Glossary of Magical & Qabalistic Terminology (2)

 

 Aunnu: At Aunnu (Heliopolis or On), the mystery of Creation is described in its primeval aspect, and Atum-Ra is the name given to the hidden power that stands behind Creation. The name “Atum” means All and Nothing, representing the potentiality of the yet unformed universe. To exist as distinct from the Nun, Atum has to project himself. Thus Atum “becomes”. The Pyramid Texts describe this original act of Creation in the following terms: “Hail Atum! Hail Khepri, he who becomes from himself! You culminate in this your name of ‘Mound’, you become in this your name of Scarab-Khepri.” “Atum-Khepri, you culminate as mound, you raise yourself up as the Benu Bird from the ben-ben stone in the abode of the phoenix at Heliopolis.” Atum thus surges out of the Nun as the Primordial Mound. Atum is then said by the Pyramid Texts to respectively spit out and expectorate Shu (Air and Space) and Tefnut (Fire), the first two divine principles. Alternatively he brings these into the world by masturbating and causing “the seed from the kidneys to come.”
In another version of the myth, Atum is said to have created himself by the projection of his own heart, and to bring forth with him eight elementary principles with which he becomes the Great Ennead of Heliopolis: Shu and Tefnut, then Geb the earth, Nuit the sky, and finally Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys, the entities of cyclic life and renewal, of death and rebirth. “None of them are separate from him,” say the Pyramid Texts.
Atum-Ra of Heliopolis is the carrier of the invisible fire or seed, the metaphysical cause of the first definition to arise from the Nun. 
He then brings forth from himself the nine divine principles (eight plus himself) that will order the Becoming. In the Pyramid Texts, this Great Ennead doubles, and then itself becomes a generative power. “The King came forth from between the thighs of the two divine Nine.” (See also: Hermopolis; Initiation – Egyptian centres of; Memphis; Thebes) Ba: The Egyptian name for the soul of man, and for the World Soul. The Ba is usually depicted as a bird with a human face. The goddesses Isis and Nephthys frequently took on this form, representing the dual nature of the soul. (See also Scarlet Woman; Soul) Babalon: See Scarlet Woman. Beast (the): The name “Beast” is particular to St. John’s book of Revelation, in which it is given to the power who, with the “Scarlet Woman”, rules over the material universe. Revelation refers to him as the beast “who was, and is not” (Rev. 17: 10), indicating that he is the power passing in and out of manifestation through the Abyss. 
The word “Beast” is also related to the name of an ancient god called Bes, probably of either Semitic or African origin and represented by a dwarf. Bes, “the aged one who makes himself young again”, was worshipped in early Egyptian dynasties; at some period under the New Kingdom, he became identified with Horus the child, Hoor-paar-kraat. Little by little Bes was merged with other forms of the Sun God until at length he absorbed the qualities of Horus, Ra and Tum. As such Bes also moved into close relationship with Hrumachis, the god of the Sphinx. The Beast, Bes, the Sphinx, Horus and other solar gods are all expressions of the solar, conscious and transformative power hidden in creation, animating it with a life that is cyclical. 
By the XXVIth dynasty (during which lived Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the “prophet” of Liber AL vel Legis) Bes was completely identified with Horus, with whom he shared the attribute of Lord of all the Typhonian Beasts. 
Liber AL vel Legis reveals that the Beast is the manifestation of Hadit. Above the Abyss, the Beast is the supernal Khabs, the utterer of the Word. The Hebrew word for “beast” is chi, meaning also “alive; flowing”. Chi is the root of the Hebrew Chiah, the name used in the Qabalah for the part of the human soul corresponding to the sphere of Chokmah and the world of Atziluth. Through the “fall”, the Beast becomes the spiritual counterpart of the natural soul. From him emanates the unseen breath, fragrance or intelligence that gives her life. He is the Holy Guardian Angel or Khabs hidden in creation, his power coiled and contained within the soul to sustain her life. Liber AL vel Legis describes the Beast as “ever a sun”. As a sun, the Beast is the Word, the supreme cosmic power. He is the all-seeing divinity, the heart of the cosmos and the intelligence of the world. He is the transmitter of the 93 current of love under will, the blood of life, and as such, the appointer of life and death. 
