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DYING GOD

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ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

nysus confronting the angry king, not with defiance, but with meekness; yet with a subtle confidence, an underlying laughter. his forehead is wreathed with vine tendrils. he is an effeminate figure with those broad leaves clustered upon his brow? but those leaves hide 13 horns. king pentheus, representative of respectability<god. see my "good hunting" and dr. j.g.frazer's "golden bough> is destroyed by his pride. he goes out into the mountains to attack the women who have followed bacchus, the youth whom he has mocked, scourged, and put in chains, yet who has only smiled; and by those women, in their divine madness, he is torn to pieces. it has already seemed impertinent to say so much when walter pater has told

nclined may reflect that a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse- 91 chapter xii of the bloody sacrifice: and matters cognate. it is necessary for us to consider carefully the problems connected with the bloody sacrifice, for this question is indeed traditionally important in magick. nigh all ancient magick revolves around this matter. in particular all the osirian religions- the rites of the dying god- refer to this. the slaying of osiris and adonis; the mutilation of attis; the cults of mexico and peru; the story of hercules or melcarth; the legends of dionysus and of mithra, are all connected with this one idea. in the hebrew religion we find the same thing inculcated. the first ethical lesson in the bible is that the only sacrifice pleasing to the lord is the sacrifice of blood; ab

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

" the foes may be fairly matched; but more often the tale tells of a revolt in heaven. in this case "evil" is temporary; soon, especially with the financial help of the devout, the "devil" will be "cast into the bottomless pit" and "the saints will reign with christ in glory 19* you must read the soldier an the hunchback! and? in the equinox i, 1. 39 for ever and ever, amen" often a "redeemer" a "dying god" is needed to secure victory to omnipotence; and this is usually what little vulgar boys might call a "touching story" j. the monist (or advaitist) school, is at once subtler and more refined; it seems to approach the ultimate reality (as opposed to the superficial examination of the dualists) more closely. it seems to me that this doctrine is based upon a sorites of doubtful validity. t

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

et asar be the adorant, isa the sufferer; hoor in his secret name and splendour is the lord initiating" the old comment 49. declares a new system of magic, and initiation. asar-isa is now the candidate, not the hierophant. hoor- see cap. iii- is the initiator. the new comment this verse declares that the old formula of magick- the osiris-adonis-jesus-marsyas-dionysus-attis-etcetera formula of the dying god- is no longer efficacious. it rested on the ignorant belief that the sun died every day, and every year, and that its resurrection was a miracle. the formula of the new aeon recognizes horus, the child crowned and conquering, as god. we are all members of the body of god, the sun; and about our system is the ocean of space. this formula is then to be based upon these facts. our "evil "er

she may be known. al ii,5 "behold! the rituals of the old time are black. let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! then shall this knowledge go aright" the old comment 5. a reference to certain magical formulae known to the scribe of this book. the purification of said rituals is in progress at this time, an. v. the new comment the 'old time' is the aeon of the dying god. some of his rituals are founded on an utterly false metaphysic and cosmogony; but others are based on truth. we mend these, and end those. this "knowledge" is the initiated wisdom of this aeon of horus. see book 4, part iii, for an account of the new principles of magick. note that knowledge is daath, child of chokmah by binah, and crown of microprosopus; yet he is not one of the sephir

BLUE EQUINOX

publishes all instructions and pronouncements of the a.a. and o.t.o. it also publishes such poetry, drama, fiction, and essays, as are sympathetic to this programme, so far as space permits. the equinox is so called, firstly because it is the comment upon the word of the new on, qelhma, which was given at the equinox of the gods, when the crowned and conquering child, horus, took the place of the dying god, osiris (the equinox marks a period of a fresh influx of force from our father the sun) secondly, in accordance with this, publication takes place at the equinoxes of spring and autumn of each year. the rule of the a.a. is to alternate 5 years of silence with 5 years of speech. hence publication has been from 1909-1914, an v-ix; and now from 1919-1924, an xv-xix. love is the law, love un

