Daily Reflection

I love you! I love you!

2010-04-10T15:37:00.000+10:00

But to love me is better than all things: if under the night stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in spendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!

At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say — and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple — To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant.

Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you!

I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.

To me! To me!

The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.

Chapter 1:61-66

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)

sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

Love is the Law

2010-04-09T15:18:00.000+10:00

This shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister, my heart & my tongue, unto whom I send this kiss. Also, o scribe and prophet, though thou be of the princes, it shall not assuage thee nor absolve thee. But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!

Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein.

The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them.

Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark.

Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God.

All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ [Tzaddi] is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.

I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.

My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity.

My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing. Also I have asecret glory for them that love me.

Chapter 1:53-60

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)

sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

The Judgments of Ra Hoor Kuit

2010-04-08T14:59:00.003+10:00

Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.

Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing. So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will.

Do that, and no other shall say nay.

For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!
Nothing is a secret key of this law. Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred & eighteen. But they have the half: unite by thine art so that all disappear. My prophet is a fool with his one, one, one; are not they the Ox, and none by the Book?

Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But they are not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer; Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the Lord initiating.

There is a word to say about the Hierophantic task. Behold! there are three ordeals in one, and it may be given in three ways. The gross must pass through fire; let the fine be tried in intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest. Thus ye have star & star, system & system; let not one know well the other!

There are four gates to one palace; the floor of that palace is of silver and gold; lapis lazuli & jasper are there; and all rare scents; jasmine & rose, and the emblems of death. Let him enter in turn or at once the four gates; let him stand on the floor of the palace. Will he not sink? Amn. Ho! warrior, if thy servant sink? But there are means and means. Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me.

If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying: They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit!

Chapter 1:40-52

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)

sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

The Word of the Law is Thelema

2010-04-07T14:52:00.001+10:00

None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two.

For I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.

This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.

For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones.

Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all.

Then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon, & said unto the Queen of Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law!

But she said: the ordeals I write not: the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: the Law is for all.

This that thou writest is the threefold book of Law.

My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach.

He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals.

The word of the Law is THELEMA.

Chapter 1:28-39

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)

sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

The Scarlet Woman

2010-04-06T14:47:00.001+10:00

Now ye shall know that the chosen priest and apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men.

For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.

But ye are not so chosen. Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent! O azure-lidded woman, bend upon them!

The key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have given unto him.

With the God & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see me. They are as upon the earth; I am Heaven, and there is no other God than me, and my lord Hadit.

Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.

But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!

I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty. Divide, add, multiply, and understand.

Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bending down, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, & her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.

Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!

Chapter 1:15-27

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)

sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

The Manifestation of Nuit

2010-04-05T14:27:00.001+10:00

Had! The manifestation of Nuit. The unveiling of the company of heaven.

Every man and every woman is a star. Every number is infinite; there is no difference.

Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men! Be thou Hadit, my secret centre, my heart and my tongue!

Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat. The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs. Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!

Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many and the known. These are fools that men adore; both their Gods & their men are fools.

Come forth, o children, under the stars and take your fill of love!
I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.

Above, the gemmed azure is The naked splendour of Nuit; She bends in ecstasy to kiss The secret ardours of Hadit. he winged globe, the starry blue, Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!

Chapter 1:1-14

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)

sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

The Book of the Law

2010-04-05T12:06:00.000+10:00

Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law) is the central sacred text of Thelema. Written down by Aleister Crowley while in Cairo it was delivered to him by Aiwass, Aleister's personal Holy Guardian Angel. The book was received by Aleister Crowley in three chapters on three consecutive days, the 8th, 9th and 10th of April 1904.

In celebration of the anniversary of this, starting in two hours and over the course of the next week the entire text of the first chapter will be delivered on this blog along with an associated image I've specially selected that is relevant to each section.

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

Love is the law, love under will.

93/93

2010-04-04T16:45:00.001+10:00

"Only mediocrity is safe. Take your risks and be the best."

"Solo la mediocridad es segura. Preparate para las criticas e utilizes sin miedo tus talentos."

Paulo Coelho

For He is Risen!

2010-04-04T06:00:00.000+10:00

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behind, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples the word.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.
Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἠγέρθη γὰρ καθὼς εἶπεν· δεῦτε ἴδετε τὸν τόπον ὅπου ἔκειτο.
καὶ ταχὺ πορευθεῖσαι εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἰδοὺ προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν γαλιλαίαν, ἐκεῖ αὐτὸν ὄψεσθε· ἰδοὺ εἶπον ὑμῖν.
καὶ ἀπελθοῦσαι ταχὺ ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου μετὰ φόβου καὶ χαρᾶς μεγάλης ἔδραμον ἀπαγγεῖλαι τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ.
καὶ ἰδοὺ ἰησοῦς ὑπήντησεν αὐταῖς λέγων, χαίρετε. αἱ δὲ προσελθοῦσαι ἐκράτησαν αὐτοῦ τοὺς πόδας καὶ προσεκύνησαν αὐτῶ.
τότε λέγει αὐταῖς ὁ ἰησοῦς, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· ὑπάγετε ἀπαγγείλατε τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου ἵνα ἀπέλθωσιν εἰς τὴν γαλιλαίαν, κἀκεῖ με ὄψονται.

