Cult of the Hidden God

Cult of the Hidden God (rough draft) © Mogg Morgan

Cult of the Hidden God (rough draft) © Mogg Morgan I’m told that on the Lizard there exists a shamanic lizard cult who are dedicated to the ‘dark serpent goddess’, who is believed to be contained in the caves and dark places of the earth. Amidst great secrecy this Lizard Pella cult operates conducting their projects without without outside interference. People can become the vehicle for a tremendously powerful earth force that enables them, to heal and do magick .1 So it seems that not too far from here is to be found yet another of the tunnels of Set and a group of secret initiates involved in their exploration. If any are present today I hope they will excuse my feeble attempt to reveal some of our mysteries to such a worthy gathering.

The ‘Hidden God’ of my title signifies two things – the Holy Guardian Angel – secondly what is spoken about in many circles as the secret or hidden ruler of all followers of the magical path. In what follows I hope to give some indication of who this ‘Hidden Ruler’ might be – and secondly to describe some of the magical techniques the Hidden God has, at various times, communicated to his followers. What the purpose of magick? For one reason or another all of us here, to a greater or lesser extent, feel a calling to follow an ancient spiritual path. It is not the easiest of life life journeys. It can be quite a struggle. Contrary to what some sociologists maintain, magick has very few of the social benefits that come from the submersion in one of the other ‘so-called’ great religions. We follow what is known in in the east as the ‘way of the the Robert Ellis, writing of the cult in Meyn Mamvro (no 22, Dream Weavers of the Lizard) says: ‘The great secrecy with which the Lizard Pella cult operates is understandable, as they wish to carry on their projects projects without outside interference. People can become the vehicle for a tremendously powerful earth force that enables them, to heal and do magick.’ (W (Witchcraf itchcraftt in Cornwall. Kelvin I Jones (Oakmagic Publications, c1995) p32 1

You can purchase photocopies of articles from back numbers of MM . In this case the two articles would cost 70p inc postage. Make cheque/PO out to Meyn Mamvro Publications. For a full list of contents and index to previous MMs (nos.1-50) you can go to the web site at www.cornwt.demon.co.uk .

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householder’ – a middle way and is in many ways very unglamorous. If I give an example from my own experience. As some of you may know I have a penchant for imitating Christian priests. It fascinates me that one merely needs to adopt the physical mantle of a priest – by wearing the dog collar – in order to seamlessly bear the whole structure of that role. So at last year’ year ’s Kensal Green Cemetery Ce metery open day – I found myself answering intimate questions from recently bereaved relatives about who would have to pay the funeral director’s bill and who owned the corpse! (I was tempted to say I’ll have h ave it if you like) Perhaps it is a good thing that on the whole magicians and pagans, as yet, do no have this easy ride to increased status and influence. So if not these things what is the purpose of magick? Some would say there are two major purposes – one black one white. The only person I know who has adequately attempted to define de fine the differences between the two, black and white, is our good friend Aleister Crowley. Crowley. He does so by pointing to the major aim and thereby defines black magick as everything that is left. It’s It’s funny how all the great master’s critics over the years years have studiously avoided avoided this bit of his theorizing. In a nutshell Crowley Crowley states that we, the mystoi, should be one pointed and focussed on one overarching aim – one star in sight. That star represents the inner inner abiding spirit or genius that according to occult theory is within each of us viz ‘every man and every woman is a star’ –According to Crowley anything that is not relevant to this spiritual quest for personal transcendence and realisation of the true will – is strictly speaking black magick. For example a great deal of results magick or spellcraft is black. Magical work done for personal financial gain would also be counted as black. Expensive self help seminars with or without crystals are black. Of course Crowley, Crowley, like everyone else had to live – but he was prepared to live with the tension, the realisation that life cannot be wholly black or white but is in the words of an ancient Indian Gnostic text –many coloured or grey. These are the kind of concerns that make magicians magicians very unpopular. unpopular. It’s It’s also probably the reason why serious magicians are often feared and stigmatised as evil and black. But in truth we are all have some of the blackness in us, we are all creatures of the night. Which is why I’ve argued many times that the highly ambiguous Egyptian god-form Seth is a very appropriate icon for humanity. humanity. As it says in one of our holy books ‘my colour is black to the blind but I have a secret colour for those that know me...’ But before I go on to unravel this argument argument a little I want to to 2


