On Lamen and Pentacle

Tell me, what is Lamen exactly? What is it for? Is it a special form of Pentacle? What is the difference between the two?

Lamen is eidolon of your True Nature, your Great Work. It is a specific form of awareness of yourself as a star; it is your personal identity card in the Universe. By making your Lamen, you are not creating anything new or special. You are directly shedding light on the completeness and essence of your being. As with the Pentacle, you will make Lamen using a minimalist approach without excessive details or decorations unless it reflects your True Nature. Dear Brother, Lamen is of the same nature as the one who carries it. It represents the direct transmission of the truth of your being onto a magical tool. If you wanted to duplicate your Great Work, you would make a Lamen.

Pentacle is a representation of your understanding of the Universe; it is a weapon. Lamen is the counterpart of your True Nature. It does not serve anything that is not in harmony with that nature. Therefore, it can be a weapon but need not be. It all depends on the nature of the one who carries it.

In order to make a perfect Pentacle, you must possess the perfect consciousness of your own nature; you must know how your Lamen looks like. What for? To have true knowledge of the Universe, you must have true knowledge of yourself because you are a part of that Universe. If you do not know yourself, you are devoid of the full knowledge of the Universe. In order to know the whole, you must know all the parts. Enough is not enough. It must be all or nothing. Perfect knowledge of the Universe implies perfect knowledge of yourself, the one who acts within it. Moreover, true knowledge of yourself is to become aware of your Pure Will. To know who you are, you must know who you are not; you must have a defined relationship with the things around you to differentiate yourself from them. To know your own place in the Universe, you must know the place of all the others.

These two are in a close relationship, and the perfection of the one implies the perfection of the other. But no, they are not the same thing.

Meditate on what you are and what you are not.

Meditate on yourself and everything else around “it.”

Meditate on Lamen and Pentacle.

Does anybody else could use my Lamen?

Dearly beloved Brother, could anybody else do thy Will instead of thyself? Could anybody else use your own body to move, your own mind to think, your own emotions to feel, or act instead of yourself? Could anybody else discover your own True Nature instead of yourself? Lamen cannot be used; Pure Will has no use.

If anybody would try to use your Lamen, whatever that might mean, it would depend on him solely. How much does his Lamen demand your Lamen? In other words, how much does his nature need to use your own nature? Be free of worries: if your Lamen is perfect, all of this would be in balance. If that be your Will, you could give over to him, which would be perfect, as long as you stick to your Lamen and what is inscribed on it. You will know that perfectly by then. As long as there is doubt within you, nature is not in balance. You must strive towards the balance of your Lamen. Your True Nature uses your body, emotions, intellect, and will. Your Lamen uses your Pentacle, Sword, Cup, and Wand. Dear Brother, if somebody is using your Will, is not it a sign of adoration of you? You can think of that one as your own limb, detached from yourself Æons ago, which is now trying to find a way to join the wholeness of the divine body, once again.

Is to serve something generally good or bad?

Don’t you serve the whole Universe, isn’t your own nature a condition of the Universe as a whole? You should not think of service as slavery.

Your Lamen should be available to everybody, let it be seen by everybody, let them be aware of your Great Work. In that way, you will make better conditions for its manifestation and fulfillment. There is no threat and should be no fear. Let every Star know about other Star. Let everybody know the Lamen of their Brother and Sister. People call each other by their names, but there is no danger of being possessed. The only danger is not to do what is being depicted by your Lamen. And that is solely your responsibility, and nobody else’s.

Is there a danger I become possessed if somebody else gets to own my Lamen?

Egyptians believed that if somebody knows your true name, that he might get control over your soul. It is an ideal example of the recognition of the magical link. But do not forget one thing, dear Brother, that there is one factor involved in that process of the magical linkage which is above all other. That is fear. If somebody steals the name from a frightened person who assumes that bad consequences would follow, that would most likely happen. But it was because the magical link was created, not because of general principles. Do not be afraid, and the link would not manifest.

Dear Brother, the fact you have the Lamen is not a guarantee for your consciousness of the Great Work. Is it enough to build a house, neglecting the foundation? If Lamen is perfect, is there any danger? Yes, but only one: it is to neglect to do what is implied by it. Lamen is not your True Nature. It is only its eidolon. The possibility that you be possessed is in obverse proportion to how free and awaken you are. If you happen to be possessed, it will be a sign of your unconsciousness and weakness. Therefore, as long as you truly contemplate your True Nature, you cannot be possessed. In fact, you do not have to contemplate only that. As long as you think, it means you are aware, and then there is no room for possession. And even if you happen to be possessed, maybe that was exactly in harmony with your true nature or somebody else’s nature. Think of how each one of us is being possessed all the time and right now by all those ideas, thoughts, obsessions, obligations, imposed perversions, all the things that are not in harmony with us. There is only one nature; everything else is Everything Else. Do not be afraid of the Black Brotherhood; be more vigilant of your own black thoughts and black doings. There is only one Success. Everything else is a failure.

Is it necessary to obtain the grade of Adeptus Minor before I make a Lamen?

First of all, what do you mean by necessary? That the Lamen is going to be recognized and expected only after you obtain the grade, or that the Lamen will not have strength nor functionality before you achieve the Adeptship?

If I was a painter and accidentally made one painting, among a million others, which is identical with your Lamen, does it mean that I acquired your True Nature? The representation and form of Lamen mean nothing unless there is included awareness of the meaning and nature that is being manifested through Lamen.

However, there is no reason against obtaining certain qualities of consciousness characteristic for Adeptus Minor even before you take the Oath of that grade. There are no rules; things happen according to their will. Anyway, the Lamen knows what your Oath was, and it works once it has been properly constructed.

You could start making your Lamen anywhere and anytime, but will you be able to finish it? Will you succeed or not depends on the work itself, not taking the Oaths of certain grades. Dear Brother, success in one thing is dependent only on one thing, and that is the perfect success of that thing and no other.

Lamen demonstrates your awareness. The essence is in the firmness of its construction, in the fact that it represents the Will that you became aware of.

 Aren’t you an Adept already, if you construct your Lamen properly? And if you are already an Adept, you will know how to construct your Lamen. One follows the other, having one thing in common, and that is the awareness of your True Nature. Attain that awareness, and you will have both things.

Do the Circle and Pentacle point to the same thing?

Both the Pentacle and the Circle are closely related to the Universe. But the Pentacle is more determined by your understanding of that Universe. There are as many Pentacles as there are different points of view and different understandings of the one mind and its infinitude of change.

A Circle is the symbol of endlessness, and therefore of the Universe. But, while the Pentacle describes how you see the quality of that Universe, Circle impartially describes its quantity or size. Circle describes your aspiration towards the endless, while the Pentacle describes how the object of your aspiration looks like. However, take note that the quantitative characteristic of the Circle is the same as its quality. None of the two could exist without having the other immanent in it.

The Circle around the magician defines the field of his action, his protection, and security. But, isn’t the Circle endless? Is there anything “else” around it? There is no “fear” around the Circle because there is no “around.” Your own limitations and your own fears put your Circle under pressure, distort it, and make it a symbol of limitation instead of a boundlessness. Calculate the square of the Circle, dear Brother. In the beginning, it is probably convenient to stick to a specific size of the Circle that makes it comfortable to work within it, but isn’t the true nature of consciousness its continuous expansion? As you work and progress, so you will expand your Circle.

In fact, there is no symbol for the endlessness. The endless Circle is as endless as it is an endless square, as long as they are the way they are comprehensible endlessness. Infinitely small and infinitely big is of the same size. A pound of iron and a pound of feathers have the same weight. Try not to represent the endless by a symbol, but experience it. Be endless; let your Circle be an enchanting dress of a Goddess. Do not be afraid; our Circle is our limitation; it is our cage. Stop the inclination of your mind to fathom the endless by any previously defined measure. It is much less than anything you might expect; the infinite is only one, while there is an endless multitude of finite things. We made the Circle a symbol of limitation and human misery. The essence of the Circle is not in drawing it and defining it perfectly, but it is in its expansion. While you are drawing the Circle on the floor, are you expanding your being beyond the boundary of the Circle, or you remain inside of it? Beyond the Circle is the True Circle. Therefore, go for it. The Sanctuary of all of our works is “there.” And when they ask you which work is ours, among all the others that exist, you will tell them: our work is our cause.

How perfect must be my Lamen? What must be the amount of my awareness of myself in order to make my Lamen right?

Dear Brother, what is the amount of consciousness necessary to be aware of your True Nature? You either know or not. There is no intermediary grade. The consciousness of Self is always and only the consciousness about Self. The accent is on Self, not on consciousness. You are not what you think you truly are, but that what you truly think. Be aware of “who” that one is, and you will become aware of your Great Work. What is enough? Nothing, but the perfect success. What is enough to be aware of Self? Just to be aware, only that and nothing else.

In what way the daily performance of the ritual of the Pentagram strengthens the Circle that I draw around myself?

The most efficient way to strengthen the Circle is to perform that ritual daily but inflamed in passion. Dear Brother, it is of no worth to do the ritual unless you do it entirely, inflamed by prayer. Any ritual you do, you should do as it was your last action on earth. Pretend that after work, there is nothing; there is no next time. There is no next performance. Do not rehearse. Thy Pure Will is not to be rehearsed but to be done. Do not practice anything, but do it. Learn to act in this way. Can you, or should you, strengthen something which is endless by its nature? Let everything in, and let everything out from your Circle. Infinite remains the same, with or without your individual limitations. Infinite disharmony is of the same essence as infinite harmony.

The Circle could protect you from “evil,” but what will protect you from your personal stupidity and limitations? Your drawn Circle will always be a symbol of your limitation. Therefore, strive towards infinite, with devilish boldness, and the Circle will grow by itself.

However, are you able to grow big enough to reach the stars?

What is the basis of the strength of Pentacle as a weapon?

Dear Brother, the strength of every weapon lies in the control of it, in its proper use, and in knowledge. So the tiniest blade could be deadly in the hands of the one who knows how to handle it and understands its nature. The strength of all magical weapons is reflected in this principle.

A weapon is as strong as the one who carries it. Now, ponder the meaning of strength itself. It is about harmonized action, a precise and defined way to use the force. In other words, it entails the perfect knowledge of that upon which the force acts and where the leverage is to be placed. Still, it is not enough to have a weapon and leverage only. It is also necessary to know where, when, and how to use them. Only one single method corresponds to a particular action, which will turn it into a visible result. All others are more or less proper methods, but not the perfect ones. The strength of a weapon is in the balance of its nature, the nature of the one who uses it, and that upon which the weapon is used. If perfection is discovered in the interaction of these three, we could say that the weapon demonstrated strength and firmness. But those are just the observations of one balanced whole, which is interpreted by our mind as strong and firm, attributing its qualities to the weapon only, or the one who is using it. Full and comprehensive truth includes all elements, so if something is strong, it means that the manifestation of the interaction between the weapon, subject who uses it, and the object that the weapon is used upon, is strong. When people glorify David, they rarely think of the strength of his weapon or the strength of Goliath himself. David could never defeat Goliath with the same weapon if Goliath was even for an ounce weaker than he was.

What is Pentacle? Is it attributed to Earth and the work with elements only? Does it have any other use?

Pentacle, or Disc, belongs to basic elemental weapons of an Aspirant and corresponds to the Earth element. It is the weapon that is assigned to the last letter of Tetragrammaton and represents the manifestation of the force and magician’s will in a condensed, earthly form. If you look at other weapons, you will see that each one of them got a specific purpose, or, better said, specific nature manifested in an elemental form.

Pentacle corresponds to Earth, it is firm, and its image is carved to be permanent. The Sword cuts the Air, the Cup carries the Water, the Wand spreads the Fire.

Let us go back to Pentacle. As I said, it is an elemental weapon, but it still conceals some other uses that we must be aware of. A symbol or picture of the Universe, as the magician sees it, is carved upon the Pentacle. Pentacle is an aphorism of Reality, its arabesque miniature. At first sight, you can ask me how to represent the endless Universe, with all its parts and realms, upon something so finite, small, and seemingly fragile? Remember now what we have spoken about weapons. A weapon is as strong as the one who uses it. If someone possesses the knowledge, and demonstrates sincere effort to represent the Universe on a piece of clay or wax, isn’t that will equal to the will of the Architect of all the Worlds who built and measured all that is? Isn’t that already the measure of Success itself?

Let not the failure and the pain turn aside the worshippers. The foundations of the pyramid were hewn in the living rock ere sunset; did the king weep at dawn that the crown of the pyramid was yet unquarried in the distant land?

There was also an humming-bird that spake unto the horned cerastes, and prayed him for poison. And the great snake of Khem the Holy One, the royal UrÊus serpent, answered him and said:

I sailed over the sky of Nu in the car called Millions-of-Years, and I saw not any creature upon Seb that was equal to me. The venom of my fang is the inheritance of my father, and of my father’s father; and how shall I give it unto thee? Live thou and thy children as I and my fathers have lived, even unto an hundred millions of generations, and it may be that the mercy of the Mighty Ones may bestow upon thy children a drop of the poison of eld.

Then the humming-bird was afflicted in his spirit, and he flew unto the flowers, and it was as if naught had been spoken between them. Yet in a little while a serpent struck him that he died.

But an Ibis that meditated upon the bank of Nile the beautiful god listened and heard. And he laid aside his Ibis ways, and became as a serpent, saying Peradventure in an hundred millions of millions of generations of my children, they shall attain to a drop of the poison of the fang of the Exalted One.

And behold! ere the moon waxed thrice he became an Ureus serpent, and the poison of the fang was established in him and his seed even for ever and for ever.

LIBER LXV, Chapter V

How to build Pentacle, and what materials should be used in its construction?

Its essence is the only material it is built of. Its construction is the perfection of its design. Did you measure the entire Universe? Did you establish its full proportions? Did you explore all of its hidden parts? And finally, how much are you certain into all of this? Pentacle corresponds to Earth, so isn’t your own body, in fact, your own Disc? What is inside corresponds to what is outside. As it is above, so it is below. Explore and measure yourself, and it might be that you will discover the perfect proportion by which the Great Architect constructed all things. How firm is your body, how resistant and valuable, upon which foundations was it built? How much do you care about it? Answers to these questions are part of a perfect design. Pentacle shows the picture of the Universe. How do you see the Universe at all, how well do you know it? How big is it, what are its boundaries? How big are you, and where are your boundaries?

All these are the things you have to take care of, dear Brother, and exploring this, you will discover what the perfect proportions of your Pentacle are. There are as many Pentacles as there are Wills, and as there are bodies. Are there two same bodies? Are there two same Wills? Are there two same beings that perceive and understand the Universe in the same way? Dear Brother, what is your way? Work on that to know what is to be carved upon the Pentacle: if it is perfect, would it matter what is its size or color or how likable it is? Isn’t the Universe endless itself? What material will you use to construct it? Something hard and heavy? But it can be fragile too. Something elastic and bending? But it is fleeting and unreliable. Dear Brother, do you know what your own body is made of? Are you aware of all of your organs? Are you aware of all the internal pits that your breath visits daily, each time after you inhale?

And besides all of this, you can find some general remarks in Therion’s Liber ABA and Liber A vel Armorum.

How could I use the Pentacle?

Dear Brother, a perfect Pentacle proves your royal ancestry. The first question to a beggar would be what the embroidery of the prince’s pillow was. If you were king yourself, you would perfectly know. Dear Brother, if you represent all by the one, then by one single act of yours, you could achieve all. If you become Universe, what would you do as the Universe?

Pentacle is a link toward your Dharana, and toward your certainty in truth, as well as toward the way of your Great Work. If you were so certain and noble in a thing which is totally abstract, and if you were persistent and firm in counting to infinity, how yet certain and firm will you be in finite, small things? How certain will you be while counting until a finite and known number? But, how are you going to number the infinite? Isn’t the largest possible number still infinitely away from the infinite? Do you think you can reach the stars by climbing the stairs?

Dear Brother, be persistent, work hard, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Draw your Pentacle by your labor, count to infinity by the magnitude of your success, by the fire of your devotion. As a being, are you a finite idea? Or are you something more than that? If you want to count and draw the infinite, maybe you have to be the infinite yourself. Then, you simply draw the Pentacle upon your face. The key to this riddle is in your work and Success only.

Remember that when you succeed in this, you will have a perfect magical link in your hands. By acting upon your Pentacle, you will be acting upon the Universe itself. Yes, it is strange that by acting upon that small and fragile piece of clay, you would act upon the whole Reality. But, if by chance you change the Universe, will your Pentacle change also? Even if you destroy it, it would not be the same Universe you previously drew upon the Pentacle, and therefore it would not be perfect. The Pentacle must be perfect, and one and only. One is the Pentacle, one is the Universe reflected in it, and one is the star that uses the one Pentacle in the one Universe. Create all the possible and impossible coincidences, but more than anything Work. Remember this also: the problem is caused by even the slightest misbalance between the factors, and pain and suffering ensue from that. If the one who uses the weapon is out of balance, it could happen that he drops down even the sword of fiery God, due to excessive swinging. If his method is out of balance, it could happen that his sword becomes blunt because of excessive blows. One blow is enough to cut one head. If the weapon is misbalanced, it might be that weak fire would be drowned by the strong rain shower and vanish completely.

Even if I Succeed in this, in what way I could be sure that the Universe I experience now will be the same Universe in a few years? Does the Pentacle change in that process?

The only constant is the constant of Change. You mention “few years,” you mention time. What is the time in the eye of the Universe? What is the time in comparison with the eternal? Your Pentacle represents the certainty of your insight into the nature of the Universe. If your insight was perfect once, it would be perfect forever. Do not fear Change. Isn’t it part of the Universe too? Isn’t it on your Pentacle also?

I am going now to measure my Universe.

Yes, indeed, measure your Universe.