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UNUS DEUS: THE EIGHTFOLD KEY TO

THELEMIC MAGICK

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


This essay is intended to serve as an explication for the symbols & ideas synthesized in the diagram which
heads this article. This image combines the various ideas that are to be discussed and, by the end of reading
this article, you should ideally be able to understand why everything in this image is there. The main thesis is
that this “Eightfold Key” represents a way to unlock a certain understanding of certain rituals, symbols, and
ideas in Thelemic magick.
Disclaimer: I do not pretend to believe that this Key is the “Key to all Thelemic Magick ever” or anything like
that; it is only one perspective among potentially infinite. Its worth should ultimately be judged by whether it
is seen to be a perspective that is useful, that simply “clicks,” that generates new ideas, that stimulates new
thoughts and connections, and so on. That is, it should be judged by each individual as to whether it aids in
the accomplishment of their Wills in some manner.
Introduction

The Qabalah is undoubtedly a crucial branch of knowledge required to delve into the deeper layers of
symbolism and meaning that are inherent in our rituals. While the Qabalah is an incredibly flexible and
versatile system in theory, an unfortunate but all-too-common common tendency is to learn a certain
“attribution scheme” and to stick with it. For example, it is common for individuals to interpret the Mass as
an expression of the Tetragrammaton formula and nothing else.
This Eightfold Key represents a new way of understanding certain central symbols (such as Therion and
Babalon) and certain of our rituals – specifically, Liber XXV (The Star Ruby), Liber XXXVI (The Star Sapphire),
and Liber XV (The Gnostic Mass). This Eightfold Key does not follow the typical attribution schemes that one
would be used to in virtually all material on Golden Dawn and Thelemic rituals. Nonetheless, the basis of this
Eightfold Key is fundamentally in attributions and ideas related by Aleister Crowley himself: none of these
attributions in themselves are my unique insights. I have not encountered this particular application of these
symbols to understanding common Thelemic rituals, and my interpretation & synthesis of these symbolic
applications have led to writing this essay.
On that note, it must be stated clearly and explicitly that nothing herein is “official doctrine”, neither of
Thelema nor of OTO nor of any organization nor any individual other than myself. While I am confident that
these ideas will be relevant and at least somewhat illuminating to many (otherwise I would not have
bothered writing this explication), I am well-aware that this is not the end-all answer to all questions. Even
further, believing this is the sole solution would fly in the face of my belief that symbolism is inherently multi-
layered as well as inherently inexhaustible in terms of its potential meanings. This Eightfold Key is offered to
hopefully allow another perspective to be taken, along with the many connections and insights that ideally
follow therefrom.
Finally, it should be noted that the intended audience of this essay are those who are already somewhat
experienced and/or knowledgeable practitioners of Thelemic magick. The point is not that this material is
“secret” or “above your grade,” but that it assumes a fair degree of familiarity with certain terms and ideas
in order to make the most of the concepts herein.
The Basis of the Eightfold Key

The fundamental symbolic basis of this Eightfold Key is the table “Appendix I” in 777 & other Qabalistic
Writings by Aleister Crowley, where he discusses “The Trigrams of the Yi King.” In this table, he attributes the
8 Trigrams of the Yi King to various things, most importantly to the 4 directional quarters (North-South-East-
West) and the 4 cross-quarters (Northeast-S.E.-N.W.-S.W.) and certain Hermetic ideas. All the attributions are
taken from this table, so nothing in terms of attributions are original, only their interpretations.
In this Eightfold Key, we do not require an extensive knowledge
of the system of the Yi King along with its Trigrams, Hexagrams,
and so on, nor do we need to know what their Chinese names
mean. They form the fundamental basis of the Eightfold
scheme, but their basic meanings can be understood by
understanding the composition of Trigrams. Trigrams are all
composed of 3 lines, hence the name “Trigram,” and each line
is either “unbroken” or “broken.” Unbroken lines refer
to yang, the masculine principle which corresponds with our
Western notions of the Element of Fire, Yod of Tetragrammaton,
Chokmah, and so on; the broken lines refer to yin, the feminine
principle which corresponds with our Western notions of the Element of Water, Heh of Tetragrammaton,
Binah, and so on.
Trigrams with more unbroken lines can be said to be “more yang” and, likewise, Trigrams with more broken
lines can be said to be “more yin.” Since there are only two possibilities for each of the 3 lines, there are a
total of 23 (i.e. 8) possible permutations of yang and yin for a Trigram. We may start understanding these
Trigrams and their attributions by focusing first on the 4 basic directions.
The 4 Quarters

