HuangDiNeiJing Posted January 4, 2019 Hello! I have a question regarding the Dragon and the Tiger. The Azure-Wood-Dragon of the East and the White-Metal-Tiger of the West are associated with the LEFT and the RIGHT of the body, respectively. However, In the same way that Li/Fire is on the "left side" of the Preheaven Bagua and Kan/Water is on the "right", I wonder is there is intentional hermetic sealing of the information encoded in these diagrams.* *Grimoires and occult literature is notoriously loaded with purposeful misinformation. NOTE the intentional switching of the Swords and Wands elemental association of the Tarot by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century. This was to test initiates to see if they know the true association, rather than just taking it for granted. If you think about it - Swords would obviously correspond to Fire and Wands obviously to Air, rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, through the remainder of the 20th and into the 21st centuries we have fallen for the HOTGD's trick. It has occurred to me that the mirror is a recurrent motif in Daoist alchemy (The "Mirror for Compounding the Medicine", etc.). Could it be - as I believe - that we are not to read the Bagua as "facing" away from us, but "facing" towards us? Putting Li on our RIGHT sides and Kan on our LEFT? Yes, the Dragon constellation is in the East and the Tiger in the West. But what does this explicitly have to do with the body? The East (Dragon) is on your LEFT only if you are FACING SOUTH. If you are facing NORTH then the Dragon is on your RIGHT. The Dragon being Yang, I feel, should correspond with the RIGHT and not with the LEFT. We are used to North/South and Heaven/Earth being flipped in our alchemical cosmology... why not Left and Right? All this was spurred on by trying to find a banishing ritual that roughly matches the HOTGD's Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. In my searching I came across this: https://freakassesoterica.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/taoist-banishing-ritual/ While I found this compelling, I also can't help but think for myself. I looked in Benebell Wen's Tao of Craft for an answer and it seems to lack left/right correspondences. Looking forward to your thoughts!! (P.S. This is my first post here. Go easy on me. ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted January 5, 2019 4 hours ago, HuangDiNeiJing said: Hello! I have a question regarding the Dragon and the Tiger. The Azure-Wood-Dragon of the East and the White-Metal-Tiger of the West are associated with the LEFT and the RIGHT of the body, respectively. However, In the same way that Li/Fire is on the "left side" of the Preheaven Bagua and Kan/Water is on the "right", I wonder is there is intentional hermetic sealing of the information encoded in these diagrams.* *Grimoires and occult literature is notoriously loaded with purposeful misinformation. NOTE the intentional switching of the Swords and Wands elemental association of the Tarot by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century. This was to test initiates to see if they know the true association, rather than just taking it for granted. If you think about it - Swords would obviously correspond to Fire and Wands obviously to Air, rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, through the remainder of the 20th and into the 21st centuries we have fallen for the HOTGD's trick. 'If you think about it' and 'obviously' aren't really explanations though are they ? What conclusions did you come to and how to formulate your idea about this ? Wand is the tool of will and evocation , it certainly relates to fire and 'spirit'. Going on Tarot suits they magically represent the elements. So air is actually the dagger. A sword is a planetary weapon relating to Mars, along with the spear and drum . A dagger or sword should be used for evocation , and hence more related to the 'mind' , hence air . Many do not realise how the original material influenced these associations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element Then , some who started working out correspondences to suits in tarot used this and other concepts pop in hermeticism (via the '4-fold worlds' idea from Kabbalah ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Worlds The confusion (putting air as the first element instead of fire ) comes from a confusion about ' spirit / pneuma / air ' but this comes from the idea of breath = life ; ' the animating spirit' ... a higher type of 'air' not 'elemental air' ... which should be , like 'mind' 3rd in the hierarchy of the 4 parts of the psyche - just as mind should not be at the top of the psyche. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneuma I think I recently made ( yet another ) a post around here (TBs ) somewhere on the importance of this elemental hierarchy in our psyches. Although it might make little difference for the average reader in the realm of predictive tarot . Quote It has occurred to me that the mirror is a recurrent motif in Daoist alchemy (The "Mirror for Compounding the Medicine", etc.). Could it be - as I believe - that we are not to read the Bagua as "facing" away from us, but "facing" towards us? Putting Li on our RIGHT sides and Kan on our LEFT? yes, some get confused by this as well in the GD system when considering the Tree of Life projected on to the body While others have a concept of allocation as they 'look at ' the Tree. Quote Yes, the Dragon constellation is in the East and the Tiger in the West. But what does this explicitly have to do with the body? The East (Dragon) is on your LEFT only if you are FACING SOUTH. If you are facing NORTH then the Dragon is on your RIGHT. The Dragon being Yang, I feel, should correspond with the RIGHT and not with the LEFT. We are used to North/South and Heaven/Earth being flipped in our alchemical cosmology... why not Left and Right? Try working all this out in the southern hemisphere ! Many a time I have had some astrologer go at one of my 'southern hemisphere charts' Bias is extreme ! Have a look at the GD attribution of 'Tarot' to the world (Earths topography ) ... its all in the north and the south is empty ... what an imbalanced system ! The reason ? It says in their own text that it is not shown due to the lack of spiritual development in the southern hemisphere ! Really ? What Victorian ignorance . been happening down here for 60,000 years , right up to the present peeps down here (some Wiccans) where still doing a north hemisphere / elemental / seasonal circle set up. Some just switch NS and put fire in the north (path of the Sun ). Some switch both and some say that is wrong. But what they have not realised is one system is based on local environment and one on cosmic ( eg the elements of the fixed signs , in the heavens). Some have tried to justify 'Kabbalistic directions' .... mhe . These seem based on the '4'winds' , and if you think about it the 'Kabbalistic homeland ' has cool moist (water) winds coming in from the west , Sun in the north, etc . So it seems a local environment attribution, for them. Queen witchypoo here thought my circle attributions where nuts and she declared she could NOT work in that circle, it was all wrong. Asking for my reasons I said ; " Water is in the east as a few Km that way is the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean, Sun traverses the northern sky, so fore, to the west is the biggest and most ancient land mass island in the world, so earth, and we all know about the strong southerly winds that blow here." ..... Nope. She countered with, " What if your circle is down by the river bank? " "Then I put water in west as the 'power of the river' is right there . t all depends on the level of your working; loacal environment on a small scale, Your position on the earth, the earth's position in the cosmos, etc . All to much for her, she covered my (permanent in place ) elemental alters with her cloths and set them up the way she thought was 'true' .... but she a witch, not a magician, even so, I would have thought a witch would understand such local natural phenomena ? So a little study reveals flaws and mistakes, more study reveals maybe they where not flaws and mistakes, and more study and a lot of practice and learning reveals different methods for different situations . Some times its right, sometimes its wrong and ... First there is a mountain , then there is no mountain, then there is . Or, as is said (nowadays ) in Anthropology ( looking at and now giving more validity to indigenous beliefs and perceptions) there is the real , the really real ..... and the really really real. Quote All this was spurred on by trying to find a banishing ritual that roughly matches the HOTGD's Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. In my searching I came across this: https://freakassesoterica.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/taoist-banishing-ritual/ While I found this compelling, I also can't help but think for myself. I looked in Benebell Wen's Tao of Craft for an answer and it seems to lack left/right correspondences. Sorry .... an 'answer' to what ? Are you familiar with http://www.hermetics.org/Rose-Cross.html or https://hermetic.com/sabazius/starruby_rit Maybe they are more suitable ? What exactly did you find amiss in the GD LBRP ? Quote Looking forward to your thoughts!! (P.S. This is my first post here. Go easy on me. ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zhongyongdaoist Posted January 5, 2019 16 hours ago, HuangDiNeiJing said: Hello! I have a question regarding the Dragon and the Tiger. The Azure-Wood-Dragon of the East and the White-Metal-Tiger of the West are associated with the LEFT and the RIGHT of the body, respectively. However, In the same way that Li/Fire is on the "left side" of the Preheaven Bagua and Kan/Water is on the "right", I wonder is there is intentional hermetic sealing of the information encoded in these diagrams.* *Grimoires and occult literature is notoriously loaded with purposeful misinformation. NOTE the intentional switching of the Swords and Wands elemental association of the Tarot by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century. This was to test initiates to see if they know the true association, rather than just taking it for granted. If you think about it - Swords would obviously correspond to Fire and Wands obviously to Air, rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, through the remainder of the 20th and into the 21st centuries we have fallen for the HOTGD's trick. It has occurred to me that the mirror is a recurrent motif in Daoist alchemy (The "Mirror for Compounding the Medicine", etc.). Could it be - as I believe - that we are not to read the Bagua as "facing" away from us, but "facing" towards us? Putting Li on our RIGHT sides and Kan on our LEFT? Yes, the Dragon constellation is in the East and the Tiger in the West. But what does this explicitly have to do with the body? The East (Dragon) is on your LEFT only if you are FACING SOUTH. If you are facing NORTH then the Dragon is on your RIGHT. The Dragon being Yang, I feel, should correspond with the RIGHT and not with the LEFT. We are used to North/South and Heaven/Earth being flipped in our alchemical cosmology... why not Left and Right? All this was spurred on by trying to find a banishing ritual that roughly matches the HOTGD's Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. In my searching I came across this: https://freakassesoterica.