Stellar Magic

[rex]

Just been reading the book and listening to the sound track which features the words of Ficino. This may tie-in nicely with the Agrippa thread later.

 

[Nungali]

I'd be interested to hear what you think at the end of the book.

 

I've never used an altar as such (in the vid) but we did long sessions here on "Stella Yoga".

 

I get the Moon 'Gateway' thing ... on a level of 'Hermetic Spheres' but on a stellar level, (yes, I know planets were considered as stars) I dont see why Cancer is the gateway . 'My' star is located in a v.interesting 'busy' part of the sky ( about 3 degrees off the intersection of Ecliptic, Solsticial Colure and Galactic Equator ... also , in this area it is possible for planets to be in either of 4 modern constellations; Gemini, Cancer, Auriga and Orion). We used astrology and other things to locate 'one's star', invocations and meditations, as opposed to altars (and stars as opposed to asterisms), leading up to a rite based on Liber NV and the 'Treasure House of Images', - which I quiet like, especially the last chapter ; "The Unconsciousness of God ... " (I find it fascinating that a Brit General - who, by the way developed the tactic of 'blitzkrieg' and got it rejected, so theNazis picked it up - wrote such writings .... and painted the way he did https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Art+of+J+F+C+Fuller&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=PlWSU9j_DcaHkQXh0YGwBA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1093&bih=528 )

 

 

 

5.

And the infant grew strong; yet its strength was in its weakness; and though to look at it from before was to look upon a man-child, from behind it was a little girl with golden hair. Now, when the child wished to tempt a maid he faced and approached her; and when the child wished to tempt a man she turned her back on him and fled.

4.

But one day the child met, at the self-same hour, Love; and the man, seeing a woman, approached her eagerly, and the woman, seeing a man, fled, so that he might capture her. Thus it came about that the child met the child and wondered, not knowing that the child had lost the child. So it was that they walked side by side.

3.

Then that part of the child that was man loved and lusted for that part of the child that was woman; and each knew not that each was the other, and felt that they were two and yet one, nevertheless one and yet two. And when one said: "Who art thou?" the other answered at the self-same moment: "Who am I?"

2.

Soon becoming perplexed if I were Thou, or if Thou were I, it came about that the I mingled with the Thou, and the Thou with the I, so that six added to ten became sixteen, which is felicity; for it is the interplay of the elements. Four are the elements that make man, and four are the elements that make woman. Thus was the child reborn.

 

http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib963.html

 

http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib11.html

[rex]

Sorry Nungali, I've been meaning to respond to this for a while now; as ever your posts are horizon broadening.

 

Still ploughing through the text, though a cursory glance through shows solid introductory backgrounds to the constellations and their associated mythology quoting ancient sources and linking them to practical workings to overcome the astrological conditioning of birth: the premise being that communication between the stars is not one directional but works both ways. The introduction states this elegantly by quoting the Chaldean Oracles:

 

“Theurgists fall not so as to be ranked among the herd that are in subjection to Fate. The Oracles also tell us: ‘Direct not thy mind to the vast surfaces of the Earth; for the Plant of Truth grows not upon the ground. Nor measure the motions of the Sun, collecting rules, for he is carried by the Eternal Will of the Father, and not for your sake alone. Dismiss (from your mind) the impetuous course of the Moon, for she moves always by the power of necessity. The progression of the Stars was not generated for your sake. The wide aerial flight of birds gives no true knowledge nor the dissection of the entrails of victims; they are all mere toys, the basis of mercenary fraud; flee from these if you would enter the sacred paradise of piety, where Virtue, Wisdom and Equity are assembled.’”

 

The point is succinctly made by W.W. Westcott in his introduction to the Chaldean Oracles:

 

“Although destiny, our destiny, may be ‘written in the Stars’ yet it was the mission of the divine Soul to raise the human Soul above the circle of necessity , and the Oracles give Victory to that Masterly Will, which: ‘Hews the wall with might of magic,

Breaks the palisade in pieces,

Hews to atoms seven pickets . . .

Speaks the Master words of knowledge!’

The means taken to that consummation consisted in the training of the Will and the elevation, of the imagination, a divine power which controls consciousness.”

Source: Payam Nabarz Stellar Magic: A Practical Guide to Performing Rites and Ceremonies to the Moon, Planets, Stars and Constellations

 

The chapter on Draco is interesting as it suggests that Jan Fries seething technique can be used to draw into oneself the energies of the earth and sky dragons.

 

So far I really like this book; particularly the sheer variety of texts quoted and references pointed to together with the practical application of the material.

[Nungali]

yes, its always been a point of ... belief ... fantasy ... whatever ? for me - that of the return of the 'energy, it came here for a 'reason' (unless all this is just haphazard) , or perhaps a process, whether it is

 

Malkuth on the Tree of Life,

 

the ' personna / environment interface (at the bottom of my astro-psychological tree) that feeds the Sun / Moon 'identity' (and here I see a better model of the circulation as 'experience' of the personna in developing within environment provides feedback, which in turn 'rises' up the Tree to 'set' in the higher spheres / outer / transpersonal planets, forming cultural mores and taboos ( or 'spiritual impetus') which 'come down' as 'super-ego' influences that regulate further experience in the persona's socio-cultural environment ( from where the necessity originated in the first place - a nice feedback loop) ... or to put it another way; Maat is the Mother of Necessity ( for a long-lasting wholesome culture and environment) ... here, with the Indigenous, this process and its manifestation in 'Law' holds the utmost focus and necessity - and it worked for at least 40,000 years).