To begin to explain this diagram, we may most effectively begin by looking at the 4 basic directions of the 4
quarters: North-South-East-West. This is the fundamental orientation of virtually every single Thelemic
ritual, especially if we consider Boleskine to essentially be “spiritual East” (as opposed to literally East, as the
direction toward it depends on where one is measuring from). Taking certain attributions from
Crowley’s 777 table we get:
—East— —West— —South— —North—
Hindu Attribution Prana Akasha Lingam Yoni
Yetziratic
☉ ☾ + O
Attribution
This helps us begin to see the basic attributions of the 4 quarters in the Eightfold Key: We can see that this
forms essentially two Pairs of Opposites, or two dualities. Namely, there is the East-West duality of Sol (☉)-
Luna (☾), and there is the South-North duality of Lingam (+)-Yoni (O).
Interestingly, Crowley does not use typical Elemental, Planetary, Zodiacal, or Alchemical symbols for South
and North: He chooses to use a Cross (+) and a Circle (O). While crosses and circles are undoubtedly part of
the Hermetic tradition, it is somewhat unorthodox to attribute them in this way (it does not occur anywhere
else in 777 in nearly the same way). They are essentially equivalent to the Hindu notions of Lingam (+) and
Yoni (O), of which the male penis and female womb represent the most physical symbols.
Also interesting is the attribution of Prana and Akasha to Sol and Luna, respectively. Prana is the Hindu word
for “energy” or “power” or “force,” and it is understood to be the underlying energy that moves all things in
the Universe including ourselves (hence, for example, the practice of pranayama, which literally means the
control of energy). Akasha is the Hindu word for “Space,” and represents the underlying form or space that
underlies all objects in the Universe. They are essentially the Verb (Prana) and Noun (Akasha) of Hindu
cosmology, to make things patently simple. They correspond nicely to our modern notions of Energy and
Matter.
In terms of dualities, for this particular context Lingam (+) and Yoni (O) are more “primary” or “primordial” or
“abstract”: they are more fundamental or basic than that of Sol and Luna. This can be seen in their being
simplistic or “pure” geometric figures, + & O. Lingam and Yoni correspond to “The Lord” and “The Lady” in
the Collects of Liber XV, and represent the ineffable infinities that underlie all things. Qabalistically, we
express this notion of being “more fundamental” by the fact that Lingam and Yoni are attributed by Crowley
(in this context) to Chokmah (the 2nd Sephirah) and Binah (the 3rd Sephirah), which lie above the Abyss. Sol
and Luna (in this context) are attributed to spheres further down the Tree of Life, implying more complexity
and concreteness to the ideas.
Interestingly, Sol and Luna in this context are attributed to Tiphareth (the 6th Sephirah) and Malkuth (the
10th Sephirah), corresponding traditionally to Sol and Earth (i.e. not Luna, which would be Yesod, the 9th
Sephirah). This may not make sense initially, but when we take a look at the Gnostic Mass, we see that the
fundamental duality expressed throughout the ritual is one of Sol and Earth, or simply Heaven and Earth
(terms which correspond more closely to that of the Yi King’s cosmology). Our Creed testifies to the “One
Star” of the Sun as well as to the “One Earth,” we partake in the Eucharist of the essence of “the life of the
Sun” and the “joy of the Earth”: plentiful examples abound throughout the Gnostic Mass in many ways. For
those who are interested, this essay goes into this particular idea of Sol and Earth in the Gnostic Mass in
more depth.
This all comes together once we realize where the “deities” are placed in the quarters for the Star Ruby in
particular. In the East we have Therion, and in the West we have Babalon. Therion corresponds to Sol and
Prana/Energy, whereas Babalon corresponds to Luna and Akasha/Space: the Sun and the Earth, both of which
are explicitly identified with their respective “deities” in the Creed of the Gnostic Mass.
For the other duality, that of Lingam and Yoni, we have Hadit in the South and Nuit in the North. Hadit in the
South corresponds to the Lingam and the Cross (+), whereas Nuit in the North corresponds to the Yoni and
the Circle (O). This corresponds exactly with what Crowley explains in his New Comment to Liber AL I:1, “Nu
is connected with North, while Had is Sad, Set, Satan, Sat (equals ‘Being’ in Sanskrit), South…” They are both
traditionally associated with 0/Naught based on Liber AL and Crowley’s attributions in 777 but, in this case,
they correspond “on a lower plane” with Chokmah/yang/Lingam (Hadit) and Binah/yin/Yoni (Nuit). In terms of
the Trigrams, they correspond with the only two Trigrams that are completely yang or yin. Hadit is
all yang lines and Nuit is all yin lines, somewhat unsurprisingly. The Sol and Luna Trigrams are the only two
Trigrams that contain both yang and yin lines yet remain vertically balanced in themselves (a yang on top is
balanced by a yang on the bottom, etc).
—East— —West— —South— —North—
Hindu Attribution Prana Akasha Lingam Yoni
Yetziratic
☉ ☾ + O
Attribution
Sephiroth 6 (Sol) 10 (Earth) 2 (Chokmah) 3 (Binah)

