The Book of The Law Study Group 3.66
ravenest
That was some holiday ! 
( And now we are nearly finished ! )
[ I can’t take this line alone but have to look at in this section's 'sequence' - and because of the 'gap' ;
63. The fool readeth this Book of the Law, and its comment; & he understandeth it not.
64. Let him come through the first ordeal, & it will be to him as silver.
65. Through the second, gold.
66. Through the third, stones of precious water.
67. Through the fourth, ultimate sparks of the intimate fire. ]
So these are things that help the 'Fool' to understand the Book and it's comment.
1 : 2, 3 : 4 .
Silver : gold, water : fire.
Passive : active, passive : active.
1 and 2 are polarities of solid 'obvious' substances ... I relate them to the conscious and tangible. 3 and 4 seem more subtle. Water as a correlation to silver; ‘stones of precious water’ seem to me to describe solidifications of precious ( valuable, or something that brings value and advantage and the term itself {as opposed to value} indicates a personal relationship) water ( possibly a symbol of the ‘unconscious’ ) . It is stones OF (made up of or a ‘condensation of’) water … not stones IN ( as separate from) water. It seems a solidification of that passive or absorptive energy.
Sparks of fire indicates that which is being released, the sparks ‘travel ‘ within the flames or up and outward beyond the flames … they are like the stones (similar but inverted, inversion is a common theme in mythological or mystical writings), condensations of fire and particularly concentrations of the light aspect of fire. They are similar but opposite. They may refer to moments of intuition in the active aspect of consciousness.
Putting both together we have (a Crowley fav.) the Hunchback and the Soldier; ? !
Ideas forms and understandings are processed. firstly outwardly ; received : acted upon, silver : gold, passive : active. Then the unconscious does its work and condenses seed understandings and concepts, they pass to the consciousness and condensations of ‘ understanding ‘ or little sparks of light or realisations which are taken by ‘fire’ to higher consciousness; received : acted upon, stones of precious water : sparks of intimate fire, passive: active. Also precious (as indication of personal relationship) : intimate (as in the sparks of fire ) perhaps meaning they are understandings for the self and not meant to be applied as dogma for others.
[ I realise this is not the explanation given elsewhere for these lines , but they are already written and discussed, I am not disputing them … merely musing on what they might mean for me and sharing that …. Just thought I might add that before the 'buts' appear ]
( And now we are nearly finished ! )[ I can’t take this line alone but have to look at in this section's 'sequence' - and because of the 'gap' ;
63. The fool readeth this Book of the Law, and its comment; & he understandeth it not.
64. Let him come through the first ordeal, & it will be to him as silver.
65. Through the second, gold.
66. Through the third, stones of precious water.
67. Through the fourth, ultimate sparks of the intimate fire. ]
So these are things that help the 'Fool' to understand the Book and it's comment.
1 : 2, 3 : 4 .
Silver : gold, water : fire.
Passive : active, passive : active.
1 and 2 are polarities of solid 'obvious' substances ... I relate them to the conscious and tangible. 3 and 4 seem more subtle. Water as a correlation to silver; ‘stones of precious water’ seem to me to describe solidifications of precious ( valuable, or something that brings value and advantage and the term itself {as opposed to value} indicates a personal relationship) water ( possibly a symbol of the ‘unconscious’ ) . It is stones OF (made up of or a ‘condensation of’) water … not stones IN ( as separate from) water. It seems a solidification of that passive or absorptive energy.
Sparks of fire indicates that which is being released, the sparks ‘travel ‘ within the flames or up and outward beyond the flames … they are like the stones (similar but inverted, inversion is a common theme in mythological or mystical writings), condensations of fire and particularly concentrations of the light aspect of fire. They are similar but opposite. They may refer to moments of intuition in the active aspect of consciousness.
Putting both together we have (a Crowley fav.) the Hunchback and the Soldier; ? !
