The Pyramidos Experience

By Frater 414 1=10 A.`.A.`.

Let not the failure and the pain turn aside the worshippers. The foundations of the pyramid were hewn in the living rock ere sunset; did the king weep at dawn that the crown of the pyramid was yet unquarried in the distant land? (LXV V: 51) Then also the Pyramid was builded so that the Initiation might be complete. (Liber CCXXXI v. 20) And if I fail herein, may my pyramid be profaned, and the Eye be closed upon me! (John St. John)

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

What follows herein are my notes and comments to this Holy Ritual of Initiation. The ideas expressed are personal in that they result directly from my own relationship to this document, and this living Magick of Thelema. First penned early in the Neophyte Period of Frater 414, these notes have been constantly added and amended, to reflect the increase of self-understanding and exploration (Initiation). While not necessarily relative to all Aspirants who may encounter this ritual, I have tried to keep the notes to a general substance, to apply to Our Work as a whole, and not simply tell the reader of my own complexes. Excerpts were taken from various documents, and have been synthesized with this Aspirants understanding and incorporated into this exegesis. For convenience sake and additional reference, the works cited are appended at the end of the comments of Frater 414. The Ritual pertains directly to the 1=10 degree of the A..A.., and subsequently is based upon the Formula of the Neophyte. In the Caption to chapter VI in Magick in Theory and

Practice is, The ceremony to endow a thing inert and impotent with balanced motion in a given direction. This Formula is V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

LIBER DCLXXI vel PYRAMIDOS A Ritual of Self Initiation based upon the Formula of the Neophyte. The Building of the Pyramid. The Magus with Wand. On the Altar are incense, Fire, Bread, Wine, the Chain, the Scourge, the Dagger & the Oil. his left hand the Bell he taketh. The assembling of the physical Temple. The physical preparations the Neophyte either consciously or unconsciously undergoes to inaugurate the New Plant. A proclamation of the Work at hand. The Weapons and Sacraments are to be used during the course of the Ritual. The man or woman is led into 1=10 by the Aspiration. According to the notes in John St. John, the Pyramid is built before the Aspirant even enters, so this could mean that the Universe has prepared the place for the Initiation regardless of the Aspirants knowledge of such. The forces involved are Life and Death, the two most obvious opposites in our consciousness, and the motivation behind the majority of our actions. Hail! ! , Hoor-Apep! The Silence speech beget! Two strokes on Bell. Banishing Spiral Dance. Thoth invoking Asi and Hoor/Set, the Aspirants passion to become Neophyte. Adoration to Not-I. As Asar is Osiris, and the Feminine Male, Asi is Isis and the Masculine Female. Asi and Hoor are the dual natures of the manifested Universe. Apep is Apophis, and as we know that Hoor is Horus, we have the creative and destructive forces that assist in the process of this Universe, as we have the two aspects of Nuit and Hadit. Hoor-Apep is the Method, see my essay entitled The Nature of Initiation. Silence Speech= The planned initiatory work, rituals, astral, meditation, etc. Neophyte work. The activity veiled in in-activity, or the way of the Tao. Thoth here declares this speech in the silence. This is the commencement of the nature of the ritual itself. The ritual opens in silence, through speech and verily back unto silence, and the completion

of the Neophyte Initiation. Two strokes on the bell and the banishing spiral dance= the commencement of the Neophyte Work, the organization of the material and the clearing of the space- the banishing, as it always should precede any ritual whatever, the grade of Neophyte in the context of Liber Pyramidos, is one elaborate ritual, as is the whole of Existence. All things are unnecessary to the operation of Initiation are banished. The Words against the Sons of Night Tahuti speaketh in the Light. Knowledge & Power, twin warriors, shake The Invisible; they roll asunder The Darkness; matter shines, a snake. Sebek is smitten by the thunder The Light breaks forth from Under. The words against the sun of night= the onset of the ordeal- depression and overindulgence and self-absorption. The obstacle to the Work and the realization of such. Also the words against the Sun of Night would be the resistance of the empirical world to my aspiration. Son of Night is the Sun of Nuit, the Children mentioned in Liber AL vel Legis. Tahuti (Thoth) by the Light of his Wisdom, speaks the truth about the Aspirant, which brings about the Ordeal of the Nephesch and the Sorrow of Binah reflected into Malkah. The light breaks for from under= The enlightenment which provokes renewed energy to the Work, and a resurgence of the Light. In Crowleys New Comment to Liber Al vel Legis, Chapter 1 verse 49, he states that, The Formula of the New Aeon recognizes Horus, the Child crowned and conquering, as God. We are all members of the Body of God, the Sun; and about our System is the Ocean of Space. This formula is then to be based upon these facts. Our Evil, Error, Darkness, Illusion, whatever one chooses to call it, is simply a phenomenon of accidental and temporary separateness. If you are walking in darkness, do not try to make the sun rise by self-sacrifice, but wait in confidence for the dawn, and enjoy the pleasures of the night meanwhile.. The light begins to shine forth from underneath this Person who is the false I. The seed planted by Thoth sprouts in the Darkness (read, Kephra, putrification) and grows into a form of enlightenment. The snake reminds of the HGA from Liber Cordis Cincte Serpente. The Snake is the secret Nature of Man, which is Life and Death. (Cf. Liber Aleph) He is taken from the dark world of matter (Malkuth) towards the Divine Light (Tiphareth). He goes to the West, in the centre of the base of the Triangle of THOTH (Maim), ASI (Aleph), & HOOR (Shin). O Thou, the Apex of the Plane, With Ibis head & Phoenix Wand

