Book Review: One Truth and One Spirit

HinbraLeave a comment

one-truth-header-small-2000x1200-1

Keith Readdy – One Truth and One Spirit: The Spiritual Legacy of Aleister Crowley. Ibis Press.

The release of One Truth and One Spirit comes with a great deal of anticipation and interest in the Thelemic community. No small part of this interest has been generated by some who have chosen to adopt a hard line of opposition—in the majority of cases without having seen the work itself—to the documentary evidence that Readdy previously announced would be included in this book. That the primary evidence he presents features exclusive examples of private personal correspondences between formative members of the modern expressions of the A.’.A.’. and the O.T.O., as well as unpublished documents and photographs from the O.T.O. archives (personally provided by the Outer Head of the Order), challenges Readdy’s detractors with a predicament of whether they should rationally argue their cases to the information presented with equal evidential rigour or whether they should instead resort to the flat denial of the proofs offered and ad-hominem attacks on the author. Sadly, thus far at least, some have opted for the latter option, as is evident in one of the reviews apparent on Amazon by an individual who opened his diatribe with the proclamation that he had no intention of either purchasing or reading the book. But as is always the case, those who engage with an open-mind to either inform or challenge their views on the world will find their reward.

Putting the storm of discomfort this book’s appearance may have conjured to one side for a moment, what we find in Readdy’s work is a concise overview of the history of Thelema from Crowley’s initial formation of its doctrine, including his vision of the work of the A.’.A.’. and the O.T.O., through to the battle for legitimacy in the ‘interregnum’ between Crowley’s death and the modern reorganisation of the two Orders. It is this section in particular that proves unsettling for those who disagree with the author’s assertions, not least because of the documentary proof of the implausibility of one of Thelema’s most beloved figure’s position as the primary link in the chain between Crowley’s manifestation of the A.’.A.’. and the manifestation that resulted from its gradual rebirth between the 1970s and 1990s.

Although such sensitive points will naturally be seen as contentious to some, the overall theme of One Truth and One Spirit is, as the title suggests, an appeal for unity. Readdy demonstrates well that there is a much wider and broader manifestation of the Thelemic movement in the modern world that goes beyond the boundaries of the O.T.O. and the A.’.A.’. and, despite what some critics may suggest, this is not portrayed as a bad thing, as any worldly manifestation of the Law of Thelema serves the ultimate purpose of successfully establishing the New Aeon. What may be argued from his assertions is not that the many diverse strains of Thelema available to us today are _in themselves_ illegitimate, but that they don’t have a very _specific_ legitimacy. The nature of that legitimacy is then clarified in the book’s content.

Other than the arguments made to prove the legal and spiritual legitimacy of the modern O.T.O. and A.’. A.’., the only point in this book that could be construed as at all ‘negative’ in any sense is Readdy’s dissection of the phenomenon of The Digital Magus in Chapter 12, which to me resonated very succinctly with some of the realities of 21st Century occultism. The reasons for such criticisms will no doubt already be clear to many without further need for clarification, but Readdy assertively and eloquently elucidates the obstacles that social media places in the way of those who would seek to do the Great Work but instead find themselves plunging into the pits of narcissism and self-aggrandizement.

Despite the undisguised calling-out of those who have forged their online projections in accordance with the aims of Choronzon, this chiding comes with the same call to unity in its intentions as those that are echoed in the author’s closing statements. Thelema, states Readdy, comprises of a highly diverse and comprehensive set of practices and activities that are ultimately designed to bring the practitioner spiritual freedom. The triad of Thelemic organisations, the A.’. A.’., the O.T.O. and the E.G.C., offer the means to assist with this and with the integral demand for the philosophy of Thelema to accept all of humanity in all of its diverse forms, its overall message is one that calls to end the fragmentation that has characterised the Thelemic movement since the death of its prophet so that it may mature its advance in the world and fulfil its purpose of providing humanity with the keys to its own salvation.

