by Marcus Katz
- XVIII -
Such reflected light upon these deeper waters, lost in the dark.
The Moon wades out into the oceans.
Her path but the echo of memory writ upon the waves.
In our bodies her tide turns.
Such mystery, such difference between the surface and the swimming.
Such fear, to tread between the pillars of duality, to open it all.
Such terror, to be rendered by both the dog and the wolf.
Such loss, to be born of habit and to die in nothing.
Yet a deeper mystery, secret upon secret; Her reflection is how we know Her.
Just like ourselves, then.
We are also only here because we are dead to the light that shines upon us.
- XX -
Your arms spell light.
Cast out of the earth of Eden, we rise to the clamour of angels.
The resurrection engine churns and spits us out like a mouth between the rotting teeth of broken tombs.
Fire is upon our tongues; we speak in the language of the reborn.
We go to where we look; those who look up, ascend, those who but look to the dirt, descend.
The Light is Extended beyond Being.
At last the line is levelled, at last the true word spoken in divine determination.
Everything we have made is built again before us in a moment.
Some are shamed, some are settled, and others satisfied.
This is the revelation of sin, to have wasted such time on such matter.
But above all, the banner beckons, the clarion call of time announces both our end and beginning.
- XXI -
A PRAYER FOR PASSAGE
O World.
O Temple.
O Thought.
O Nature.
O Light.
O Service.
O Love.
O All.
O Edge.
O One.
O Nothing.
O Everything.
O Nothing at All.
COMMENTARY
This is merely a list of everything, from the Sephirah of Malkuth up the Tree of Life, including the "Ain Soph Aur" or three states of "nothingness" above the Tree.
It is also a sequence of prayer, rising through the states as meditation or contemplation (or ritual or other ritualised physical activity such as dancing, sex, walking, running, yoga, drumming, etc.) deepens.
- XIX -
SMALL ENOUGH TO BE LOST, BRIGHT ENOUGH TO BE REMEMBERED
In unbearable nothing, an ache, a spark, a remnant of ruin.
It collapses into itself, becomes itself, knows itself as one.
It becomes light, radiance, fire upon the dark.
A sun. A centre. An Illumination.
It grows like a child, races into being like a horse.
It becomes everything as itself, in infinite patterns.
You.
You are one pattern of that light.
Shining so that you forgot for a moment.
You are seen.
- XVII -
And in the night, the first stars are seen.
They trace the heavens with signs and portents.
We look up, are reminded of significance.
Some reach, some cower, some shout and others pray.
Some set their sights by them, and these are they who travel.
Lo, let us journey together.
The twelve tribes of the stellar realm shall meet by sacred stone.
There we dance, there we feast, there we make love and sing.
Above, the stars oversee.
- XV -
Afterwards, after the delight, each goes to their own silence. And in that silence, a voice. A whisper like the hiss of a torch burning upside-down. We write:
What beast lies?
What shadow is cast by the bright light untold?
What lust is sated in the temples of midnight?
What fear comes in love?
What does this pain serve us?
Where do we go when we watch ourselves?
What do we do to let ourselves surrender to our nature?
What thoughts cannot be controlled?
What is this that stands before me?
What is the World if not but for its taking?
And too late, we realise Satan is not our Accuser, he is our Questioner.
- XIII -
And Death.
A dark sail on the horizon, a ship which takes us home.
A father slain in battle, protecting his tribe.
A mother killed in birth, giving life to her child.
A great abyss, where death lives not.
A lover of god lost in exemption, discovering everything.
A magician of power, having given his soul.
A teller of truth slain by many, cleaving to that truth.
A veil, parted by the final breath upon the cross.
A rose blooming, giving honey to the bees.
A thought taking shape, impure in its matter.
A dream, gone upon awakening.
A piece of coal, warming the diamond-cutter.
It is true, most certain, then.
Death is merely the Alchemy of Life.
- XI -
After the Dark Hours,
The Things we Have Done,
We at last arrive at the
Hall of Double Truth.
Above, a Wheel is Shattered
But We are Safe at the Axis.
Ahead,
She Awaits
Who is the Measure of the Gods.