And Wings of Night! Whose serpents strain Thou in the Light & in the Night! Here Thoth is placed in the East this will be demonstrated later- as the Wisdom that is the resultant of the transcendence of the Opposites. Hoor and Asi form the base of the Triangle. Hoor and Asi are here represented as Death and Life, respectively, and they invoke the Divine Word who is Horus. These two officers are the Light and Night, two opposites that form the World in which Horus, the Initiator, can function. Thoth Mem Water and Asi Aleph Air. He lays the Wand, etc., on the Altar, uses the Scourge on his buttocks, cuts a cross with the Dagger upon his breast & tightens the Chain of the Bell about his forehead, saying: The Lustral Water! thy flood Through me, lymph, marrow & blood! In the West, a first spiritual death, brought about by Hoor unto Asi. The death is brought about by the use of the Chain Dagger and Scourge. The Scourge was the motivating weapon to get my animal moving. The Chain is the continued intellectual focus on the Work. The Dagger is used to equilibrate the emotions. The Lustral water smite thy flood. This is the spell to actualize the work of these weapons. This phrase has a profound alchemical feel to it. The Lustral water is the substance by which the gross can transmute into the fine. Through my whole being, I must use these weapons to transmute the gross elements of Intellect, Emotion, and Body into vehicles for the aspiration, taking them from gross hindrances to fine components of my being. The Lustral water is the spiritual cleansing and purifications of those elements to which the weapons pertain. The Aspirant, having been symbolically slain, invokes the forces necessary to the operation of Initiation the Weapons. These are not discarded after this initial use, but are kept close as they are of the utmost value. The same for the Holy Oil. Anointing the Wounds, say The Fire Informing! the Oil Balance, assain, assoil! The Fire Informing let the Oil, Balance, Assain, Assoil- this point on the map is the physical renewal of the body and mind, after the pain of the wounds described above, as we consider the literal term oil to be ointment. This is the manifestation of the force of the Holy Oil, taken to mean the Spirit. Fire also to Spirit, and together with the Oil we have an Idea of balancing the three gunas. One must contemplate this stage and allow it to take effect. With no concrete actions to perform for this stage, one must simply allow the Spirit of the Fire and the Oil to consecrate this rejuvenated, strong, impenetrable self that is the result of the Weapons. This Silence and reception of the Spirit will ignite the next stage of Liber Pyramidos. Note also the position of the wounds: The Buttocks, the Breast, and the Forehead, or, the Malahdara, Anahatta, and Ajna Chakra, symbolizing the three Colleges of the A..A.., and Malkuth, Tiphareth, and Binah. Furthermore, these are

the three primary centers stimulated in Liber V vel Reguli, when the Aspirant formulates the Sigil of the Grand Hierophant in the First Gesture. The Invoking Spiral Dance. So Life takes Fire from Death, & runs Whirling amid the Suns. Hail, Asi! the Path, bind on The girdle of the Starry One! The Balance and Equilibrium established, the Aspirant transfers the Energy (Fire) from Death to Life. I was spending a lot of energy on sorrow and depression, now I can take that energy from those things (Death) and use it to experience joy and beauty (Life), enjoying the Day with equal enthusiasm as with the Night. (Note that this does not take away from the practice of collecting positive and negative impressions indiscriminately.) I run with Energy, dancing as a star among stars. This act is a celebration of Life, continuing the path with force and fire, binding the self tighter and tighter to Nuit. The picture of the last two lines gives the idea of lassoing the Universe and pulling her closer and closer. This is also drawn in the MS of Liber Pyramidos found in Commentaries on the Holy Books (Samuel Wieser, 1996ev) Sign of the Enterer: to Thee, Lord of the Word! Sign of Silence: Lord of Silence, Homage to Thee! Repeat both Signs: we adore Thee, still & stirred Beyond Infinity. The Secret Word _____ (Blue, Orange, Yellow-Green, Yellow, Orange, Blue) The officers, Life and Death, salute the Word, Horus, with the 0=0 Grade Signs, which symbolize activity and passivity, or Speech and Silence. After this homage, the Secret Word of the Neophyte is pronounced, as it begins and ends in Silence. For from the Silence of the Wand Unto the Speaking of the Sword, And back again to the Beyond, This is the toil & the Reward. This is the Path of HVA- Ho! This is the Path of IAO! Bell. Hail Asi! Hail, thou Wanded Wheel! Alpha & Delta kissed & came For five that feed the Flame. Just as the Secret Word begins in Silence, travels through Speech and returns back to Silence, so does the work of the Initiate, and even that of the Universe itself, arise from the Ain Soph Aur, through Existence, and back to the Negative. The Toil is the hardship and Work of this existence and the reward is the re-uniting with Nuit. Alpha is Aleph The Fool, who is Asi, the Silence Self, Harpocratesthis demonstrates the