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/taoist-banishing-ritual/ While I found this compelling, I also can't help but think for myself. I looked in Benebell Wen's Tao of Craft for an answer and it seems to lack left/right correspondences. Looking forward to your thoughts!! (P.S. This is my first post here. Go easy on me. ) I have many posts on Dao Bums which deal with this type of thing both Chinese and Western, here is one of them: On 4/6/2018 at 5:43 AM, Zhongyongdaoist said: The basis of left and right in Daoism is found in the Loshu square: East South West East North West The first thing that you need to realize about the above square is that direction wise the position of 'one" is North, thus "nine" is South, "three" is East and "Seven" is West. The Left and Right here is derived from the orientation of someone sitting in the North at "one" "and facing south toward "nine", thus East corresponds to left and West to right. This magic square is considered to be the cosmic pattern of the Earth, and is used everywhere from Feng Shui to the floor plan of Daoist Temples. The North is considered to be the direction of the sacred, and with "one", the origin of all, in the North, thus in the North is where the Cosmogenic Gods of Daoism are seated in Temples, facing South, their left sides toward the Eastern, Yang side of the Temple and their Right sides on the Western, Yin side of the Temple. There are a lot of other attributes to directions that add to this, but this is the basic pattern, and I don't have time for fuller discussion. I hope this is helpful. ZYD I am very busy right now, but I will try to have a fuller discussion at some point. ZYD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HuangDiNeiJing Posted January 5, 2019 18 hours ago, Nungali said: 'If you think about it' and 'obviously' aren't really explanations though are they ? What conclusions did you come to and how to formulate your idea about this ? I tend to be of the mind that speculative metaphysics is a valid and fruitful process - and that our rational intuitions about nature can guide us to the truth. That nature is "carved at it's joints", etc. My conclusions are, as I said, that the Yang side should perhaps be on the right rather than the left. In Western esoterica the Solar side is the right. There seems to be a discrepancy there that I was trying to reconcile by invoking the concept of the mirror in regards to the Bagua, etc. 7 hours ago, Zhongyongdaoist said: The first thing that you need to realize about the above square is that direction wise the position of 'one" is North, thus "nine" is South, "three" is East and "Seven" is West. The Left and Right here is derived from the orientation of someone sitting in the North at "one" "and facing south toward "nine", thus East corresponds to left and West to right. This magic square is considered to be the cosmic pattern of the Earth, and is used everywhere from Feng Shui to the floor plan of Daoist Temples. The North is considered to be the direction of the sacred, and with "one", the origin of all, in the North, thus in the North is where the Cosmogenic Gods of Daoism are seated in Temples, facing South, their left sides toward the Eastern, Yang side of the Temple and their Right sides on the Western, Yin side of the Temple. There are a lot of other attributes to directions that add to this, but this is the basic pattern, and I don't have time for fuller discussion. Very interesting! So while the GODS are facing South, WE are facing North. The East is on THEIR left side and the East is on OUR right side? This would reconcile this difference, UNLESS we are performing the alchemical reversal and modeling ourselves on the Gods - which I am sympathetic to as a magician and a Westerner (Genesis 1:27). The 1=Yin=Water=Ren Mai being on the front (and vice versa) makes sense from a Chinese medicine perspective. The front side is the yin side, the back side is yang. Why then... do we FACE the North but flip the associations for East and West when it comes to our right and left limbs? Do you understand my confusion? Is this given an explicit reason in the Daoist literature that you're aware of? It's almost as though I detect some purposeful occult misinformation. Or perhaps that's just my conspiratorial nature. Perhaps the alchemical trick is that it doesn't matter. Perhaps the alchemist realizes, in uniting Tiger and Dragon, that left and right are the same. Further thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted January 5, 2019 1 hour ago, HuangDiNeiJing said: I tend to be of the mind that speculative metaphysics is a valid and fruitful process - and that our rational intuitions about nature can guide us to the truth. That nature is "carved at it's joints", etc. My conclusions are, as I said, that the Yang side should perhaps be on the right rather than the left. In Western esoterica the Solar side is the right. There seems to be a discrepancy there that I was trying to reconcile by invoking the concept of the mirror in regards to the Bagua, etc. My question was about your statement regarding the tarot suit order and its elemental attributions Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HuangDiNeiJing Posted January 6, 2019 3 hours ago, Nungali said: My question was about your statement regarding the tarot suit order and its elemental attributions Wands seem to me to invoke the intellectual and mental nature of magick more than the Sword. Swords seem to me to invoke destruction and transformation/breaking things apart than the Wand. Also, "fire" and "sword" are often mentioned together in the Bible and are referenced in the Gospel of Thomas as well. This seems far more intuitive than the Wand's association with the will and the Sword's association with evocation. This being said, the sword in Daoist magick has more of a universal function, if I understand correctly. So you're right about these things being culturally and geographically situated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zhongyongdaoist Posted January 6, 2019 17 hours ago, HuangDiNeiJing said: 20 hours ago, Nungali said: My question was about your statement regarding the tarot suit order and its elemental attributions Wands seem to me to invoke the intellectual and mental nature of magick more than the Sword. Swords seem to me to invoke destruction and transformation/breaking things apart than the Wand. Also, "fire" and "sword" are often mentioned together in the Bible and are referenced in the Gospel of Thomas as well. This seems far more intuitive than the Wand's association with the will and the Sword's association with evocation. This being said, the sword in Daoist magick has more of a universal function, if I understand correctly. So you're right about these things being culturally and geographically situated. Thank you for clarifying your thinking, I shared some of Nungali's misgivings about it, but decided to address the matter of the Loshu first and leave swords and wands to him. Having seen this answer, and granted it is only a quick summary, so far at least I find it superficial and noncontextual, so let me provide some context. Let's start with the wands association with the "will", as I have said here: On 3/20/2016 at 2:52 PM, Zhongyongdaoist said: As far as the theory of Neo-magic goes, basically it follows from mesmeric practice as it existed circa 1800. The magician and his control over the 'animal magnetism" was taken as the sole cause of magical phenomenon. Mesmer even had a "baton" which he used to direct his animal magnetism and this is the model for the "magic wand" as conceived of in neo-magic during the Nineteenth Century. (Emphasis added, ZYD) begins with the early Nineteenth Century reframing of magic as primitive Mesmerism and the wand as a directing instrument of the animal magnetism through the mesmerist's will following the usage of Mesmer himself. The original purpose of the wand is rather more in line with a royal scepter, or other "staff of office", and thus refers not to the will, but the authority of the magician to perform his rites, which is why the second Psalm, as a remembrance of the divine adoption of man, is used as a preparatory in the grimoires. On the other hand the sword has a very direct association with evocation as military magic, even to its origin in the Roman Military rite of evocation: Quote The Latin word evocatio was the "calling forth" or "summoning away" of a city's tutelary deity. The ritual was conducted in a military setting either as a threat during a siege or as a result of surrender, and aimed at diverting the god's favor from the opposing city to the Roman side, customarily with a promise of a better-endowed cult or a more lavish temple.[1] (Wikipedia, Evocation) So that the Wand and Sword represent the different aspects of the divinely bestowed authority of the magician, the wand authority and the Sword his threat of force for noncompliance. While this Military context is not clear from the grimoires, viewing Goetic Evocation within the context of military magic has suggestive implications for the notion of spiritual warfare, and also to the references in some grimoires to the operator and exorcist, or the probably related karcist (I am relying on my memory, which is generally reliable, for this, but given time I could come up with suitable references. I remember being puzzled by the usage when I first saw it in my teens a long time ago.). Within the context of the Golden Dawn which you reference there are two wands for practice, the Lotus Wand which is for general purposes and specifically for working with the element of fire the "Fire Wand", which takes the shape of stick with a flamelike drop on one end, thus resembling a candle, a very suitable symbolic reference to a positive manifestation of fire. The Lotus Wand of the Adept on the other hand is dedicated to and consecrated by the powers of the Zodiac, and the Lotus which surmounts it is specifically a symbol of the Tetragramaton, and represents the Divine Lordship of all within the confines of the Zodiac. Again within the Golden Dawn context, there is a Sword and an elemental dagger, a lesser bladed weapon with the sword being dedicated to the Sepirah Geburah and its manifestation Mars, all of which reinforces its martial interpretation and use in "Military Magic" and thus evocation. The dagger is purely an instrument for working with the element of air, with throwing knives being one possible example. That said, in the decades in which I have studied the traditional systems of four, five, six, and even ten elements, I have read enough to be able to understand how many things could be useful symbolic representations of them in different contexts, and am loath to get dogmatic about the matter, and also, I always prefer creativity anyway. Chinese magic also has it military magic and its swords are usually dedicated to and consecrated by the Seven Stars of the Dipper. There are symbolic ones made of peach wood as well as metal ones which are usually engraved with or otherwise have representations of the Seven Stars on them, but aside from that the Daoists have a large number of magical weapons ranging from staffs to magical whips. Indiana Jones might have found the last to his liking, they might have been helpful in the Temple of Doom. Well, that's all for now, I will try to get back to the Loshu and divine/human polarity shortly. ZYD 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zhongyongdaoist Posted January 14, 2019 In my previous post I intended to show that there was no rigid relationship between magical instruments or weapons, and any of the elements, rather these instruments are symbolic representations which, in traditional magical theory at least, had a deeper relation which might be called "resonance" with the represented elements or other power, and was more than that of mere suggestion, as modern interpretations would maintain. However, I left some matters insufficiently developed and that bothered me to the point that I resolved to write something to clarify this by further examining the nature of both fire itself and magical authority and how they relate. I worked out the outline and sources, but then became too busy to put them into a coherent form, this post and my next one will deal with these matters before returning to the question of the polarity of left and right in Chinese and Western magic. In volume II of The Hermetic Museum, in the second part of Michael Sendivogius' "The New Chemical Light, Concerning Sulphur", is a treatment of the four elements, and while I read many such treatments of the four elements back in the Seventies, this one stands out in my mind and was very influential to my later thinking, as I suspect it may have been to the founders of the Golden Dawn, and very likely influenced A. E. Waite's treatment of the Kings as seated on a throne, since Waite was definitely aware of the text, the following being his translation from the Latin. On pages 137-38 we find the following discussion of Fire: Quote <137> Concerning Elementary Fire. Fire is the purest and noblest of all elements, full of adhesive unctuous corrosiveness, penetrant, digestive, inwardly invisible, fixed, hot and dry, outwardly visible, and tempered by the earth. Of its purest substance was created the Throne of the Almighty; of that which is less pure, the Angels; out of fire of an inferior purity were created the stars and the heavenly luminaries; that which was less pure still was used to bear up the heavens; that which is impure and unctuous—that, namely, which we have termed the fire of Gehenna—is in the centre of the earth, and was there inclosed and shut up to set this lower world in motion. Though these different fires are separate, yet they are also joined together by natural sympathy. This element is the most passive of all, and resembles a chariot: when it is drawn it moves; when it is not drawn, it stands still. It exists imperceptibly in all things; and of it is fashioned the vital rational soul, which distinguishes man from all other animals, and makes him like God. This rational soul <138> was divinely infused into his vital spirit by God, and entitles him to be regarded as a microcosm, or small world by himself. But the fire which surrounds the Throne of God is of an infinitely pure and simple essence, and this is the reason that no impure soul can know God, and that no human eye can penetrate this essential fire, for fire is the death and destruction of everything composite—and all material substances are of this nature What I said about the restful passivity of fire, applies in a certain sense to the eternal calm and unchangeableness of the Divine Nature. For as the fire sleeps in the flint, until it is roused and stirred up from without, so the power of God, which is a consuming fire, is only roused to action by the kindling breath of His Almighty Will. How calmly and solemnly does not even an earthly monarch sit enthroned in the pomp and state of his royalty! His courtiers hardly venture to move, and all around is calm and still. But when he rises what a stir of motion and activity does he not cause! All that are about him arise with him, and presently you see him sweeping along in grand and stately majesty. Yet the pomp of an earthly prince is but a faint reflex of the glory of the King of Kings. When He utters the voice of His Will, all heaven is roused, the world trembles, and thousands of angels speed forth on His errand. (The Hermetic Museum, Vol. II: New Chemical Light, Emphasis mine, ZYD) "out of fire of an inferior purity were created the stars" In my previous post I mentioned that the Golden Dawn adepts Lotus Wand was related to the Zodiac, since the Zodiac consists of stars which are created of fire, this is a further link between the Wand and Fire. "and of it is fashioned the vital rational soul, which