Comselh Aoiveae Ritual

This ritual is the macrocosmic complement to the COMSELH AOIVEAE, and was developed along with that ritual for our magical working group, Comselh Ananael. It is based on an earlier ritual of mine called the MADRIAX which used the symbol of the heptagram in accordance with its basic symbolism drawn from John Dee's "Heptarchia Mystica". The angels of the "Heptarchia" do not appear on the Great Table and are explicitly planetary and attributed to the days of the week. Each day has a King and Prince who have specific offices and behave somewhat like a planetary intelligence and spirit, though the distinction is not nearly as clear-cut as it is with Agrippa's planetary hierarchy. In general, the Kings are associated with knowledge and learning and the Princes with mundane actions. The ruling angels of the system are CARMARA and HAGONEL, who do not seem to be bound to any particular day, though in the Heptarchia their conjurations appear along with those for the King and Prince related to Monday.

The COMSELH MADRIAX does not use the figure of the heptagram at the various directional points but that of the Unicursal Hexagram. The same figure is used in the microcosmic COMSELH AOIVEAE and this is a break from the Golden Dawn tradition. The Golden Dawn used the pentagram to symbolize the microcosm and the standard bicursal hexagram to symbolize the macrocosm, which they related to the formula of the Adept or 5=6. The Unicursal Hexagram is a hybrid symbol - it can represent the elements (as shown in Aleister Crowley's "Book of Thoth" or in an earlier knowledge lectures of the Golden Dawn) or it can represent the planets, as it is sometimes used by modern magicians. Israel Regardie was one of the first advocates of this latter usage, especially because it allowed a Hexagram of the Sun to be drawn from the central point. However, even when used in a planetary context the figure retains its elemental symbolism and is less suitable than the standard hexagram for pure planetary operations. To draw a standard Golden Dawn Hexagram of the Sun it is necessary to trace all six planetary hexagrams, which as Michael Sandborn comments in "The Unicursal Hexagram as Hyperbola" is a "wonderful isometric exercise."

The departure from the Golden Dawn pentagram/hexagram symbolism is grounded in the essential concepts of operant magick. The Operant Field Model proposes that the mind of the magician corresponds to a field effect that is experienced as consciousness. This is termed the Personal Field. Fields are also created by individual objects, and these fields unite into larger fields when those objects interact. These are called Transpersonal Fields. The magician is able to influence objects because he or she has trained the personal field to synchronize with a transpersonal field that contains those objects and then is able to use concentrated thought to affect them. Essentially, magick is possible when the Personal Field and a Transpersonal Field are conjoined. Bringing the macrocosmic and microcosmic realms into alignment in this manner is the basic goal of the opening rituals, such as those of the pentagram and hexagram.

The Unicursal Hexagram is an ideal glyph to accomplish this, especially if it is considered as a representation of a hyperbola. Michael Sandborn's "The Unicursal Hexagram as Hyperbola" was very influential in the design of this ritual and its counterpart, even moreso than it was in the development of our alternative Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram. The interesting thing about the hyperbola is that from a mathematical standpoint there are not two curves, but one, even though the figure is drawn as two arcs facing in opposite directions that do not appear to touch. If the upper curve is envisioned as the Transpersonal realm and the lower curve is envisioned as the Personal Field, then this figure is indeed ideally suited for use in complementary rituals intended to accomplish the union of the two realms, uniting that which at first appears to be separate.

The points of the Unicursal Hexagram may be attributed to the planets, though as Sanborn mentions in his article it is not clear that a solar form can actually be drawn from the center point. The planetary form retains its elemental characteristics which harmonize nicely with the usage of the figure in the COMSELH AOIVEAE. The standard planetary arrangement used for both forms of the hexagram is based on the Tree of Life, specifically the placement of spheres 3-9. The elemental attributions can be found in the commentary on the COMSELH AOIVEAE. Combining the planetary and elemental attributions yields the following:

* Top Point: Saturn = Active Spirit
* Upper Right: Jupiter = Water
* Upper Left: Mars = Fire
* Lower Right: Venus = Earth
* Lower Left: Mercury = Air
* Bottom Point: Moon = Passive Spirit

Attributing Active Spirit to Saturn may seem odd since Saturn is usually seen in astrology as representing limitation and structure, but Saturn also is the Lord of Initiation and stands in for all three supernal spheres. In this arrangement it signifies the actions of the Heavens, just as the Moon signifies the actions of the Earth. The top and bottom points are larger than the side points because they represent the active and passive polarities that give rise to the other four elements. The standard hexagram is a more "pure" planetary symbol since it reflects a completely balanced arrangement of the planets by virtue of having six identical points.

