(Quote) Eliphas Levi - The History Of Magick 1860

 An initiate can, therefore, sincerely and with simplicity, practice the religion in which he was born, since all rites represent differently one and the same dogma, but he must not open the depths of his conscience to anyone but God, nor render accounts of his most intimate beliefs to anyone whatsoever. How could the priest judge what the Pope himself does not understand? The external signs of the initiate are modest science, philanthropy without ostentation, equality of character, and unalterable kindness. - Eliphas Lévi

(Quote) Manly P. Hall

 "According to Pythagoreans, the cube is a symbol of both matter and man, the opening of the cube being a symbol of the unfoldment of man and the releasing of geometric mysteries within himself. To the Christian, Christ is the perfect man; therefore, he becomes the embodiment of the perfect measure of a man, the cube. The perfect cube represents the personality that has had all the uneveness, roughness, and inequality polished away by experience. Such a stone is ready to become a block in the Everlasting House not built by hands but eternal in the heavens."

— Manly P. Hall

(Quote) Aleister - Aleister Crowley, The (Old) Comment on I.57, Liber Legis, The Book of the Law

 

LINK TO ORIGINAL POST ON HERMETIC.COM

(Quote) Eliphas Levi - The History of Magic

 

The Great Symbol Of Solomon

Drawing by Eliphas Levi

In Kabalistic symbolism the representation of God is always by a duplicated image—one erect, the other reversed; [Pg 25] one white, and the other black. [16] In such manner did the sages seek to express the intelligent and vulgar conceptions of the same idea—that of the God of light and the God of shadow. To the miscomprehension of this symbol must be referred the Persian Ahriman—that black but divine ancestor of all demons. The dream of the infernal king is but a false notion of God.

Light in the absence of shadow would be invisible for our eyes, since it would produce an overpowering brilliance equal to the greatest darkness. In the analogies of this physical truth, understood and considered adequately, a solution will be found for one of the most terrible of problems, the origin of evil. But to grasp it fully, together with all its consequences, is not meant for the multitude, who must not penetrate so readily into the secrets of universal harmony. It was only after the initiate of the Eleusinian mysteries had passed victoriously through all the tests, had seen and touched the holy things, that, if he were judged strong enough to withstand the last and most dreadful secret, a veiled priest passed him at flying pace and uttered in his ear the enigmatic words: Osiris is a black god. So was Osiris—of whom Typhon is the oracle—and so was the divine religious sun of Egypt, eclipsed suddenly, becoming the shadow of that grand, indefinable Isis who is all that has been and shall be, and whose eternal veil has no one lifted.

Light is the active principle for Kabalists, while darkness is analogous to the passive principle, for which reason they regarded the sun and moon as emblems of the two divine sexes and the two creative forces. So also they attributed to woman the first temptation and[Pg 26] sin, and subsequently the first labour—the maternal labour of redemption: it is from the bosom of the dark itself that light is reborn. The void attracts the plenum, and thus the abyss of poverty and wretchedness, pretended evil, seeming nothingness and the ephemeral rebellion of creatures, attracts eternally an ocean of being, wealth, mercy and love. This interprets the symbol of the Christ descending into hell after pouring out upon the cross all immensities of the most marvellous forgiveness.

Quote prepared by Jodi Childs

Source:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/70033/70033-h/70033-h.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawEacA1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHS_y4wTApkok3NlngPsnLlpUbS4fKfCfGb915kmJuExdw0MlBOsU_mXU1g_aem_-1yYLd_eRAH09QZ05NT55w

(Quote) Franz Bardon - Initiation Into Hermetics

 A true magician never harbors any hate towards any religion or sect. He is aware that every religion has it's particular system which should lead to God, and therefore he respects it. He knows that every religion makes mistakes, but he refrains from condemning them, because every dogma serves the spiritual maturity of it's followers. 

(Quote) Liber Cheth

 "12. And behold! if by stealth thou keep unto thyself one thought of thine, then shalt thou be cast out into the abyss for ever; and thou shalt be the lonely one, the eater of dung, the afflicted in the Day of Be-with-Us.

13. Yea! verily this is the Truth, this is the Truth, this is the Truth. Unto thee shall be granted joy and health and wealth and wisdom when thou art no longer thou.

14. Then shall every gain be a new sacrament, and it shall not defile thee; thou shalt revel with the wanton in the market-place, and the virgins shall fling roses upon thee, and the merchants bend their knees and bring thee gold and spices. Also young boys shall pour wonderful wines for thee, and the singers and the dancers shall sing and dance for thee. {26}

15. Yet shalt thou not be therein, for thou shalt be forgotten, dust lost in dust.

16. Nor shall the aeon itself avail thee in this; for from the dust shall a white ash be prepared by Hermes the Invisible.

(Quote) Paul Foster Case, The Book of Tokens

 "Apart from me,

There is neither Wisdom,

Nor knowledge, nor understanding.

Into every state of knowledge do I enter.

Into false knowledge as well as Into true. 