By analogy with atomic theory, the Beast operates as the proton does in the atom nucleus, and as the element carbon in terms of his function in the universal life cycle. 
The carbon atom consists of 6 electrons, 6 protons and 6 neutrons – the three “sixes” which form the number of the Beast. (See also Atom; Carbon; Holy Guardian Angel; Khabs; Proton; Ruach; Scarlet Woman; Soul) Bes: See Beast Briah: The name given to the creative world in the Qabalah. The world of Briah corresponds to the sphere of Binah on the Tree of Life, and to the first Hé of the formula of Tetragrammaton. The intelligence ruling over Briah is the Scarlet Woman in her celestial aspect. In Liber AL vel Legis, the world of Briah is referred to as the Khu. By Hebrew Qabalah, the number of Briah is 218. This is also the number of the Hebrew words for “moon” and “multitude”, two ideas closely associated with the Scarlet Woman, and of the Hebrew word for “ether”. The ether is the “upper air” of the Greeks, in other words, heaven. The word “ether” comes from the Greek aithein, meaning “burn, shine”. This correspondence directly relates Briah to the magical body called the Khu, meaning the “shining one”. (See Heaven; Khu; Scarlet Woman; Worlds, Four) Carbon: A non-metallic element whose atom includes six protons, six neutrons and six electrons. A key property of carbon is its ability to readily form covalent bonds with other atoms, filling the three empty orbitals of its outer or valence shell by sharing their electrons. Carbon thus forms a great variety of molecules. Each carbon atom can share electrons with up to four different atoms, as well as combine with other carbon atoms. These properties allow carbon to act as the fundamental building block in molecules of organic, living matter. Carbon is present in all organic compounds, including DNA, the molecules carrying the genetic code of living organisms. It is able to form more compounds than any other element except hydrogen. It is a key component of most materials made by plants and animals, including charcoal. Graphite and diamond are made only of carbon atoms. Graphite is very soft and slippery, and diamond is the hardest substance known to man. In graphite, there are strong covalent bonds between carbon atoms in each layer. But, only weak forces exist between layers. Thus allowing the layers of carbon to slide over each other. On the other hand, in diamond each carbon atom is the same distance to each of its neighbouring carbon atoms. In this rigid network atoms cannot move. This explains why diamonds are so hard and have such a high melting point. The diamond structure consists of interlinking tetrahedrons of carbon. It is the strength of this infinite matrix of covalent bonds that make diamond the hardest natural material known. Each of the carbon atoms is in a tetrahedral environment, that is, each is bound to four other carbon atoms with all the angles being equal (109.47 degrees). Carbon abounds in the Sun, stars, comets, and in the atmospheres of most planets. Like virtually all atoms, carbon atoms are made in the interior of stars during a supernova, an explosion of a star that emits vast amounts of energy. Atoms are thus built in thermonuclear reactions, high temperature events that fuse two nuclei together. Hydrogen atoms fuse together into a helium atom then helium atoms fuse into carbon. Carbon atoms can then fuse with helium into oxygen. Chakra: A Sanskrit word meaning “wheel” or “circle”. It is used to describe subtle energy centres through which the life force, prana or “93 current” is organised and distributed in the macrocosm and in the microcosm. Traditional Eastern occultism considers that there are six chakras in the human body; a seventh chakra is latent in uninitiated humans, and is placed outside the body, above the crown of the head. This chakra flowers when the dual forces within the soul obtain self-polarisation. The chakras form the subtle counterpart of various endocrine glands. Like the endocrines, which secrete hormones or other products directly into the blood, the chakras secrete subtle essences or kalas directly into the etheric stream that supports