One Truth and One Spirit is available for pre-order on Amazon, or can be purchased now, directly from the author, here: https://www.one-truth-one-spirit.com/

XXXIX: Dogs

HinbraLeave a comment

Cerberus

XXXIX KELEF

Servitors: Lagasas, Ekalak, Kelen.

The word at the outer edge of the square, KELEF, derives from the Hebrew כלב (kaleb), meaning ‘dog.’ The spelling given here, with an ‘F’ as the final character reflects the soft ‘v’ pronunciation of the Hebrew letter beth, the word KELEB would be more accurate. If this variation is accounted for, the reversal of this word in the bottom row, FELEK, may be seen as an expression of the name of the Moabite King Balak, who commissioned the Mesopotamian sorcerer Balaam to curse the migrating Hebrews. Phonically, it also resembles the name of the Lemegeton spirit Valak. The name in the Central Square is a palindromic truncation of that of the spirit Lagasas, whose name derives from the Greek Λαγός (lagos), meaning ‘hare.’ EMAGE in the second row may be a variation of the Greek μαγεία (mageia), ‘magic,’ while its reversal EGAME may come from the Hebrew אגם (agam), ‘lake.’

Other notable meanings attached to the word in the first line are found in Mathers’s interpretations of Greek and Hebrew, with the spirit name Kelen being cited coming from the Greek ‘going swiftly, as in a race’ (though it is closer to Κελεός meaning ‘to order’ or ‘urge’), while a spirit named Kele, who comes under the joint rulership of Asmoday and Astaroth, is purported to come from the Hebrew for ‘to consume,’ which may come from the word לכלות (lakaloth).

The word KALEF is also found in Chapter 5 of the MSA manuscript, appearing in the Square that causes familiars to appear in the form of an ape, though the MSW manuscript associates it with the appearance of a lion in a Square that closely resembles the one that causes visions of dogs. As the following Square in Chapter 5 of the MSW causes familiars to take canine form, it is possible that the associations made between this Square with either apes or lions are erroneous.

KELEF2

The Vision

A small black and white dog was seen wandering alone across a moor at night. Larger, more dangerous dogs were hunting it, their howls and barks loud on the wind. Then the small dog uncovered a human corpse lying in the grass and proceeded to feast upon its flesh until it was stripped bare, growing braver and stronger with every bite. When it had finished, the dogs gave up their hunt, for the distant scent of human flesh had faded. The small dog was fearless now and proceeded to eat the eyes of the corpse from out of its sockets, then consumed the brain from out of its cranium. Having eaten the brain, the dog developed a human perception of the world. With my own conscious thoughts now melding with those of the dog, I took the skull from the ground and looked into its hollow sockets and saw small flames flickering in them for a few seconds.

When the flames were extinguished, I walked into a forest grove and lay the skull upon a stone altar there. As in the vision of Vultures, there was an inscription visible on the stone that was carved into it in Runic script: this time it read PEIRIOS. After this inscription appeared three Tyr runes, which prompted me to look up into the sky in the direction that their ‘arrows’ were facing. Lying on my back, I watched the heavens turn and the most prominent constellation was that of Orion. With him were his dogs, Canis Major and Minor, and they were chasing the Hare, Lupus, around the sky. I realised this scene to be the true representation behind the repeated hunting scenes evident in these visions. They represented the celestial hunt of the underworld giant and his psychopomps, the rotation of the Earth, the seasons and the cycle of day and night.

Then I saw the chase of the hunter, the dogs and the hare continue into the underworld as the constellations dropped below the horizon and the Sun rose with the dawn. I watched the Sun in silence and understood, as its rays shone upon me, that the Squares in this chapter reveal means to uncover the gateways into the underworld. With this understanding came the instruction that I should ‘invoke the dog,’ the guardian of the gates of the underworld—Cerberus—to pass into that domain.

Notes

Checking the diary I kept before starting this project revealed that the Moon was in Cancer when the initial prompting came to explore all thirty-nine Squares of this chapter through the medium of scrying. The Moon’s appearance in this sign is my prompt to conduct regular work with the spirit Naberius, which the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum reveals to be an alias name of the daemon Cerberus, the guardian of the entrance of Hades. That the sequence of visions ended with a referral back to this work may be a verification of the influence of the spirit on the entire exercise.

