CERBERUS @HollywoodInsiders.net

Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library

CERBERUS

Return to Occult Library Index

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

hat hath given us the symbol of the ankh, and of the cross within the circle! 1. three are the beasts wherewith thou must plough the field; the unicorn, the horse, and the ox. and these shalt thou yoke in a triple yoke that is governed by one whip. 2. now these beasts run wildly upon the earths<equinox has "earth> and are not easily obedient to the man. 3. nothing shall be said here of cerberus, the great beast of hell that is every one of these and all of these, even as athanasius hath foreshadowed. for this matter<(i.e. the matter of cereberus> is not of tiphereth without, but tiphereth within. i. 0. the unicorn is speech. man, rule thy speech! how else shalt thou master the son, and answer the magician at the right hand gateway of the crown? 1. here are practices. each may la

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

sandals are curved silver, like the moon. and she cries: lonely am i and cold in the wilderness of the stars. for i am the queen of all them that dwell in heaven, and the queen of all them that are pure upon earth, and the queen of all the sorcerers of hell. i am the daughter of nuit, the lady of the stars. and i am the bride of them that are vowed unto loneliness. and i am the mother of the dog cerberus. one person am i, and three gods. and thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing me. for i am cold as thou art cold, and burn with thy fire. oh, when shall the war of the aires and the elements be accomplished? radiant are these falchions of my brothers, invisibly about me, but the might of the aethyrs beneath my feet beareth me 15 down. and they avail not to sever the kamailos. the

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3

e place, to enter into the twelve mystic works of this man who became a god. yet let us at least note three points_ that the tenth labour was to slay geryon, the "three-"headed and "three-"bodied monster of gades; that the eleventh was to obtain apples from the garden of the hesperides, where lived the "three" daughters of hesperus; and that the last was to bring upon earth the "three-"headed dog cerberus, and so 143 unguard the gates of hades. similar is the adept's last labour, to destroy the terrors of hell and to bring upon earth the supernal triad and formulate the hb:shin 3 in hb:heh hb:vau hb:shin hb:heh hb:yod. one idea must possess us, and all our energies must be focused upon it. a man who would be rich must worship wealth and understand poverty; a man who would be strong must wo

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4

brahadabra, and glory unto him that hath given us the symbol of the ankh, and of the cross within the circle! 1. three are the beasts wherewith thou must plough the field; the unicorn, the horse, and the ox. and these shalt thou yoke in a triple yoke that is governed by one whip. 2. now these beasts run wildly upon the earth and are not easily obedient to the man. 3. nothing shall be said here of cerberus, the great beast of hell that is every one of these and all of these, even as athanasius hath foreshadowed. for this matter1 is not of tiphereth without, but tiphereth within. 11 i 0. the unicorn is speech. man, rule thy speech! how else shalt thou master the son, and answer the magician at the right hand gateway of the crown? 1. here are practices. each may last for a week or more. alpha

ALICE BAILEY THE LABOURS OF HERCULES

hydra: modern version applications to life what is death scorpio, the sign of magic the constellations and the stars labor ix killing the stymphalian birds the myth interpretation of the labor silence two gates, three constellations the chrysalis symbol the spirit of truth the spirit of right three gifts three constellations- 3- the labours of hercules details of the story labor x the slaying of cerberus, guardian of hades the myth prologue interpretations of the labor in capricorn meanings of the sign constellations the climbing of the mountain preparation for the descent into hades the symbol of cerberus epilogue labor xi cleansing the augean stables the myth the energies of aquarius hallmarks of the initiate decanates, rulers and constellations the lawgivers interpretation of the test

a disciple you will know to what i refer. the problem is clear: i am a sagittarian and so are you. we are living with the- 97- the labours of hercules emblem of sagittarius in front of us all the time. we are trying to bring harmony into our lives, trying to lead the "altar" life, seeking to contact the serpent of wisdom. begin with thought and speech, and begin today [169] labor x the slaying of cerberus, guardian of hades (capricorn, december 22nd- january 20th) the myth "the light of life must now shine forth within a world of dark" the great presiding one declared. the teacher understood "the son of man who is also the son of god must pass through gate the tenth. he said "within this very hour hercules shall venture forth" when hercules stood face to face with him who was his guide, th

ough labyrinthine paths he threaded his way until he came to the court of the king who ruled the underworld, hades. the latter, grim and stern, with threatening- 98- the labours of hercules mien, sat stiffly on his jet black throne as hercules approached "what seek you, a living mortal, in my realms" hades demanded. hercules said "i seek to free prometheus [171 "the path is guarded by the monster cerberus, a dog with three great heads, each of which has serpents coiled about it" hades replied "if you can conquer him with your bare hands, a feat no one has yet performed, you may unbind the suffering prometheus" satisfied with this response, hercules proceeded. soon he saw the triple-headed dog, and heard its piercing bark. snarling, it sprang upon him. grasping the primary throat of cerberu

up finds the flowers of attained desire, each with its own thorn of satiety and disillusionment. at the top of the mountain the sacred goat sees the vision and the initiate appears. in other [172] writings the symbols are the goat, the crocodile and the unicorn. one myth puts the emphasis on the descent into hell to free humanity (in the figure of the tortured prometheus. another deals more with cerberus, some slaying him, others bringing him up to earth. we submit these variations for the reader's consideration of their spiritual significance. one remembers that, according to the creed the christed jesus "descended into hell. why? surely because his all inclusive love covered the so-called "lost souls, since we are told that the christ broods over humanity until the last "little one" sha

ritten "each sees and knows the villany of each. and yet there is, with that great revelation, no turning back, no spurning of each other. that is the condition to be attained in capricorn. that which we have to develop does not come by hardening the heart, nor by tremendous detachment, nor by climbing a pedestal. the world disciple does not only do what hercules did, go down into hell to conquer cerberus, but he works among men all the time, interested in his fellow man. he is impersonal [175] i wonder if this impersonality does not refer to ourselves rather than to the other persons. we talk, about being impersonal in our dealing. if we were quite impersonal in dealing with ourselves, our reactions to our fellowmen would be just right. constellations there are three constellations connec

own personal hell before you can go through the universal hell. you have a terrible time in your own life and you are initiated as you undergo your own hell. you learn the nature of the universal by individual experience; only that is realization. you cannot learn by hearsay. as has happened before in the myths, hercules then had to pause and perform an act of service before he could advance upon cerberus. he saw two people bound and being attacked by cattle. he had to deliver them before he could meet his own- 102- the labours of hercules problem. always for the initiate service comes first; the letting go of what he has set himself to do if there is need to help. that is the story of the initiate always, because it is based on group consciousness. the symbol of cerberus the three-headed

erus. he saw two people bound and being attacked by cattle. he had to deliver them before he could meet his own- 102- the labours of hercules problem. always for the initiate service comes first; the letting go of what he has set himself to do if there is need to help. that is the story of the initiate always, because it is based on group consciousness. the symbol of cerberus the three-headed dog cerberus with a terrific bark, with snakes growing out all over his body and with snakes for a tail, was the guardian of hades. the three heads symbolize sensation [178] desire and good intentions. it is love of sensation that drives humanity hither and thither to satisfy hunger in the economic world or to satisfy desire for happiness in the world of pleasure. the violent impacts of sensation are

ed with good intentions. the tail made of serpents typifies all illusions that impede the progress of spiritual life; the materiality that holds us down; the lower psychic nature that causes such destruction; fear along every possible line; the fear of failure which holds so many back from activity and breeds only inertia, the great fault, we are told, of aspirants and disciples. hercules grasped cerberus by the central head and conquered him, because all sun gods are occupied with the problems of humanity and because desolate they go down into hell alone to save humanity; hence all sun gods are born in the sign of capricorn (lecture by a.a.b, condensed and edited) epilogue the great swing in capricorn is epitomized by the keywords. upon the ordinary wheel these are "and the word said: let

and control of thought. in aries he captured the man-eating mares and bent them to his use. now he slays the man-eating birds of stymphalus and puts an end to all tendencies to use thought destructively. in capricorn (december 23- january 20, the goat, he becomes an initiate and appears before the world as a savior, a liberated son of god, able to work in hell, on earth, or in heaven. he carries cerberus up from hades, and through the symbolism of the three-headed dog portrays the elevation of the personality, the triple matter aspect, into heaven. thus he demonstrates that he has undergone the necessary development and experienced the strengthening tests which will enable him successfully to pass through the experience of the third initiation, that of the transfiguration. the next two si

CHYMICAL WEDDING OF CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ

m still ready to vomit at it. in a word, they never kept in their order, but whenever one rascal here, another there, could insinuate himself in between the nobles, then they pretended to having finished such adventures as neither samson nor yet hercules with all their strength could ever have achieved: this one would discharge atlas of his burden; the other would again draw forth the threeheaded cerberus out of hell. in brief, every man had his own prate, and yet the greatest lords were so simple that they believed their pretences, and the rogues so audacious, that although one or other of them was here and there rapped over the fingers with a knife, yet they flinched not at it, but when anyone perchance had filched a gold-chain, then they would all hazard for the same. page 16 i saw one

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

dressed in a white tunic, he/she would then be led into a recreation of the underworld, beginning with a descent by ladder into a round chamber and then into the long descending passageway to the heart of the temple structure. the inquirer would eventually arrive at an underground body of water (the river styx, and be rowed across by someone representing the ferryman charon. on the other side was cerberus, the three-headed hound of hell. the passageway then took the inquirer to the inner sanctuary where a branch of mistletoe was offered to persephone, the goddess married to the god of the underworld. once inside the inner sanctum, contact with the dead would be made, though the exact process is not known. the inquirer would then be led back to the surface. during the reign of augustus in t

eathwatch beetle, a small insect found in decaying wood, is thought by the superstitious to presage death. in reality the sound is believed to be a call from one beetle to another, made by beating its head against the wood. de biragues, flaminio (ca. 1580) author of a work entitled l enfer de la mere cardine (paris, 1585, which treats the dreadful battle in hell on the occasion of the marriage of cerberus and cardine. it is a satire on the demonography of the times. didot reprinted the work in 1793. the author was a nephew of a chancellor of france, rene de biragues, and also published a volume of his own poems. de boni, gastone (1908.1986) italian physician, author, and editor. he was born january 22, 1908, in padua, italy, and was educated at the university of padua (m.d. 1932. he inheri

her his wife. in his intimidating character as lord of death, hades was mysterious and terrifying, but in his benign aspect he was the generous god of wealth. his attention could be secured by striking the ground, and he could be propitiated by an offering of a black-fleeced sheep. entrance to the domain of hades was through the groves of persephone, where the gates were guarded by the great dog cerberus, who admitted visitors without difficulty but would not let them leave. after passing through the gate, one had several rivers to cross, including lethe, the river of forgetfulness. for a small fee, the ferryman charon would take the traveler across. in later history, the domain of hades became synonymous with hell, although hades domain was not referred to as a place of torment. hades ba

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

. david 1, 87. 98. joh. voigt 1, 616^ in mss. it is hard to distinguish the long f from f. names taken from his figure, 997 des heuehundcs list (cunning, hartra. greg. 163. renner 289. wint (greyhound) in des tiuvels biuut, jmnt in der helle grunt, ls. 3, 124. helleriide, martina 32 (diut. 2, 143, and hellewelf 111, as the edda already supposes a hvelpr in hell, ssem. 94, and the greek religion a cerberus (p. 814n. a fight with the hell-hound is described in fundgr. 178, and as a dog the devil guards treasures (p. 977. black dog, superst. denm. no. 149. des tiuvels riiden, renner 23343. h. sachs iv. 3, 3p provides him with a quail-hound (pointer, setter, to catch souls for hini).i may not the latin latro (robber) have come from the barking animal, like our warg from the wolf? it makes the

ISIS UNVEILED

unveiled tioiu and elevated views. his influence must have been powerful, as we find epiphanius writing more than two centuries later that in his time the followers of marcton were to be found throu^iout the whole world* the danger must indeed have been pressing and great, if we are to judge it by the opprobrious epithets and vituperation heaped upon marcion by the 'great african' that patristic cerberus, whom we find ever barking at the door of the irenaean dogmas. we have but to open his celebrated rdutation of marcion's anttthe e, to acquaint our- selves with the fine-fieur of monkish abuse of the christian school; an abuse so f uthf ully carried on throu^ the middle ages, to be renewed in our present day at the vatican" now, then, ye hounds, ydping at the god of truth, whom the apostl

L 003

rahadabra, and glory unto him that hath given us the symbol of the ankh, and of the cross within the circle! 1. three are the beasts wherewith thou must plough the field; the unicorn, the horse, and the ox. and these shalt thou yoke in a triple yoke that is governed by one whip. 2. now these beasts run wildly upon the earths and are not easily obedient to the man. 3. nothing shall be said here of cerberus, the great beast of hell that is every one of these and all of these, even as athanasius hath foreshadowed. for this matter note 1 is not of tiphereth without, but tiphereth within. i. 0. the unicorn is speech. man, rule thy speech! how else shalt thou master the son, and answer the magician at the right hand gateway of the crown? 1. here are practices. each may last for a week or more. 2

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

erfectly mimicked mutilation symptoms. by the early 1980s the satanic-cult theory about cattle mutilations was passing out of the popular imagination. the mutilations scare continued and continues but government conspirators and marauding extraterrestrials, or both, are now the favored fringe interpretations. according to a bizarre mythology that found favor among some ufo buffs and conspiracy 42 cerberus theorists in the 1980s, secret official agencies and evil space people have formed an unholy alliance to mutilate cattle and people. called by their critics dark siders, believers fashioned a kind of demonology of their own, though without the literal demons of the satanist lore the new speculations supplanted. jerome clark see also satanic ritual abuse; ufos and demons for further readin

a, and keith wolverton. mystery stalks the prairie. raynesford, mt: thar institute, 1976. ellis, bill. raising the devil: satanism, new religions, and the media. lexington: university press of kentucky, 2000. kagan, daniel, and ian summers.mute evidence. new york: bantam books, 1984. stewart, james r. cattle mutilations: an episode of collective delusion. the zetetic 1, no. 2 (spring/summer 1977. cerberus in greek mythology, cerberus was the guardian or watchdog of the underworld, hades. the offspring of typhon and echidna (who also parented the hydra and the chimaera, he was described as having three heads (though hesiod attributes him with fifty heads, a snake s tail, and a row of snake s heads sprouting from his neck. he greeted the newly dead with eagerness, but ate anyone who tried to

in greek mythology, cerberus was the guardian or watchdog of the underworld, hades. the offspring of typhon and echidna (who also parented the hydra and the chimaera, he was described as having three heads (though hesiod attributes him with fifty heads, a snake s tail, and a row of snake s heads sprouting from his neck. he greeted the newly dead with eagerness, but ate anyone who tried to escape. cerberus was said to have been charmed by orpheus, who was the only mortal he willingly allowed to enter hades. in another story he was defeated in a struggle with hercules, who forced him to come with him to the surface world (this was the twelfth labor of hercules. it was also said that anyone who chanced to look at cerberus turned to stone, and that, upon falling to the ground, the animal s spi

the only mortal he willingly allowed to enter hades. in another story he was defeated in a struggle with hercules, who forced him to come with him to the surface world (this was the twelfth labor of hercules. it was also said that anyone who chanced to look at cerberus turned to stone, and that, upon falling to the ground, the animal s spittle would give birth to the poisonous aconite plant. both cerberus and charon, the ferryman of the underworld, are threshold guardians, a type of mythological figure that is widespread in world culture. threshold guardians allow only those who are appropriately qualified to pass from one realm to the other. thus cerberus allowed only the dead to pass into hades, and he prevented the departed from returning to the realm of the living. see also hades for f

ong the dead. the house of hades was pictured as a large cavern under the earth somewhere or in the far west beyond the river oceanus. it was not a happy place, but shrouded in mist and darkness, and figures move about as in a dream. hades was separated from the land of the living by five rivers lethe (the river of forgetfulness, styx, phlegethon, acheron, and cocytus. the entrance was guarded by cerberus, a terrifying hellhound with three heads and serpents around each neck. the psyche (or life essence, shade, or ghost) of the deceased would leave the dead body and travel to that place to lead a pallid, weak, melancholy existence. h 101 102 hades charon ferries the spirits of the departed across the river styx and into the realm of the dead. the offspring of nyx (night) and erebus (darkne

s sit in the middle and send the good souls up one of the upper openings and the evil soul down one of the lower openings. there, the souls are either rewarded or punished tenfold for one thousand years. after that time the souls come down or go up to the other openings and meet together in a meadow to swap experiences. the worst souls do not emerge, but are thrown forever into tartarus. see also cerberus; underworld for further reading: eliade,mircea, ed. encyclopedia of religion. new york:macmillan, 1987. grant,michael, and john hazel. who s who in classical mythology. new york: oxford university press, 1993. hamilton, edith, and huntington cairns, eds. the collected dialogues of plato. princeton, nj: princeton university press, 1961. macgregor, geddes. images of afterlife: beliefs from

l social or moral distinctions among the dead, bound to live forever in a state of boredom. those bound to some sort of punishment or suffering either had remained unburied or were not fed enough sacrificial food. the kingdom of hades was a dark underground realm surrounded on all sides by five rivers (lethe, styx, phlegethon, acheron, and cocytus) and at the entrance the mythical threeheaded dog cerberus stood guard. plato introduced the idea of a postmortem judgment based on good and evil deeds during one s life into greek spirituality. this philosopher also aimed at understanding hades as a psychological state rather than as a physical location, while all the symbology related to it was interpreted allegorically. in judaism the underworld was viewed as a dusty shadowy realm called sheol

LIBER III VEL JUGORUM

brahadabra, and glory unto him that hath given us the symbol of the ankh, and of the cross within the circle! 1. these are the beasts wherewith thou must plough the field; the unicorn, the horse, and the ox. and these shalt thou yoke in a triple yoke that is governed by one whip. 2. now these beasts run wildly upon the earth and are not easily obedient to the man. 3. nothing shall be said here of cerberus, the great beast of hell that is every one of these and all of these, even as athanasius hath foreshadowed. for this matter* is not of tiphereth without, but tipereth within. i 0. the unicorn is speech. man, rule thy speech! how else shalt thou master the son, and answer the magician at the right hand gateway of the crown? 1. here are practices. each may last for a week or more. avoid usi

within. i 0. the unicorn is speech. man, rule thy speech! how else shalt thou master the son, and answer the magician at the right hand gateway of the crown? 1. here are practices. each may last for a week or more. avoid using some common word, such as .and. or .the. or .but; use a paraphrase. avoid using some letter of the alphabet, such as .t. or .s. or .m; use a paraphrase (i.e. the matter of cerberus. liber iii 2. avoid using the pronouns and adjectives of the first person; use a paraphrase. of thine own ingenium devise others. 2. on each occasion that thou art betrayed* into saying that thou art sworn to avoid, cut thyself sharply upon the wrist or forearm with a razor; even as thou shouldst beat a disobedient dog. feareth not the unicorn the claws and tooth of the lion? 3. thine arm

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

sure the inundations of the nile, and balancing with his right hand a curious emblem consisting of an animal with the heads. the first head--that of a lion--signified the present; the second head--that of a wolf--the past; and the third head--that of a dog--the future. the body with its three heads was enveloped by the twisted coils of a serpent. figures of serapis are occasionally accompanied by cerberus, the three-headed dog of pluto, and--like jupiter--carry baskets of grain upon their heads. p. 28 the christian era. in a.d. 385, theodosius, that would-be exterminator of pagan philosophy, issued his memorable edict de idolo serapidis diruendo. when the christian soldiers, in obedience to this order, entered the serapeum at alexandria to destroy the image of serapis which had stood there

ervading principle of three worlds, in each of which he manifests as an active principle, so the spirit of man, partaking of the nature of divinity, dwells upon three planes of being: the supreme, the superior, and the inferior spheres of the pythagoreans. at the gate of the inferior sphere (the underworld, or dwelling place of mortal creatures) stands the guardian of hades--the three--headed dog cerberus, who is analogous to the three murderers of the hiramic legend. according to this symbolic interpretation of the triune spirit, chiram is the third, or incarnating, part- the master builder who through all ages erects living temples of flesh and blood as shrines of the most high. chiram comes forth as a flower and is cut down; he dies at the gates of matter; he is buried in the elements o

MORALS AND DOGMA

tumnal season (cum long redit hora noctis, descended under the guidance of minerva to hades. he died; but first applied for initiation to eumolpus, in order to foreshadow that state of religious preparation which should precede the momentous change. even in hades he rescued theseus and removed the stone of ascalaphus, reanimated the bloodless spirits, and dragged into the light of day the monster cerberus, justly reputed invincible because an emblem of time itself; he burst the chains of the grave (for busiris is the grave personified, and triumphant at the close as in the dawn of his career, was received after his labors into the repose of the heavenly mansions, living forever with zeus in the arms of eternal youth. odin is said to have borne twelve names among the old germans, and to hav

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

up and down the banks for a hundred years as restless spirits. on the opposite bank of the styx was the tribunal of minos, the supreme judge, before whom all shades had to appear, and who, after hearing full confession of their actions whilst on earth, pronounced the sentence of happiness or misery to which their deeds had entitled them. this tribunal was guarded by the terrible triple-headed dog cerberus, who, with his three necks bristling with snakes, lay at full length on the ground;.a formidable sentinel, who permitted all shades to enter, but none to return. page 148 the happy spirits, destined to enjoy the delights of elysium, passed out on the right, and proceeded to the golden palace where aides and persephone held their royal court, from whom they received a kindly greeting, ere

cibly with that peculiar benignity which so characterizes the countenance of the mighty ruler of heaven. he is seated on a throne of ebony, with his queen, the grave and sad persephone [136]beside him, and wears a full beard, and long flowing black hair, which hangs straight down over his forehead; in his hand he either bears a two-pronged fork or the keys of the lower world, and at his feet sits cerberus. he is sometimes seen in a chariot of gold, drawn by four black horses, and wearing on his head a helmet made for him by the cyclops, which rendered the wearer invisible. this helmet he frequently lent to mortals and immortals. aides, who was universally worshipped throughout greece, had temples erected to his honour in elis, olympia, and also at athens. his sacrifices, which took place a

he concluded that death must of necessity precede her entrance into the realm of shades. about to abandon herself to despair, she heard a voice which warned her of every danger to be avoided on her perilous journey, and instructed her with regard to certain precautions to be observed. these were as follows:.not to omit to provide herself with the ferryman's toll for charon, and the cake to pacify cerberus, also to refrain from taking any part in the banquets of aides and persephone, and, above all things, to bring the box of beauty charms unopened to aphrodite. in conclusion, the voice assured her, that compliance with the above conditions would insure for her a safe return to the realms of light. but, alas, psyche, who had implicitly followed all injunctions, could not withstand the tempt

ts whilst he contrived a pad for his head. atlas good-naturedly threw down the apples and once more resumed his load, upon which heracles bade him adieu, and departed. when heracles conveyed the golden apples to eurystheus the latter presented them to the hero, whereupon heracles placed the sacred page 280 fruit on the altar of pallas-athene, who restored them to the garden of the hesperides. 12. cerberus..the twelfth and last labour which eurystheus imposed on heracles was to bring up cerberus from the lower world, believing that all his heroic powers would be unavailing in the realm of shades, and that in this, his last and most perilous undertaking, the hero must at length succumb and perish. page 281 page 282 cerberus was a monster dog with three heads, out of whose awful jaws dripped

nger had hurled upon him, and which heracles now removed, releasing the sufferer. before the gates of his palace stood aides the mighty ruler of the lower world, and barred his entrance; but heracles, aiming at him with one of his unerring darts, shot him in the shoulder, so that for the first time the god experienced the agony of mortal suffering. heracles then demanded of him permission to take cerberus to the upper-world, and to this aides consented on condition that he should secure him unarmed. protected by his breastplate and lion's skin heracles went in search of the monster, whom he found at the mouth of the river acheron. undismayed by the hideous barking page 283 which proceeded from his three heads, he seized the [251]throat with one hand and the legs with the other, and althoug

mouth of the river acheron. undismayed by the hideous barking page 283 which proceeded from his three heads, he seized the [251]throat with one hand and the legs with the other, and although the dragon which served him as a tail bit him severely, he did not relinquish his grasp. in this manner he conducted him to the upper-world, through an opening near troezen in argolia. when eurystheus beheld cerberus he stood aghast, and despairing of ever getting rid of his hated rival, he returned the hell-hound to the hero, who restored him to aides, and with this last task the subjection of heracles to eurystheus terminated. murder of iphitus..free at last heracles now returned to thebes; and it being impossible for him to live happily with megara in consequence of his having murdered her children

t forsake his friend, and together they sought the gloomy realm of shades. but aides had been forewarned of their approach, and scarcely had the two friends set foot within his dominions when, by his orders, they were seized, bound with chains, and secured to an enchanted rock at the entrance of hades. here the two [268]friends languished for many years, until heracles passed by in his search for cerberus, when he released theseus; but in obedience to an injunction of the gods, left pirithous to endure for ever the punishment of his too daring ambition. while theseus was imprisoned in the under world castor and pollux, the brothers of helen, invaded athens, and demanded the restoration of their young sister. seeing his country threatened with the horrors of warfare, an athenian citizen nam

ONYX TABLET OF SET

some of the priesthood is making great leaps in making it more so, such as the creation of such unofficial bodies as the soa and scribe gilds. what are other ways to claim your power in the temple? 7. the temple is getting very close to a critical mass for change into anew level of activity. what can/should/shouldn't we do now that we have never done before? xeper, don webb priest to the priests cerberus at the gate some guidelines for meeting new candidates as the temple strives to raise the standards of human material the princeof darkness is provided with, an uneasy but potentially initiatory periodof experiment begins for his priesthood. since the founding of the temple,membership was granted to almost all comers so long as they sent the executivedirector a cashable check, proof of le

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

here he took persephone to be his queen. weeping water nymph when hades seized persephone, the nymph cyane rose from the lake and rebuked him but he ignored her. desolate, cyane wept so much that her blood turned to water, and she dissolved. when persephone s grieving mother demeter came looking for her, all the mute cyane could do was bear up persephone s lost girdle on the surface of the water. cerberus hades galloped over the fields, guarded by cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the underworld, breathing venomous fire. pure maiden persephone, first known as core, the maiden, was pure and beautiful. persephone means bringer of destruction as hades queen, no one could die unless she cut a hair from their heads. persephone the island of sicily the story is set in sicily, where the maid

was indifferent to them until he met the lovely eurydice, whom he married. he invited the marriage god hymen to the wedding, but hymen was in low spirits; his torch sputtered and smoked and would not stay alight. the underworld, also called hades after its ruler, was the land of the dead. hermes took the souls of the dead to the river styx where they paid charon, the ferryman, to row them across. cerberus the three-headed watchdog prevented escape. hades had several entrances to the upper world and could also be reached by sea, as odysseus did (see pp. 64 -65. the majority of ghosts conceived of literally as shadows of their former selves stayed on the featureless plain of asphodel. a lucky few went to elysium, the islands of the blessed. an unlucky few were condemned to everlasting tormen

verlasting torment in tartarus among these were the titans (see p. 23; king tantalus, who killed his son, abused the gods friendship and was condemned to stand chin-deep in water that he could never drink (thus forever tantalized; and sisyphus, deceitful and disobedient, who was forced to roll a heavy rock uphill for eternity every time it neared the top, the rock rolled back down. the underworld cerberus by william blake (1757 1827) aphrodite and adonis 32 aphrodite and adonis adonis was a beautiful youth with whom the goddesses aphrodite (roman venus) and persephone (proserpine, see pp. 28 29) fell in love. he died as a result of their quarrels, killed at the request of persephone (who wanted to keep adonis in the underworld with her forever) by ares (mars, aphrodite s jealous lover, who

as given various tasks: the first, to separate a roomful of mixed grain, she achieved with the help of a colony of sympathetic ants; the last, borrowing a box of beauty from the goddess of the underworld (see pp. 28 29, was accomplished with the help of a speaking tower. aware of the danger, psyche acted upon the tower s advice and took two pieces of bread soaked in honey to appease the watch dog cerberus, and two coins in her mouth to pay charon, the ferryman, to take her across the river styx and back. but against its advice, she opened the box, and fell into a deathly sleep. finally she was revived by cupid, granted immortality, and gave birth to their daughter voluptas (pleasure. artemis and actaeon 36 dogs of death actaeon s faithful hounds did not recognize their master once the furi

s. laius either disobeyed the oracle s advice or was so upset that he got drunk and slept with his wife jocasta anyway. the sphinx this monster with a woman s head, an eagle s wings, a serpent s tail, and the body of a lion, was the daughter of echidna (who was part-woman, part-serpent. echidna s brood included many of the monsters of greek mythology, including the chimaera (see p. 47, the hydra, cerberus (see p. 31, the nemean lion, and the crommyon sow (see pp. 54 55. 49 the tragedy of oedipus oedipus feet the name oedipus means swollen foot. when he was left to die as a baby, oedipus feet were pierced with a spike perhaps to prevent his ghost from walking. the city of thebes the city of thebes was the capital of boeotia (not be confused with the egyptian city on the site of present-day

cle at delphi, where he was told that he could be cleansed of this blood-guilt and gain immortality if, for 12 years, he served king eurystheus. eurystheus, an inferior man, set him ten seemingly impossible tasks, later extended to 12 as the petty-minded king quibbled over the means used to achieve two of them. the most difficult tasks were the last: the capture of the watchdog of the underworld, cerberus, and the acquisition of the apples of the hesperides (shown here, which were guarded by a fearful serpent. hercules completed his tasks successfully, encountering many adventures along the way. when he died several years and exploits later from putting on a poisoned shirt, he rose to olympus, causing atlas to stagger under the sudden extra weight. lyre singing was the chief recreation of

