The Woman of Revelation

I was asked by somebody if i think that the Golden Dawn is a luciferian path.
Of course, i said no, and i had to laugh, because magical orders that promote a so-called luciferian path simply teach black magic, or work with unbalanced forces, the back side of the tree and the goetia etc.
But then this man insisted on the simple etymology of the word Lucifer as Light-Bearer and that the initiate of the Golden Dawn invokes LVX, Light, and works with this Light and therefore can be seen as a Light-Bearer.
And this brought me to something that i was thinking about many weeks now, for a long time not knowing how to formulate it right.

Of course every true alchemist loves God.
The love for God, His Wisdom and His Creation i believe is pre-requisite for any serious alchemical work.
By the way, without being true christian in heart, you would have not been allowed to the famous german Gold- und Rosenkreuz-Order.
This should clear away the notion of black magic in the term "luciferian".

But on the other hand, the brothers of the Rose-Cross as well as magicians and alchemists of the west were not seldomnly famous for their many social contacts.
Withdrawal from the outer world is never propagandised at this path, or maybe only at rare occassions as requisite for certain operations in a limited time frame.
Moreover, chastity or physical ascetism is not required as well to have success in magic. A healthy attitude towards sexuality prevents the student from becoming obsessed by his own complexes instead of attaining to his highest potential, and in regards to semiluxury food moderation and discernment is the key.
Even Jesus drank wine every day and loved to have many people around him, people of every kind, even a "whore".

I once had the intuition that the alchemist, instead of refraining from the material, by his ascent on the Mount of Abiegnus in reality descends deep down into the Materia- in order to give Divinity back to Her, that what she has lost at the Fall in Eden. This is also in line with the antinominan attitudes in sabbatean and especially frankist movements in the kabbalistic traditions.

The magician does channel Light into his/her sphere, and this Light i believe not only inflames our beings, but the beings that are around and with us also. I think this happens, on a subtle level, without you having any intention to do so.
It often happened that friends who have no clue of or interest in what i do spiritually and magically told me of experiences in their lives that corresponded with the element i was initiated in at that time and i certainly know that not all of these coincidences just happened because i had manipulated my focus...
When two people meet in a room, their spheres automatically mix to a certain extent.
What much more mingling of subtle energies when two people make Love!
Therefore being a magician or theurgist maybe means to propel evolution also.

More than one time i had the slightly heretic and, alas, megalomaniac thought that my energetic evolution maybe is only one side of the coin.

I had to think about St. John's Apocalypse.
The woman that appears, clad with the Sun and the Moon under her feet, and crowned with twelve Stars.
Its Isis, the goddess of Magic;
the four beasts about the throne, the presidents of the forces of the elements;
the book of the seven seals and the lamb in the midst of the throne and four beasts and elders...

The thought of mine was, and i urge you to instead of taking this too serious to take it with a certain wink:
maybe the magicians of the Golden Dawn are just like marionettes of the Divine that call down the forces of the macrocosm into their microcosmic spheres, believing that they unite with God internally, which may be true, but at the same time, and more important, they create the Kingdown of God on the whole globe by accelerating the collective evolution. Breaking the seven seals and speeding up a process for mankind and our planet in general.

Believe me or not, i undertake speculations like this mostly for personal entertainment. My ascendant sign is Pisces, therefore i have the strong inclination to let my fantasy drift in any possible direction and at any given time....but the outcome of it i do often take with a good pinch of salt.


Sincerely,
the Son of Gamuret

The Chymical Wedding, II

When Christian, in the second chapter of "Die chymische Hochzeit des Christian Rosencreutz", arrives at the castle where the (al)chymical wedding takes place, he has to pass through three portals.
At every portal he meets a guardian, at every portal he has to give something, but he also receives something in reward.
Written over the first portal he reads "Procul hinc, procul ite Prophani!", which is the latin version of "Hekas, hekas, este bebeloi!", the call of the Kerux in the Neophyte ceremony.
At this point it is clear that, whatever will take place in the castle, is reserved for initiates only.
And that Christian already is an initiate is clear when we read at the beginning of the first chapter that he sits down, like every evening, to engage in humble prayer and to create an undefiled "easter lamb" in his heart. He also tells us that "the Father of Light has shown him not only few of his mysteries so far".

