Liber 418 study group - 29th Aethyr: RII

Always Wondering

Wow, a whole lot to think about and read. I really appreciate all your time, it will take me a while to process it all.
But for now. . .

In this vision there is an initial tracing of a circle as we visit each quarter in turn. Then we are asked to 'look in the below' and see a dark whirling funnel. All feminine symbols. Into this funnel falls the creative thunderbolt and huge phallic arm reaches down into it creating something akin to the Lingam-Yoni. Compare this with a Liber LXV. V:5-6, where the Phallic Pillar is established in the feminine Void which creates the conditions for the appearance of Horus as a fiery star that falls into the subconscious of humanity. The vision of RII is trying to communicate something along the same lines.

But how was I supposed to know that if I follow Eshelman's suggestion to do the vision before I read the commentary?



It's in Crowley's footnotes. You can find them in the links to the plain text versions of Liber 418 available online. I have provided links at the bottom of the OP. Just scroll to the end of each vision to find the notes.

Okay, I'll go read that now I guess.
 

Aeon418

But how was I supposed to know that if I follow Eshelman's suggestion to do the vision before I read the commentary?
Eshelman's suggestion is meant to help you gain an overall view of each vision before you go back through it again and take it apart with the help of his commentary. It's very easy to get lost if you just jump into the details first. That would be like examining little sections of a painting without knowing what the whole picture looks like.
But beyond that you are meant to be just soaking in the imagery and letting it speak to you. It's a chance to walk through the vision without your critical mind trying to pull it to pieces. Let your intuition have a crack at it first.

The stuff you just quoted from my post, you won't find that in Eshelman's commentary. That was something that came to me while contemplating the imagery. ;)
 

Always Wondering

Eshelman's suggestion is meant to help you gain an overall view of each vision before you go back through it again and take it apart with the help of his commentary. It's very easy to get lost if you just jump into the details first. That would be like examining little sections of a painting without knowing what the whole picture looks like.
But beyond that you are meant to be just soaking in the imagery and letting it speak to you. It's a chance to walk through the vision without your critical mind trying to pull it to pieces. Let your intuition have a crack at it first.

That's what I am trying to do. I just got a little antsy, thinking I had to know it all at once. With the level of resistance I have encountered I think it is best for me not to get hung up on the details, and walk through it with this wonderful study group. There will be plenty of time to go back again later.

Aeon418 said:
The stuff you just quoted from my post, you won't find that in Eshelman's commentary. That was something that came to me while contemplating the imagery. ;)
Nice. Yes, I couldn't find that circle tracing thing anywhere. This gives me motivation to keep up the visions. I may even try RII again while we are still on it.
 

Aeon418

There will be plenty of time to go back again later.
Plenty of time. You don't have to take in everything at the first attempt.
This gives me motivation to keep up the visions. I may even try RII again while we are still on it.
Keep in mind when studying this Aethyr that it represents the disruption caused by the coming of the New Aeon. But this disruption manifests first at the level of Yesod - subconsciousness. The circle of the four Kerubs is a kind of projection of this level of consciousness.

In the east an Eagle (Water) represents that part of consciousness that intuitively senses the Change that is about to happen. But because it's not fully understood it seems like a fearful catastrophe.

In the South a Lion (Fire) represents something within that longs for this Change. The existing stale framework has left it wounded and perplexed. It desires the transformation of Death - Atu XIII.

In the West a Bull (Air possibly mixed with Earth) representing old mental structures that 'dig in their hooves' and refuse to budge. But it is this subconscious resistance to Change that causes Pain and Failure.

In the North a stern Man who pronounces his Judgement. He signals the end of the Old Aeon and heralds the birth of the New Aeon. He is like the inevitability of Change. For change is stability and stability is change. All very appropriate for a Lunar-Yesod themed vision.

Then we see a representation of the disruption in subconsciousness ("look in the below") caused by the New Aeon and the birth of the Terrible Child mentioned in TEX. The seed of something new has been planted and the Foundation of the New Aeon established.
 

Always Wondering

This is very helpful. I don't know why, but it amazes me that this is exactly what I am going through right now. Since the time I ordered Esheleme's book, I have been well acquainted with these four beings.

Thanks
 

Always Wondering

23. And a great mingled cry arose: "No! no! no! All is changed; all is confounded; naught is ordered: the white is stained with blood: the black is kissed of the Christ! Return! Return! It is a new chaos that thou findest here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"

You know, I never really did quite get the skeleton for Nun before. This really hit it home for me.

And today I felt connected to Daleth for the first time in a long time. I don't know about Crowley's backward F, but I was much soothed today also.
 

Owl Tarot

You know, I never really did quite get the skeleton for Nun before. This really hit it home for me.

The human skeleton is the only body component which remains after Putrefaction has taken place. So, it is what persists within the body, the enduring part of oneself of you may. Some Chemistry may help as well, but the color black also helps. It is a Saturnian (Binah) color, the God of Time, the tester through time who sees what endures to the end, and in Atu 13 that is the skeleton. I hope that helps furthet.
 

Aeon418

And today I felt connected to Daleth for the first time in a long time. I don't know about Crowley's backward F, but I was much soothed today also.
It's the letter D in the Passing of the River alphabet.
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ptr.htm

The significance of the D in the egg of light may be related to the fourth Kerub. The stern Saturnian Libra heralds Aquarius. Saturn is exalted in Libra, but Venus rules Libra. This may be indicated in the Man-Kerub's speech:
RII said:
18. He spake saying: I have judged! It is the end: the gate of the beginning. Look in the Beneath and thou shalt see a new world!

I have judged! - Lamed, Libra.

It is the end - Tau, Saturn.

The gate of the beginning - Daleth, Venus.

And of course Lamed, Tau, and Daleth rearranged is DLTh = Daleth. Love is the Law. :)

The Gate is also ThROA = 671 and it's various permutations.
Aleister Crowley said:
671. ThORA the Law, ThROA the Gate, AThOR the Lady of the Path of Daleth, ROThA the Wheel.
Also ALPH, DLTh, NUN, IVD, Adonai (see 65) spelt in full.

This important number marks the identity of the Augoeides (HGA) with the Way itself ("I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life") and shows the Taro as a key; and that the Law itself is nothing else than this. For this reason the outer College of the A ∴ A ∴ is crowned by this "knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel."

This number too is that of the Ritual of Neophyte.
 

Aeon418

RII = 220 = CCXX, The Book of the Law.

Leafing through Eshelman's, Pearls of Wisdom, I noticed the only two entries for the number 220 in the Latin Qabalah Simplex (p.197-212).

SCIRE VELLE AUDERE ET TACERE - To know, to will, to dare, & to keep silent. The four powers of the Sphinx symbolised by the four Kerubim.

NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM - New order of the ages. Yes, it's the same inscription under the pyramid on the American $1 bill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novus_ordo_seclorum

The connection to the lines from Virgil is interesting. A link to the return of Astraea the Star Maiden, the bringer of the Golden Age?
http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/astraea.html
Virgil said:
iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,
Crowley mentions "Redeunt Saturnia regna" in the Death chapter of The Book of Thoth. "Astraea returns, returns old Saturn's reign."