The Gospel of Matthew 28:6-10

Winners and Losers

2010-04-03T13:36:00.000+11:00

"The winners are those who learn to take full responsibility for their actions. The losers are those who blame others for their failures."

Wisdom from @princesshu

Esoteric Philosophy

2010-03-31T11:04:00.000+11:00

"The Occultists, however, know that the traditions of Esoteric Philosophy must be the right ones, simply because they are the most logical, and reconcile every difficulty."

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
1831 - 1891
co-founder The Theosophical Society

Nationalism

2010-03-30T15:30:00.000+11:00

Pervading nationalism imposes its dominion on man today in many different forms and with an aggressiveness that spares no one. The challenge that is already with us is the temptation to accept as true freedom what in reality is only a new form of slavery.

John Paul (II) - the Great

The Rabbi's Gift

2010-03-29T15:00:00.000+11:00

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of antimonastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again " they would whisper to each other. As he agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the abbot at one such time to visit the hermitage and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him. "I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years, "the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?"

"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you."

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?" "He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving --it was something cryptic-- was that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant."

In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? If that's the case, which one? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him. He just magically appears by your side. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And on the off off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.

Ultimate Authority

2010-03-28T18:30:00.000+11:00

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

Irritation

2010-03-27T15:20:00.001+11:00

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves."

Carl Jung

I am tomorrow...

2010-03-26T17:30:00.000+11:00

I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.

Dr Harvey Spencer Lewis, F.R.C., S.^·.I.^·., 33°66°95°

1883 - 1939

The Conscious Universe

2010-03-25T10:00:00.000+11:00

"Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is conscious: i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own plane of perception."

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
1831 - 1891

Cycles of Life

2010-03-24T00:45:00.000+11:00

"Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle."

Marcus Aurelius

Kindred Spirits

2010-03-23T03:00:00.000+11:00

"People who feel empowered by your presence become kindred spirits".

Wayne Dyer

The Temple in Servitude

2010-03-22T13:52:00.002+11:00

"Quar nous navons volu ne volons le Temple mettre en aucune servitute se non tant come il hy affiert."

"For we did not and do not wish the Temple to be placed in any servitude except that which is fitting."

Jacques de Molay
Grand Master, Order of the Temple (Knights Templar)

Hymn to Osiris

2010-03-21T11:49:00.000+11:00

The doors of perception open; what was hidden has been revealed. It is myself I see and a thousand colors swirling in liquid light. I am where the sun sets below the mountains. I am in this body. I am that star rising above clouds hung by a thread from its ocean moon. Hail myself traversing eternity walking among gods, a shuttle flying across the loom through the threads of time. This is all one place, one cloth: a man's life endures. On earth flowers grow, snakes crawl and wisdom lies in the palm of a hand. All that is will be - hawks and sparrows, the thousand lives within.
I have come home. I have entered human-hood, bound to rocks and plants, men and women, rivers and sky. I shall be with you in this and other worlds.

When the cat scratches in the doorway, think of me. I have sometimes been like that. When two men greet each other in the street, I am there speaking to you. When you look up, know I am there - sun and moon pouring my love around you. All these things am I, portents, images, signs. Though apart, I am part of you. One of the million things in the universe, I am the universe, too. You think I disguise myself as rivers and trees simply to confuse you? Whatever I am, woman, cat or lotus, the same god breathes in every body. You and I together are a single creation. Neither death nor spite nor fear nor ignorance stops my love for you.

May we come and go in and out of heaven through the gates of starlight. As the houses of earth fill with dancing and song, so filled are the houses of heaven. I come in truth. I sail a long river and row back again. It is joy to breathe under the stars. I am the sojourner destined to walk a thousand years until I arrive at myself.

From the Egyptian Book of the Dead as translated by Normandy Ellis

Problems

2010-03-20T02:00:00.001+11:00

"Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit."

M. Scott Peck

1936 - 2005

Individual Power

2010-03-19T12:56:00.002+11:00

"Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also."

Marcus Aurelius

Enemies

2010-03-18T13:10:00.002+11:00

"No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves."

Saint Francis of Assisi

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T01:00:00.002+11:00

"If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me."

Saint Patrick
387 - 493