Atu XIII - Death

Aeon418

Self Slain

Here's an interesting New Aeon perspective on XIII Death from Daniel Gunther.
J. Daniel Gunther said:
In the unique symbolism of the Thoth Tarot deck, on Atu XIII, Death, there is a distinct clue that leads us to the central meaning of the card. The Grim Reaper is depicted wearing the White Egyptian Crown of Osiris. In the Old Aeon, Osiris was the corn or wheat mowed down by the sweeping scythe of Death. In the New Aeon it is Osiris himself who wields the blade. The enormity of this veild revelation by The Master Therion cannot be underestimated. In the New Aeon, Asar (man) is no longer the victim of Death, but he is the bringer of Death himself, and more importantly, he is the bringer of Death to himself.

In the 22nd Aethyr of the Vision and the Voice, a great revelation is unfolded to Frater Perdurabo. As an Exempt Adept of the A.'.A.'. he experiences his first vision of the Crowned and Conquering Child Hoor; and, significantly, that vision occurs within the Vault of the Pastos, the symbolic tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz, founder of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. He hears the voice of Hoor, the babe in the egg of blue, who says unto him:

"Behold! where are now the darkness and the terror and the lamentation? For ye are born into the new Aeon; ye shall not suffer death. Bind up your girdles of gold! Wreathe yourselves with garlands of my unfading flowers! In the nights we will dance together, and in the morning we will go forth to war; for, as my Father liveth that was dead, so do I live and shall never die."

To these sublime words, Crowley added his comentary to help clarify the meaning:

"In the New Aeon, Death is become Life Triumphant, not through Resurrection, but in its own Essence...
The Thelemite does not "suffer death". He is eternal and perceives Himself the Universe, by virtue of the categories of Life and Death, which are not real but subjective forms of his artistic presentation."

The Thelemite is not conquered by Death; he or she experiences the category of perception we signify by the symbols of Death. We are the Self-Slain, not the victims of catatrophic death as Asar, or Isa the sufferer. We have dismembered ourselves deliberately and intelligently in pursuit of Truth. We do not require Resurrection for we are the Resurrection, the Truth and the Life.
 

Zephyros

Very interesting. I meant to write here a few days ago, but I've been busy. In fact, I don't even have much to say, as I agree on a basic level. It fits in with all the other ideas associated with Death, especially the three forms of it shown. It even has a certain poetry with the Devil, Death's balancing path. Wonderful stuff.
 

Aeon418

I love how a small change can have such a big impact. Death wearing the Crown of Osiris is a great example of a New Aeonic shift in perspective.

Earlier on in the book (The Angel and the Abyss) Gunther points out the iconography of older forms of the Death card where human body parts are scattered on the ground. They form part of the 'harvest' awaiting the sweep of the scythe of the Grim Reaper. But this portrayal makes Death an outside, alien force that brings about the so-called 'great solar tradgedy' in the Osirian mythos. But with a little New Aeonic change the story is turned on it's head.
Aleister Crowley said:
Every event, including death, is only one more accretion to our experience, freely willed by ourselves from the beginning and therefore also predestined.
Liber LXV I:56 said:
.... Reap thou, and rejoice!
 

Zephyros

It's also an example how things are never to be taken at face value. The crown by itself could be taken as an almost standard symbol of Osiris, king of the underworld, death and resurrection, etc. It's almost trite, really, just another Death card. Now, I haven't read the book you're referring to, but it does make sense in the grand Thelemic scheme of things, and that's what elevates the crown to such import.

Really interesting insight there, a new way of seeing this. If the rest of the book is as insightful, should be a real page turner.
 

Aeon418

The crown by itself could be taken as an almost standard symbol of Osiris, king of the underworld, death and resurrection, etc. It's almost trite, really, just another Death card.

This is where the symbolism is very subtle. The candidate for initiation is the dead Osiris, asleep in the qliphoth. His/her first task is resurrection from the death of mundane life. But, to paraphrase Gunther's earlier book, it is not enough merely hear the blowing of the trumpet of Israfel, the summons from Adonai to take up the Great Work. Instead the beginner must roll away the stone from the tomb by their own efforts. Continued movement of the dead limbs (4 elements), resistance turned into persistence, slowly awakens the fifth element hidden within IHVH transforming it into IHShVH. The letter Shin corresponds to Spirit and the fifth power of the Sphinx - the Power to GO.

On Atu XIII we see the figure of Death with his legs in the form of the letter Tau (4 elements), but he dancing the dance of Death. The limbs of the dead Osiris have been freed from the wrappings of the corpse. Instead of being cut down by it, he now uses the Saturnian scythe to stir up bubbles in his Go-ing. He is no longer the dead Asar, he is Asar-un-nefer - Myself made perfect - the reassembled Osiris who is crowned Lord of the Dead.

But as Crowley points out this is only a lesser redemption symbolised by the number CXX (120) with all it's Rosicrucian overtones. There's still a long way to GO to the City of the Sun. And the snooze button on the alarm clock is so, so tempting. :laugh:
Liber LXV 4:28-29 said:
28. Weary, weary! saith the scribe, who shall lead me to the sight of the Rapture of my master?
29. The body is weary and the soul is sore weary and sleep weighs down their eyelids; yet ever abides the sure consciousness of ecstacy, unknown, yet known in that its being is certain. O Lord, be my helper, and bring me to the bliss of the Beloved!
 

