Reflections on Completing the Book of Silvered Leaves

I have completed the Book of Silvered Leaves. Let me start by discussing the book’s general structure as it was transmitted to me:

• The first 19 leaves had images on both sides, and at least one of the sides of each leaf incorporated one of the 21 letters of the Enochian alphabet into the image (for two leaves, Enochian letters were incorporated into each side’s image; the letter pairs for these were Pa/Gisg (the first and last letters of the Enochian alphabet) and Ger/Pal (the least-used Enochian letters). It should be noted that one of the images that arose was what I was told was the seal of the angel Mapsama, the angel who directed Dee & Kelley to create the book.
  
• Nine leaves with moon phases:
  The next two leaves consisted of 49-word Enochian-language messages, while the following seven leaves included 49-word Enochian-language messages, as well as moon phase symbols (2 leaves with full moons, 1.5 leaves waxing crescent, 3.5 waning crescent). This suggested to me that the previous two leaves represented new moons.
  
• The next 12 leaves each had one of the glyphs for the signs of the zodiac on both sides, and also had 49-word Enochian-language messages. At times these included the name of some of the zodiacal kings, and all 12 of the watchtower’s names of God were used, often with an IA- (“God”) prefix.
  
• The next seven leaves each had an astrological symbol for the seven classical astrological planets (in order) on each side, each with shorter, seven-word Enochian-language messages (which were to be on a single line).
  
• The final, 48th leaf was the astrological glyph for Earth. As with the 49th leaf of Amzes Naghezes Hardeh (commonly, but not quite properly, known as Liber Loagaeth), this leaf was to have three 3×7 tables on the front, and two of the same on the back, each cell with one letter.

As far as how I wrote it, sometimes I would see the outline of a shape or letter in the silver borne by the page, sometimes I would hear what I was to write (in Enochian, or in English to be looked up in Enochian).

So we have some parallels between the Book of Silvered Leaves and Amzes Naghezes Hardeh/Liber Loagaeth. While the former has a distinctly lunar quality (indeed, it happens that the cover I bought to bind the book was very dark and reminiscent of the night sky), the latter is quite solar (to be bound in blue silk, with letters of gold, with Bornogo, the prince of the sun, appearing prominently in Leaf 9–the only leaf with numbers in addition to letters).

Now on to the effects. My friend Cody P. mentioned that his view of Amzes Naghezes Hardeh (Liber Loagaeth) that it created, so to speak, the rainbow body on the astral, from which a true rainbow body could ultimately be realized (this is a recollected conversation, not verbatim). There was certainly a lot of symbolism and coming to terms with a lot of my being during my reconstructed gebofal ritual. Although he didn’t say so, it’s like the world of Briah, and probably also Atziluth (and even Adam Qadmon), manifesting into Yetzirah. Note that my making a perfected copy of this book was probably heavily assisted by having previously scried the Aethyrs in this interpretation.

As I was told towards the end of constructing the Book of Silvered Leaves, I scried the word “PRONOA,” a word (meaning roughly alchemical love) which I had received during my initial trip through the Aethyrs. When I did so, I had an extremely powerful vision, almost as if all components of reality had their own Aethyric-style vision, and all of them were overlaid with each other simultaneously (like the many sound tracks at the end of the Beatles’ Revolution Number 9–except visual). This was the most intense vision I’d had, and I was guided to relax into the love. Doing so, I saw myself on a still, spherical ocean. I was told that I was to scry this word once more after the book had been completed, and afterward would receive the title of the book as well as realize the rainbow body–Yetzirah manifesting into Assiah.

The title of the book was PRONOA PIBLIAR CAOSGO, or roughly “Alchemical Love’s Places of Comfort of the Earth.” I wrote this on the silver which I had already affixed to the front (an extra silver leaf from the package I bought). More importantly, a nascent rainbow body has appeared, right now only appearing to me astrally, but something I can work with at will.

Now for ultimate reflections on this book. I do not believe that everyone will receive the same book if they go through this process (especially given that many of the messages seem quite personalized). However, I believe that making this book, as creating a perfected copy of Amzes Naghezes Hardeh (Liber Loagaeth), is important to the magician. It is certainly the easier of the two books to make! The level of trance I would say I had–with the exception of the final ritual of scrying the word PRONOA–was not as heavy as, for example, almost all of the reconstructed gebofal ritual. So in the sense of a doable ritual, I would almost encourage people to make this book first, since it was to be created just as much as Amzes Naghezes Hardeh (Liber Loagaeth), but is far less effort. It may even be wiser for those born at night to make the Book of Silvered Leaves first, for in Hellenistic astrology, the main luminary for such people is the moon, not the sun. Regardless, the moon, being the closest astrological planet to the earth, is considered most “earth-like,” and can sort of be considered a gateway to the higher realms.

