On Aug 22, 8:23 pm, Melkor
middleearth.com> wrote:> On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:03:04 -0700, Kisai
gmail.com> wrote:>>On Aug 21, 12:48 pm, Rufus Opus
gmail.com> wrote:>>> On Aug 21, 12:56 pm, "Tom"
comcast.net> wrote:>
>>>> "Rufus Opus"
gmail.com> wrote in message>
>
>>>>> On Aug 21, 10:13 am, "Tom"
comcast.net> wrote:>>>>>> "Rufus Opus"
gmail.com> wrote in message>
>
>>>>>>> On Aug 20, 4:43 pm, "Tom"
comcast.net> wrote:>
>>>>>>>> We'll never "understand" the Will which arises from Understanding as
>>>>>>>> long
>>>>>>>> as
>>>>>>>> we fail to keep silence. It's essence is beyond conceptualization,
>>>>>>>> just
>>>>>>>> like reality. Instead of understanding it, we stand under it.
>>>>> I meant the silence part.
>
>>>> Why do you believe that's a myth?
>
>>> I believe it's a myth because it comes from the four thingies of the
>>> Sphinx. (You know, the four thingies.) To know, to Dare, to Keep
>>> Silent, and... the other one. To Will! I remember. No Google, either,
>>> I swear.
>
>>> I believe it's a myth because the whole "Four [thingies] of the
>>> Sphinx" came from Levi in the 19th century. They're a mythology that
>>> helps in Levi's explanation of Transcendental Magick. God knows where
>>> he pulled them out from, although I suspect it was his ass, but they
>>> don't have anything to do with theurgy at all. They're symptoms,
>>> maybe, side effects possibly, at least of certain stages of the Work,
>>> but they aren't prerequisites. You don't get the results by imitating
>>> the symptoms of the results. You can go around quoting Christ and
>>> Siddartha all day long, but that doesn't make you an ascended master.
>
>>>From _Transcendental Magic_:
>
>>"To attain the SANCTUM REGNUM, in other words, the knowledge and power
>>of the Magi, there are four indispensable conditions--an intelligence
>>illuminated by study, an intrepidity which nothing can check, a will
>>which cannot be broken, and a prudence which nothing can corrupt and
>>nothing intoxicate. TO KNOW, TO DARE, TO WILL, TO KEEP SILENCE--such
>>are the four words of the Magus, inscribed upon the four symbolical
>>forms of the sphinx."
>
>>***
>
>>"You are called to be king of air, water, earth and fire; but to reign
>>over these four living creatures of symbolism, it is necessary to
>>conquer and enchain them. He who aspires to be a sage and to know the
>>Great Enigma of Nature must be the heir and despoiler of the sphinx:
>>his the human head, in order to possess speech; his the eagle's wings,
>>in order to scale the heights; his the bull's flanks, in order to
>>furrow the depths; his the lion's talons, to make a way on the right
>>and the left, before and behind."
>
>>***
>
>>"You must thoroughly understand that elemental beings are souls of an
>>imperfect type, not yet raised in the scale up to human existence, and
>>that they can only manifest power when called into action by the adept
>>as auxiliaries to his will, by means of that universal astral fluid in
>>which they live. The kingdom of the Gnomes is assigned to the North,
>>the Salamanders to the South, the Sylphs to the East, and the Undines
>>to the West....
>
>>"Their symbols are those of Taurus the Bull for Gnomes; Leo the Lion
>>for Salamanders; the Eagle for Sylphs; and the sign of Aquarius for
>>Undines....
>
>>"The combination of these four types of face and being represents the
>>Created Universe, a complete and eternal entity, Man in fact, the
>>Microcosm; and this is the first formula of the mystical explanation
>>of the enigma of the Sphynx."
>
>>***
>
>>"The great secret of magic, the unique and incommunicable Arcana, has
>>for its purpose the placing of supernatural power at the service of
>>the human will in some way.
>
>>To attain such an achievement it is necessary to KNOW what has to be
>>done, to WILL what is required, to DARE what must be attempted and to
>>KEEP SILENT with discernment.
>
>>***
>
>>I'm of the opinion that he pulled these things out of his ass as well.
>
> you are wrong- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I am? Let's take a look at some typical Levi (Dogme et Rituel de la
Haute Magie):
"Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of
ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all
initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of
Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the
blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous
or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the
inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books
on alchemy, in the ceremonies practised at reception by all secret
societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is
everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed."
Ass-goblin pulling, plain and simple. These allegations are not the
result of carefully researched work; they are a hodge-podge collation
of occult fragments woven into an ill-defined mythology of a secret
doctrine, with amazing enlightened masters able to perform any act
imaginable by the manipulation of 'astral light'.
If you note his desciption of the sphinx, there isn't a historically
verifiable jot of information anywhere. It's all speculation and
attribution of Levi's philosophy, not some unlocked secret from the
vault of history.
