Comment on Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente – Chapter III

COMMENT ON LIBER CORDIS
CINCTI SERPENTE
SVB FIGVRA
ADNI

Frater Alion∴
Frater Aureus∴

CHAPTER III
 

1. Verily and Amen! I passed through the deep sea, and by the rivers of running water that abound therein, and I came unto the Land of No Desire.

Where the sea is deep and where the rivers are wild, there is desire. Allusions to passing through the City of the Pyramids.

Sea, water and rivers are the vastness of the Flows of the living Pra-Nu that makes the Universe. Passing through all these “worlds” and spheres, he comes beyond Everything – beyond the Watery nature, to the state of No Desire – Nothing/AIN.

Amen – Kether.

 

2. Wherein was a white unicorn with a silver collar, whereon was graven the aphorism Linea viridis gyrat universa.

Chokmah – Stellar Unicorn – each Star has one “horn,” one Force, one True Will, and unique Nature, each connected with Immensity by circle or “belt” – the green color is a “watery” reflection of the Goddess of Eternity – she surrounds manifested universe.

Horn is placed on Ajna chakra, which is the center of Will.

The nature of the Vision in this chapter shows Adonai through “water” aspects, and how they, or “He,” affects Adept.

 

3. Then the word of Adonai came unto me by the mouth of the Magister mine, saying: O heart that art girt about with the coils of the old serpent, lift up thyself unto the mountain of initiation!

Adonai conveys a message to the lower spheres, within the Spirit of the Master, to the soul; God invites Man to be awake in the Spirit.

Adonai is the God, Magister is Binah, Adept is Tiphareth – a heart that is girt with the coils of the old serpent, old impressions of spiritual dedication that did not allow complete initiation.

 

4. But I remembered. Yea, Than, yea, Theli, yea, Lilith! these three were about me from of old. For they are one.

Three water aspects; three “women” – manifested from Binah to Chesed, they take on the characteristics opposite to Understanding; these are three passive “defects” of an Adept. However, if they creatively integrate into the soul of Adept, they represent three forms of Kundalini awakening – by passive, “fluent” way of Work.

 

5. Beautiful wast thou, O Lilith, thou serpent-woman!

Lilith is the serpent-woman – Teth, as Adonai is the snake that surrounds the Egg of Spirit.

Impregnation by Water makes him perceive this as a temptation by serpent force and shows him Adonai as a serpent.

 

6. Thou wast lithe and delicious to the taste, and thy perfume was of musk mingled with ambergris.

Tiphareth in which the attributes of Water are projected.

Lithe – Earth of Water; delicious – Water of Water; perfume (as scent contains combined Fire and Air) is the Air of Water and Fire of Water; subtle radiation of the four “court water cards” of Tarot.

These are the attributes of Lilith, as Adonai shows himself to Adept through water currents.

 

7. Close didst thou cling with thy coils unto the heart, and it was as the joy of all the spring.

Adept continues to experience Adonai as the serpent-woman Lilith, the watery enchanting passion of the Goddess of Love.

8. But I beheld in thee a certain taint, even in that wherein I delighted.

Hod – intelligence and the mind, thinking process “spoils” emotions and feelings.

 

9. I beheld in thee the taint of thy father the ape, of thy grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime.

Yesod; Yod of Tetragrammaton as an animal display in the form of an ape is proclaimed as “father” (Chokmah) of serpent-woman; grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime is a distorted understanding of the Ouroboros which gird the Universe. Previously mentioned green circle or belt as a pure form of infinity, at a lower plane is “seen” as a Blind Worm, as a meaningless and blind force that holds in existence the manifestation of “visible” Universe.

 

10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.

Malkuth – Crystal. The kingdom has an End that is “terrible” because everything created, must exist and disappear – to be destroyed, and by understanding this “through” Water, with emo-tions, the soul of Adept cares about the “future”.

 

11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come— had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?

The Fool is not conditioned by time.

 

12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.

Beth; corruption – one of the Air deviations oppressed by Water influences.

 

13. Then I said: O my beloved, O Lord Adonai, I pray thee to loosen the coils of the serpent!

Gimel; Adept is awakening from a vision, but experiences a powerful “water” grip of the serpent’s feelings.

 

14. But she was closed fast upon me, so that my Force was stayed in its inception.

Only the body and the soul can feel this grip as an embarrassment because they still do not realize Adonai as untenable and unavoidable – he does His Will, which is in fact “concealed” True Will of Adept. Adept cannot reject Spirituality no matter how great and binding the obligation of Work and “serving“ the Spirit can be.