Banishing and invoking planets using the Unicursal Hexagram works slightly differently than banishing and invoking elements. With elements, the figure is traced toward the point attributed to the element to invoke and away from the point attributed to the element to banish. With planets, the figure is traced starting at the point attributed to the planet moving clockwise to invoke and counter-clockwise to banish. As noted in Sanborn's essay, this presents a problem because there is no way to draw a fully clockwise or counter-clockwise Unicursal Hexagram - the "twist" in the middle of the figure means that the tracing will always switch directions in the course of completing the shape. How this is resolved is to move clockwise or counter-clockwise from the perspective of the point from which the figure is being traced.

In the COMSELH AOIVEAE, the Unicursal Hexagrams are traced to the four directions in such a way that the temple is envisioned as a two-dimensional space. The dimension of spirit - that is, the path followed by the Lightning Flash and Serpent of Wisdom - is represented by the third dimension of the space, the vertical axis. In the COMSELH MADRIAX, the Unicursal Hexagrams are traced in a three-dimensional configuration to form a sphere with the representation of the Sun at its center. The spiritual dimension can no longer be modeled as the vertical axis and is then represented as turning inward and outward rather than upward and downward. This reflects the true macrocosmic shape of the fields involved - for the Personal Field to align a Transpersonal Field, the field that is experienced as consciousness must expand outward to encompass more of the universe than just the individual self. This is why mysticism is an important part of any magical practice - it teaches the expansion of the self beyond the artificial boundaries imposed by personal perceptions.

The second section of the ritual calls upon the Governors, twelve Angels that rule over the various parts of the earth and are related to the signs of the Zodiac. Like the Angels of the Heptarchia, these Governors do not appear on the Tablet of the Watchtowers and represent the pure force of the signs of the Zodiac. As an aside, note that these twelve Governors are not the same as the Angelic names of the ninety-one Parts of the Earth, which do appear on the Tablet, despite the fact that the Golden Dawn Enochian system refers to the Parts of the Earth as "the Governors." It is clear from the original passage in Dee's diaries that when the Angels make reference to the Governors, they mean these twelve Zodiacal Governors and not the Parts of the Earth.

Benjamin Rowe makes the following comments in "The 91 Parts of the Earth: Introduction":

It should be emphasized that these Parts are not "governors of the Aethyrs", as has been mistakenly said by some writers. The name of the Part does not invoke a specific being, but only a certain locale of the Enochian universe, with its particular qualities. Nor does the Part in any way "rule" the Aethyr of which it is a portion. One might view the relationship between Parts and Aethyrs as being similar to the relationship between the decanates of the zodiac and the signs of which they are a section. The Voice of the Part is not the Part itself, but one of the unnamed ministers who dwells therein.

Every part is governed by one of twelve "Zodiacal Kings", who is associated with one of the Tribes of Israel. The angels did not give Dee an explicit listing of their zodiacal attributes; he was told to derive it from the related tribe. Apparently he never did so. In these visions, the following system of attributes was used, which differs from both Agrippa system with which Dee was familiar, and the G.D. system.

* Aries = Alpudus = Isacarah
* Taurus = Hononol = Iehudah
* Gemini = Zarzilg = Nephthalim
* Cancer = Gebabal = Asseir
* Leo = Olpaged = Dan
* Virgo = Cadaamp = Benjamin
* Libra = Zarnaah = Manasse
* Scorpio = Arfaolg = Ephraim
* Sagittarius = Lavavot = Gad
* Capricorn = Zurchol = Simeon
* Aquarius = Ziracah = Ruben
* Pisces = Zinggen = Zabulon

The logic of this system is based on the disposition of the Tribes depicted in Numbers 2, combined with Dee's diagram of that disposition. There are several possible systems that could be derived from these sources; the one actually used was chosen by divination after the major possibilities were assessed.