LIBER ALEPH

it lieth so close to will that dis-ease thereof easily imparteth his error to the whole way of the magician. t the book of wisdom or folly 99 gt de corpore umbra hominis (of the body, shadow of the man) oncerning the on, o my son, learn that the sun and his vicegerent are in all ons, of necessity, father, centre, creator, each in his sphere of operation. but the formula of the past on was of the dying god, and was based upon ignorance. for men thought that the sun died and was reborn alike in the day and in the year; and so also was the mystery of man. now already are we well assured by science how the death of the sun is in truth but the shifting of a shadow; and in this on (o my son, i lift up my voice and i make prophecy) so shall it be proven as to death. for the body of man is but hi

LIBER SAMEKH

with notes to the preliminary invocation by gerald yorke, some transcribed from crowley fs personal copy, others of uncertain provenance (possibly summarised by yorke from samekh, indeed, a note to the corresponding line runs: gosorronophris= the perfected osiris. the hierophant in the g.d. neophyte ritual. but for those who accept qelhma variation, the formula is of horus. evergrowing child, not dying god. candidate is horus& the perfected horus is ra hoor khuit. h 14 see parsifal for this symbolism. 15 the greek spelling in the original enumerates to 915, 3 5 61. 16 there is no obvious reference to any gmagical race h in any of the oaths of a a grades up to and including adeptus minor as given in gliber collegii sancti, h unless one considers the a a itself to fit this billing (an early

LINDOW JOHN NORSE MYTHOLOGY A GUIDE TO THE GODS HEROES RITUALS AND BELIEFS

r of ian maxwell, ed. gabriel turville-petre and john stanley martin (victoria, australia: the organizing committee for publishing a volume in honour of professor maxwell, 1974, 26.32. my reading of the baldr myth is in my murder and vengeance among the gods: baldr in scandinavian mythology, ff communications, 277 (helsinki: societas scientiarum fennica, 1997; see also my ginterpreting baldr, the dying god, h in australian academy of the humanities proceedings, 1993: 155.173 (also in old norse studies in the new world, ed. judy quinn, geraldine barnes, and margaret clunies ross [sydney: university of sydney, 1994, 14.25. on blood feud, see william ian miller, bloodtaking and peacemaking: feud, law, and society in saga iceland (chicago and london: university of chicago press, 1990, and on i

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

e gnostic concept of deity--the mysteries of serapis--labyrinth symbolism--the odinic, or gothic, mysteries. 25 the ancient mysteries and secret societies, part iii the eleusinian mysteries--the lesser rites--the greater rites--the orphic mysteries- the bacchic mysteries--the dionysiac mysteries. 29 atlantis and the gods of antiquity plato's atlantis in the light of modern science-the myth of the dying god-the rite of tammuz and ishtar--the mysteries of atys and adonis-the rites of sabazius--the cabiric mysteries of samothrace. 33 the life and writings of thoth hermes trismegistus suppositions concerning identity of hermes--the mutilated hermetic fragments--the book of thoth--poimandres, the vision of hermes--the mystery of universal mind- the seven governors of the world. 37 the initiatio

ause it had departed from the path of light, withdrew from the ill-fated continent. carrying with them the sacred and secret doctrine, these atlanteans p. 35 established themselves in egypt, where they became its first "divine" rulers. nearly all the great cosmologic myths forming the foundation of the various sacred books of the world are based upon the atlantean mystery rituals. the myth of the dying god the myth of tammuz and ishtar is one of the earliest examples of the dying-god allegory, probably antedating 4000 b. c (see babylonia and assyria by lewis spence) the imperfect condition of the tablets upon which the legends are inscribed makes it impossible to secure more than a fragmentary account of the tammuz rites. being the esoteric god of the sun, tammuz did not occupy a position

ged man is the human spirit which is suspended from heaven by a single thread. wisdom, not death, is the reward for this voluntary sacrifice during which the human soul, suspended above the world of illusion, and meditating upon its unreality, is rewarded by the achievement of self-realization. from a consideration of all these ancient and secret rituals it becomes evident that the mystery of the dying god was universal among the illumined and venerated colleges of the sacred teaching. this mystery has been perpetuated in christianity in the crucifixion and death of the god-man-jesus the christ. the secret import of this world tragedy and the universal martyr must be rediscovered if christianity is to reach the heights attained by the pagans in the days of their philosophic supremacy. the

s universal among the illumined and venerated colleges of the sacred teaching. this mystery has been perpetuated in christianity in the crucifixion and death of the god-man-jesus the christ. the secret import of this world tragedy and the universal martyr must be rediscovered if christianity is to reach the heights attained by the pagans in the days of their philosophic supremacy. the myth of the dying god is the key to both universal and individual redemption and regeneration, and those who do not comprehend the true nature of this supreme allegory are not privileged to consider themselves either wise or truly religious. next: the life and teachings of thoth hermes trismegistus sacred texts esoteric index previous next p. 37 the life and teachings of thoth hermes trismegistus thunder roll

e destruction of the mysteries there never has been a religious code to which plato could have subscribed. the unfolding of man's spiritual nature is as much an exact science as astronomy, medicine or jurisprudence. to accomplish this end religions were primarily established; and out of religion have come science, philosophy, and logic as methods whereby this divine purpose might be realized. the dying god shall rise again! the secret room in the house of the hidden places shall be rediscovered. the pyramid again shall stand as the ideal emblem of solidarity, inspiration, aspiration, resurrection, and regeneration. as the passing sands of time bury civilization upon civilization beneath their weight, the pyramid shall remain as the visible covenant between eternal wisdom and the world. the

er the entered apprentices and the fellow- craftsmen had failed to resurrect their master from the dead he was finally raised by the master mason with the "strong grip of a lion's paw" to the initiated builder the name chiram abiff signifies "my father, the universal spirit, one in essence, three in aspect" thus the murdered master is a type of the cosmic martyr--the crucified spirit of good, the dying god--whose mystery is celebrated throughout the world. among the manuscripts of dr. sigismund bastrom, the initiated rosicrucian, appears the following extract from von welling concerning the true philosophic nature of the masonic chiram "the original word, chiram, is a radical word consisting of three consonants and i. e. cheth, resh and mem (1, cheth, signifies chamah, the sun's light, i

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

gus. herne. witch name derived from early english version of the anglo-saxon god, odin or woden. a god of wisdom and storm, and also a guide of the dead, he leads his wild rout across the winter skies accompanied by the baying of his death hounds! gogmagog. prehistoric version of the god and goddess in giant form. andros. the god as worshipped in the weald. adonai or adonis. hebrew for "the lord" dying god, consort of astarte. sabaoth. another hebrew name for god. baphomet. horned deity allegedly worshipped by the templars, a christian order of fighting monks of the twelfth century. the name has been variously construed to mean "the father of the temple of universal peace among men" the initials of which phrase in latin spell the name backwards: templi omnium hominum pacis abbas; or by oth

MORALS AND DOGMA

is and osiris were patterns and precursors of mankind; their sepulchres stood within the temples of the superior gods; yet though their remains might be entombed at memphis or abydus, their divinity was unimpeached, and they either shone as luminaries in the heavens, or in the unseen world presided over the futurity of the disembodied spirits whom death had brought nearer to them. the notion of a dying god, so frequent in oriental legend, and of which we have already said much in former degrees, was the natural inference from a literal interpretation of nature-worship; since nature, which in the vicissitudes of the seasons seems to undergo a dissolution, was to the earliest religionists the express image of the deity, and at a remote period one and the same with the "varied god" whose attr

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

of a beast, bird, or what not; while later mary attributed her condition to the agency of a spirit spiritus, breath, or air in the shape of a dove (simple-minded readers must not think for one moment that a. c. is here "admitting the historical existence of the virgin mary; on the contrary, he is obviously putting her on the same footing with europa, semele and others. the virgin birth, like the dying god, is a much older myth than christianity; and the virgin was usually seeded by a god under the form of a beast. far from being original, christian theology is a pot-pourri of stolen goods) but the "small person" of hindu mysticism, the dwarf insane, yet crafty, of many legends in many lands,is also this same "holy ghost, or silent self of a man, or his holy guardian angel. he is almost th

all ordeals, all words and signs. ra-hoor-khuit hath taken his seat in the east at the equinox of the gods; and let asar be with isa, who also are one. but they are not of me. let asar be the adorant, isa the sufferer; hoor in his secret name and splendour is the lord initiating. this verse declares that the old formula of magick the osiris-adonis-jesus-marsyas-dionysus- attis-etc. formula of the dying god is no longer efficacious (it never was efficacious; it was merely the least deficient formula possible in the aeon of pisces just past) it rested on the ignorant belief that the sun died every day, and every year, and that its resurrection was a miracle. the formula of the new aeon recognizes horus, the child crowned and conquering, as god. we are all members of the body of god, the sun;