try and explore what it might mean to have accomplished a little of the above spiritual aims – i.e. to have made a good stab at communicating with one’s inner guardian spirit. This description of magick was not new to Crowley – it is one of the corner stones of Neoplatonism. Neoplatonism. There is a very interesting account in Porphyry’s Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus, the neo-platonic philosopher who was born AD 205 in Lycopolis (city of the wolf) in Egypt and died 65 years later in Rome. 2 ‘. . .Plotinus possesed by birth something more than is accorded to other men. An Egyptian priest who had arrived in Rome and, through some friend, had been presented to the philosopher, became desirous of displaying his powers to him, and he offered to evoke a visible manifestation of Plotinus’ presiding presiding spirit. Plotinus readily consented and the evocation was made in the Temple of Isis, the only place, they say, which the Egyptian could find pure in Rome. At the summons a Divinity appeared, not a being of the spirit-ranks and the Egyptian exclaimed: “You “You are singularly s ingularly graced; the guiding-spirit within you is none of the lower degree but a god.” It was not possible however, to interrogate or even to contemplate this God any further, for the priest’s priest’s assistant, who had been holding the birds to prevent them flying away, away, strangled them, whether through jealousy jealousy or in terror. terror. ’ It’s It’s worth considering this issue of the guardian spirit for a while. Occult theory maintains that individuals have a guardian spirit allocated to them at birth. We We find this idea in many differing cultures of the ancient world. In India, this spirit, called a Gandharva, takes hold whilst the individual is still in the womb. In ancient Egypt the individual is said to be a conglomeration of seven3 parts Viz: Ren, Sekhem, Khu, Ba, Ka, Khaibit and Sekhu The name The power The Angel or as Heka ‘magical power’ The Heart The Double (ka) 2

Plotinus: The Ethical Treatises: Treatises: being the treatises of the first ennead ennead with Porphyry’s life of Plotinus and the Preller-Ritter extracts forming a conspectus of the Plotinian system, translated from the Greek by Stpehen Mackenna (Philip Lee Warner, Warner, publisher to the Medici M edici Society, 1917) p.11

Is seven (sefekh) linguistically connected with Seth, whose name means to cut or pierce and begins with same consonant – s – a bolt, perhaps a stylised from of Set wand also Budge says in his dictionary that it is same consonant as Hebrew Shin. 3

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The Shadow The Remains (Sekhu) (see Mailer/Ancient Evenings, chapter 4 for interesting realization of all this) The story of Plotinus belongs the classical period, when the Hermetic Her metic doctrine was brought to its highest expression in the melting pot of Greco Roman Egypt. Most people don’t know of the existence of o f this guardian spirit until near or after death. Some important magical rituals, deriving from ancient Egypt were able to activate this knowledge whilst the person was still living. The Egyptian god form Set was often connected with such operations. The quote from Plotinus makes it clear that this this spirit has a place in some divine hierarchy – put simple it can be an elemental spirit or in certain unusual circumstances it is what was know as a god (neter). I assume that communications of an elemental spirit s pirit will be very personal and confined to the interests of the individual. Whereas those of a god, will have implications that go beyond the interests of the lucky person. Plotinus’s HGA was a god we don’t know which one. In our own time we have the example, good or bad, of Aleister Crowley, Crowley, who claimed to have been one of the few modern magi who had successfully, successfully, if temporarily, temporarily, activated his HGA at an early point in his h is life. I’m talking principally about Aiwass Aiwass (‘I was’) – the discarnate entity that in some obscure way communicated co mmunicated a holy book of the law to Crowley almost one hundred years ago. There is a certain amount of argument in the literature as to the identity of ‘I was’.4 Even Crowley was unclear about the true identity of his own Holy Guardian Angel. This is very significant - most magicians I know, know, if they have made the contact at all, can usually quote chapter and verse about the nature of their HGA. 5 Crowley thought that Aiwass Aiwass is Satan. He wrote in a footnote to Liber ABA Magick 6 etc : 4

Perhaps a pun on ‘I was’

It’s a gray area and it seems to me that there is no real contradiction between the ‘minister of Hoor-paar-kraat’ still being a Setian.

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Have you ever considered why Crowley used a more archaic spelling of Magick, in the title of his magnum opus – Liber ABA, otherwise known as Magick in theory and practice. It’s the eleventh letter of many sacred alphabets including English. ‘Because the number 10 was regarded regarded by Qabalists as the stable number of the systems of Divine Emanation, or Sephiroth, the number eleven was considered

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‘The Beast 666 has preferred to let names stand as they are, and to proclaim simply that Aiwaz - the solar-phallic-hermetic ‘Lucifer’ is his Holy Guardian Angel and ‘The Devil’, Satan or Hadit of our particular unit of the starry universe. This serpent Satan, is not the enemy of Man, but He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil. He bade ‘Know Thy Self’ and taught initiation. He is ‘The Devil’ of the Book of Thoth. His emblem is Baphomet, the androgyne ...’ (p. 277 HB edition)

Crowley’s Crowley’s Holy Guardian angel appears to be some sort of amalgam of ancient Egyptian god-forms, Horus and Seth. Perhaps this duality is very appropriate for the new age, which according to occult theory is just now starting. Take for example exa mple the famous catchphrase ca tchphrase from Crowley’s Book of the Law: The one that goes ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.’ law.’ In some senses you couldn’t ask for a better definition of Egyptian Seth. It’s It’s the often-levelled critique of Seth that he wants his own way. And this is seen as a very human failing, we want our own way. way. So it’s it’s another example of how Egyptian Seth is a very important piece in the puzzle of the human psyche. 7