Ideas forms and understandings are processed. firstly outwardly ; received : acted upon, silver : gold, passive : active. Then the unconscious does its work and condenses seed understandings and concepts, they pass to the consciousness and condensations of ‘ understanding ‘ or little sparks of light or realisations which are taken by ‘fire’ to higher consciousness; received : acted upon, stones of precious water : sparks of intimate fire, passive: active. Also precious (as indication of personal relationship) : intimate (as in the sparks of fire ) perhaps meaning they are understandings for the self and not meant to be applied as dogma for others.
[ I realise this is not the explanation given elsewhere for these lines , but they are already written and discussed, I am not disputing them … merely musing on what they might mean for me and sharing that …. Just thought I might add that before the 'buts' appear
]Always Wondering
Ravenest said:
Well maybe I am getting traditional again but I can't resist 3, as it is a nice prime number and one simple enough to get my head around this morning.
Chapter Three, Book of Lies, The Oyster
ATU III The Empress
Salt = more stones from water?
In the interest of the What is Love thread, more quotes on the Empress from page 255 Book of Thoth.
Book of Lies, Table 1 Column XL Precious Stones, Table 3
Don't ask me why Crowley starts out with the Star Sapphire in this table. That part confuses me.
3 is also the number of alchemical elements, sulfur, mercury and salt.
3 is also the mystic number of the 2nd path and Gimel, the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Which may or may not explain why the Priestess has been flitring in my mind through this whole excercise.
I agree Ravenest, bookwise there are many correspondences to passivity here. But it just doesn't feel passive to me. Too much energy.
AW
Aeon418
Someone in the previous thread commented on Diamonds and their transparency being graded according to their Water. I find this suggestive in connection with the number 3 and the The Priestess/Empress. I get the image of Light passing through a crystal matrix. This is different from the previous two metals which merely reflect that Light.
7 words. A connection to Venus?
36 letters. Sol?
Verse 66. Sum of 1 to 11 = 66. Mystic number of the path of Aleph. Source of the Light?
7 words. A connection to Venus?
36 letters. Sol?
Verse 66. Sum of 1 to 11 = 66. Mystic number of the path of Aleph. Source of the Light?
ravenest
I meant 'passive' more in the sense of one being receptive to the message and ready to receive perhaps variant ideas and meanings of what the symbols might mean ... as opposed to 'active' in declaration of what one thinks the meaning might be (like having a full cup, one cant receive or be passive) , like declaring that lines in Ch. 3 mean I have to hate people and I am so sure I know what it means I am not receptive or ‘passive’ enough to learn otherwise.
I like to relate these lines to the Atu Art; “At the bottom of this card, for example, are seen Fire and Water harmoniously mingled. But this is only a crude symbol of the spiritual idea, which is the satisfaction of the desire of the incomplete element of one kind to satisfy its formula by assimilation of its equal and opposite. “
“This state of the great Work therefore consisted in the mingling of the contradictory elements in a cauldron. This is here represented as golden or solar, because the Sun is the Father of all Life, and (in particular) presides over distillation. The fertility of the Earth is maintained by rain and sun; the rain is formed by a slow and gentle process, and is rendered effective by the co-operation of air, which is itself alchemically the result of the Marriage of Fire and Water. So also the formula of continued life is death, or putrefaction. Here it is symbolized by the caput mortuum on the cauldron, a raven perched upon a skull. In agricultural terms, this is the fallow earth. “
Being fallow is ‘empty’ and ready for seeding.
“Rising from the cauldron, as the result of the operation per- formed ~ is a stream of light”
Perhaps a further stage along than the ‘sparks’?
“is a stream of light which becomes two rainbows; they form the cape of the androgyne figure. In the centre, an arrow shoots upwards. This is connected with the general symbolism previously explained, the spiritualization of the result of the Great Work. “
“The rainbow is moreover symbolical of another stage in the alchemical process. At a certain period, as a result of putrefaction, there is observed a phenomenon of many-coloured lights” –see post below.