And before we even open our mouth
To Lie,
Our Heart is Torn Out and Weighed.
The Actions of our Life are but
A Feather in the Torrent of Her Truth.
It is the One Most Important Thing.
It is What Your Father Never Said.
It is What Your Mother Cried About in Silence.
It is What you Lost to Love.
It is What You Regret Fighting For.
It is a Negative Confession.
It is the Law of Reality.
It is Everything You Thought.
And Nothing You Imagined.
It is a Coming Forth by Day.
Endure! Beyond those Holy Balances
The Pillars of Dawn Await Us.
COMMENTARY
We are returning now back along the odd numbers, so we come to Justice. In the narrative of the even numbers, we have the Wheel (10) before Justice (11), so we note the Wheel on the way back, as we are at the centre point of the series - Justice (11) & Wheel (10) are both pivot points of a different nature, like two sides of the same coin. In effect, one is the image of fate/destiny and the other fortune/luck.
The 10 lines commencing "it is the one most important thing" relate to the Sephiroth in a context of making a negative confession.
- IX -
The Man Looked Down from on High,
At the Glades, the Temples and Ruins
Of his Way.
His Eyes were as Light.
Ancient as All the Seen Days,
Mystery of all those Days Unknown.
His Staff was carved with the Letters
Of Experience;
An Ox, the manner of his journey;
A House, made empty for the Guest;
A Camel, self-unto-self in the Wastelands of the Abyss;
A Door, through which Creation comes;
A Window, through which Light shines upon that Creation;
A Nail, to crucify us on the cross of Existence;
A Sword, to choose on which side we will fight;
A Fence, to protect our Soul;
A Snake, to question all that is above the ground;
A Fist, holding the seed of life;
A Palm, turning fate into destiny;
A Goad, punishment in the Temple of Truth;
Water, in which we wash before the covenant;
A Seed, death
not yet realised;
A Prop, his own staff held by an Angel;
An Eye, to see the Beast;
A Mouth, to raise Towers into Heaven;
A Hook, to take us out of the World, One by One;
The Back of a Head, a monkey made of flesh and dreams;
A Head itself, lit by its own illumination;
A Tooth, a tongue of fire to taste wisdom;
and
A Cross, the signature of God, hidden in All.
The Man took his Staff,
He took his Light,
And made his Way
To write a New Story.
COMMENTARY
In this, the Hermit, we reflect upon the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and the Paths of the Tree of Life, whom the Hermit has become as the "Ancient of Days". He is no longer following a way, he is the way.
- VII -
Returning from the City of Pyramids
Across the Great Divide
The Prince of Heavens Descends.
His Belt is the Stars of Heaven,
Upon his Shoulders the Sun and Moon.
He Bears the Soul of All.
Empty in armour,
Elect of those who bear the Grail,
To Return to His Estate;
Pour Innocent Blood upon Dead Earth.
Bright Glory of Winged Chariot!
Strange Creatures, Once a Man,
Once a Woman,
Made Mysterious to each in their division,
Draw his reign close.
- V -
And in the Churches built of Bones,
The Temples built of Flesh,
The Halls echo in strange Lament
To Gods once Lost.
Now comes the Holy War,
The Black Glass Prison,
A Game of Blood Beads,
Belief upon Belief like the Walls
Of the Bull's Labyrinth.
The Prince
Escapes.
The Man of the Red Robe
Marches to Claim his Throne.
It is Revealed,
All Faith Shattered,
The Death of Divinity;
The Holy Living Creatures Fall from the Heaven,
The Bright Wheels collapse into Themselves,
The Thrones Pass into Shadow,
They who are Brilliant are Exiled,
Fiery Serpents Kiss the Ground and Eat of Dust,
The King is Killed by his people,
God Dies on a Cross,
The Sons of God, We are Scattered,
Angel Feathers soaked in blood,
And Flames of Cold Fire consume All that Remains.
The Last Priest looks up
To a White Sun in an Empty Sky.
COMMENTARY
The Hierophant corresponds to Taurus, the Bull, and is both "revealer of the sacred" and the prison of belief itself. As we now return back to the start of our story, we discover why in the first few sections there had been a war; it is always a war of belief.
