Simon Hinton - Typhonian O.T.O.. Some Qabalistic Considerations and Associated Initiations



Some Qabalistic Considerations and Associated Initiations


by Simon Hinton





The following is a collection of qabalistic thoughts and associated initiations which are an accompaniment to my magickal diary for the period October 1996-May 1997 e.v. The diary's contents record a period of my second degree O.T.O. workings: an intensive Liber AL study and workings on the lines of Liber E and Liber O. In addition they record the results of the daily invocation of my Holy Guardian Angel, identified as Shaitan-Aiwass, together with regular Lam workings.

A magickal diary's record should naturally speak for itself, it should be both honest in appraisal and scientific in approach. The following writings are an attempt to add structure and depth to a number of powerful realizations recently recieved, as well as providing a record of how I perceive this information at present. As such, they should be recognised as a reflection of my current understandings, which are constantly developing, and in some aspects quite open-ended and speculatory. I t is surely only by questioning and suggesting, meditating and contemplating, that ideas can evolve and part of that process may require playing the role of Devil's advocate, if not the Opposer himself. The following I hope, supplies some stimulating food for thought for those with minds eager to question.


Every number is infinite there; is no difference. Liber AL1:4

This verse always intrigued me. The fact that it occurs almost immediately in Liber AL seems to give it an extra credence. I had a sort murky understanding of its meaning, and then one morning a true realization of its clarity occurred.

Let us imagine a circle. Let us call it Nought.

With our consciousness let us cut it once.
____________________________

We shall now call it One: Unity.

With our consciousness let us make another division.

____________ _____________



The result we shall call Two.

With our consciousness let us make a further division.

________ ________ ________



The result we shall call Three.

This process can continue ad infinitum if we so choose.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


We could call the above a Thousand.

The point of the exercise is the recognition that it is the same circle whose circumference never begins or ends, it is just our consciousness that divides. Our perception is subjective, the phenomena is objective. (depending of course on one's level of initiation).

Rudimentary mathematics teaches that to divide is to take away and to multiply is to add.

To consciously consider is by nature divisory, for to 'home in' on a possibility is to filter out alternative possibilities. The logical development of this understanding is that in our mundane existence division has already occurred, because we are conscious! This leads to the inevitable riddle that always seems to boomerang back. Why Manifest? Liber AL I:29-30 explains:

For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union.

This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.

I have given Liber AL a lot of serious, meditative thought. This has led to numerous initiations and one certain conclusion: out of the anguish and pain of manifestation there is a distinctive and clear pathway available to those truly desirous of finding a higher way. Yes it is very possible, to reap the unimaginable joys mentioned in Liber AL I:58, the requisite being that we reach a state of consciousness that is non-dualistic and indivisible. The symbolic glyph of such a s tate of consciousness is the Circle. She is called Nuit. Liber AL was addressed to the Hadit particle and as living beings it is Nuit's universal circle of non-becoming which we should aspire towards.

And the sign shall be my ecstacy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.....O Nuit continuous One of Heaven, let it ever be thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all since thou art continuous!
Liber AL I:26-27

Desire Nought and All will be yours. Desire for either implies non attainment of the Vision of S'lba. Wisdom of S'lba IV: 16, Outer gateways. Kenneth Grant

All other versions are a degeneration. Hadit makes the cut with the dimensionless point. Liber AL's second chapter describes Hadit's role. He is the Magician, the Goer, the Mover and the Shaker. When all the cuts to the circle are repaired He becomes a mystic just like His wife.

When I tasted Samadhi, Samadhi tasted me. She did this by negating all my manifestations and dualities (all be it Outside the Circles of Time for an instant). This was no less of a reality (in fact more so I contemplate) than the daily mundanities of Malkuth existence witnessed through my five senses. Fleetingly my experience teased suggestively, ALL EXISTENCE IS ILLUSION mmm.... just as all division is in the mind; a thought process. (The realisation of the Self's non-relation to the shel ls of its fancy) S'lba I:28 paraphrased.

Samadhi is the continuum perceived as one, nay none. Crossing the Abyss is getting easier because I believe it is so. I have made the choice to take up permanent resident with the Supernals, but first there's that gap to deal with. In the City of the Pyramids there are no mental ties, just unrestricted multiple possibility. Philosophy is nothing more than a cheap parlour game for those below stairs, idolising a selected section of the circle, but I won't be cutting!