At the portal, Chrisitan is asked to buy a "sign".
He has no money with him, so he tells the guardian to take whatever he likes.
The guardian takes a small bottle of WATER that Christian carries in his bag.
He then receives a golden coin with the letters S.C. on it.
It is not particularly said that this sign is a coin, but i always thought it to be exactly that. There is this old german word "Denkpfennig", which can be a coin that has engravings to remember you of something or to identify yourself before a higher instance.
The coin Christian gets is a perfect symbol for every initiation or grade you receive.
Remember that coins are attributed to pentacles and the element of Earth.
This means that something has manifested, or came down.
It is also a symbol for positive acknowledgment for what you have achieved.
In the sense that denkpfennige were nominal fees for your landlord in medieval times this coin in this novel can be compared to the effect of the elemental initiations in the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn as some kind of astral passports for the astral planes in question.

For the meanings of the letter S.C. Johann Valentin Andreae gives different possible interpretations in his footnotes to his first edition.
One of them is "Signum Crucis".
This, as well as Christians formal verbal introduction to the first guardian as Christian, the "Brother of the Red Rose Cross", delineates him as not only an initiate, but an an adept of the inner mysteries.
Andrea gives more alternatives like "Spes Caritas" (hope and love), but this is not the point i was thinking about-
Christian will receive more coins with letters on it, passing signs for the portals.
The second coin has the letters S.M., the third S.P.N.
Apart from that it is good mental training to cabbalise the meanings of these letters, by gematria or finding the yetziratic attributions, i know that when i was reading that, i had to think about what the practising magician or theurgist is doing with words and letters.
For the profane, Adonai is just a hebrew word meaning Lord and Ararita is just an acronym out of 7 hebrew words.
But by constant magical practise and faith in God and your magic you breath ever more life into these words.
You make them meaningful and thereby vibrant with power and life.
You turn simple words into effective magical agents.
There existed whole magical schools who only practised energising and vitalising certain words or names of power in order to attain illumination.

Over the second portal Christian reads "Date et dabitur vobis!" (Give and you will receive). The path of initiation always means that you have to invest a certain amount or manifestation of energy into something to be rewarded, at least time, discipline and faith.
Think of the five red cords and tassels on the Banner of the East symbolizing divine self-renunciation: the adept has to give up his illusion of being separate from the All.

At the second portal there is a wild lion that is tamed by the second guardian.
Very simplistic, the lion can be seen as a symbol for tremendous energy, or LVX, or the magical agent per se, on the human level as the force of Kundalini.
Christian buys the second sign with S.M. ("Sal Menstrualis", Salt of Purification, or "Studio Merentis", to the study of the Most Worthy) on it, by giving the guardian the SALT he has with him.
I find it curious that he first gives water, and than salt.
Iam lacking of deeper understanding of the alchemical principles so far, but am naive enough to interpret this in terms of that you can work on your energetic bodies (salt) by working on your consciousness (water) and not the other way around.

He then hurries to the third and last portal before the entrance.
He slips through it just before it is closed- he seems to be the last one that comes through it (Matthew 19,30-;-))

This time, he does not have to give anything in order to get the last sign.
But instead, by slipping through the closing gate in the last second, he looses a piece of his cloth that got tucked into the gate.
Clothes are a symbol for personality or persona in the sense of identity or "outer mask".
This is a re-affirmation of the necessity to overcome that which is called the flaw of seperateness.

He then sees that on one side of the portal is a happy picture with the word "Congratulator" over it, on the other side is a sad face with the word "Condoleo".
For me, this is the most excellent because most concise definition of the effect of magical initiations in general.

