7 (?) Heads of the Beast

Dontcha luv it when 'beginners' or 'ignorant' observers, point out something you have never noticed after years of study?

Recently doing workshop on Thoth and talking about the 7 heads of the Beast (on Lust card) and how it relates to the 7 levels of new Aeonic male conciousness and how they relate to the new female conciousness, with the new formulea for love, tantra, relationship ( Heads of, poet, angel, saint,satyr, man of valour, adulterous woman [? - still working that one out] and lion serpent).

And this woman looks into it and says; "Eight."
"'Huh"?
"Eight, there are eight heads."
... Well, ****** me! There does appear to be eight heads there.
After 30 years i didnt see it. Its a bit twisted but its there.

Any takers?

Whats the eighth head ?(dont tell me its the 'head of mystery' 'cause I already tried that on her and didnt work)

The Eigth head is on the tail. That's the only other head I can see.

ravenest said:

adulterous woman [? - still working that one out]

Click to expand...

The adulterous woman is a symbol of rebelion. If you take a look in your Bible you will see the Old Aeon conceptions of marriage. They aren't based on concepts of mutual partnership. They are based on ideas of property and slavery. Adultery was therefore the ultimate act of the female rebel in the Old Aeon.

I count 8 (including the tail)

Crowley says

Seven are the heads of THE BEAST whereon She rideth.

Click to expand...

and then goes on to name them as you said. So was your student referring to another head in that group at the front of the beast or was she talking about the head on the tail as Aeon noted?

I looked at the front with my magnifying glass and can only make out 7. There is some confusion at the very top. But after a lot of study, I believe that 7 is the right number.

An adultress woman was also often a reference to a priestess of a temple who was a sacred prostitute. The priestesses held power via their participation in the hierosgamos. It was in the vested interests of the heirarchical/patriarchal Old Aeon to remove this power to the extent possible. Only then could she be made slave/property as Aeon said.

7/8?

Aeon418 said:

The Eigth head is on the tail. That's the only other head I can see.

The adulterous woman is a symbol of rebelion. If you take a look in your Bible you will see the Old Aeon conceptions of marriage. They aren't based on concepts of mutual partnership. They are based on ideas of property and slavery. Adultery was therefore the ultimate act of the female rebel in the Old Aeon.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the feedback.
Yeah, the head on the tail is pretty obvious, I assume it is the Lion Serpent. It is a 'vedic' type image of the Kundalini serpent (here, ascending via a Solar influence). Its positon and state (erect or extended makes its attribution fairly obvious). I guess we could say (in a Jungian/Riechian sense) that the old aeon sex formular was about the catastrophic male sex/death orgasm and the new is a more enlightened balenced spiritualised ecstatic Tantra. One of the shifts we have to make.

The extra head is in the crown (sorry guys I dont have a computer at home, next time I'm on line I will bring my cards with me to refer to), sort of in the middle of the other heads and nearly looks like a head piece or crown of the one below, but its still a head (some see that and do not see the womans head on the far left seeing it as something else). On closer inspection they .... oh no, its all statrting to swirl around , shapeshifters! and I am looking at them in a new way ... we masked all the others off and we definatly counted 8, including tail ... you see what I'm seeing thinbuddha ?
My views on the philosophy and symbolism of Scarlet Woman include yours as well as others. The quiery is about that being one of the heads (or conciousness, or rituals) that the new Aeon man needs to develop (or be aware of). One part has been obvious to me, in that I need to have a new aeonic concept of these relationships, and admit that although I dont see women in that old aeon light I was bought up in era when a lot of that was going on around me ( beware the subtle programming!)
But should I go out and be a scarlet woman? I havnt been treated like an old eaon possesed slave women ...
.. or have I, hmmmm thay did try to make me a slave at the catholic school,
it didnt work (far from it). So I guess what ever your sex, its relevent?

Here's an interesting snippet on this subject. It's from Michael J. Hurst's article on the Sola-Busca. The entire article is here:

http://geocities.com/cartedatrionfi/Fragments/SolaBusca.html


"There are many apocalyptic references to Nero and Rome in the New Testament. One of particular significance for Sola Busca concerns the numbering: 'And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come', which suggests that Revelation was written shortly after Nero's death. Nero was the fifth Roman emperor, and his death in 68 coincided with the Jewish war (66-70). There were rumors of his imminent return, and these are reflected in the next verse: 'And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the EIGHTH, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.' (Rev 17:11.) In other words, one of the seven who is already gone will return as the last, the eighth. Nero is numbered VIII. A second important point about the apocalyptic references to Rome is that they were generally made indirectly, referring to Rome as Babylon. (This becomes significant with cards XX and XXI, which show Babylonian kings from the Bible.)"