above comment of the Feminine Male. Delta is Daleth The Empress, who is Ahathor and Venusand here we see the Masculine Female. Note also that the Empress is often portrayed as being pregnant, another connection to this act of Spiritual Intercourse. Related to this is a comment Aleister Crowley penned in his work, Liber Aleph vel CXI, The Book of Wisdom or Folly. DE NATURE {sigma-digamma-iota-nu-upsilon} Firstly, this Sphinx is a Symbol of the Coition of Our Lady BABALON with me THE BEAST in its Wholeness. For as I am of the Lion and the Dragon, so is She of the Man and the Bull, in our Natures, but the Converse thereof in our Offices One plus four equals five, and as we know that five is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the active side of Horus and Motion in general, five is He, The Star. The Flame seems to be another reference to Horus. Bell. Hail, Hoor-Apep! thou Sword of Steel! Alpha & Delta & Epsilon Met in the Shadow of the Pylon And in Iota did proclaim That tenfold core & crown of flame. Hail, Hoor-Apep! Unspoken Name! See comments above on Hoor and Apep. Here again we have Alpha, Delta and Epsilon; 1, 4 and 5, as described above. Iota is Yod, the Hermit and Spermatozoon, whose value is 10. In these lines, which are given to be a salute to the forces involved in the Initiation, related to the personal experience of the Aspirant as the assemblage powers necessary to the work. The Fool kisses the Goddess and a Star is Born, partaking of the Creative Seed of the Universe, Yod. In mundane experience, this is the knowledge of the secret self and the love for the Goddess, to Nuit ultimately, with knowledge of the powers of the Spermatozoon, the glyph for the creative and directive energy, the true symbol of the Gate of Initiation. Also here realized is the true nature of the Aspirant, per Liber AL, as a Star. Thus is the Great Pyramid duly builded. These realizations in effect complete the building of the Pyramid, wherein the initiation can take place. Essentially, the preceding section of Liber Pyramidos was the true Creation Myth veiled in the Qabalah. 1. Initiation. The Candidate still bound and hoodwinked.

The First Pylon. The Aspirant is bound and hoodwinked, as one knows not his or her Purpose, Will, nor Goal. The Aspirant is unable to see and unable to act in accordance with his or her own will when first entering this stage of Initiation. This is the first mentioning of the Magickian being Bound and Hoodwinked, but note the word still. This implies that the Building of the Pyramid took place also with the Candidate Blind and Bound. I know not who I am; I know not whence I came; I know not whither I go; I seek-- but What I do know! These lines are the active acknowledgment of the futility and fleeting nature of the uninitiated consciousness. The Aspirant admits that the Will is not known and that without initiation, one would be hurtling out of control, though the universe. I am blind & bound; but I have heard one cry Ring through Eternity; Arise & follow me! The Aspiration is heard through the clutter of the mind. This Aspiration is what has led the Candidate to the Pyramid. Asar Un-nefer! I invoke The four-fold Horror of the Smoke. Unloose the Pit! by the dread Word Of Power-- that Set-Typhon hath heard-SAZAZSAZAZADANATASANSAZAZ (Pronounce this backwards. But it is very dangerous. It opens up the Gates of Hell.) Asar Un-Nefer My Self Made Perfect, or, perhaps more etymologically accurate, My Beautiful Self. This represents the idea of Tiphareth, and the Aspirants Holy Guardian Angel. Crowley describes this specific point in the Ritual as the Aspirant confronts the wrath of the Four Great Princes of the Evil of the World, whose Terror is about him on every side. These four Evils could possibly be the Four Tests set by the Secret Chiefs in regards to the Four Powers of the Sphinx. This would demonstrate a long understood quality of the Work, that all symbols flow coherently into one another, and just as the Qabalah is used as the universal language of Magick, these symbols can be used to describe many processes. Set- Typhon is the inverse or opposition of Horus- Osiris. The idea here is that the Aspirant is dealing with very personal ordeals and subsequently his or her shadow side. The Evil here are those things that the Aspirant fears, his or her own personal complexes. The invocation of this Darkness is inaugurated by the use of a peculiar Word of Power. The word itself equals 406 by Hebrew Gematria. In Liber D, this number is also the value of THOU as a name for God. The text of the ritual directs the Aspirant to pronounce this backwards, and this will open the Gates of Hell.

This could be interpreted as meaning the House of Hadit, the Khabs, ones innermost nature, the Star, so that by pronouncing this word backwards, one is opening the gates of ones own inner nature, which is very frightening for most people. The Fear of Darkness & of Death The Fear of Water & of Fire The Fear of the Chasm & the Chain The Fear of Hell & the dead Breath. The Fear of Him, the Demon dire That on the Threshold of the Inane Stands with his Dragon Fear to slay The Pilgrim of the Way. Thus I pass by with Force & Care, Advance with Fortitude & Wit, In the straight Path, or else Their Snare Were surely Infinite. This is the passing of the First Pylon, which constitutes the Fear of the Aspirant, and the Courage needed to overcome. At the Threshold of the Mysteries stands Fear, but with the virtues of Force, Care, Fortitude and Wit, the Aspirant can pass this Dragon. Any wandering from the path will catch the Aspirant in a snare of the Qliphoth, and a failure to triumph over the Ordeal of the Nephesch. On a personal note, I find that the ritual is not linear in reality; rather, it can manifest and materialize in different ways and at different times. For instance, this position on the map can occur before one has successfully built the Pyramid, the battling of Fear could, and probably most often does, begin before the Aspirant finds the courage to wield the Scourge, Dagger or Chain. Liber 231, as it is a Holy Book suited well for Astral Exploration, presents to the Aspirant the Fear and Hell described here. The Passing of the Second Pylon. (Suit action to words.) Asar! who clutches at my throat? Who pins me down? Who stabs my heart? A symbolic Death, the true Self triumphing over the lower self. The Heart is Tiphareth, the Sephira to which the Candidate is Aspiring. I am unfit to pass within this Pylon of the Hall of Maat. Here the Aspirant still is learning more and more about his or herself. One must admit ones weaknesses and work to strengthen them, and must not be blind to ones potential

