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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
 Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 05:36 PM
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Perhaps as a return to the general theme of this thread, may I inquire as to the state of the anticipated review by our Webmaster? A quick scan over that dept. of the site didn't show it...
...I though Mogg Morgan's review of the 9th Arch was wonderful and places it in a context whereby a reader newly arriving into that text might not feel so befuddled by its complexities. Outside The Circles Of Time had long been one of those "white whales," nigh impossible for the average reader to locate in the years after its publishing. I was fortunate to get a very battered copy for study ere the re-release and found it astounding. In fact, its nature is such that it continues to generate new insights with every read, more like a brilliant poem or piece of music than a work of mere didactic content.
It also brings together many crucial elements relative to the development of Thelema in its rolling rhythms. The reader is brought into Grant's firsthand experiences with Crowley, a fascinating chapter. The reader also is introduced to the ideas behind the sometimes controversial "Aeon of Maat" and how it relates to the generally understood concept of "Aeons," familiar to every reader of Liber AL.
As Mogg Morgan pointed out in his words on Ninth Arch, there ARE aspects to the work which belong particulaly to the parlance of the "Typhonian Tradition" and may evoke a few scratches on the head-but (again, to refer to Mogg's review), these elements tend towards the evocative as much as the "baffling."
I personally found OTCOT to be one of Grant's most immediately "accessible" books and a fine place to begin penetration of the 9 volume "Magnum Opus."
With "evocative" being a key word, I think the sundry perspectives on this tome will reflect its "living" quality. I'm looking forward to the review and another viewpoint of the text with its own unique insights into this unique book.
93,
Kyle |
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the_real_simon_iff |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 07:20 PM
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93!
As a beginner with Kenneth Grant's works, I have a question: He repeatedly says in OTCOT that Crowley failed to utter a word for "his" aeon, but wasn't THELEMA supposed to be that word? What am I mixing up here?
Love=Law
Lutz |
_________________
"The Resistance to Change is intellectual Death, Insanity [...] the first clause in the Oath of the Black Brothers. The Law of Thelema is the Essence of Life, because of its perfect elasticity."
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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 07:51 PM
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93, RSI-!
The gist is that Thelema is the Word of the LAW as opposed to the "Word of the Aeon." Other "words" have been suggested as fitting the bill but all require definition and seem to point to something particular within the Aeon and not to the Aeon Itself. For example, some have read ABRAHADABRA as the real "Word of the Aeon." But this is defined as the Key to the Rituals etc. The Introduction of the idea of the Wordless Aeon also invokes a mandala of Aeonic Patterns existing (forgive me) "Outside the Circles of Time"  in a simultaneity as opposed to a strict linear progression marked by approximately 2,000 of measured time. The idea is similar to that in certain Buddhist Schools which outline the various "Realms" (Hell, Hungry Ghost Realm, Atsura Realm etc) as modes of consciousness which each contain the others. As there is postulated a highest realm (The World of the Buddha) and this realm is also present even in the lowest realm, ones interface with these zones of activity is not limited to following a flowchart of linear sequence. That a particular field of energy may be dominant is not in question-that this may be observed in a general sense is also given. But the magician who is actively participating in the unfolding work is not bound to operate or measure his own unfoldment according to the defining characterisitcs of the Zeitgeist.
Returning to the topic of the Word, it is a debatable one. I personally find Grant's examination of the possiblity that Crowley "failed" in this regard to open up an infinitude of possibilites which may be worked with actively and creatively. Nor do I think it is odds with the nature of the Dual-Horus as given expression in Liber AL.
93,
Kyle |
Last edited by kidneyhawk on Jul 31, 2008 - 07:53 PM; edited 1 time in total
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ianrons |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 07:52 PM
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| What, so the Word of the Aeon can't at the same time be the Key to the Rituals? Seems unlikely to me. These are very loosely defined concepts, but it would seem to me that the ultimate magick word for each Aeon is in fact the key to the ritualistic practices therein. |
Last edited by ianrons on Jul 31, 2008 - 07:54 PM; edited 1 time in total
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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 07:54 PM
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Quote: ›
it would seem to me that the ultimate magick word for each Aeon is in fact the key to the ritualistic practices therein
What word would that be? |
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ianrons |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:03 PM
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Well, since we're talking Crowley, the "ultimate magick word" is the key of the rituals. This is the word of the Great Work complete: Abrahadabra.
But also apparently the Word of the Aeon is Makhashanah in the "Enochian" angelic language used by Crowley, which I suppose is a more exalted way of looking at the word Abrahadabra. It is a different layer, as it were. Qabalah is very much like this: there are different God names to be pronounced in different spheres. So the word doesn't always sound the same down here, as it were. |
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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:03 PM
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Quote: ›
it would seem to me that the ultimate magick word for each Aeon is in fact the key to the ritualistic practices therein
Quote: ›
This is the word of the Great Work complete: Abrahadabra
So, am I correct in understanding that you see ABRAHADABRA as the "Word of the Aeon?" (which is not necessarily problematic but MOST Thelemites are quick to give Thelema as that word and this will take us back to both Lutz's inquiry and also some of the ideas around Aeonics which KG presents in OTCOT).