mites must avoid. the chapter is chapter 54. they understand 'a little--this may be interpreted as meaning that they understand the meaning of the fool, aleph, 111, only in a minor way. they are 'fools of men not the fool (on the other hand, see 'little, below) aum is related to aleph qabalistically by number--ill in each case. the termination is in "death" in the sense of mystical sacrifice, the dying god, the witness--m, t he hanged man. since aum was the word of krishna, the most ancient known form of the dying god (later cynically adopted in the roman catholic pantheon as "saint sebastian, it is a natural connotation of that magus's message. it may be difficult for a minor hindu initiate to absorb the idea that aum is, after all, an imperfect hieroglyph. krishna has been worshipped in

knowledge is not. hadit is hidden in nuit, and knows her, she being an object of knowledge; but he is not knowable, for he is merely that part of her which she formulates in order that she may be known. 5. behold! the rituals of the old time are black. let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! then shall this knowledge go aright. the "old time" is the aeon of the dying god. some of its rituals are founded on an utterly false metaphysics and cosmogony; but others are based on truth. we end those, and mend these. this "knowledge" is the initiated wisdom of this aeon of horus. see book 4, part iii, for an account of the new principles of magick. note that knowledge is daath, child of chokhmah by binah, and crown of microprosopus; yet he is not one of the seph

PATRON OF SORCERY

he temples. it is strange to envision the egyptian priests consigning their lore to the written word, given their notorious reputation for xenophobia and secrecy. significantly, while these spells span the full range of magical operations, little of a theoretical character is disclosed. in pgm iv 154-285, there's an invocation of the feared one that specifically mentions the defeat of osiris, the dying god, and the setian power over the hypotic gaze of apep, serpent and neter of chaos that threatened the solar barque "oh dark's disturber, thunder's bringer, whirlwind, night- flasher, breather-forth of hot and cold. i'm he who searched with you the whole world and found great osiris, whom i brought you chained. i'm he who joined you in war with the gods! i'm he who closed heav'ns double gat

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

a large upstanding cross of wood, he stands alone, clad in a simple unornamented black gown. the reader is earnestly recommended to study this ritual again and again, until almost it becomes a part of his very life, incorporated into the fabric of his being, for herein are highly important and significant formulae of mystical aspiration and of practical magic. in it is exemplified the technical "dying god formula about which in the golden bough frazer has written so eloquently. examples of this are to be found in every mythology and every mystical <68> religion that our world has ever known. but i doubt that it has ever attained to a more clarified and definite espression than in this ceremony of the adeptus minor grade. for we are clearly taught by precept and by example that we are, in

RUBY TABLET OF SET

ngle grail, but rather one constructed and purified by each initiate for his own use and with its own singular meaning. dclxvi's 1944ce comment on the holy grail aflame with love and death and holding the mingled sacraments of the aeon seems to bear this out. trump xii the hanged man "this card" writes aleister crowley "is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner. it is the card of the dying god; its importance in the present pack is merely that of cenotaph (1" it says "if ever things get bad like that again, in the new dark ages which appear to threaten, this is the way to put things right" but if things have to be put right, it shows they are very wrong. it should be the chiefest aim of the wise to rid mankind of the very insolence of self-sacrifice, of the calamity of chastit

is the way to put things right" but if things have to be put right, it shows they are very wrong. it should be the chiefest aim of the wise to rid mankind of the very insolence of self-sacrifice, of the calamity of chastity; faith must be slain by certainty; and chastity by ecstacy" he goes on to quote liber legis "pity not the fallen" passage and generally places a great deal of emphasis on the dying god/sacrificial aspects of atu xii. seen from what was the contemporary magical thought of this time, crowley's talk of oblation in the form of ritual in order to exorcise the stagnant influences of the prior aeon are not all out of line. his frustration with the hypocrisy of the plymouth brethren contributed no small part to the later determination to squash the lying spectre. a part of the

