Let the Underworld Sacrifice Begin

One of the reasons why magic does not work is because a person has not understood what they have to sacrifice for the rite to happen.

In different systems of magic, there is the concept of sacrifice – of giving something up to achieve a desire or receive something from the gods.  Usually this is symbolic; a person killed an animal, or poured wine into a trench to give something up to achieve a goal. 

Even in initiation, the concept of taking an oath can be considered a form of sacrifice where the “victim” is the person who is dying so that they can become something more.  They are narrowing their life and promising not to do something so that they can be more than human.

However, there might be something more behind these symbols than first appears, which could lead us to an area of experimental magic.

Most magicians believe that magic can be used to create a change in their lives or environment.  They do rituals because they want something to be different.  In many ways they are creating a new universe in which certain undesirable components are not there.  Effectively they are taking the role of the mind of god, Thoth, and speaking a new universe into being.  Having made their last utterance, and cleared up the wax, which has stuck to the carpet, they wait for the new universe to unfold around them.

Magic seems to create four “effects”: the first and least noticeable is that it does not work at all.  The ritual is said to be a failure and often others are tried.  The next is that something happens but it does not quite manage to achieve its goals.  The third effect is that it works but things do not work as intended and, while the primary goal is achieved, other unexpected events happen.  Lastly, the ritual works and the new universe replaces the old one.

Recently I have come to believe that the reason that some rituals do not work is something to do with the strength of the old universe and the desire on the part of the magician (or outside forces) to maintain it.

Give your old stuff to the Baron at the Crossroads

Ask yourself, for this ritual to work, how much change will be required.  Some rituals require cosmetic changes to the existing universe and should be more likely to be successful. 

It makes little odds to the universe that you get to a certain destination on time without the aircraft developing turbulence and you having to be anally probed by US customs and immigration when you arrive.  A travel ritual to protect against this will probably succeed.  But a much more considerable aspect of your life would change if you won a huge sum on the lottery.  You would also be doing “black magic” to prevent another person’s universe changing as result of your win.

Let’s look at another area of “low magic” to explain the problem.  You had a problematic relationship with a person and you were always fighting.  One day you both worked out this was self-destructive and ended it.  You find yourself alone and do a ritual to find a new partner.  Nothing happens.   The answer might be that the old destructive relationship is still in your life.  You can’t ask the gods to create you a new universe with a new one until you have a space to put a new person inside it.

This idea of “having the space” to roll out the new universe is vital. What appears to happen is that when the creator gods of magic unfold your new shiny universe, there have to be holes cut inside the design for all the things you want to remain.  After all, if you invoke for a new job you do not want your relationship to pack in, or your dog to suddenly vanish overnight.  The problem is that if something in your life is central and antagonistic to your ultimate goal remains, then the new universe will end up exactly like the old one.

While the creation of a new universe is one idea, with its own set of gods, we have to ask the important question “what happened to the old one?” and “what needs to be chopped out of my universe to make this work?”  It is these things that need to be sacrificed for us to make sure our magic works.

This god of sacrifice is a variation of one of the many underworld death gods within religion.  They are Satan, Set, Baron LaCross, Typhon, Pluto, Dis Pater and Saturn.  Before any creation ritual they must be unleashed onto your existing universe, removing those things which stand in the way of what you want.

The first thing many of you must be thinking is “hang on, allowing the destruction of my existing universe by letting this lot make merry with it is insane.”  In some ways you are right.  But equally does that really mean that you don’t want something enough to make the sacrifice?  Is it possible to say that something is your True Will if you are not prepared to sacrifice something else to obtain it?

This attempting to hold on to a large chunk of your universe while at the same time hanging onto your old one is simply not possible.  One change should create other dramatic ones and when you do your invocation, you unconsciously know what each one is.

In fact when you do an invocation you will find yourself putting riders on what you want, which could ultimately kill off any potential universe unfolding correctly.  “I invoke for a magical order which is suitable for me, but has to meet within walking distance of my house, have a pub nearby, have no fees and will recognise my magical genius.”

St Expeditus

So how can we find out what impact our magic will have?  How can we find out what we have to give up, to obtain what we want?

If we invoke gods like Thoth, or our spirit guides, or who (or whatever) to help us create a universe, we have to invoke the death gods to help us discover what our sacrifices will need to be.

This might be the reason that Dis Pater, the roman Hades, was called the father of all riches.  It was because he let the old bad things die so new wealth could come into a life. 

Before you do any invocation which would lead to the creation of a new universe, you should invoke one of the death gods to ask their permission and to request that they tell you what the sacrifice will be.  They will probably tell you and once that sacrifice is made you can invoke for your new life (if you still want to go ahead with it).  