Kyle |
Last edited by kidneyhawk on Jul 31, 2008 - 08:07 PM; edited 1 time in total
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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:05 PM
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Quote: ›
am I correct in understanding that you see ABRAHADABRA is the "Word of the Aeon?"
And by "Aeon," I mean "Aeon of Horus" (just to avoid confusion!) |
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Walterfive |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:11 PM
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Whoa!!!
Check out the big brain on Kyle! 
VERY concise explanation of a very difficult subject, sir! I bow to your ability to elucidate!
I must admit, my gut reaction to OTCOT when I first read it 20 years ago was that Grant had been sipping on Uncle Al's Wormwood Absinthe recipie for too long... How could the Magus of the Aeon have failed to utter the Word of the Aeon?
But Grant was not the first person to suppose this, the first was (IIRC) Frater Achad.
I'm still not convinced that we're in the Aeon of Maat, but I'm no longer convinced that we are not.... and uncertainty is a much better place to allow a plethora of possibilities. |
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amadan-De |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:22 PM
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One of the entries for 418 in Sepher Sephiroth states pretty clearly that it is "The Word of the Aeon" - it is not Thelema (which would be 93). Which would make most Thelemites wrong (and possibly Grant too, though I'd want to read what he says 'in context' before stating that). The entry is on p.43 - and just to be confusing might extend onto p.44.  (page numbers as given in the Weiser '777, etc.' - each section is numbered separately) |
Last edited by amadan-De on Jul 31, 2008 - 08:28 PM; edited 1 time in total
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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:28 PM
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Walterfive, cheers...I believe on one of our threads here, Mr. Staley himself confessed to not quite "vibing" with OTCOT when he first read it-and then years later, it opened in all sorts of new ways. My own experience of KG has been similar. When I began, I found him obtuse, twisted. Alluring yet dark and convoluted. It wouldn't be until years later when my experience caught up that I would revisit his books and find my jaw dropping at the burning insights therein.
Re: Achad. He is generally regarded as a big "crash and burn" with AC's dismissal of him at the end. But when he had his AL (ALLALA) revelation(s), AC was more than impressed. He felt Achad was, in fact, the prophesied child who came through with the "Key" to open the "Palace." Fall from grace, tree of life on its head or not, AC saw his contribution as significant.
I do not think we are in the Aeon of Maat, by the way. I think the Aeon of Maat runs simultaneously with the Aeon of Horus, which, not unlike the Zodiac, contains "creative" and "destructive" modes of manifesting, something AC said was "up to us" to determine. I see Maat as something which can be accessed, just as Horus can be accessed (and it is arguable that many amongst the masses have not tapped and opened up into the liberating nature within themselves, expressed in Horus...). Likewise, I don't have a "pre-1904=defunct" attitude and see elements of what we regard as the Osirean Aeon and the Aeon of Isis of value to the present work and energy flux (and I think Ian does, too, as he references the Enochiana of D and K).
Furthermore, Horus as a Dual-God forms something a crossroads or centerpiece to this "Mandala" of Aeons rising and falling at various levels within both individuals and the planetary inhabitants as a whole. I think Achad got off track by wanting to "force a birth" and hop-skip through Horus as he hop-skipped all the Grades AC warned him to return to and complete. Grant offers a much different view of the role of Maat and the sooner people stop conceiving of it as an Aeon which is meant to SUPPLANT something they cherish ("this great wonderful AEON OF HORUS which is the Aeon of our chosen god, not those OTHER gods!") the sooner the subtleties-but also immediacy-of the Maatian ideas will become clearer.
As usual, this is just my perspective but one which I've personally found of great value, one which has tightened my committment to Thelema and one to which I owe a certain Englishman who drank ether with the Beast an enduring debt of gratitude.
93,
Kyle |
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the_real_simon_iff |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:35 PM
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93!
Thanks for all the answers. Maybe I should have checked before about the word. I forgot where I read/heard about THELEMA being it. Anyway. But the question remains: Why does Grant not acknowledge ABRAHADABRA as "Crowley's" word of the aeon? He obviously knew of all the instances Crowley wrote that.
Another thing after reading the book was: There seems to be a huge amount of unpublished Frater Achad material. Hopefully there are plans of publishing it some time not too far away...
Love=Law
Lutz |
_________________
"The Resistance to Change is intellectual Death, Insanity [...] the first clause in the Oath of the Black Brothers. The Law of Thelema is the Essence of Life, because of its perfect elasticity."
