Whom I call must follow

"Every man that hath seen me forgetteth me never,
and I appear oftentimes in the coals of the fire,
and upon the smooth white skin of woman,
and in the constancy of the waterfall,
and in the emptiness of deserts and marshes,
and upon great cliffs that look seaward;
and in many strange places, where men seek me not.
And many thousand times he beholdeth me not.
And at last I smite myself into him as a vision smiteth into a stone,
and whom I call must follow."
The Vision and the Voice, 2nd Aethyr, ARN

Love is the Law

Love without the Will is homeless.

Will without Love is alone.

Path of the Adepts

"It is impossible to tell you of the splendours of that to which they have attained. Little by little, as your eyes grow stronger, will we unveil to you the ineffable glory of the Path of the Adepts, and its nameless goal.

Even as a man ascending a steep mountain is lost to sight of his friends in the valley, so must the adept seem. They shall say: He is lost in the clouds. But he shall rejoice in the sunlight above them, and come to the eternal snows.

Or as a scholar may learn some secret language of the ancients, his friends shall say: «Look! he pretends to read this book. But it is unintelligible—it is nonsense.» Yet he delights in the Odyssey, while they read vain and vulgar things.

We shall bring you to Absolute Truth, Absolute Light, Absolute Bliss.

Many adepts throughout the ages have sought to do this; but their words have been perverted by their successors, and again and again the Veil has fallen upon the Holy of Holies.

To you who yet wander in the Court of the Profane we cannot yet reveal all; but you will easily understand that the religions of the world are but symbols and veils of the Absolute Truth. So also are the philosophies. To the adept, seeing all these things from above, there seems nothing to choose between Buddha and Mohammed, between Atheism and Theism."
- Liber Porta Lucis (14-19)

Thelemic Invocation of the Highest Divine Force

I have found this formula on one of web sites run by IAO131.  I instantly fell in love with it.
I post here the abridged version, do visit the source site for more info on the ritual itself, here >>

Ra-hoor-khuit is consumation of eternal love between Nuit and Hadit. As I see it, this ritual aims at that exact realization.

While it is not mentioned in the original text, it might be good to balance with Star Ruby first.

Here we go:

I.
Visualize that everywhere around you is the presence of divinity, under the form of the infinite night-sky, Nuit. Nuit is omnipresent and is pure joy & love. This may be done while vibrating the sacred word, “Αγαπη.”

II.
“Nuit, I invoke you under your stars!”

III.
Proclaim,
“O circle of Stars whereof our Father is but the younger brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, before whom Time is Ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the understanding dark, not unto Thee may we attain, unless Thine image be Love. Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke Thee. (Liber XV)
“…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!" (AL I:27)
“You are divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.” (AL I:29-30)
“You give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do you demand aught in sacrifice.” (AL I:58)
“To love you is better than all things. I invoke you with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein. For one kiss I am willing to give all.” (AL I:61)
“I love Thee, I love Thee. / Every breath, every word, every thought, every deed is an act of love with Thee. / The beat of my heart is the pendulum of love. / The songs of me are the soft sighs: / The thoughts of me are very rapture: / And my deeds are the myriads of Thy children, the stars and the atoms. / Let there be nothing! / Let all things drop into this ocean of love! / Be this devotion a potent spell to exorcise the demons of the Five! / Ah God, all is gone! Thou dost consummate Thy rapture. “(Liber VII, 5:21-30)

IV.
Visualize a sphere of light, a star, in the center of the heart – imagine that everywhere around you is the presence of divinity, under the form of the infinite night-sky, Nuit. This night sky is concentrated into a point in the heart, Hadit. Visualize a flaming sphere of divine aspiration, joy, strength, beauty, etc – perhaps a Snake reaching upwards. This may be done while vibrating the sacred word, “Θελημα.”