the form of ritual in order to exorcise the stagnant influences of the prior aeon are not all out of line. his frustration with the hypocrisy of the plymouth brethren contributed no small part to the later determination to squash the lying spectre. a part of the task carried out by crowley with a pleasurable venegance. added to this tool os his underlying and unspoken thought that the sacrificial dying god is not really particularly superior to man- he, the dying god, could be manipulated and made to serve the purposes of man the magician through the release of those qualities peculiar to him and therefore not necessarily being in a position to decide the fate of man. crowley possibly considered this as a facet of every man and every woman being a star. such an attitude is integral to an u

h the power of its black radiance. as in crowley's vision, the beast roared continually, its voice the music of the aethyr. but it was set who addressed me in words i could comprehend. he explained the system of aeons to me. an aeon is a purely personal perception, the outer aeonic progression occurring only as the shift occurs in a dominant mass of human perception. exoterically, the aeon of the dying god still prevails, whereas i am in the splendour and majesty of the aeon of set. in the aeon of the goddess, man is seen as a part of nature, and seeks union with her. in the aeon of the dying god, man realizes his dual nature in the death/rebirth experience but cannot reconcile both aspects and live in two worlds at once. in the aeon of horus, man realizes that he can exercise his whole be

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

ght provide a temporary respite for some. by ignoring christianity, the esotericists were bypassing the spiritual stream intimately connected with the problems facing modern civilization, which must either solve them or perish with them. conversely, if christianity were really sure of the truth it asserted it could lose nothing from the comparison with other religions. if its central symbols of a dying god and regeneration were held in common with other beliefs, that did not mean it must inevitably lose its identity in a mish-mash of faiths. on the contrary, such an encounter would bring it to understand itself more thoroughly. steiner saw that what was needed was an evolutionary approach. christianity did grow out of previously existing beliefs but developed them in a special way, a way t

THE GOD OF THE WITCHES

d (as they called him) gave them a piece of an unchristened child'sliver to eat; telling them, that though they were apprehended, they should never confess, which wouldprevent an effectual discovery."the greatest of all the sacrifices was that of the god himself. this took place at one of the great quarterlysabbaths at the end of a term of years, generally seven or nine. frazer has shown that the dying god wasoriginally the ruler of the tribe, in other words the king. when the custom begins to die out in any country,the first change is the substitution of some person of high rank who suffers in the king's stead; for a few daysbefore his death the substitute enjoys royal powers and honours as he is for the time being actually the king.the next step is when a volunteer, tempted by the desire

t "every seven years the elves and fairies pay kane[*2] or make anoffering of one of their children to the grand enemy of salvation, and they are permitted to purloin one of thechildren of men to present to the fiend; a more acceptable offering, i'll warrant, than one of their own infernalbrood that are satan's sib-allies, and drink a drop of the deil's blood every may morning".in early times the dying god or his substitute was burnt alive in the presence of the whole congregation; butwhen western europe became more organised such a ceremony could not be permitted and the victim died atthe hands of the public executioner. the custom of burning the witch was not the invention of the church,which only took advantage of a custom already existing and did nothing to modify the cruelty of moreba

at burning was too good for witches, and condemned them to be torn inpieces with red-hot pincers. this is, as far as i know, the only occasion when the christian clergy pleaded formercy for the culprits; they were so far successful that the sentence was mitigated to beheading with thesword, for which mercy the condemned thanked the magistrate with tears of gratitude.the belief in the dogma of the dying god is the reason why it is so often recorded against witches as aheinous sin that they pretended to be christian while all the time they were "devil-worshippers. thefundamental difference between the two religions is that the christian believes that god died once for all,whereas the more primitive belief is that the god is perpetually incarnate on earth and may therefore be put todeath over

ated by signs of approaching age, such as grey hair or loss of teeth; in other places aterm of years was fixed, usually either seven or nine. when the changes inevitable to all human customsgradually took place, a substitute could suffer in the king's stead, dying at the time the king should have diedand thus giving the king a further lease of life.this, put shortly, is the theory and cult of the dying god. the belief belongs to all parts of the old world,and survives in africa into the present century. it was a fundamental dogma of the pre-christian religion ofeurope, believed in and practised as ardently as among the africans of to-day.to investigate the subject of the divine victim of the witch-cult it is essential to put aside all preconceivedideas, remembering always that the records

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