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Iskandar |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:50 PM
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| "But I read clearly the Word of the Aeon, that is ABRAHADABRA wherein is the whole Mystery of the Great Work, as thou knowest. And ... the Word of the Law is THELEMA." (Aleister Crowley,Liber Aleph, Ch. 75: "On the Great Beast Himself, the Logos of the Aeon, whose Word is Thelema.") |
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Camlion |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 08:52 PM
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the_real_simon_iff wrote: › 93!
Thanks for all the answers. Maybe I should have checked before about the word. I forgot where I read/heard about THELEMA being it. Anyway. But the question remains: Why does Grant not acknowledge ABRAHADABRA as "Crowley's" word of the aeon? He obviously knew of all the instances Crowley wrote that.
Another thing after reading the book was: There seems to be a huge amount of unpublished Frater Achad material. Hopefully there are plans of publishing it some time not too far away...
Love=Law
Lutz
93 Lutz,
I've always concluded that The word of the Law is THELEMA. AL:I,39
I am also very intersted in the replies to your questions regarding ABRAHADABRA.
93 93/93
Cam |
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ianrons |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 10:20 PM
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the_real_simon_iff wrote: › Why does Grant not acknowledge ABRAHADABRA as "Crowley's" word of the aeon? He obviously knew of all the instances Crowley wrote that.
Am also interested in the reply to this one. |
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magispiegel |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 - 10:47 PM
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the_real_simon_iff wrote: › Why does Grant not acknowledge ABRAHADABRA as "Crowley's" word of the aeon? He obviously knew of all the instances Crowley wrote that.
Because, according to Grant, the word of the aeon is SILENCE. Zain being a formula of access. As an experience, it refers to Blavatsky's 'Voice of the Silence' and this magickal state can be aroused during sexual ritual. This 'wordless' aeon is represented or uttered within the physical vehicle by the convulsions of the yoni (AIN/61) of the priestess - being the entrance into other dimensions. |
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kidneyhawk |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 01, 2008 - 12:38 AM
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Quote: ›
Am also interested in the reply to this one.
Ian and Lutz-
The passage in OTCOT which I was thinking of earlier reads as follows:
"...Achad maintained that Crowley did not as a Magus-and therefore as a true mouthpiece of the Aeon of Horus-utter a word. 'Thelema' is the 'Word of the Law' of 'Do What Thou Wilt'; Abrahadabra is the 'Key of the Rituals' (of the New Aeon), the Key which 'is in the secret word which I have given unto him.' (AL 1:20). The 'secret word' is, then, secret-ion. As we are bound to admit, neither Thelema nor Abrahadabra are the Words of the Aeon. In consequence of this omission, Achad claimed that the word Allala, which he vibrated in 1926, 'is the only one reverberating, wherever it came from.'"
This was Achad's take on the matter. As indicated in a post above, AC (if deferred to as an authority, which he certainly has claim to be) clearly states (in Aleph) that ABRAHADABRA is, in fact, the Word of the Aeon. Achad's "end" didn't really help his credibility in the matter, although, as I stated above, at the time AC held his initial revelation(s) in the highest possible regard.
When KG begins OTCOT, he writes:
"Frater Achad produced cogent, but not entirely conclusive evidence to show that Crowley failed to fulfill the function of a Magus because of his inability to utter the Word of the Aeon of Horus (the present aeon), and that therefore the present aeon is itself the Wordless Aeon, the advent of which has been dreaded and abhorred by the prophets of the past."
Please note that Grant is not regarding Achad's take as "entirely conclusive." Indeed, in the paragraph previous to this, he writes:
"...man stands-at the present moment-upon the threshold of a Wordless Aeon...he must pass through the deserts of Set...and emerge in the clear light of the Aeon of Maat."
Again, Grant's commentaries and Achad's beliefs should not be confused here. Liber AL declares ABRAHADABRA to be the "reward of Ra Hoor Khuit." If the reward of RHK is the Word of the Aeon, then what, might we ask, is the reward of that other SILENT portion of Horus, Hoor Par Kraat? It may very well be the Wordless Aeon, appropriately assigned to the God of Silence.
Later on in OTCOT, Grant will examine the initial work of Nema with regards to influx from the Aeon of Maat. During these commentaries, Grant sees Abrahadabra as pertinent not only as a formulaic key to the Aeon of Horus but a formulaic key to the Aeon of Maat, also. Hence, "Son" (Horus) and "Daughter" (Maat) run in a double current, a reflex of the "Mother" (Isis) and the "Father" (Osiris).
It is very interesting in this context to observe that the "Mark of the Beast" is an "X" in a circle. It not only expresses the Masonic "Point in the Circle" (which may readily be associated with Nuit and Hadit) but with the 4 Aeons (4 bars of the cross) in the above tetragrammatical schema. It is also interesting that in Masonic Lodgerooms that point in a circle is embordered by two lines (which may readily enter the circle to form the X).
