Confucianism, Thelema, and Tradition [418 Words]

This is the last of my targeted word count writings. Future work will be less artificially constrained.

Recently, I have been fascinated by Confucianism. It created a meritocratic system of self-cultivation that lasted for centuries. While its practice may never have matched its ideals, I think we can learn much from this tradition. The official Thelemic viewpoint on Confucianism is favorable as well. The prophet references it in his new comment for verse III:53. Mongol is taken to be a probable reference to Confucianism (personally, I think it refers to all traditions of the “Mongols”). It, along with Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Qabalah, are taken as correct in essence, but imperfect in practice.

These practices have, by virtue of Crowley, Guénon, and Evola, had their flesh torn, as per III:53. The sole exception seems to be Confucianism. Crowley addressed Buddhism, Qabalah, Taoism, and the two traditions from III:51-52 (Christianity and Islam). Guénon dealt with Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Evola addressed Buddhism. These aren’t exhaustive, but reflect their work in conjunction with III:50-54. Other than a brief mention in Evola’s work on Taoism (in itself, a brief gloss), Confucianism has been largely ignored. This is unfortunate, as few traditions have the innate restorative power for a world fallen into the Kali Yuga as does Confucianism. It’s meritocratic methodology would restore the “confusion of the castes” that Guénon and Evola chronicled. Further, it would be self-selected and free from any bias other than the inherent bias of ascription to the principles being espoused (in this case, Thelema). Also, the intent of Confucianism seems to be replicated in Crowley’s vision of the AA and the reading lists.

The purpose of Confucianism is the cultivation of the superior man. To achieve this, one studies and practices the prescribed teachings. Beyond this, many Chinese dynasties utilized Confucian knowledge as the base for selecting government officials. Testing was a necessary component and one’s score determined one’s position within the government. These tests looked much like those I have seen for entrance into the A∴A∴. While some questions were capable of being answered by rote memorization, certain questions were designed so as to allow the student to show their own comprehension and internalization of the material. These questions had no specific answer (though they probably had wrong answers).


The A∴A∴ system, as it was written by Crowley, seems to be Confucian in nature. One is given Thelemic texts to study, along with materials meant to illuminate understanding and provide background to the texts. These are conjoined to practices which are meant to provide an experiential reference.

Commentaries for AL III:50-54 (Old & New, there is no published "D" commentary for chapter III)

The Old Comment for this entire section is brief.

Appears to be a plain instruction in theology and ethics. I do not understand “Din.” Bahlasti = 358, and Ompedha, perhaps, 210. [Old Comment III:48-62]

All other commentary is from the new comment.

III:50:Curse them! Curse them! Curse them!
III:51:With my Hawk's head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross.

We are to consider carefully the particular attack of Heru Ra Ha against each of these 'gods' or prophets; for though they be, or represent, the Magi of the past, the curse of their Grade must consume them.

Thus it is the eyes of 'Jesus' – his point of view – that must be destroyed; and this point of view is wrong because of his Magical Gesture of self-sacrifice.

One must not for a moment suppose that this verse supports the historicity of 'Jesus.' 'Jesus' is not, and never was, a man; but he was a 'god,' just as a bundle of old rags and a kerosene tin on a bush may be a 'god.' There is a man-made idea, built of ignorance, fear, and meanness, for the most part, which we call 'Jesus,' and which has been tricked out from time to time with various gauds from Paganism, and Judaism.

The subject of 'Jesus' is, most unfortunately, too extensive for a note; it is treated fully in my book 888.

III:52:I flap my wings in the face of Mohammed & blind him.

Mohammed's point of view is wrong too; but he needs no such sharp correction as 'Jesus.' It is his face – his outward semblance – that is to be covered with His wings. The tenets of Islam, correctly interpreted, are not far from our Way of Life and Light and Love and Liberty. This applies especially to the secret tenets. The external creed is mere nonsense suited to the intelligence of the peoples among whom it was promulgated; but even so, Islam is Magnificent in practice. Its code is that of a man of courage and honour and self-respect; contrasting admirably with the cringing cowardice of the damnation dodging Christians with their unmanly and dishonest acceptance of vicarious sacrifice, and their currish conception of themselves as 'born in sin,' 'miserable sinners' with 'no health in us.'

