Sacred texts
Thelema
Liber HHH sub figura CCCXLI.
CONTINET CAPITULA TRIA: MMM, AAA, ET SSS.
LIBER HHH SUB FIGURA CCCXLI. CONTINET CAPITULA TRIA: MMM, AAA, ET SSS.
Publication in Class D
I.
MMM. "I remember a certain holy day in the dusk of the Year, in
the dusk of the Equinox of Osiris, when first I beheld thee visibly; when first
the dreadful issue was fought out; when the Ibis-headed One charmed away the
strife. I remember thy first kiss, even as a maiden should. Nor in the dark
byways was there another: thy kisses abide." --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI.
VII. 15. 16.
- 0. Be seated in thine Asana, wearing the robe of a Neophyte, the hood drawn.
- It is night, heavy and hot, there are no stars. Not one breath
of wind stirs the surface of the sea, that is thou. No fish play in thy depths.
- Let a Breath rise and ruffle the waters. This also thou shalt feel playing
upon thy skin. It will disturb thy meditation twice or thrice, after which
thou shouldst have conquered this distraction. But unless thou first feel
it, that Breath hath not arisen.
- Next, the night is riven by the lightning flash. This also shalt thou feel
in thy body, which shall shiver and leap with the shock, and that also must
both be suffered and overcome.
- After the lightning flash, resteth in the zenith a minute point of light.
And that light shall radiate until a right cone be established upon the sea,
and it is day.
With this thy body shall be rigid, automatically; and this shalt thou let
endure, withdrawing thyself into thine heart in the form of an upright Egg
of blackness; and therein shalt thou abide for a space.
- When all this is perfectly and easily performed at will, let the aspirant
figure to himself a struggle with the whole force of the Universe. In this
he is only saved by his minuteness. But in the end he is overcome by Death,
who covers him with a black cross.
Let his body fall supine with arms outstretched.
- So lying, let him aspire fervently unto the Holy Guardian Angel.
- Now let him resume his former posture.
Two and twenty times shall he figure to himself that he is bitten by a serpent,
feeling even in his body the poison thereof. And let each bite be healed by
an eagle or hawk, spreading its wings above his head, and dropping thereupon
a healing dew. But let the last bite be so terrible a pang at the nape of
the neck that he seemeth to die, and let the healing dew be of such virtue
that he leapeth to his feet.
- Let there be now placed within his egg a red cross, then a green cross,
then a golden cross, then a silver cross; or those things which these shadow
forth. Herein is silence; for he that hath rightly performed the meditation
will understand the inner meaning hereof, and it shall serve as a test of
himself and his fellows.
- Let him now remain in the Pyramid or Cone of Light, as an Egg, but no more
of blackness.
- Then let his body be in the position of the Hanged Man, and let him aspire
with all his force unto the Holy Guardian Angel.
- The grace having been granted unto him, let him partake mystically of the
Eucharist of the Five Elements and let him proclaim Light in Extension; yea,
let him proclaim Light in Extension.
II
AAA "These loosen the swathings of the corpse; these unbind the
feet of Osiris, so that the flaming God may rage through the firmament with
his fantastic spear." Liber Lapidis Lazuli. VII. 3.
- 0. Be seated in thine Asana, or recumbent in Shavasana, or in the position
of the dying Buddha.
- Think of thy death; imagine the various diseases that may attack
thee, or accidents overtake thee. Picture the process of death, applying always
to thyself.
(A useful preliminary practice is to read textbooks of Pathology, and to visit
museums and dissecting-rooms.)
- Continue this practice until death is complete; follow the corpse through
the stages of embalming, wrapping and burial.
- Now imagine a divine breath entering thy nostrils.
- Next, imagine a divine light enlightening the eyes.
- Next, imagine the divine voice awakening the ears.
- Next, imagine a divine kiss imprinted on the lips.
- Next, imagine the divine energy informing the nerves and muscles of the
body, and concentrate on the phenomenon which will already have been observed
in 3, the restoring of the circulation.
- Last, imagine the return of the reproductive power, and employ this to the
impregnation of the Egg of light in which man is bathed.
- Now represent to thyself that this Egg is the Disk of the Sun, setting in
the west.
- Let it sink into blackness, borne in the bark of heaven, upon the back of
the holy cow Hathor. And it may be that thou shalt hear the moaning thereof.
- Let it become blacker than all blackness. And in this meditation thou shalt
be utterly without fear, for that the blankness that will appear unto thee
is a thing dreadful beyond all thy comprehension.
And it shall come to pass that if thou hast well and properly performed this
meditation that on a sudden thou shalt hear the drone and booming of a Beetle.