“This “hidden stone” is also called the Universal Medicine. It is sometimes described as a stone, sometimes as a powder, sometimes as a tincture. It divides again into two forms, the gold and the silver.”
“Dissolve the Pearl in the Wine-cup; drink, and make manifest the Virtue of that Pearl.”
ravenest
Interesting ! I like the image you get. It leads to deep thoughts (on the spiritual message ; light and the medium through which it passes; The Aeon- fire, but its intimate sparks and the Hanged Man - precious stones 'condensed' from its water).
Also light passing through a crystal matrix can give a 'type of rainbow' ; " The rainbow is moreover symbolical of another stage in the alchemical process. At a certain period, as a result of putrefaction, there is observed a phenomenon of many-coloured lights”
Karrma
That was some holiday !
[ I can’t take this line alone but have to look at in this section's 'sequence' - and because of the 'gap' ;
63. The fool readeth this Book of the Law, and its comment; & he understandeth it not.
64. Let him come through the first ordeal, & it will be to him as silver.
65. Through the second, gold.
66. Through the third, stones of precious water.
67. Through the fourth, ultimate sparks of the intimate fire. ]
So these are things that help the 'Fool' to understand the Book and it's comment.
1 : 2, 3 : 4 .
Silver : gold, water : fire.
Passive : active, passive : active.
1 and 2 are polarities of solid 'obvious' substances ... I relate them to the conscious and tangible. 3 and 4 seem more subtle. Water as a correlation to silver; ‘stones of precious water’ seem to me to describe solidifications of precious ( valuable, or something that brings value and advantage and the term itself {as opposed to value} indicates a personal relationship) water ( possibly a symbol of the ‘unconscious’ ) . It is stones OF (made up of or a ‘condensation of’) water … not stones IN ( as separate from) water. It seems a solidification of that passive or absorptive energy.
Sparks of fire indicates that which is being released, the sparks ‘travel ‘ within the flames or up and outward beyond the flames … they are like the stones (similar but inverted, inversion is a common theme in mythological or mystical writings), condensations of fire and particularly concentrations of the light aspect of fire. They are similar but opposite. They may refer to moments of intuition in the active aspect of consciousness.
Putting both together we have (a Crowley fav.) the Hunchback and the Soldier; ? !
Ideas forms and understandings are processed. firstly outwardly ; received : acted upon, silver : gold, passive : active. Then the unconscious does its work and condenses seed understandings and concepts, they pass to the consciousness and condensations of ‘ understanding ‘ or little sparks of light or realisations which are taken by ‘fire’ to higher consciousness; received : acted upon, stones of precious water : sparks of intimate fire, passive: active. Also precious (as indication of personal relationship) : intimate (as in the sparks of fire ) perhaps meaning they are understandings for the self and not meant to be applied as dogma for others.
[ I realise this is not the explanation given elsewhere for these lines , but they are already written and discussed, I am not disputing them … merely musing on what they might mean for me and sharing that …. Just thought I might add that before the 'buts' appear
Since Crowley is making alchemical hints here, and ordeal could be considered fire, and there is an association of physical alchemy going through fire to purify, (distillation, purification, etc.) could not the stones of precious water be the elixir of life, philosopher's stone, material prima? And the 4th makes sense to me then as being the Anima Mundi.
ravenest
It could. And probably does.
So many meanings yet all connected.
So many meanings yet all connected.
Zephyros
66*3=198: Victories, Sixty six times three squared is 594: The Stone of Israel
Seems to be a defining ordeal, setting it apart from the rest. I would agree here about the connection of the Priestess, although connections could be made also to the Hierophant and the sun.
Seems to be a defining ordeal, setting it apart from the rest. I would agree here about the connection of the Priestess, although connections could be made also to the Hierophant and the sun.
ravenest
? What is the Stone of Israel ? I didn't quiet get that . Is it Jacob,? Is it like Peter being a rock ...