The verse of 10 lines here corresponds to the Sephiroth and the ten elements of the "Body of God" as described by Crowley in 777.
- III -
Nature is Her Own Rebellion.
Life Teaches us to Live,
To Each Our Own Garden Given.
The Wheat Fields Flourish,
Waterfalls Innumerable,
The Dawn Star, the Day Star,
The Night Star Resume Their Watch.
The Queen of Heaven
Rules the Earth.
All is One.
Then The Other, a Second.
In Relationship a Third.
Falling Between the Ideal and the Actual.
Comes Matter.
Then Motion in Time, the Living Likeness of Eternity.
Defined into Self by What is Above.
It Discovers Its Bliss.
It Becomes a Thought.
And Is Realised as Being
In the Fulfilment of All.
And, Forgetting, the Prince Returns
To the Distant Mountain.
COMMENTARY
As we reach the penultimate card of the Empress, corresponding to Venus, the only symbol to cover the whole Tree, we look at the concept of Unity in its ten divisions through what Crowley calls the Naples Arrangement. It is the bedrock of numerology.
- I -
The first Magician looked up
To the Sky.
The Bells had Fallen Silent
Heaven Emptied of its Flock.
He Spoke.
He Told the Story of Everything,
How It Came to Be,
How it was Told,
How it Came to End.
How, Most of All,
How it was Below,
As it was Above.
And Above,
How it was as Below.
He Stood at the Altar
Of the Universe
And His Voice
Brought Forth Wonders
With Words, Just Words.
What it is like to Live;
What it is like to Dream;
What it is like to Think;
What it is like to Feel;
What it is like to Wake Up;
What it is like to Love;
What it is like to Fear;
What it is like to Die;
What it is like to be Reborn;
What it is like to be God.
And then he set forth,
To Sweep the Old Temples Clean.
- FINIS -
THE FIG TREE UPON THE MOUNTAIN OF MYRRH
Isis stays the hand of Horus, and bids him plant a tree.
Ra and Osiris unite upon the mountain of dawn.
Set and Typhon unite in the garden of spices.
All that is withered in the Kingdom is not wasted.
This blood will rose-bloom in the valley of thorns.
The King shall stand between Horus and Set.
He shall take his place in the Double Hall of Maat.
Great Mother, Bless the Fifty Gates.
Eternal Father, Erect the Pillar.
And
Atop the Mountain, the fig tree blooms.
COMMENTARY
Crowley includes in his list of correspondences, 777, ‘The Mountain of Myrrh’ (HR HMVR) which he provides as having the identical value of 456 to the word for ‘Fig’ or ‘Fig Tree’, (ThANH).
In this, at least and at last, he agrees with A. E. Waite, who wrote “The greatest mystery of all is the blossoming of the withered fig-tree”.[8] Although Waite also suggested this symbolism was vel infra cingulum.[9]
This final chapter is inspired by the Hours of Isis (1928), by Evelyn Eaton (1902 - 1983).
NOTE
“Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.” [Song of Solomon 4:6]
- EPILOGUE -
"'What are your fees?' inquired Guyal cautiously.
'I respond to three questions,' stated the augur. 'For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue.'
- The Dying Earth, Jack Vance (1950).
Those interested in the authentic spiritual path of the Western Esoteric Initiatory System are invited to enter the Crucible.
www.marcuskatz.net
* * *
[1] First published in Nurse Truelove’s Book for Children (1755).
[2] A. E. Waite, Pictorial Key to the Tarot.
[3] Originally published in Liber Aculeus, ‘The Book of the Thorn’, a handbook for students of the Order of the Everlasting Day.
[4] Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth, p. 89.
[5] Ibid.
[6] The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, with An English Translation by John C. Rolfe. London 1927, Book I, section XIV.
&nb
sp; [7] Whilst not everything has a significant meaning, everything remains connected.
[8] A. E. Waite, Steps to the Crown (1906).
[9] A. E. Waite, The Secret Doctrine in Israel (1913), p. 96.
