God"

 

References:

-The Temple of Solomon the King, Part I. Crowley, Aleister

-The Book of The Law. Crowley, Aleister

 

Excerpt From a Discussion

 Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruprecht  Well, because the beliefs of individuals are usually forged through social interaction and participation. Usually it’s those shared conceptions, the web of culturally defined beliefs, and the interactions which form and propagate them, which both define the limitations, and enable the process, of our creation of beliefs and identity. At least in your individualistic version of the practice, your process seems removed from that. Like a fantasist or schizoid.

(Before we go any further, I’d like to clear up what I meant with regards to individualistic…mainly that I don’t limit myself to any one particular dogma or philosophy, but rather utilize things from literally any source that I find work for me. I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t interact with, and at times collaborate with other occultists or similar-minded people. )

Usually, but it is not the case that if an individual does not form their beliefs in this way then they are a “fantasist or schizoid”, or prone to a psychotic break. One does not imply the other.

This social process of identity and worldview creation is exactly the type of thing traditions like the occult, yoga and Buddhism seek to break the individual out of, as a matter of fact. The ‘self’ which the individual forms over time in response to early-life imprinting and the socialization process is constituted of self-referential beliefs which determine such things as whether the individual is self-confident or anxious, whether they are independent or dependent, if they are the type of person that responds to orders or gives them etc. etc. — the whole identity is created this way. It seems real, so real people think it is what they actually are. Social reality is no different, as I’m sure you are already aware.

Psychosis is actually a useful illustration of what is wrong with this social process from the occult point of view. Both a “normal” individual and a psychotic one share a rigid belief structure which determines how they experience the world around them and what they identify themselves as being. The difference lies in the psychotic’s inability to function within socially created reality. If there were a group of people who all shared a functionally equivalent psychosis, and a “normal” person was inserted within them, then it is they would be considered insane.

The problem is that in both cases, the “reality-tunnel” through which the individual views the world is mistaken for reality itself. This is where the occultist differs, as they understand that any reality-tunnel is not reality itself but only a model of it, and also posses the means to manipulate this model as needed. “The map/model is not the territory.”

Now, it is relatively clear that socially-created reality results in models that are somewhat more functional and perhaps more congruent with “objective-reality” (if such a thing even exists in a way we could understand), but this is the result of the fact that cognitively, psychotic individuals suffer from significant functional deficits which impair their ability to interpret sensory information into coherent structures of meaning. This does not mean that socially-created reality is the “right” one, it just means it’s more functional. There is no “correct” model, there are only more or less functional ones.

Now, an experience of gnosis, such as someone may experience through magick or other spiritual technologies, primarily consists in one becoming aware that the “reality” they’ve inhabited all their lives largely consists of a set of beliefs internalized by their consciousness. This is not an intellectual awareness, it penetrates downwards throughout the consciousness. Just knowing this fact is like having a map of an area, another model — gnosis is like climbing to the top of a mountain which lies right in the middle of it an looking around. “The map is not the territory”

It’s after this that one begins to accumulate an awareness that they’ve spent their entire lives trying to fulfill, improve, and protect an idea of themselves which isn’t who they actually are. They adhered to these beliefs even when it prevented them from experiencing that which they truly desired, when it caused them incredible pain, or filled them with hatred and despair. (this is the Tower of the Tarot, if you remember from the other thread)

Of course they never doubted it for a second, for who would be crazy enough to think that they actually aren’t what they think they are, that they’ve been deceived and deceived themselves their entire lives? And not only that, but that everyone does it, that society itself is constituted on this basis?

(BTW, this is not equivalent to ego-death, or Crossing the Abyss, which I posted about earlier in this thread.)

This is why “special means” are required, unless one wishes to spend decades in meditation.

...

Thelema Projects 1

This is a really cool way to store Tarot cards or other small items you use in your work, or anything else really. You could even use it as a humidor, which is what it was made from anyway. It's a nice peice to put on a desk or coffee table, and people don't have to know what the symbols are to appreciate it.
Qabbalah/Thelema Desk Box
Materials:
Wooden Desktop Humidor
Sandpaper - Rough to smooth grades (ex. 180 - 15000, one sheet each)
Spray Paint:
1 Can Primer
1 Can each of preferred colors (Preferrably one light and one dark)
1 Can Gloss Enamel Finish
Painter's Tape
Hobby Knife/Scissors and One-sided adhesive paper
Instructions:
-Dissasemble the humidor by removing hinges with a screwdriver.
-Sand both halves of the humidor thouroughly, until all surfaces feel rough and granular. It may not be possible to remove all the finish/paint on the box, don't worry if this happens. The surface just needs to be exposed a bit so the primer will stick
-In an area with good ventilation, spray a heavy coat of primer onto all surfaces which you intend to paint. Err on the side off too much primer, as we'll be sanding it later. It may be necessary to use painter's tape here if the humidor has a raised inner edge, like this:

-After primer is dry, lightly sand it starting with a lighter grade of sandpaper, 400 grade or above. Don't sand too vigorously or you'll take off all the primer. Use lighter and ligther grades until the surface is completely smooth.
-Next, apply a coat of the color you chose for your design. Apply at least two coats. If you have extremely fine grain sandpaper (800+) you may want to sand again after the paint completely dries, as spraypaint always goes on kind of roughly.
-Apply a light coat of protective enamel on the surfaces you intend use stencils on. This protects the paint from being pulled off by the adhesive.
-Print or draw an outline of your designs onto a sheet of one-sided adhesive paper. Cut out with hobby knife or scissors and gently press them onto the box.
-Apply top color. One heavy coat is sufficient, although you can apply more if you want.
-Remove stencils. Adhesive paper can be tricky to remove. If some of it remains adhered to the box after you pull your stencils off, wait a couple of hours so that the paint dries completely, then gently rub with a moistened scrub pad. It may take some time, but it will all come off.
(I chose to use this kind of stencil because it avoids the problems of overspray, which makes designs look fuzzy, and light spray paint not covering darker colors very well.)
-Lastly, apply a solid coat of protective gloss enamel onto all painted surfaces. It protects the paint and makes it all shiny and purty and stuff. After everything dries, put the humidor back together and enjoy.
Tips:
-For best results, use Rustoleum or Krylon paint. Cheapo brands look like shit, are more toxic to inhale, result in a grainy feel and are more likely to come off the wood.
-Don't get frustrated if you can't cut out perfectly straight lines, no one can. 

Thelema and Escapism

 

Unfortunately, the history and nature of magick makes it susceptible to being used as a form of escapism and validation for the ego. It is quite easy for someone to feel as if they posses "secret knowledge" just because they have read a couple of books about Magick, and then to delude themselves into thinking they are some sort of spiritual master. The fact that genuine spiriual attainment, whether it comes from Magick, Buddhism or any other practice is so rare doesn't help. Falling into this trap results in the exact opposite of progress, as it serves only to strengthen the illusion of the false self, and shield the individual from any need to actually put any effort towards improving themselves. 

Spiritual attainment that is not accompanied by a corresponding success outside of ritual practice is not genuine attainment, it is delusion. Thelema is a comprehensive life philosophy -- it involves more than just performing rituals and memorizing occult knowledge. Every personal weakness must be turned into a strength, every psychological complex resolved into unity, every fault in the will bolstered, every obstruction in the mind cleared, every illusion of a limit in the self obliterated through experience. If you are living in your parent's basement and spending all your time doing ritual work, reading obscure texts and arguing about subtle points of doctrine on the internet instead of actually interacting with the world around you, then you are deluding yourself.

As an example, lets say there is a certain aspirant who has always had difficulty with social interaction, due to a lack of confidence and self-limiting beliefs about they are percieved by others. Simply performing a ritual to remove the complex is not sufficient. The aspirant must seek out the very experience they were restricted from before, in this case social interaction, in order to judge their degree of success. Even this, however, is not enough. Removing a complex is not enough, where there was a weakness a strength must be developed to a degree that is proportionate to the whole.

Always strive for balance, for more experience, more success. As Uncle Al said:

 

"There is little danger that any student, however idle or stupid, will fail to get some result; but there is great danger that he will be led astray, obsessed and overwhelmed by his results, even though it be by those which it is necessary that he should attain. Too often, moreover, he mistaketh the first resting-place for the goal, and taketh off his armour as if he were a victor ere the fight is well begun.

It is desirable that the student should never attach to any result the importance which it at first seems to possess."

-Aleister Crowley, Liber O

 

Graffit

Graffiti art is a hobby of mine, though I'm not one of those people that puts stuff up on private property etc. I've been practicing on this board in my yard fr about a month now. I finally found my digital camera the other day, so I decided to start putting my peices up online to keep a visual record. I'm planning on buying a bigger piece of plywood, as this one is just too small to do a detailed piece on. 

Berserk is the best shit ever

Yeah, only someone born from a corpse can ever hope to be this bad-ass. The rest of us just have to live with it.

Insomniac

Second draft of Sleep is good mmkay...

shaking insomniac pulling cigarettes out of a pack
sanity trespassed, neurons collapse under rotten synapse
on track for a premature death via heart attack
only regret stated as "I let my best thoughts lapse"

on his face fatigue marked like cracks in a vase
cracks that form a fracture-filled mind when traced
decorating conscious state like blood-soaked lace
what once was a self with funereal agent replaced

despite lonely late-night light, luminous like no other
out of the dark vast come shadows best left uncovered
repressed psyche specter, familiar like a long-dead lover
whispers, "you thought we were done, now we'll start all over"

day's weak light breaks blue and cold across eastern skies
still no sight of respite or the goal for which he strives
his will like bones burned black in the blazing flame of his eyes
forget-me-not: a soul that is broken is a soul that has died