Trigrams

In certain ways, this attribution scheme of two dualities (Lingam-Yoni, and Sol-Luna) is more satisfying than
the traditional Elemental attributions. In terms of the 4 deities present in the Star Ruby (at least the
later Magick in Theory & Practice version), the more traditional and typical Elemental attributions certainly fit
as each of the 4 is attributed to a Kerub which together form the Sphinx. Hence, Therion “roars” (Fire/Lion) in
the East, Nuit “says” (Air/Man) in the North, Babalon “whispers” (Water/Eagle) in the West, and Hadit
“bellows” (Earth/Bull) in the South. Nonetheless, it seems there are aspects that do not seem to fit quite right
in this typical Elemental attribution scheme.
When we take these new attributions, things seem to fall
naturally into place: Lingam and Yoni, the universal or primordial
duality, is attributed to Hadit and Nuit along the North-South axis
(reflecting what Crowley writes about them in the aforementioned
section of the New Comment). Sol and Luna, essentially the
Lingam and Yoni “on a lower scale” are Sol and Luna, the
macrocosmic duality. Although Luna here serves as a stand-in for
Earth when contemplated in relation to the Tree of Life and other
contexts (such as the Gnostic Mass), it is helpful to think of Sol
and Luna in this case not as 2 planets among 7, but rather as a
fundamental duality in itself, much how Alchemical symbolism
often utilizes Sol and Luna to be the ultimate Masculine and
Feminine symbols (respectively). This therefore means that, in
this case, Sol includes other “masculine” ideas like Mars and Jupiter, and Luna includes the “feminine” ideas
of Earth and Venus (as some examples).
The Hebrew letters used to designate these dualities is interesting as well: Hadit and Nuit somewhat
unsurprisingly correspond to Yod and Heh, the first two letters of Tetragrammaton, representing
Father/Fire/yang and Mother/Water/yin. Together, they create YH (“Jah”), a name of God, which enumerates to
15 – in a way, this simple combination of letters, Yod and Heh, to create 15 shows an underlying symbolic
formula at work in the Gnostic Mass, which is designated “Liber 15.” We might then expect Sol to correspond
to Vav and Luna to Heh Final, but they do not. Instead, Crowley attributes them to Resh and Gimel. The
reason for these attributions is found in the Tarot Trump correspondences of the Planets: Sol corresponds to
Atu XIX: The Sun to which is attributed the letter Resh, and Luna corresponds to Atu II: The Priestess to which
is attributed the letter Gimel. In a way, this shows us that these attributions do not follow the typical
“Tetragrammaton scheme” exactly. Perhaps a new and slightly different formula of Tetragrammaton might be
derived from these letters.
Finally, we have Crowley’s traditional “Planetary Attribution” column in 777 which may initially be confusing,
as it uses similar symbols to other previously mentioned attributions, but it is actually quite simple. We have
considered the Lingam-Yoni, Sol-Luna dualities and it should be understood that this represents one way of
slicing the pie, so to speak. The One can be divided in innumerable ways, and we might divide It into Lingam,
Yoni, Sol, Luna. Another, more common way to divide It is with the 7 Planets. This means that Sol and Luna
are no longer understood in the former context (similar to their Alchemical counterparts as representing the
ultimate Masculine and Feminine ideas in the abstract), and now they will be understood in their context as