The morning on which I made that decision came with memories of a dream in which I had died in a plane crash and was wandering at the peripherals of the underworld and was searching for the correct door through which full entry to that domain could be gained. Of the edges of the underworld I noted:

There was a happy feel about the place, as I was with good, but anonymous, companions who I was working with to get to the correct destination.  With them, I climbed a wooden stairway from a low level in the place between heaven and hell. As I climbed, I wondered if N was dreaming about me as I was dead and she was still alive, so decided to send her a dream message to her to pass on to family stating that I was OK and was just looking for the right door, so they should not be concerned about me as I was in the company of good friends and as long as I remained true to my own heart I would make it to the right place. Emotional music played which sounded like the opening piece of a Bach violin concerto.

Later that day, on working with Naberius, I noted:

Performed thirty minutes meditation with the seal of Naberius carved into the altar skull as the meditation object. After knocking at the castle gates and entering the chamber, there appeared a strong, flashing mauve aura all around the altar and the skull seemed to move around and become very ‘alive’ as the visual effects kicked in. I was aiming for stillness and only making note of the phenomena that occurred, which involved seeing leaves in the eyes of a skull which became a forest floor concealing a dead body. Soon after, a female voice, slightly northern, said ‘Where were Jack and Jason found?’

Visuals in the surface of the skull included two different men’s faces, a prominent cat, a horse and, briefly a fish or whale. The wall behind the altar took on a reflective quality and I could see the outline of two human shapes in it… I recalled that Jason was the captain of the Argo and was ultimately found in Colchis, the land of Medea and the golden fleece, so his name perhaps represented underworld traverses… and that Jack the Giant Slayer was found in a castle set high in the sky.

The received word PEIRIOS engraved on the tombstone may come from the Greek Πειραιεύς (Peraieus), which roughly means ‘the place over the passage’ and is a famous port.

The Square was constructed with the Moon at 3º Sagittarius and scried with the Moon at 21º Aquarius.

Antares Rite

HinbraLeave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Tomorrow, 9th November, sees the Moon going conjunct with Mercury at 10º Sagittarius at 13:34 hours GMT. This degree is relevant as it is that in which the Fixed Star Antares currently sits. This star, in the heart of the constellation of Scorpio, ‘gives men healthy colour, grants good memory and intelligence, makes them appear wise, and banishes demons.’ A close Lunar conjunction forms with this star and the MC at 13:18 that day, just before the Moon goes perfectly conjunct with Mercury, which will add further strength to the effects of granting good memory and intelligence.

An Antares Talisman is utilised by placing a mixture of Birthwort juice and Yew beneath a Sardonyx Stone inscribed with the sigil of Antares.

Method

  1. Crush an even amount of Birthwort seeds and Yew berries with a pestle and mortar into 50ml of Olive Oil with a dash of Vitamin E oil a few days before the rite, keeping them sealed in a Mason Jar.
  2. Retrieve the jar an hour or so before the rite and strain the contents so that a clear oil is obtained.
  3. Five to ten minutes before the selected time, retrieve the Sardonyx and engrave the sigil of Antares onto it.
Antares
Seal of Antares
  1. Facing the Angle on which the conjunction is formed (South for Midheaven) Hold the Sardonyx over the open jar containing the oil.
  2. Recite the Emerald Tablet over both, fumigating with incense appropriate to the star’s planetary influences, which in this case are Venus and Jupiter, therefore Benzoin and Cedar (or any other fitting incense) are burnt.

The Emerald Tablet

“Here is a true explanation, concerning which there can be no doubt.

It attests: The above from the below, and the below from the above -the work of the miracle of the One.

And things have been from this primal substance through a single act. How wonderful is this work! It is the main (principle) of the world and is its maintainer.

Its father is the sun and its mother the moon; the wind has borne it in its body, and the earth has nourished it.

