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To: alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: AEonic Mystification
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 21:34:31 GMT

In the t-93 list, siva recently speculated about what Crowley meant when
he referred to as an Aeon, and what it meant for an Aeon to have a Logos
(word). What follows is some of his post, with citations from the works
of CZrowley [and my comments in brackets]:

=============================================================

~Subject:  [t93] AEonic Mystification (was the hermeneutics...)
~Date:  Fri, 31 Aug 2001 11:17:58 -0700 (PDT)
~From:   333 

there is some confusion on this [logos of the aeon] because [Crowley]
talked about at least three different Words: 

ABRAHADABRA ([the word or logos of the aeon] in Liber Aleph) 

ThELEMA (the Word of the Law, stipulated by Nuit in Liber Al; [and also
called the word of the Great Beast {"the Great Beast Himself, the Logos
of the AEon, whose Word is Thelema"}]), 

MAKHASHANAH ([the word of the aeon] in Liber 418, The Vision and the
Voice). 

[First, we have the definition of the Logos of the Aeon: Crowley defines
the logos or word as a being incarnate in flesh as a living being,
explains that this incarnate word is a poet and elsewhere names the
living logos or word as "The Great Beast Himself") - cat]

         On the Magi of the A.'.A.'. in Whom the
         Word Takes Flesh

        Now, o my Son, the Incarnation of a Poet is particular
        and not Universal; he sayeth indeed true Things, but
        not the Things of All-Truth. And that these may be said
        it is necessary that One take human Flesh, and become
        a Magus in Our Holy Order. He then is called the Logos,
        or *Logos Aionos*, that is to say, the Word of the AEon
        or Age, because He is verily That Word. And thus may He
        be known, because He hath it given unto Him to prepare
        the Quintessence of the Will of God, that is, of Man,
        in its Fullness and Wholeness, comprehending all Planes;
        so that His Law is simple and radical, penetrating all
        Space from its single Light. For though His Words be
        many, yet is His Word One, One and Alone; and by this
        Word he createth Man anew, in an Essential Form of Life,
        so that he is changed in his inmost Knowledge of himself.
        And this Change worketh outwards, little by little, unto
        its visible Effects.
        -------------------------------------------------------
        "Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly in
         the Form of an Epistle of 666 The Great Wild Beast
         to his Son 777"; Weiser, 1991; p. 68.
        -------------------------------------------------------

then he sets about detailing the Words of which he was aware:
Lao Tzu's 'TAO', Gautama's 'ANATMAN', Krisna's and Dionysus' 
'INRI (IAO)' (how does he figure?), Tahuti's 'AMOUN (AUM)',
Moses' 'IHVH', Mohammed's 'LA ALLH, and Crowley's 'ABRAHADABRA'

[Here are the citations of the three different Words of the Crowleyan
Aeon: - cat] 

ABRAHADABRA 

        O my Son! Me seemeth in certain Hours that I am
        myself fallen on a Time even more fearful and fatal
        than did Mohammed, peace be upon Him! But I read
        clearly the Word of the AEon, that is ABRAHADABRA
        wherein is the whole Mystery of the Great Work, as
        thou knowest. 
      -------------------------------------------------------
        "Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly in
         the Form of an Epistle of 666 The Great Wild Beast
         to his Son 777"; Weiser, 1991; p. 75.
      -------------------------------------------------------

ThELEMA 

        [On the Great Beast Himself, the Logos of the AEon,
         whose Word is Thelema]
 [...]
        And I have *The Book of the Law*,
        that was given unto me by Him thou wottest of;
        and it is the Interpretation of the Secret Will of
        Man on ever Plane of his By-coming; and the Word
        of the Law is THELEMA. Do what thou wilt shall be
        the whole of the Law. Now because Love is the law,
        love under will, do I write this Epistle for thee,
        that thou mayest fulfil this inmost Will of
        Mankind, making them capable of Light, Life, Love
        and Liberty by the Acceptance of this Law.
        -------------------------------------------------------
        "Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly in
         the Form of an Epistle of 666 The Great Wild Beast
         to his Son 777"; Weiser, 1991; p. 75.
        -------------------------------------------------------

MAKHASHANAH 

      The word, the word of the aeon is MAKHASHANAH {SUP:1}.  
      And these words shalt thou say backwards:  ARARNAY 
      OBOLO MAHARNA TUTULU NOM LAHARA EN NEDIEZO LO SAD 
      FONUSA SOBANA ARANA BINUF LA LA LA ARPAZNA UOHULU 
      {SUP:2}. when thou wilt call my burden unto appearance, 
      for I who am the Virgin goddess am the pregnant 
      goddess, and I have cast down my burden even unto 
      the borders of the universe {SUP:3}.  They that 
      blaspheme me are stoned, and my veil {SUP:4} is 
      fallen about me even unto the end of time{SUP:5}.