It has happened to me more than once that i at the one hand had reason to rejoice, but on the other hand, sometimes on a material or "profane" level experienced challenges. Sometimes these two events were so closely timed that it cannot be held as by chance. "By chance" does rarely exist for a magician.

Iam not the guy who builds a house in 1=10, marries in 3=8 and has success in 4=7.
Thats why i so deeply sympathise and feel a great empathy with this protagonist called Christian.
Throughout the book, he is a victim of mocking and scorn.
It already starts at his way to the castle, when he looses his bread for cheeky birds, and continues at the portal when he is the last one to come in and looses a bit of his cloth, and culminates in the (mostly) funny mockeries his brethren and masters play on him.
But at the end, he will receive the greatest gift.

Sexuality, again

Inspired by one comment on H. Frater A.I.T.s excellent blog, i feel inclined again to share some thoughts about sexuality.
To my astonishement, i often come across students asking me how to behave sexually and asking about my attitude towards this issue.
This is a sign that the general attitude towards sexuality in our culture and civilisation is in a deep misery.
Although it seems as if we are living in an elightened, modern and progressive time, i think nothing has changed since medieval times- maybe it has changed to the worse...
Sex is everywhere in mass media- in movies, real life documentaries, advertisements, internet, porn is free for everyone....But for what? Sex still has its "dirty" and sinful connotations.
But i say: There is nothing whatsoever dirty about sex- if its straight, bi- or homosexual. As long as two adults are involved and they are in perfect agreement.
Its just the crooked attitude of christianity that left the impression of sex as being dirty and sinful on our collective subconsciousness- even if we are not christian- we live in this culture and are impregnated by its moral standards and crooked ethics.
Maybe iam in a better position to talk about this issue because iam gay and from very early on i had to make my own thoughts about what is normal or sinful and what not. Even today i find myself often confronted with people thinking or expressing in some way or another that iam no "real man". Thats bullshit. I think i have much more right to call myself a real man than many other straight guys who never questioned their behaviour.
And my advise is: Try to root out all notions of sex as being dirty or sinful from your consciousness. This is not your idea.
Sex is nothing to be ashamed of.
Sex is holy and an expression of the holy will to UNITE.
Sex is the same drive as the will to unite with your Higher Soul, only expressed on a lower arc.
Nobody has to feel ashamed or feel like a sinner only because he enjoys having sex with somebody or him/herself.
Nobody has to "sublimate" his sexual feelings and orgasms.
Orgasms are JOY and i truly believe that God wants his children to experience JOY.
Its not God who will judge you for having joy.
Its the false and crooked attitudes and ideas planted in our subconsiousness that make us feel at odds with sexuality- and these false ideas and notions simply have to be rooted out and cleansed.

The Olympic Spirits

Iam investigating into the nature of the olympic spirits right now and find it quite fascinating.
Not much has been said in the traditional Golden Dawn papers about them, except that the candidate receives their sigils and planetary attributions at some point in the Outer Order.
Last weekend, when initiating a candidate into the certain grade where this diagram is displayed, i finally felt its time to do a little magical research.
One only has to do the planetary invocation at the right time (and a shortened version of a Greater Invoking Ritual will even suffice), and use the sigil as skrying device.
To my astonishement, i found out that these spirits are very easy accessible and that they have distinct functions in the universe in general, and in nature and human life in particular.
I dont want to reveal what i have seen on the astral, because i would like to know if other magicians maybe have similar insights, and it would be great to compare.

Summa scientia nihil scire,
Fra. L.

Gebet

"Ich bin Nichts in mir und ich Selbst in Dir,
und diese Selbstheit existiert von Anbeginn zu Anbeginn.
Du bist der goldene Magnetstein meiner Liebe,
das Eine Licht, die Eine Wahrheit und das Eine Leben.
Du bist der All-Eine, gekrönt, funkelnd und mit Macht beladen.
Und ich bin machtlos in mir, weil befleckt vom Makel des Geteilt-Seins.
Komm herbei als starkes und unsterbliches Feuer!
Dein Antlitz ist Weite, Deine Schwingen Unermesslichkeit.
Auf den geflügelten Hengsten der Morgenröte reitest Du von Haus zu Haus
und ich erwarte Dich, wie eine Jungfrau ihren Bräutigam.
Komm herbei und verschlinge mich mit dem Feuer Deiner Liebe,
auf dass ich mich mit der Selbstheit vereinigen kann, die in Dir ist,
und die ich immer war und immer sein werde. Amen."