V.
“Hadit, secret centre, heart, & tongue of Nuit, I invoke you!”

VI.
Proclaim,
“I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.” (AL II:6)
“I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. I am alone: there is no God where I am.” (AL II:22-23)
“I am unique & conqueror. I am not of the slaves that perish. Be they damned & dead! Amen. (This is of the 4: there is a fifth who is invisible, & therein am I as a babe in an egg. )” (AL II:49)
“So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will. / Do that, and no other shall say nay. / For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.” (AL I:42-44)
“…Sorrow is not of us. / Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us.” (AL II:19-20)
“…Existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.” (AL II:9)

VII.
Visualize & feel that the point of fiery light in the heart merges and coalesces with the infinite expanse surrounding it; they unite in love, joy, & blinding light.. Visualize and become the god-form of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, massive and universal in stature as Lord of the Universe. Ra-Hoor-Khuit can hold an Ankh in the right hand symbolizing Union, Love, Life, & Going and he holds Phoenix wand in the left symbolizing his transcendence of the cycle of Life & Death for He is eternal. This is the perfected Self, the completed Self, the undivided Self – child of the interplay of Nuit, the omnipresent infinite expanse, and Hadit, the infinitely contracted & unextended point(of-view). This may be done while vibrating the sacred word of power, “FIAOF” ()

VIII.
“I invoke you, Heru-Ra-Ha, the Supreme Self - the crowned & conquering Child!”

IX.
 “O secret of secrets that art hidden in the being of all that lives, not Thee do we adore, for that which adoreth is also Thou. Thou art That, and That am I.” (Liber XV)
“Thou that art One, our Lord in the Universe the Sun, our Lord in ourselves whose name is Mystery of Mystery, uttermost being whose radiance enlightening the worlds is also the breath that maketh every God even and Death to tremble before Thee—By the Sign of Light + appear Thou glorious upon the throne of the Sun.” (Liber XV)
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” (AL I:40)
“Love is the law, love under will.” (AL I:57)
“Above, the gemmed azure is / The naked splendour of Nuit; / She bends in ecstasy to kiss / The secret ardours of Hadit. / The winged globe, the starry blue, / Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!” (AL I:14)
“Unity uttermost showed!/ I adore the might of Thy breath,/ Supreme and terrible God,/ Who makest the gods and death To tremble before Thee: / --I, I adore thee…Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit! / Bid me within thine House to dwell, / O winged snake of light, Hadit! / Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!” (AL III:37-38)
“The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!” (AL I:45)
“Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one; we are none.” (AL II:66)
I am alone: there is no God where I am.” (AL II:23)

X.
Return to feeling the union of Nuit and Hadit in the form of the eternal child & conquerer, Heru-Ra-Ha; feel the infinite joy, strength, love, power, beauty, liberty, and light...

XI.
 Intone,
“ABRAHADABRA
ABRAHADABRA
ABRAHADABRA
ABRAHADABRA
ABRAHADABRA
ABRAHADABRA”

(And All is sealed Within with the Sign of Silence).

This ends the ritual as shared by IAO131.

It might be prudent to again balance with Star Ruby.

Differences Between the O.T.O. & the A.'.A.'.

"It was my original idea that the O.T.O. would be a sort of training ground for the A∴A∴. It was still in my mind that the A∴A∴ represented, so to speak, the only thing worth doing. But recent initiations have changed my views considerably. But the O.T.O. has a perfectly definite function in connection wirh the new Aeon.

At a time like the present, when individual liberty is threatened in a way to which history offers no parallel, a strong and vigorous order is required to guard humanity. The A∴A∴ does this, it is true, but in a manner so beyond even your present conception, that I think it only fair to give even the most commonplace of men a chance to co-operate actually."
- Letter from A.C. to Charles S. Jones, dated Oct. 4th 1919 e.v.

** ** **

"Observe O.T.O. = 540 + A.'.A.'. 2 = 542. 418+666/2 therefore the number harmonizes these two. But of course you understand that the A.'.A.'. is the serious Order for individual progress.
With O.T.O. you only become a magician, and a priest of the Holy One - a very fine and balanced 6=5, but no more."
- Crowley to Achad, ~July, 1916

** ** **

“The O.T.O. is, so to speak, the quintessence of Freemasonry, and is run on strictly Masonic lines. There is no question of spiritual advancement as in the A.'.A.'.. It teaches nothing but theoretical and practical philosophy of life and death. There is no question of the attaining of higher states of consciousness.

