Unicursal Hexagram

[Aeon418]

Equal 'sided' unicursal hexagram .... you lost me there ... do you mean the lines that make up the 'outside' of the figure?

The lines that form the figure can't be equal and still fit in a circle.

I'm going to assume you know the placement of the Sun, Moon, and elements on a uni hex.
Find a picture of a unicursal hexagram traced within a circle. Now measure the length of the line between the top Sun point to one of the two elemental points connected to it.

Now measure the length of the line connecting any of the elemental points. Notice the difference? Because the element to element lines pass through the center of the circle they are equal to the diameter of the circle. The lines that connect the top and bottom points can't possibly be the same length because they don't pass through the center of the circle.

 

[Zephyros]

How feng shui of him, seeing evil in imbalance and irregular lines.

 

[Aeon418]

How feng shui of him, seeing evil in imbalance and irregular lines.

The hexagram is theoretically meant to be a symbol of balance and harmony. In a regular hexagram each line is of equal length. But a unicursal hexagram drawn within a circle has unequal lines. At one point in time that bugged Crowley, but he got over it, apparently.

The one in the Book of Thoth is different though. I think the center point is not meant to be merely the place where the lines cross. It's the place where the lines converge. But it is on a different plane to the other points. That's how the lines can be of equal length.

 

[Zephyros]

It does seem three dimensional. A beautiful symbol, really, wedding all kinds of different meanings and ideas. It isn't only important, but it looks good, too.

With many symbols, you don't get that.

 

[ravenest]

The lines that form the figure can't be equal and still fit in a circle.

I'm going to assume you know the placement of the Sun, Moon, and elements on a uni hex.
Find a picture of a unicursal hexagram traced within a circle. Now measure the length of the line between the top Sun point to one of the two elemental points connected to it.

Now measure the length of the line connecting any of the elemental points. Notice the difference? Because the element to element lines pass through the center of the circle they are equal to the diameter of the circle. The lines that connect the top and bottom points can't possibly be the same length because they don't pass through the center of the circle.

Ahhh ... yeah, I did that years ago . Besides, I can tell just by looking at it .

Thats why I wrote ... what I did write

and questioned your use of 'sides' and asked if you actually meant lines.

 

[ravenest]

Many dont like this, but a great usage I saw of it was for its 'unicursal' ability when 'making one' in the air in ceremony ).

 

[Zephyros]

Many dont like this, but a great usage I saw of it was for its 'unicursal' ability when 'making one' in the air in ceremony ).

Instead of, say, the pentagrams in the LBRP? I wonder, would that change anything?

 

[Aeon418]

Instead of, say, the pentagrams in the LBRP? I wonder, would that change anything?

Not instead of pentagrams. But you can use the unicursal hexagram in place of traditional hexagrams.

This comes in handy when invoking or banishing Sol. The traditional Golden Dawn method is to trace all six planetary hexagrams, one after the other. It may be symbolically valid, but it's a bit over the top and clunky in my opinion. Using the unicursal hexagram is much simpler, quicker, and neater.

Some people use the unicursal hexagram in place of all the hexagrams. This is based on Israel Regardie's old book, Ceremonial Magic. (DuQuette reprinted the same hexagrams in his ritual book.) Later on it was pointed out to Regardie that the uni hex had already been defined in a Golden Dawn paper as the four elements under the presidency of the Sun and Moon, emanating from Spirit. Regardie said he forgot about that.

 

[ravenest]

yes instead of planetary hexagrams to invoke or dispel a planetary influence.

Its about drawing a hex in the air ... like on paper ... do it without taking the pen of the page ... in the air - do it like you are not limited by having to 'etch-a-sketch' in the air.

Detailed as in the GD ... Regardie 'forgot' ... laughing smilie ? ? ?

Pshhhh !

'Let success be thy proof.'

 

[Aeon418]

Detailed as in the GD ... Regardie 'forgot' ... laughing smilie ? ? ?

Pshhhh !

James A. Eshelman posed the question to Regardie, and that's the answer he got.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the section concerning the 'hexangle' and it's attributions, has been edited out of the popular Llewellyn version of Regardie's The Golden Dawn. Was this a Stella Matutina revision of the original Polygons and Polygrams paper? The S.M. is the order that Regardie was a member of, not the G.D.
However the complete paper does appear in the New Falcon edition of The Complete Golden Dawn.

'Let success be thy proof.'

And rightly so. But there is an issue of context here. How did Crowley understand the symbol, and how is he presenting it.

Even though Crowley's notes on the unicursal hexagram are sparse and fragmentary, there is no evidence that he considered it a planetary symbol. All the evidence points to Crowley using the figure in the same way he would have learned it in the Golden Dawn 4=7 grade.

So when it's appears in Liber V vel Reguli, Crowley's intention was for it to be an invocation of Sol. Using Regardie's system, without realising the difference, you would be invoking Saturn at the same point in the ritual.