So that I am not less the ignorance of the deluded

Than the wisdom of the sage.

For what thou callest ignorance and folly

Is my pure knowing.

Imperfectly expressed

Through an incomplete image

Of my divine perfection. 

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

"You know how deeply we have always been impressed with the ideas of Sun-rise and Sun-set, and how our ancient brethren, seeing the Sun disappear at night and rise again in the morning, based their religious ideas in this one conception of a Dying and Re-arisen God. This is the central idea of the religion of the Old Æon, but we have left it behind us because although it seemed to be based on Nature (and Nature's symbols are always true), yet we have outgrown this idea which is only apparently true in Nature. Since this great Ritual of Sacrifice and Death was conceived and perpetuated, we, through the observation of our men of science, have come to know that it is not the Sun which rises and sets, but the earth on which we live which revolves so that its shadow cuts us off from the sunlight during what we call night. The Sun does not die, as the ancients thought; it is always shining, always radiating Life and Life. Stop for a moment and get a clear conception of this Sun, how He is shining in the early morning, shining at mid-day, shining in the evening, and shining at night. Have you got this idea clearly in your minds? You have stepped out of the Old Æon and into the New."

https://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox/iii/i/eq0301183?bootswatch-theme=cyborg

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

 “I was in the death struggle with self: God and Satan fought for my soul those three long hours. God conquered – now I have only one doubt left – which of the twain was God?”

(Quote) From: The Snake That Made Gods of Our Race, by Erica M. Cornelius

 "...the Magus, who applies the Slain God principle in such a way as to spawn an entire Universe through his Word (...) does not sacrifice himself (as the Old Aeon would have had it), but rather transforms himself in an ultimate act of Love. And this self-transformation transforms the world."

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

 "There is thus in this school no attempt to deny that Nature is, as Zoroaster said, "a fatal and evil force"; but Nature is, so to speak, "the First Matter of the Work," which is to be transmuted into gold. The joy is a function of our own part in this alchemy. For this reason we find the boldest and most skillful adepts deliberately seeking out the most repugnant elements of Nature that their triumph may be the greater."

(Quote) From: The Snake That Made Gods of Our Race , by Erica M. Cornelius

 "We enter an age in which flawed human beings may unify the darkness and the light through our incarnations.  Thereby we may house the Holy Spirit and bring Spirit all the way down into the flesh: Thelema!"

(Quote) ABRAHADABRAH

 "To understand what occurs once these archetypes have descended into Tiphareth one needs to appreciate the magickal formula of ABRAHADABRA of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost which Crowley says works out of the lower Ruach. In this formula the Father represents the nature of the archetypal or syncronistic seed (Abra) descending through Tiphareth from Above while the Son represents the cause and effect of Phallic energy (Abra) through the sphere of Hod on the Below. The Holy Ghost (Had) is seen as a female divinity known in Gnosticism as Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom. She represents the goddess Nuit in her lower manifestation which resides within the sphere of Netzach. The Gnostics believed that Christ and Sophia are the left and right hands of God, both husband and wife above the Abyss, and Son and daughter Below. ... The Gnostics understood that Christ can only manifest his Logos or Word into the world through Sophia.... Finally, the Goddess Sophia or HAD, which lies between ABRA (one hand) and ABRA (another hand), is also known as the Greek goddess of Wisdom or Metis. She is central to the Mysteries of Baphomet." -- J. Edward Cornelius

(Quote) The Seven Portals - Aleister Crowley

The student must practice complete detachment—must reach the stage when he does not care two pence whether he attains or not, while at the same time he pursues eagerly the Path of attainment. This is the ideal attitude.

(Quote) The Heart of The Master - Aleister Crowley

Now did I understand that all men live in sin, being baulked of their True Will, that is, of the free function of their essential nature. This restriction cometh much from their ignorance of what their True Will is, and much from external hindrance, but most of all from the interference of ill-controlled parts of their own instruments, the body and mind. For Freedom is not found in looseness and lack of governance, but in the right ruling of each individual of the common weal so as to assure his own well-being no less than that of the whole. And this effect is to be won by perfect organization under the eye of an Intelligence adequate to comprehend the general and the particular need together. The Way of Perfection is thus twofold: first, the True Will must be consciously grasped by the Mind, and this Work is akin to that called the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Second, as it is written: "Thou hast no right but to do thy Will," each particle of energy which the Instrument is able to develop must be directed to the doing of that Will, and this is one fierce lion in the way, that until the second task be already far advanced, the confusion of the instrument is such that it is wholly incapable to accomplish the first.

Then said my guide: It is well. Learn this also, a great Mystery and wonderful, that all conflict between the parts of the Universe springs from this error, and none other. For in our infinite Space (which is nothing but our boundless range of possibilities) there is no need that any one should push his fellow aside. As there is room in Heaven for every Star to pass upon its Way unchallenged, so also with those Stars of Earth, which go masked as men and women.