III:53:With my claws I tear out the flesh of the Indian and the Buddhist, Mongol and Din.

“The Indian.” The religion of Hindustan, metaphysically and mystically comprehensive enough to assure itself the possession of much truth, is in practice almost as superstitious and false as Christianity, a faith of slaves, liars and dastards. The same remarks apply roughly to Buddhism.

“Mongol:” presumably the reference is to Confucianism, whose metaphysical and ethical flawlessness has not saved its adherents from losing those ruder virtues which are proper to a Fighting Animal, and thus yielding at last a civilization coeval with history itself to the barbarous tribes of Europe.

“Din” – 'severity' or 'judgment' may refer to the Jewish Law, rather than to the Faith (ad 'din') of Islam. Assuming this, the six religions whose flesh must be torn out cover the whole globe outside Islam and Christianity.

Why assault their flesh rather than their eyes, as in the other cases? Because the metaphysics, or point of view, is correct – I take Judaism as Qabalistic – but the practice imperfect.

III:54: Bahlasti! Ompehda! I spit on your crapulous creeds.

 By sound Bahlasti suggests “hurling” or “blasting;” Ompehda is not too phantastically onomatopoetic for 'an explosion."

Note: References to the missing Appendix were removed.

Liber Resh [666 Words from May 23]

Liber Resh vel Helios sub figurâ CC is listed as the second practice in de Cultu. The first being to study and practice the Holy Books. The initial version I was taught had two parts: the adoration of the solar god of the quarter and the “adoration that is taught thee by thy Superior.” The initial adoration that I was taught was a subset of “A Paraphrase of the Inscription upon the Obverse of the Stèle of Revealing,” starting with the verse “Unity uttermost showed!” Since then, I have learned an extended form. This form is said to have been taught by Crowley at the Abbey of Thelema. I will break this down into five parts. Parts two through four have associated footwork. Steps one, three, and five have associated god forms.

Resh is to be performed at dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight. For these I use solar noon and midnight, so it is not at precisely 12 o’clock. Also, if I forget a station, I will still perform it. E.g., if I forget noon, at dusk I will do Noon Resh, then Evening Resh. As for fitting this into the daily practice, My morning has Star Ruby, Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram, and Resh. Noon/Midnight has Resh. Evening has Resh, (Phoenix)*, and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

In the Morning, face East (which you will be if you just finished your TLIRP), make the Sign of the Enterer and say “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” From the Sign of the Enterer, flow into the Sign of Vir. Next, make your feet into a reversed ‘L,’ with the right foot facing forward and the left forming a 90° angle.

Facing forward from this position, recite the solar adoration from Liber Resh, “Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising…” Once complete, bring the left foot parallel to the right, forming an ‘I.’ Cross the arms to assume the Sign of Osiris Risen and recite the entire Obverse of the Stèle of Revealing. Once that is complete, rotate the right foot to form a 90° angle, drop your arms, face the next quarter, and sing “A ka dua / Tuf ur biu / bi a'a chefu / Dudu nur af an nuteru” as per the instructions in Liber XV.

Finally, make the Sign of Mulier, and say “Love is the law, love under will.” Finish with the Sign of Silence.

The other quarters are similar. For Noon, face South, make the Sign of Mulier, adore Ahathoor, and finish with the Sign of Puer. Dusk requires one to face West, adore Tum, and close with the Sign of Puer. Midnight faces North, has the Sign of Puella, adores Kephra, and creates a loop by ending with Vir. One should notice that the Signs of NOX of each quarter match the Thelemic deity from the Star Ruby and Liber V.