Rowe's attributions of the Governors to the signs are used in the second section of this ritual.

PART I: THE PLANETS

There is no specific opening step in this ritual that is comparable to sections I and IV of the pentagram ritual, since it is assumed that this ritual is encapsulated by the COMSELH AOIVEAE. By this I mean that you perform the COMSELH AOIVEAE up through "Behold, the circle of stars, and I the all-powerful in the midst," perform this ritual, perform additional ritual work as you will, and close with section IV of the COMSELH AOIVEAE. As such, the opening has already been done and the closing will be performed following the conclusion of whatever additional ritual work is being done.

* Face the east. If the Holy Table is present, stand to the west of it. In all cases, you will be casting across the Holy Table to the opposite side of the Temple, so "turn to the south" means to move to the north of the Table facing south. In the east, trace the Unicursal Hexagram of Mars in red and vibrate BABALEL (BAH-bah-lel).
* Turn to the south. In the south, trace the Unicursal Hexagram of Mercury in white and vibrate BNASPOL (BNAS-pohl).
* Turn to the west. In the west, trace the Unicursal Hexagram of Jupiter in green and vibrate BYNEPOR (BY-neh-pohr).
* Turn to the north. In the north, trace the Unicursal Hexagram of Venus in black and vibrate BALIGON (BAH-lee-gohn). These first four planets are attributed according to the density of the associated element on the Unicursal Hexagram.
* Return to the east, completing the circle. Above you or above the Holy Table in front of you, trace the Unicursal Hexagram of Saturn in bright violet and vibrate BNAPSEN (BNAP-sen).
* Below you or below the Holy Table in front of you trace the Unicursal Hexagram of the Moon in deep purple and vibrate BLUMAZA (blu-MAH-zah).
* Trace a heptagram (or heptangle) surrounding your heart, starting at the solar point and moving clockwise, in bright yellow-gold. Then clasp your hands over your heart and vibrate BOBOGEL (BOH-boh-ghel).

PART II: THE GOVERNORS

The twelve zodiacal Governors are now called upon in a widdershins circle that counterbalances the deosil circle of hexagrams. Starting with Aries in the east, the magician traces the sign attributed to the Governor while vibrating the name. He or she then moves 30 degrees widdershins and does the same for the next Governor in the series (Taurus in this case). If the banners are present lining the circle they may be decorated with the appropriate sign and Governor name in addition to the Name of God, which will aid memorization. This action is repeated until the magician has made a full widdershins circumambulation of the Temple and is again facing east.

* In the east, trace the sigil of Aries in red and vibrate ALPUDUS (AL-puh-dus).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the east-northeast trace the sigil of Taurus in red and vibrate HONONOL (HOH-noh-nol).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the north-northeast trace the sigil of Gemini in black and vibrate ZARZILG (ZAR-zeelg).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the north trace the sigil of Cancer in black and vibrate GEBABAL (GEH-bah-bahl).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the north-northwest trace the sigil of Leo in black and vibrate OLPAGED (OHL-pah-ged).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the west-northwest trace the sigil of Virgo in green and vibrate CADAAMP (KAH-dah-ahmp).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the west trace the sigil of Libra in green and vibrate ZARNAAH (ZAR-nah-ah).
Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the west-southwest trace the sigil of Scorpio in green and vibrate ARFAOLG (AR-fah-olg). * Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the south-southwest trace the sigil of Sagittarius in white and vibrate LAVAVOT (LAH-vah-voht).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the south trace the sigil of Capricorn in white and vibrate ZURCHOL (ZUR-khol).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the south-southeast trace the sigil of Aquarius and vibrate ZIRACAH (ZEER-ah-kah).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise. To the east-southeast trace the sigil of Pisces in red and vibrate ZINGGEN (ZEENG-gehn).
* Turn 30 degrees counter-clockwise, completing the circle and returning to face the east. Make the Sign of Apophis and Typhon and vibrate TA CALZ I OROCHA (TAH KAHL-zod EE or-OH-cha - "As above the firmament so beneath").