It is true that some of the practices involves what might, on analysis, turn out to be supernormal conditions, but it is not mystical in any ordinary sense of the word. Further, it works almost entirely in groups, and this is what makes the attitude towards money entirely different.”
- Crowley to Gerald Yorke, Oct. 27, 1928

** ** **

“The difference between the A.'.A.'. and the O.T.O. is very clear and simple. The A.'.A.'. is a sempiternal institution, and entirely secret. There is no communication between its members. Theoretically, a member knows only the superior who introduced him, and any person whom he himself has introduced. The Order is run on purely spiritual lines.

The object of membership is also entirely simple. The first objective is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. The next objective, omitting for the present of the [6=5] and [7=4] Grades, is the crossing of the Abyss, and the attainment of mastership of the Temple. This is described very fully especially in Liber 418 (“The Vision & the Voice”). Much less is written about the [5=6] Grade, i.e. the Knowledge and Conversation, because it is too secret and individual. It is impossible to lay down conditions, or to describe the experiences involved in detail.

The O.T.O. has nothing to do with this, except that The Book of the Law and the Word of the Aeon are essential principles of membership. In all other respects, it stands by itself as a body similar to Freemasonry, but involving acceptance of a social and economic system which is intended to put the world on its feet. There is also, of course, the secret of the IX° which is to say, the weapon which they may use to further these purposes.

To show you the difference, Theodor Reuss was Supreme Head of the O.T.O., but was not even a probationer of the A.'.A.'..”
- Letter from Crowley to Karl Germer dated Sept. 16, 1946, as an official statement to American O.T.O. members

Liber Cheth

LIBER CHETH

VEL

VALLVM ABIEGNI

SVB FIGVRA

CLVI

A.'. A.'.

Publication in Class A.

Imprimatur:

N. Fra A.'. A.'.

1. This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos, that rideth upon our Lord the Beast.
2. Thou shalt drain out thy blood that is thy life into the golden cup of her fornication.
3. Thou shalt mingle thy life with the universal life. Thou shalt keep not back one drop.
4. Then shall thy brain be dumb, and thy heart beat no more, and all thy life shall go from thee; and thou shalt be cast out upon the midden, and the birds of the air shall feast upon thy flesh, and thy bones shall whiten in the sun.
5. Then shall the winds gather themselves together, and bear thee up as it were a little heap of dust in a sheet that hath four corners, and they shall give it unto the guardians of the abyss.
6. And because there is no life therein, the guardians of the abyss shall bid the angels of the winds pass by. And the angels shall lay thy dust in the City of the Pyramids, and the name thereof shall be no more. {25}
7. Now therefore that thou mayest achieve this ritual of the Holy Graal, do thou divest thyself of all thy goods.
8. Thou hast wealth; give it unto them that have need thereof, yet no desire toward it.
9. Thou hast health; slay thyself in the fervour of thine abandonment unto Our Lady. Let thy flesh hang loose upon thy bones, and thine eyes glare with thy quenchless lust unto the Infinite, with thy passion for the Unknown, for Her that is beyond Knowledge the accursed one.
10. Thou hast love; tear thy mother from thine heart, and spit in the face of thy father. Let thy foot trample the belly of thy wife, and let the babe at her breast be the prey of dogs and vultures.
11. For if thou dost not this with thy will, then shall We do this despite thy will. So that thou attain to the Sacrament of the Graal in the Chapel of Abominations.
12. And behold! if by stealth thou keep unto thyself one thought of thine, then shalt thou be cast out into the abyss for ever; and thou shalt be the lonely one, the eater of dung, the afflicted in the Day of Be-with-Us.
13. Yea! verily this is the Truth, this is the Truth, this is the Truth. Unto thee shall be granted joy and health and wealth and wisdom when thou art no longer thou.
14. Then shall every gain be a new sacrament, and it shall not defile thee; thou shalt revel with the wanton in the market-place, and the virgins shall fling roses upon thee, and the merchants bend their knees and bring thee gold and spices. Also young boys shall pour wonderful wines for thee, and the singers and the dancers shall sing and dance for thee. {26}
15. Yet shalt thou not be therein, for thou shalt be forgotten, dust lost in dust.
16. Nor shall the aeon itself avail thee in this; for from the dust shall a white ash be prepared by Hermes the Invisible.
17. And this is the wrath of God, that these things should be thus.
18. And this is the grace of God, that these things should be thus.
19. Wherefore I charge you that ye come unto me in the Beginning; for if ye take but one step in this Path, ye must arrive inevitably at the end thereof.
20. This Path is beyond Life and Death; it is also beyond Love; but that ye know not, for ye know not Love.
21. And the end thereof is known not even unto Our Lady or to the Beast whereon She rideth; nor unto the Virgin her daughter nor unto Chaos her lawful Lord; but unto the Crowned Child is it known? It is not known if it be known.
22. Therefore unto Hadit and unto Nuit be the glory in the End and the Beginning; yea, in the End and the Beginning.