It might be that to get what you want you really have to break up with your girlfriend, who is holding you back.  You might have to leave your mother’s basement and start taking some responsibility for your life.  You might really need to leave the country before the police knock down the door, or give up that person who you are convinced is the love of your life.  It will be the underworld death gods which will arrange that for you so the good work can begin.

It sounds curiously inverted, invoking a death god to ask for a new life, but this is exactly the principle behind a Voodoo magician invoking , who was connected to the king of the dead Baron LaCross.  Expeditus, as his name suggests was called upon to make things happen today rather than tomorrow.  What better way to make something happen quickly than if all the obstacles to your new universe are sacrificed.

Magic has a price... you have to give up your old life to get the new

Killing off the Past Heirophant

The top table of chiefs in the Golden Dawn ritual are composed of the Imperator, the Cancellarius and Praemonstrator. The Hierophant is also supposed to sit between them and behind him sits the Past-Heirophant.

Throughout the history of the Golden Dawn little work has been done about the magical function of these officers. Instead the titles are seen as mostly administrative. The person who fancies themselves in charge of the group takes the role of Imperator because it means “the person who rules” and it gets to stick them on a throne above all the others dressed in bright red and holding a jolly big sword.
However this ego stroke shows the ignorance of the system and the belief that it was an Imperator that ran the Order. In the original GD these officers were not seen and their function was not discussed by the great unwashed.

The Hierophant's throne was between a half open curtain and that was all that could be seen of these officers. If there was any dance of the ego it was conducted behind closed doors or curtains.
There were three important officers on the top table and one, the Heirophant which moved between the three.

The three represented the three pillars on the tree of life, the alchemical principles, Fire, Air and Water and the gods Nepthys, Thoth and Isis. The Hierophant (and the candidate) represented Osiris, Salt and Malkuth, and Earth.

But what does all this mean?

There are three great currents which come into the 0=0 ceremony from the withdrawn orders which are personified by the three chiefs. For the sake of identification I will call these the Nephsys, Thoth and Isis current. Their function is to rebuild and empower Osiris.

Isis

Nephsys is water and Mercury.

Her function is to alchemically separate (ie disolve) the candidate during the various processes of the 0=0. She is the force of putrefaction which takes place after death. She is also the purifier. Isis is fire and sulfur and the consecrating force which alchemically binds the candidate. Thoth is the quintessence the force which unites the forces of Sulphur and Mercury and thus resurrects Osiris.

These three rays take up a third of the temple each. Every time a candidate or an officer (with their godform) enter into those temple sectors they are working with and interacting with those rays. Thus when the candidate enters the temple in the West the first thing that happens to them is that they are broken down by the Nepthys force so that they can be rebound by the Isis force and raised up under the Thoth ray. The work of the 0=0 therefore can be said to be using the “Solve et Coagula” maxim of the alchemist.

This means then that the circumambulations where the candidate crosses the three lines of force mirror the alchemical processes of dissolve and bind. These transmutions are carried out by Maat and Anubis as they lead the candidate around the temple. They are also a factor at the various points where the candidate is stopped.

Also it is interesting to note that when Sulphur is mixed with Mercury and baked it creates a vermilion powder which was the basis for red paint. It makes sense of why the Hierophant wears red and how the action of the Imperator and the Praemonstrator bound by the power of the Cancellerious manufacture within the order the “created fire and the uncreated (or hidden) fire” which powers the Hierophant.

Thoth

The Hierophant then takes his power from these three rays which are manifested throughout the grade rises of the outer order. He is the salt, or material result of their action and hopes to pass on these powers to the candidate.

To me this answers the question as to whether the Hierophant should sit in front of the officers or in a line with them. He should be on an apex of triangle which the base line is the Imperator, the Cancellarius and the Praemonstrator. He should be seated in front of the Cancellarius who provides him with the middle pillar of air and the powers of the quintessence which he is expected to manifest into the the temple of Maat.

 The question about all this is what has all this work got do with the post of “past-heirophant”?. In Whare Ra this job was basically to assist the Hierophant in bringing in all the energy into the temple and to effectively sit in his chair as Osiris when the Hierophant was running around being Aroueris. He is Aroueris when the Hierophant is sitting down. The question is, is this role really required as it breaks a lot of very important symbols on the top table. You lose the idea of the tree of life, you lose the trinity, because four officers do not mean the same thing as three.

 The role, while an interesting idea, is not mirrored with other officers. Just because the Heirus stands up there is not a past Heirus to fills the passive role while the officer is active on the floor.