(C)R.N.

Magic and the romance of adventure

Recently i did reflect much on what i have experienced throughout my last seven years as student of the hermetic sciences.
It did this not on purpose, rather it came naturally, like many things that fit to the actual level of attainment.

Apart from many insights on my own psychic make-up, by seeing how i relate to and function in the world, sometimes coming even as superb soberings and disentchantments when detecting my own weaknesses, signs of low self-esteem and inferiority complexes and the like, i found out that there were innumerous highlights in my practise that spurred me on on my path. Even highlights that had some very funny aspects.

For example, i remember coming to my working place, a bookshop, one day after one of my first invocations of elemental Earth, being a fresh-baked Juniorus.
The first thing my boss did when he saw me on that day was giving me a package of incense sticks a guy from india had left in the bookshop for me the day before.
Till now i dont know who this guy was, and in all the 9 years working at this place i also cant remember anyone leaving me incense sticks for a present.
But i will never forget that these incense sticks had "Lily of the Valley"-scent!

Or then there was this impressive revelation when i did pathworking once as a Neophyte, a specific variation that my Hierophant had taught me.
I was travelling to Gimel, the High Priestess, and completely out of a sudden, in the twinkling of an eye, i had a vision of my Holy Guardian Angel.
Words cannot describe the bliss and ecstasy i bathed in, after seeing Him clothed as our planet Earth, suddenly catching Fire.
When i look at this special event now...i tend to think that this could have been the moment when the holy trouble started LOL.

I will also not forget the skrying into the plane of Earth when i was working for 2 weeks in Munich, under limited conditions in a foreign place.
There, when travelling in the Spirit Vision, i found out that the Watchtowers do really exist, at the far corners of the elemental plane. I saw a huge tower of stone on a vast and deserted, rocky plane. The atmosphere was full of sulphurous fumes and heaviness. I think i met an Angel that shaped himself out of the bricks of the Tower, and i realized that every brick or stone of this Tower is an Angel.

One of the strangest memories i have was when i was Theoricus, travelling to Tunisia on my own. From the beginning, i had planned this trip to be some sort of magical retirement, and like always, magic did not fail to impress me.
I love doing magic under foreign circumstances and limited conditions.
This always adds a special flair of adventure and romance.
I remember invoking Libra for the first time in my hotel room, at a time when Libra was rising in the East, being aspected very good, and i think i caught the tattvic tide of Air as well.
I had a one to one meter space between my bed and the commode, which served as the altar.
The Sun was nearly setting over the balcony, and i could see the sea.
After having traced the second pentagram in the south, i could see the room around me transform in a few seconds, like when you put a filter over a movie that only highlights green and red colours, also a lot of soft focus lens, and my aestethic sense was trembling in bliss.
To be short: it was a psychedelic experience, something i thought the mind always be able to produce without the aid of any substance, just by magical exaltation!
After the ritual i went down to the hotel foyer to meet with an older woman i had learned to know at the breakfast table a few days before. I had spent long walks and good conversation with her along the beach and now we wanted to take a last drink, letting the day settle.
After an hour she freaked out on me completely and out of no logical reasons!
She blamed me being frightening in my black clothes and pale skin, and she made no use of flattery when she said that i look like a living corpse, and went on to question my ethics
by considering what i had told her about my plan for life. We departed with really strange faces, and the rest of the week i would not sit with her at the breakfast table anymore, only seeing her throwing mischievious glances at me from the other corner of the room.
By the way, she was Libra. And i have Uranus in Libra, together with Pluto in Scorpio in my seventh house!