being two of the 7 Planets. In short: Symbols can mean different things depending on their context. To further
explain this idea: Consider the word “day.” How long is a day? Chances are your answer is “24 hours,” which
is correct. Now how long is a night, then? 12 hours, or somewhere around there, is likely your answer. Then
how long is a day? 12 hours, of course. How can “day” refer to both 12 hour periods as well as 24 hour
periods? It is because of context: When “day” stands alone, it represents the entire cycle of 24 hours, but
when “day” is juxtaposed with “night,” it represents half of the cycle of 12 hours. In this case, the new
juxtaposition is with the other classical Planets, and therefore they take on slightly different meanings.
Crowley attributes Sol to Hadit and Luna to Nuit; he then attributes Jupiter to Therion and Saturn to Babalon.
Sol and Luna, in the context of the 7 classical Planets, represent the primordial duality. They are essentially
the equivalent of Lingam/+ and Yoni/O when reflected into this particular symbolic scheme. Therion and
Babalon cannot then be attributed to Sol and Luna as they are in the previous formulation: They refer to
Saturn and Jupiter. In a sense, Saturn and Jupiter are also the “primordial” duality insofar as they were
considered the two most distant planets by the ancients. Traditionally, Saturn and Jupiter are opposites: they
are the Great Malefic (Saturn) and the Great Benefic (Jupiter); they represent constriction (Saturn) and
expansion (Jupiter); they represent severity and harshness (Saturn) and mercy and benevolence (Jupiter).
Therefore, in terms of the 7 classical Planets, Hadit is Sol, Nuit is Luna, Therion is Jupiter, and Babalon is
Saturn. Not to get too far ahead, but this leaves Mars for Elemental Fire, Venus for Elemental Water,
Mercury for Elemental Air, and of course Earth for Elemental Earth.
To jump ahead slightly for a moment, we see that the 4 cross-quarters (those points halfway between the 4
quarters) are attributed to the 4 Elements, and that a general scheme is therefore formed by the Eightfold
Key:
• The Ineffable Duality: Hadit and Nuit, South and North, Lingam and Yoni
• The Macrocosmic Duality: Therion and Babalon, East and West, Sol and Luna
• The Microcosmic Quaternity: The 4 Elements (or the duality of “active” and “passive” Elements)
This mirrors the Officers of the Gnostic Mass: Priest & Priestess form the Ineffable Duality, the Deacon
contains the Macrocosmic Duality in him/herself (note that the Deacon stands between the small altar and
font, which symbolically represent Sol/Tiphareth & Luna/Yesod, respectively), and the Children form the
Microcosmic Quaternity (the Positive Child holding the 2 “active” Elements while the Negative Child holds the
2 “passive” Elements).
For a final detour, consider briefly how the quarters are attributed in Resh: East is Sunrise, South is Noon,
West is Sunset, and North is Midnight. In this sense, East-West is the horizontal plane, and South-North
actually represents the vertical plane (Noon at the zenith, Midnight at the nadir). In this sense, we can see
the Ineffable Duality in the top-down axis, the Macrocosmic Duality forming the forward-backward axis, and
the 4 Elements fit into the diagonals. There are, of course, various permutations of these ideas (for example,
Hadit-Nuit can be conceived as Inner-Outer, Therion-Babalon as Up-Down, and the 4 Elements covering the 4
directions, essentially covering all possible directions), but I will leave that up to your own imagination and
ingenium.
The 4 Cross-Quarters