I did a brief review of the chart for the absolute end of the ritual, and found the following septile aspects (something I noticed at the end of the gebofal ritual; 3-degree orb (except for quincunx/triseptile)):

• Moon triseptile Mercury
• Moon septile Mars
• Neptune septile MC
• Neptune septile Uranus
• Neptune septile Rahu/North Node.
• Mars triseptile Mercury
• Chiron septile Saturn
• Ascendant triseptile Pluto

There were also several quintiles:

• Moon biquintile Neptune
• Mercury quintile Neptune
• Chiron quintile Pluto
• Sun biquintile North Node
• Sun biquintile Uranus
• Sun biquintile Midheaven

Thanks for reading!

Enochian and Gnosticism

It’s hard to describe in fullness “Enochian theology,” but a cursory look at both the language of Enochian as well as my experience of scrying the Aethyrs has had me pondering this matter in the back of my mind for some time. What I’ve come to realize, after a good dose of listening to the Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast, is that the Enochian magico-mystical system seems to continue the deep initiation into John Dee’s mind. Dee, a highly educated man, was familiar with Greek, fluent in Latin, and nothing if not well-read. His religious education needed to take the vows for a Catholic priest (while under arrest in would’ve also taken him into reading much of what was Catholic orthodoxy and–important for Dee if he wished to save his skin–what were the no-no’s of heterodoxy, heresy, apostacy. In other words, Dee probably came to know as much, if not more, about the Classics as any other man in England.

SHWEP has provided for me some obsessively interesting listening material. Earl Fontainelle’s laser focus on esotericism, combined with his profound background in the classics as well as his varied interest in the history of Western philosophy, has really opened up a world of understanding of the development of religious doctrine. Support the podcast, won’t you? Among the episodes I dove into was episode 79, Numenius’ Metaphysics, which laid out a concept of highest god, Nous; a son (emanation?) of that god, the Demiurge; and a grandson (second emanation?) of Nous, the Noetic Creator of our world. Note that these concepts roughly match the Kabbalistic Tree of Life model: an The Nous roughly corresponds to Ain/Ain Soph/Ain Soph Aur, the Demiurge roughly corresponds to the world of Atziluth, and the Noetic Creator roughly corresponds to the world of Briah. The idea of a demiurge is roughly linked to Gnosticism (in addition to previous philosophies), which, as SHWEP points out in an earlier episode with Michael Williams, is a somewhat problematic term in itself.

Numenius of Apamea parallels earlier philosophers like Eudorus of Alexandria, but what does this have to do with Enochian? One Enochian word that came to mind when considering this philosophy is “JAIDA” (which can also be transliterated to “IAIDA”; n.b. the letters “I” & “J” are collapsed in the Enochian alphabet), meaning “highest God” or, perhaps from its structure (“IA of IAD” or “IAD of IAD”): “God of Gods.” This is a bit strange from a monotheist point of view, and suggests that we should instead consider the Enochian system to be a monolatrous one, which is to say that the God of Enochian is the highest God, or the God worthy of worship, but that other gods may exist. This is surely one way to interpret other godlike beings who appear, such as Babalon or Kaos (the latter of whom I appear to not have encountered, but other Enochian practitioners have).

The other footing this puts Enochian on is the idea of a one-world religion, or rather a religion designed to be compatible with other religions. Jason Louv suggests in John Dee and the Empire of Angels that a one-world religion is indeed what the angels themselves were pushing. I have to admit, I have found that my exploration of Enochian hasn’t really pushed me away from any religion, but rather I’ve taken an approach which allows for the congruence of multiple religions at once. One difficulty with Enochian is the colonialist view of the world that Dee took, such that it’s tempting to view Enochian as a superstructure or superimposition upon other religions–perhaps as yet another imposition of religion, similar to the forced conversions to Christianity.

Looking into the structure of Enochian and its somewhat heretical views, it seems instead that it’s a system allowing for religious tolerance and pluralism, which is something we could use a little more of nowadays. During these holidays, I hope I have made a case to dig a little deeper and unfold what lies beneath the first impressions of this world, and bear witness to and become partakers in its wonders.

A Solution to Liber Loagaeth, Part 7

So I got to the “Pagesgem” half-leaf (9a) a few days ago. Aside from it being beautiful and the only table to both have numbers and a name, Bornogo, from the Heptarchy (four times in a beautiful cross-and-X pattern), and being the only table to have a large circle of diameter 21 within the grid, I wanted to make some points about the numbers themselves.

The four corners have simple 7×7 tables within them with either the numbers 1-7 or 2-8 in rows; two of each appear in opposing corners. Thus the sum of each row is either 28 or 35, meaning that two sum to 196 and two sum to 245; each pair sums to 441 (21^2), a number I’ve dealt with at length before. The digits begin in ascending order and from there shift over one spot, meaning that the number 1 for the 1-7 table and the number 2 for the 2-8 table is in a diagonal. The one exception is the lower-right corner which has the top of the table with the numbers 1-7 in reverse order at the top. Interestingly, if one chose to view the reversal as a reason to subtract that table from its lower-left counterpart, one would naturally get a difference of 49.