At one occassion, when i was Philosophus, i simply wanted to know it. It was a summer night, and i was sitting with friends in a backyard that a close friend of mine had turned into a little green paradise. We had made a fire in the midst of the place, and the 4 of us watched the play of the tongues of the flames in relative silence.
Then it came over me, and i did invoke astrally the forces of elemental Fire, by first banishing astrally around the place, using an improvised invocation of my Angel, and putting on the Godform of Horus, and tracing one pentagram and sigil and calling on the hierarchy. I especially called the salamanders to visible appearance, and i truly wanted it, out of curiosity and, well, fun.
Believe it or not, it was a matter of some two or three minutes and my friends did not notice anything at all. I just seemed to stare into the fire, saying nothing for some time.
Right after it, when collecting myself again in just being with my friends, i saw a small subtle and green shadow emerge out of the Fire, but thought it to be just an optical reaction.
We were talking about this and that till my friend N. suddenly prompted us all to look at the funny lizard in the fire.
I could hardly believe my eyes!
One of the biggest wooden logs in the metallic tub that served as fireplace had, with the help of Fire, transformed into a lizard of 20 centimeters length, with sparkling combs and gills, and a distinct, amphibian mouth out of which came a burst of fire in regular intervals!
Everbody saw it clearly and had to laugh, and i, secretly, thanked God and the forces of Fire and released them with banishings and blessings!

Iam sure i would have more like this on my mind, but its late now, and when being creative i usually dont have the patience to work on entries longer than at the first record, and, OH! this was a hot and long summer day, so.....

Khabs am Pekht,
L.e.N.e.

Solve et Coagula

Yesterday, after a long brooding over alchemical texts and these emblems, I came to the thought that the two modes of working in Alchemy that are described as "Solve et Coagula" could not only be understood as two successive phases of the Work, but instead as happening at the same time.
The King on this emblem is the consciousness of the Adept, and the sea in which it is drowning is a symbol for the unconsciousness and its dissolving powers or also for an alchemical agent that has great dissolving qualitites, but of which i do not know anything now.
This process of dissolution is the "Solve" part of the formula. It frees the consciousness from the bonds of the body, and may be a kind of philosophick death.

On this picture we see an Egg as the central symbol, next to a fireplace and a Man holding a sword in his hands.
The philosophick Egg is a symbol for the energetic body of the Adept.
With the use of fire one can boil the egg, and make it solid.
In our tradition we use magical energy, known as L.V.X., to feed the energetic bodies of the aspirant. The magician learns to generate and transmit ever more magical energy through his body, and this energy in turn helps to make the energetic bodies of the magician ever more solid and stable.
The source of L.V.X. is akin to a celestial, mighty Fire, that is our Sun, the giver and dispenser of Light and Life on our earth.
The sword is a symbol for Air, and to the magical element of Air belong all faculties of the reasoning mind.
All magic and energetic transformation happens with the use of our minds, as it is said by the Alchemists that the Work is done by the aid of Mercury alone, and Mercury is a symbol for self-consciousness and reasoning abilities.
So this emblem is a symbol for the "Coagula" part of the process. The volatile principles are made solid and fix, an energetic vessel is created, just like a potter who uses clay to form vessels.


When the perception is freed from its physical limitations, when the Adept experiences a philosophick Death, or when his Mercury begins to fly, the bonds that attach or fix the consciousness to the body are volatized, and at the other hand (and maybe at the same time, but i could easily be on the wrong track here), by the influx of celestial essences that Mercury carries with him on his flight back to the body, the energetic bodies of the Adept reach the highest maximum of solidity.
Besides the ability to maintain some sort of identity (a quality that is trained on the dream level i guess), the process of becoming freed from the physical limitations requires, as i understand it, a great deal of emotional control. I have read more than one time that at the moment of this separation (which is a union with the All-One) the greatest danger arises when the Adept is not able to constrain or control his feelings. He could be too easily carried away by a wave of divine ecstasy and put himself in risk to die.


L.e.N.e.