Seth, the Egyptian god of ambiguity was associated with foreign lands and the adversary of the god Osiris. Seth was usually depicted in human form with a head of indeterminate origin. He had a curved snout, erect square- tipped ears and a long forked tail. Sometimes he was represented in entirely animal form with a body similar to that of a greyhound. He was said to be the son either of Nuit and Geb or of Nuit and Ra, and the brother of Isis, Osiris and Nephthys. Nephthys was sometimes given as his consort, although he is more commonly associated with the foreign, Semitic goddesses Astarte and Anat. Despite his reputation, he had an important sanctuary at Ombos in Upper Egypt, his reputed birthplace, and had his cult was also prominent in the north-eastern region of the Nile delta.

accursed, because it was outside the system. Therion adopted eleven as his formula.’ (AC&HG p6). 7

(AC&HG p33) Affinities Affinities sough between Draconian cult and Tantrism Tantrism is survivor. Set is a very sexy god in AE – but but all have sexual qualities – Nepthys Nepthys has qualities of scarlet woman. Does Horus even have a consort.

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For a time during the third millenium BC, Seth replaced Horus as the major deity of the pharaohs. He also made a comeback during the time of Ramesses II. The war with Horus lasted eighty years, during which Seth tore out the left eye of his adversary and Horus tore out Seth's foreleg and testicles. Horus eventually emerged victorious, or was deemed dee med the victor by a council of the gods, and thus became the rightful ruler of the kingdoms of both Upper and Lower Egypt. In the Book of the Dead Seth was referred to as the "lord of the northern sky" and held responsible for storms and cloudy weather. Seth protected Re during his night voyage through the underworld against the Apophis-snake. On the other hand, Seth was a peril for ordinary Egyptians in the underworld8, where he was said to seize the souls of the unwary. Among the animals sacred to Seth were the desert oryx, crocodile, boar, and the hippopotamus in its aspect as a destroyer of boats and of planted fields. The pig was a taboo in Seth's cult. The Greeks later equated Seth with their demon-god Typhon. Typhon.9 Horus is the falcon-headed god, the son of the the goddess Isis and the god Osiris. Following the death of Osiris, the first king of Egypt, Isis retrieved her husband's body and hovered over it in the form of a sparrowhawk, fanning enough life back into him for her to conceive a son, Horus. She knew Seth would harm her child, so she fled the Nile delta and gave birth to Horus at Chemmis near Buto. With With the assistance of other deities, such as the goddesses Hathor and Selqet, Isis raised Horus until he was old enough to challenge Seth and claim his royal inheritance.10 It is these two gods in particular – Horus and Seth, along with their associated family and consorts that appear to be re-manifesting in the modern magical realm. You You might think that what I’ve so far said s aid it relevant only to to a very small group of dedicated occultists. occultists. But it is possible to show that what I’ve called ‘the cult of the hidden god’ is the secret force behind many, many, if not all magical magical currents of the new age. In that I include Wicca and Witchcraft, Witchcraft, Tantrism, Tantrism, even the Northern tradition. But that argument I intend to leave to one side for the present otherwise I’m in danger of never finishing his talk!!11 Of course, all this has been said before most notable in the works of Crowley’s Crowley’s last student, Kenneth Grant. I was recently reading Kenneth Grant’s Grant’s ultimate instalment in his Typhonian trilogies this one called The Ninth Arch. ‘The Ninth Arch is an ancient Masonic concept relating to 8 9

10 11

Perhaps not in all accounts – see sarcophagus of Sethy 1 edited from Social Science Data Lab Edited from Anthony C. DiPaolo, DiPaolo, M.S. (internet) See for example the eightfold festivals and miracle pla y of Abydos

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the legend of the three Grand Masters engaged upon the erection of King Solomon’s Solomon’s Temples. Temples. After it was completed, the three deposited therein those things that were important to the craft, such as the arc of the covenant, a pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, the book of the law etc.’ Inscribed about it was the lost or unutterable Word.’ Word.’ The purpose of Grant’s Grant’s book is to explain this mystery and reveal the word. The heart of Grant’s book is a 924 verse vers e Liber, the Book of the Spider, a mystical text channelled to Grants New-Isis Lodge in the 1950s. The book’s book’s central thesis is that something out there is trying to tell us something, using a whole variety of mediums and modes of communication. Crowley seems to have foreseen that we were on the brink of contact with extra terrestrials. And indeed soon after his death in 1947 the the first flying saucer was spotted by Kenneth Arnold. This triggered a ‘massive ‘massive interest in alien phenomena’. And ‘whatever one’s attitude to such phenomena – positive, negative or indifferent – there is no just denial of the fact that the wave initiated an era of psycho-mythology unparalleled since man conceived the idea of the ‘gods’…. unless, therefore, we are to write off the entire ‘myth’ as an unprecedented mass delusion, we have to accept the fact that something approaching a seemingly new and inexplicable nature began slowly and insidiously to disturb the world in the year 1947.’. (p xix) Perhaps we could say the process began earlier than that – maybe in as far back as 1875, the date of Crowley’s Crowley’s birth and also the foundation of the Theosophical Society. Society. We can argue about time scales but whatever way you look at it, for a hundred hundr ed years or more, with increasing intensity, intensity, something out there has been trying to tell us something. And that something is the ‘hidden god’ – that has projected itself forward into our future. It can’t have escaped notice that my title bears an obvious reference to Kenneth Grant’s Grant’s 1973 masterpiece ‘Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God’. This book is probably the most sophisticated s ophisticated work on Crowley’s system of sexual gnosis to have been published since the old man’s death. Yes KG relies on what are. IMO, defunct historical sources – such as Gerald Massey, Massey, who wrote about ancient Egypt before be fore the existence of a standard Egyptian Egyptian dictionary. dictionary. Hence Massey’s Massey’s and Grant’s Grant’s confusion of Set and Horus. (see p 22) for an example example. Even so, Kenneth Grant’s Grant’s numerology may be suspect, his historical sources unreliable, but his poetical intuition is strangely prescient. 7


In a nutshell he says: The Hidden God is a force from the ancient magick that is manifesting in the modern magical revival. That there is always a connection between the individual HGA of modern magicians and the Hidden God. [show slides] 2. That’s That’s all quite complex so I want now to move onto to an examination of the magical techniques that are used in this modern cult of the Hidden God. I want to show you the crooked wand. [Show model and slides] This wand is made from Hippotamus Ivory, the Male Hippo being one of Seth’s cult animals. Wouldn’t you agree that its shape alone is very suggestive of some kind of lunar mystery? Although there is an Egyptian Egyptian lunar deity (Thoth sometimes Khonsu) the Egyptian Seth has many important lunar functions.12 ‘The magical wand is . . .the principal weapon of the Magus, and the name of that wand is the Magical Oath.’ Thus writes Crowley in one of the highly informative chapters on ceremonial contained in his masterwork Liber ABA ABA, otherwise known as Magick . ‘The Magical Will,’ he continues, ‘is the wand in your hand by which the Great Work is accomplished, by which the Daughter is not merely set upon the throne of the Mother, but assumed into the Highest.’ In the Thoth Tarot the Prince of Wands’ in various versions drawn by Frieda Harris is shown holding the so-called Phoenix wand as wielded by the grade Adeptus Major in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Several of these wands were modeled on the ceremonial scepters of Ancient Egypt. But interestingly the so-called so- called ‘Phoenix-wand’ is actually 13 the ‘was ’ or ‘sceptre of well being’.14 The iconographers of the Golden Dawn seemed to have missed the fact that the head of this scepter is actually that of Set, and not the solar image they presumed. It might also be that the original wielders of the Was-sceptre were also in denial about its original meaning. This fact is not, as far as I know, common 12

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Indeed Thoth is a later substitution for Seth Note homonym with ‘I was’

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Notes

1

B William C Ha Hayes,

The Scepter of Egypt: a background for the study of the Egyptian antiquities in the Metroplitan Metroplitan Museum of Art , 2 Vols, Abrams, NY 1953

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knowledge amongst current Golden Dawn savants, which may account for the fact that some modern realizations of the wand have moved even further away from its original functionality and indeed power. In very ancient Egypt of Old Kingdom times and before, Egyptian men often carried a stick or staff or some kind. Sometimes these were like the European quarterstaff.1 One suggestion I got from my friend the cunning man Jack Daw, is that the original of the Was Was scepter may have been the kind of hooked wand used to hold back grass or wheat for the stroke of a sickle. It serves to protect the harvester’ harvester ’s left hand from been accidentally struck by the blade. If true this maybe explains the Was-scepter’s Was-scepter’s name as Sceptre of well being’. be ing’. The significance of the forked foot of the WasWasscepter is a mystery, it may be connected with the binding of the scepter s cepter to the arm or perhaps have a function to do with the warding off of snakes, a common enough hazard of harvesters, The Was-sceptres of Middle Kingdom times became purely mystical or symbolic. The image of the ‘was-scepter’ also appeared in carved decorated borders on Egyptian reliefs, where two or more scepters hold up the vault of heaven. But still the Scepter shows an unexpected connection between Set and agriculture and this is worthy of some s ome thought. But there was another wand commonly used in ancient Egypt and this too bore an image of Set, as indeed one would expect in operation of a more magical / esoteric esoteric nature. Many examples of this this kind of wand have been found, and some of the finest are displayed in the more important museum collections. collections. Most museums have numerous other examples of this type of wand in their vaults. This instrument instru ment is constructed from a male hippopotamus tusk. I would remind re mind you that the male hippopotamus is viewed as a totem of Set. The more aggressive male hippopotamus were a favorite quarry of the ancient Egyptian hunter. hunter. The tusk shape demonstrates a clear Setian association, asso ciation, both from its material and decoration. Its curved nature reminds us of the lunar mysteries. mysteries. We We are told that the wands were used in acts of highly personal magick, the most quoted example being to ward off o ff hungry demons during the critical moments of childbirth and infancy. infancy. This is the realm of popular magick magick as opposed to the more exoteric variety of magical religion practiced in the temples. I think it would probably be wrong to draw too impervious a line between both realms. And in fact the use of the hippopotamus tooth wand shows a clear connection between both realms through the agency of Set, here equally at home ho me among the holy family of the temples and scaring lesser demons in the hearth. Examples of such wands show they were well used and treasured over several generations. The pointed tip shows signs of wear, as if it has been 9


repeated used to draw mystical signs, in sand or clay. clay. It is also likely that the wand was used to draw protective circles, like the cartouche’ inscribed around the name of the King. When the tips broke off from repeated use, the ends were pinned back in place. The ubiquitous nature of the head of Set is something that warrants meditation. To To acquire such a wand in the modern world might prove difficult. I suggest perhaps carved or shaped wood, coated with ivory coloured paint or perhaps resin. The more linear was-sceptre suggests the throwing outwards or the more static instantiation of magical power. The curved or hooked hippopotamus wand suggests several additional functions; the drawing of sigils mentioned above, as a sigil itself, laid beneath a bed or perhaps hung on a wall. But also I feel the drawing of things to the magician - in order to use, spear or bind them to one’s power.

Like many powerful ‘night-side’ spirits, Seth clearly has a beneficent side. His ferocious side may be a mask that tests our true desire for initiation. There is also said to be a secret method by which the phases of the moon are somehow ‘controlled’ or predicted by Seth’s northern constellation Ursa Major, The Plough etc. But the primary lunar reference comes from the fact that in myth, Seth dismembers the first king Osiris into 14 pieces.15 Fourteen days is a half lunation – so it seems likely that what we are seeing here is a very ancient system of correspondences between the parts of the moon and the human body. body. I’ve argued elsewhere that the contention found in several authors, including Kenneth Grant’s Grant’s of some kind of parallel between the Tantrik Tantrik doctrine of the Kalas or lunar phases and its earlier Egyptian model is is essentially correct. In fact it seems highly likely that many of the secret body magick techniques technique s of the ancient Egyptians were transferred or certainly only survive in India, after the systematic destruction of the Egyptian religion and sacred sa cred technologies by Christianity. Christianity.

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(AC&HG p55) for sexual gnosis and yoga as presumed from Egypt and decipherable in glyph of

Nuit (see p 55)

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In the courtly erotic texts such as the Kama Sutra there are laid out certain doctrines. Before I go onto to describe that – a couple of points are worthy of note. Occult tradition from time of Egyptians states that the moon has four phases. The fourth phase is rarely talked about in in books but is reserved as secret knowledge to be transmitted orally. Incidentally you might consider what happens to the tarot if you restore the five ‘hidden’ cards of the major arcana. This has led to the common misunderstanding that the moon is threefold. It has been said that that the so-called triple goddess of ‘virgin/maiden, mother, mother, crone’ does not represent a very positive set of female archetypes. Some would say the three – virgin, mother, crone are the three times in a wo woman’ man’ss life when she has least fun – sexually that is. Others that they represent the least lea st empowered aspects of a woman’s woman’s life. 2. The elision of the fourth phase is especially especially interesting. Four is in many cultures an inauspicious number. It is often used to designate the fourth and most heterodox part of a system. Hence the fourth Veda Veda – the Atharva is the most magical and diverse. The ‘fourth’ Book of Occult Philosophy – the ‘fourth’ ‘fourth’ Book of the Law. Law. So the fourth phase of anything, is from a particular perspective likely to be the most interesting. In Egyptian cosmology there was a fourth or ‘secret’ region, called Setaue and conceived as being behind the seven stars of the Big Dipper and therefore ruled by Seth, (Webb p.34). Sokar, Sokar, an early form of Osiris was called the ‘lord of the mouth of the passages to this secret place, ie some connection here between Setaue and fear of initiation. The fourth lunar stage is the dark waning moon, the moon’s moon’s final quarter 16 – and perhaps as an archetype this is the scarlet woman – she may physically be either of the other three, i.e. a virgin, a mother or even an older woman – but in a sense she stands outside of these as a woman in her own right. You might struggle hard to find a goddess to fill this role – most trad love goddesses of the past don’t quite do it – with the possible exception of Seth’s Seth’s sometime consort Nepthys.17 The response of modern magi is to make one up – hence Babalon.18 16

Scarlet indicate a magical affinity with Set (although KH presumable following Massey think Horus. (AC&HG p33) Affinities Affinities sough between Draconian cult and Tantrism is survivor. survivor. Set is a very sexy god in AE – but but all have sexual qualities – Nepthys Nepthys has qualities of scarlet woman. Does Horus even have a consort. 17 18

2. The Scarlet Woman. Woman. Chapter eleven on Magick ought to be significant – (AC& HG p28) The eleventh sign of the zodiac = Aquarius – Sequis

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The term ‘kala’ as found in the works of Kenneth Grant, is a Sanskrit term meaning part or digit. There is a maxim in Hinduism that that ‘Man is a microcosm of the universe– as above so below’. Sound familiar? This is pretty much identical with the Hermetic doctrine of the so-called emerald tablet. So if the physical moon can be described as have 28 different different parts or phases throughout the month, 14 waxing, 14 waning. 19 Then these parts are also reflected in the subtle anatomy of every human being. This Tantrik Tantrik system is not to be confused with the system of talismanic magick based on the lunar mansions popular in grimoires from time of Pope Honorius until about the time ti me of Francis Barrett when it fell into 20 disuse These 28 parts are most noticeable in the doctrine of erogenous zones (chandrakala)– zones of sensitivity that migrate around the body through the course of a month. KG says sign transmits influence of Set because it is ruled by Saturn – sets planet (actually sets planet is mercury) 19 See for example the Picatrix where its Indian origin is acknowledged. acknowledged. see Chapter 4 p19sq. Ghayat Al-Hakim, Picatrix: Goal of the Wise, vol 1, Oroboros Press 2002. 20 The system appears in some but by no means all grimoires. One of the earliest is the Sworn Book of Honorius the Magician in which it appears as a mere listing of the angels of the mansions of the moon. It also appears more full y in the work of Cornelius Agrippa. Another Another important instance is Barrett's Magus in which the system broadly derives from Agrippa. See book ii p.165. After Barrett the magical revival does not seem to have favoured the Lunar Mansions or mansions of the Moon. I am unaware of the Golden dawn taking an interest in them, although they studied other Indian derived systems like the tattwas.

The other kalas. (The search for ojas) This is extracted from some notes I made in the Welcome Institute for the History of Medicine about ten years ago. I was not so strict with myself about noting every reference as I am now. So this is raw research without backing. The subject that then interested me was the production of ojas a cold oily white substance which permeates the body of the Vira (tr. (tr. hero equivalent to magus in some ways.) It makes him indifferent to grief, injury and loss and indeed by the deliberate precipitation of raga (turbulent emotion) the vira can extend his psychic powers (Siddhis) in many ways. It is thus of the essence of the left hand path (vamacara) being body directed and physical rather than mentally directed and spiritual. There are also the Nityas: the Kali Nityas (darkening moon) and Lalita Nityas (lightening moon). These are the source of of the "Kalas" as they are popularly known in the West. West. Broadly speaking the Goddess emits one of these Kalas per day, day, each with its own meditative images, mantrams and essences. Experienced adepts can extract from each kala essences by which they may become a vira (hero) of the left hand path. On one level these essences are vaginal secretions, at another they are spirtual essences. At another they are powers Siddhis and so on. It is quite clear from the literature that this initiation can only be channelled, manifest and given by a suitable and willing suvasini at the appropriate phase of the moon. No suvasini. No initiation. Also of course there is the great interpretation of the Kalas via the teaching of Kenneth Grant.

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One interesting source for this is Kalyaanaamalla’s Kalyaanaamalla’s Anangaranga: an Indian erotic. (see Chaukhambha Orientalia 1983) trans S N Prasad. The Anangaranga is one of the last of a long line of the important texts of courtly love that that began with the the more famous Kama Sutra. It was written in the sixteenth century. century. It seems to contain much tantrik material, material, hardly surprising when you consider that most tantrik magi made their names by providing magical services to kings, most often in the form of battle and defensive magick. ‘Having found out which type she belongs to studious men of pleasure will do well to learn the nature of the shifting erogenous zones in women. Kalyaanamalla describe in detail a mysterious connection between the varying digits of the moon and the changing erogenous zones in women. In other words each day of the lunar month is supposed to have a definite bearing on the exact position of the erogenous zone in a woman. Speaking generally, generally, from the full moon day of the Chandrakala (as the erogenous zone is termed) descends by the left side of the woman from the forehead through the eyes, cheeks, cheek s, lips, chin, neck, shoulder, armpit, breast, the side, hip, public region, genitals, knee, ankle and the foot; on the new moon-day it starts its upward course by the right side in a like manner and reaches the forehead on the full moon day. day. The amount of amorous urge centred around a Chandrakalaas is not, however, equal for all women on a particular day.’ for example: ‘On the first day of the lunar month (both bright and dark) the studious man of pleasure would embrace the neck of the Padmini type of woman with one hand and with the other he should hold her cheeks, hip, back and armpits should be marked with the teeth; her lips should be sucked and forehead be kissed passionately pass ionately.. In order to arouse romance (to keep her in good humour) she should be roused to a pitch so that she will be easily gratified by kissing.’ II.4 In table form looks like a kamea!! The number represents the say of the month, starting from new moon, when particular woman will be most randy r andy.. 1 6 3 9

2 8 7 14

4 10 11 15

5 12 13 30

Padmini Chittrini Shankhini Hastini 13


All very formulaic – this this after all is not a magical magical text. But there is a kernel of an important and ancient magical technique. Contemporaneously with the above, Arabic textbooks on magick, for example Picatrix, were using the Indian system of Kalas for the construction of talismans, many with erotic intent.

I have to say that there is evidence for a similar approach in ancient Egypt and moreover that the migration of erogenous zones can be applied to female and male practitioners. How to use this: I’ve selected four key methods 1. Karez Karezza za/A /Ast stral ral sex. sex. 2. Euchar Eucharist ist or Cakes Cakes of Light Light ritual ritualss 3. Mens Menstr trua uall mand mandal alas as 4. Dream ream cont contro roll

1. Karez Karezza za/A /Ast stral ral sex. sex. ‘Karezza was a name na me coined (from the Italian for "caress") "car ess") by Alice Bunker Stockham in the 19th century. century. It refers to non-religious non-r eligious spiritual sexual practices that draw upon tantric techniques of body control but do not involve any of tantra's cultural or iconographic symbolism. (from internet) Let me start by again talking a little bit about Kenneth Grant. He is important because he is our one on e remaining link with Aleister Crowley. Crowley. Grant has more than any other living magician come to be seen as the 14


personification of sexual magick. So how he does it and where he puts it it is probably instructive. When Grant was quite young, maybe eighteen, nineteenth. He was for a while AC’s AC’s secretary and one of his last students. Grant married young and that relationship with his wife Steffi has lasted his entire life. I think you’ll agree that’s quite a different lifestyle to his master mas ter.. From the outside Grant’s Grant’s life looks the very opposite oppos ite of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. He is fairly hostile to homosexuality. He does not engage in extra marital affairs. The core of his practical works stems from an intense seven-year period between the death of Crowley in 1947 and the death of Karl Germer (OTO financial caretaker) in 1954. Since then he has run his magical organisation as a virtual recluse communicating with the world via his books and a voluminous correspondence all from a 1950s ‘Remington’ typewriter. Now Grant’s relationship with Steffi is surely very intense and creative. But outside of that Grant has entered into scores of astral relationships with a succession of ‘scarlet women’, usually serially but often in tandem. The latest is with novelist Mary Hedger – whose History of Fun novels attempt to sketch this tension between arousal and enlightenment. This is the essential diference in interpretation between KG and AC encapsulated in words ‘Noli ‘Noli me tangere’ do not touch. – 21 So here is one example of a sex magick technique that is similar to the tantrik way known as Sahajayana – the natural way. ‘The Sahajayana sect of Buddhism, was distinguished by the doctrine that eternal bliss can arise from sexual pleasure and that the Buddha in the form of Vajrasattva Vajrasattva had ritual intercourse with yoginis in four sacred places or seats.’ se ats.’ sexual magick p.101 ‘One intermediate intermediate point between sexual magick in pairs and in groups might be found in the cult of the Sahajiyas. 22 This is a cult, with many similarities to tantrism, although it is based on the mythology of Krishna, the dark tribal incarnation of Vishnu, and Radha, the wife of a herdsman, but also Krishna's ritual partner. This pattern is mirrored in the Sahajiya ritual group, a truly eternal triangle. The women initiates of the cult form 21 22

AC & Hidden God, p. 42. My attention was first drawn to this topic by an article in the first and second issues of Starfire , although the standard sources are Bose, Sahajiya Cult , Dasgupta's Obscure Religious Cults and Dimock, The Secret Moon. E Dimock, The Hidden Moon, (Rider ).

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temporary relationships with male initiates other than their husbands. Between these two an important relationship develops through which they come to experience the rasa or true religious love for the divine, which they see in each other. The driving forces for the growth of this rasa is the unconsummated love between them. In some cases ritual intercourse does take place, but it is quite possible to enter this magical relati relationsh onship ip solel solely y on an astral astral or non-phy non-physic sical al level. level. These magical magical alli allian ance cess may may end end at any any time time,, and and it is the the elem elemen ents ts of fant fantas asy y, unrequited love and the unattainable that can give it a power to create physical rasa in a way similar to those found in medieval grimoires. 23

2. Cakes of light For this I recommend Alex Bennett’s Bennett’s paper on Eucarist Magick. Making of so-called cakes of light is an ancient ritual – revivified in the third chapter of Crowley’s Crowley’s book of the law. Liber Al , Chapter III vs 23-25

23. For perfume mix meal and honey & thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood. 24. The best blood is of the moon, monthly: then the fresh blood of a child, or droppings from the host of heaven; then of enemies; then of the priest or the worshippers; last of some beast, no matter what. 25. This burn: of this make cakes & eat unto me. This hath also another use; let it be laid before me, and kept thick with perfumes of your orison: it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me

The Blood: This has to be fresh! Remember this is a sacrifice. It is no good preparing this ingredient before making the cake of light. Every type of blood no matter what type you choose to use has to come directly from its source. The other ingredients should be prepared before making the sacrifice. The blood types in descending order of strength are: 1,Blood of the moon, monthly (menstrual blood); 2, The fresh blood of a child (placental 23

See example 'three spirits in a chamber ritual' described in Sexual Magick p48)

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blood) or droppings from the host of heaven (semen); 3, Of enemies (blood taken from the veins of anti Thelemites); 4, Of the priest or of the worshippers (blood taken from the veins, as self sacrifice or from you or other Thelemites); 5, Of some beast, no matter what (blood taken from any animal whether it be from the veins, menstruation or semen). If using menstrual blood it is best to use one gush than to try to collect the whole lot over the few days. As with semen, one ejaculation is better than waiting to come again. These are ar e both used in Tantric or Tankhem ( Egyptian Tantra ) rites and are best done solitarily or with a Sex Magick partner. partner. Preparation

Once you have decided what blood to use, first prepare the other ingredients. Taking Taking roughly equal parts par ts of all of them, the oil of AbraMelin and the olive oil counted as one. Mix the flour and honey together into a sticky ball. Add the wine in small amounts, stirring it in, until it forms a soupy liquid, not too thick as it will burn when cooked. You You may want a fraction more wine than the other ingredients to get the right consistency. consistency. Now add the oil mixture and mix it in well as it will tend to separate at first. It is now ready for the blood and can be refrigerated if necessary until the required moment. When ready take the mixture to the altar and do you’re prefered invocation, make the sacrifice and add the blood. It is important to include a powerful invocation to protect a blood rite, even if the cakes are not to be used exclusively to him. You’re You’re own deity may be very powerful, but you need a force that is most definitely Thelemic and as Ra Hoor Khuit is the chief of the gods of Thelema he rules over this rite. How They Are To Be Used This method requires a ‘ visible object of worship ‘, and cannot be used with any supernal deity.. The best one to use is your own personal Holy Guardian Angel Deity. Deity. If you don’t have one then start with a Solar, Luna or planetary deity that you particularly like within the system you are most familiar with.

Set up an image of the god or goddess that you choose above your alter and lay the cakes out in front of it. Then do your Abra-Melin Abra-Melin devotional prayer or orison as it’s it’s called. This consists of burning AbraMelin incense while evoking the deity with a heart felt prayer, honouring it, written by yourself. Then anointing your Ajna Chakra ( Third Eye ) or all the chakras, with Abra-Melin oil, followed by an invocation and meditation upon the deity. At special times, i.e. the deity’s holy day, or 17


when you think you need a boost, after doing the orison dip one of the cakes in some red wine and burn it as incense, feeding the god, then eat one yourself.

3. menst menstru rual al manda mandala lass The next useful technique is the making of a menstrual mandala sometimes called the writing of a magical record but it must be keyed into the cycles of the moon. 4. dream incubation On further essential technique is the practice of dream control. Begin by using the techniques of Dion Fortune – as described in her novels. Ie enter the astral temple in order to go to sleep – i.e. at bed time – if using the Setian temple make Sekhem to Amon ra – and allow just sleep. The riding of the ‘dreamy night air ’ is especially appropriate for the hidden god Set, who has many associations with dream control and is said in ancient dream manuals to be the source of evil sleep i.e. night mares. Set is the hidden god ruler of cosmos. He is associated with the path of self knowledge and initiation rather than more static Osirian way. Osiris represents the efficacious past and contrasts with Setian (and Horian) way of the future. (Webb) (Webb)

Conclusion There’s There’s quite a good statement of magical cosmology in, of all places, Ann Rice’s Rice’s novel ‘Queen of the Damned’24.

‘There is no god but man’ but we share this world with various spirits. ‘The spirits spoke to us only telepathically, telepathically, . . . , they were invisible; but their presence could be felt; they had distinct personalities; and our family of witches had over many generations given them various names.’ We divided them as sorcerers s orcerers have always done into good and evil; but there is no evidence that they themselves have any sense of right and 24

Warner Books, 1988

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wrong. The evil sprits were those who were openly hostile to human hu man beings and who liked to play malicious tricks, such as throwing of stones, the making of wind and other such pesky things.’ p358 ‘In those early times, when the spirits spoke . . . on the side of the mountain, what human being would have believed that the spirits were irrelevant things? Even we were captives of their power, thinking it our duty to use the gifts we possessed for the good of our people, …’ ‘Again and again we have witnessed the birth of cults and religions – the dreary proclamations and miracles and the subsequent promulgation of the creeds inspired by these ‘events’.’ ‘We have seen the human mind slowly abandon the traditions of law ‘We based upon revelation, to seek ethical truths through reason; and a way of life based upon respect for the physical and the spiritual as perceived by all human beings.’ p. 495 The Hidden God was once a human being being like you or I. Over the long years he has been transformed into a powerful spirit that despite his frightening form teaches initiation and liberation. When the Poet WB Yeats encountered this spirit he thought first to spend the rest of his life analysing and codifying codifying the experience. But the Hidden Hidden God said no – he had brought him metaphors for poetry. poetry. So I should perhaps end on some of that:

…‘Turn that I may expound …‘Turn What’s bowed your shoulder and made pale your cheek And saw her sitting upright on the bed; or was it she that spoke or some great Djinn? I say that a Djinn spoke. A livelong hour She seemed the learned man and I the child Truths without father without father came, came, truths that no book Of all the uncounted books that I have read, Nor thought out of her mind or mine begot, Self-born, High-born and solitary truths, Those terrible implacable straight lines Draw through the wandering vegetative dream, Even those truths that when my bones are dust Must drive the Arabian host. …‘The signs and shapes; 19


All those abstractions that you fancied were From the great Treatise of Parmenides; Par menides; All, all those gyres and cubes and midnight things Are but a new expression of her body Drunk with the bitter sweetness of her youth. And now my utmost mystery is out. A woman’s woman’s beauty is a storm-tossed banner; Under it wisdom stands, and I alone – Of all Arabia’s Arabia’s lovers I alone Nor dazzled by the t he embroidery, nor lost In the confusion of its night-dark folds, Can hear the armed man speak. (The Gift of Harun Rasid

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Cult of the Hidden God

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