Know therefore that this Law of Thelema
"Do what thow wilt"

is the first Law ever given to man which is a true Law for all men in every place and time. All earlier Laws have been partial, according to the faith of the hearer, or the customs of a people, or the philosophy of their sages. Nor is there need, with this Law of Thelema, of threats or promises: for the Law fulfilleth itself, so that the one reward is Freedom for him who doeth his will, and the one punishment is Restriction for him that goeth astray.

Teach thou therefore this Law to all men: for in so far as they follow it, they cease to hinder thee by their false random motion; and thou dost well to thyself in doing well to them. And he most hindereth himself who hindereth others from their Path, or who constraineth them to some motion improper to their Nature.

Note also this that many men, feeling themselves the bitterness of Restriction, seek to relieve their own pain by imposing a like burden upon their fellows: as it were a cripple who should seek ease by mutilating the bearers of his carriage.

Also, to deny the Law of Thelema is a restriction in oneself, affirming conflict in the Universe as necessary. It is a blasphemy against the Self, assuming that its Will is not a necessary (and therefore a noble) part of the Whole. In a word he who accepts not the Law of Thelema is divided against himself: that is, he is insane, and the upshot shall be the ruin of the Unity of his Godhead.

Yet hearken again; the opposition of two movements is not always evidence of conflict or error. For two opposite points upon the rim of a wheel move one North, the other South; yet are they harmonious parts of the same system. And the rowlock which resisteth the oar hindereth not but aideth the True Will of that oar.

So then self-control is nowise the enemy of Freedom, but that which maketh it possible. And he who would deliver a muscle from its bondage to its bone by severing it rendereth that muscle impotent.

Moreover hear this word: as a muscle is vain, except it be rightly ordered, so also is thy work to be made easy by uniting thyself to the Work of the Master, even Therion, whose True Will it is to bring each Man's work to its perfection. To this end hath he proclaimed his Law; so also to that end, which is also thine, do thou add thy little strength to His great might. As it is written:

And blessing and worship to the Prophet of the lovely Star!

Thou, therefore—go on, go on in my strength, saith the Lord of the Aeon, and ye shall turn not back for any.

(Quote) The Temple of Solomon the King - Aleister Crowley

The affectation of knowledge and the piling on of symbols is only legitimate to the ignorant when the purpose is to bewilder by a flashing image and not to instruct. In the present case the seeker after Truth is called the Child of Earth and Darkness, and instead of being shown the beautiful garment of light he will one day be called upon to wear, is at once rolled in a heap of tinselled draperies, in mummy wrappings, outgrown togas and the discarded underwear of Olympus and Sinai, the result being that unless his understanding is as clear as these rituals are obscure, all he obtains is a theatrical impression of "make-up" and "make- believe," and a general detachment from the realities of Consciousness. The words obsess him; he cannot see that Typhon is as necessary in the Egyptian Scheme as Osiris; in the Christian, that Satan is but the twin of Christ. They fetter the freedom which they are supposed to unbind, producing not only a duality but a multiplicity of illusions; so that, in the end, the chances are, instead of conversing face to face with Adonai, he becomes a prig addressing a mass meeting in the Albert Hall, rationalising about irrational qualities.

(Quote) The Temple of Solomon the King - Aleister Crowley

Thus it came about that the greater the Master the less was he able to explain himself, and the more obscure his explanations the darker became the minds of his followers.

(Quote) The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order - Paul Foster Case

The personal man is never the thinker, the speaker, nor the actor. This truth, "...until its import is grasped, seems like fatalism. It appears to make man a mere puppet. Yet it is a truth reiterated by all wise men, who all insist, furthermore, that it is not in the least fatalistic. They tell us that the reason it seems to be so is that human beings do not really know what they mean when they say "I." When this ignorance is corrected by right knowledge, the center of consciousness is no longer located in personality. It is shifted to the Real Self, and that Self is perceived as being identical with the Originating Principle of the universe. The personal life is lost, but the Cosmic Life is found. An illusion is exchanged for a reality. A counterfeit freedom is renounced in order that real freedom may be enjoyed.

(Quote) The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order - Paul Foster Case

Inequality and injustice are apparent everywhere, but the esoteric doctrine states plainly that this appearance is untrue. It does not say, you will observe, that justice will prevail in some distant future. It declares emphatically that perfect balance is maintained continually.

(Quote) Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order

"True Rosicrucianism does not fall into the ancient error of setting the spiritual against the "material." It does not seek escape from the material into the spiritual. Rather it seeks to expose the lie that there is any "material" whatever apart from the substance of pure Spirit. At the same time, though it denies there is a reality (matter) opposed to another reality (spirit), Ageless Wisdom finds useful and accurate the distinction between the terms physical and metaphysical. The "physical" is that range of spiritual activity that man perceives through his ordinary senses. The "metaphysical" is that range of spiritual activity that lies beyond ordinary sensation. Moreover, "beyond" may mean either above or below, so there may be whole fields of metaphysical reality that are relatively interior to those we know by means of our senses."