the life of the spiritual bodies. Together the chakras form a passageway for the Kundalini, each chakra representing a type of consciousness. (See also Current; Kalas; Kundalini) Company of heaven: See Heaven Chiah: In the Qabalah, the Chiah refers to one of the five parts of the human soul. The word Chiah comes from Chi, the Hebrew word for “life, living, flowing, beast or creature.” The Chiah is the part of the soul corresponding to Chokmah on the Tree of Life, the sphere of “wisdom”. Chokmah is the sphere of the Beast, the life-giving spirit and transmitter of the Word or True Will. The Chiah and the sphere of Chokmah correspond to the world of Atziluth. They are representations of the centre of consciousness called Khabs in Liber AL vel Legis. (See also Beast; Khabs; Soul) Circle, squaring of: See Pi. Crater Cup: A term used in the Bacchic Mysteries to refer to the metaphysical place of incarnation of the soul. The soul passes from eternity into time by descending into the Crater Cup, represented astrologically by the space enclosed between the zodiacal signs of Leo and Cancer. In the twelve-fold life cycle of consciousness symbolised by the precession of the equinoxes, the Crater Cup corresponds to the “first hour”. In the Crater Cup, the dual aspects of the soul co-exist in symbiosis. The purpose of the Great Work is to separate and differentiate these twin principles so that they may polarise each other, their synergetic interaction giving birth to a third principle transcending them both: an immortal star or Khabs, of which the Crater Cup becomes the Khu. (See also: Khabs; Khu) Current (especially, 93 Current): A current is a flow of energy between two opposite poles. The flow of this current creates a magnetic field. The “93 Current” of Thelema is the magical current flowing between Nuit and Hadit, and transmitted by the stars of Nuit, the Khabs, from which they emanate. The polarity between Hadit, who as movement is the Knower and knowledge itself, and Nuit, who as space is that which is known by Hadit, is the consciousness current weaving world appearance. (See also Magnetism) Daath: See Abyss. Electromagnetism: See Magnetism. Electron: Irreducible into anything smaller, electrons are thought to be one of the fundamental particles of the material universe. The electron carries a negative electric charge, and has a radius of zero. This absence of size means that it is not an extended object but simply a negatively charged point in space, and one of the lightest particles with a known mass. Electrons form a cloud around the nucleus of an atom, and can behave as both particles and waves. Although all objects actually do so, it is only in a minute particle such as the electron that wave behaviour is measurable and important. As electrons behave like waves, they do not follow a specific path when orbiting around an atom nucleus. Instead they form negatively charged fields, regions called orbitals that correspond to the space in which the probability of finding the electron is greatest. The size and shape of an orbital varies depending on the energy of the electrons occupying it. (See also Atom; Electron Cloud; Neutron; Proton; Quantum Theory) Electron Cloud & Valence Shell: Orbiting electrons surround each atomic nucleus. These form an energy field called an electron cloud. The arrangement of electrons in this field, in which electrons orbit to form layers or shells, determines most of the atom's physical and chemical properties. The most significant factor influencing these properties is the configuration of the outermost shell of electrons, known as the atom’s valence shell. This shell has to be full, that is, all the orbitals in the shell must have two electrons in order for the atom to be stable. An atom with a full valence shell will not react readily with other atoms, whereas an atom with an incomplete valence will chemically react with other atoms, exchanging or sharing electrons in order to fill its outer shell. Atoms seek to exist in the lowest energy state possible, and bond with other atoms to fill their outer shells because it requires less energy to exist in this bonded state. 
