Liber 418 study group - 29th Aethyr: RII

Aeon418

Aleister Crowley said:
29. RII - The Disruption of the Aeon of Osiris. - The disturbance of Equilibrium caused by the Coming of the Æon.

The Cry of the 29th Aethyr
Which is Called RII


1. The sky appears covered with stars of gold; the background is of green. But the impression is also of darkness.

2. An immense eagle-angel is before me. His wings seem to hide all the Heaven.

3. He cried aloud saying: The Voice of the Lord upon the Waters: the Terror of God upon Mankind. The voice of the Lord maketh the Skies to tremble: the Stars are troubled: the Aires fall. The First Voice Speaketh and saith: Cursed, cursed be the Earth, for her iniquity is great. Oh Lord! Let Thy Mercy be lost in the great Deep! Open thine eyes of Flame and Light, O God, upon the wicked! Lighten thine Eyes! The Clamour of Thy Voice, let it smite down the Mountains!

4. Let us not see it! Cover we our eyes, lest we see the End of Man.

5. Close we our ears, lest we hear the cry of Woman.

6. Let none speak of it: let none write it: I, I am troubled, my eyes are moist with dews of terror: surely the Bitterness of Death is past.

7. And I turned me to the South and lo! a great lion as wounded and perplexed.

8. He cried: I have conquered! Let the Sons of Earth keep silence; for my Name is become as That of Death!

9. When will men learn the Mysteries of Creation?

10. How much more those of the Dissolution (and the Pang of Fire)?

11. I turned me to the West and there was a great Bull; White with horns of White and Black and Gold. His mouth was scarlet and his eyes as Sapphire stones. With a great sword he shore the skies asunder, and amid the silver flashes of the steel grew lightnings and deep clouds of Indigo.

12. He spake: It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself!

13. My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its Mystery.

14. The work of the Moon is done! Motion is ended for ever!

15. Clipped are the eagle's wings: but my Shoulders have not lost their strength.

16. I heard a Great Voice from above crying: Thou liest! For the Volatile hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight. The World is desert: but the Abodes of the House of my Father are peopled; and His Throne is crusted over with white Brilliant Stars, a lustre of bright gems.

17. In the North is a Man upon a Great Horse, having a Scourge and Balances in his hand (or a long spear glitters at his back or in his hand). He is clothed in black velvet and his face is stern and terrible.

18. He spake saying: I have judged! It is the end: the gate of the beginning. Look in the Beneath and thou shalt see a new world!

19. I looked and saw a great abyss and a dark funnel of whirling waters or fixed airs, wherein were cities and monsters and trees and atoms and mountains and little flames (being souls) and all the material of an universe.

20. And all are sucked down one by one, as necessity hath ordained. For below is a glittering jewelled globe of gold and azure, set in a World of Stars.

21. And there came a Voice from the Abyss, saying: "Thou seest the Current of Destiny! Canst thou change one atom in its path? I am Destiny. Dost thou think to control me? for who can move my course?"

22. And there falleth a thunderbolt therein: a catastrophe of explosion: and all is shattered. And I saw above me a Vast Arm reach down, dark and terrible, and a voice cried: I AM ETERNITY.

23. And a great mingled cry arose: "No! no! no! All is changed; all is confounded; naught is ordered: the white is stained with blood: the black is kissed of the Christ! Return! Return! It is a new chaos that thou findest here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"

24. I said: Tell me this truth: for I have conjured ye by the Mighty Names of God, the which ye cannot but obey.

25. The voice said: Light is consumed as a child in the Womb of its Mother to develop itself anew. But pain and sorrow infinite, and darkness are invoked. For this child riseth up within his Mother and doth crucify himself within her bosom. He extendeth his arms in the arms of his Mother and the Light becometh fivefold.

26. Lux in Luce,
Christus in Cruce;
Deo Duce
Sempiterno.

27. And be the glory for ever and ever unto the Most High God, Amen!

28. Then I returned within my body, giving glory unto the Lord of Light and of the Darkness. In Saecula Saeculorum. Amen!