The 4 cross-quarters become clear once the previous attributions are understood. They pleasingly fit into
their places in a fairly natural way. The cross-quarters are North-East, South-East, South-West, and North-
West. They correspond respectively to Fire, Water, Air, and Earth according to Crowley’s attributions
in 777. We might add the traditional Tetragrammaton correspondences to the Elements as well.
—N.E.— —S.E.— —S.W.— —N.W.—
Yetziratic
Fire Water Air Earth
Attribution
Tetragrammaton Yod Heh Vav Heh final
Hindu Attribution Tejas Apas Vayu Prithivi
In this case, the Hindu attributions are exactly the same as our traditional, Western 4 Elements: Tejas means
Fire, Apas means Water, Vayu means Air, and Prithivi means Earth.
In terms of Hebrew letters, the 3 primary Elements are attributed to the 3 Mother Letters: Fire is attributed to
Shin (‫)ש‬, Water to Mem (‫)מ‬, Air to Aleph (‫)א‬. Earth is attributed to the final letter in Hebrew, Tav (‫)ת‬.
The Planetary attributions, as previously mentioned: Fire is attributed to Mars, Water to Venus, Air to Mercury,
and Earth to Earth. Some of these attributions may seem somewhat strange, but if we keep the idea of 3
primary Elements with the additional (or “encompassing”) fourth Element of Earth it becomes clear. Mars
& Venus are the same “primordial duality” as Sol & Luna (or Jupiter & Saturn) but “on a lower scale” – it is not
an uncommon idea that masculine is “Mars-like” and feminine is “Venus-like.” Mercury performs the role of
reconciler between these two complements/opposites, much like He often does in Alchemical imagery.
Planetary Earth unambiguously represents Elemental Earth.
These Planetary attributions to the Elements become especially illuminating in relation to their
appearance in Liber XV, the Gnostic Mass. If we look at the creed, we see Chaos in the place of
Yod/Fire, Babalon in that of Heh/Water, Baphomet in that of Vav/Air, and the Gnostic & Catholic
Church in that of Heh Final/Earth. The duality of Chaos-Babalon as Mars-Venus is fairly
straightforward, but the attribution of Mercury to Baphomet is especially appropriate. Mercury is
the most common Alchemical symbol for the ultimate goal or result of the Great Work of
Alchemy, the union of opposites. In Alchemical imagery, Mercury often stands between the
dualities of Sol-Luna, Jupiter-Saturn, and Mars-Venus, reconciling the ineffable, macrocosmic, and
microcosmic dualities into itself. In fact, there is a certain Mercury symbol which combines all the
Planetary symbols into a single whole [see image to the right], and it looks remarkably like the traditional
depiction Baphomet. Earth corresponds to the Church as the Church represents the physical manifestation of
the Law. Interestingly, Baphomet therefore takes on the role that corresponds to the Old Aeon notion of Christ
being the bridegroom of the Church: now we see Baphomet in the Christ-role of being bridegroom of our
Church!
These attributions can be carried even farther if we look at the Collects as well. Consider the typical
attribution of Tetragrammaton to the 4 Elements in this context. Sabazius X° attributes the Collects to
Tetragrammaton as follows: “The Sun and The Lord = Yod; The Moon and The Lady = Heh; The Saints = Vav;
The Earth and The Principles = Heh final”. With this in mind, we can see that Vav corresponds to the Element
of Air, the Planet of Mercury, and the Collect of The Saints; Heh Final corresponds to the Element of Earth, the
Planet of Earth, and the Collect of The Earth. These attributions from Crowley reinforce the attributions made
by Sabazius to the Collects: Mercury/Saints & Earth form a duality of sorts, mirroring that of Baphomet and
the Church from the Creed. The Saints are the transmitters of the Light of the Gnosis, and both knowledge
and communication are traditional functions of Mercury. In this sense, the Saints may be understood as the
Promethean light-bringers to Earth: they infuse the womb of Earth with the gnosis-fire of Wisdom.
These attributions to the Elements also elucidate the Officers of the Gnostic Mass: Fire/Mars corresponds to
the Priest, Water/Venus to the Priestess, Air/Mercury to the Deacon, and Earth to the Children. Naturally, the
Fire/Mars of the Priest is reflected in his scarlet robe, the Water of the Priestess in her wearing blue, and
Air/Mercury in the Deacon wearing yellow; the Children represent Earth under the duality of black & white.
Mercury is especially appropriate to be attributed to the Deacon as he is the leader of the People (Mercury as
psychopomp) and bearer of the Book of the Law (Mercury as Logos/Word of God). Interestingly, the Trigrams
attributed to the 4 Elements show that none of the Trigrams are entirely balanced in themselves: they are all
somewhat lop-sided, and require each of the other three Trigrams in order to attain balance. In other words, it
can be taken as a symbolic explanation of the necessity of Children in the Gnostic Mass: they are required for
the balance of the Officers and the forces they represent.