The Obverse of the Stèle of Revealing can be recited in various ways. One can sing it. It can sound quite beautiful. I believe it is reminiscent of Christian devotionals. Since I cannot sing, I avoid this. For me, I chant the adorations in full sentences, or at least in component parts. (“Above the gemmed azure is the naked splendour of Nuit” *pause* “She bends in ecstacy to kiss the secret ardours of Hadit.”) Choose the method that you enjoy best.

The image of Ra is that of a hawk-headed lord. On his head rests a solar disk entwined with a serpent. Ahathoor, a variation of Hathor, is a Cow Goddess, depicted as a woman with long cow horns in which is nestled a solar disk and serpent. Tum is depicted as the one who takes the soul of the departed king to the stars. He is depicted as a man wearing the royal headdress or dual crowns, and is associated with the serpent. Kephra is imagined as a dung beetle. One should imagine these forms when performing one’s adoration.

Another Addendum/Errata on the TLRP [77 Words]

I originally visualized an Artemis image for AHIH, but she was unclear, perhaps because I view the Judaic names as patriarchal. I tried to visualize a young bowman. That failed. The only image I could consistently visualize, and to which the other forms morphed, was a bearded viking with a bow (no helmet, but braided hair). Key is to visualize images that are meaningful and symbolize the quarter. Avoid forcing an image to fit a preconceived notion.

[TLRP]
[Errata/Addendum 1]

Errata on the TLBRP [93 Words]

[While I really loved the symbolism of Venus being Adonai, it is wrong. I have corrected the attributions 2015 09 02.]

I noticed that I had forgotten to include the god name for the Northern pentagram. It is AGLA. AGLA stands for “Atah Gibor Le-olam Adonai” which is translated as “You are mighty forever, my lord.” However, as we noticed with the South, Adonai is attributed to Venus, which is the Morning Star. The Morning Star is a biblical name of Lucifer, so one can also read it as “You are mighty forever, Lucifer.” The Morning Star and the Evening Star are both Venus, and can refer, biblically, to either Lucifer or Jesus.


[TLBRP Post]

The Lesser Pentagram Ritual [1111 Words (Catch up for May 19)]

I covered the Star Ruby, so let us move to the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. I must admit that I avoided this ritual when I first started ceremonial magick. A sticking point was the use of Hebrew/Christian gods and angels. In my youth, I was exposed to fundamentalist/charismatic Christianity and was rabidly anti-Christian. (I have since mellowed so that I only see it as yet another weak and oppressive form of herd morality.) Due to this aversion, I threw myself whole heartedly into the Star Ruby. It’s use of Thelemic deities, Greek language, and Chaldean entities made it a perfectly valid alternative to the hated Christian ritual.

Unfortunately, the Star Ruby is a banishing ritual. To my knowledge, there is no invoking form. This was not a problem at first since we only did banishings anyway (Keith418 has written extensively on this problem). However, the time came when I was actually ready to do magick and I needed an invoking pentagram ritual. I could only see two options. The first was to eschew proper ritual format and allow Christianity to control my life through my aversion. The alternative was to overcome these barriers and master the ritual.

I went through many mental games on my way. The first was to create an arbitrary division between the tetragrammaton and Yahweh. In the east, I would intone each letter, telling myself that this was the true god and that Yahweh was the demi-urge. My sense of aesthetics broke this one, since it is imbalanced to spell YHVH, but not ADNI, EHIH, and AGLA. Especially, AGLA since it is an acronym. Today, I realize that I am not going to let some bloodthirsty, desert totem of genocide mar my spiritual practices. I hope this digression has been of help to anyone dealing with similar issues.

The lesser ritual of the pentagram has two forms, the banishing and the invoking. They are commonly abbreviated as LBRP and LIRP. I indicate the Thelemic variant by prefacing a ‘T’ to the previous acronyms. The difference between the “classical” and Thelemic variants lie in the Qabalistic Cross. In the “classical” version, one makes an equal armed cross. In the Thelemic, one makes a Calvary Cross and inserts the name of one’s Holy Guardian Angel, if known, or “Aiwass,” who can be seen as the archetypal HGA. The lesser pentagram ritual is a building block and component of all Western ceremonial magick. Its importance, and mastery, cannot be understated.