* Pause for a moment and visualize the energies of the planets and Zodiac coming into being, uniting the microcosmic and macrocosmic universes. The full visualization for this ritual consists of:

* The full COMSELH AOIVEAE visualization.
* Planetary Unicursal Hexagrams to the four quarters in the four directional colors, merging with the directional hexagrams of the COMSELH AOIVEAE.
* The Unicursal Hexagram of Saturn above in bright violet and that of the Moon below in deep purple
* The Solar Heptagram in bright gold surrounding your heart. It is within the pentagram you traced over yourself in the opening of the COMSELH AOIVEAE.
* The full circle of the Zodiac, drawn beyond the hexagrams so that it seems to extend to the edges of the cosmos.
* All of these elements merged together into a single coherent whole, which is the magical field.

PART III: COMPLETION

This step varies depending on whether you are using this ritual as a banishing or as an invocation, and whether or not it is being used with other ritual work. If the ritual is being used in conjunction with any other ritual work perform this entire part as written. If it is being performed as a banishing to clear a space or neutralize magical influences, skip to step 3. If it is being performed as an invocation to provide a general flow of energy to ongoing magical effects or as a daily practice, stop at step 1. CARMARA is the name of the King who rules over the entire Heptarchy of Angels.

* If you are performing additional ritual work, make the Sign of Rending the Veil, as though parting a heavy curtain in front of you with both hands, and intone MADRIAX CARMARA YOLCAM LONSHI (MAH-dree-ahx kar-MAH-rah YOHL-kahm LOHN-shee - "O ye heavens of CARMARA, bring forth power").
* Perform any additional ritual work here, to its conclusion.
* Make the Sign of Closing the Veil, as though closing a heavy curtain in front of you with both hands, and intone: MADRIAX CARMARA ADRPAN LONSHI (MAH-dree-ahx kar-MAH-rah, AHD-rpahn LOHN-shee - "O ye heavens of CARMARA, cast down power").

At this point, the conclusion to the AOIVEAE is performed, and the ritual is complete.

Essential Condition Of Peace

The cards are not to be sold without the book.
If the book can be printed without illustrations it need not
cost more than [L]300.
If Lady Harris likes, she can give it away with the cards, I do
not want any money out of it: and she can say she wrote it, I don't
care.
But I will not allow the cards to be issued so that they can be
used only for gambling or fortune-telling.
The new catalogue, full of grotesque blunders which discredit
the scholarship of the Work, must be withdrawn.
.PA

[Actually written by Crowley, to himself; the "Society" is
fictitious as such.]

An open letter to Alestair Crowley

SOCIETY OF HIDDEN MASTERS

Dear Sir

For many years we have watched your career with benevolent
interest; wile we have been unable to approve many of your
activities in particular your policy of revealing secret knowledge
which we consider dangerous if in the possession of untrained and
uninitiated people. We have always respected your passionate
integrity, your fanatical (and in our opinion, indiscreet) love of
Truth.

I our view, this mistaken policy has been responsible for many
of your own personal mishaps. For this reason we re surprised that
you should acquiesce, even by silence, in so blatant and impudent a
hoax as the exhibition of Tarot Cards at the Royal Society of
Painters in Water Colours, 26/7 Conduit Street, W.1. beginning 4th
August 1942.

We hereby challenge you to deny any of the statements here
following:--

1. During the winter of 1898/9 you were entrusted by the Order of
A..A.. with the Secret Lecture on the Tarot, giving the initiated
attributions.

2. You published these attributions at the command of the Secret
Chiefs of the order in a Book of Reference numbered 777 in 1909.

3. You issued the Official Lecture of the Order on the Tarot, in the
Equinox Vol. I Nos VII and VIII, March and September 1912.

