Predicting The Present

by Daniel Kelley

  The Aeon is where the river meets the sea…

  Just as the planets of our solar system depend upon their relationship to the sun, and the sun depends for its existence upon the universe of which it’s a small part, so too must the old worldview yield to new data. The new uses as its scaffolding the discoveries of older paradigms. A recalcitrant paradigm succeeds only in crippling further discoveries. In the card, this progression of paradigms is symbolized by the child, parent, and grandparent, indwelling the flame-like tips of the Hebrew letter Shin, to which this card is attributed.

  On a personal level, The Aeon often shows up when you’re about to face “the moment of truth” in your life. But to fully appreciate how this works, your mind must be freed from the conception of Time as a straight line. On the contrary, you must begin to see how time moves in a spiral of repeating patterns which adds novel “emergents” as the trajectory unfolds. Kabbalistically speaking, this spiral unfolds in the leap from the fourth Sephira, Chesed---time as memory, tradition, heredity---to the Supernal Triad: the eternal Now. It’s like a dance. When dancing, there’s a beginning and an end, but the patterns are what define it. Furthermore, when dancing, you’re completely absorbed in the present moment. In other words, the Timeless spiral is a jump from the Tree of Knowledge into the Tree of Life. Here, in The Aeon, we’re doing just that.

  Let’s begin by asking a question:

  Does space define objects or do objects define space?

  The answer is: They both define each other. Unfortunately, the mind can’t perceive this through the lens of logical thought for the very act of perceiving creates the split.

  Says Hadith:

  "Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite and unknown; and all their words are skew-wise."

  -Book of the Law, Ch.2, V.32

  This “infinite and unknown factor" is The Knower as such, for pure subjectivity can’t be known. The god Hadith (Eros) sums it up thusly:

  "Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not; for why? Because thou wast the knower, and me."

  -Book of the Law, Ch.2, V.12-13

  The goddess Nuith (Agape), the Thelemic representative of infinity, also alludes to this rending asunder of The Universe so that consciousness can see itself, when she says:

  "Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men! Be thou Hadith, my secret center, my heart and my tongue!"

  -Book of the Law, Ch.1, V.5-6

  NOTE: (In The Aeon card, the goddess Nuith is giving birth to her own mate, called Hadith. Nuith is herein depicted as a blue, overarching banner, for she’s a sky goddess. Hadith, on the other hand, is a sun-god, and is herein symbolized by the winged solar disk. This attempt by God to see Him/Herself is a universal theme, and we see examples of it in many of the world’s Wisdom Traditions. Keep in mind that these deities necessarily overlap, for they’re ultimately one. In the "Book of the Law", the entity called Aiwass symbolizes the human attempt to express the inexpressible. Perhaps that’s why the name "Aiwass" is perilously close to that of "Ehwaz," the rune of Progress; but I digress.)

  When experienced from a Nondual perspective, Hadith represents the indivisible expression of the Unity of Horus. His wings no longer fly into flights of fantasy but into the necessary, albeit illusory, expression of True Will (Chiah/Eros). This undoubtedly is why Crowley moved The Star from its original position on the path of Tzaddi to its current position on the path of Heh, which connects Chokmah/Chiah to Tiphareth/Ruach; for Chokmah is both the Sephira associated with Hadith and the one from which The Star descends.

  Now, the Unity of Horus is not an experience per se, and the only way to speak of Him is to employ terms that are by their very nature paradoxical:

  "An experience that is not an experience." Or, "That which is and yet is not."

  But such is the limitation of language that to speak of something beyond expression is to profane the experience itself.

  In the "Book of the Law", Ch.2, V.2, Hadith says of himself:

  "Come! all ye and learn the secret that hath not yet been revealed. I, Hadith, am the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not extended, and Khabs is the name of my House."

  In other words Hadith, "in extension," (i.e., expressed) would be a manifestation of Nuith, so we can define True Will as the "expression of the inexpressible" that ultimately flows from, and into, the infinite Space called Nuith---it’s both a movement in and of infinity.

  In The Aeon, the god Horus appears as the embodiment of "divide and conquer", but he also represents the formula for mending this rift; he’s that which "divides for love's sake, for the chance of union." *("Book of the Law", Ch.1, V.29) In other words, Nuith and Hadith represent Ontology, the cosmos creating consciousness in order to experience itself creating, giving birth to many things of which Horus (Epistemology) is but one example. Quantum Physics---specifically The Uncertainty Principle---states that the total universe, including oneself, can’t be experienced as an object for they’re one and the same; the knower (Hadith) is the known (Nuith).

  To fully grasp the essence of The Aeon card, let’s explore the so-called "states of absorption" described in many Eastern texts. These states of absorption, called Jhana, have as their aim the voluntary suppression of bodily and mental activity, resulting in a consciousness without content. Although Jhana most definitely marks a considerable attainment, it’s also a limitation, for it suggests a holding back---a seed refusing to become a flower:

  “The word of sin is restriction. O man! Refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.”