The ritual is actually very simple. It is composed of four parts (the Star Ruby has six). These parts are: (1) The Qabalistic Cross, (2) The Charging of the Quarters, (3) The Invocation of the Archangels, and (4) repeat The Qabalistic Cross. For reference, the Star Ruby’s parts are: (1) The Casting Out of Demons, (2) The Cross Qabalistic, (3) The Charging of the Quarters, (4) The Paean and -Godforms, (5) The invocation of the Chaldean entities, and (6) The Cross Qabalistic.

You begin the Qabalistic Cross by standing in the Sign of Silence while facing East and holding the dagger (note, Liber O says “usually the wand,” but I have always seen it performed with the dagger). Inhale, and with the hand that is holding the weapon, one touches one’s forehead and vibrates “ATEH.” Bringing the hand down to the heart, one vibrates “AIWASS.” Next, one brings one’s hand to the groin (Svadisthana Chakra) and vibrates “MALKUTH.” I do this as one breath. This can be roughly translated as “Unto thee, my HGA, is the Kingdom.” Next is the crossbar. Inhale and touch the right shoulder while vibrating “VE-GEBURAH.” Bring the hand across to the left shoulder and vibrate “VE-GEDULAH.” This is also completed in one breath. This is commonly translated as “and the Power and the Glory.” Finally, inhale and bring the hands together while saying “LE-OLAHM AMEN.” One should end in a posture similar to that of prayer, though as magicians and Thelemites, that is not the mental attitude. This can be thought to mean “To the Ages, AMEN.” Then return to the Sign of Silence.

The second section is the charging of the quarters. For the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, one uses the pentagram of Earth for all four quarters. The invoking pentagram is drawn from the uppermost point (attributed to Spirit) to the lower left point (attributed to Earth). The banishing pentagram is done in reverse, starting with the lower left and moving upward. Note that these describe the first line of the pentagram and one should draw the remaining lines sequentially (i.e., invoking: Spirit, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit). Since the magician is standing at the intersection of Pe & Samekh (Tower & Art), my imagery is related to the Sephiroth of the Qabalistic Tree of Life.

[While I really loved the symbolism of Venus being Adonai, it is wrong. I have corrected the attributions 2015 09 02.]

To the East (Tiphareth) visualize the symbol of the sun and trace a golden pentagram about it. Make the Sign of the Enterer and vibrate “YHVH” (yahweh) while visualizing a anthropomorphic solar burst. Return to the Sign of Silence. Turn to the South (Netzach) and visualize the sign of Venus. Trace a green pentagram, make the Sign of the Enterer, vibrate “ADNI” (adonai) while visualizing a beautiful youth (the Morning Star, Lucifer), and return to the Sign of Silence. Turn to the West (Yesod). Visualize the Lunar symbol. Trace a Violet pentagram. Make the Sign of the Enterer, vibrate “AHIH” while visualizing a Warrior with a bow, and return to the Sign of Silence. Finally, Turn to the North (Hod). Repeat as before, but the sign is Mercury, the color orange, and the image should be that of Atu I, the Magus, of the Thoth Tarot deck. Turn back to the East.

For the Invocation, Make sign of Osiris Slain while standing in the center and visualize each angel as you vibrate their name. “Before me Raphael, Behind me Gabriel, On my right hand Michael, On my left hand Auriel.” Next say “For about me flames the Pentagram.” Make the Sign of Osiris Risen and finish with “And in the Column stands the six-rayed Star,” followed by the Sign of Silence.
To end, one repeats the Qabalistic Cross. By finishing in the Sign of Silence, one is ready for the next ritual. In the case of one’s morning adorations, this would be Resh.

While writing this, I found that I had made an error with the colors for Yesod/AHIH. All of the other quarters use the Queen scale of colors, which coincide with the planetary colors. However, Yesod is violet, but the Moon is silver, so I was drawing a silver pentagram. I will change this for future practice.