Adept has no Force – all Force comes from God only. If a Work is indecent and inappropriate, a man will not have the strength to carry it out – Adonai empowers the “right” Work while preventing those who are not in alliance with the True Will of Adept.

 

15. Also I prayed unto the Elephant God, the Lord of Beginnings, who breaketh down obstruction.

The Force and the Mind. Both strength and intellect, Ganesha is a projection of Shiva’s nature; in a particular way as the Adeptus Major could realize it.

Ganesha opens the roads, like the Ptah of Egyptians, the Great Architect of the Universe; Adept invited him, summoned him, thought that this was the image of the Supreme Deity.

 

16. These gods came right quickly to mine aid. I beheld them; I joined myself unto them; I was lost in their vastness.

The aim was partly well-defined, Adept was striving for the Highest, but his understanding of the Highest was “colored” by Water – the Gods came as a reflection of the force of his aspiration to the Highest – he saw them (Vision), he was with them – also reached the state above the Abyss – therefore he was lost – his ego/soul was enthusiastic and shocked by the achievement.

Vau – the magnitude of Stellar Gods who “descend” from Chokmah to Chesed.

 

17. Then I beheld myself compassed about with the Infinite Circle of Emerald that encloseth the Universe.

Zayin; there is the connection of Adept (as the Centre) with the Infinity (seen as the Emerald Circle of the Goddess) – he is near the Vision of Hadit (himself) and Nuit.

  

18. O Snake of Emerald, Thou hast no time Past, no time To Come. Verily Thou art not.

Cheth; the fence is like a circle, just one of the “symbols” of Infinity – Nuit. “Charioting” is a continuum above the concept of “time,” as duration. On the path of Cheth, Adept is the guardian of the border of Eternity – around him is the Goddess Nuit, in the watercourses of the Stellar space.

The essence that is reflected in the first verse of Tao Te Ching; we cannot agree with the majority of translations so far. The closest to truth would be certainly: “the way to go is not the Eternal Way”.

 

19. Thou art delicious beyond all taste and touch, Thou art not-to-be-beheld for glory, Thy voice is beyond the Speech and the Silence and the Speech therein, and Thy perfume is of pure ambergris, that is not weighed against the finest gold of the fine gold.

Teth – Passion and Understanding of the Goddess Babalon riding above the elemental/planetary Beast of Ruach. Understanding cannot be felt by the senses; it cannot be described and glorified by the human mind; the soul cannot convey the true impression of the achievement of Understanding. There is a certain Divine fragrance which is released by elements “nourished” by the Force of the Goddess of Understanding.

Thy voice is beyond the Speech and the Silence and the Speech therein. Unmanifest. But equally, Chokmah. The Aspirant should think of defining Negative toward this; he must prevent his enthusiasm from equalizing these two concepts.

 

20. Also Thy coils are of infinite range; the Heart that Thou dost encircle is an Universal Heart.

It is again understood that Adonai is one of the “lower” images of Endlessness, as It – Nothing is “shown” to the soul of Adept. He realizes that he is composed of universal elements from which everything is made, and the Divine Circle – Adonai/Nuit is “beyond” that comprehensible.

Yod – Tarot card “Hermit” shows this Heart-egg wrapped by a serpent.

 

21. I, and Me, and Mine were sitting with lutes in the market-place of the great city, the city of the violets and the roses.

I and Me and Mine – the essential attributes of Ego.

Kaph – the Wheel of “Fortune” on which three Human (egoistic) personalities spins. Each part of the soul of Man/Adept has its impression and perception of itself and everything (universe), which is transmitting to the lutes – expressing his understanding through the multitude of the great city which is of violets and roses. That is an allusion on the Order of the Lilly and the Order of the Rose Cross – the teachers of the Mystery of Women and the Mystery of Man, since Kaph = K + P – Kteis & Phallos.

 

22. The night fell, and the music of the lutes was stilled.

The process of thought is destroyed (through the practice of Yoga) – the expression of thought is silenced.

The internal influence of spiritual work is balanced with the outer emanations of Ruach.

 

23. The tempest arose, and the music of the lutes was stilled.

Maim/Tempest – the power of water is developing, launching the force whirl of the Power of Water – feelings – reduces the acting of mental processes.

 

24. The hour passed, and the music of the lutes was stilled.

Consistent persistence and continual dedication to Spiritual Work influence the reduction of thought processes and the disturbing effect of thought on the conscious perception of Adept.

 

25. But Thou art Eternity and Space; Thou art Matter and Motion; and Thou art the negation of all these things.

Samekh – the Art that alchemically unites three “types” of polarity; Eternity and Space is the continuum of endlessness; Matter and Motion are material, “water” category of Nuit and Hadit; Negation of all these things is a duality of all existing and Nothing which is “behind” Everything.

