Category Archives: Thelema

Law of Thelema: The Cairo transmission of 1904 stemmed from an ancient Egyptian source, although the fragmentary texts of the Book of the Law reflect for the most part the notions of Aleister Crowley and his contemporaries. The cult of Ankh-af-na-khonsu nonetheless comprised highly initiated priests and scribes continuing a tradition, very old even at the time, which focussed on Mentu, the local Theban deity. The Stele of Revealing is the funeral stele of a 26th Dynasty priest and scribe, a member of the same Setian cult—for the god Mentu, depicted on the front side, embodies the attributes of both Ra and Set-Typhon. The Stele of Revealing became ‘activated’ by Rose Edith Kelly (Rose Crowley at the time). The esoteric doctrine of the ‘star’ or Egyptian khabs, which is mentioned in the Book of the Law along with other Egyptian principles, is nothing new but very few persons today understand metaphysics. One must resort to the Hindu and other ancient or traditional doctrines to render intelligible much of what is placed in cryptic terms in the (Egyptian) Book of the Law, so for example comparison may be made between the khabs and the jivatma, source of the individuality and ego ahankara.

Much of our book Babalon Unveiled is a commentary on key verses of the (Egyptian) Book of the Law, and this places the Law of Thelema in a very different light, compared to how it is obfuscated in the ‘official commentaries’. However, while it is possible to apply esotericism to the Book of the Law to find some agreement with traditional doctrines, the methods used by Aleister Crowley for obtaining the fragmentary text were essentially those of spiritism and neo-spiritualism. Much of the Book therefore reflects what was already in the mind of Crowley and there are more errors than certain knowledge. For example, space is not ‘infinite’, and numbers are discontinuous and cannot be infinite either. Such ideas were in the social milieu and the minds of the sort of people Crowley associated with at the time, but are completely fallacious and bear no relation to any true metaphysical doctrine. It therefore takes quite a considerable effort to wash the mud from the stone until it sparkles.

For an exacting and thorough refutation of all neo-spiritualist notions such as evolutionism, progress and reincarnationism, see René Guénon, The Spiritist Fallacy.

Adapted from ‘Lapis Philosophorum’, Babalon Unveiled! Thelemic Monographs.

Mantra Yoga and Initiation

Posted on 1st December 2024 by Metamorphosis

The mantra is extremely important in all initiatic traditions as it is the primary means of conveying diksha or ‘initiation’ within the Orders or groups. Various meanings of the Sanskrit term also include ‘consecration’, ‘preparation’ and most interestingly, ‘new vision’, as seeing and knowledge often have the same meaning.

When the guru gives a mantra to a sadhaka, it is called japa as that implies continuous repetition. While that is not the only use of the mantra, japa is valuable as a means of controlling the mind and stabilising the knowledge, and can be very efficacious as a support to meditation. The word or phrase can itself be the object of meditation. The whole question of diksha is contentious and some prefer not to discuss the subject at all, which is understandable. One should certainly not discuss one’s personal mantra. Very often the same mantra will be given to a group; it is still ‘personal’ when it has been conferred, even if used by all the followers of a particular guru.

This article is from the forthcoming book, Advaita Vedanta—Question of the Real.

Why is diksha contentious? Very often novices will pester us for japa or diksha when they have read or heard about it somewhere and sense its importance. However, that feeling does not take account of their readiness to receive it, especially in the real initiatic sense. Impatience is a clear indication of unworthiness, although there is no reason at all why it should not be requested. In so far as it really can transmit initiation then once received it is permanent, and this is why it has been said that no member of an Order can ever leave it, since it is an integral part of being. Those who do leave an Order, as of course happens frequently, especially in the volatile times we live in today, were never truly members so their departure is no different than someone dissociating from any profane club, association or society. Even if initiation were given, they would not have received it.

Mantra in Initiation

This brings up a very important question regarding initiation, in whatever way it is given. We will not discuss here the absurdity of ‘self-initiation’, which is very popular in neo-spiritualism, and will only state here that it is an oxymoron arising from sheer ignorance. Initiation must be transmitted from one who has knowledge of more than a theoretical order, or if not, then at least from one that has received authorisation to initiate from within an Order. Initiation, as we have said, may be given sometimes but not received. Likewise a seed may be cast upon stony ground and so will not flourish.

At the highest level diksha is no less than what is called guru darshana, where the samadhi of the guru is transferred to the practitioner at least temporarily—in which case they have to work on it of course. There are other cases where the person may receive a spiritual influence but owing to their lack of preparedness, its effect is detrimental—although this is usually temporary and it is known that sometimes the power has been subsequently removed by the guru. In such a case, they were not able to withstand the direct transference from the mind of a Brahma-jnanin. It will then become apparent that the giving of a mantra or diksha is far more than the practice within the Order of the Golden Dawn where a seasonal ‘password’ is given, or in some later derivatives of that, where the Neophyte has to figure out a ‘secret word’ from a code given in the ritual.[1]

A real mantra is never merely invented or made up. The word or phrase will often be one well known from the Gita or Upanishads, for example, in which case the question arises as to how then can it be in any way ‘secret’ or indeed personal? It is special because it has been given in the way we have indicated. It is not merely a word, there is power behind it, which is the power of transmission. The guru will also give personal instruction in how to pronounce it and how to use it, which may be different according to the individual.