The father of talismen and the protector of miracle, whose powers are perfect, and whose lights are confirmed, a fire that becomes earth.

 Separate the earth from the fire, so you will attain the subtle as more inherent than the gross, with care and sagacity.

It rises from earth to heaven, so as to draw the lights of the heights to itself, and descends to the earth; thus within it are the forces of the above and the below;

Because the light of lights within it, thus does the darkness flee before it.

The force of forces, which overcomes every subtle thing and penetrates into everything gross.

The structure of the microcosm is in accordance with the structure of the macrocosm.

And accordingly proceed the knowledgeable.

And to this aspired Hermes, who was threefold graced with wisdom.”

 

  1. Place the Sardonyx into the oil and fumigate again, making an improvised statement of intent based around your purposes for creating the Talisman.

Once the oil has been created it can be used to anoint oneself or consecrate some other object whenever the talisman’s effect is desired.

XXXVIII: Rabbits

HinbraLeave a comment

Centaur Hunting Rabbit

XXXVIII ARNEB

Servitors: Nagar, Negen, Mara, Igarag.

The word on the outer edges of the Square, ARNEB, comes from the Hebrew ארנב (arneb), ‘rabbit.’ The spirit name evident in the Central Cross can be interpreted as either that of Nagar or Negen, though the perfect use of palindromes throughout this Square suggests the that the letters NAG, representing Nagar, are the most meaningful. Nagar’s name derives from the Hebrew נגר (nagar) denoting ‘liquid’ or ‘flowing,’ while Negen derives from נגן (negen) meaning ‘a musician.’ RIAME may be a derivative of ראים (raim), meaning ‘seeing’ and has a connotation linked with mirrors, scrying and visions.

The Vision

I saw a white rabbit, more suitable as a family pet than a wild animal, alone in a wood. Knowing that predators were after it, it sniffed the air and grew afraid. It dug a hole in the ground to hide and made its way into a warren where other rabbits told it that it needed to change its skin if it wanted to survive. These words of advice were followed by what looked like a great mound of white flesh being ripped open by a grotesque, yawning wound from which no blood flowed, as though it was the flesh of a corpse. From inside the pale, fleshy mass, a pallid face was visible which had milky-white, lidless eyes. The torn flesh that surrounded the head of this being enveloped its chin and scalp like a grotesque helmet before changing its appearance to that of a gaping shark. The figure that wore this apparel around its head then stood to its full length, its mouth by the lower jaw of the shark’s head and said ‘I am your nature’ to me in a whispering voice, and communicated that it was a god of the sea. It then towered up above me and, looking up, I saw the inside of the shark’s mouth, its rows of vicious teeth lining the inside of its skull like thousands of rows of white stalactites in a cave.

Then I was standing in the wood again and before me was a centaur. Gesturing to the ground it said to me ‘shall we get that thing out of there?’ and I agreed that we should. It then caused a small explosion on the forest floor and revealed something akin to an underground laboratory rather than the warrens that the rabbit had fled into in the space below the earth. The place was old-fashioned and ruined and bundles of loose wires were strewn from the archaic machinery that furnished the lab. I asked the centaur if it could fix the place and it said that it could and after a short delay filled with strange, disconnected visions—which included me looking into the lens of a pair of mirrored sunglasses and seeing someone else’s reflection looking back at me—the centaur announced that the equipment was now in working order. All over the floor were scores of small robots, which proceeded to flicker into life with LEDs flashing and with gaits like those of clockwork toys as they walked. The spirit prompted me to command the toy robots out into the world and give them a task to accomplish. This I did, and once this was done, I found myself standing behind a tall man in a hotel lobby whose presence was causing great fear to the guests and staff there, and some sort of havoc started to be broken loose just as the vision ended.