The life force is identified as the Hadit principle. In my Liber AL Intelligence essay I described this as 'the fighting willed spirit of continuous variation'. I received a further initiation recently with regards to prime numbers, through dreaming.

Imagine the circle mentioned previously but with Hadit's cut occurring Once to produce Unity:
________________________


Now let us consider a few prime numbers, but in reciprocal form to divide unity 1/0, 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, 1/11, 1/13, 1/17, 1/19, 1/23, 1/29, 1/31 &c. Their stubborn individuality equates with Hadit's Devilishness. They equate to the factor 'infinite and unknown', mentioned in Liber AL II:32. In division, prime numbers can only be expressed in multiples of themselves and Unity. They are Gods. Liber AL's Key is 31 the 13th prime. 13, Achad means One whose triplicity reversed i s 93 (3 x 13=39) as is the trinity of 31. Prime numbers equate to an indivisible essence, the uniqueness of Hadit's cut. All whole numbers can be broken down and expressed in terms of their primes. 1648 for example is (the present writer's magickal number) is an 8 fold version of the prime 103, whose trinity is the number of Set 309. This I equate to the triangle of Horus dominating the stooping dragon of 8 heads: the Supernals bursting out of the head of Daath.

Prime numbers occur at haphazard intervals which defy rational, linear analysis. Despite this there is a pattern to their appearance. As the series of integers grows, so does the mean distance between them. This pattern is non-linear, just like Nature and her Great God Pan, forever flirting on the periphery of possibility. And how we love Her!

I am Nuit and my number is six and fifty.
Divide, add, multiply, and understand.
Liber AL 1:24-25

666-50=616


When our Oneness with Nuit is attained, the Beast as Hadit rises from a position of Self Realization to one of All Realization. The Point. Unity within Man. Tiphereth to Kether by the path of Gimel. This is a purely mystical process.
The man that has realized his Godliness (Tiphereth) then becomes God (Kether). Paradoxically this is a transition from the indefinite article to the definite article; 'a God' to 'the God'.

For the initiate to cross the Abyss successfully the personality must be totally and utterly sacrificed. This process includes a complete severence with the Holy Guardian Angel, the higher intelligence that has faithfully guided the lower self to the edge of the great chasm. In effect this means death to the magickal universe that the adept has successfully created. It is the greatest and most daring act of faith a mortal can make. Should the initiate fail in t he crossing, he would be robbed of all spiritual gains and left to live out a nightmarish existence. The ghastly cackles of that mighty devil Choronzon would resound at his abject failiure. The ruinous one would have no choice but to cower beneath the leering shadow while pitifully sinking in the folly of duality. Dispersed...... 333! There are no half measures, just as in actuality there is no half circle. The unimaginable joys resulting from the psychological divorce fr om duality and its illusions, can only be experienced directly. A successful crossing would mean instantaneous transferal to the Immortal Coil. On arrival imagine the supreme joy of seeing your dearest friend smiling. Yes, your Angel also made it, only now he's everybody else's Angel too. Such are the Supernals.

The Qabalistic Tree of Life which we all know and love, is a glyph of human consciousness and the Universe which we percieve. There's even a get out clause Sephirah, considered accursed by some, for other types of consciousness, dear old magickal Daath. The Tree is a universal map which also may be used in the comparing of esoteric systems, and schools of initiation. Its effectiveness is quite remarkable in the tallying of symbolisms, imperative for the seeker of the kernal of truths. Is there no end to the beauty, simplicity and practical brilliance of our Holy Qabalah? As the parallels abound, it would seem not. Imagination is the only limitation and in the area of quantum physics I believe there are many more discoveries to be made.
Magick is the Art and Science of making things conform to your will.
I would liken the choices we make to 'pattern formulation'. As explained earlier it is our consciousness which exerts the control over pattern making or breaking. The bud will selects, and as Hadit is the Selector/Magician, symbolically this must occur in the Supernal Triad. The pattern is set (Set) and then the manifestation of the choices made becomes. To rise to Tiphereth on the initiation scale is to discover one's true will by being fully conversant with one's Holy Guardi an Angel. I would equate reaching this level with appreciating where your 'essential pattern' is. (Essential pattern= true will or proper orbit)