There is None Else Beside Him

1. There is None Else Beside Him

Ein Od Milvado

The Book of Shamati, Article # 1

I heard on Parashat Yitro, 1, February 6, 1944

It is written, “there is none else besides Him.” This means that there is no other force in the world that has the ability to do anything against Him. And what man sees, that there are things in the world that deny the Higher Household, the reason is that this is His will.

And it is deemed a correction, called “the left rejects and the right adducts,” meaning that which the left rejects is considered correction. This means that there are things in the world, which, to begin with, aim to divert a person from the right way, and by which he is rejected from Sanctity.

And the benefit from the rejections is that through them a person receives a need and a complete desire for the Creator to help him, since he sees that otherwise he is lost. Not only does he not progress in his work, but he sees that he regresses, that is, he lacks the strength to observe Torah and Mitzvot even in Lo Lishma (not for Her Name). That only by genuinely overcoming all the obstacles, above reason, can he observe the Torah and Mitzvot. But he does not always have the strength to overcome above reason; otherwise, he is forced to deviate, God forbid, from the way of the Creator, even from Lo Lishma.

And he, who always feels that the shattered is greater than the whole, meaning that there are many more descents than ascents, and he does not see an end to these states, and he will forever remain outside of holiness, for he sees that it is difficult for him to observe even as little as a jot, unless by overcoming above reason. But he is not always able to overcome. And what shall be the end?

Then he comes to the decision that no one can help him but the Creator Himself. This causes him to make a heartfelt demand that the Creator will open his eyes and heart, and truly bring him nearer to eternal adhesion with God. It thus follows, that all the rejections he had experienced had come from the Creator.

This means that it was not because he was at fault, that he did not have the ability to overcome. Rather, for those people who truly want to draw near the Creator, and so they will not settle for little, meaning remain as senseless children, he is therefore given help from Above, so he will not be able to say that thank God, I have Torah and Mitzvot and good deeds, and what else do I need?

And only if that person has a true desire will he receive help from Above. And he is constantly shown how he is at fault in his present state. Namely, he is sent thoughts and views, which are against the work. This is in order for him to see that he is not one with the Lord. And as much as he overcomes, he always sees how he is farther from holiness than others, who feel that they are one with the Creator.

But he, on the other hand, always has complaints and demands, and he cannot justify the Creator’s behavior, and how He behaves toward him. This pains him. Why is he not one with the Creator? Finally, he comes to feel that he has no part in holiness whatsoever.

Although he occasionally receives awakening from Above, which momentarily revives him, but soon after he falls into the place of baseness. However, this is what causes him to come to realize that only God can help and really bring him closer.

A man must always try and cleave to the Creator; namely, that all his thoughts will be about Him. That is to say, that even if he is in the worst state, from which there cannot be a greater decline, he should not leave His domain, namely, that there is another authority which prevents him from entering holiness, and which can bring benefit or harm.

That is, he must not think that there is the force of the Sitra Achra (Other Side), which does not allow a person to do good deeds and follow God’s ways. Rather, all is done by the Creator.

