The Book of The Law Study Group 3.38

Grigori

Aiwass said:
38. So that thy light is in me; & its red flame is as a sword in my hand to push thy order. There is a secret door that I shall make to establish thy way in all the quarters, (these are the adorations, as thou hast written), as it is said:

The light is mine; its rays consume
Me: I have made a secret door
Into the House of Ra and Tum,
Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.
I am thy Theban, O Mentu,
The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit!
Bid me within thine House to dwell,
O wingèd snake of light, Hadit!
Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!

http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/index.htm
http://hermetic.com/crowley/index.html
http://lib.oto-usa.org/libri/liber0220.html

Other threads in this study group

Aeon418

Before launching into interpretation I just want to make an observation. Over the years I have seen a number of interpretations of this verse that rely on the assumption that R.H.K. is speaking the initial section of this verse. I don't agree. In the second line of Ankh-af-na-khonsu's continuing adoration we can plainly see that he is the maker of the "secret door" that establishes the way of R.H.K. in all the quarters.

But I think the section within the brackets is where R.H.K. chimes in during the monologue with a timely sort of "hell yeah!".

Grigori

I thought I would start again by clarifying some terminology for my own benefit.

Into the House of Ra and Tum,

Egyptian deities, Ra the Sun God, and Tum (Atum) the first god and I think last god as 'ender' of the world. In Liber Resh they take the positions of Sunrise and Sun set respectively.

Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.

Egyptian deities again, the dung beetle Kephri who pushes the sun along its course, including through the underworld at night time (see the Moon card) and Hathor a mother goddess. Midnight and Midday in Liber Resh.

By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.

I'm unsure about these, are they deities or people? I've found some references to suggest they may be Ankh-af-na-khonsu's parents names. Also found this useful article on this section of the BoL.
http://www.scarletwoman.org/scarletletter/v7n1/v7n1_egyptian.html

Aeon418

Grigori said:
I'm unsure about these, are they deities or people? I've found some references to suggest they may be Ankh-af-na-khonsu's parents names.

Crowley viewed them as Ankh-af-na-khonsu's parents. For a time he used them in rituals to represent lower analogues of Nuit(Ta-Nech) and Hadit(Bes-na-Maut). They appear as such in Liber Cadaveris CXX: The Ritual of passing through the Tuat. Crowley also used them in an un-published 1906 ritual called, The True Greater Ritual of the Pentagram.

I think as Crowley's Thelemic cosmology developed he began to use Babalon and Therion whenever he wanted a more earthy expression of the divine feminine-masculine. Apart from a few early outings, he seems to have dropped Ta-Nech and Bes-na-Maut in favour of their more well known counterparts.

During Resh I usually conceptualise Ta-Nech and Bes-na-Maut as the feminine and masculine force on either side of me. Just like temple pillars really.

Craxiette

Aeon418 said:
Crowley viewed them as Ankh-af-na-khonsu's parents. For a time he used them in rituals to represent lower analogues of Nuit(Ta-Nech) and Hadit(Bes-na-Maut). They appear as such in Liber Cadaveris CXX: The Ritual of passing through the Tuat. Crowley also used them in an un-published 1906 ritual called, The True Greater Ritual of the Pentagram.

I think as Crowley's Thelemic cosmology developed he began to use Babalon and Therion whenever he wanted a more earthy expression of the divine feminine-masculine. Apart from a few early outings, he seems to have dropped Ta-Nech and Bes-na-Maut in favour of their more well known counterparts.

During Resh I usually conceptualise Ta-Nech and Bes-na-Maut as the feminine and masculine force on either side of me. Just like temple pillars really.

...so Maat is now representing the male? :S I must admit these two fellas annoy me everytime I get to this part of the verse! Why swear by his parents? Isn't that a bit "old fashioned"? And what does it actually mean to "beat my breast" and "weave my spell"?

I'm contemplating going along with the drop-replace and changing those names with something more close to heart..."by Therion my breast I beat, by Babalon I weave my spell"...or if they are referring to the pillars, why not "by mercy my breast I beat, by severity I weave my spell"? Sounds so much nicer already! Any more suggestions?

Aeon418

Craxiette said:
...so Maat is now representing the male?

I think the important point is that it's just a part of Ankh-f-n-Khonshu's father's name. In fact according to the Gardiner-Gunn translation his name is MNBSNMT. A footnote to this says that it is the father's name and that the method of spelling shows he was a foreigner. There is no clue to the vocalization.

For what it's worth you might like to know that the mother was a sistrum bearer of Amon Ra.