  -Book of the Law, Ch 1:39

  Although it’s honored in many meditative disciplines as a wonderful ability to have, it’s generally accepted that the aspirant who chooses to stay there has worked the ultimate blasphemy. In Zen Buddhism such persons are called, "dead-void-heretics."

  In Western Hermeticism, the "non-experience" of Jhana earns the Adept the title of "Babe in the Egg." In ancient Egypt, the hieroglyph called “Geb” was represented as an egg. So we can define this "Babe in the Egg"---Harpocrates the Witness, Horus the Child and god of Silence---as a consciousness that dwells within the realm of Time (Horus below the Abyss), and yet has access to the Unity of Horus (above the Abyss). We first encountered this witnessing Self in The Priestess card. The Priestess is the cross-sum of The Aeon (20=2+0=2). In The Priestess, a card occupying the path of Gimel, which ascends to The Dark Night of the Soul, we were given our first glimpse of what awaits us beyond that Abyss. Be that as it may, we were still encumbered by a horrendous limitation.

  Says Hadith:

  "There is great danger in me; for who doth not understand these runes shall make a great miss. He shall fall down into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs of Reason."

  -Book of the Law, Ch.2, V.27

  What does this mean?

  Reason is the very essence of duality. Its entire approach is one of subject in here studying the object out there. We’re only given glimpses in The Priestess of what lies above the Abyss; we don’t grasp the whole. Even though the whole is there in its entirety, we don’t see it yet. Why don’t we recognize it? We don’t see it because it can’t be turned into an object!

  Crowley says,

  "Manifestation implies illusion."

  But to put it more bluntly: Observation creates disturbance. The Priestess, being pseudo-subjectivity, is still part of duality; for what’s a subject without an object? The Priestess herself, that is, the veiled woman sitting upon the throne of light, isn’t part of duality for she’s really Nuith, the Queen of Nonduality. She’s only present in the card as a beacon of light, meant to guide the Adept out of the dualistic dream of self-contraction. It’s only the screen of light before her that suggests duality, for it’s at once a mirror and a threshold, as we’ve already discussed.

  Now, if the
subject can be turned into an object it only follows that it too belongs to the realm of Time. So when the screen of thought that veils The Priestess has been lifted, the Adept finds herself in the position of Babe in the Egg, identified with Horus the Child, also called Harpocrates. She experiences "mind-stuff" spontaneously arising and passing within the shrine of her consciousness (Babe in the Egg). When her passive awareness becomes actively vigilant it burns up mind-stuff by the sheer "force and fire" of its presence, and the aspirant finds herself sitting upon the throne of The Priestess as Horus the Elder, called Ra Hoor Khuith.

  Now, if this basilisk-gaze of awareness is carried out to completion and turns inward, we enter into the abode of Hadith, the Void, which is one with the goddess of infinite space, Nuith. In short, Space and Time arise together and die into each other in a passionate embrace. Lift the veil from the face of The Priestess and see The Aeon revealed!

  With The Aeon revealed you become the Child: pure, virgin---Harpocrates. Surrender this virginity---an act found in the Lust card and is a mystery of the Graal---and you’d see The Universe card revealed. This is a mystery of The Devil card (Pan), and The Universe is merely the apple of the Devil's Eye! This is the psychological correlate of what, in Crowley's terminology, is called the arising of the Aeon of Maat or Hrumachis.

  NOTE: (Harpocrates=Omniscience (all-knowing); Ra Hoor Khuith=Omnipotence (all-powerful); Hadith=Omnipresence (all-pervading); and Nuith=Omni (the All)

  I personally believe that Aleister Crowley was thinking of Rene Descartes when he conceived the artistic design of The Aeon card. Descartes believed the Pineal Gland to be the seat of the human soul. The Aeon card does look almost exactly like the physiological set up of the Pineal Gland, I must admit.

  The Pineal Gland, although situated in the center of the brain, isn’t composed of brain tissue. Rather, it’s formed from the tissues of the roof of the mouth. The roof of the mouth has an enclave---it’s bell-shaped---much like the symbol of zodiacal Libra, also located at the bottom of the card. If you slide your tongue down from the roof of your mouth to the bony protrusions called teeth, you’ll feel exactly that to which this card is attributed, i.e., the Hebrew letter Shin, meaning “tooth”.

  The primary chemicals manufactured by the Pineal Gland are Melatonin (the chemical of darkness) Serotonin, (the chemical of light), and DMT (purportedly the chemical of consciousness itself). I call these the biochemical messengers of Nuith and Hadith. DMT (di-methyl-tryptamine) is an extremely psychoactive substance and can be found in the infamous "shaman's tea," called Ayahuasca. The tea's psychedelic compounds are reinforced by the beta-carbolines found in other plants contained in the brew. These interfere with the metabolic breakdown of DMT, that is, they inhibit the digestive enzymes that would destroy DMT before it reaches the bloodstream. Also, DMT is a chemical cousin of Serotonin and is made endogenously (within the body) as a brain-friendly neurotransmitter (the brain readily allows the chemical to pass the blood/brain barrier for reasons currently unknown.)