[Errata]

The Cross Qabalistic of the Star Ruby [156 Words]

To clarify a few points from yesterday’s post on the Star Ruby. When I stated “I do each line of the cross with one breath,” I meant the following: I raise my right hand above my forehead, inhale. I vibrate “Soi,” while touching my forehead. I bring my hand down to my groin and vibrate “O Phalle” and exhale any remaining breath. I inhale again and touch my right shoulder vibrating “Ischuros.” I touch my left shoulder while vibrating “Eucharistos” and exhale any remaining breath. I then stand in the sign of the cross and bring my hands together while vibrating “IAO.” Typically, I bring my hands together over my heart with palms pressed together.

My inspiration for vibrating words comes from Tibetan Chants. I try to have the sound originate in my stomach/torso such that it resonates with my entire body. I want my entire body to vibrate with the sounds I am making.

De Cultu (from Liber Aleph)

Since I keep referencing this portion of Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly (& may it ever be something to which I refer), I thought it would be good to post it so that I may link it (rather than the entire book) for easy reference. This is chapter 16.

ο 

DE CULTU

Now, o my Son, that thou mayst be well guarded against thy ghostly Enemies, do thou work constantly by the Means prescribed in our Holy Books.

Neglect never the fourfold Adorations of the Sun in his four Stations, for thereby thou doest affirm thy Place in Nature and her Harmonies.

Neglect not the Performance of the Ritual of the Pentagram, and of the Assumption of the Form of Hoor-pa-Kraat.

Neglect not the daily Miracle of the Mass, either by the Rite of the Gnostic Catholic Church, or that of the Phœnix.

Neglect not the Performance of the Mass of the Holy Ghost, as Nature herself prompteth thee.

Travel also much in the Empyrean in the Body of Light, seeking ever Abodes more fiery and lucid.

Finally, exercise constantly the Eight Limbs of Yoga. And so shalt thou come to the End.

The Star Ruby [666 Words]

Earlier, I mentioned that theological argument tends to be a way to avoid engaging the material. Rather than experiencing the divine, one gets bogged down in arguing over how such an engagement should be experienced. In this way, it is much like listening to a virgin discuss the glories of sex. That being said, I do have opinions on these matters. I am just not interested in arguing them per se. I shall devote the next few longer entries on my practices, and how I perform them. You are, of course, free to emulate or ignore them as you will.

Three things I do daily, and are parts of de Cultu, are the Star Ruby, the Thelemic Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, and Resh. Today, I shall discuss the Star Ruby. I use the instructions given in Liber XXV. Since I learned to do this ritual in smaller spaces, I tend to circle in place rather than pace an outer circle. When performing publicly, I try to remember to move around more.

I start in the Sign of Silence, as described in the instruction. When I feel that I have gathered my forces, I dash my hand down so that it is angled to the floor and cry out “APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS.” The mental image is an explosive force radiating from my body and instantly cleansing the space. In my mind, the banishing has been accomplished by this singular act. The rest is, so to speak, merely locking the door.

I then do the Cross Qabalistic starting with my hand above my head. I do each line of the cross with one breath.

[Note 20160522: This symbolism is incorrect. The key to understanding the attributions of the quarters for the star ruby can be found in the instructions for calling each god-name: Roar (Lion:Leo) Therion, Say (Man:Aquarius) Nuit, Whisper (Serpent:Scorpio) Babalon, and Bellow (Bull:Taurus) Hadit. This was pointed out to me by DRJ.]

For the pentagrams of the quarters, I add symbolism from Liber V. I stand facing East, and visualize the sign of Taurus. I then visualize a banishing pentagram of Earth in the color of Earth (which for me is a dark green). Once this is stable, I roar “Therion” and visualize a green, bull headed man. This is to represent Therion in his Taurine aspect. Since he is horned, he is already in the “Vir” posture. I then make the sign of silence and turn counter-clockwise to the next quarter. I repeat this for each quarter with the following imagery. North has Aquarius and Air, thus a yellow pentagram around a yellow Aquarius symbol. Nuit is visualized as a young woman standing in the sign of Puella with an earthenware water jug on her back. The jug is large and ties her to the astrological sign of Aquarius. West is for Scorpio and Water, thus the pentagram is visualized as a dark blue Scorpio symbol surrounded by a dark blue pentagram. Babalon is visualized as standing in the sign of Mulier with a large scorpion at her feet and an Eagle flying between her outstretched arms. Finally, in the South we have Leo and Fire. The pentagram and sign are visualized in a dark Red. Hadit is visualized standing in the sign of Puer with a Lion’s head. All vocalizations are done as indicated, roar “Therion,” say “Nuit,” whisper “Babalon,” and cry “Hadit.”

From the center, I then do my “Paian” while performing the Signs of NOX. Most people seem to repeat “IO PAN” three times for each sign. This has always felt cumbersome to me. Instead, I do each sign in rapid succession crying “IO PAN” for each. This is just more comfortable for me. Thus I do Puella, Puer, Mulier, Vir, and Mater Triumphans while crying “IO PAN” for each sign.

I then recite the text, breaking for the quarter parts (”PRO MOU IUNGES” pause, etc) while standing in the LVX sign of Osiris Slain. I make the Sign of Osiris Risen for “ASTÉR TÕN EX ESTÉXE.” I then repeat the Cross Qabalistic and return to the sign of silence and end.

It has always struck me odd to repeat the banishing cry at this point, since the room is cleared. Repeating it won’t harm anything, but it seems pointless.

[More on The Cross Qabalistic of the Star Ruby]

Metaphysical Avoidance [77 Words]

Theological argument is a method for avoiding interaction with the divine. Does it matter how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? No, but it occupies one’s time. Instead of interacting with the angels, one is arguing about them. One sees the same behavior in Magick. Time is spent arguing how one should end the Star Ruby, or whether it should be fill or kill in the adorations. Nothing changes, it only gets worse.

Jünger's Anarch

Ernst Jünger describes the Anarch in his novel Eumeswil. The kind people at Ernst Jünger blog have culled these descriptions into a PDF.

Anarch Quotes from Ernst Jünger's Eumeswil

On waking people [111 Words]

I was a leftist and anarchist. Reality conspired to destroy both delusions. I should be thankful that I am not very good at lying to myself. Both ideologies depend on treating people as one thinks they should be rather than on how they are. This sets one up to be used by other people. People sidestep this by telling themselves that other factors are preventing people from acting as expected. If only people would “wake-up,” everything would work as these ideologies demand. It also serves as an ego enhancement by implying that the one thinking this is “awake.” The mission to awaken the people may be the most dangerous of conceits.

Thelema and Tradition [666 words]

I tend to describe myself as a Thelemic Traditionalist, with the caveat that this is more of a descriptor of what I aspire toward. I generally believe in the theories of René Guénon as interpreted by Julius Evola. To put a subset of their theories in simplistic terms, they posit a divine force from which all valid metaphysical values derive (q.v., 20150502). These manifest in various cultures as valid initiatory paths (Tradition). It is also referred to as “Perennial Philosophy” and “Primordial Tradition.”

Another element is the division of history into Yugas, which are meta-historical time periods. Given that the Hindu worldview is cyclical, it is difficult to determine whether the mapping of cyclic time as represented with the Yugas correlates accurately to the modern lineal conception of time. Yugas are commonly described as being 24,000 years. We have writings that date to about 24,000 BC. Given that I tend to side with facts provided from science, I will have to assume that the number of years provided in the Writings of Manu are in error. Given that both Buddhism and Hinduism have cycles of time that vaguely refer to billions of years, I do not feel that this is too much of a stretch.

Another important element of Tradition is its adherence to the conception of caste and to the hierarchy of humanity. I was raised in the modern west, so I feel that the caste system of Hinduism was ossified and no longer served its purpose. This may just be reactionary bias on my part, but I cannot dispute the fact that people of certain castes (or classes, as we prefer to say in the muddled west) view the world differently. In a way similar to how cultures interpret the eternal values in a specific manner, so do the members of a culture tend to interpret their cultural capital in diverse ways. Even in more homogeneous societies, the way that the peasant views the world differs greatly from that of the priest or the warrior-aristocrat. We see this in the class distinctions of the modern west, and in how they remain even if the modern indicator of class (i.e., wealth) changes.