Notes

Like the previous experiment, there was something hidden beneath the forest floor in this vision. This time however, the lifeless automatons that were there were brought to life with the assistance of a greater spirit, who, considering his appearance as a centaur in the woods, may have represented the Lemegeton spirit Barbatos. The loosing of the robots found in the underground laboratory was akin to the releasing of many spiders from a cleft in the Earth in the first of these experiments, which gave visions of A Beautiful Lawn. The appearance of a shark-like spirit was similar to the monstrous water spirit that appeared in the visions of A Vineyard and Peacocks. That this foul-looking monster was submerged in flesh and said ‘I am your nature’ on being released from it may be of some kind of significance. Also significant was the assisting spirit asking me if we should ‘get that thing out of there,’ which may have been a form of exorcism ridding me of a parasitic entity or emotion. The fixing of broken machinery inside an underground lair may have referred to inner processes of the mind or brain and the coming to life and sending forth of small robots may have been the releasing of a magical force designed to assist with a specific worldly objective. The underground machinery and clockwork motions connected with it is also reminiscent of some of the events seen in the vision of A Village.

The Square was constructed with the Moon at 5º Scorpio and scried with the Moon at 14º Scorpio. Notably, this is a malefic water sign.

Jupiter in Sagittarius

HinbraLeave a comment

Jupiter giving fire to Vesuvius - Joseph Heim

Tomorrow, November 8th,  sees Jupiter entering Sagittarius at 12:39 pm GMT. Not only does this occur on the day of Jupiter but also within its planetary hour, making it a highly auspicious day for works with this planet. This transit begins with Jupiter exactly at the point of the Midheaven, meaning that just two minutes later Jupiter also enters the Ninth House, which is influenced by both Sagittarius and Jupiter and governs matters relating to religion, philosophy, dreams and long journeys.

The Greater Key of Solomon gives Jupiter the following qualities: Obtaining honours; Acquiring riches; Contracting friendships; Preserving health; Arriving at all that one Desires; Invisibility; all Extraordinary, Uncommon and Unknown Operations.

On the day this transit begins, I plan to construct a Talisman made of tin, the metal that resonates Jupiter’s qualities, in the first planetary hour of that day (07:05 – 07:52 GMT), which will then be consecrated as Jupiter enters Sagittarius during the second planetary hour of Jupiter. That day’s third Jupiterian hour (18:49 – 20:03 GMT), also sees the Moon entering Sagittarius at 18:58 and going precisely conjunct with Jupiter at 19:05. This would therefore be a good time to further internalise the effects of the Talisman into one’s unconscious strata, particularly the realm of dreams due to the influences Sagittarius has over them.

The final Jupiterian hour of the day (03:26 – 04:40 GMT) would then be a fitting time to set one’s alarm for with the intent of meditating on or reciting a prayer or devotion to Jupiter in order to complete the day’s work and hopefully result in some relevant dreams.

The Greater Key also gives seven planetary seals for Jupiter with more specific effects attached to them, which are:

1. Possessing treasures
2. Acquiring glory, honours, dignities, riches, and all kinds of good, together with great tranquillity of mind; also to discover Treasures and chase away the Spirits who preside over them
3. Defends and Protects against spirits, causing them to be obedient.
4. To acquire riches, honour and wealth (when Jupiter is in Cancer).
5. Granting Visions
6. Protecting against all earthly dangers
7. Power over poverty and driving away all spirits that defend treasures.

It is the second seal that I shall inscribe onto the tin.

Second Talisman of Jupiter

In the centre of the Hexagram are the letters of the Name AHIH, Eheieh; in the upper and lower angles of the same, those of the Name AB, the Father; in the remaining angles those of the Name IHVH. I believe the letters outside the Hexagram in the re-entering angles to be intended for those of the first two words of the versicle, which is taken from Psalm cxii. 3:– ‘Wealth and Riches are in his house, and his righteousness endureth for ever.’ The verse is from Vulgate, Ps.111:3: gloria et divitiae in domo eius et iustitia eius manet in saeculum saeculi. (Joseph Peterson).

The sigils of Jupiter, the Archangel Zadkiel, the Intelligence Jophiel and the Spirit Hismael are also engraved onto the tin.