Personally I don't think the meaning of the names is all that important. For me they are convenient place-holders for the manifest mother/feminine and father/masculine forces. With Ankh-af-na-Khonsu they form a more earthy and manifest trinity to mirror the spiritual trinity of Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

Craxiette said:
And what does it actually mean to "beat my breast" and "weave my spell"?

It's more of Crowley's poetic license with the stele translation. But the breast beating sounds passionate and self assertive in an active way that conforms with the masculine father principle. A spell on the other hand is a binding or a constraint. It pulls things together and suggests the feminine mother principle. That's just my opinion, take it or leave it.

Craxiette said:
I'm contemplating going along with the drop-replace and changing those names with something more close to heart

I know people who do that in their private practice. They even ditch Ankh-af-na-Khonsu and replace it with their own magical motto or the name, Baphomet.
Playing devils advocate here. It's worth bearing in mind that the paraphrase of the Stele is not part of the original manuscript of Liber Legis. Some people claim that this means "change not so much as the style of a letter" does not apply to the adoration.

Personally I'm the kind of guy who's happy to let names stand as they are.

ravenest

Back to Resh: perhaps it us (the one doing Resh) that has made a secret door into the house of .... by persevering with the practice of Resh?

Thats what started going through my mind after doing it for some time, thats what I am saying ;

I have made a secret door ...

Instead of striking the breast ( a common guesture in some magical traditions and oath taking ) and thinking of parents, I often think of the various teachers in the line of the tradition I am practicing.

Weaving the spell is my continual practice.

(I'm not trying to interpret what Crowley actually meant, just what some of these things CAN mean to me when I have meditated after the Resh practice.)

Aeon418

ravenest said:
Back to Resh: perhaps it us (the one doing Resh) that has made a secret door into the house of .... by persevering with the practice of Resh?

That's how I think of it. Repeated practice of a ritual over a period of time gradually imprints the subconscuious with that ritual form. After a while it begins to act like a sort of bridge between different levels of consciousness. I think this is what Crowley meant in this quote from the Confessions (chp.69).

The Book of the Sun. Here are given the four Adorations to the sun, to be said daily at dawn, noon, sunset and midnight. The object of this practice is firstly to remind the aspirant at regular intervals of the Great Work; secondly, to bring him into conscious personal relation with the centre of our system; and thirdly, for advanced students, to make actual magical contact with the spiritual energy of the sun and thus to draw actual force from him.

In the beginning Resh is primarily a mindfullness practice that helps you keep the Great Work in mind and draws your attention to the solar cycle. But the advanced practice that Crowley mentions requires persistence over time in order to get the ritual firmly planted in the subconscious where it becomes a "secret door" to the house ones own solar self.

Bit of trivia. An old teacher of mine suggested that I supplement Resh with the verses from Crowley's poem, The Five Adorations, found in The Equinox vol.1 no.2.
http://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox/i/ii/eqi02013.html
He swore by them, but I never bothered with it beyond a handful of occasions. :laugh:

Craxiette

ravenest said:
Back to Resh: perhaps it us (the one doing Resh) that has made a secret door into the house of .... by persevering with the practice of Resh?

This makes perfect sense to me! Generally, I view all that is being said in the Resh as ME adressing my HGA in the "style" of the new aeon archetypes -if not, what's the point? I mean, why would I want to recite a piece of Egyptian mythology four times per day that has no direct relevance in my own life and my own journey?

I suppose that is why the "Bes na Maut" and Ta Nech" bother me (Besides the point that "Bes" and "Maat" are female names). It just doesn't fit. I can use Ra Hoor Khuit as a generic stand-in for the HGA and Ankh af na Khonsu as a generic stand-in for the "prophet", be it the prophet of the aeon (Crowley) or the profet of my individual universe (me). But these guys are Ankh's BIOLOGICAL parents -We are past the age when we believe that spiritual authority is inherited through the blood, right?

On the other hand, they are just words...it's what I associate them with that matters. I like what you are doing ravenest, I'm going to give that a try

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ravenest said:
Instead of striking the breast ( a common guesture in some magical traditions and oath taking ) and thinking of parents, I often think of the various teachers in the line of the tradition I am practicing.

Craxiette

Aeon418 said:
Bit of trivia. An old teacher of mine suggested that I supplement Resh with the verses from Crowley's poem, The Five Adorations, found in The Equinox vol.1 no.2.
http://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox/i/ii/eqi02013.html
He swore by them, but I never bothered with it beyond a handful of occasions.

Interesting! I know it just means "god is great", but saying "Allahu Akhbar"...no thanks, not for me -I'll rather stick to the good old miss Bes na Maat and her tech-no mate :laugh: