The Book of the Law Study Group 3.3

Aeon418

Grigori said:
Hmmm.. If we posit a scenario where Aeon steals $100 from me, I would say karma is when I unexpectedly come into an extra $100 and Aeon unexpectedly looses $100, but vengeance is when I'm unable to get over my anger until I cause Aeon to loose $100, and even though I don't get my $100 back, it still feels good to make him suffer like I did.

These are my personal definitions, and apparently at odds with the intent of the BoL use, so read as just my thought process.
And, once again, I will point you in the direction of the Book of Thoth and the chapter on Adjustment. A card that Crowley felt compelled to rename because the old title, Justice, was mixed up with limited human ideas on the subject.
Your definition sounds more like Exodus 21, with the empasis on the final actions. And it's all bound up with petty human ideas of revenge. If only karma were that simple.
Nature is not just, according to any theological or ethical idea; but Nature is exact.
 

by zero

Aeon418 said:
I'll give you a clue.

If the Aeon of Osiris laid emphasis on the Pillar of Mercy, how do you achieve balance?
This made me wonder, which pillars would be emphasized by the other aeons.
We have Osiris => Mercy, Horus => Severity, ok.
Isis would have the Middle Pillar then?
Probably she wouldn't mind, except that she doesn't know of the structure of the Tree yet.
No, the Middle Pillar should go to the coming Aeon of Maat.


I like to dwell in all aeons simultaneously, past, present and future.
One must remember, that the world doesn't change. It is just seen differently:
AC - BoT said:
This card is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner.
It is the card of the Dying God; its importance in the present pack is merely that of the Cenotaph.
It says: "If ever things get bad like that again, in the new Dark Ages which appear to threaten, this is the way to put things right."
But if things have to be put right, it shows that they are very wrong.
It should be the chieftest aim of the wise to rid mankind of the insolence of self-sacrifice, of the calamity of chastity;
faith must be slain by certainty, and chastity by ecstasy.

In the Book of the Law it is written:
"Pity not the fallen! I never knew them. I am not for them. I console not: I hate the consoled and the consoler."​
Redemption is a bad word; it implies a debt.
For every star possesses boundless wealth; the only proper way to deal with the ignorant is to bring them to the knowledge of their starry heritage.
To do this, it is necessary to behave as must be done in order to get on good terms with animals and children:
to treat them with absolute respect; even; in a certain sense, with worship.
 

Aeon418

by zero said:
This made me wonder, which pillars would be emphasized by the other aeons.
We have Osiris => Mercy, Horus => Severity, ok.
Not ok. :laugh:

Isis - Mother - Pillar of Severity.

Osiris - Father - Pillar of Mercy.

Horus - Child - Middle Pillar.

We've just reached the end of a period of one sided Father worship. To achieve balance again the scales must tip in the opposite direction for a while. The fulfillment of the Horus period will be when the two pillars are balanced equally, hence the Child.
(I equate this verse with Atu II The Priestess and the Two Pillars of her temple.)

Until the rebalancing has been completed it is to be a time of War and Vengeance.
 

by zero

Did Isis know the Tree then already?

And which Pillar is for Maat?
 

Aeon418

by zero said:
Did Isis know the Tree then already?
What?
by zero said:
And which Pillar is for Maat?
All of them in balanced perfection. The Aeon of Horus is the re-balancing time, with the Middle Pillar being the fulcrum. AL III:34 is the completion. Hrumachis (Horus of the Two Horizons), his task completed, vacates the throne for Maat.
 

Aeon418

Re-balance.

In the "Naples arrangement", the introduction of the number Five shows the idea of motion coming to aid of that of matter. This is quite a revolutionary conception; the result is a complete upset of the statically stabilized system. Now appear storm and stress.
This must not be regarded as something "evil". The natural feeling about it is really a little more than reluctance of people to get up from lunch and go back to the job.
The energy/motion of Geburah enters into the previously fixed and stable order of Chesed. This energy naturally meets with resistance. The initial outcome is an "apparent" disaster. Destruction, disorder, conflict, and strife. But once a state of balance is achieved a natural, creative tension is established. This is represented by Atu XI Lust. Two opposite principles working together. Babalon and the Beast.

Unfortunately this state is symbolic of the Adept. Before that you have to pass through the Tower phase. (I:50 ...The Gross must pass through fire..)
The pre-Adept is "fixed and stable" already. But initiatory practices call in, or arouse, greater levels of energy within the initiate. The aspirant to initiation precipitates the Negrdo within themselves. (You didn't think it was all sweetness, light, and sparkly unicorns, did you? }))

Thou shalt have danger & trouble. Ra-Hoor-Khu is with thee.
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
A review of Gunther's, Initiation in the Aeon of the Child, p.86 to 95 and p.186 to 190 might be helpful at this juncture.
 

by zero

by zero said:
Did Isis know the Tree then already?

Aeon418 said:

Meaning: The Tree of Life wasn't known back then, was it? (Because it's an Aeon of Osiris type of an idea.)
But this was only a bogus question, because I think the attributions to the pillars don't fit. The motion from side to side (on which side is the worshipping at the beginning, where does it move to in the end through the aeons) is not really clear to me.

I would prefer
Isis - Yesod
Osiris - Tipheret
Horus - Da'at
Maat - Keter

or maybe
Horus - Keter
Maat - Da'at
 

Aeon418

by zero said:
But this was only a bogus question, because I think the attributions to the pillars don't fit. The motion from side to side (on which side is the worshipping at the beginning, where does it move to in the end through the aeons) is not really clear to me.
I think the motion is pretty clear in this chapter. The initial emphasis is on Martial Severity. It's a swing back to the feminine pillar of Severity. While Mercy is rebuked in verse 18. This is necessary because during the previous aeon the feminine was repressed. (In the aeon of Isis the masculine was unknown ;)) But in the aeon of Horus the feminine re-emerges "armed and militant", according to Crowley. (Like the saying goes, Pay-back's a bitch! :laugh:) This situation is ripe with strife and conflict. We see this same pattern in our society where masculine domination has been increasingly forced, but not without struggle, to give way to a growing feminine influence.
This same pattern is reflected in ourselves where the masculine and feminine sides of our nature constantly struggle with each other. But unless balance is achieved the Child will not manifest within.

From verse 60 onwards a balanced Solar aspect begins to emerge. And is this not the whole point of the Aeon of Horus? The raising of humanity to Tiphareth. Why you position Osiris there is a mystery to me. The dying sun myth is bit outdated, yes?
by zero said:
I would prefer
Isis - Yesod
Osiris - Tipheret
Horus - Da'at
Maat - Keter

or maybe
Horus - Keter
Maat - Da'at
A bit weird in my opinion. But if you want to try mapping the Aeons to the Midddle Pillar I would suggest:

Maat - Supernal Triad
Horus - Tiphareth
Osiris - Yesod
Isis - Malkuth

Da'ath doesn't exist. It is the Supernal Triad as seen below the Abyss.
 

zephyr_heart

Hello, might I just bump in?

Just noticed this part of the forum. Will be watching this part often.

And btw, just remembered this post I've read sometime ago. I think the War should be put in the context in the article, maybe?

~ZH
 

Always Wondering

James Eshelman said:
It is completely clear that the highly energized and martial character of this God (whom I have previously equated with the kundalini and the primal power of the Sun) is to act “excessively” (i.e. “exceedingly;” see diary re: Cap. II, especially verse 71) and “with great fury.” There are no restrained half-measures typical of Him.

Ah. "Half measures avail us nothing."

AW