Six gaseous elements – helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon – have full valence shells and are often called the noble gases because they do not normally form compounds with other elements. A full valence shell, like that of atoms of noble gases, provides the lowest and most stable energy for an atom. Atoms that do not have a full valence shell try to lower their energy by filling up their valence shell. They can do this in several ways: Two atoms can share electrons to complete the valence shell of both atoms, an atom can shed or take on electrons to create a full valence shell, or a large number of atoms can share a common pool of electrons to complete their valence shells. (See also Atom; Atomic Bonding; Electron; Quantum Theory) Fall: The manifesting power of Hadit, who is 0, is equal to 2: the Scarlet Woman, life; and the Beast, the giver of life. In the eternity above the Abyss, the “two” are in perfect union. The current established by this supernal polarity is the 93 current, Knowledge or the serpent who breaks forth as the Abyss to divide infinity and create the world. 
The motion of the serpent brings about the shift in consciousness through which the Scarlet Woman and the Beast are precipitated into the Abyss, the knowledge of good and evil – the dualism that creates world appearance and their separation from each other. The “fall” manifests the Scarlet Woman as Assiah, the material and visible world, the base of the Tree inhabited by man, demons, and the Qliphoth or shells of the dead. Coiled within her dwells the power of Hadit given unto her by the Beast, the Kundalini power she must awaken to be redeemed from the fall. The fall manifests the Beast as spirit, Yetzirah, the invisible, formative world hidden within the Scarlet Woman. Divided from spirit by the fall, the Scarlet Woman loses the knowledge of the Word or True Will hidden within her. She can only be redeemed from ignorance and sin by reuniting her consciousness to the word or Spirit concealed within her. (See Assiah; Beast; Hadit; Kundalini; Qliphoth; Scarlet Woman; Yetzirah) Hadit: Hadit is the complement of Nuit, whom he manifests as a celestial body or Khu. He is the movement begotten by infinite contraction. He is the utterer of Nuit’s will and her “only son”, called Yechidah in the Qabalah. Contracting in the body of Nuit, Hadit begets subtle centres of consciousness called Khabs or stars. In these he dwells as the life-giving Word or True Will. The radiations emanating from the Khabs transmit the Will or 93 current throughout the body of Nuit, the Khu that surrounds and sustains them. As movement, Hadit is pure force or thought, un-manifested. He is not; he is zero, yet at the same time he is the One Who Goes Forth. 
Hadit is Life and the giver of Life, two principles that he manifests as the Scarlet Woman and the Beast. By qabalistic gematria Had = 10 = Iota or Yod, the secret seed or bindu. He is the Knower, and knowledge itself, the serpent whose motion precipitates life across the Abyss, the Creation or dualistic universe subject to life and death. As the begetter of world appearance, he is comparable to Hermes or Mercury in their higher sense. The Egyptians portrayed Hadit as a winged globe or sun disc, usually with erect uraeus serpents on either side. The wings show the mode of action or going forth. They convey movement upon the air or aethyr, thus introducing the idea of the life-giving breath of God or Gods (e.g. the Elohim mentioned in the opening verses of the biblical book of Genesis). The twin serpents are a symbol of dualism, the root of world appearance. They show the principle of generative power, their undulatory movement begetting time and spatial consciousness. The disc itself is identified with Ra, the sun god; it is a stellar symbol showing the cosmic nature of Hadit. 
In exoteric Egyptian tales, Hadit portrays the heroic conqueror of the foes of Ra the sun god. Regarded esoterically, Hadit is the fire of life (or Occult Force, Kundalini, Serpent Power). 
Hadit is the transformer of the energy of the self otherwise bound up or restricted in the elemental nature of man. This he accomplishes through the mode of burning up and transfiguring the substance of the soul. The awakening of the Kundalini in the non-initiate can give rise to an exaggeration of the ego complexes or aggregates of elemental force bound by the principle of attachment and limitation. (See the warning given by Hadit in Liber AL vel Legis, II: 26–27.)
