The Book of The Law Study Group 3.37

Grigori said:

I often wonder about this line. In particular "self-slain". This can be related to crossing the abyss, though I wonder if this is a paraphrase of the Stele, does this suggest Anhk-af0a-khonsu suicided?

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To the best of my knowledge I don't think there has ever been any suggestion that Ankh-f-n-khonsu topped himself.

When you compare Crowley's poetic paraphrase with the literal translation I think it becomes obvious that it is merely a bit of poetic license. I think it just means he is dead - his Self is slain. Of course this can have other more mystical meanings too.

Interesting trivia: When Crowley gave this adoration to Jane Wolfe he taught her to begin from "Unity uttermost showed!". But why are the first six line omited? I don't think anyone knows for sure, but here's my guess for what it's worth.

The full adoration does appear in the Zelator initiation ritual, Liber Cadaveris. In the orginal formulation of the A.'.A.'. system the Zelator grade was where the aspirant was first introduced to R.H.K. as the Hierophant. (In fact he/she wasn't even supposed to get Liber AL until this grade.) In the two earlier grades (Probationer and Neophyte) the ruling Hierophant was still Osiris. After passing through the death and resurrection (self-slain) ceremony of Cadveris the aspirant is the symbolic Lord of Thebes (Malkuth) and greets Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

Grigori said:

Who is the Supreme and terrible God/ Ra-Hoor-Khuit? I wouldn't have thought he was a contender for the role....

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Why not. R.H.K. is the one indicated. And as a stand-in for your own "Supreme and terrible God" - the HGA - it makes perfect sense.

Grigori said:

Someone else sitting in Ra's throne? Apart from the solar reference, I'm also reminded of the idea of Horus taking the seat of Osiris, the change of the Aeon, or sitting in someone else's throne.

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I like to think of the throne of Ra as the heart, the solar centre with each man and woman.

Grigori said:

I still struggle with this terminology. Khabs is the House of Hadit, deeper than Khu, the Radiance of the Khabs. I'm unsure how Ka fits into all of this.

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You've probably already read these, but here's Gunther's interpretations.

Khu: The magical garment of the Initiate; the Form manifested by the Khabs from the potentiality of Nu.

Ka: "Soul, spirit, essence." The word appears in the Paraphrase of the Stele of Revealing, and in CCXX III:37. Curiously, the word is not on the Stele itself. Interpreted herein as The Holy Guardian Angel.

Khabs "Star." An individual Star, meaning an individual person. The Khabs is the Spiritual manifestation of one person from the infinite possibilities of Nu. It is the "House" of Hadit.

ravenest said:

That should be long enough to start some interesting effects for you. I always found a great effect from the line; 'Aum! let it fill me.' ... and the next one. It's a great invocation/adoration. (I did it for a while in 'Egyptian' - whooosh!)

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Effects? Hm. Yes, so far it has given me a new perspective on the 24h day, as if I'm more aligned to the rythm of time. Living in Scandinavia at this time of the year, the adorations are a welcome reminder that the sun IS actually still there, even if the noon resh is the only one I get to say in proper daylight -I go by the clock, not the actual sunrise-sunset times, as that would just not be practical. I am expecting an interesting reversal of experience around midsummer
Generally it has a balancing effect on me, it somehow gives me piece of mind, an affirmation that no matter what my life appears to be, in the greater scheme all that happens are experiences along my path. Yes, when I get to say it out loud, I notice my voice changes after the "aum..." , it is the most powerful part indeed!

Craxiette said:

Generally it has a balancing effect on me, it somehow gives me piece of mind, an affirmation that no matter what my life appears to be, in the greater scheme all that happens are experiences along my path.

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Yes! I found this particularly with sunset meditation' Tum - in thy Joy. Why is tum, sunset / death a time of joy? I believe, as you say above. From the higher perspective its all valuable experience; "good/bad' is our polarity. At Tum time I can find joy for another day alive and what I have learnt, regardless of how 'good/bad' it has been.

It also puts a 'full stop' at the end of my day.

Pressed for time now but I find the rest of your post fascinating. Things are often different here (in south hemisphere) they must be QUIET different near the poles. Hopefully I have more time later to talk to you about that.

ravenest said:

Why is tum, sunset / death a time of joy?

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If you look at Resh as a solar-phallic rite then the sunset adoration is the moment of orgasm.

ravenest said:

At Tum time I can find joy for another day alive and what I have learnt, regardless of how 'good/bad' it has been.

It also puts a 'full stop' at the end of my day.

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I say the Tum-Resh after work, as a bonus I also mentally put a full stop for the end of the work day and the beginning of my "personal" day. Subconciously I'm telling myself it's ok to not think about work at all for the rest of the day, which is great for stress reduction!

ravenest said:

Pressed for time now but I find the rest of your post fascinating. Things are often different here (in south hemisphere) they must be QUIET different near the poles. Hopefully I have more time later to talk to you about that.

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Well...I suppose we're used to a "bipolar" climate that wants to party and stay up all summer and stay in bed all winter I personally prefer spring and autumn though, my head is messed up enough as it is without the help of a freaky sun!