les captured the cretan bull, father of the minotaur (see pp. 56 57, which had gone mad. 8. hercules captured the flesheating mares of diomedes. 9. hercules acquired the belt of ares the war god from hippolyta, queen of the amazons. 10. hercules took possession of the cattle belonging to the threeheaded monster geryon. 11. hercules stole the golden apples of the hesperides. 12. hercules kidnapped cerberus, guardian dog of the underworld. hera charged ladon, the serpent, to prevent anyone from stealing the golden apples, and also to stop the hesperides from eating them. jason and the golden fleece 52 jason, the son of king aeson who was usurped by his half-brother pelias, was brought up by the centaur cheiron (see p. 39. when he grew up, he went to his uncle s court to press his claim to th

dnapped helen of sparta (see p. 62) for theseus, and then they visited the underworld to abduct persephone (proserpine. hades, persephone s husband, welcomed them courteously and asked them to sit. they did so, but when they tried to stand up, they found themselves welded to their seats, unable to move without ripping their flesh. they sat in agony for four years until hercules arrived to capture cerberus. recognizing his cousin suffering in mute torment, he wrenched theseus free. but when he tried to free pirithous, the leader of their impudent expedition, the earth began to quake and they had to leave him in eternal torment. the death of hippolytus by peter paul rubens (1577 1640) theseus wrestling with king cercyon successful in his first four encounters, theseus came to eleusis, where

RUBY TABLET OF SET

mbolic of the force and working of the will. he could have (and has) done worse] it is, to use one of the book of thoth's words, a fertile card. surrounding the central human figure are depictions of life: the green productive grain stalks, the sperm with its embryonic figure, the egg with the yet-to-be surrounded by the watchful serpent, the hermit himself absorbed in concentration, and even the cerberus/anubis figure in the card's lower right corner. ipsissimus crowley devotes some little space to the lamp of the sun held by the figure and all but describes it as the core symbol of the light of the universe. once again there are dual interpretations open to the observer. there are two universes: the subjective and the objective. we ourselves build the light in the former and as one train

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

lls. another has come to the slaughter-house. as the jailer, lamp in hand, ushered in the stranger, the latter touched him and whispered. the stranger drew a jewel from his finger. diantre, how the diamond flashed in the ray of the lamp! value each head of your eighty at a thousand francs, and the jewel is more worth than all! the jailer paused, and the diamond laughed in his dazzled eyes. o thou cerberus, thou hast mastered all else that seems human in that fell employ! thou hast no pity, no love, and no remorse. but avarice survives the rest, and the foul heart's master-serpent swallows up the tribe. ha! ha! crafty stranger, thou hast conquered! they tread the gloomy corridor; they arrive at the door where the jailer has placed the fatal mark, now to be erased, for the prisoner within is

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

k myths. to begin with we may consider the saga of heracles. a new light is thrown upon the twelve labors imposed on the hero, deepening their significance, when we notice that before the culminating, most difficult labor he has himself initiated in the mysteries of eleusis. in the service of eurystheus, king of mycenae, he has to descend into the underworld and bring back with him the hell-hound cerberus. to enable him to descend into hell, heracles has to be initiated; the role of the mysteries was to lead a person through the death of the perishable nature, that is, into the underworld. and through initiation, his eternal part was redeemed from the power of death. thus it was that the mystes overcame death, and it is as an initiate that heracles overcomes the dangers of the underworld.8

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

of crowleyanity. this is the outer circle of all, forming, with the pyrrhonistic line, a perfect yin and yang; itself the unutterable t a o. to attain to the ne plus ultra of crowleyanity, it will be necessary to arrive at a state of desperate despair, a state in which the equilibrium of both body and mind are balancing between conscious alienation and unconscious insanity; and this state is the cerberus we all have to pass before we can regain the blissful arms of our long-lost eurydice. to clearly illuminate the orphic progress through the plutonic regions of philosophy, it will be necessary, first of all to satisfy the three heads of the terrible offspring of echidna fs womb, whose names are berkeley, hume, and kant. berkeley berkeley, that ggod-illumined adept, h*1. almost at the comm

Return to Occult Library Index

http://www.hollywoodinsiders.net
MWLibCreator Ver.2 By:Michael Wynn