The Book of The Law Study Group 3.26

Aeon418

Barleywine said:
I was interested in what you were suggesting should be "evoked" using the cakes as a catalyst (the figurative "beetles," a spirit of some sort, a manifestation of the target enemy within the triangle, or something completely different).

Oddly enough I began thinking along evocation lines because of the way that invocation often works. When you invoke the "light" it sometimes has a tendency force hidden subconscious material to the surface. It's almost like you're poking a stick in a hornets nest. The sudden in rush of force stirs things up and you're (hopefully) able to deal with this newly externalised stuff. But I was wondering if the convenient presence of blood in the incense/cakes might make a nice target for these so called "spirits". Once there you could offer these aspects of self up to R.H.K. by burning them. Or go down the assimilation/integration route by consuming them.

Barleywine said:
When it's read correctly, I can see that the the entire evolution would unfold on a higher arc than merely causing the physical demise of a few enemies.

I agree. The very tangible and physical nature of the symbolism used in the third chapter is such that it naturally pulls interpretation downwards to a mundane level. You really have to fight sometimes to lift your head up to something higher. For that reason I think it might be intentional.

Barleywine

Aeon418 said:
Oddly enough I began thinking along evocation lines because of the way that invocation often works. When you invoke the "light" it sometimes has a tendency force hidden subconscious material to the surface. It's almost like you're poking a stick in a hornets nest. The sudden in rush of force stirs things up and you're (hopefully) able to deal with this newly externalised stuff. But I was wondering if the convenient presence of blood in the incense/cakes might make a nice target for these so called "spirits". Once there you could offer these aspects of self up to R.H.K. by burning them. Or go down the assimilation/integration route by consuming them.

Very elegantly reasoned. Get them out of the house and into the yard and burn 'em down or feed 'em to the dog . . .err, god within. A lure . . . I like it! (Nope, can't seem to shake that concrete imagery.)

Aeon418

Barleywine said:
Very elegantly reasoned. Get them out of the house and into the yard and burn 'em down or feed 'em to the dog . . .err, god within. A lure . . . I like it!

If anything it fits in with the initiation/self development theme that has been established so far in this chapter. To suddenly change tack and switch over to something as incongruous as sympathetic bug magick that lets you get even with your neighbours, just seems a bit odd to me.

But hey, if anyone wants to start eating roaches, good luck to 'em. :laugh:

Aeon418

A literal interpretation my follow along the lines of Liber 70.

http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib70.html

But of course Crowley had to actually catch a frog for this rite. This is quite different to the spontaneous appearance of beetles.

Barleywine

Aeon418 said:
A literal interpretation my follow along the lines of Liber 70.

http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib70.html

But of course Crowley had to actually catch a frog for this rite. This is quite different to the spontaneous appearance of beetles.

Despite the solemnity and gravity apparent in this rite, I can't escape the impression that Crowley had tongue thrust firmly in check when he devised it. I was waiting for an alchemical passage involving kissing said frog, but maybe that was the intent in turning it into a "familiar." And snakes have been known to eat mice and birds; some big ones like pythons even eat small pigs. If you're agile enough to catch them, the possibilities are endless! Not sure I would want to try "arresting" an angry boar, though . . .

Thanks for the invigorating dialogue. By the way I just posted a thread on the GD Tradition forum that I'd like your input on. It seems that forum doesn't get much traffic.