The secret then is not in a word itself, as is the case with shruti (‘direct’) texts. This is further explained by the bija mantra, where not only a word is given but also a deity, called Ishta Devata, the ‘chosen deity’. The mantra in this case is linked to the deity and usually a name of the deity is included, as with the much celebrated Om Nama Shiva-ya. There are countless examples in scripture and in hymns of praise. The most important of all of them is Om or AUM as it is a name of Brahma and much else besides.[2]

The three letters A, U, M are merged into one figure. The chandra-bija is at the top, which literally means ‘moon and dot (or point)’. All mantras include what is also called the bija-nada, which is indicative of subtle sound, not uttered physically. The bija ‘point’ is placed over the mantric word to indicate this. It is for the same reason—of the very subtle nature of this sound—that AUM is referred to in the Vedas indirectly, as Pranava, which is AUM or Brahma Nirguna.[3] This can be taken to mean, ‘a boat that carries us away from world illusion and to the Real’. This is further indicated by the moon and point.

It is often said in books or literature that mantras are to be sounded aloud with the voice. While this is sometimes done, it is not the way to enter the mystery of the bija-nada. It is therefore best to utter the word silently. In the highest form of the nada, it is not uttered at all, not even mentally, but is heard though not with the ears or even the inward sense of hearing. In this case, what is actually experienced is completely indescribable. There are lesser degrees of this, which amount to more indirect forms of knowledge.

The yantra, ‘image’, is also used extensively, and there are countless examples even within Hinduism, let alone neo-spiritualism where symbols are invented as often as they are drawn from a valid tradition. Apart from these—some of which can be effective—the best are no doubt to be found within the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some of the most effective within the Tantras, and which are also very well known, also happen to be the simplest, for example the point within a triangle:

The purpose of this is to meditate, using the bindu in the centre as the focal point. Such a yantra should preferably be hand drawn and painted by the sadhaka. While it can be meditated on externally, as with the mantra it is best when it is transferred to the subtle sense of vision in the first instance. After that, depending on the skill of the operator, the image itself is lost and the real knowledge of the symbol is known directly.

Another form of yantra is the image of the Ishta Devata. This is used in combination with the bija mantra. Traditionally, the idea is to build the image of the deity imaginatively in as much detail as possible. In practice, some are better at this than others, and in fact it is not really essential, especially as the idea is not to stay with the imagination; ideally, the created ‘picture’ is replaced by the vision of the deity, which is not at all the same thing as imagining it. Although it is not in any way a supreme realisation or something of that order, there are ‘degrees’ or levels of reality and the vision is of a higher order generally than mere visualisation. This practice is also part of what is called Ishvara Pranidhāna in the Yoga-Sutras.

Mantras and Chakras

Finally, a word should be said regarding the use of bija mantra images and sounds associated with the chakras. There is much of this written about in popular books and elsewhere, and that removes such practices entirely from their traditional use, so we will not give here a list of them. One might gain the impression, even from what might appear to be authoritative sources that the use of mantras extends no further than a means of helping with bodily health or psychological problems. In fact, using them ignorantly in the ways often suggested can be harmful—often the best thing that can happen is that nothing happens at all. Why is this? The methods are ancient and while the main use of these was spiritual, that does not mean that a spiritual influence will have a beneficial effect on one that uses them without knowledge and without a guru to guide them.

Even in tradition, mantras can be used for material purposes and this is not necessarily illegitimate but obviously there is ignorance prevailing in the person using them in this way, exactly as in the case of magical talismans. Our recommendation is to use the mantra and yantra for spiritual purposes, which means knowing the Real as the ultimate goal.

Notes

1. For example, using the Western colour correspondences to the paths of the Tree of Life in the King Scale: blue, yellow, orange-yellow, emerald green, blue-black: MABYN, a transliteration from Hebrew, sometimes rendered without the yod.
2. One should refer, in the first instance, to the Mandukya Upanishad, which is the authoritative treatise on AUM.
3. Thus repetition of the sacred AUM is called Pranava Japa.

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Our Lady BABALON

Posted on 21st October 2021 by Metamorphosis

Since the First Edition of Babalon Unveiled was published it has come to our notice that some people have very strange ideas concerning who or what our Lady Babalon is, or what she symbolises. The following article is from the Second Edition.