(On composing myself to sleep, I was shewn an extremely brilliant ד in the Character of the Passing of the River, in an egg of white light. And I take this as the best of Omens. The letter was extremely vivid and indeed apparently physical. Almost a Dhyana.)

Plain text versions of Liber 418 with Crowley's footnotes:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/418/418.htm
http://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/

Liber 418 in PDF format with images:

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/cr...s/Liber418.pdf
 

Aeon418

General observations

RII. Pronounced 'Ree-ee' in the Golden Dawn's Enochian dialect.

Yesod in Yetzirah. The Foundation in the mental/astral world.

Enochian name correspondences:

R - Pisces, XVIII The Moon, Qoph.
I - Sagittarius, XIV Art, Samekh.
I - Sagittarius, XIV Art, Samekh.

The most important thing about this name seems to be that it's numeric value is equal to The Book of the Law - Liber CCXX, 220.
Qoph(100) + Samekh(60) + Samekh(60) = 220.
220 is an important number for many reasons. One of which is that it represents the Tree of Life. The 10 Sephiroth multiplied by the 22 Paths = 220. Also the sum of the all the mystic numbers of the Sephiroth is 220.

The Tarot cards corresponding to RII suggest change, but not at a conscious level. The initial impact of the new Law is in the dark cauldron of the subconscious. The Nephesh is where the seed of the new Foundation of the Aeon is to be planted.

1. The setting. Dark sky with stars. The colour green relates to Venus and suggests that the aspect of consciousness revealed in the vision of RII is feminine. Heh prima reflecting into Heh final?

The existing Foundation is represented by four kerubic guardians.

2 - 6. An eagle angel stands in the East and delivers a message of Scorpio, Death. This new transformation is seen as a horrorfying catastrophe. Cf. Revelation 8:13.

7 - 10. In the South a lion angel for Leo. He is "wounded and perplexed." This may possibly be related to the 'sexual' Wound of Amphortas caused by the restrictions of the old aeon. It may also be an emblem of the Beast, "his hour come round at last", who's deadly wound is soon to be healed. Cf. Revelation 13:3.

11 - 16. In the West is the Bull of Taurus. He is the old aeon Hierophant, Osiris - Jesus. He deplores the unveiling of his mother, Heh prima, and the violation of his sister, Heh final. He also admits that a higher truth as been revealed in the Fixing of the Volatile, but insists that he is still the Hierophant. The answer to his bold assertion: "Thou liest! For the Volatile hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight."

17 - 21. At this point we would expect an Aquarian angel. But instead we have a stern Saturnian Libra as herald of Aquarius. He pronouces an end and a new beginning.

22 - 23. A thunderbolt (see 30th Aethyr) falls into the Current of Destiny and causes chaos and destruction. But this forms the "skeleton of a New Truth." The new Foundation is created.

24 - 28. Crowley insists that this New Truth be revealed to him. Near the end of the year 1900 a new seed was planted in Crowley's mind that would not sprout until 1904 and the reception of Liber CCXX. In line 25 he was given a sneak preview of the New Aeon.
 

Aeon418

Liber Arcanorum said:
14. And a mighty angel appeared as a woman, pouring vials of woe upon the flames, lighting the pure stream with her brand of cursing. And the iniquity was very great.
The double occurance of Sagittarius in the name RII suggests the two forms of Atu XIV used by the Golden Dawn. One form resembles the Thoth card where a figure pours fire and water into a cauldron of Death.

The other form is the classic figure of Temperance who is the angel of the tenth chapter of Revelation. The same angel who delivers the 'little scroll' - Liber CCXX.
 

Always Wondering

After a super long, but nice weekend I finally had a chance to vision and voice RII. There really is no other way to say it because it doesn't feel like meditation. It felt more like meditation over The Moon and Art before hand.

I see Qoph in this v&v very easily. But I must have many preconceptions of Samekh because I am having a hard time seeing this. Plus I was really looking forward to an Art v&v because I have related so well to this card in the past. Possibly the influence of Qoph? At any rate I intend to do some rereading of Samekh.

Aeon418 said:
7 - 10. In the South a lion angel for Leo. He is "wounded and perplexed." This may possibly be related to the 'sexual' Wound of Amphortas caused by the restrictions of the old aeon.

This helped, after some reading. Thanks.

Aeon418 said:
11 - 16. In the West is the Bull of Taurus. He is the old aeon Hierophant, Osiris - Jesus.
How was this apparent? Because he is in the west? I read Eshelman's comments, but to tell you the truth I just don't get it.

The biggest challenge for me so far. . .

16. I heard a Great Voice from above crying: Thou liest! For the Volatile hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight. The World is desert: but the Abodes of the House of my Father are peopled; and His Throne is crusted over with white Brilliant Stars, a lustre of bright gems.

I am not understanding this. :confused:

AW
 

Always Wondering

Book of Tolkens said:
Then shall the Vision of thy Lord be granted unto thee,
And seeing Him shalt thou behold
The Shining One
Who is thine own true Self.
In the fullness of that blessed vision
Shalt thou be restored,
And as a young lion trampleth upon his prey,
So shalt thou conquer all the phantoms of delusion.

This seems to fit I think. But this lion isn't wounded.
 

Owl Tarot

It was really intersting, as always. It really pushes one to the limit, interestingly enough. The Moon is a card sometimes assosiated with illusion, and that seems to be an apparent trait. It is really full of Symbols, concidering the Sephira, Yesod, The House of Images. But in the end, the Light of Kether prevails (Amen, a name of Kether). The Kerubs are, interistingly enough, assotiated with Yesod. I think a way of putting it is that the Foundation of the Mental World is trembling, and the illusion of the Moon is about to break. Thunderbolts are connected to Swastigas, and therefore the authority of Kether.

22. And there falleth a thunderbolt therein: a catastrophe of explosion: and all is shattered. And I saw above me a Vast Arm reach down, dark and terrible, and a voice cried: I AM ETERNITY.

23. And a great mingled cry arose: "No! no! no! All is changed; all is confounded; naught is ordered: the white is stained with blood: the black is kissed of the Christ! Return! Return! It is a new chaos that thou findest here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"

I see a pattern which may sound foolish, but I will say it: In lines 17-21, as you said Aeon, we have a Saturnian Libra.

17. In the North is a Man upon a Great Horse, having a Scourge and Balances in his hand (or a long spear glitters at his back or in his hand). He is clothed in black velvet and his face is stern and terrible.

18. He spake saying: I have judged! It is the end: the gate of the beginning. Look in the Beneath and thou shalt see a new world!

Interestingly, the Scourge is a weapon of Geburah and the whole image nicely connects to Atu VIII, which is the He final when it takes the seat of He primal. Thus, there is a glimpse of the formula as a whole, and the Daughter made the Queen. In lines 11-16, I think there are "true lies" created from the highly illusory nature of the Vision, considering the Paths and the Sephira involved.

12. He spake: It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself!

13. My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its Mystery.

God the Son reveals his mother's function in the whole context, and illusion leads us to believes he "defines" what he reveals (Atu V-yet another connection with the Hierophant's mask?) which is a contradiction not unlikely to occur in the Path of Qoph, but the Path of the Arrow prevails in the end, and the truth he speaks is triumphant in line 25.
 

Aeon418

I see Qoph in this v&v very easily. But I must have many preconceptions of Samekh because I am having a hard time seeing this.
Samekh means a 'prop' or a 'tent peg'. It's the sort of thing you need to erect a tent towards heaven while securing it to the earth. This all sounds a bit phallic and quite suitable for a letter situated on the Middle Pillar. But if you actually look at the letter itself it seems rather feminine and womb-like. That's rather appropriate for the Art card and the mixing of opposites implied by it. No wonder there's a fire burning on the card. Talk about sexual heat! Phew!! :bugeyed: :laugh:

In this vision there is an initial tracing of a circle as we visit each quarter in turn. Then we are asked to 'look in the below' and see a dark whirling funnel. All feminine symbols. Into this funnel falls the creative thunderbolt and huge phallic arm reaches down into it creating something akin to the Lingam-Yoni. Compare this with a Liber LXV. V:5-6, where the Phallic Pillar is established in the feminine Void which creates the conditions for the appearance of Horus as a fiery star that falls into the subconscious of humanity. The vision of RII is trying to communicate something along the same lines.
Liber LXV. V:5-6 said:
5. Now is the Pillar established in the Void; now is Asi fulfilled of Asar; now is Hoor let down into the Animal Soul of Things like a fiery star that falleth upon the darkness of the earth.
6. Through the midnight thou art dropt, O my child, my conqueror, my sword-girt captain, O Hoor! and they shall find thee as a black gnarl'd glittering stone, and they shall worship thee.
In this quote Horus (Hoor) is compared to both the destructive star, Wormwood, and Lucifer. (see Issiah 14:12. and compare with the the Emperor's esoteric title. Atu IV is the card of Ra-Hoor-Khuit that falls from Heh to Tzaddi and increases the fire on Atu XIV Art.) This is equivalent to the thunderbolt in this vision.
How was this apparent? Because he is in the west? I read Eshelman's comments, but to tell you the truth I just don't get it.
It's in Crowley's footnotes. You can find them in the links to the plain text versions of Liber 418 available online. I have provided links at the bottom of the OP. Just scroll to the end of each vision to find the notes.
I am not understanding this. :confused:
The Fixing of the Volatile is part of the alchemical process. This Fixing is first preceded by the Volatizing of the Fixed. The initial volatizing is a destructive early phase in development where things are heated up, energized, taken apart, and separated. This allows for a later 'fixing' in a new and better pattern. In the context of this vision it is declaring that the work of the old Osirian Hierophant is done. But the New Truth that has been 'fixed' is beyond his sight.
RII said:
15. Clipped are the eagle's wings: but my Shoulders have not lost their strength.
Clipping the eagles wings is a symbol of the Fixing of the Volatile. He admits that this has happened. But he still claims to be the Hierophant with the shoulders of Taurus. "Thou liest" is the response.

In his book, Initiation in the Aeon of the Child, J. Daniel Gunther claims that the 'fixing of the volatile' described in RII relates to the opening of the Abyss. This is the new truth beyond the sight of the old Hierophant. In the old aeon the dogma of the Supernal Sephiroth was an intellectual construct, albeit informed by Neshamah. The New Aeon has changed the formula of initiation and made the crossing a reality.
 

Aeon418

I see a pattern which may sound foolish, but I will say it: In lines 17-21, as you said Aeon, we have a Saturnian Libra.
If you look in 777, table XXI The Perfected Man, 32bis is "the bones". Rather appropriate for Saturn/Tau.
Libra is of course Lamed and Truth. Tau(400) + Lamed(30) = 430.

430 =

NPhSh, Nephesh. The Animal Soul. The part of the human soul where the Light first makes contact with the aspirant. Although this initial touch may signal the onset of the Nigredo, the blackening, Wormwood.

ThHV v'BHV, Tohu and Bohu. See the opening verses of Genesis and compare with line 1 and 23 in the vision of RII.
RII said:
23. .... It is a new chaos that thou findest here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"
TzDIQ ISVD OVLM, "The Righteous is the Foundation of the world". The full title of the sephira Yesod.

ThL, Dew. See the 18th chapter of The Book of Lies which corresponds to Atu XVIII The Moon.

In Greek νομος (Law) = 430 = αριθμος (Number)
 

Aeon418

Initiation in the Æon of the Child, J. Daniel Gunther.

From chapter 1. Skeleton of a New Truth (p.40-42).
J. Daniel Gunther said:
When in Mexico four years prior to the Equinox of he Gods that took place in 1904, Frater Perdurabo explored the 30th and 29th Aethyrs of the Watchtowers of the Universe. The visions he received at that early date, although completely beyond his rational comprehension, contained striking prophecies indicating that the end of the Age of Osiris was close at hand. More than this, they contained the first hints of a momentous modulation in the development of mankind:

He spake: It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself! My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its Mystery. The work of the Moon is done! Motion is ended for ever!
Clipped are the eagle's wings: but my Shoulders have not lost their strength.
I heard a Great Voice from above crying: Thou liest! For the Volatile hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight. The World is desert: but the Abodes of the House of my Father are peopled; and His Throne is crusted over with white Brilliant Stars, a lustre of bright gems.

"Fixing the Volatile" is Alchemical terminology for what we may call in simple terms the attainment or realization of the spiritual goal. Alchemists commonly expressed their method for achieving this in the aphorism Solve et Coagula; or Analysis and Synthesis. The Spirit was usually depicted as an eagle or some other bird; the flight of the bird indicated the "volatility" of the matter. Fixation was often represented by impaling with nails or a sword. Clipping the wings of the eagle indicates the same thing for it deprives the bird of flight, hence causing fixation.

In this quotation from the Vision and the Voice, the one who first speaks is the old god of the west, Osiris or Jesus, who cries out against the changes that the New Aeon will bring. He sees the unveiling of his mother (Binah) and the passing of his sister (Malkuth) from virgin to woman. Admitting that the Volatile has been fixed at last, he still claims the strength of the bull (Hierophant), for he does not yet realize that his time is about to end.

The New Aeon completely changed the formulae of Supreme Initiation, for it has "fixed the Volatile" above the great desert which is the Abyss. Prior to this the dogma of the Sephiroth above the Abyss was an intellectual contruction, albeit informed by Neshemah. There was no method for crossing this great gulf which separates the Ideal from the Actual.
 

Aeon418

Liber CCXX. I:5 said:
Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!

The Angel and the Abyss, J. Daniel Gunther.

From chapter 6. The Wrath of God (p.226-228).
J. Daniel Gunther said:
At the very outset of the Visions of the Thirty Aethyrs, Frater Perdurabo heard the voice of a great Bull, who represented the Aeon of the Father which was on the verge of destruction. In the year 1900 E.V., the voice of Osiris, or Jehovah, the foremost representative of the Patriarchal Aeon, bemoaned the changes about to come with the end of his Aeon:

It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself! My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its Mystery!

This cry of woe from Osiris/Jehovah, lord of the Patriarchal Aeon, laments the changes that the New Aeon are to bring. First is the unveiling of his Mother Nuit. The second is the self-violation of his Sister wife Isis, or Nature. This cry, suggesting that some stable commandment has been broken, had it's origins, not in Egypt, but in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. In this book of laws which Moses delivered unto the Israelites, one clearly declared it forbidden for anyone to uncover the nakedness of one's Mother.

Lev. 18:7

"the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover; she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness."

In the doctrine of the Jewish Qabalists, the Mother was interpreted as the Sephira Binah, the Great Mother, even as the Daughter came to be interpreted as Malkuth. This particular commandment in Leviticus was connected in The Zohar of the late period as the uncovering of the ShKINH Shekinah, the Divine Presence of God.

Before Israel went into captivity, and while the Shekinah was still with them, God commanded Israel: "thou shalt not uncover thy mother's nakedness," and this captivity is the uncovering of the nakedness of the Shekinah, as it is written, "On account of your sins your mother has been put away" i.e. for the sin of unchastity Israel has been sent into captivity and the Shekinah also, and this is the uncovering of the Shekinah. This unchastity is Lilith, the mother of the "mixed multitude." It is they who separate the two Heh's of the sacred name, and prevent Vau from entering between them; so it is written, "the nakedness of a woman and her daughter thou shalt not uncover," referring to the upper and lower Shekinah.

The revelations of the Aeon of the Child were foreseen and looked upon as blasphemies and the desecration of age old traditions. The revelation that the Khabs is in the Khu was certainly a large portion of the new doctrine that would rock the foundations of the Aeon of the Father, but it was not the only one. For the first time, the way to the Abyss was opened; a system was to be presented that allowed entrance to the Supernal Triad to any who willed it.

The uncovering of the Shekinah as Mother or Daughter is equivalent to the lifting of the veil of the goddess Athena, which the Greeks identified with Isis. Plutarch recorded the famous inscription at the Temple of Athena at Sais:

I am all that has been, and is, and shall be. No mortal hath ever raised my veil.

The veil of the Saitic Isis has been lifted at long last - not for those designated as "worthy" by a jealous priesthood, but for all men and women - stars in the body of heaven, who by declaration of their Wills bound by their Deeds, may throw open the Gates of Heaven and look upon the face of Wisdom in the Temple of Athena.