distinguishes man from all other animals, and makes him like God. This rational soul <138> was divinely infused into his vital spirit by God, and entitles him to be regarded as a microcosm, or small world by himself" This brings us to the notion of what I described as "magical authority", and in the Abrahamic strand of the Western Tradition, magical authority is derived from the human resemblance to God, while after the fall it is dormant, like fire in a flint, but can be stirred to action through the appropriate procedures. As noted above I will talk more about this magical Authority in my next post. Here is an interesting quote from Alexander Wilder's translation of Iamblichus seminal work on Theurgy, usually referred to in its Latin title De Mysteriis, On the Mysteries: Quote MANIFESTATIONS AT THE RITES The Fire of the gods shines brilliantly an undivided flame without sound, and it fills all the depths of the world like a conflagration, but not after the manner of a worldly occurrence.10 . . . To repeat: The fire of the gods is always stable to the view. And Wilder's note 10 refers to the Chaldean Oracles: 10. The divine essence was anciently described in every religion as fire, and so the "eternal fire" was preserved in temples and on altars, as its symbol. Hence, the Chaldaean Oracle commands: "When thou shalt behold the Very Holy Fire without form, shining in flashes down into the depths of the world, then listen to the Voice of the Fire." Zoroaster at the Altar and Moses on Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy IV, 4) are described as hearing the Voice of the Supreme Being from such a source. (The Superior Races and their Manifestations, Emphasis mine, ZYD) All of which points to the ancient notion of the sacrality of fire in both Abrahamic and Pagan traditions. With this background it is no wonder that in the initiatory rituals of the Golden Dawn, the officer of Water says, "I purify thee with water", and the officer of Fire says, "I consecrate thee with fire", and thus to the initiate is revealed, right at the very beginning and repeated over and over again, one of the most important secrets of practical magic, whether he or she picks up on it and realizes how to use it in practice is another matter. In the above discussion I implied some of the traditional relationship between fire and and magical authority, which could be the basis of a magic wand as a scepter and representation of the magician's authority, in my next post, which will follow shortly, I will examine the notion of magical authority itself. ZYD Edit: Fixed a problem with line spacing. Edit: Changed an wrong "of" to a correct "or" in the first paragraph. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zhongyongdaoist Posted January 17, 2019 So, what is the basis of this "magical authority" that I keep talking about, and which is symbolized by the magican's wand? Cornelius Agrippa makes this clear in Chapter Three of the third book of his great compendium of magical theory and practice: Quote About the beginning of the first book of this work, we have spoken what manner of person a Magician ought to be; but now we will declare a msyticall and secret matter, necessary for every one who desireth to practize [practise] this art, which is both the beginning, perfection and key of all Magicall operations, and it is the dignifying of men to this so sublime vertue and power; for this faculty requireth in man a wonderfull dignification, for that the understanding which is in us the highest faculty of the soul, is the only worker of wonders, (Twilight Grotto, Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books On Occult Philosophy, Book Three, Chapter iii: What dignification is required, that one may be a true magician and a worker of miracles. Emphasis mine, ZYD) Simply put, without this "dignification", one is not practicing Magic, in its "brand name" sense of Magic as it was conceived of and practiced from the Hellenistic period through the end of the Renaissance, and at least a little beyond. I usually call this form of magic Classical Magic and differentiate it from neo-Magic, the result of a revival magical practices that started around 1900. One can certainly produce "magic" like effects through "energized enthusiasm", working oneself into an emotional frenzy and sending it off to have an effect, but this is not Magic, it is sorcery, witchcraft, shamanism, whatever you want to call it, but it is not Magic, and if you have achieve sufficient dignification you don't need emotional frenzy either. Here is an interesting story about a very Magically dignified individual, or at least according to the story he would be: On 12/28/2012 at 11:57 AM, Zhongyongdaoist said: Porphyry in his life of Plotinus recounts the following in relation to an evocation of Plotinus' guardian spirit: "In fact Plotinus possessed by birth something more than is accorded to other men. An Egyptian priest who had arrived in Rome and, through some friend, had been presented to the philosopher, became desirous of displaying his powers to him, and he offered to evoke a visible manifestation of Plotinus' presiding spirit. Plotinus readily consented and the evocation was made in the Temple of Isis, the only place, they say, which the Egyptian could find pure in Rome.At the summons a Divinity appeared, not a being of the spirit-ranks, and the Egyptian exclaimed: 'You are singularly graced; the guiding-spirit within you is not of the lower degree but