- Now then shall the Blackness pass, and with rose and gold shalt thou arise
in the East, with the cry of an Hawk resounding in thine ear. Shrill shall
it be and harsh.
- At the end shalt thou rise and stand in the mid-heaven, a globe of glory.
And therewith shall arise the mighty Sound that holy men have likened unto
the roaring of a Lion.
- Then shalt thou withdraw thyself from the Vision, gathering thyself into
the divine form of Osiris upon his throne.
- Then shalt thou repeat audibly the cry of triumph of the god re-arisen,
as it shall have been given unto thee by thy Superior.
- And this being accomplished, thou mayest enter again into the Vision, that
thereby shall be perfected in Thee.
- After this shalt thou return into the Body, and give thanks unto the Most
High God IAIDA, yea unto the Most High God IAIDA.
- Mark well that this operation should be performed if it be possible in a
place set apart and consecrated to the Works of the Magick of Light. Also
that the Temple should be ceremonially open as thou hast knowledge and skill
to perform, and that at the end thereof the closing should be most carefully
accomplished. But in the preliminary practice it is enough to cleanse thyself
by ablution, by robing, and by the rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram.
0-2 should be practised at first, until some realisation is obtained; and
the practice should always be followed by a divine invocation of Apollo or
of Isis or of Jupiter or of Serapis.
Next, after a swift summary of 0-2 practice 3-7.
This being mastered, add 8.
Then add 9-13.
Then being prepared and fortified, well fitted for the work, perform the whole
meditation at one time. And let this be continued until perfect success be
attained therein. For this is a mighty meditation and holy, having power even
upon Death, yea, having power even upon Death.
(Note by Fra. O.M. At any time during this meditation the concentration may
bring about Samadhi. This is to be feared and shunned, more than any other
breaking of control, for that it is the most tremendous of the forces which
threaten to obsess. There is also some danger of acute delirious melancholia
at point 1.)
III
SSS "Thou art a beautiful thing, whiter than a woman in the column
of this vibration.
"I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
"But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.
"Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my Soul!
"Thy God is like the cold emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou
radiatest thy little light.
"When Thou shalt know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in
thy great N.O.X." Liber Lapidis Lazuli. I. 36-40.
- 0. Be seated in thine Asana, preferably the Thunderbolt.
It is essential that the spine be vertical.
- In this practice the cavity of the brain is the Yoni; the spinal
cord is the Lingam.
- Concentrate thy thought of adoration in the brain.
- Now begin to awaken the spine in this manner. Concentrate thy thought of
thyself in the base of the spine, and move it gradually up a little at a time.
By this means thou wilt become conscious of the spine, feeling each vertebra
as a separate entity. This must be achieved most fully and perfectly before
the further practice is begun.
- Next, adore the brain as before, but figure to thyself its content as infinite.
Deem it to be the womb of Isis, or the body of Nuit.
- Next, identify thyself with the base of the spine as before, but figure
to thyself its energy as infinite. Deem it to be the phallus of Osiris or
the being of Hadit.
- These two concentrations 4 and 5 may be pushed to the point of Samadhi.
Yet lose not control of the will; let not Samadhi be thy master herein.
- Now then, being conscious both of the brain and the spine, and unconscious
of all else, do thou imagine the hunger of the one for the other; the emptiness
of the brain, the ache of the spine, even as the emptiness of space and the
aimlessness of Matter.
And if thou hast experience of the Eucharist in both kinds, it shall aid thine
imagination herein.
- Let this agony grow until it be insupportable, resisting by will every temptation.
Not until thine whole body is bathed in sweat, or it may be in sweat of blood,
and until a cry of intolerable anguish is forced from thy closed lips, shalt
thou proceed.
- Now let a current of light, deep azure flecked with scarlet, pass up and
down the spine, striking as it were upon thyself that art coiled at the base
as a serpent.
Let this be exceedingly slow and subtle; and though it be accompanied with
pleasure, resist; and though it be accompanied with pain, resist.
- This shalt thou continue until thou art exhausted, never relaxing the control.
Until thou canst perform this one section 9 during a whole hour, proceed not.
And withdraw from the meditation by an act of will, passing into a gentle
Pranayama without Kumbhakham, and meditating on Harpocrates, the silent and
virginal God.
- Then at last, being well-fitted in body and mind, fixed in peace, beneath
a favourable heaven of stars, at night, in calm and warm weather, mayst thou
quicken the movement of the light until it be taken up by the brain and the
spine, independently of thy will.
- If in this hour thou shouldst die, is it not written, "Blessed are
the dead that die in the Lord"? Yea, Blessed are the dead that die in
the Lord!