  On the Tree of Life, the Pineal Gland is associated with the second Sephira, called Chokmah. In Thelemic nomenclature, Chokmah is associated with Hadith, and Ra Hoor Khuith with the first Sephira, called Kether. The "third eye" more accurately corresponds anatomically to the Pituitary Gland, not the Pineal Gland. Understandably, the pituitary's metaphysical relationship with the pineal is hard to explain, but I will give it the ole' college try.

  Basically, when the Crown (soul) expresses itself through the senses (especially optically), it uses its "third-eye" to do it. Whether or not the Pituitary Gland plays a role in this function is debatable, but it certainly feels as though it does. In corollary, we can say that when the Crown (Kether) wishes to manifest corporeally it uses the Pineal Gland as a medium, just as when the spiritually imbued Pineal Gland extends itself spiritually or psychedelically, it does so using the mystical-chemical medium known as DMT. I posit that the "third eye" opens when the energy that typically moves into the emotive-thought process becomes placid and turns its electro-chemical pilgrimage away from mechanical thought toward the inside of the Pineal Gland. For this to happen, you must focus on that space where thought is born, that is, where energy becomes reflection, and introspection will reveal that this space is between the two physical eyes. When the Pineal Gland becomes psychedelically active, that is to say, when it releases psychedelic amounts of DMT as a result of the suspension of the Ego-barrier, it assists in the opening of the Kether, which is in a state of continuous union with Nuith, the physical analogy of whom is found in the unlimited potentialities of the human brain. In other words, the "third eye" is the root of the "one-thousand petal lotus" of Kether. This Union gives birth to the enlightened consciousness of Ra Hoor Khuith.

  In his thought-provoking book, "DMT---The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences", Dr. Rick Strassman offers a compelling argument to support his thesis regarding what he believes to be a biological source of human spirituality. To be clear, and contrary to what seems to be popular belief, Dr. Strassman is not proposing a chemical source for the soul, but rather, for spiritual experience; not the experiencer, just experience. He postulates that endogenous DMT may act as a vehicle for human consciousness, and, in acute states of stress, that this "spirit molecule" may actually mediate many of the naturally occurring psychedelic states associated with spiritual opening. His well-documented, testable laboratory findings, gleaned from innumerable sessions with volunteers, provide convincing data in support of the spiritual role of the human Pineal Gland. Rick posits that this gland may be a sort of "spiritual lightening rod" for the soul, a theory that, for him, gained even more theoretical power after his discovery in “The Bardo Thodol”, erroneously called “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”.

  This Tibetan classic tells us that it takes forty-nine days for the soul to reincarnate into another body. Strangely, and in mind-boggling synchronicity, it takes forty-nine days after conception for the human Pineal Gland to appear---a moment that also determines gender. In The Aeon card, we see Horus in his dual manifestation as Heru Ra Ha, that is, Horus in his potentially active and passive forms. Keeping in mind that the appearance of the Pineal Gland heralds the confirmation of gender, we recognize in Ra Hoor Khuith---who’s easily a Thelemic interpretation of the goat-headed, Androgyne god of the Knights Templar, called Baphomet---the sexual ambivalence of the human embryo before the appearance of the "spirit gland." If the fetus is male, the female element recedes into the unconscious as the Jungian Anima---the female aspect of the man. If, however, the fetus is female, the opposite happens, and the male aspect of the female, called the Animus, recedes into the unconscious.

  I believe that one of the greatest discoveries in postmodern times is going to have something to do with the "spirit gland." I would, in fact, dare to call it the biological equivalent of the Egyptian "Stele of Revealing", sacred to Thelemites the world over. On this old relic, the hieroglyphs echo hauntingly the issues of the birth trauma, reincarnation, and psychedelic experience. Meditate on the following translations of some of the hieroglyphs:

  "Above the gemmed azure is the naked splendor of Nuith. She bends in ecstasy to kiss the secret ardors of Hadith. The winged globe, the starry blue are mine, oh Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.”

  Consider also the following passage in relation to a flood of endogenous DMT:

  "Appear on the throne of Ra! Open the ways of the Khu! Lighten the ways of the Ka! The ways of the Khabs run through to stir or still me! Aum! Let it fill me!"

  And lastly, but most revealing:

  "By Bes-na Maut my breast I beat; by wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell. Show thy star-splendor, O Nuith! Bid me within thine House to dwell, O winged snake of light, Hadith! Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuith!"

  Returning to the issue of Time, we recognize in The Aeon that storehouse of perpetual adaptability, called Evolution. It’s important to remember that Evolution doesn’t unfold in a linear fashion, but ra
ther, is the accumulated result of a vast concourse of forces occurring in tandem. All of the hopes, fears, technological advances, political movements, the wars; they all contribute to the great tsunami of Evolution. But man typically perceives this evolutionary tidal wave as proceeding in a more or less linear fashion from past to present to future, and he erroneously extends this illusion into his psychological world. This creates an illusory split between himself and everything he perceives. Of course, conceptual reasoning is appropriate when dealing with abstractions, but from the standpoint of the Timeless nothing could be more detrimental to understanding.

  I leave you with these words of Ananda Coomarswamy: