Glossary of Magical & Qabalistic Terminology (6)

 

 Spirit: The breath, intelligence or fragrance transmitting the Word to creation. The source of this intelligence is now understood as being Hadit, who manifests the 93 current. The transmitter of the 93 current is the Beast; the creation it animates is the Scarlet Woman or soul. As a centre of consciousness whence emanates the spirit, the Beast is a Khabs, and the Holy Guardian Angel. As a body permeated by the spirit, the Scarlet Woman is the Khu, and the human soul. (See also Beast; Current; Hadit; Khabs; Khu; Scarlet Woman; Soul) Star: The star or Khabs is the true nature of every man and every woman, as revealed by Nuit in Liber AL vel Legis (I: 3). (See Khabs) Stélé of Revealing: The funeral stone of the XXVIth dynasty Egyptian priest Ankh-af-na-khonsu, who lived around the year 600 BC. While a priest at Thebes, Ankh-af-na-khonsu received the revelation that is recorded on his funeral stone. This stélé was exhibited at the Cairo museum at the time when Aleister and Rose Crowley were honeymooning in Egypt in 1904. Its exhibit number was 666, the number of the Beast of St. John’s book of Revelation. Liber AL vel Legis directly refers to the Stélé as “the Abomination of Desolation”, a term borrowed from the Old Testament where it appears in Daniel’s prophesy on the “end of time” (Daniel, 12). Jesus quoted the term later in the eschatological discourses recorded in the Gospels of St Matthew and Mark (Matthew, 24: 15, Mark, 13: 14). (See also Abyss; Ankh-af-na-khonsu; Beast; Heaven, company of) Tetragrammaton: The Hebrew name of God transliterated as the four letters Yod, Hé, Vav, Hé (YHVH, Yahweh or Jehovah). The Yod corresponds to the archetypal world, Atziluth, referred to as “Father” in the formula of Tetragrammaton. The first Hé corresponds to the creative world, Briah, referred to as the “Mother”. The Vav corresponds to the formative world, Yetzirah, referred to as the “Son”. The Hé final corresponds to the material world, Assiah, referred to as the Daughter. 
These four principles embody the cardinal points of the cycle of consciousness and life of the soul through creation, fall, death and redemption.
The qabalistic formula of Tetragrammaton teaches that the fallen soul, the daughter, is to marry the son, the Holy Guardian Angel, to be placed back on the throne of her mother and be reunited with her father. 
In Liber AL vel Legis these four principles are seen to rest on the doubling of one original polarity, the Beast and the Scarlet Woman, or the Khabs and Khu. This doubling comes about through descent into the underworld. On their emergence the Khabs and Khu correspond to the father and mother of Tetragrammaton. Above the Abyss these twin principles are in seamless union. Below the Abyss or in the underworld, the Khabs and Khu are the son and daughter of Tetragrammaton, the Holy Guardian Angel and the natural soul. 
Through the division of consciousness “for the chance of union” that is symbolised by the Hebrew letter Zayin they are in a state of separation. The Law of Thelema is the means of their reunion. The formula of Tetragrammaton is, therefore, a development of the mystery of the Sphinx. (See also Assiah; Atziluth; Beast; Briah; Fall; Holy Guardian Angel; Khabs; Khu; Scarlet Woman; Sphinx; Thelema; Worlds, Four; Yetzirah; Zayin) Thebes: The nature of the work that was performed by Initiates in Thebes is worth noting, as it sheds much light on some of the more obscure passages of Liber AL vel Legis. A group of temples at Thebes (Karnak) consecrated to the Theban Triad, Amoun, Mut and Khonsu, is called Apet-Sut. The word sut means place, and is also a root of the name Set. 
The word apet, designating the female hippopotamus whose enormous belly symbolises the gestating womb, is derived from the root ip, meaning “to count”, “to enumerate”. Apet-Sut can thus be translated as “Enumerator of the Places”, for the name implies that gestation is identified with counting. Numbers are thus seen as generative powers. 
While Heliopolis and Memphis paid tribute to an Ennead of nine Neteru or gods, and Hermopolis to an Ogdoad of eight, Karnak replaced this with an unusual fifteen Neteru. Fifteen is a number of the primordial goddess and her magical child, Set-Typhon. More specifically, it is descriptive of her kalas or emanations, which count the cyclical motion of the breath (prana) of life.
At Thebes, the Hidden God known there by the name of Amoun is represented by a walking figure, the vital breath that lives in all things, and moves by numbers.
Each one of the temples of Apet-Sut is consecrated to a particular entity or Neter, who is a principle or mode of action of the Hidden God. 
At Thebes, the numbers conceal – and reveal – the Neteru. Thebes is therefore the centre of instruction concerned with what later become known as the Qabalah. It is also the centre concerned with the precession of the equinoxes, and the “enumeration of the place” of Ra, the light of the Sun, around the zodiac belt. 
The two principal deities of the Theban Triad, Amoun and Mut whose child is Khonsu, correspond astrologically to the signs of Aries and Libra (Amoun is often depicted as ram-headed, while Mut is associated with Maat and her scales). Aries and Libra are the two signs entered by the sun at the equinoxes. Khonsu carries the Eye of Ra, showing that, as the child of Amoun and Mut, he is the child of the enumeration of the cycle of the sun. It is therefore from Thebes that the precession of the equinoxes is declared. This is identical with the utterance of the Word that must become flesh. The Word made flesh is at the heart of the esoteric doctrine of ancient Egypt, and therefore of Liber AL vel Legis. (See also Ankh-af-na-khonsu; Initiation, Egyptian centres of; Maat) Thebes – warrior lord of: The warrior lord of Thebes is the self-slain Theban priest Ankh-af-na-khonsu. (See Ankh-af-na-khonsu) Thelema: Θελημα is the Greek word for “will”, and the Word of the Law of the Aeon of Horus given by Nuit in Liber AL vel Legis. By Greek Qabalah the number of Thelema is 93. (See Aeon; Horus; Nuit) Thoth: The Egyptian god of writing and magick; the utterer of the Word, the intelligence of God and male counterpart of Maat. Thoth was known to the Greeks as Hermes, and to the Romans as Mercury. The ancient Egyptians attributed the god Set to the planet Mercury. This points to the close relationship between Set and Thoth, who gradually assimilated many of the attributes of Set as the latter became demonised. (See also Maat; Set) Tum: Originally, the first fully anthropomorphic god representing Ra as the sun in the East. Later, his position moved to the West and he came to represent the setting of Ra in the underworld – the reflection of Nuit’s body. Tum thus became the god below the horizon, identical to Amoun the “Hidden God” worshipped at Thebes. At Aunnu, he was Ra-Hoor when rising in the East, Ra-Tum when setting in the West, and the double head of the Hennu boat (the boat of Ra, also sometimes represented with Maat and Thoth directing its course). His earliest, primal form was that of Bes, the dwarf self or Holy Guardian Angel referred to as “the Beast” in Liber AL vel Legis. (See also Aunnu; Beast; Holy Guardian Angel; Ra; Thebes) Typhon: The Greek name for the multi-faceted god who perpetually destroys forms to bring about change in the universe. He appears in mythology under many names, including: Hadit, Set, Bes, or “the Beast”. One of his symbols is the Egyptian Sphinx. 
Typhon is the son who manifests his mother, the primal Goddess who through him takes on any number of forms and aspects. The constellation named by the Egyptians as the “Thigh” (Ursa Major) was her stellar symbol or Word. The association between the constellation of Ursa Major and the star at the North Pole, at the Nuit-zenith – or northernmost extremity – is astronomically as well as magically significant. (See also Beast; Hadit; Nuit; Set; Sphinx) Valence Shell: See Electron Cloud. Worlds, Four: The Four Worlds of the Qabalah are, starting from the Supernals: Atziluth, the archetypal world; Briah, the creative world; Yetzirah, the formative world; and Assiah, the material world. The mystery of the interaction of these four worlds is summed up in the formula of YHVH or Tetragrammaton. (See Assiah, Atziluth, Briah, Tetragrammaton and Yetzirah) Yechidah: In the Qabalah, the Yechidah refers to one of the five parts of the human soul, of whom it is the quintessence. On the Tree of Life, the Yechidah is attributed to the sphere of Kether. The Hebrew word Yechidah has the meaning, “one, only; only child”. It refers to the only child of the great mother goddess Nuit: Hadit or Set, the divine Word. The title of “only begotten son” is also given to Jesus in the Gospels, such as in John I: 18 where John the Baptist says: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him.” 
The word Yechidah derives from Yechid, meaning “united, joined”, indicative of the inseparable nature of son and mother/father god. That is, of Hadit and Nuit. In the Eastern Tradition the Yechidah is called Atman, who is inseparable from the infinite god, Brahman. Yetzirah: The Hebrew word for “formation” and the name of the formative world in the Qabalah. On the Tree of Life Yetzirah corresponds to the seven sephiroth from Chesed to Yesod, that is, to the part of the soul called Ruach. Yetzirah also corresponds to the Vav of the formula of Tetragrammaton. The intelligence ruling over Yetzirah is the Holy Guardian Angel, the Beast or Khabs. By Hebrew Qabalah the number of Yetzirah is 305. This is also the number of “a curving, bending”, pointing to the relationship between the formative world of Yetzirah and the curvature of time and space that underlies the material world, Assiah. The number 305 also corresponds to the Hebrew word for “Lamb”, relating Yetzirah to the “Lamb of God”, one of the titles given to Jesus Christ in the Gospel of St. John. The “Christ” or “anointed one” is the Holy Guardian Angel, the life-giving spirit. 
Further numeric correspondences to Yetzirah are the Hebrew word for “dazzling with light”, and the closing phrase of the 12th chapter of the book of Daniel, “the end of days”. It is in this chapter of Daniel that appears the first biblical reference to the “Abomination of Desolation”, a name given to the Stélé of Revealing in Liber AL vel Legis. Yetzirah is the world which the soul must pass through to reach the end of time, cross the Abyss and enter into eternity. (See also Abyss; Beast; Heaven, Company of; Khabs; Ruach; Stélé of Revealing; Tetragrammaton; Worlds, Four) Zayin: The name of the Hebrew letter corresponding to the number 7 and the Hebrew word for “sword”. The sword is a symbol of the divine Word cutting through the circle of infinity – or non-duality – to beget creation. The existence of such creation depends on the dualistic nature of mind. The principle embodied by the sword is division and therefore doubling – a principle also associated with the Egyptian god Set. The name of Set is related to the word Sept, meaning “seven”. 
Correspondences to Zayin are manifold. Beginning with traditional qabalistic attributions, Zayin is the path of the Tree of Life crossing the Abyss from Tiphereth to Binah. The corresponding Tarot Atu is The Lovers VI, the twins representing the dualism between matter and spirit, man and Holy Guardian Angel. The path of Zayin is attributed to the astrological sign of Gemini, itself ruled by the god Mercury. Mercury is the Roman equivalent of the Egyptian god Thoth, the utterer of the divine Word and the male counterpart of Maat, the goddess of justice, truth and balance. 
Through the ages the god Set, who was identified with Mercury, became increasingly demonised in Egypt; his more positive attributes were gradually transferred to Thoth, whose totem animal is the Ibis. 
Thoth is the male counterpart of Maat. Together, Thoth and Maat oversee the transmission of the divine Word or True Will. Zayin, the path by which the Word begets duality across the Abyss, and Lamed, the Maatian path through which duality is maintained in equilibrium below the Abyss, are therefore complementary to each other. (See also Abyss; Maat; Set) Return to the top of page Ordo Astri home pageGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_3.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_2.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.htmlGlossary_1.htmlGlossary_4.htmlGlossary_5.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_67