The Star Sapphire Detour

In order to further understand the depth of this Eightfold Key, especially in terms of
the cross-quarters, it is necessary to look at Liber XXXVI, The Star Sapphire.
In the Star Sapphire ritual, we go through the 4 quarters and assert a unity between various aspects of
Tetragrammaton. There is a unity of Y & H, of H & V, etc. This unity is represented by the phrase “unus deus
Ararita” in the ritual, which is repeated in each of the 4 quarters. “Unus deus” is Latin for “one/single god”.
The word “ARARITA” is actually a notariqon, or acronym, for a phrase which is translated in one of the
Thelemic Holy Books as, “O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!”
(Liber ARARITA). It is essentially understood as a declaration of Unity of all things, especially between
opposites. As it is written in another Holy Book, “Also he taught me the holy unutterable word Ararita, so that
I melted the sixfold gold into a single invisible point, whereof naught may be spoken” (Liber LXV, V:15).
ARARITA represents both the method (the uniting of opposites) and the result (the union thereof). Note that it
is spelled “Ararita,” as if it were a word unto itself, in both the rubric of Liber XXXVI as well as in Liber
LXV. Symbolically, this union is represented in each quarter by “mak[ing] the Holy Hexagram”. The Hexagram
is, in this context, a symbol of the union of two opposites, represented by the two triangles which compose
the Hexagram. Note that each of the quarters as one masculine aspect and one feminine aspect that unite
with one another: each quarter has one upright triangle (masculine) and downward triangle (feminine) to
form the Hexagram. When we proclaim “unus deus Ararita,” the Hexagram of two separate triangles
symbolically becomes the unicursal Hexagram, where there is no separation between the two
triangles anymore, i.e. there is “Unity uttermost showed” in 4 different permutations in the 4 different
quarters. Note on the diagram at the beginning of this essay that “VNVS DEVS” forms a circle around the
center. These 8 letters are to show that, ultimately, all these permutations are permutations of the One. And
yet also remember “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!” (Liber AL, I:27).
In the Star Sapphire itself, we do some ritual signs and then advance to the East and say “Pater et Mater
unus deus Ararita.” This literally means “Father and Mother are one god Ararita.” In terms of
Tetragrammaton, Yod and Heh are One.
We go round to the South and say: “Mater et Filius unus deus Ararita.” This literally means “Mother and Son
are one god Ararita.” In terms of Tetragrammaton, Heh and Vav are One.
We go round to the West, make the Holy Hexagram and then say: “Filius et Filia unus deus Ararita.” This
literally means “Son and Daughter are one god Ararita.” In terms of Tetragrammaton, Vav and Heh final are
One.
We go round to the North, make the Holy Hexagram and then say: “Filia et Pater unus deus Ararita.” This
literally means “Daughter and Father are one god Ararita.” In terms of Tetragrammaton, Heh final and Yod are
One. The cycle has restarted, and it perpetuates itself unto eternity. As Crowley wrote, “This mystery of the
Daughter awakening the eld of the all-Father and thus perpetuating Tetragrammaton is of great importance”
(Comment to 4th Aethyr).
Notice that the 4 quarters do not correspond to a single letter of
Tetragrammaton. Each quarter corresponds to a union of two different letters.
• East = YH (Father-Mother)
• South = HV (Mother-Son)
• West = VH (Son-Daughter)
• North = HY (Daughter-Father)
This arrangement shows that each letter of Tetragrammaton is in one of the
cross-quarters: Father/Pater (Yod) in the North-East, Mother/Mater (Heh) in the
South-East, Son/Filius (Vav) in the South-West, and Daughter/Filia (Heh final) in the North-West. By going
around the circle, one has therefore formed the sigil of N.O.X., the cross-in-the-
circle when the cross is tilted like an “X.” This sigil secretly contains all 3 letters of
N.O.X. within it, just as the normal upright cross “☩” contains the letters L.V.X..
If we now take the attributions of Tetragrammaton to the cross-quarters derived
from the Star Sapphire, and we add back in the attributions of the Trigrams
from 777, we see that they match up flawlessly.
—N.E.— —S.E.— —S.W.— —N.W.—
Yetziratic
Fire Water Air Earth
Attribution
Hindu Attribution Tejas Apas Vayu Prithivi
Tetragrammaton Yod Heh Vav Heh final
Star Sapphire Pater Mater Filius Filia
Trigrams