Tzadkiel
Seal of Zadkiel

Jupiter

In the Second Hour of Jupiter, the ritual is performed.

Suitable robes are worn, Cedar is burnt and four blue candles light the temple.

  1. LBRP
  2. Invoking Hexagram Ritual of Jupiter
  3. Invocation

The Invocation of Jupiter

(4 knocks)

Procul, O procul este profani!

O Jove, much-honour’d, Jove supremely great,
To thee our holy rites we consecrate,

“Our pray’rs and expiations, king divine,
For all things to produce with ease thro’ mind is thine.
Hence mother Earth and mountains swelling high
Proceed from thee, the deep and all within the sky.
Saturnian king, descending from above,
Magnanimous, commanding, sceptred Jove;
All-parent, principle and end of all,
Whose pow’r almighty shakes this earthly ball;
Ev’n Nature trembles at thy mighty nod,
Loud-sounding, arm’d with light’ning, thund’ring God.
Source of abundance, purifying king,
O various-form’d, from whom all natures spring;
Propitious hear my pray’r, give blameless health,
With peace divine, and necessary wealth.”

The Talisman is then uncovered and fumigated with cedar with great intent to call down the forces of EL through the Heavenly Sphere of TZADDIQ to be divested into the Archangel ZADKIEL, the Intelligence JOHPHIEL and the Spirit HISMAEL into the Talisman.

Then over it is recited:

  1. The Emerald Tablet

“Here is a true explanation, concerning which there can be no doubt.

It attests: The above from the below, and the below from the above -the work of the miracle of the One.

And things have been from this primal substance through a single act. How wonderful is this work! It is the main (principle) of the world and is its maintainer.

Its father is the sun and its mother the moon; thewind has borne it in its body, and the earth has nourished it.

The father of talismen and the protector of miracle, whose powers are perfect, and whose lights are confirmed,a fire that becomes earth.

 Separate the earth from the fire, so you will attain the subtle as more inherent than the gross, with care and sagacity.

It rises from earth to heaven, so as to draw the lights of the heights to itself, and descends to the earth; thus within it are the forces of the above and the below;

Because the light of lights within it, thus does the darkness flee before it.

The force of forces, which overcomes every subtle thing and penetrates into everything gross.

The structure of the microcosm is in accordance with the structure of the macrocosm.

And accordingly proceed the knowledgeable.

And to this aspired Hermes, who was threefold graced with wisdom.”

The talisman is then covered and hidden.

During the Third Planetary Hour of Jupiter the Talisman is combined with a Talisman of Luna at the precise time where the Moon and Jupiter form their conjunction and a statement of intent is made to both talismans that they join forces to bring the benefits of Jupiter into the dominion of Luna. Fumigations to each planet are burnt, being Cedar and Jasmine.

During the Fourth Planetary Hour of Jupiter sleep is broken and prayer and meditation is entered into to complete the day’s petitions. Banishing and Licenses to depart are performed the following morning when the day of Jupiter has passed.

XXXVII: Griffins

HinbraLeave a comment

Griffin

XXXVII GIRIPES

Servitors: Isagas, Trapis, Parelit, Liriol, Asorega, Alogil, Ragaras, Sigis, Pliroki, Laralos, Gesegas, Tolet, Igarag, Ekalak, Ilekel, Aril, Lagasas, Kilik, Elzegar, Alpas

The word at the edge of the Square, GIRIPES, comes from the Hebrew גריפין (giripin) meaning ‘griffin.’ The name in the Central Cross is not traceable to a specific spirit, but closely resembles a mixture of the names Gesegas, Isagas and Igarag. Also notable is the appearance of the word ELOGAPI, which appears to be a derivation of the Grimorium Verum spirit Elelogap and the Lesser Key of Solomon spirit Gaap.

The Vision

I saw a black sky, twilit at its edges, from which a great star fell and ripped the heavens asunder. Beneath the fabric of the torn skies lay another sky, all of which was of the same twilit red and blue as the edges of the sky before it was. Then this sky was torn apart to reveal a brilliant blue dome. This tearing away continued until all that was left was the bare dark of a world of nothingness.

