The entire universe, multiverse, omniverse, everything is created of sound, vibration and energy. This is what Pythagoras taught. Physics has supported and furthered this phenomenal idea. if we take for a working model the tree of life, or even simpler the elemental divisions of everything we can begin to see how one idea is supported on may levels. Fire is ants fighting, and fire is also stars being born. water is the ocean and a smile. Netzach is the gut feeling we get when we are in danger or stressed, also a painting done 5000 years ago is the expression of this same energy. Netzach is also a planet, Venus, which has inspired some of the most beautiful poems in almost all known languages, especially some Sufi poetry in Arabic, Lucifer the morning star, bidding eve to "know thyself" thus beginning humanities attempt at godhood in one philosophy, and as Krishna teaching Arjuna that humanity is divine in another. "Mam Shukram aham te so tam." (I am Venus and thou art me.) Says lord Shiva in “Shavatm Puranna.” and so we can see that there is already an interconnectedness of phenomenon.
The Buddhist heart sutra warns that void is phenomena and phenomena are also emptiness. On a certain level the Buddha was not so much saying that the world is more like a dream, although it is implied, but rather that all things in an of themselves are of dependent arising (dependent upon countless causes and conditions) and have no true inherent permanent nature. The fact that ice will melt in other words, is part of what makes ice illusion. That water will evaporate or freeze makes it the same as well. And that we will not be the same person tomorrow as we will have had new experiences and thoughts and be in different clothing (maybe) and will one day die makes us illusions too. Impermanent with no inherent no changing anything. Illusions, created by the smoke and mirrors we refer to as sub-atomic particles which are also dieing.
Now then, in the transforming nature of this phenomenon of physical<earth>, mental<air>, emotional<water>, spiritual (energetic) <fire> and dimensional (transcendental levels)<spirit> levels there are many worlds. But because all things must conform at least to the principles inherent within its very nature we can apply the same working model to understanding all of them. Ancient philosophy is divided in to seven schools.
1. Metaphysics
2. Logic
3. Ethics
4. Psychology
5. Epistemology
6. Aesthetics
7. Theurgery.
These schools correspond to the seven ancient planets and the seven days of the week, the seven ancient Sumerian cities, etc. This was (and is) the seven steps of the ladder the adept must climb to become Magi. And so by following a path of understanding philosophy we can relate what we learn to understand the world. and by following the path we can relate what we learn to understanding ourselves. KNOW THYSELF. These words, we are told, appeared above the portals of all the great mystery schools. All knowledge is self knowledge. And by approaching our Magickal practices as a discipline we earn that knowledge. It is ourselves and not another who built our own prison, and it is our selves who must make us free.
Socrates, in the “Apologia,” said, "You can kill this body, but cannot hurt me." this statement shows that the master understood that "he" was not the body. Not the emotion, not even the intellect nor memory which die with the brain. But what he was, what we all are, is an equation not equal too, but indeed greater that the limited function we can express even as interconnected multidimensional beings on many planes. What we are indeed is truth itself. The Buddha called this Prajna Paramita (the divine essence of wisdom itself.) Is it any wonder then that the Christ, assuming to have known this truth said "tear this temple (body) down; I shall rebuild it (in three days)?" And the truth of the resurrection is also multi level and multi dimensional. The summer turns to fall, to winter to spring and to summer again. the gods of all cultures die and are reborn. Osiris was killed and resurrected. the Sumerian Ishtar descended to hell, died, hung three days impaled on a pole. come back to life and fled hell with the multitude of dead who were there. if we read the stories of the resurrection gods we may be entertained, but if we look at their truth we find much more.