Babalon, as divine personification and Shakti, who holds the power of ‘reversing time’ in the assimilation and reabsorption of all illusions of self, is integral to initiatic transmission and gnosis. Yet it is very common now to find ‘devotees’ of Babalon that are devoted to what can only be described as a kind of advertising agency notion of the ‘modern woman’. This involves a sexualised ideal of women that is a contradiction in itself, a dissociated idea of the self that could only come about in the confusion that owes to the spiritual vacuum of the present times. It persists in the ambiguous realm of fantasy—which also happens to be the realm used for selling products. Sadly, the licentious trading on the name of Babalon typifies the total inversion and parodying of all spiritual knowledge. It denies any possibility of real initiation while pretending to sell ‘liberation’ through the cynical commercial exploitation of completely ordinary human weakness and delusion.

Babalon, as she has come to be known, has vastly ancient origins. As we have mentioned earlier, her name derives from a corruption of the Egyptian per-hapi-en-aunnu, the ‘Nile Temple of Aunnu’.[1] The Nile Temple, dedicated to Hathoor the goddess of the sky and the divine pillar or initiatic axis that links heaven with earth, refers to the nome centre of the place named by the Greeks as Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. The name Hathoor (Het-hor) means literally ‘House of Horus’. Babalon is thus cognate with Nuit as the personification of the supreme principle. According to the book of Revelation 12: 1,

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

As ‘clothed with the sun’, Babalon signifies both the manifest and the unmanifest principle. Hathoor is notable for giving birth to Horus without the need for a father, which is indicative of a metaphysical understanding of reality that reaches beyond the cosmological level—though the latter is often the upper limit of what can be imagined by those who write on ‘ancient mysteries’.

The relatively modern spelling of the name Babalon was derived from the Enochian Keys. By Qabalistic values the name adds to 156, which is the number of the Zodiac as a unified principle (12 x 13).[2] From that we can ascertain that while the absolute principle is not altered by any conditions of manifestation, our Lady Babalon, in her manifest aspect, is the ruler of the cosmological sphere. As we know that Horus in his earliest form as Set-Mentu is the Legislator or Lord of the Cosmic Cycle, we can understand how it is not really possible to separate Horus from Hathoor, in the same way Shiva is not separate from Shakti and Hadit is not separate from Nuit, for these are dual aspects of the supreme principle. From the corporeal point of view, Babalon is the type of the human soul, named the Scarlet Woman in the (Egyptian) Book of the Law. As such, she suffers the burden of good and evil, which resides in the human heart.

We must here discern a difference between ‘heart’ as an analogy for spiritual intelligence and the conventional meaning of the word as merely emotion, instinct or sentiment. The ‘compassion and tenderness’ mentioned in the Book of the Law, which is no more than the sentimentalism that typifies our modern times, has negative implications for the soul.[3] The sympathy or feeling that the soul has is closely associated with her bodily emotions and mentality. Such ‘feeling’ thus easily becomes a mask for pride and egotism. While there is nothing wrong with love and kindness when it springs freely from the heart, the human mind has immense capacity for deception.

Scorpio, ruled by fiery Mars, the energy or ‘blood’ of life, is a correspondence of the Scarlet Woman. The number 156 also happens to be a number of Kemoz, an angel of Scorpio.[4] The name suggests ‘essence of darkness’, which is similar to what is said in the Sepher Yetzirah as descriptive of the fifteenth path of Aquarius and Nuit.[5] Darkness or blackness can symbolise the primordial state, which is identical with the supreme principle. In its inferior aspect, darkness is simply ignorance, so we are at once confronted with the dual nature of symbolism. Both aspects apply to the Scarlet Woman or human soul, for she must choose; to choose wisely she must learn the art of discrimination that makes true knowledge possible. As according to the Book of the Law, I: 57,

There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well!

The dove is the symbol of Deliverance, also the avatar that ascends and descends the axis or world tree as intermediary. It is inseparable from the symbolism of the Holy Graal. The serpent itself has a dual aspect, superior and inferior. Here it is played against the bird of heaven, as the Adversary or tendency towards evil that is in man. To a certain extent then, the soul must undergo trials in the underworld or infernal realm that has its equation with ‘ordinary life’, before reaching the centre of the labyrinth—all that which guards the true heart of knowledge. Once the centre is reached—if it is reached and not denied—it becomes possible for the soul’s initiatory death and resurrection or ascent.

Notes on our Lady Babalon

1. See ‘Babalon Unveiled’, Second Edition (Revised), p. 24.
2. The number 156 is also the number of squares in each of the Enochian Watchtowers. It is also that of the ‘Splenderous Eden’ (ODN KBVD).
3. Book of the Law, III: 43.
4. KMVTz (156) is Ruling Angel of the 1st Decanate of Scorpio.
5. See Thirty-two paths of Wisdom by the present author.

Our Lady Babalon is from Babalon Unveiled! Thelemic Monographs Second Edition (Revised). The article is there titled ‘Babalon Revisited’.

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