Book of Law Study Group 1.1

[Abrac]

The hieroglyphic meanings and your explainations are helpful Arabic. There seem to be subtle (to me) differences and a lot of bird heads. Hard to tell them all apart with my golden dawn book.

AW

Hi AW, yes the hieroglyphics on the Stele are not going to look exactly like mine. The symbol for a "god," for example (the sitting figure in the first section), has a super-long beard on the Stele. It would be hard to recognize them as the same symbol if you didn't know what you were looking at. They also face the opposite direction from mine. Hieroglyphics could be drawn facing either way. The way they are facing tells you the direction they are to be read. If they face left, they are read from left to right and vice versa.

 

[Yygdrasilian]

Wedjet>>>>>>Wadjet

At sunset, Nut, Goddess of the Skies, opens her Mouth for the Sun, receiving him once more into her womb.
At dawn, her child is resurrected, emerging anew from the gateway of her Pillars to shine another day.

Ra-Hoor-Khuit
Ra-harakhty
Ra-who is Horus of the Two Horizons:
SONrise: Tipareth at the PILLARS (Constellation: 6)
SunSET 16: Tower - Mouth פ
2 eyelids at either shore of day, the mouth & yoni of Nut

-Had- the manifestation of Nuit!
-Daylight- the child of Night!

Abrahadabra
abra-had-abra
notRA-Son-notRA
night-Sun-night

Heiroglyph:
Sun+ayin+Mouth=RA

What happens when Lightning Strikes the Tower?
&
Who holds the reigns of the Chariot?

 

[Grigori]

Ra-Horakhty is still basically unchanged though.

Yeah, the wand is switched between hands, to give him the empty left hand as described in the BoL, but basically the same dude, seen from the front.

It seems obvious to me that Crowley's orientation with regard to Egyptian theology was toward the Osirian mythos, thus he believed Ra-Horakhty was Horus the Younger.

I wonder if Ra-Horakhty is a more suitable variation of Horus, given the solar nature of Thelema? Is there a parallel there that is significant?

Actually I've wondered a couple of time why modern Thelemites use reproductions of the Stele in their temples, and why not an equivalent using the image from the Aeon card. I s'pose I might prefer a really nice reproduction of the Stele also... *shrugs*

 

[Aeon418]

I wonder then, could you equate Hadit with Kether (the point) and Nuit with the veils? That seems more appropriate.

Yes, Hadit fits nicely in Kether and Nuit is a good match for the veils. In particular Ain Soph. They seem to be the most workable associations.

But you have to remember that Nuit and Hadit are personifications of cosmic principles. Trying to pin them down to one point on the Tree of Life isn't going to be entirely successful.

In the case of Hadit he could fit in Kether as the Yechidah. But could equally well correspond to Chokmah and the Will. Or maybe even Yesod as the root if the sexual serpent force of Kundalini.

Nuit corresponds nicely to the Negative Veils in her aspect as the Not or Nought-0 who is the source of All. But in another way she is also the manifest universe and the entire Tree.

 

[Grigori]

But you have to remember that Nuit and Hadit are personifications of cosmic principles. Trying to pin them down to one point on the Tree of Life isn't going to be entirely successful.

Yes, I'm not really trying to say they are the same, just trying to understand their characteristics by comparing them to other things more familiar to me.

 

[Aeon418]

Yeah, the wand is switched between hands, to give him the empty left hand as described in the BoL, but basically the same dude, seen from the front.

Crowley's original description of the stele notes that the right hand is empty. As you have noted, Liber Legis swaps this around.

Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods

Crowley: The general illusion is to the Equinox Ritual of the G.'. D.'. where the officer of the previous six months, representing Horus, took the place of the retiring Hierophant, who had represented Osiris.

In a Golden Dawn Temple it is Har-wer, or Horus the Elder, who stands at the Gate of the West. At the Equinox of the Gods Horus assumes the Eastern throne in the form of Ra-Hoor.

 

[Aeon418]

Thelema is built around an Osirian mythos along with Horus the Younger, but the the Stele is acually based on Horus the Elder and Ra-Horakhty, the brother of Osiris. This is not meant to discredit Crowley or the BoL in any way, but it's good to have all the facts at least.

Yes, but you're still trying to use Egyptology as a weapon against Thelema. Again, Thelema is NOT Egyptian religion! It merely borrows some of the symbolism and puts it to use in ways that were never intended by the ancient Egyptians.

It's kind of like saying this apple must be a false apple because it's not like this orange.

<link removed by moderator>
Take note of Jim Eshelman's replies.

 

[Yygdrasilian]

Non semper ea sunt quae videntur.

Again, Thelema is NOT Egyptian religion! It merely borrows some of the symbolism and puts it to use in ways that were never intended by the ancient Egyptians.

Yes, but what Crowley borrows and how he puts it to use is significant.
Or was that Aiwass?

And that right there is a question that will color your reading.

Thelema is drawn from the fictional monastery in Rabelais' satire - a carnivalesque where all signs and symbols of authority are turned on their heads to be lampooned; and learned from in ways only a FOOL may convey.
And perhaps in ways only a FOOL can comprehend.

Behind this mask are formulas - a trail of clues (and blind alleys) the King of FOOLs himself has left to help us solve his Tarot.
But, who is the Jester within our court - a Law or a Lie?

 

[Aeon418]

Source material. Few people seem to actually read it. But it doesn't stop them having lots of opinions anyway. This thread would be half the size if a fundamental source work had been absorbed at the start. (In particular chps. 6,7, & 8)

THE EQUINOX OF THE GODS
http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/eoftg/index.html

I thought this thread was going to be an examination and exploration of the actual text and doctrines of Liber Legis, and yet we seem to be hung up on points of origin, authenticity, and Egyptian antiquity.

 

[Aeon418]

Yes, but what Crowley borrows and how he puts it to use is significant.
Or was that Aiwass?

Which begs the question? Why look to ancient Egypt for the answers?

Thelema is drawn from the fictional monastery in Rabelais' satire

You're trotting it out as if it's some kind of great revelation, but it's old news dude. Crowley already explored that one. Back to those un-read sources again I'm afraid. Ho-hum....
http://www.geocities.com/hdbq111/hosted/antecedentsofthelema.html