Many branches of our tree of knowledge interweave, twist, often support each other, but often also shave the sun to one another, sometimes accidentally but sometimes intentionally, from that childish need to grab the sun for us only, it is very important to realize that our entire system consists of inseparable subgroups, that all together contribute to the whole in symbiosis. Our art should only be understood as a whole; it is completely impossible to understand the system of numbers if we would favour the value of one number more than the other, or if we expel any number from the numeral system, whether it was a decimal, octal, binary, or any else. We are strongly against any specialist doctrine, our path is in interweaving and intercourse, not in absolutes.
We look at Magick and Mysticism as two directions of the one same street. Both lead to the same goal. Illumination. Magick is based on the premise that the individual Will within is the cause of all changes. Mysticism tells us that Will is only a consequence of an external cause, and that the focus from the outside brings change that is reflected in ourselves.
You can climb into the house of God, but you can also make your house divine if you settle the Lord inside. It is one of the roughest divisions of our Art; on the path of Mysticism and the path of Magick. One should take note that the word Absolute does not imply a direction as purely vector value.
Most aspirant will usually start drawing Tree of Life from above, or from the first Sephira. Precisely in this is the perfect explanation of how the Western mind is looking at reality. We already stated that there are two lanes, or courses. One from below and one from above; one outward and one inward, or one without and one from within, if you prefer it more. The Western mind used to watch things from afar. Therefore, the method of the aspirant of Magick is often a method of stress and struggles, unlike the Mystic whose method is in surrender and delivering. In other words, the Mystic would draw the Tree of Life by starting from Malkuth, and not Kether as the Magician would have done boldly. These two essential ways in our Art are called the Lighting Flash, also known as the Flaming Sword and the Serpent of Wisdom or Rising the Snake. Kabbalah, as the basic polygon of Western hermetic thought, goes from top to bottom, it is the path of the Spirit descending among the mundane world. The path of Mysticism, on the other hand, is the way of climbing the mountain of Abiegnus. Both ways define the same reality but constitute a different direction and a different point of view.
Aspirants often perceive Paths and Sephirot as the concept of statics and dynamics, however experience tells us to reconsider what is really static, and what is the dynamic? Tiphareth as the Sun on one side, and the “Sun” as the 32nd path on the other, what is dynamic and what is static here? Both concepts can be static and dynamic, yet it is always necessary to watch a wider picture and observe things from another angle.
The biggest problem we have with Mysticism today is the fact that this system is planted inside the eastern concept of life and acquired from the earliest youth. In contrast, we do not have a balanced relationship with the systems we follow, but we arbitrarily modify and adapt them during our progress and quite late in life, we begin with the striving to higher planes. We change our reality when we are been already grown up. The mystic, however, has not even been able to grown, and his reality has already been integrated into the mind. It would be wrong to assume what is better than other.
If we now return to Magick and Mysticism, we can notice that both paths have one excellent joint thing, and that is the idea of the Middle Path, which our Eastern brothers call Sushumna. We have Ida and Pingala, or the Pillar of Severity and Mercy. And we have the Middle Pillar, or Sushumna. Both Magick and Mysticism try to shorten their trajectory, each in its own specific way. This appeals especially to the path of Magick nowadays, when people do not have time for their individual work and are trying to repay through work in various groups. Remember not to fall into this trap. Do not think that anything which is not yours could compensate what should be yours.
There is no such group work that can compensate individual. If one aspirant cannot find time for himself, how does he expect that time spent with others will do something for him? The young aspirants and followers of the West path immediately seek the method for astral projection, the Enochian magick for the afternoon and recipes of sexual alchemy. Which is of course understandable. It is upon us to cultivate and direct their desire into one real goal, which is far enough to hold their attention but close enough to hold their motivation. And that is the true significance of the Grades. There is no truth in them, just an encouragement for only one true work which needs to be done.
A further story of Mysticism and the Rise the Snake tells us that it is wrapped around all the Paths using right them as a mean of support, not the Sephirot. On the other hand, it is the Lighting Flash which illuminates Sephirot. Looking at the whole thing, we can conclude that Mysticism puts the accent on the method, while Magick emphasis achievement. Method and Achievement, Path and Sephira. Consider this thought. Therefore, as we perform the mystical practice, the essence should be put on the objective knowledge of what we have done. Or at least what we tried. And as much as we can to neglect all visions and side attainments. In Buddhism there is a saying “if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him”. In fact, this is not a saying but instruction. The enemy of Mysticism is distraught by interior sensations. The greatest danger in Magick is the opposite, we are deluded by higher spheres and what we believe is above us. Being distraught by the Aim in Mysticism, and being distraught by the Method in Magick. As Aspirant advances from Malkuth to Kether, his gaze is fixed constantly upwards. And from often looking at heights he does not see what is obvious in front of him. Consider this thought.
The similarity between Nāḍ and Paths above all is in the understanding of energy, not in the understanding of philosophy. No single aspirant has the same experience and only one instrument is valid enough to truly show us similarities and differences. You are carrying the most important of all the instruments that you will ever encounter. There is already one Tree of Life in it, one Sushumna in it, one Ida and one Pingala inside. That instrument is your Body.
Also, every sphere which has relation to the Light, and this applies to every Sephira, has its night side or Qliphoth and at this place, it should be convenient to mention phenomena which is called the False Snake. Unlike the two cases that we stated earlier and where Kuṇḍalinī really rises up and encountered the blockade, in this situation there is no blockade because there is no Kuṇḍalinī. It is often the case of those who have their intellect dominion their life, and finding themselves working for years without any success in raising the energy and awareness simply because they overload their mind. Think about how in many primitive societies we encounter ordinary people who fall into trans faster than most Adepts. Consider why this is so. Some of us will identify this occurrence with eleventh Sephira. It is Daath and it is false, but only as a Sephira. You can think that the Sephira of Knowledge does not mean Knowledge itself.
In spite of everything, it can be said that the path of the False Snake is can also be part of the aspirant’s enlightenment and a fully valid choice for the being; it always happens when Racio stands before the Altar.
Frater Aureus 273∴
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Frater 273 | Reflections on Thelema 