Then a single flame appeared and I saw that I was in a wood at night and the fire was my light and warmth. The Moon glinted white between a gap in the trees and a new world was formed from its light. In this world I found myself sat in a hollow with leaves all about me, beneath which lay a wooden trap door, which opened as soon as I became aware of it and plummeted me down into a musty storage room that laid buried in the earth. In the rooms were many cages housing lifeless sphinxes and harpies which were guarded by a motionless leopard that was sat in the corner of the room.

I noted that these creatures were all chimeras of some form and was prompted to choose one of them to set free. In a gap between the cages I saw the head of an eagle and touched its head. A glyph marked the spot on its head where I touched it which was like a broken square intersected by a triangular arrowhead. The creature came to life at my touch and flew up to the ground where it revealed itself to be a griffin. Behind it dangled a chain that I hauled myself up to the surface with, then used to control the griffin like a hawk is controlled by its handler’s tether. I pulled myself close to it and saw that its right eye was a Moon and its left eye a Sun. Then the Moon went through its phases until it was New and faded to black. In its place another Sun appeared so that both of its eyes shone with a great light that caused the darkened world to become awash with sunlight.

Seeing this, I let the griffin free of its leash and it flew into the skies before descending to a sandy beach where it wrote the word MARIM in the sand in the form of a Cross. Then the sea came in and washed over the letters, but only the letter ‘R’ was removed by the spume, leaving the word MAIM written twice.

MARIM

As the ‘R’ disappeared, so too did the griffin fade over the distant ocean which glittered with a sparkling golden light as it reflected the Sun’s rays.

Notes

The ‘R’ that was washed away by the sea I understood to be a representation of the Hebrew letter Resh, which symbolises the Sun in Hermetic magic, while the word ‘Maim,’ means ‘Water.’ The word left by the griffin in the sand also had the Hebrew ארי (Ari) meaning ‘Lion’ at its heart. The Lion, as well as being a Solar symbol, is the creature that the Griffin’s body is composed of. The word ‘Marim’ also bears a certain similarity to the Latin ‘maris’ meaning ‘sea.’

The new spirits to feature in this square are Parelit and Elzegar. The name of Parelit may have its origins in the Hebrew words פער (pa’ar) – ‘opening,’ ‘gap,’ ‘gulf’ and הליט (halit), ‘cover,’ giving the name the meaning ‘to cover a gulf.’ Mathers suggests the meaning of the name Elzegar is to be found in the Hebrew for ‘turning aside.’

The Square was constructed with the Moon at 28º Cancer and performed with the Moon at 6º Leo.

XXXVI: Foxes

HinbraLeave a comment

Fox Luring Birds

XXXVI SUHAL

Servitors: Holop, Lagasas, Schalluah Alagas.

The word at the outer edge of the Square, SUHAL, derives from the Hebrew שועל (shua’al), meaning ‘fox’ and ‘cunning.’ The name in the Central Square is a palindromic expression of that of the spirit HOLOP, which originates in the Hebrew חלוף (cholup), meaning ‘transitory’ or ‘ephemeral.’ The word in the second line, UGOMA, may be a derivation of עגמה (ogmah), meaning ‘grief,’ ‘sorrow,’ ‘distress’ or ‘anguish,’ while the reversal of SUHAL, LAHUS, may relate to the root word לחש (lachesh), denoting a ‘spell,’ ‘whisper,’ ‘hiss’ or ‘murmur.’

The Vision

The vision was slow to come, which has not been the case with any of the previous thirty-five experiments. When it came, it began in the same room I was performing the scrying in, with my attention being drawn to an empty bottle of wine on my windowsill. In the vision, I moved to the window in my subtle body, picked up the bottle, then placed it on the floor before me. With it moved away from the window, I was now able to leave exit through it and explore the neighbourhood.