egoity, which is a definite mark of Neophyte Initiation. The Hall of Maat could symbolize the Aspirants honesty with Self, recognizing complexes and tendencies as opposed to denying them. Rubric as above. (The Fear...surely Infinite.) This rubric repeats multiple times throughout The Initiation, and seems to signify an oath taken by the Candidate, an oath to overcome Fear. The Lustral Water! thy flood Cleanse me-- lymph, marrow, & blood! The Scourge, the Dagger & the Chain Purge body, breast & brain! The Fire Informing! the Oil Balance, assain, assoil! A development of the Alchemical Process begun in the Building of the Pyramid takes place with this verse. It symbolized again the Water and Fire, as well as the three alchemical weapons, and the Holy Oil, purifying the Aspirant and preparing for the advancement of Initiation. More tendencies and complexes surface here as the student learns more about his or herself. The wounds, as before, are anointed with the Divine Medicine, the Holy Oil, the Spirit, as opposed to qliphotic remedies; the Spirit begins to resonate throughout each and every cell in the body of the Aspirant. Still in corpse-position. For I am come with all this pain, To ask admission to the Shrine. I do not know why-- I ask in vain-Unless it be that I am Thine. I am Mentu his truth-telling brother, Who was Master of Thebes from my birth:-O heart of me! heart of my mother! O heart that I had upon the earth! Stand not thou up against me as a witness! Oppose me not, judge, in my quest! Accuse me not now of unfitness Before the great God, the dread Lord of the West! Pain is the feeling of separateness from the Universe, and the apparent pain of earthly existence. The Candidate desires to be inaugurated into the Mysteries of the Self, but still does not know why. The Aspirant also requests that his heart not be weighed to heavily in the judgment. See the Egyptian Book of the Dead for more on the weighing of the Heart. After the Alchemical working previous, the Candidate now gains a certain level of confidence and the Aspiration is speaking loudly on his or her behalf.

(Change this part to your own motto. Work the scansion correctly.) Speak fair words for 414. May he flourish In the place of the weighing of hearts By the marsh of the dead, where the crocodiles nourish Their lives on the lost, where the Serpent upstarts. --For though I be joined to the Earth, In the Innermost Shrine of Heaven am I. I was Master of Thebes from my birth; Shall I die like a dog? shalt not let me die, But my Khu that the teeth of the crocodiles sever Shall be mighty in heaven for ever & ever! Yea! I am a fool, a flutterer! I am under the Shadow of the Wings! The Magickal Motto is implanted here to signify the Aspirant to the A..A.., and not his or her Mundane counterpart. The weighing of the hearts is again a reference to the Ancient Egyptian belief in the Judgment after death, where the heart of the recently deceased is weighed against the Feather of Maat. The next lines assert that the Aspirant is indeed a partaker of both Heaven and Earth, just as the Spirit is within the Flesh and the Khu as the Magickal Body of the Aspirant remains even after physical death. Yet, while these principals are true in and of themselves, the Aspirant is still wise to remain humble. This is the beginning of the Two and Twenty Basenesses. Refrain "I am under," etc., after each accusation. I am a liar & a sorcerer I am so fickle that I scorn the bridle. I am unchaste, voluptuous and idle. I am a bully & a tyrant crass, I am as dull & as stubborn as an ass; I am untrusty, cruel & insane, I am a fool & frivolous & vain. I am a weakling & a coward; I cringe, I am a catamite & cunnilinge. I am a glutton, a besotted wight; I am a satyr & a sodomite. I am as changeful & selfish as the Sea. I am a thing of vice & vanity. I am not violent & I vaccilate, I am a blind man & esmasculate. I am a raging fire of wrath-- no wiser! I am a blackguard, spendthrift & a miser. I am obscene & devious & null. I am ungenerous & base & dull.

I am not marked with the white Flame of Breath. I am a Traitor! -- die the traitor's death! The accusations reflect the Shadow qualities of the 22 Major Arcana of the Book of Thoth, and are perfectly in line with the general scheme of the Ritual, and the exposition of the Aspirants inner Hell. Each accusation is followed by the phrase; I am under the Shadow of the Wings! Moreover, while these accusations may or may not be true, the Candidate refutes them with the assertion that he or she is shadowed by the Holy Guardian Angel; it is This that will transcend and perfect these evil qualities. This last raises Candidate erect. Invoking Spiral Dance. Rubric as before. I am under the Shadow of the Wings. Now let me pace the Path, bind on The girdle of the Starry One! The last Baseness, reflecting the Universe Atu, and the assertion that follows it, raises the Candidate from the Corpse Position. Indeed the Aspiration lifts one up above these accusations. Here is a quote from Liber LXV, Chapter II: 30. I saw a pale sad boy that lay upon the marble in the sunlight, and wept. By his side was the forgotten lute. Ah! but he wept. 31. Then came an eagle from the abyss of glory and overshadowed him. So black was the shadow that he was no more visible. 32. But I heard the lute lively discoursing through the blue still air. 33. Ah! messenger of the beloved One, let Thy shadow be over me! 34. Thy name is Death, it may be, or Shame, or Love. So thou bringest me tidings of the Beloved One, I shall not ask thy name. Pacing the Path is the understanding that it is the work itself, and not the goal or the result of the work, which tightens ones bond to the Universe. Asar! k.t.l. (See comments above for Asar! Who clutches at my throat) In Northwest. Soul-- mastering Terror is thy name! Lord of the Gods! Lord of Hell!

This presentation of Horus is consistent with His being attributed to Death in the Triangle. See Horus. I am come. fear Thee not. flame Is mine to weave my maiden spell! I know Thee, & I pass Thee by. For more that Thou am I! The Aspirant overcomes the Fear of Death, and asserts that he or she has taken the Fire from Initiation and is working ones Will. Asar! k.t.l. (Rubric as usual.) This Rubric appears often as a reminder that it is ones Angel who leads the Adept through this course. In Southwest. See Isis. Sorrow that eateth up the soul! Dam of the Gods! blue sky's Queen! This is Thy Name. come. And Pass! know Thee, Lady of Teeu! know Thee & I pass Thee by. For more than Thou am I! Isis is Asi as we know from the earlier portions of the ritual, and represents Life, in the pantheon of this Pyramid. The Sorrow is of course the illusion of sorrow brought about by the Spirits manifestation into Nature. Also, Matter is the dense form of energy which slows the movement of the finer energy, and hence the metaphor of the dam. The blue skys queen is Nuit, of who Isis is but a lower manifestation. In this verse, the Aspirant asserts control over Nature, and passes it by. Asar! k.t.l. (Rubric as usual.) In East. See Thoth. Silence The Word. The Wisdom that is above both Life and Death. And since it is from the Supernals, must only be Silent, or be False. Asar! k.t.l. (Rubric as usual.) See Nature. I will not look upon thee more, For Fatal is Thy Name. Begone!

False Phantom, thou shalt pass before The frowning forehead of the Sun. I know Thee; & I pass thee by. For more that Thou am I. Formulating Hexagram: Now Witness YE upon the Earth, Spirit & Water & Red Blood! Witness Above, bright Babe of Birth, Spirit, & Father-- that are God! More lyric explaining the passing of the shadows of Death and Life, and now an insertion of another Triangle. Thus, the Hexagram is formed, the Aspiration is the ascending pyramid, the descending is The Lord hath descended from heaven with a shout and with the Voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God. (John St. John) The two seemingly opposing forces come together and give birth to the Star. As babe in egg, being born. For Silence duly is begot And Darkness duly brought to bed; The Shroud is figured in my Thought, The Inmost Light is on my head. Unbind. Attack! eat up the strong lions. ! The babe in the egg is symbolic of a spiritual birth to be. It is the Self yet to be born, immature and pre-pubescent. In the Book of Thoth, The Fool is one symbol of the Babe in the Egg. The babe in literal terms is the fetus, surrounded by the life giving womb. Spiritually, the idea is very similar. The spiritual self still concealed, is based upon the Principal of Silence, and is surrounded by the Mother. The Birth produces the Enlightened Man (or Woman) and the babe has the opportunity to grow. Sign of the Enterer: Fear is on Seb, on them that dwell therein, Behold the radiant Vigour of the Lord! Sign of Silence: Defense! close the mouth of Sebek, ply My fear on Nile, Asar that held not in! Behold my radiant Peace, ye things abhorred For see! Gods have loosed mine hands: Asar unfettered stands. Hail, Asi, hail! Hoor-Apep cries-Now I the Son of Man arise And follow-- dead where Asar lies!

Lies down in Sign of Hanged Man. The Aspirant has traveled the Pyramid encountering the elements of existence; Life, Death, the Word, and the Silent Self. The equilibration of these forces brings the Aspirant to the realization of the True Self. Asar now stands without. The sorrow and terror are for those who remain on Earth, but the Adept is a partaker of Earth and Heaven, and so stands in both worlds, wielding the Wand of Double Power, which seems to be represented by the 0=0 Grade Signs of the A..A... The Aspirant now lying in the corpse position, representing the Hanged Man Atu of the Book of Thoth, symbolically dies to his or her higher nature. This further signifies a supreme art of Alchemy, and the transmutation of the lesser self into the higher. This working is shown in the following verse. I guild my left foot with the Light. I guild my Phallus with the Light. I guild my right knee with the Light. I guild my right foot with the Light. I guild my left knee with the Light. I guild my Phallus with the Light. I guild my elbow with the Light. I guild my navel with the Light. I guild my heart wedge with the Light. I guild my black throat with the Light. I guild my forehead with the Light. I guild my Phallus with the Light. The Spiritual Light, similar to the working of the Holy Oil, illumines certain centers on the magickal body of the aspirant. The first five lines formulate the Cross, the remaining lines seems to illumine the charkas. Since the spiritual nature is represented by the Sun and the Phallus, it is only apparent why the phallus is gilded thrice. Further, there are a total of 10 different points that are guilded, and these relate to the Qabalistic Lightening Flash, infusing each sphere of consciousness with the Spiritual Fire. Rising in Sign Mulier: Asar Un-nefer! am Thine, Waiting Thy Glory in the shrine. Thy bride, Thy virgin! , my Lord. Smite through the Spirit with Thy Sword! Asar Un-nefer! in me, The chosen catamite of Thee! Come! , come now! wait, I wait, Patient-- impatient slave of Fate, Bought by Thy glance-- Come now! come now! Touch & inform this burning brow.