Thelema, as delivered by the prophet, Aleister Crowley, is a form of the Primordial Tradition. It is a revelation of forged links to the divine which provide a valid form of initiation into a world in the latter stages of the Kali Yuga where the counter-initiatory forces of the anti-Tradition prevail. In addition, and by injunction of the revelation, Crowley also endeavored to rescue those elements of prior systems of initiation that had been perverted by forces of the anti-Tradition (in particular, Masonry, which was identified by Guénon as a valid initiatory path, and apostolic succession, which was also identified as valid by Guénon). It should be noted that he did not do this because of Guénon, but on his own.

Thelema’s Aeonic system sounds similar to the Traditional system of Yugas, but inverted. This could be explained by the fact that  both are referring to spiritual cycles and the Thelemic Aeon seems to be 2000 years (tied to Zodiacal progression) rather than being fully ahistoric like the Yugas. I believe that the Thelemic Aeons are nestled within the Traditional Yugas. I dislike attempts to “sciencify” spiritual concepts as it tends to reduce the spiritual to material conceptions and quickly become dated as human knowledge progresses. Similarities and discrepancies between spiritual models and material ones should be noted, but one need not worry about forcing a reconciliation unless there is an actual discordance.

Thelema also posits a difference between people, in direct statements, that can relate to individuals, and in broad systems, that seem to correlate with the castes of old. There are trials of “fire,” “intellect,” and “the highest” as well as the standard division of Earth, Lovers, and Hermits. If we drop the “merchant” caste, which is not universal, we can map the Traditional castes to the Thelemic categories.

David Hume (56 Word)

David Hume, q.v., the A∴A∴ reading list, doubts everything. He doubts reason, which I think is backed up by AL’s statement that “there is a factor infinite & unknown.” He explains that people are emotional creatures who use reason to justify their decisions after the fact. This inverts modernity’s assertion of Reason as a guiding principle.

How I View the World (Bird's Eye View)

Limited to 156 words.

A note on my metaphysics. At the top of the tree are Values. Values has two items underneath it, Religion and Art. These are cultural interpretations of the values held by that culture — or, the manifestation of these values in the world within a specific socio-political grouping. Note that they reinforce and influence each other. Below Religion is Politics. As Schmitt says, political theories are merely secularized theology. To put it differently, one’s conception of the eternal will obviously determine one’s conception of the temporal. Below Politics are Morals. These are the day to day impulses which comprise the culturally contextualize definition of a “good” person.

The magician operates in the realm of Values, or should. He often utilizes Art and the trappings of Religion, but the difference between a Magician and a Mystic is that the Magician operates within the realm of Values directly. This, I think, is why Crowley warned against Religion and Mysticism.

----
This is not a part of the writing.

Values
 |   +——————————+
Religion                               Art
 |
Politics
 |

Morals

Tao Teh Ching #38 (excerpt)

Therefore, the Tao is lost, and then virtue
Virtue is lost, and then benevolence
Benevolence is lost, and then righteousness
Righteousness is lost, and then etiquette
Those who have etiquette
are a thin shell of loyalty and sincerity
And the beginning of chaos
(Translation by Derek Lin) 

A Brief Note on the Nature of Religion

93 Words.

A religion is often thought of in a monolithic sense. However, this is misleading. It is more useful to think of religion as being divided into three broad interrelated groupings: Folk, Elite, and Doctrinal. Folk religion is followed by the lower classes and tends to be superstitious and based on practices. The Elite interpretation is followed by the upper classes and tends to be more intellectually oriented. Finally, the Doctrinal practices is the official line promoted by the priesthood, texts, and organization. These are best conceived as habitus (ala Bourdieu) than orthodox restrictions.