4. You have made the Tarot your continual study and used it daily,
since the Winter of 1898/9.

5. You have made the Tarot the skeleton or schema of all your
writings on mystical and magical subjects. We would instance
particularly "Ambrosia", "Magi Hortus Rosarum" (The Wake-World),
"The Vision and the Voice", "Theory and Practice of Magick".

6. You have been recognized everywhere in Europe and America (even,
to a less extent, in India) as the supreme Authority on the Tarot;
that is, by serious students of the subject.

7. You have contemplated the construction and publication of a
properly designed and executed pack, based on the Equinox
information ever since the issue of the grotesque and falsified
parody which appeared under the auspices of the later A.E. Waite.

6. In a series of conversations in 1937 beginning at Mr. Clifford
Bax' chambers in Albany St., W.1., you suggested to Lady Harris that
she might be able to carry out this work. Although she very rightly
protested that her knowledge of the subject hardly extended beyond
the name, you, with the imbecile optimism characteristic of you,
persuaded her that the descriptions of the cards given in the
Equinox would be sufficient guide, and persuaded her to make the
attempt.

9. It became obvious almost at once that the Equinox designs were
artistically impracticable. Lady Harris very properly asked you to
take the whole subject in hand ab ovo esque ad umbilicum. You
thereupon agreed to devote your whole knowledge to the work of
designing an entirely original pack of cards, incorporating the
results of your 39 years of constant study of the subject with your
profound--if at times unacceptably unorthodox--knowledge of
comparative religion, mathematical physics, philosophy and Magick.
Also nthat you should compose a Treatise explaining the subject in
full. It appears from a notice in the Exhibition that there is a
proposal to publish the cards as a pack without this book. To do so
would limit their use to fortune-telling, a form of fraud against
which you have constantly set your face your whole life long. We
refuse to believe that you have now consented to prostitute the
Sacred Wisdom of Thoth to this base and dishonest purpose and we
insist upon this point being made clear.

10. On May 11, 1938, Lady Harris became officially your disciple,
and was permitted to affiliate to the other Order of which you are
Head, the O.T.O.

11. You made an agreement with Lady Harris by which you were to have
a 66 2/3% interest in the work.

12. For the next four years approximately, Lady Harris prepared
water-colours of the cards. She did this from your rough sketches
and descriptions under your continual direction, subject to your
constant and repeated corrections. In some cases you made her redraw
and re-paint a card which you found unsatisfactory as many as five
or six times. She has, when left to herself, no sense of dignify or
congruity; one of us has seen some attempts which you rejected, for
instance, her ideal figure for "The Fool", the Holy Ghost, was Harpo
Marx. Did you really pass this and Trump I? She gave the Sphinx in
Trump X a French cabahy sabre! And her first conception of "The Lord
of the Winds and the Breezes; the King of the Spirits of the Air",
was a clown in plate armour, waving rapier and dagger, sprawling
over a demented nag, diving through a paper screen in a circus!

13. You left Lady Harris a comparatively free hand in respect of
insignificant details; but at no time did she contribute a single
idea of any kind to any card, and she is in fact almost as ignorant
of the Tarot and its true meaning and use as when she began. We
cannow however, blame you for this.

14. You have followed with as much fidelity as was possible the
traditional designs of the mediaeval packs; but you have notably
enriched and revivified some of them, especially the Trumps, with
your scholarship, as observed above in paragraph 9.

15. In every trump you have not only incorporated symbols
illustrating the doctrines of Payne Knight, Hargrave Jennings,
Arthur Eddington, J.G. Frazer, Bertrand Russell, J.W.N. Sullivan,
Eliphaz Levi and how many others! --but introduced very many ideas
purely personal to yourself and based on your own personal magical
experience--see "The Vision and the Voice", "The Paris Working" etc.