If the Aeons are our bars on this glyph, there is the center point, the matrix from which the patterning arises. This may be seen as Buddhism's "Luminous Void" or the Germanic Cosmological "Ginnungagap." Before a word-or WORDS-comes forth, it formulates in the Silence.
AL, of course, ends with further comment on ABRAHADABRA, calling it "the ending of the words." Yet it is also defined in the same sentence as a word itself. Beyond it (esp. if we see it, like KG, as relative to both Aeons of Horus and Maat) "words end" and we approach the Silence, the God of whom Aiwass claimed to be minister.
As I indicated previously, I see these "Aeons" as going beyond mere religious dispensationalism. KG himself is in agreement that (from one perspective) we are in the "Aeon of Horus" (which is not a set of fixed qualities but mutable characterisitcs which the human race is given charge to mould). Never the less, this pertains to the general scenario rather than the work of those who are inclined to unlock the "wheels within wheels."
Crowley himself expresses this in metamorphic beauty in Liber Aleph when he observes:
"Maat, Truth, the Vulture, the All-Mother (is) an Image of Our Lady Nuit, but also it is called The Fool, who is Parsifal...and so referreth to him that walketh in the Way of the Tao. Also, he is Harpocrates, the Child Horus...he is Unity with his own Secret Nature, as I have shewn thee in my Word concerning the Sphinx."
So my contest is not with Abrahadabra as the "Word" of the Aeon per se but I observe that there is much more than a simple lock, stock and barrel summation of the energies therein with singular expressions. For those who are interested in how this may unfold into "Unity," I think OTCOT is a perfect place to start.
93,
Kyle |
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adonia444 |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 01, 2008 - 01:31 AM
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Okay, well then let's also consider:
In Liber A'Ash Vel Capricorni Pneumatici, Crowley mentions both Maat and The Word (which seems more in accord with what Charles was talking about):
"Horus leaps up thrice armed from the womb of his mother. Harpocrates his twin is hidden within him. Set is his holy covenant, that he shall display in the great day of M.A.A.T..."
Also "let him sway the force of him to and fro like a satyr in silence until The Word burst from this throat".
Without commenting on what should be pretty obvious here I thought it was really interesting that this account of The Supreme Secret should evoke the forumla of both Horus/Harpocrates and Maat as well as make allusion to The Word "bursting" in the "flaming gash in the sky" when this gash is also associated with the symbolism of the mouth (Ipsos, the word of the aeon of Maat).
The silent mouth receives and then gives forth The Word. This is kind of interesting, no? Nice little consideration anyway.
Interesting thread!
All the Best,
Kym
* In lieu of the allusion to the satyr (in a formula involving Horus and Maat) it may be doubly interesting that the new addition of OTCOT includes three previously unincluded images of that theme created by Steffi Grant which I personally find glorious. |
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the_real_simon_iff |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 01, 2008 - 07:38 AM
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OTCOT wrote: › Achad maintained that Crowley did not as a Magus-and therefore as a true mouthpiece of the Aeon of Horus-utter a word.
Thanks, Kyle. Why wait for Paul's review? You should write one yourself!
Since I am not too familiar with Achad, when exactly did he claim the grade of Magus? I know of course that he took Magister Templi (somewhat conveniently for AC), but I am not aware of his later A.A. career. (Hopefully that's not a too newby question)
This should probably become a thread of its own.
adonia444 wrote: › In lieu of the allusion to the satyr (in a formula involving Horus and Maat) it may be doubly interesting that the new addition of OTCOT includes three previously unincluded images of that theme created by Steffi Grant which I personally find glorious.
To become on-topic again: I second that! Great artwork!
Love=Law
Lutz |
_________________
"The Resistance to Change is intellectual Death, Insanity [...] the first clause in the Oath of the Black Brothers. The Law of Thelema is the Essence of Life, because of its perfect elasticity."
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ianrons |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 01, 2008 - 10:11 AM
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Thanks for your comments. Kyle. This is just Grant v. Crowley. And Grant doesn't seem to have much of a clue about what he's talking about, if he isn't aware that AC said Abrahadabra was the Word of the Aeon. But AC says often enough what the word is and that he did "declare" it, e.g. at the end of Samekh in Book Four:
Quote: › Also He made me a Magus, speaking through His Law, the Word of the new Aeon, the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child. Thus he fulfilled my will to bring full freedom to the race of Men.
So basically if you follow or want to believe Grant then you have to dismiss what Crowley says here, saying he's confused or a liar.
There is a footnote: "For the account of these matters see The Equinox, Vol. I, "The Temple of Solomon the King", Liber 418, Liber Aleph, "John St. John", "The Urn", and Book 4, Part IV."
Although the Urn is yet unpublished, I recommend you review these books in the light of this discussion. |
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