 

On a 'cosmic' level I see it (in artistic analogy) with the Great Wheel(s) of the Tarot ( as a model of Cosmos).

 

Here is an extract of text from one of my Tarot workshops .. I will carve it to pieces and try just to leave in the bits relating to this concept of return of energy ... so it may not make much sense otherwise (and it makes little sense anyway, coming from a geocentric model )

 

As in many things (e.g. astrology and astronomy) it helps to set up a geocentric (or earth centered) model. So we will place the earth in the middle of the circle. Earth, being the product or output of the 3 other elemental forces – fire, water and air, is represented by selecting the 3 major cards or trumps that are attributed to these elements; fire - Aeon, water – Hanged Man and air – The Fool. Place these in a T or Tau shape (to represent earth and base) at the centre.


Lay the selected astrological Trumps around the ‘earth’ (the three Trumps in the centre) in a circle,

Starting at Aries lay out the minor cards on their decans

Next gather the remaining planetary Trumps and spread them out around the centre of elemental Trumps inside the ring of astrological Trumps.

Considering the Court Cards can relate to individuals, I am going to bring the Courts in closer to the earth and spread them (In my imagination, at this stage) just above the surface of the Earth.


Since I have bought the courts into the earth zone I am going to let the Princesses stay on their stations around the North Pole and near the Earth, in this case, if one could view them from below they would still appear to be around the Celestial North Pole. And in a similar way to the G.D. model my other Court Cards will rule segments of latitude in a logical placement, not out in space relating to the Tree of Life but near the Earth’s surface relating to it and its inhabitants.

 

There are only the 4 Aces left and really only one place to put them. To balance I will place my Aces around the South Terrestrial Pole. Each Ace is still sitting upon the throne of a Princess but through the Earth, along its axis – after all, who is to say which way is ‘up’ on a sphere? [Note 6.]


Looking at the energy flow using the model of the earths magnetic field, the energy comes out of the ‘positive’ South Magnetic Pole / Aces, it curves up and around the Earth and is received by the ‘negative’ North Magnetic Pole / Princesses.

Now visualize the energy field flowing ‘up’ around the earth linking and flowing through the cards , and up to the North Pole, through the Earth’s axis and ‘out’ through the South Pole. (For convenience see the magnetic and axial Poles as being so relatively close that they virtually the same area.)

 

*** Some of this energy ( the very centre of the magnetic field output where the lines of force are parallel with the Earth's magnetic axis) could link to the South celestial pole, flow through the constellations and asterisms, depositing 'earth modified' energy and picking up constellational energy to flow to the North celestial pole and down into the north terrestrial pole, Earth's axis, out the South Pole, up around the Earth's surface, into the North terrestrial pole, down through the axis, out the south terrestrial pole to the south celestial pole and so on ...

 

One, is like this flow ( something like a torus with a central loop), another is the lateral rotations of the heavens due to the Earth's rotation on its axis and the other is the rotations of the Solar System

Perhaps it is possible to see these effects and ‘divisions’ in the Earth, - in a fourth dimension – that of time, if one could envision the whole model in it’s full working order of Cosmos and Earth, revolving in harmony. If we turn our ‘machine’ on and let it run.

Then we would have the great revolving wheels of force and motion bisecting each other, moving in different directions, one inside the other ( the ‘convoluted revolution of the forces’ as the G.D. phrases it), the four great divisions of the Celestial Kerubs, the ‘roiling’ force of the courts around the Earth and through its axis, the great rotating ‘eye’ of the Pole and the forces and ‘gift’ of Earth circling out to meet the incoming force and gift of the Cosmos circling in.

” 4: And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. ... And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

 

19: And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

20: Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. “ [Note 9.]

[rex]

Yet again I owe you an apology for the waaay overdue reply Nungali. Been busy of late and while I've continued posting here I've been opting for the low hanging fruit.

I get the Moon 'Gateway' thing ... I dont see why Cancer is the gateway. )

I didn't see this either but Manly Palmer Hall offers an explanation in Lectures on Ancient Philosophy. Porphyry's essay on Homer's Cave treats the account of the cavern as an allegory of the mystery of life and death. The cavern itself is a symbol for the physical/sensible world and the descent of souls into generation. The summer and winter solstices (Cancer and Capricorn respectively) are the gates leading into and out of the cave and generation. Cancer is attributed to the moon, the closet heavenly body to earth. In Orphic theology Cancer is the north gate through which souls descend and Capricorn the south gate through which they ascend.

yes, its always been a point of ... belief ... fantasy ... whatever ? for me - that of the return of the 'energy, it came here for a 'reason' (unless all this is just haphazard)

Within the context of the value/theoretical basis of stellar magic the Orphic passphrase to avoid drinking from the Well of Forgetfulness and to drink from the Lake of Memory is as good as anything I've encountered:

I am a child of Earth and of Starry Heaven;
But my race is of Heaven (alone).

 

Here is an extract of text from one of my Tarot workshops ..

Wonderful! Thanks for this. It took a few reads to finally make some sense of it on an intellectual level and I strongly suspect that actually following the directions will yield even greater benefit. I liked the connection to Ezekiel's Vision.

 

Edit: tpyos

Edited July 3, 2014 by rex