I see what may be construed as a head between the two on top, but actually I think that's the back part of the head on the right. The one on the tail is clearly the eighth.

-fof

herio who?

wizzle said:

Crowley says
and then goes on to name them as you said. So was your student referring to another head in that group at the front of the beast or was she talking about the head on the tail as Aeon noted?

I looked at the front with my magnifying glass and can only make out 7. There is some confusion at the very top. But after a lot of study, I believe that 7 is the right number.

An adultress woman was also often a reference to a priestess of a temple who was a sacred prostitute. The priestesses held power via their participation in the hierosgamos. It was in the vested interests of the heirarchical/patriarchal Old Aeon to remove this power to the extent possible. Only then could she be made slave/property as Aeon said.

Click to expand...

Thanks wizzle
Which temple are we talking about. Is this about the Cup of the Kukuyon (sic?), the Grail she holds aloft. tell me more about the heirosgamos?

I have a feeling that there is a link to the Scarlet Woman and The Virgin (see Crowleys Gnostic Mass and other places) and although the words seem to suggest opposites, they also desribe one who is devoted to seek out every incarnatory experience, seeing no difference between any one thing and any other thing, etc ... a vehicle of Nuit.

I'm not talking about a particular temple. I just finished reading John Crossan's book on St. Paul and was struck by his moves away from the sensuality of the time.

As I understand hierogamos, it was a ritual between the priestesses and un-annointed men which celebrated the general fecundity in the world. I think we need to remember that birth and childhood were precarious conditions up until about the 19th century.

In terms of the Virgin, I tend to agree. The difficulty as I see it as that Uncle Al always wanted to stay on top. He never really did get a grip on the difference between the whore and the priestess. And I think he ignored the Crone altogether.

wizzle said:

In terms of the Virgin, I tend to agree. The difficulty as I see it as that Uncle Al always wanted to stay on top. He never really did get a grip on the difference between the whore and the priestess.

Click to expand...

Thats because Crowley saw them as one and the same. The Virgin Mary is the Whore of Babylon. One shuts herself away and experiences nothing, the other experiences everything. Both are pure.

wizzle said:

And I think he ignored the Crone altogether.

Click to expand...

Not quite. He equated the Crone with the Dark Moon and seperate from the Triple Goddess who is joined with the Sun in the creation of life. All the magical formulae are sexual in one way or another.
Crowley saw the Crone as being sexually dead. So she wasn't even the waning moon.

more clarity?

To return to my central theme; ie 7 or 8 heads of beast on Atu XI:
Obviously the formula is for 7 as all relevant references, formula and correspondences confirm this. But on the card itself;
I am seeing it like this, on the beasts neck appear to be 6 heads, roughly arranged as a penatgram/gon, with one in the middle.
I classify them thus; (from the viewers perspective)
1). top head - Lion type head, looking to the right.
2), 3) & 4). [middle row] Womans head looking left, bearded mans head looking ahead & mans head angled at 45 degrees.
5) & 6) [bottom row] Mans head looking ahead & womans head looking to the right and back (at the woman riding the beast?) - in side profile of cheekbone and chin.
[and 7) on the tail.]
x). the mystery area, like a face, above 3) and left of 1).

A.C. gives; Angel, Saint, Poet, Adulterous Woman, Man of Valour, Satyr, Lion Serpent.
I'm attributing;
Angel to 2) {my 2) above} - it looks ahead in the direction the beast is travelling - Saturn, above the abyss.
Saint to 5) below the Angel, an earthly reflection of heavenly power -Jupiter.
Poet to 3) , A bearded bard, mercury.
Adulterous woman to 6), venus.
Man of valour to 4) {appears to have a chain mail helmet and moustach - a knight?}, Mars.
Satyr to 1), Moon. [but it looks like a lion].
Lion Sepent, to the head on the tail. Sun.

other possibilities - x) is the satyr and 1) & 7) are 2 versions of the Lion looking at each other (one únsepentized and the other serpentized)
or
1) is satyr and x) is part of that.
or (most likely) - x) is part of the bards headress - a head band with 2 circular shapes with 2 "sprigs'' rising from them (x's nose and 2 eyes) a feather on the left of the crown, but the right side of the crown seems to melt into 1)'s neck.
Looking at x alone, it is a wierd squat assymetrical grotesque face, looking ahead. On i's left side is growing another face in profile with a big nose and strange teeth, nearly Aztec in style. or an angry fish.
All of this seems unlikley which is why I opt for the Bards headress option.
However its quiet possible A.C.'s first visions of this were had when tripping on home synthesised mexican magic cactus juice (A.L.)

PS. but I'm not.