Always Wondering said:
This makes sense. The Moon fits better I think.
So do I. Abomination of Desolation seems like a misidentification. It is a false label applied to the stele by "they". But the only name it ever had was Stele 666, which is 718.
The basic message I get here is the view of the New Aeon from the
illusory Piscean perspective of the old Aeon. Instead of the next step, it is interpreted as a fulfilment of the "end times". In a way this is one reason why Crowley used so much apocalyptic symbolism. It pushes certain buttons in poeple who have been programmed with it. And the symbolism of Revelation has been a feature of Western cultural consciousness for almost 2000 years. Even people who don't identify themselves as Christian can still feel a little uneasy when confronted by the Beast 666 and the Scarlet Woman. But why?
Here's a nice article by Lon Milo DuQuette.
http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2005/10oct/acrowley666.html
As Lon rightly points out, it doesn't matter what Revelation really means. It has already jumped off the page and taken on a life of it's own in Western consciousness. All that's needed is someone to push our buttons. And Crowley certainly seems to do that to lots of people.
Always Wondering said:
I also hadn't realized "Abomination of Desolation" was such an established phrase.
It's been around for centuries. It makes it's first appearance in the book of Daniel. 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. According to some it is a referrence to idolatry and the desecration of the temple by the setting up of images in the House of God. In this context read AL III:10, 21-22. Very transgressive.
It appears again in the New Testament in the Olivet discourse (Matthew 24. Mark 13), where Jesus quotes Daniel and uses the symolism to indicate the coming of the "end times".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abomination_of_Desolation
All of this symbolism was
very well known to Crowley. And he probably linked it to the
Image of the Beast in Revelation 13:15.
He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
A stele is an image and 666 is the Beast. So Stele 666 is the Image of the Beast.
Image: TzLM = 160.
Breath: Aleph = Ox = ShVR = 506. 160 + 506 = 666.
Another one that makes me chuckle is that 718 is 359 x 2.
359 = ShTN, Satan. An Image is a copy. Even Satan gets ripped off these days.
Always Wondering said:
What is a Stigma? I don't suppose it has anything to with his eyesight?
No, that's astigmatism.
Stigma is sort of like a coumpound letter made by the joining of the letters Sigma and Tau to make ST joined together. In Greek Sigma is 200, and Tau is 300. That would make the word, STHΛH = 546. No good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigma_(letter)