The Book of The Law Study Group 3.6

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
The Great Sea corresponds to Binah. All Binah symbols are lower manifestations of Nuit. So things like the Great Sea, the Great Mother, and Babalon are representative of Nuit. But none of these symbols is capable of containing the totality of Nuit herself. Their chief value lies in their accessablility to our minds. They give our minds something tangible to hold on to.

So while Nuit herself is more of a mystical idea that requires a different level of consciousness to understand, all of us are capable of connecting to a symbol like the Cosmic Mother or the Great Sea.

This is helpful. I tend to get lost out there in the Great Sea.

Aeon418 said:
(Turn your Devil card upside down and close his Third Eye.)

Looks to me like he is shooting forth venom, but I have a one track mind that way. :laugh:

AW

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
This is helpful. I tend to get lost out there in the Great Sea.

But we are the medium through which the possibilities within the Great Sea are able to manifest and take form. But not if we are tossed about on the waves. Stand your ground and begin to lift up thyself, like an Island.

Always Wondering said:
Looks to me like he is shooting forth venom, but I have a one track mind that way.

You're closer than you might think. In the previous verse thread I mentioned a connection to the letter Mem/40-fy. Just like that letter/card there is a seed/yod hidden within us all that needs to be protected and nourished to allow it to grow. This is the Spirit point on the Averse pentagram below the 4 elements (soil). Spiritual practices "dung" the soil of our island to promote it's growth and allow it to germinate within us.

Aeon418

WAR - AWR-Light

Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the Hierophant of the Aeon.

The Hierophant

Wisdom to each apportioned to his want
By modes of Light, shed forth, great Hierophant!

His "quintessential quality". (BoT p.107)

The Tower

Bellona, scream! Unhood the Hawks! The roar
Of Universes crashing into War!

I wonder who that Scarlet Woman, "girt with a sword", before the Hierophant is? Could it be the Goddess Bellona?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellona_(goddess)

For the "Flaming Sword" is the "Pentagram unwound."

The Flaming Sword is another name for the Lightning Flash of creation that zig-zags down the Tree of Life from Kether to Malkuth. You can see this on older versions of the Tower card. In the Thoth it is shown as the opening of the All-Seeing Eye.

Paul Foster Case has this to say about the people falling from the Tower

They fall headfirst, because the sudden influx of spiritual consciousness represented by the lightning-flash completely upsets all our old notions about the relations between subconsciousness and self-consciousness.

Invoke the Light, but be prepared for War!

Always Wondering

Practice, practice, practice, right? I can begin to understand the vigilance it takes for union, head lifting, awareness, what ever one chooses to call it. Even just now when I read the word Scarlet Woman, my mind automatically jumped to the idea of a human woman and wouldn't let go. But she is the symbol of the sexual organ, or life force, or Kundalini in us all, correct? So we have the age old battle of the sexes, Eve, logos and Adam, mind, without having to look outward at anybody or anything else. I can think this to death all I want, but that isn't going to do me a bit of good unless I practice it. Stop letting myself get distracted by the outer, and work on the inner.

It is a battle, as I try to understand, because "And the serpent was more subtle than any beast on earth." And to a degree, I can understand this, especially after reading Crowley's comments on ShT in Liber V vel Reguli. I was struck by his honestly in it and in my own denial of my duality.

My problem is in seeing this sexual force as subtle. Perhaps in compassion to ShT? Perhaps it is how I handle or miss-use or misunderstand this force. Or deny it, or was called a sinner because of it. But there have been times I was sure it banged me on the head and knocked me to my knees something good.

I mean in my head I understand that could have been karma, the 5's or Saturn. But when I hear the words War and Vengence all I can think about is my old pastor screaming from the top of his lungs from his pulpet and pointing right at me. :laugh:

I guess it is going to take a lot of practice to get that out of my head.

AW

Aeon418

Bellona

Always Wondering said:
Even just now when I read the word Scarlet Woman, my mind automatically jumped to the idea of a human woman and wouldn't let go.

That's perfectly fine. The outer reflects the inner, and vice versa. The Scarlet Woman can represent a flesh and blood woman. But she may be interpreted in other ways on other levels.

Always Wondering said:
So we have the age old battle of the sexes,

Indeed we do. But there's a difference this time.

Book of Thoth p.79

"Let the woman be girt with a sword before me." This woman represents Venus as she now is in this new aeon; no longer the mere vehicle of her male counterpart, but armed and militant.

Around the world women are beginning to play an increasing role in areas that were previously male dominated. The old order is crumbling and a new social order is being born. This can be disturbing at times, and has not been without it's share of strife and turmoil. It will probably be this way for quite a while until the work of Art is completed.
There are lots of "outer" examples of this same theme at work in the world today. The changing dynamic in interpersonal relationships betweem men and women and the environmental movement or two obvious ones.

This same situation is reflected in each of us on an internal level. When we begin to make contact with the Light it is the Nephesh (one interpretation of the Scarlet Woman) that gets the initial zap. Suddenly the aspirant is confronted with a turbo charged subconscious self. His/her instinctual and sexual side threaten to spill out of control and consume them. This can be a very disturbing time, and the aspirant may feel at War with themselves. But the battle won't end until the Ruach learns to accomodate the Nephesh as an equal partner in their Art.

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
That's perfectly fine. The outer reflects the inner, and vice versa. The Scarlet Woman can represent a flesh and blood woman. But she may be interpreted in other ways on other levels.

Indeed we do. But there's a difference this time.
Book of Thoth p.79

Around the world women are beginning to play an increasing role in areas that were previously male dominated. The old order is crumbling and a new social order is being born. This can be disturbing at times, and has not been without it's share of strife and turmoil. It will probably be this way for quite a while until the work of Art is completed.
There are lots of "outer" examples of this same theme at work in the world today. The changing dynamic in interpersonal relationships betweem men and women and the environmental movement or two obvious ones.

Okay. So this explains the sword. I think I am starting to get this.

Aeon418This same situation is reflected in each of us on an internal level. When we begin to make contact with the Light it is the Nephesh (one interpretation of the Scarlet Woman) that gets the initial zap. Suddenly the aspirant is confronted with a turbo charged subconscious self. His/her instinctual and sexual side threaten to spill out of control and consume them. This can be a very disturbing time said:
Art[/b].

Yes, this is more like it. Exactaly, instinctual and sexual. The sexual part I can kind of understand, the instinctual rather confounds me.
Wow, equal partners?
This explains much.

AW

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
The sexual part I can kind of understand, the instinctual rather confounds me.

The conscious mind is frequently confounded by the subconscious. The everyday relations between men and woman often mirror this internal process.

Always Wondering said:
Wow, equal partners?

Just like Atu XI Lust. Now there's a perfectly tuned engine.

Two opposites working together to Go somewhere. Vroom!