New Aeon

The following magickal mythology has its roots in ancient Egypt, but its actual origin in Aleister Crowley's 1904, The Book of the Law. For those of you who have heard all sorts of nasty things about Uncle Al but haven't actually read any of his works - I recommend a little session at the library. Crowley was a human being who had habits that one might find agreeable or not, just as all of us do; nevertheless, the guy could write, and he could practice magick (and climb mountains). His accounts of magickal practice are some of the most thorough and scientific explorations ever described. (I was tempted to include a short biography of Crowley at this point, but there have been so many good ones published lately, it seems unnecessary. Take a look at Israel Regardie's The Eye in the Pyramid, or Richard Cammel's biography of Crowley. Also, and most importantly, there is Crowley's own superb autobiography, The Confessions of aleister Crowley, which makes for some most engrossing reading.)

Some of Crowley's most interesting rituals, for our purposes, are his Thelemic rituals. Drawing on the Book of the Law mythology, the purpose of these rituals is none other than the understanding and accomplishment of True Will. These are called " thelemic" from the Greek word Thelema, meaning Will. The key tenet of thelemic work is: " Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." This has several corollaries, including: " Every man and every woman is a star, " and " Love is the law, love under will." I think this can make some sense to you without much more explanation, in view of our previous discussions of True Will versus the whims of cultural conditioning. (EXERCISE #11.1. Banish and consecrate.

2. Read The Book of the Law.3. Close your circle.)

Give these words a little contemplation, though, if you'd like.

Having this system available can be a great boon to the magickian who is undertaking the task of learning what hir True Will is. Whether you use Crowley's rituals as written, or use the symbolism to produce your own rituals (as we will in later chapters), you may find that these make useful additions to your repertoire.

NUIT

Nuit (or Nu, or Nut) is the Egyptian sky-goddess. The element that she represents in some of the rituals is that of air. In our expanded, modem view of the sky, Nuit becomes the goddess of infinite space. She is the void. " 0 Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus that men speak not of Thee as One but as None and let them speak not of thee at-all since thou art continuous. None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two. For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world that the pain of division is as nothing and the joy of dissolution all." Nuit is often symbolized as a woman, her body the color of night and filled with stars, arched across the heavens.

HADIT

Hadit is the infinitely small and omnipresent point. It is single-minded consciousness itself, the serpent kundalini coiled, latent, at the base of the spine. Hadit is complementary to Nuit, the male to her female, existence to fill her nothingness. " In the sphere I am everywhere, the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found... I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star... 'Come unto me' is a foolish word; for it is I that go." The element that Hadit represents in ritual use is fire, and he is symbolized as a winged disk.

According to this mythology, the interplay of these two forces, the infinite void and the single point, produces all manifest phenomena.

RA HOOR KHUIT

Ra Hoor Khuit is the falcon-headed solar god of the ancient Egyptians. " He" is the conjunction of Nuit and Hadit, as it manifests in our local backwater of the universe. More properly, this conjunction should be called HERU RA HA, a double god consisting of Ra Hoor Khuit, the visible, violent god of war, and Hoor Paar Kraat (or Harpocrates) the god of silence who is invisible and withdrawn. Ra Hoor Khuit propounds a method of mystical attainment hidden within metaphor of battle: " Choose ye an island! Fortify it! Dung it about with enginery of war!... Lurk! Withdraw! Upon them! this is the Law of the Battle of Conquest: thus shall my worship be about my secret house... Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour of your arms." As a prediction of how the world would manifest after 1904, this ain't too bad: " I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me & are abased."

In this Thelemic system, when Hadit aspires upward, through the spine, to Nuit, above the head, they meet and interact as Ra Hoor Khuit in the heart center. This is, according to these rituals, the place where the True Will can become manifest.

EXERCISE #12

1. Banish and consecrate.

2. With your thumb held between the first and second fingers, draw a circle above and around your head. Vibrate the word NUIT, and, as you do so, imagine a star-spangled night sky above you.

3. Touch the base of your spine with your thumb (held as above), and imagine your consciousness withdrawing to a single point at that spot. If you can, be in that spot. Vibrate the word HADIT.

4. Move your thumb up along the centerline of the front of your body until it touches the center of the chest. Imagine that part of you, the heart center, filling with the aspiration of Hadit from below, and the blessing of Nuit from above. Allow them to mingle, interact and glow as much as they have a tendency to do (or imagine that you are allowing them to do this). Vibrate the word RA HOOR KHUIT.

5. Do your daily meditation, if you think it is an appropriate time.

6. Close your circle.

7. Write down a good description of what you just did.

EXERCISE #13

1. Choose, if possible, an outdoor place where you will be able to work undisturbed. Go there on a moonless, starry night.

2. Banish and consecrate.

3. Perform the gesture and meditation described in Exercise #12.

4. Then return consciousness to its Hadit-form, withdrawn in the base of the spine.

5. One vertebrae at a time, begin to move consciousness up along the spine. Breathing fully and regularly can help this kind of concentration. Continue up to the top of the head.

6. Keep on going, up into the starry sky, until your concentration becomes lost in infinity.

7. Allow whatever happens at that point to happen. Relax and experience yourself as an interplay of Hadit and Nuit. Continue, this for as long as the experience remains strong.

8. When the experience begins to fade, or more mund~ne thoughts begin to intrude, then draw your consciousness fully back into your body with the Sign of Harpocrates.

9. Close your circle.

10. Write a careful description.

As is true with every type of invocation, frequent and determined practice of these rituals is the way to increase your, ability and improve your success.