The area I live in has wild foxes living nearby, which I often hear them crying at night and have seen the large dog fox wandering around scavenging several times. In the vision, I found him in one of the places I have seen him before and followed him to the heath a few hundred yards away and followed him into his den. His vixen and cubs were all inside, as were the bones of the dead birds they had feasted upon. On leaving the foxes den, I found myself in the most remote parts of the Heath looking south towards the city. It looked abandoned and seemed to be behind a grey gauze of mist that froze it in time. No people were anywhere to be seen on the Heath either, which is usually busy with runners and dog-walkers.

Standing alone in this desolate version of my familiar world, I realised that foxes and crows were approaching me from all around. I found myself in possession of the wine bottle from the beginning of the vision again and now found it to be full, so I emptied its contents around me in a large circle and sat inside it and waited for the animals to arrive. They confirmed, as they came, that they were not animals, as none of the beasts in these visions have been, but were the spirits and daemons of the land which had been drawn to me because of the magical activities I’d performed in the area. I realised that the circle of wine I had poured on the ground was also an offering to them and that I should ensure to make such offerings to the spirits of the places I work to appease them. This is something I have done for specific spirits in the past, but here I was informed that I should do likewise for the non-specific ones too. As part of my works, I have left offerings of raw meat in certain places, and on one occasion, my doing so was followed very quickly by the appearance of the local dog fox, which no doubt tucked into the meat I had left out. I have also found myself feeding some friendly crows on the Heath on one occasion, so believe the appearance of foxes and crows in this vision very much represents the food I have given those precise creatures on occasion.

Once I had understood that I was being guided towards doing such practices, I had a vision of the Hebrew letters מון which quickly transformed into the letters סון as soon as I attempted to inspect them.

Then the vision changed somewhat, and I found the Heath had changed its appearance into a wilder landscape where I stood on the slopes of a long hill. There, the form of the letter ן from the previous part of the vision transformed into a wooden signpost that pointed to the bottom of the hill. From the signpost to the hill’s base ran a long fence which led to a white rabbit. Seeing it, I turned into a fox and chased it into a hole in the ground that ran beneath the fence. Rather than turning into some wild pursuit of ‘following the white rabbit’ however, I cornered it and devoured it straight away. Once it was eaten, I exited the hole on the opposite side from that which I had entered it through and found myself on the other side of the fence. There, the skies were not grey as they had been on the western side of this divide but were blue and clear. I transformed myself back into human shape and walked along the lush green and damp vegetation until I came to an electricity pylon. The air around it darkened, and it buzzed with the sound of water drops landing on its conductors. In response to the sudden change of climate around the pylon, I changed my form to that of a crow and flew to its top. There I saw that the grey mist only gathered around the pylons that had been built across this landscape, forming a criss-crossing network of misty streaks. Looking to the south I saw a human settlement coming to life, but it was no longer that of the city but of a small town set within a wide valley.

Then, all turned black and the white face of a devil appeared from the darkness and projected the name Agrim to me. Then the image of a goat appeared, and an inner voice spoke of its importance due to it being able to devour and digest all kinds of things. It then trotted away and pacified itself in a bed of leaves where it took on the form of a lamb. And this is where the vision ended.

Notes

Of the servitors who appeared in this vision, Alagas—like Lagasas, who also appears here—has a name that comes the Greek λαγάς (lagas), meaning ‘a hare hunter,’ which fits well with the appearance of a rabbit being devoured by a fox. A spirit previously unseen in this sequence is Schalluah, whose name may derive from the Hebrew שלוה (shaluah), meaning ‘peace’ or ‘serenity.’

The Hebrew words מון (mun/mon) and סון (sun/son) are nonsensical, but appear to be rough transliterations of the English words Moon and Sun.

The name Agrim given by the white-faced devil towards the end of the vision may reflect the Greek word άγριος (agrios) meaning ‘wild,’ ‘savage,’ ‘ferocious’ or ‘lupine.’ The goat becoming the lamb appears to relate to the satiation of the spirits from being fed offerings, which led to their pacification.

The Square was constructed with the Moon at 26º Pisces and was scried with the Moon at 3º Aries.