Book of Law Study Group 1.32

cardlady22

vault- underground chamber, repository; cove, recess, retreat, narrow pass

heart- core, nut, marrow, essence

tongue- dialect, voice, serpent

Very interesting images! Especially since I was just talking about my preferred method of eating a Twinkie . . .
 

Grigori

hmmm twinkie....

This is an interesting one, it gives me a whole different image for Nuit than before. I've been associating Nuit with vastness, nothing, openness, expanse, so to hear her described as a vault is an unfamilar image. Nuit the container, or restrainer :eek:

The Heart and Tongue she is swearing by is Hadit.
Line 1.2 said:
6. Be thou Hadit, my secret centre, my heart & my tongue!
.

As I mentioned in the discussion on 1.6, this seems a very Taoist expression. The Heart is one of the fire organs in Chinese Medicine, as Hadit is the fire within, and its seen to flower into the tongue, the organ of expression. 1.32 seems to go a little further and actually equates Hadit with Nuit. It seems a little different to me than the idea of opposite male and female deities, or a polar pair, 0=2. Instead Nuit is saying that Hadit is within her, a part of her. Again it reminds me of Taoism. The familar symbol of which, shows the spark of yang withing the yin, and conversely the yin within the yang. Complements, but not mutually exclusive opposites like we sometimes think of when discussing opposites. This is not the God and Goddess conjuncting to create a third, but rather a recognition of the God within the Goddess and vice versa. Nuit is the giver, as well as the receiver/desirer.

Interesting also that Nuit seems to suggest one of the "pains" is the ordeal of seeking her out. An acknowledgment of the difficulty of contacting her, but also a promise of reward for the achievement perhaps?
 

RLG

Dwtw

This is the only place in the Book of the Law where the words love and will are next to each other.

One of the definitions of vault is "the canopy of heaven; the sky", and this is the sense I've always understood the passage to mean. It's interesting that the word ultimately comes from the Latin volvere, meaning to roll or turn about; I suspect this is applied to the sky since it appears to revolve around the earth.

In architecture, a vault is an arched structure, and since Nuit is described elsewhere as having her 'lithe body arched for love', then it is consistent for her to refer to the 'vault of my body'.

Litlluw
RLG
 

Aeon418

Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only!

That sounds like a three part course of instruction. Obey sounds external and grounded. The lowest level of training? Ordeals is more experiential and involved. There is real learning and growth involved, not mere repetion of technique and form. Seek me only suggets one pointedness. The final goal.

Verse 32 - the 32 paths of Wisdom and the ground plan of initiation.

Obey my prophet!
Does this only refer to Crowley, the Hierophant of the New Aeon? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on the level of attainment of the individual. At the lowest levels of understanding external intruction and guidance is necessary. But as initiation deepens the inner Hierophant (HGA) gradually begins to replace the external.

Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain.
Pain is repeatedly associated with Division. But love is union. So the goal is to achieve Unitary consciousness (Briah - K&C HGA)
 

ravenest

Seek me only ??? I hope Nuit hasn't been hanging out with Jehovah and picking up some bad habits.

There seem to be a lot of promise and assurance in this line, things that Crowley often pointed out as faults in other religions.
 

Aeon418

ravenest said:
Seek me only ??? I hope Nuit hasn't been hanging out with Jehovah and picking up some bad habits.
But Nuit is identified with the Great Work itself. Of course if you've something better to do....
ravenest said:
There seem to be a lot of promise and assurance in this line, things that Crowley often pointed out as faults in other religions.
I thought all the "faults" hinged upon promises/threats of an un-provable afterlife?
 

Always Wondering

RLG said:
One of the definitions of vault is "the canopy of heaven; the sky", and this is the sense I've always understood the passage to mean. It's interesting that the word ultimately comes from the Latin volvere, meaning to roll or turn about; I suspect this is applied to the sky since it appears to revolve around the earth.

This is lovely and very Nuitish. I wouldn't have thought of it even though a vaulted ceiling is a common in my mind. It also made me think of vaulting, arching high into the air with a help of a very long stick or even a wand.


Aeon418 said:
Verse 32 - the 32 paths of Wisdom and the ground plan of initiation.

Good point I hadn't thought of this either.


Ravenest said:
There seem to be a lot of promise and assurance in this line, things that Crowley often pointed out as faults in other religions.

Aeon418 said:
I thought all the "faults" hinged upon promises/threats of an un-provable afterlife?

I have been wondering along these lines. I haven't felt promised to until this line. It kind of stirs up things in me. Not after life stuff, here stuff. I guess it brings out the cynic in me. I must have trust issues. :|

But I have missed your quibbles. :laugh:

AW
 

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
I thought all the "faults" hinged upon promises/threats of an un-provable afterlife?


This is what I keep trying to digest. I can't untangle afterlife from what Paul Foster Case calls imortality. How can Now be eternal? Because that's all there is? The great, temporary, eternal now?

:laugh: And I thought it had been the tax season that was messing with me. :laugh:

And if we are talking superconsconscious, as in HGA or visa versa, or same. What does Duquette in The Chicken Qabalah mean by falling head over heels in love with love? I don't get the implied romance. Is he pretty-ing up the sex instinct?


AW
 

Aeon418

Hi Aw. Can you give me some book and page referrences so that I can review the material you're refering to. I'm assuming that the first one is somewhere in Case's, "Occult Fundamentals"?

I'm not sure what it has to do with the quote though. That was about getting people to follow certain codes of conduct under threat of punishment. It's essentially crowd control for the superstitious.

On to Chicken Qabalah. Is it p.172?

DuQuette is talking about falling in love with the HGA. It's what in the east would be called Bhakti - passionate love for the divine.

Here's a quote from C.S. Hyatt's and Lon DuQuette's, "Sex Magic, Tantra & Tarot: The Way of the Secret Lover."
THE SECRET LOVER

Each of us has a Secret Lover; a lover who awaits just behind the erotic images that flood our minds during sexual arousal or in sleep; a dream lover who disguises as the individuals with whom we fall in love; an ideal lover who has adored us since the beginning of our individual existence and who will never abandon us until the instant we merge our being in absolute Godhead.

We momentarily feel the embrace of our Secret Lover in the ecstasy of orgasm and in moments of rapture when the beauty of music or dance or visual art or nature overcomes us.

Whenever we experience a "broken heart" it is often because another individual has not lived up to the perfection of our Secret Lover. The reason sexual experiences are often better in the imagination or memory than in actuality is because it is in the imagination that the Secret Lover is nearest to us. Personal relationships will always be somewhat disappointing to us because in truth there can never be a relationship that matches the one we already have with our Secret Lover.

Surrender to this Secret Lover is a central theme of most every religion yet the doctrines and practices of the world's so-called "great religions" tend to dilute, deflect and deter the individual from the genuine personal experience.

Moreover the religious establishments have unceasingly striven to convince their congregations that this most private of all religious events is not a personal experience at all but an ambiguous and incomprehensible occurenece to be publicly affirmed and validated by the priestcraft. They, in turn, allow you to participate vicariously with them in a pantomime of the sacred marriage.

It is especially ironic that the mythical life of Christ exemplifies in word and deed the central secret of this divine relationship. Many passages is the New Testament and the newly discovered Gnostic texts clearly reveal that the Christ is a projected image of a level of consciousness achievable by all. And until this is experienced, until we have become one with Him, subsequent higher levels of consciousness will be unobtainable.

Try as it might, the church has found it impossible to completely obscure this most sacred truth from the hearts of devoted individuals. The Ecstasies of the Nun Gertrude and St. Teresa are unmistakable examples of sexual surrender to the divine lover. It was only because of their religious and cultural environment that the image of their lover was that of Christ. Had Teresa been Hindu her lover may have been Krishna, Vishnu or any number of deities of devotion.

It is profoundly unfortunate that the forces of organized religion demand that, as prerequisite to uniting with the divine lover, the faithful must subscribe to the most rediculous collection of dogmas and absurdities. Myths turned into lies, lies turned into laws and adherence to the laws has replaced the personal experience of the Myth.

Is it any wonder that the modern mind has rejected such spiritual self abuse? But isn't it sad that in doing so the "baby" of truth has been thrown out with the "bath-water" of primitive superstition.

The pages of history are red with the blood of illuminated "saints" who were murdered by their religions for actually achieving the advertised spiritual rewards.

In Western Hermeticism this Spiritual Lover is called the "Higher Genius," "Adonai" or the "Master Within." In the language of ceremonial magick it is called "The Holy Guardian Angel" and the union of the magician with this Spiritual Being is called the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

The Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is the primary goal of the ceremonial magician and must be achieved before any other meaningful magical acts can be accomplished. The Holy Guardian Angel (The Secret Lover) will be the magician's lover, mentor and guide through the higher levels of initiation.

Whether one considers oneself a cereminial magician or not the fact remains that the above experience, no matter what it is called, is a prerequisite for complete spiritual liberation.