The shocking realization in 20th century physics, was how 'wrong' Newton and his reductionist pals were, in claiming that mechanistic classical physics applied universally. Einstein proved that space and time are not absolutes and that gravity can bend light. The ultimate challenge for physics in the next century will be to identify the continuity of principle that encompasses all. Aiwass originally dictates this in Liber AL as the unfragmentary non-atomic fact of my un ersality. Crowley asked for this verse to be modified in 'whiter words' , and so Aiwass amended accordingly, although I think the original quoted above bears greater relevance to this discussion.

The essential dichotomy faced by modern day physicists in search for a unified theory of the Universe, is that on the quantum level, where matter appears to behave like consciousness (ie. direct causal connection is lacking in a simplistic, classical physics type of way) alternative, statistical possibilities, replace measurable fundamentals. Liber AL of course predicted the confusion years before Einstein explained Mercury's wobble, or Schrodinger's Catty paradox teased the old school physicist. (Liber AL II:27-32.) But the Book of the Law went further and with mystical subtly, suggested the way through. When the pure Spirit (the Child Horus) has blasted away outmoded ideas and preconceptions, (like the blasted Tower of the Tarot) Maat's balancing forces must come into play. In case you were wondering the key to man successfully surviving this current evolutionary phase rests not at logical Hod but above the Abyss in the Supernals. The key of Liber AL is AL/LA whose number is 31 meaning 'God' and 'Not'; If these are interchanged in the Liber AL text the correct understanding of many verses becomes apparent.

Crowley made an interesting observation about the scale relationship between an atom, a man and the stars. I decided to take this observation further and in the light of new scientific discovery.
The number of atoms in a human being is in the region of 10²² and oddly if we were to multiply this figure again by 10 we would be in possession of the number of atoms in the average star. (10 to the power 44) Liber AL stresses that an integral part of the new wave of evolving consciousness is the recognition of our own Stariness. Every man and every woman is a star. Liber AL 1:3. The Tree of Life has 10 regular Sephiroth and 22 paths. Liber AL contains 220 verses. pi=22/7 (a very close approximation). Incidentally the pi constant is only exact in a Euclidean geometry framework, where gravitational force is absent. In the Einstein model universe, the average gravitation of all stars causes the volume of a space enclosed by a sphere of radius r to be less than 4/3 pi r³.

After taking into account the numerical similarities noted above, I took the option of treating each order of magnitude from atom to man as having a corresponding path on the Tree of Life, or at least there being a vibratory resonance and therefore a basis for comparison every twenty two paths on the Rota. I placed the starry Man at Kether and the atomic particle at Malkuth. These I treat as interchangeable and the Tree I shall replicate for smaller or larger orders of magnitude. (Kether is in M alkuth and Malkuth In Kether but after a different manner.) See accompanying diagram.

Planck's Constant is a quantum gravitational force that is only noticeable on atomic and sub-atomic levels. Using my hypothesis of comparison I suggest the effects are only directly noticeable commencing in the 20 orders of magnitude and below from the atomic particle ie. in the Supernal Triad. The Fool, the Magician and the Empress are paths purely of spirit and do not exist below the abyss. These I would relate to the three orders of magnitude below the Planck length. I make this correla tion because Planck's Length is actually about 20 orders of magnitude smaller than an atom and its mass is 10 to the power 19 GeV. This represents the energy at which quantum gravitational effects start to be important. There are 19 paths that exist below the Abyss on the Tree of Life. 19 is the number of manifestation. 19x22=418 the number of the Great Work and a number of Aiwass, this Planet's Holy Guardian Angel. The cryptogram in Liber AL II:76 which has never been satisfactorily solved in full has 19 letters listed.


The Planck length is 10 to the power -36 m. Surely an end to the hiding of Hadit! (Liber II:1). I think it is reasonable to speculate on the possibilty that the Abyss correlates with the symmetry breaking features that occur when we leave certain magnitudes of atomic level. Here I find Frater Achad's work in the Bride's Reception is particularly useful. Manifestation is the word he considered to be the root of the Word of the Aeon (Ma-ion) and that does make a lot of sense. I am currently engaged in variations of the Tree where the spheres instead of the paths are reversed. Although I am not entirely satisfied with my experiments I found it encouraging to find Love Chesed under Will Geburah although I might have been standing on my head at the time!