Asar Un-nefer! in the shrine, Make Thou me wholly Thine! The Aspirant represents the idea of the Virgin, who yearns to give up the self to the Lord Adonai. Asar is still a separate being, God, to whom the Virgin Mulier beckons, as seen by the actual N.O.X. sign of Mulier. The legs spread wide, the arms up and head back, indicate a feminine idea awaiting the copulation with a masculine godhead. And while the Aspirants to the A..A.. are considered male, it is still the infernal mother of Malkuth who aspires to rise and be seated upon the Throne of Binah. In this light, the Ritual itself seems to be a progression of the Soul within the Sphere of Malkuth, as it is also said that each Sephira contains within it a Tree of Its own. Remove hoodwink. I am Asar-- worthy alone To sit upon the Double Throne. Attack is mine & mine defense. And these are one. , go hence! For I am Master of my Fate, Wholly Initiate. Here we encounter an idea that beautifully balances the previous verse. The hoodwink removed, the Aspirant can now see what is the essential reality. One now realizes that Asar is the Self, and not a separate entity, or, rather, that the yearning for nuptial has been answered and the Prince now becomes one with the Aspirant. The Secret Word. The Words are spoken duly. The deeds are duly done. My soul is risen newly to greet the risen Sun. The result is the Aspirant fully glittering with the flame of the Spirit. So, after the spiritual death represented by Atu XII, the Holy Guardian Angel inhabits absolutely the body of the Aspirant. Accomplishing the tasks of the Grade of Neophyte shall produce a realization of the correlation between the Sun and the Son, Sol and the Soul, and the Aspirant now awakens to the Golden Dawn. Bell accordingly. One! ! ! ! Hail! Hail! One! ! ! ! Hail! Kether, Chesed, Geburah, and Malkuth. The Point, Matter, Motion, and the manifestation of this Will. The Magus, the Emperor, The Star, and the Hermit, if we look at the numbers from the point of view of the Tarot.

Signs accordingly. I give the sign that rends the Veil. The sign that closes up the Veil. The Signs of the Portal and the Dominis Liminus explains the regal nature of the Aspirant in that he or she rules over Heaven and Earth, and partakes of the sacraments of both. 2. The Sealing of the Pyramid. Proceed as in the Building, unto the word "Suns." The Banishing Spiral Dance. Now let mine hands unloose the sweet And shining girdle of Nuit! The Adorations & the Word. With the supreme accomplishments of the Knowledge and Conversation, the Adept clears once again the space, and gives adoration to Nuit, which signifies that aim of the work to be un-selfish in nature. Each Aspirant is taught to serve those of lesser grades, and all joy and ecstasy must be ever unto Her. Then at the Altar. Behold! Perfect One hath said Tried & found pure, a golden spoil. These are my body's elements Act accordingly. Incense & Wine & Fire & Bread These I consume, true Sacraments, For the Perfection of the Oil For I am clothed about with flesh And I am the Eternal Spirit. I am the Lord that riseth fresh From Death, whose glory I inherit Since I partake with him. am The Manifestor of the Unseen. Without me all the land of Khem Is as if it had not been. The sacraments are consumed as spiritual energy. See the Mass of the Phoenix for a ritual dealing directly with consuming the Solar energies. Here, a harmonization of the four elements and the Spirit.

Proceed as in Building to end. Hail, Hoor! , Asi! , Tahuti! , Asar Un-nefer! the rended Veil. I am Thyself, with all Thy brilliance decked-Khabs-Am-Pekht. While is seems that actual the result of the ritual is the Great Work Accomplished, 5=6, and the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, it is not so for the Neophyte of the A..A.., as he or she still has much traveling to do before arriving at that perfection. Nevertheless, the ritual is one of self initiation, and being organic in nature, will grow within the Aspirant into that most wonderful attainment. The practical work of the ritual is what is important. The spiritual essence of Liber Pyramidos manifests in the Work as Ordeals and the work of the Grade, without this work, no magickal or mystical metaphors will have any affect upon the consciousness. A glorious, shining Star emerges from the Ordeals, in a consistent orbit within, and of, the Body of Nuit, a fully realized Human Being, Thou art That. The Light of the Star is extending beyond infinity. Hadit is the originator of the Light, which ever shines toward Nuit.

Love is the law, love under will.

Liber Aleph:

{Digamma }{delta } DE PYRAMIDE. Now then at last art thou made ready to confront the Pyramid, if thou art established as a Sphinx. For It also hath the foursquare Base of Law, and the Four Triangles of Light, Life, Love and Liberty for its Sides, that meet in a Point of Perfection that is Hadith, poised to the Kiss of Nuith. But in this Pyramid there is no Difference of Form between the Sides, as it is in thy Sphinx, for these are wholly One, save in Direction. Thou art then an Harmony of the Four by Right of thy Attainment of Adeptship, the Crown of thy Manhood, but not an Identity, as in Godhead. Therefore may it be said from one Point of Sight that thine Achievement is but a Preparation, an Adornment of the Bride for the Temple of Hymen, and his Rite. Verily, o my Son, I deem in my Wisdom hat this whole Work of thy Development to Sphinx-hood cometh before the Work of Theurgy, for the

Lord descendeth not upon a Temple ill-conceived, and builded wry, nor abideth in a Shrine unworthy. Accomplish then this Task in Patience, with Assiduity, not hasting furiously after Godliness. For this is most sure, that to the Beauty of a Maiden answereth the Lust of her Lord, spontaneous and without Effort or Appeal of her Contriving.

Book Four Part 2, Chap 6: The Magician must build all that he has into his pyramid; and if that pyramid is to touch the stars, how broad must be the base! There is no knowledge and no power which is useless to the Magician. One might almost say there is no scrap of material in the whole Universe with which he can dispense. His ultimate enemy is the great Magician, the Magician who created the whole illusion of the Universe; and to meet him in battle, so that nothing is left either of him or of yourself, you must be exactly equal to him. At the same time let the Magician never forget that every brick must tend to the summit of the pyramid -- the sides must be perfectly smooth; there must be no false summits, even in the lowest layers. Binah, moreover, is the Moon, and the bowl of this cup is shaped like the moon. This moon is the path of Gimel through which the influence from the Crown descends upon the Sun of Tiphareth. And this is based upon the pyramid of fire which symbolizes the aspiration of the student.

