from
The Book of Lies:
8
STEEPED HORSEHAIR
Mind is a disease of semen.
All that a man is or may be is hidden therein.
Bodily functions are parts of the machine, silent unless in dis-ease.
But mind, never at ease, creaketh "I".
This I persisteth not, posteth not through generations, changeth momently, finally is dead.
Therefore is man only himself when lost to himself in The Charioting.
COMMENTARY
Cheth is the Chariot in the Tarot. The Charioteer is the bearer of the Holy Grail. All this should be studied in Liber 418, the 12th Aethyr.
The chapter is called "Steeped Horsehair" because of the mediaeval tradition that by steeping horsehair a snake is produced, and the snake is the hieroglyphic representation of semen, particularly in Gnostic and Egyptian emblems.
The meaning of the chapter is quite clear; the whole race-consciousness, that which is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, is hidden therein.
Therefore, except in the case of an Adept, man only rises to a glimmer of the universal consciousness, while, in the orgasm, the mind is blotted out.
I'm just beginning study of the Thoth deck and just beginning to read
The Book of Lies and
The Book of Thoth, and find that the former is just as vital to understanding the cards as the latter, if not moreso, as it is more pithy and to the point.
I've always had trouble with this card, and Crowley's thoughts on it have helped to begin to give me a glimmer of some of its aspects. Funny how the Beast, whom many lament as confusing and difficult, actually has helped me understand this card more than I ever have with "easier" authors!
It seems that what Crowley is saying here (in the BoL) is that we human beings are saddled with the question of our existence, and some of us begin to apprehend that the problem is with this I-fixation, this constant filtering of our experience through the sense of self. The key to realizing our true nature and purpose is to transcend this limitation of the mind, but it takes years of discipline to even begin to approach this. And some of the first glimpses we may get into this innate freedom of the mind are when we experience orgasm. Or perhaps the "blotting out" of the mind which happens at the moment of orgasm is more like the unconsciousness of sleep than the unitary consciousness of samadhi, and so it's only the "Adepts" who ever really "get it."
"Charioting" is a fun and interesting euphemism for the sexual act... I know Crowley was big on sexual magick, but I haven't the faintest clue what exactly is so special or so secret about the mind as it is in the bedroom. But I suppose this is because I have not been much of one to be drawn to the complexity of tantric-style attempts to harness and transmute energy. I find the simple and direct approach of Zen ("just sit") to be clear and powerful. But who knows what I would find if I got into this whole notion of working with energies. Certainly, there is a lot of powerful energy stirred by sexual expression.
Anyway... If the Chariot is that which connects Binah ("Understanding") with Geburah ("Severity"), then that helps make sense of its meaning. Understanding is the space in which wisdom and the thing seen (Kether, the Absolute) form a relationship... So the Chariot is the severe, macho, forceful attempt to reach an understanding of the nature of mind. Thus we have the armor, the posture of the fiercely determined yogi, the powerful vehicle... and the vehicle rolls into motion under the harnessed power of the animals which draw it. So this is a card about harnessing and directing energies, the path of yoga, the work of sexual magick. And ultimately, the nature of mind which the Charioteer is attempting to grasp. Thus the Chariot represents the hard approach to dealing with and trying to resolve that question... asceticism, strict discipline, working with powerful energies by trying to get them under willful control.