a God.' It was not possible, however, to interrogate or even to contemplate this God any further, for the priest's assistant, who had been holding the birds to prevent them flying away, strangled them, whether through jealousy or in terror. Thus Plotinus had for indwelling spirit a Being of the more divine degree, and he kept his own divine spirit unceasingly intent upon that inner presence. It was this preoccupation that led him to write his treatise upon Our Tutelary Spirit (Enneads Three, Treatise Four, ZYD), an essay in the explanation of the differences among spirit-guides." (Emphasis and link to Plotinus added for this post) If you are curious, and if you are interested in how Magic is practiced then you should be, you can go here: Plotinus, Our Tutelary Spirit on Wiki Source I recommend this because ideas very similar to some that Plotinus puts forward in this work appear, albeit dressed up in Qabalistic guise, in the Adeptus Minor teachings of the Golden Dawn. I could make references to that, except that the material is too dense, technical and complex for anyone without a sufficient background to read with a satisfactory level of understanding. Of course if anyone with a sufficient background asks, I can refer them to the necessary sections. In modern magic the way that this dignification is trained and achieved is largely through what is called the Middle Pillar practice in either its ritual or meditative versions. It is possible using those teachings to obtain the necessary dignification, if you know what you are doing and practice it correctly, however even the original Golden Dawn teachings teachings leave out important aspects of Classical Magic, however when the Golden Dawn ritual system is used within the full context of the Occult Philosophy as expounded in Agrippa's work, the result is very satisfactory, but lacking this during the Twentieth Century the tradition was significantly degraded. I hope this gives at least some idea of what Magical Authority is, and basically to recap, it is the realization of the divine potential that inheres in every human being. This belief in the divine potential of human beings is common to Western Pagan and Abrahamic traditions, as well as both Daoist and Confucian traditions in China. The methods of realizing this potential are different, but the result is the same and is why in China and the West, the Magician's wand and its Chinese equivalent, are a symbol of authority, like a sovereign's scepter. ZYD 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voidisyinyang Posted January 17, 2019 (edited) On 1/4/2019 at 4:09 PM, HuangDiNeiJing said: Hello! I have a question regarding the Dragon and the Tiger. The Azure-Wood-Dragon of the East and the White-Metal-Tiger of the West are associated with the LEFT and the RIGHT of the body, respectively. However, In the same way that Li/Fire is on the "left side" of the Preheaven Bagua and Kan/Water is on the "right", Yes, the Dragon constellation is in the East and the Tiger in the West. But what does this explicitly have to do with the body? The East (Dragon) is on your LEFT only if you are FACING SOUTH. If you are facing NORTH then the Dragon is on your RIGHT. The Dragon being Yang, I feel, should correspond with the RIGHT and not with the LEFT. Looking forward to your thoughts!! (P.S. This is my first post here. Go easy on me. ) Yes instead of trying to find the answer in Western culture that lacks real yoga training tradition - you need to return back to Daoist alchemy to better study the details. This takes time. You can find the answer to your question if you study the book Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality. It is free online. Since I have studied that book I will now provide you with the answer. For males the upper body is YIN internally and so because of this - with alchemy you have to go internally as yin, as the dragon. This is the paradox of alchemy. So then the right hand is yin for the upper body being yang externally. So the left hand is yang and the right hand is yin - because the hands hang down below the navel and so the hands are considered part of the lower body, energetically. So the left ear is yang as the tiger while the lower body left side is yang - the left leg is yang and the right leg is yin. So then you sit with the left leg "embracing" the yin lower body - so the left leg should be on top while in full lotus. So this is very confusing but please realize that dragon and tiger can be yin or yang depending on which is embracing which. So the yin embraces the yang or the yang embraces the yin. But again the ear is reversed compared to the eyes but the eyes also have two levels. So for example the right eye is the tiger as yang qi but its also the Moon as the yin shen (yuan shen). The left eye is the dragon as yin qi but the left eye is also the Sun as the Yang Shen. The moon and sun are also the lower tantien and heart respectively. So for example the right side of the heart is the tiger yuan qi energy while the left side of the heart is the yuan shen dragon energy as yin qi. So this has to do with the alchemical process that the dragon starts out as the red dragon that is yin but then it gets turned into the Green dragon that is within the White tiger that then returns down the front as the yang to restore the yuan qi. https://archive.org/stream/TaoistYogaAlchemyAndImmortalityLuKuanYCharlesLuk/Taoist Yoga Alchemy and Immortality Lu K’uan Yü (Charles Luk)_djvu.txt So now