[...]

     {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Nun}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Shin}{HEB:Aleph}
     {HEB:Koph}{HEB:Aleph} {HEB:Mem} = 418. 
     A word of 8 letters is necessary to perform the 
     Great work on one whose Formula is 3: 8x = 3{square x}. 
     The Seer "knew" that this Word was not the correct 
     Word, which is Abrahadabra = 418. But on writing it 
     down in Hebrew, as above, he saw that it was the 
     correct word after all. Observe that this proves 
     the Angel to have been an Intelligence not of the 
     Seer's conscious mind.
      -------------------------------------------------------
        "LIBER XXX AERUM Vel Saecvli Svb Figvra CCCCXVIII
        Being of the Angels of the 30 Aethyrs THE VISION 
        AND THE VOICE With COMMENTARY by THE MASTER THERION;
        Thelema Publiching Company, October 12 1952; p. 23.
      -------------------------------------------------------

Crowley says nothing about why his Word may have changed at 
some point to another Word (I've never seen this variance of 
expression resolved about the 'Master'). apparently he was 
confused about his Word, or knew himself so little as to 
speculate with such matters and yet claim the Office of 
Magus regardless. I would welcome explanation by those who
know more of his life and text.

[I understand how if MAKHASHANAH = 418 and ABRAHADABRA = 418 Crowley
equates the two, but there are hundreds of 418-valued words and not all
of them can be the word of the aeon, and i am still not sure why THELEMA
is in one place called "the word of the Law" and in another place the
word (logos) of the Great Beast who is "the Logos of the AEon" - cat]

it is enough for me to read of his antics and decide of his
paucity of spiritual development and conclude that while he
may have had some insight into the Logos of previous generations
(I see no correllation necessarily between Logoses and aeons
and wonder where the evidence lies) he was bereft of a 
coherent and consistent Logos himself, botching even the
*semblance* of it through utterance of more than one as such.

I have also never seen anyone try to match up these supposed 
aeons with a time-scale and figure out why Crowley or others 
may have begun to settle for a lesser periodicity than zodiacal 
constellation-shifts at Equinox -- ('Equinox of the Gods' 
indeed!) instead choosing a variety of intellectual and human 
expressions and achievements and attempting to hijack millennia
of speculation through a flurry of hand-waving.

[According to conventions agreed upon by Middle Eastern, Indian, and
European astrologers since about 4,000 b.c.e., an "aeon" is 1/12th of a
precession (of the Equinox, for convenience' sake) and it lasts 2,160
years. The next aeon is scheduled to begin around 2160 c.e. (The precise
date and hour can be determined by consulting the trigons of Jupiter
with respect to the placement of the sun.) What siva questions here is
why Crowley, a competent professional astrologer, decided that a new
aeon began in 1904, about 160 years too early. - cat] 

show us something cosmic that indicated that the previous markers
for Aeons (celestial events) actually support this contention.
I'm not talking about puny human conflicts like World Wars (may
Kali be kind in Her wrath in battle), but of planetary wobbling,
the precession of the equinoxes, and the age-old method of
astronomy. else why isn't this just a cobbled-together Grand
Mysticism Aeonics scheme without evidence or necessity? even the
Jehovah's Witnesses can come up with contentions like these (and
have them tested and fall into disrepair and embarrassment). at
least the apocalyptic expression is falsifiable. Aeonics is just
a castle in the clouds without some kind of backing, and further,
disrespectful of countless generations of magician-scientists in
its discard of myth, astronomy, and science.

blessed beast!
______________________________________________________________________
((333) nigris) nagasiva@luckymojo.com 
               http://www.luckymojo.com/nagasiva.html

=============================================================

cat yronwode 

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