By analogy with atomic theory, Hadit functions as the electron in the atom. The movement of the electron, known as its orbital, forms a quantum field or electron cloud analogous to the body of Nuit, the company of heaven or celestial Khu. (See also Atom; Current; Electron; Electron Cloud; Heaven; Khabs; Khu; Kundalini; Nuit; Yechidah) Hathoor: See Ahathoor Heaven (and company of heaven): Heaven is eternity, in contrast with the manifested universe that exists in perpetuity. It is the world “above” or macrocosm as opposed to the world “below” or microcosm. Hadit manifests Nuit as a living body, the company of heaven or celestial Khu, also called the “Scarlet Woman” in Liber AL vel Legis. The body of Nuit is the universe referred to as the world of Briah in the Holy Qabalah. The word “body” is here best understood as representing an intelligent formation of individual units gathered around a common function: manifesting the Word of Thelema, Nuit’s Will. Such a unit or soul is referred to in the literature of the Gnosis variously as the Immortal Stone, the Elixir of Life, the Quintessence or the Holy Graal. Liber AL vel Legis refers to it as a Khabs. 
By analogy with atomic theory, the body of Nuit is as the electron cloud. (See also Atom; Electron Cloud; Khabs; Khu; Scarlet Woman) Heliopolis: See Aunnu Hermopolis: Hermopolis was the city of Hermes-Thoth the master of writing, numbers, measurement and time. It was the centre of instruction concerned with the description of the Nun, embodying its qualities and characteristics. Its creation story tells that the Demiurge created the Eight and formed his body as that of a sacred child who issues forth from a lotus in the middle of the Nun, the indefinable substance that is the eternal source of the universe.
The Nun is envisaged as swampy mire; a seething primal cradle in which live four couples of serpents and frogs. Their names are Naun and Naunet, meaning both “the initial waters” and “inertia”; Heh and Hehet, meaning “spatial infinity”; Kek and Keket, “the darkness”, and Amoun and Amounet, “that which is hidden”. Niau and Niaut, “the void”, sometimes replace Amoun and Amounet. The primordial Eight or Ogdoad as envisaged at Hermopolis form a single entity. “You (the Eight) have made from your seed a germ (bnn), and you have instilled the seed in the lotus, by pouring the seminal fluid; you have deposited it in the Nun, condensed in a single form, and your inheritor takes his radiant birth under the aspect of a child.” 
This child coming out of the primordial lotus is Ra, the principle of light itself, whose fathers and mothers are the Eight. (See also Initiation, Egyptian Centres of; Ra; Thoth) Go to Glossary 3 Return to the top of page Ordo Astri home pageGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_6.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_6.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_6.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_6.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_6.htmlGlossary_3.htmlOrdo_Astri.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_20shapeimage_2_link_21shapeimage_2_link_22shapeimage_2_link_23shapeimage_2_link_24shapeimage_2_link_25shapeimage_2_link_26shapeimage_2_link_27shapeimage_2_link_28shapeimage_2_link_29shapeimage_2_link_30shapeimage_2_link_31shapeimage_2_link_32shapeimage_2_link_33shapeimage_2_link_34shapeimage_2_link_35shapeimage_2_link_36shapeimage_2_link_37shapeimage_2_link_38shapeimage_2_link_39shapeimage_2_link_40shapeimage_2_link_41shapeimage_2_link_42shapeimage_2_link_43shapeimage_2_link_44shapeimage_2_link_45shapeimage_2_link_46shapeimage_2_link_47shapeimage_2_link_48shapeimage_2_link_49shapeimage_2_link_50shapeimage_2_link_51shapeimage_2_link_52shapeimage_2_link_53shapeimage_2_link_54shapeimage_2_link_55shapeimage_2_link_56shapeimage_2_link_57shapeimage_2_link_58shapeimage_2_link_59shapeimage_2_link_60shapeimage_2_link_61shapeimage_2_link_62shapeimage_2_link_63shapeimage_2_link_64shapeimage_2_link_65shapeimage_2_link_66shapeimage_2_link_67shapeimage_2_link_68shapeimage_2_link_69shapeimage_2_link_70shapeimage_2_link_71shapeimage_2_link_72