From John St John: I shall try and describe Ritual DCLXXI; since its nature is important to this great ceremony of initiation. Those who understand a little about the Path of the Wise may receive some hint of the method of operation of the L.V.X. And I think that a description will help me to collect myself for the proper adaptation of this Ritual to the purpose of Self- initiation. Oh, how soft is the air, and how serene the sky, to one who has passed through the black rule of Apophis! How infinitely musical are the voices of Nature, those that are heard and those that are not heard! What

Understanding of the Universe, what Love is the prize of him that hath performed all things and endured all things! The first operation of Ritual DCLXXI is the preparation of the Place. There are two forces; that of Death and that of Natural Life. Death begins the Operation by a knock, to which Life answers. Then Death, banishing all forces external to the operation, declares the Speech in the Silence. Both officers go from their thrones and form the base of a triangle whose apex is the East. They invoke the Divine Word, and then Death slays with the knife, and embalms with the oil, his sister Life. Life, thus prepared, invokes, at the summons of Death, the forces necessary to the Operation. The Word takes its station in the East and the officers salute it both by speech and silence in their signs; and they pronounce the secret Word of power that riseth from the Silence and returneth thereunto. All this they affirm; and in affirming the triangular base of the Pyramid, find that they have mysteriously affirmed the Apex thereof whose name is Ecstasy. This also is sealed by that secret word; for that Word containeth All. Into this prepared Pyramid of divine Light there cometh a certain darkling wight, who knoweth not either his own nature, or his origin or destiny, or even the name of that which he desireth. Before he can enter the Pyramid, therefore, four ordeals are required of him. So, bound and blinded, he stumbles forward, and passes through the wrath of the Four Great Princes of the Evil of the World, whose Terror is about him on every side. Yet since he has followed the voice of the Officer who has prepared him, in this part of the Ritual no longer merely Nature, the great Mother, but Neschamah (his aspiration) and the representative of Adonai, he may pass through all. Yea, in spite of the menace of the Hiereus, whose function is now that of his fear and of his courage, he goes on and enters the Pyramid. But there he is seized and thrown down by both officers as one unworthy to enter. His aspiration purifies him with steel and fire; and there as he lies shattered by the force of the ritual, he hears --- even as a corpse that hears the voice of Israfel --- the Hegemon that chants a solemn hymn of praise to that glory which is at the Apex, and who invisibly rules and governs the whole Pyramid. Now then that darkling wight is lifted by the officers and brought to the altar in the centre; and there the Hiereus accuses him of the two and twenty Basenesses, while the Hegemon lifting up his chained arms cries again and again against his enemy that he is under the Shadow of the Eternal Wings of the Holy One. Yet at the end, at the supreme accusation, the Hiereus smites him into death. The same answer avails him, and in its strength he is uplifted by his aspiration --- and now he stands upright. Now then he makes a journey in his new house, and perceives at stated times, each time preceded by a new ordeal and equilibration, the forces that surround him. Death he sees, and the Life of Nature whose name is Sorrow, and the Word that quickeneth these, and his own self --and when he hath recognized these four in their true nature he passes to the altar once more and as the apex of a descending triangle is admitted to the lordship of the Double Kingdom. Thus is he a member of the visible triad that is crossed with the invisible ---

behold the hexagram of Solomon the King! All this the Hiereus seals with a knock and at the Hegemon's new summons he --- to his surprise --- finds himself as the Hanged Man of the Tarot. Each point of the figure thus formed they crown with light, until he glitters with the Flame of the Spirit. Thus and not otherwise is he made a partaker of the Mysteries, and the Lightning Flash strikes him. The Lord hath descended from heaven with a shout and with the Voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God. He is installed in the Throne of the Double Kingdom, and he wields the Wand of Double Power by the sings of the grade. He is recognized an initiate, and the word of Secret Power, and the silent administration of the Sacrament of Sword and Flame, acknowledge him. Then, the words being duly spoken and the deeds duly done, all is symbolically sealed by the Thirty Voices, and the Word that vibrateth from the Silence to the Speech, and from the Speech again unto the Silence. Then the Pyramid is sealed up, even as it was opened; yet in the sealing thereof the three men partake in a certain mystical manner of the Eucharist of the Four Elements that are consumed for the Perfection of the Oil. Knox Om Pax.

From The Book of Thoth:

Hoor-Pa-Kraat [The Fool is also, evidently, an aspect of Pan; but this idea is shown in his fullest development by Atu XV, whose letter is the semi-vowel A'ain, cognate with Aleph.] Arriving at highly sophisticated theogony, there appears a perfectly clear and concrete symbol of this doctrine. Harpocrates is the God of Silence; and this silence has a very special meaning. (See attached essay, Appendix.) The first is Kether, the pure Being invented as an aspect of pure Nothing. In his manifestation, he is not One, but Two; he is only One because he is 0. He exists; Eheieh, his divine name, which signifies "I Am" or "I shall Be", is merely another way of saying that he Is Not; because One leads to nowhere, which is where it came from. So the only possible manifestation is in Two, and that manifestation must be in silence, because the number 3, the number of BinahUnderstanding-has not yet been formulated. In other words, there is no Mother. All one has is the impulse of this manifestation; and that must take place in silence. That is to say, there is as yet no more than the impulse, which is unformulated; it is only when it is interpreted that it becomes the Word, the Logos. (See Atu I.) Now consider the traditional form of Harpocrates. He is a babe, that is to say, innocent, and not yet arrived at puberty; a simpler form of Parsifal, he is represented as rose pink in colour. It is dawn- the hint of light about to come, but not by any means that light; he has