Since none of the chiefs roles are contained in the Cipher manuscripts it means that they are the invention of Mathers and Westcott. While the idea of three chiefs shows some alchemical genius, the use of four does not. In fact it shows the influence of freemasonry. In freemasonry once someone has passed through the chair they are given a past master title. They are supposed to assist the current master in their role. Sound familiar? However it is just another officer and a sop to the lost status which is afforded to the new master of the lodge.

Magically it does little which is not done elsewhere and actually messes with the tree of life and alchemical symbolism which is much more important. When I started to question the role of the past Hierophant I noticed that with the officer sitting on his desk there are actually 11 officers. Praemonstrator, Cancellarius, Imperator, Hierophant, Past Hierophant, Hegemon, Hierus, Dadouchos, Stolistes, Kerux and Sentinel. While this is a little superstitious, it is not a desirable number of officers to have, since it represents the qlippoth, whereas ten indicates the sephiroth.

Given this, I think it is probably better that the past Hierophant is handed his P45 and pink slip and told that in a magical order we don't really need to create senior jobs to avoid upsetting people who can't be Hierophant any more.


First published 2010

A creation of the universe using Egyptian symbolism

Someone asked for a magical worldview which did not incorporate re-incarnation, or Karma and yet did the same sorts of things.   Here is a basic Egyptian one which can be used to find answers to many different questions and also slots in nicely to the Golden Dawn.

There was never a beginning or an end, just darkness.  Well, when I say darkness I mean everything and nothing.  The Ancient Egyptians called it Nun.  Then this being, which until then could only be described by what it was not, decided to be something. It created an idea of a universe. That idea was called by the Ancient Egyptians Thoth – the Mind of the One Thing and he created more ideas, or words.  And the words formed Stories.

The first he created was the world of spirit, which was centred on the idea of light.  That light was called Ra and his light was divided into seven primal energies.  From were formed the Gods, Angels, and spirits.  These forces interacted and reacted within stories and above all they learned and remembered these experiences and thus was the great memory of God created.  And this memory was within and like a kingdom and is remembered as being the Underworld.

Gods were Ideas and were too perfect, too close to Thoth and Nun for either to understand much about itself. And so a new realm was created which was ruled by Osiris and Isis and was born within the underworld.  Ideas from Thoth past through the realms of spirit, into the realm of the otherworld and while this realm was not as perfect, it still did not provide an objective clarity to Nun and Thoth.  

So a final realm was created, that of matter and this was built from the images that were found within the memory of god.  And thus was creation made. Matter crystalised from the underworld to the outer world.  And reflections of the underworld were made solid in creation.

Then Thoth had an idea.  One of the images found within creation would have the ability to understand all the levels.  But for the idea to work, the image would have to learn and study the levels around it and awaken them.  Thus this image would mimic the powers of Thoth himself.

Humanity is Thoth's Baboon.

This idea was called by the Ancient Egyptians, ank, or the spirit of God and it past into the world of spirit where it slept.  But so holy was this sleeping ank, it awoke as a new being, the Ba or soul, which existed in the realm of spirit.  But it was not aware of the ank within. This spirit then moved into the realm of memory, or the underworld where it slept and dreamed itself part of a race of Apes which lived in creation.

Thoth did this countless times until each human had the potential to begin the awakening.  But because each ank passed through each of the levels of creation before they were born, they had dim memories of what they were capable of doing.  Each ank inside them dreamed of a destiny.

Most people experience creation through the realm of the underworld and when they die, they return to the memory of God where they are one with their ancestors.  Others however become aware of their soul and seek the spiritual path of Ra and awaken to that state and live in that God’s kingdom.  Far few realise that that too is only part of the journey.  They must awaken the ank within them and return to Thoth and the borders of Nun and be aware of all things.

All these levels are the same God, all experiences are valid and important.  Then ask why do people suffer?  Why are some lives short and others long?  Why do wicked people succeed?   They are all the One Thing acting out countless stories written by Thoth to give an understanding to itself. 

Suffering is caused when we mistake our masks for the actor behind them. At each level, we have a role, even if that role is to sleep.  But if we chose to awake, then we gradually become aware of our powers to shape our story. A person who is awake in the underworld has mastery over the earth.  A person who dwells in the realm of Ra is a God and he who awakens with Thoth is a God above all.  These are people of whom Thoth has written great stories only when the story began, no one but Thoth was aware of it. Everyone is equal because they are all the one thing. it is just that people have different jobs to do and have different roles in the bigger story.