  

26. For there is no Symbol of Thee.

Not even the symbol of Baphomet, nor Abraxas, as the most convenient intellectual representations of Adonai, are suitable, because Adonai is not in that images, nor he is in the senses – there is no definite symbol for That what is Divine, Nothing – there is no is a symbol, terminology for AIN.

Something that is One and Only has no purpose for the symbol because this symbol is a Lie as any other. One is the Only, Everything Else is the Other. But even the false Truth is the Truth about the lies of the Truth. Tathagata as a real name of Buddha.

 

27. If I say Come up upon the mountains! the celestial waters flow at my word. But thou art the Water beyond the waters.

Pe – the Tower – as seen in the vision of the Water of the Spirit; Adept activates Flows of the Force, he rules upon Magick and elemental energies – he is able to wake Snake Kundalini. Yet, Adonai is Water beyond the waters. Nothing above Binah.

 

28. The red three-angled heart hath been set up in Thy shrine; for the priests despised equally the shrine and the god.

Tzaddi – red heart filled with the power of Fire-Water; the heart is empowered with feelings; Horus is the secret Flame of the shrine (the shrine is a representation of watery adoration of God); Adonai again shows to Adept in an appropriate way. The ideas of the shrine (Adept) and the god (Adonai) also represent a dual relationship and are not recognized by the Masters of the Temple as a refined spiritual state.

 

29. Yet all the while Thou wast hidden therein, as the Lord of Silence is hidden in the buds of the lotus.

Qoph – the lunar nature of the silence, calmness and concealment of Hoor-Paar-Kraat. He is a child born in Lotus, “Padmasambhava” – Om Mani Padme Hum – “greetings to You Born in Lotus.” The Child of Silence is the essence of the Spiritual Egg.

  

30. Thou art Sebek the crocodile against Asar; thou art Mati, the Slayer in the Deep. Thou art Typhon, the Wrath of the Elements, O Thou who transcendest the Forces in their Concourse and Cohesion, in their Death and their Disruption. Thou art Python, the terrible serpent about the end of all things!

Sebek – Mati – Typhon are “watery” monsters – the vast Water attributes of the Sun itself, which are “catastrophic” in their sense of the expression – the ways in which Adept conceives these Forces.

Crocodile “swims” on the surface of Consciousness; Mati “dives” through the regions of the Unconscious; Typhon is the devastating power of the Higher Consciousness. All this tends to purify the soul of Adept; all these are forces that Adonai uses to perfect and initiate Adept into the most important Mystery – in the “Yoga” itself, Unity of Adonai and Adept.

Concourse is a state of approaching of God and man, they are “merging” – there is Cohesion; Death annuls the solar Ego identity; Disruption is the burning of the soul; after these four elements, again appears the Spirit in the form of a circle – Python, which is about the end of all things – he is Adonai/Nuit.

 

31. I turned me about thrice in every way; and always I came at the last unto Thee.

Shin – three arms of the letter with the turn of the force in every way. You can always come only to Adonai – Fire of Adonai. Adonai is the final ending of all the methods.

As before, every act is an act of love between Adept and the Angel. Everything exists only because of “You.” Each event is an eye of the God who looks at you, who looks at you.

 

32. Many things I beheld mediate and immediate; but, beholding them no more, I beheld Thee.

Tau; all visions are displays of God, shapes that give instruction and the meaning of the relationship between Adept and Adonai; when the observation is stopped, then the visions, images and impressions are withdrawn – because the mind – Air (Ruach) is no longer fed by feelings and emotions of spiritual, religious aspiration, so the “reality” – Adonai himself displayed as “it is”.

 

33. Come thou, O beloved One, O Lord God of the Universe, O Vast One, O Minute One! I am Thy beloved.

Kether; Adept invokes the Highest; he is inspired by spiritual emotions; he is motivated by the exaltedness of the Deity. He realizes that he is a Lover (Adept – Thelemite).

Beloved One – Water; Lord – Earth; Vast One – Air; Minute One – Fire; Thy beloved – Spirit.

Come thou represents another confirmation of duality that Adept tends to overcome.

 

34. All day I sing of Thy delight; all night I delight in Thy song.

Chokmah; day – night; delight – song; the polarity of space that is filled with stars.

He sings the Wisdom that comes from the joy of inspiration, then he hears the Wisdom from Adonai; day and night are also the relationship of the conscious and the unconscious as well as the activity and passivity, the polarity of Sephira which is 2 – Chokmah – the Father of Adonai.

 

35. There is no other day or night than this.

Understanding gives the impression that polarity is just a “reflection” of the manifestation of the One.

Relation of AIN (there is no) toward Chokmah (other day) and Binah (or night). Than this – Kether.

 

36. Thou art beyond the day and the night; I am Thyself, O my Maker, my Master, my Mate!

Adonai is Spiritual Consciousness – finally uttering the Truth of Unity – I am Thyself – then follows the threefold relation of the Lover. Yod + He + He, where Adept is Vau – Shin (which are united).

 

37. I am like the little red dog that sitteth upon the knees of the Unknown.

Geburah – this is a Fire verse under the influence of Water; The red dog is Geburah, which is calm and serene in the feelings toward Adonai – who is Unknown – Nothing/Ain.

 

38. Thou hast brought me into great delight. Thou hast given me of Thy flesh to eat and of Thy blood for an offering of intoxication.

Tiphareth; still through duality, he interprets Unity with Adonai toward himself. Adept is the body of Adonai; Adept is the incarnation of Adonai.

 

39. Thou hast fastened the fangs of Eternity in my soul, and the Poison of the Infinite hath consumed me utterly.

Netzach; Adonai’s acting on Adept in the lower spheres.

 

40. I am become like a luscious devil of Italy; a fair strong woman with worn cheeks, eaten out with hunger for kisses. She hath played the harlot in divers palaces; she hath given her body to the beasts.

Hod; Italy is a “land” of spirituality, the devil is a force of a man; he is a lover eaten by hungry for Adonai’s kisses; in many “sanctuaries” of the initiation, palaces of spiritual improvement he pursued for Adonai; he entirely devoted himself to all the elements of the beasts so he could perceive All.

 

41. She hath slain her kinsfolk with strong venom of toads; she hath been scourged with many rods.

Yesod – sexual allusions, both to the “lower” animal unifying forces, and the Yesodic compound of Phallos with Kteis.

Rotten feelings and emotions poison the highest aspiration – Adonai “punishes” such deviations, since root energies are so raw that they can suppress any connection with the force of Tetragrammaton.

 

42. She hath been broken in pieces upon the Wheel; the hands of the hangman have bound her unto it.

Malkuth – the Cross which holds the circle of a Wheel; the Soul has experienced the elements, knows them and understands that they are parts of the Endless circle of Wheel that moves in time and space. The Soul is incarnated in the Kingdom; it is bound and limited in the matter – still it is the projection of Adonai as well, who teaches the soul about the feelings of life in the world of suffering.

43. The fountains of water have been loosed upon her; she hath struggled with exceeding torment.

Miraculous “Water” display of the glyph of letter Aleph.

 

44. She hath burst in sunder with the weight of the waters; she hath sunk into the awful Sea.

The waters permeate the “house” in which “the woman” suffers from emotions that pushed her into the depths of the feelings – a man, when passive, is more receptive to feelings, and his power is overflowing him; he sinks under the “water” and the greatness of the Great Sea – Understanding.

Descending from Kether to Binah.

 

45. So am I, O Adonai, my lord, and such are the waters of Thine intolerable Essence.

Gimel – Adept is on the path of the camel – he is identical to that “woman”; waters of Thine intolerable Essence are the influences from Kether.

 

46. So am I, O Adonai, my beloved, and Thou hast burst me utterly in sunder.

He is the open Gate – the passage (Daleth), spread between Binah and Chokmah.

 

47. I am shed out like spilt blood upon the mountains; the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away.

Stellar life is poured upon the elevation of the soul’s improvement; the descent of consciousness from Chokmah to Tiphareth is perceived as a collapse of the force of the Abyss.

 

48. Therefore is the seal unloosed, that guarded the Eighth abyss; therefore is the vast sea as a veil; therefore is there a rending asunder of all things.

Vau – Hierophant – Hoor as the Lord who Initiates. The might of Stellar Gnosis penetrates through the veil-sea.

 

 

49. Yea, also verily Thou art the cool still water of the wizard fount. I have bathed in Thee, and lost me in Thy stillness.

Zain, the Lovers.

 

50. That which went in as a brave boy of beautiful limbs cometh forth as a maiden, as a little child for perfection.

Chariot on the path of Cheth. Activity is transferred into passivity; a little child is the Spirit which represents the union of polarity.

 

51. O Thou light and delight, ravish me away into the milky ocean of the stars!

Teth – Snake – Adept summons Understanding of Adonai in the form of Babalon.

 

52. O Thou Son of a light-transcending mother, blessed be Thy name, and the Name of Thy Name, throughout the ages!

Vau + He – overwhelming the light because the Hermit is Yod of the Spirit, “blessed” by the Name of the Father, by the Logos of Æon.

 

53. Behold! I am a butterfly at the Source of Creation; let me die before the hour, falling dead into Thine infinite stream!

Transformation and Transfiguration: the butterfly is first caterpillar (the Man of Earth) then resides in the capsule (the Lover) and finally transforms into the free Being of the Spirit (the Hermit).

 

54. Also the stream of the stars floweth ever majestical unto the Abode; bear me away upon the Bosom of Nuit!

Lamed – Maat, Goddess of Abode behind the “life,” she is the Truth of the Light, the Harmony of the Stars.

Each center is the center only in relation to the self-periphery.

 

55. This is the world of the waters of Maim; this is the bitter water that becometh sweet. Thou art beautiful and bitter, O golden one, O my Lord Adonai, O thou Abyss of Sapphire!

Maim/Water; Adonai describes himself in the sphere of Water.

 

56. I follow Thee, and the waters of Death fight strenuously against me. I pass unto the Waters beyond Death and beyond Life.

Nun – Death; the continuum of impressions in the line of incarnations prevents Adept from experiencing the connection and pervade with Adonai, remembering the unity with him during all “life” in the Kingdom. Unity with Adonai is Understanding which is reached through the 50 “gates”, and it is beyond Life and Death.

56 – NU.

 

57. How shall I answer the foolish man? In no way shall he come to the Identity of Thee!

Samekh – the one who not aimed himself toward Adonai is foolish and cannot reach the consolation with that Unity, which is sameness of Adept and Adonai.

 

58. But I am the Fool that heedeth not the Play of the Magician. Me doth the Woman of the Mysteries instruct in vain; I have burst the bonds of Love and of Power and of Worship.

Devil identifies himself with the Fool – the Aleph of the Spirit (which is opposite to Magus enchantment by words). Understanding cannot be maintained if Adept is covered by Water; he must renounce from restrictions that occur through Love, Power, and Worship – all the qualities that presuppose duality and the cohesion of polarity.

 

59. Therefore is the Eagle made one with the Man, and the gallows of infamy dance with the fruit of the just.

Water (Netzach – Woman – Feelings) merges with the Air (Hod – Man – Intelligence) – the Tower falls; restrictions established in the Ego collapses by unifying the polarity that emanates the Truth and Justice.

 

60. I have descended, O my darling, into the black shining waters, and I have plucked Thee forth as a black pearl of infinite preciousness.

The Emperor – Tzaddi; Adept continues to search through his feelings and “finds” Adonai as a black pearl, the pearl of the beauty of feelings; the waters are Nuit, and the pearl is Hadit. Adept is Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

61. I have gone down, O my God, into the abyss of the all, and I have found Thee in the midst under the guise of No Thing.

Qoph – the dark abyss of the unconscious – hidden in this is the point of the center which is Nothing, as the endless circle around Abyss is Nothing.

 

62. But as Thou art the Last, Thou art also the Next, and as the Next do I reveal Thee to the multitude.

He is the Sun, one solar phase of the incarnation of Æon ends, while “new” Æon enters the “scene” of action which is declared to the multitude through Adept-Prophet.

The Sun is always the Lord of the world – its divine influences on the Earth are changed through personal evolution and communion with the Gods of the Cosmos: the Source and the Centre of All – Hadith, and the Endless Space of the Universe – Nuit.

 

63. They that ever desired Thee shall obtain Thee, even at the End of their Desire.

Shin – the Spirit – is the most potent guiding Force and the reflection of Fire that arouses Adept longing to the highest achievement of “unity” – understanding and remembering the Oneness with God.

 

64. Glorious, glorious, glorious art Thou, O my lover supernal, O Self of myself.

Tau; + + + The Blessing of the Priest of the Stars, He and Adonai are One.

 

65. For I have found Thee alike in the Me and the Thee; there is no difference, O my beautiful, my desirable One! In the One and the Many have I found Thee; yea, I have found Thee.

I spent eternity in Heaven, not moving an inch from the Earth. That is because I am the Sea, and the Heaven is reflecting in me for all endlessness. Adept is “only” the reflection of Adonai.

There is Understanding (spiritual waters) which explains that Adept is united with its substance with Adonai; He sees him both inside and outside of himself; even more, there is no difference between the “outside” and “inside.” They are Lovers, who are not separated in their ecstasy, but are One – as in the multitude, Adept sees Adonai in all things. He confirms and puts a seal on the revelation of the Unity of Man and God. Deus Est Homo.