a lock of black hair curling around his ear, and that is the influence of the Highest descending upon the Brahmarandra Chakra. The ear is the vehicle of Akasha, Spirit. This is the only salient symbol; it is the only indication that he is not merely the bald baby, because it is the only colour in the blob of rose pink. But, on the other hand, his thumb is either against his lower lip or in his mouth; which it is, one cannot say. There is here a quarrel between two schools of thought; if be is pushing up his lower lip, he emphasizes silence as silence; if his thumb is in his mouth, it emphasizes the doctrine of Eheieh: "I shall Be". Yet in the end these doctrines are identical. This babe is in an egg of blue, which is evidently the symbol of the Mother. This child has, in a way, not been born; the blue is the blue of space; the egg is sitting upon a lotus, and this lotus grows on the Nile. Now, the lotus is another symbol of the Mother, and the Nile is also a symbol of the Father, fertilizing Egypt, the Yoni. (But also the Nile is the home of Sebek the crocodile, who threatens Harpocrates.) Yet Harpocrates is not always thus represented. He is shown by certain schools of thought as standing; he is standing upon the crocodiles of the Nile. (Refer above to the crocodile, the symbol of two exactly opposite things.) There is here an analogy. One is reminded of Hercules-the infant Hercules-who spun the wheel in the House of Women; of Hercules, who was a strong man, who was innocent, who was ultimately a madman, who destroyed his wife and children. It is a cognate symbol. Harpocrates is (in one sense) the symbol of the Dawn on the Nile, and of the physiological phenomenon which accompanies the act of waking. One sees, at the other end of the octave of thought, the connection of this symbol with the succession to the royal power described above. The symbol of Harpocrates itself tends to be purely philosophical. He is also the mystical absorption of the work of creation; the H final of Tetragrammaton. Harpocrates is, in fact, the passive side of his twin, Horus. Yet at the same time he is a very fully-fledged symbol of this idea, which is wind, which is air, the impregnation of the Mother Goddess. He is immune from all attack because of his innocence; for in this innocence is perfect silence, which is the essence of virility.

The egg is not only Akasha, but the original egg in the biological sense. [The Black Egg of the element of Spirit in some Hindu schools of thought. From it the other elements Air, Water, Earth, Fire (in that order) proceed.] This egg issues from the lotus, which is the symbol of the Yoni. There is an Asiatic symbol cognate with Harpocrates, and though it does not come directly into this card it must be considered in connection with it. That symbol is the Buddha-Rupa. He is most frequently represented sitting on a lotus, and often there is

behind him spread the hood of the Serpent; the shape of this hood is again the Yoni. (Note the usual ornaments of this hood; phallic and fructiform.) The crocodile of the Nile is called Sebek or Mako-the Devourer. In the official rituals, the idea is usually that of the fisherman, who wishes protection from the assaults of his totem animal. There is, however, an identity between the creator and the destroyer. In Indian mythology, Shiva fulfils both functions. In Greek mythology, the god Pan is addressed "Pamphage, Pangenetor", all-devourer, all-begetter. (Note that the numerical value of the word Pan is 131, as is that of Samael, the Hebrew destroying angel.) So also, in the initiated symbolism, the act of devouring is the equivalent of initiation; as the mystic would say, "My soul is swallowed up in God". (Compare the symbolism of Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Whale, and others.) [Note the N of Jonah, and the meaning of the name: a dove.] One must constantly keep in mind the bivalence of every symbol. Insistence upon either one or other of the contradictory attributions inherent in a symbol is simply a mark of spiritual incapacity; and it is constantly happening, because of prejudice. It is the simplest test of initiation that every symbol is understood instinctively to contain this contradictory meaning in itself. Mark well the passage in The Vision and the Voice, page 136: "It is shown me that this heart is the heart that rejoiceth, and the serpent is the serpent of Da'ath, for herein all the symbols are interchangeable, for each one containeth in itself its own opposite. And this is the great Mystery of the Supernals that are beyond the Abyss. For below the Abyss, contradiction is division; but above the Abyss, contradiction is Unity. And there could be nothing true except by virtue of the contradiction that is contained in itself." It is characteristic of all high spiritual vision that the formulation of any idea is immediately destroyed or cancelled out by the arising of the contradictory. Hegel and Nietzsche had glimmerings of the idea, but it is described very fully and simply in the Book of Wisdom or Folly. (See citation, below, Appendix.) This point about the crocodile is very important, because many of the traditional forms of "The Fool" of the Tarot show the crocodile definitely. In the commonplace interpretation of the card, the Scholiasts say that the picture is that of a gay, careless youth, with a sack

full of follies and illusions, dancing along the edge of a precipice, unaware that the tiger and crocodile shown in the card are about to attack him. It is the view of the Little Bethel. But, to initiates, this crocodile helps to determine the spiritual meaning of the card as the return to the original Qabalistic zero; it is the "He' final" process in the magical formula of Tetragrammaton. By a flick of the wrist, she can be transmuted to reappear as the original Yod, and repeat the whole process from the beginning. The innocence-virility formula is again suggested by the introduction of the crocodile, for that was one of the biological superstitions on which they founded their theogony---that the crocodile, like the vulture, had some mysterious method of reproduction.

A .. A ..