we can word search the book to corroborate my claims. Quote In Taoist yoga the negative vitality [yin qi] is represented by the dragon and the positive vitality [yang qi] by the tiger so far so good. Quote The sun stands for the heart and the moon for the lower tan t’ien cavity (under the navel), respectively symbolised by the dragon (the female or negative vitality) and the tiger (the male or positive vitality). So this is the Red Dragon as the yin qi of the heart and the Black Tiger is the yang qi of the lower tan t'ien - before they are alchemically transformed. Quote The dragon (negative vitality ) and the tiger (positive vitality) ‘ copulating ’ in the alchemical cauldron in the brain to realise the oneness of heaven and earth. So they "copulate" - the yin qi and yang qi - in the third eye. Quote the longer it is held the brighter it will be. When it becomes stable, it reveals the successful union of the dragon and tiger (i.e. the female and male vital breaths). So the Light of the Void gets brighter as the yin qi and yang qi of the third eye increase the copulation. Quote If he understands the profound meaning of their union and concentrates on the cavity of the dragon (lung kung below the navel) until they both unite, true vitality [yuan qi] will manifest of itself. So then alchemically the Lower Tant'ien stores the Yuan Qi via the alchemical Green Dragon. Quote First locate the dragon cavity by bending the middle finger of your left hand and where it touches the left palm is that cavity which is lively and is linked with the heart and the lower abdomen by a channel (artery) passing through the left wrist. Then locate the tiger cavity by bending the middle finger of your right hand and where it touches the right palm is that cavity which also is linked with the heart and lower abdomen by a channel (vein) passing through the right wrist. ... The tiger’s roar heard in the left ear reveals the fullness of vitality, and the dragon’s hum in the right ear reveals the fullness of generative force. So left hand is yang as the lower body dragon - remember again the hands hang below the navel. But they are reversed for the EARS!! Foundations of Internal Alchemy. Quote The Cantong qi says: Dragon at West, Tiger at East... These verses also allude to the principle of "inversion"; ordinarily, the Dragon is an emblem of the East and the Tiger is an emblem of the West (see table 1). For more quotes and details see https://elixirfield.blogspot.com/2018/12/true-soilyuan-shen-true-leadyuan-jing.html the female element of wood is the moon. So this is liver yin qi. If the outer sun and moon do not mingle their lights the inner water and fire do not ‘copulate’ and prenatal true vitality [yuan qi] cannot manifest. Outer sun and moon, meaning the light of left and right eyes. Their "lights of inner water and fire" means the light of yang qi (the right eye as water, the tiger) and the light of yin qi (the sun, left eye as fire, dragon).So the Moon is yin qi as Wood but the light of the yang qi (moon as right eye, yin shen) is the "Sun" hidden within the Moon of the lower tan t'ien. Edited January 17, 2019 by voidisyinyang Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Sternbach Posted January 20, 2019 On 6.1.2019 at 4:00 AM, HuangDiNeiJing said: Wands seem to me to invoke the intellectual and mental nature of magick more than the Sword. Swords seem to me to invoke destruction and transformation/breaking things apart than the Wand. Also, "fire" and "sword" are often mentioned together in the Bible and are referenced in the Gospel of Thomas as well. This seems far more intuitive than the Wand's association with the will and the Sword's association with evocation. This being said, the sword in Daoist magick has more of a universal function, if I understand correctly. So you're right about these things being culturally and geographically situated. Yes, the sword (and its close relative, the dagger) can cut things apart. And such is indeed the function of the analytical mind. If it is focussed and operating guided by intuition, it will make its cuts in a clean manner, separating what needs to be separated, thus exercising its power to distinguish and clarify. If, however, it is has cut itself of from the source of inner knowledge and is now left to its own devices, it will in fact make messy cuts that tend to do more harm than good. In Tarot, many of the Sword cards are problematic, and this has got to with the general difficulty of wielding the mind's sword with constraint and direction. As for the wand, it stands for a more primordial type of energy. No doubt, clubs were among the first weapons used by early humans. Though effective in their own right, they are lacking the sophistication of the sword. They symbolize strength and dominion over the environment. Moreover, the wand is a phallic symbol. Which also suggests that it is an appropriate symbol for virility and will, which is the power to create. I suggest, you actually first pick up a stick and then a sword (or if none is available, a dagger or even a knife will do). How do they feel? What kind of movements are you compelled to perform with them? In my view, the Golden Dawn's attribution of the elements to the magickal weapons makes great sense. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) " The work of the Wand and the work of the Sword,; these he shall learn and teach. " Edited January 21, 2019 by Nungali 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