Zephyros

It even makes that whole fill/kill thing take on a new meaning. The implication is almost like they're the same thing.
 

Aeon418

It even makes that whole fill/kill thing take on a new meaning. The implication is almost like they're the same thing.

There are pros and cons on either side. In the structure of the A.'.A.'. path 'kill me' does seem to link up rather nicely with the Zelator grade where the candidate identifies him/herself with the 'Self-slain Ankh-af-na-Khonsu'. But the next critical step is K&C where the Adept is united in the nuptial bed with the Solar-Phallic angel. The Adept is functionally 'female' in respect to the active 'male' angel, irrespective of actual gender. In this case 'fill me' seems more appropriate.

I'm not altogether clear where Gunther stands on this issue. Technically he is in the 'kill me' camp. Or at least I assume he is. But the quote of the 'kill me' verse in his new book (p.323) is identified in a footnote as "Paraphrase of the Stele of Revealing", and not by it's chapter and verse in Liber Legis. Maybe he is undecided? Or maybe he doesn't regard the paraphrase as part of the actual text? I suspect the latter.

On the other hand Gunther does talk quite a bit about the Hanged Man representing the Thelemite and his/her inversion of spiritual perspctive. The Khabs in the Khu, etc. In the language of Liber 418 such an one has "turned the Eye of Hoor unto the zenith" and is "filled with the vigour of the Goat." It's odd that Gunther doesn't make the link.

But I'm just about to settle down with the 'Cenotaph' chapter again. Maybe I'll spot something I missed first time around.
 

Zephyros

While I am analysing my self-identified IAO triangles on either side of Tiphareth, in relation to the Devil which, ironically, takes the role of Apophis. Anyway, I guess we both have morbidity to consider.
 

Aeon418

Aha! Got it! :)

The Angel and the Abyss (p.99-100).
J. Daniel Gunther said:
The second reason Crowley depicted The Hanged Man with arms extended at full length is because he represents the Thelemite who has turned the Eye of Hoor unto the Zenith, has made an animadversion toward the New Aeon and who is walking upon his hands.

To emphasise this point, Initiates to the Grade of Neophyte of the A.'.A.'. ritually assume the posture of The Hanged Man in yet another variation of [the triangle surmounted by the cross].

So it's the Neophyte that is 'filled' with the vigour of the goat (See Liber 418 - 16th Aethyr), represented in the Thoth Tarot by the symmetry between Atu's XII and XV. Then the Zelator is 'killed' by identification with the Self-slain Ankh-af-na-Khonsu. The sarcophagus of the latter replacing the Rosicrucian Vault of the Pastos.

So does that mean we get two more polarity flips? Is the Adept 'filled' once more in the K&C of HGA?
And is he/she finally 'killed' in the Crossing of the Abyss, where the Adept must enter in turn the Fifty Gates of Binah - Death? This would suggest that 'kill me' is actually the supreme formula. While the alternation between life and death suggests the motion of the Serpent ascending the Tree.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Here's another possible instance where fill and kill have complementary roles.

Trying to understand the commentary on The Book of Lies, Chapter I, "The Sabbath of the Goat", lines 5 and 7.

Line 5 is "Cast the Seed into the Field of Night" - okay, we can figure that out.
Line 7 is "Kill thyself" - okay, we understand that too.

The commentary says of line 5 "The Student is then charged to understand the spiritual importance of this physical procession in line 5." - fine.

Line 7: "Line 7 balances line 5. It will be noticed that the phraseology of these two lines is so conceived that the one contains the other more than itself."

The bold part is what has me baffled. How does the phraseology of each line "contain the other more than itself"?

Is the important word "conceived"? But if so, how is the "phraseology" of each line conceived in such a way that it contains the other more than itself? Sure, "contains", "conceived", etc.; but I'm still not getting what I think is something more subtle, or direct, in the form of the expression, the phraseology.

I mean that a metaphorical interpretation of "casting the seed into the field of Night" as symbolically or mystically equivalent to killing oneself, does not seem to address Crowley's explicit appeal to the literal form of the lines, the phraseology.

Here's a possible understanding I just noticed.

If we look at the comment itself - "Line 7 balances line 5. It will be noticed that the phraseology of these two lines is so conceived that the one contains the other more than itself." - and we understand it as (my comments in square brackets) -

"Line 7 [the subject] balances line 5."
"It will be noticed that the phraseology [the distinctive form] of these two lines is so conceived that the one [i.e. LINE 7, the "subject"] contains the other [i.e. LINE 5] more than itself".

If we take "phraseology" to mean also "orthography" or "style", then we notice some particular capital letters in line 5. Line 7 only contains one capital letter, "K". Only one of the capital letters of line 5 can be exchanged with the "K" of line 7, and make any sense - "F" of "Field".

So "Fill thyself".

Thus line 7 contains line 5 as well.

The capital "K" of line 7 cannot be exchanged with any letter of line 5 and make sense -

Kast
Keed
Kield
Kight

Nor can any other of the capital letters of line 5 be exchanged with the "K" of line 7 and make sense -

Cill
Sill
Nill