16. In certain cases, in order to make sure that your doctrine of
the New Aeon is clearly manifest as the spiritual-magical basis of
the whole work, you have given new names to the cards. Notably
Trumps XI, XIV, and numerous "small" cards. You have made the final
correction to the attributions--Trumps IV and XVII, according to the
Book fo the Law given to you in Cairo April 8, 9, and 10 1904. You
have used "The Stele of Revealing" (see "The Book of the Law" Chap.
I 49, III 19) to replace "The Last Judgment" (Trump XX) to affirm
the supersession of the Aeon of Osiris the Dying God by that of
Horus the Crowned and Conquering Child. The entire composition is
soaked in and reeks of your own private and personal point of view
with regard to Magick.

17. You undertook this Work with two main motives:--

1. That it should serve as a Magical Atlas of and Guide to the
Universe, for this "New Aeon of Horus", that is, for the next
2,000 years.
2. That its undeniable beauty and majesty should be an
intelligible vindication of the whole of your life's work.
You rightly foresaw that sooner or later it would be clear
that you are the sole responsible author of the Work and Lady
Harris only your more or less docile and intelligent
instrument.

18. You and Lady Harris were at first agreed that the Work should be
put forth anonymously. She wrote to a friend "I intend to remain
anonymous when the cards are shown". You had, of course, pointed out
that any student of the subject would recognise your authorship at a
glance.

19. Too well aware that in the past your work has been stolen and
exploited by unscrupulous rascals and also that doctrinal argument
of a lightly technical kind may all too frequently prove rather hard
for a jury, you took the precaution of introducing certain symbols
into the designs of susch a character that the most stupid would be
compelled to acknowledge your authorship of the Work.

Your conduct is abominable and inexcusable to allow Lady Harris
to issue a catalogue crammed with the grossest errors of fact,
blunders of scholarsip, irrelevancies and absurdities; to allow her
to make herself the laughing-stock of London by larying claim to the
authorship of pictures of which all artists know her to be utterly
incapable, her work having been that of a wealthy amateur persistent
enough to acquire a good technique but with no personality, no
"message" groping in Bloomsbury forgs for the parasitic adulation of
a gaggle of sycophants.

We can understand your passionate wish to get these cards
exhibited, even by a subterfuge, but you had no right to sacrifice
Lady Harris and you have no right to lend yourself, even by silence
to the perpetration of a hoax transparent and nausient as it must
naturally be, which affects the honour of the Fraternity of Art and
Letters.

We repeat that we are surprised; for whatever your faults, you
have always been honourable and truthful with more than ancient
Roman rigour. You must speak now.

for the Society of Hidden Masters.

Justus M.
Sic vos non vobis.
Sunur evique.
.PA

[1st page of letter missing--this is Crowley's "reply" to the letter
from the Society of Hidden Masters.]

Their estimate in paragraph 6 is exaggerated: it depends on the
definition of "serious students."
Nor would it be useful to deny them, as in every case their
truth is guaranteed by evidence independent of my asseveration,
internal evidence of documents easily accessible.

"I do however most strenuously deny participation in the hoax.
This was perpetrated by Lady Harris without my knowledge or consent;
I only learnt of the exhibitions, in the first case several days
after the opening, from information supplied by loyal friends.
This letter is to authorize and to request you to publicize its
substance, either by a letter addressed to the Times and other
newspapers, or as you in your best judgment may see fit.

Believe me,
Gentlemen,
Yours faithfully,
Aleister Crowley

Thelema Thank You

I just wanted to take a moment and say thanks to all of you who have purchased my book. The book has been tremendously well received and I've had nothing but positive feedback. When I looked on amazon.com today there was only 1 copy left in stock with a re-order on the way. It left me a bit gobsmacked. I cannot actually articulate how excited I am to know that people are out there reading my book. It really does mean the world to me. So to all of you, Thanks!

The fact that this book seems to really be taking off means that it's quite likely that New Page will pick up my next book as well. I've just started work on my second book and it's going to be a guide to advanced defensive magick. The idea will be for the advanced guide to sort of pick up where Defense Against the Dark left off, giving more advanced techniques, tools, and rituals. My question to you is: what do you want to see from such a guide? What are the scenarios you want to be able to face? What things have you heard of that you want to know more about? I'd love to see some comments about this, but you can also email me at emily @ e-carlin.com

Suggested ebooks:

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