The Baal Shem Tov said that he who says that there is another force in the world, namely Klipot (shells), that person is in a state of “serving other gods.” It is not necessarily the thought of heresy that is the transgression, but if he thinks that there is another authority and force apart from the Creator, by that he is committing a sin.

Furthermore, he who says that man has his own authority, that is, he says that yesterday he himself did not want to follow God’s ways, that too is considered committing the sin of heresy. Meaning that he does not believe that only the Creator is the leader of the world.

But when he has committed a sin, he must certainly regret it and be sorry for having committed it. But here too we should place the pain and sorrow in the right order: where does he place the cause of the sin, for that is the point that should be regretted.

Then, one should be remorseful and say: “I committed that sin because the Creator hurled me down from holiness to a place of filth, to the lavatory, the place of filth.” That is to say that the Creator gave him a desire and craving to amuse himself and breath air in a place of stench.

(And you might say that it is written in books, that sometimes one comes incarnated as a pig. We should interpret that, as he says, one receives a desire and craving to take liveliness from things he had already determined were litter, but now he wants to receive nourishment from them).

Also, when one feels that now he is in a state of ascent, and feels some good flavor in the work, he must not say: “Now I am in a state that I understand that it is worthwhile to worship the Creator.” Rather he should know that now he was favored by the Creator, hence the Creator brought him closer, and for this reason he now feels good flavor in the work. And he should be careful never to leave the domain of Sanctity, and say that there is another who operates besides the Creator.

(But this means that the matter of being favored by the Creator, or the opposite, does not depend on the person himself, but only on the Creator. And man, with his external mind, cannot comprehend why now the Lord has favored him and afterwards did not.)

Likewise, when he regrets that the Creator does not draw him near, he should also be careful that it would not be concerning himself, meaning that he is remote from the Creator. This is because thus he becomes a receiver for his own benefit, and one who receives is separated. Rather, he should regret the exile of the Shechina (Divinity), meaning that he is causing the sorrow of Divinity.

One should imagine that it is as though a small organ of the person is sore. The pain is nonetheless felt primarily in the mind and in the heart. The heart and the mind, which are the whole of man. And certainly, the sensation of a single organ cannot resemble the sensation of a person’s full stature, where most of the pain is felt.

Likewise is the pain that a person feels when he is remote from the Creator. Since man is but a single organ of the Holy Shechina, for the Holy Shechina is the common soul of Israel, hence, the sensation of a single organ does not resemble the sensation of the pain in general. That is to say that there is sorrow in the Shechina when the organs are detached from her, and she cannot nurture her organs.

(And we should say that this is what our sages said: “When a man regrets, what does Shechina say? ‘It is lighter than my head.’”). By not relating the sorrow of remoteness to oneself, one is spared falling into the trap of the desire to receive for oneself, which is considered separation from holiness.

The same applies when one feels some closeness to holiness, when he feels joy at having been favored by the Creator. Then, too, one must say that one’s joy is primarily because now there is joy Above, within the Holy Shechina, at being able to bring her private organ near her, and that she did not have to send her private organ away.

And one derives joy from being rewarded with pleasing the Shechina. This is in accord with the above calculation that when there is joy for the part, it is only a part of the joy of the whole. Through these calculations he loses his individuality and avoids being trapped by the Sitra Achra, which is the will to receive for his own benefit.

Although, the will to receive is necessary, since this is the whole of man, since anything that exists in a person apart from the will to receive does not belong to the creature, but is attributed to the Creator, but the will to receive pleasure should be corrected to being in order to bestow.

That is to say, the pleasure and joy, which the will to receive takes, should be with the intention that there is contentment Above when the creatures feel pleasure, for this was the purpose of creation – to benefit His creations. And this is called the joy of the Shechina Above.

For this reason, one must seek advice as to how he can bring contentment Above. And certainly, if he receives pleasure, contentment shall be felt Above. Therefore, he yearns to always be in the King’s palace, and to have the ability to play with the King’s treasures. And that will certainly cause contentment Above. It follows that his entire longing should be only for the sake of the Creator.


Reposted from Kabbalah.info web site
Original text >>