The following quotation from The New Physics I think is relevant.
For many workers the strongest motivation for studying quantum gravity has been the expectation that something odd happens at Planck's length, coupled with the belief that understanding this something will involve a fundamental reappraisal of our basic concepts of the physical world.

I would suggest that the revolutionary new developments in understanding our universe on the Outer, run naturally in parallel with the new insights formed from our radically evolving occult tradition on the Inner. The Horus-Maatian twin currents are infiltrating all areas of human existence and although as occultists we may have identified these influences we are not in a monopoly situation. Of course by taking the initiatory path we assure ourselves a position at the cutting edge of these drama tic changes by making ourselves vehicles for them. Thus we have the privilege of Kings.

In reference to the 44 year difference between the commencement of the aeon of Horus and that of the aeon of Maat, Frater Achad mentions in private correspondence... reprinted in Outside the Circles of Time.

There is always in these mysterious Cycles a certain Time difference, because circles do not meet and become closed, but rather continue actively as spirals. Thus a progress in perfecting, rather than the arrival of a static perfection. Also there is, as it were travelling backwards into the Past while yet each event progresses into a New Future. We live at a mathematical point called Now in Time and Here in Space-but it can never be captured and made static; it is Ever Coming.

In the above quotation written in 1948 Achad states the illusory concept of absolute position or absolute time in any state. More than forty years later and Chris Isham, a leading quantum physicist, explains why.

In a gross extrapolation from daily experience, both special and general relativity use a model for spacetime that is based on the idea of a continuum, i.e. the position of a spacetime point is uniquely specified by the values of four real numbers (the three space, and one time, coordinates in some convenient coordinate system)..........From the viewpoint of quantum theory the idea of a spacetime point seems singularly inappropriate: by virtue of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, an infinite a unt of energy would be required to localise a particle at a true point; and it is therefore more than a little odd that modern quantum field theory still employs fields that are functions of such points...........It is clear that quantum gravity with its natural Planck length, raises the possibility that the continuum nature of spacetime may not hold below this length, and that a quite different model is needed. The New Physics Cambridge University Press

If here the reader detects a paradox, it is likely to be the dichotomy between the unfragmentary non-atomic fact of the continuum existing at our level of magnitude, and the apparent lack of continuous resolution at the quantum level, where energy is released in packets known as quanta. It is the eternal battle between Order and Chaos.

The weird effects of a linear system (packets of quanta linked to a series of integers, discontinuous variation) meeting a non-linear system (continuous variation) were highlighted by Erwin Schrodinger in his famous Schrodinger's Cat paradox. He imagined an experiment in which the 'detector' of a quantum particle's passage is a cat placed inside a box rigged with a cyanide capsule and a random triggering device which has a 50:50 chance of being activated when a radioactive isotope emits an electron. If the electron hits it in its On mode it will break the capsule and kill the cat. The cat therefore has a 50% chance of survival. According to common sense the result of the experiment will result in either a live cat or a dead cat, but according to the linear maths of quantum theory, where we have a range of possibility, the cat can be both alive and dead! To the rational mind this sounds nonsensical but it just this type of apparent irrationality that exists on the quantum level. & nbsp;And how very similar I thought to the occultist Austin Spare's inbetweeness concept. Perhaps it is consciousness itself which decides, by willfully choosing which of two parallel universes we will inhabit (one with a live cat or one with a dead). When like Pandora we open the box, we discover and invent synonymously, while we will autonomously. Surely this is the heart of a prayer's success: willing a choice; steering at the quantum level; spinning around the track between 0 and 2 while the ramifications of our choices manifest below us.

In conclusion I quote from my forthcoming book The Book of Pi's (falsely so curved) 3.141593


Schrodinger's Cat

Odd cat,
Inger's Schrod cat.

Ding switch swatch off top nap,
Inner outer roasted cat flap.

Despite not quite decaying half light,
Super calla quantum nat bite.

Jumping!

Dead/not.
Dead/not.

God's a top Bod.

That's my Schrod.

Meaoww!



May your cats live forever.










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