The eternal truths which replay again and again throughout every culture time and place are the many faces of the gods. Jung called them archetypes. Plato called them ideas. The idea or archetype of the chair is not the chair itself but there are many chairs. There are many people and many gods. The Magi are those who strengthen in balance all of these phenomena within their being, healing at all levels. That is why the witch is called the servant of the life force. By moving into balance one becomes free of many things. Balance means strengthening all the archetypes equally. This is one of the reasons we are encouraged to strengthen our minds through meditation. By living in the moment one becomes free of worries from the past or anxieties about the future. By training our minds to focus on a single point indefinitely we have a useful tool for self awareness. In fact, the knowledge and conversation with the holy guardian angel, is said to be, by Crowley, the equivalent of Samadhi, or single pointed effortless awareness. Crowley himself spent years training in Buddhist meditation. His golden dawn initiator, Allen Bennett, went to Sri Lanka to become a monk and trained Crowley in Vipasana, or Buddhist insight meditation.
When we are attuned during high ritual it is by one (assuming) whom has been attuned by one who has been attuned by one who.... etc. back to some great magi from the ancient past. And this lineage, unbroken forms a link to the attainments of those great masters. It is an incredible process which we are told no words can describe. Imagine if you would that in all of your practices of these arts that you have been building and strengthening these archetypes within your self. Certainly you have a greater command now than you did when you began your practice. Now imagine that you were able to live for hundreds or even thousands of years. What would your Magick be then? The lineage is supposed to give to us, or build within our light fields these powerful programs which have been gaining momentum from the beginning of time. That is why it is so important to be given initiation by a true master. And this experience, even though it is more difficult, can be earned on ones own by true discipline and practice, developing the mind through meditation, building the chakras, expanding them and cleansing them daily through such things as yoga and psychic exercises such as the middle pillar, which through vibration and visualization exercises the chakras making them eventually bigger and stronger.
Our rituals provide the very foundation by which we are allowed to receive initiation. But even with a teacher you must do the "work" yourself. The attunements can give you a huge boost, but your ability to receive the energy properly is dependent upon your strength, which is a direct result of how much you exercise, or practice.
Magick is an intense and diverse subject, blending art, philosophy, theology and science. Its history is as grand in scope as the history of the world itself. The main reason, Argentums Orbis has been put together and explained here is that many Magickal traditions and orders of today have fragments of teachings and techniques that had been put together by the adepts for the benefit of humanity. But at the same time many of the teachers are not receiving an entire tradition, or are putting together fragments from here and there without full understanding of what they are teaching and or receiving.
There are many very good teachers with powerful lineages but with incomplete teachings. While this is not the case in every incident, it has proven to be true all to often. Because I have had the fortune to be exposed from an early age to very good teachers, and because the frameworks of several complete traditions were made available to me, I feel the responsibility to share these teachings with the rest of the planet. At the turn of the last century the adepts of "The Holy Order of the Golden Dawn," using Kabala as its framework, pieced together a powerful school. The Adepts studied many of the world’s mystery traditions available to them. In reading about Aliester Crowley one soon discovers the lengths to which he went to become a Magickian. And that he traveled the world to study in depth the richness of each system to which he was exposed.
The basis of this order is Thelematic; however it is not necessary for anyone studying and using what is learned here to accept anything without testing and measuring for themselves. In fact, to not do so and accept anything is a disservice to yourself and your world, and by extension to the universe. Faith, to me does not mean saying, "I believe," but testing pulling the system apart to see if it is indeed that which endures.
Argentums Orbis as it exists today was manifested in the Thelematic year V9 (2001 C.E.) as a vessel for transmitting the teachings of the masters of the ages. Its lineage is through a student of a student of Aliester Crowley, and is in the same line as the immortal priest of Egypt, Ne-Nefer-Ka-Ptah, through his priest, Setna, student of Djedi, who found the, "Book of Thoth." This is a modern order that is a true vessel of the secret teachings of the ancients, with the capacity to bestow upon its member's true initiation. Initiation however is beyond lineage, and as a universal truth owned by no one path but is common to all of them. The goal is to transmute the soul from the gross plane of the mortal to the pure gold of the eternal.
93 Current stuff, Seekers on the path of the Rose
Jul 1 2005, 02:25 AM