After all this in the ritual of the Star Sapphire, we then “return to the Centre, and so to The Centre of All.” We
are symbolically returning to the center of the Eightfold Key, the Unity (unus deus) underlying the eightfold
permutations. We then “mak[e] the Rosy Cross,” which symbolically is essentially the union of opposites
(Rose and Cross, similar to Circle/Yoni and Cross/Lingam). Eventually, the rubric states “Also shall Set appear
in the Circle.” Set is a complex symbol in Thelema, but the basic meanings can be seen in his identity with
Horus and by the Qabalistic spelling of his name as given by Crowley.
In this Aeon of Horus, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, or technically Heru-Ra-Ha (both of which, along with others, are
essentially forms or aspects of Horus), represents the supreme Unity, often identified with the Sun or solar
nature in some way. Traditionally, Set is the enemy of Horus; they are the archetypal night and day. Yet, in
this new Aeon, Horus is a symbol that contains its opposite in itself. Whether it is understood as Set, or
Apophis (the Greek name for Apep, the Egyptian serpent of destruction and darkness and therefore enemy of
the Sun/light/day), this “anti-Christ” or “anti-Horus” is contained within itself, similar to how Heru-Ra-Ha
contains both Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-paar-kraat. Crowley writes, “This child Horus is a twin, two in one.
Horus and Harpocrates are one, and they are also one with Set or Apophis, the destroyer of Osiris” (Equinox
of the Gods, ch.8). Set is therefore ultimately an identical symbol to that of Horus.
There are further considerations of the name “Set” itself being related to similar terms like Sat (“Being” in
Sanskrit), Satan, Saturn, and the like. Set is indeed a symbol of Satan, insofar as Satan represents the eternal
enemy of Christ, the darkness against the light yet again. We can also say Satan is a symbol of Set in the
same way – in fact, Set showed up in writings a few millenia before Satan did. The point is really moot, for
this Satan would necessarily need to contain its own opposite to be an adequate symbol: just as Christ needs
Anti-Christ, Anti-Christ needs Christ. All opposites are codependent and intertwined: this is a fundamental
understanding of the new Aeon, the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child, which is itself the union of
the past Aeons of Mother and Father into a new synthesis. Whether we see it as Set, or as Horus, or as Heru-
Ra-Ha, or as Hoor-Set, or Hoor-Apep, or both or neither, they all are symbols pointing to the conjunction of
opposites in a single Unity, unus deus.
So Set appears in the Circle while we are at its Centre. We just saw how Set is identified with Horus, and now
we can look at the name “Set” itself. Crowley spells Set in a particular way: the Greek letter Sigma and the
Greek letter Theta. The trick is that he uses certain archaic forms of both of these letters. For the
Sigma, instead of the typical “Σ”, Crowley used an earlier script where Sigma looks essentially identical to our
modern “C”. Note that this letter resembles a lunar crescent. For Theta, instead of the typical “Θ”, which
looks like a Circle with a short horizontal line through the middle, Crowley used the older form which was a
circle with a dot in the middle, essentially identical with the typical Solar glyph “☉”. Combining these, we
have something like “C☉” which forms a sort-of sideways “Sol & Luna conjoined” glyph. “Set” is therefore a
name for Sol & Luna conjoined, which is itself simply one archetypal expression of the union of opposites,
whether Lingam & Yoni, Sol & Luna, Father & Mother, Subject & Object, Cross & Circle, etc.
Note that the final Sign of this portion of the Star Sapphire is that of “Baphomet.” BAPHOMET is a name that
represents the union of all opposites. It is a fitting name to symbolize the union of the 8 permutations of this
Eightfold Key into the single unity. Like “UNUS DEUS,” BAPHOMET is 8 letters, as seen in a Holy Book of
Thelema where it is written, “I am Baphomet, that is the Eightfold Word…” (Liber A’ash).
Epilogue

And with that, one should (theoretically) be able to decipher the various aspects of the Eightfold Key. If
you’ve made it this far in the essay, I give you my congratulations, and I hope that the journey allowed for
some new connections and/or insights to occur. Again, I see this mainly as an extrapolation of ideas already
inherent in Crowley’s own attributions and writings, but since I have been and am still unaware of any further
elucidation of this particular scheme, I felt that creating this Key may be useful and interesting to some
Thelemic magicians who are grappling with similar concepts. Lege. Judica. Tace.

Love is the law, love under will.

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