The lower-right corner is another clue, namely the general area that also number 49: column 32 of the grid within the circle (not including the ring of numbers itself–which sums to 272 (16*17–not part of a Pythagorean triple, sadly!). The circle itself, I should note, has exactly 111 letters within it, 111 being the number of God and the Gematria value of the Hebrew letter Aleph when spelled out (the Aleph as a letter alone is worth 1), and the ring is composed of 56 (7*8) numbers.

Interestingly, columns 30-32 break the inner pattern of the circle in many ways. Columns 18-20 (rows 18-20 & 30-32) have two length-3 sides adjoined by 90 degrees with a repeating number: the number 6 in the upper-left and the number 2 in the lower-left. For the counterpart in the upper right, a 4-4-4 column meets a 3-3-3 row due to a break in the normal pattern. The lower-right is even “curiouser”: the numbers make a 5-5-5 column, the topmost 5 of which begins a 5-6-5 row. Intrigued, I decided to sum these numbers by column and by row, and the number 6 produced a column sum (excluding the ring of the circle) of 50, while its neighbor which (which ends the row) yielded a column sum of 49. See the screenshot:

Columns 31 & 32 of Leaf 9a, within the circle

Fifty is a Kabbalistically significant number (associated with Binah and the letter Nun, among other things), and 49, of course, relates once more to both the Heptarchy and the dimensionality of Loagaeth. Of interest to me is that is these positions, columns 31 & 32, refer via addition to 63, or 7*9; multiplying by 7 (the basis of much of Enochian) yields 441 once again. the number of the row is 30, referring to the number of Aethyrs.

So, having seen this pattern here, another possible means to solve Loagaeth is to look to Columns 32 (the 6th & 7th from the middle row) and possibly also Row 30; or just cells R30C31 and R30C32 (to use MS Excel notation), across the tables. It’s possible a pattern (such as an Enochian phrase providing another clue) can arise in this manner. I haven’t yet explored it, but I will!

A Solution to Liber Loagaeth: Part 2

This post follows on to this post, and is edited from a Discord discussion about my thinking about the ring nature of the leaves of Loagaeth. Thanks to Jon Ciel of Uizelian magic and Argus for their feedback and input, some of which I have incorporated.

So here’s the outlines of an approach to unlocking Liber Loagaeth that I’ve been thinking about; the Great Table in Enochian is 25 letters wide by 27 letters high. This is divided into four quadrants, typically thought of as elemental in nature, but also includes the names of all 91 (or 92) governors.

There are 94 Liber Loagaeth half-leaves of 49×49 grids (more on this in a moment). So the idea here is you place a reduced Great Table (24×24) by eliminating the names of God (the 12-letter names, e.g., ORO IBAH AOZPI–they are holy, after all) in the four quadrants corners as well as the entire Black cross. Then, overlay four Great Tables in the onto a 49×49 leaf. This leaves (heh) each 49×49 table with its own central cross, possibly as the key to try to solve it.

Another possibility (let’s call it Approach 2) is removing only two of the rows, leaving a 24×25 and overlaying this version four times (two of them would be rotated 90 degrees). This would leave a single letter in the center as the possible key to solving it.

There are some advantages to each approach. Approach 1 leaves a nice parallel to the Great Table. Furthermore, this Central Cross is more evenly balanced than the Great Table’s Black Cross, and could be folded three dimensionally into two rings, like so:

Which would look similar to this diagram by Johannes Dryander:

Annulorum trium diversi generis

In fact, this suggests that a third ring should be added, such as at the 13th and 37th rows or columns. I would stick with rows, though, because this would continue the parallel to the Great Table. Ultimately there would be 9 letters in all, and this parallels not only the bottom of Leaf 1b (which is a 9×49 table) as well as the sum of the numbers in the SDA (which totals 441: “Truth” in Gematria).

Approach 2 has its own merits. Not only does respect the placements of the central names of God (after all, these are the names on the Tablet of Union!), it leaves each of them four times, not twice (if this sounds tricky, consider we could instead have a 25×24 modified Great Table by leaving the column of the Black Cross as-is and instead deleting its row along with the rows for the four 12-letter names of God. Why would this matter? This means that you get 16 names–a perfect parallel to the Great Table–as well as a Gematrially-sound 1 + 6 = 7, matching the septuple nature underlying the entire system. On a personal note, 16^2 = 256, and I was specifically asked to calculate the ratio of a 5D-volume of a 5-sphere circumscribed about a 5-simplex vs one inscribed…it was 256:1. Took me a while to find the formulae, (thank you Google Books), but I did.

Both approaches include deleting the names of God in the Great Table. Note that this leaves 77 governors, which adds both the septuple nature and also appears in the 2nd Book of Chronicles, the Gospel of Matthew (and, via an alternative interpretation of that passage as 70 times 7, the Book of Daniel.

We’ll come back to another Bible verse in a moment, but here is a sequential summary of what constitutes the leaves of Liber Loagaeth:

1. One half-leaf, which actually is 49 long lines of text;
2. One half-leaf which is a hybrid of 40 lines of text with a 9×49 table at the end to complete it;
3. 54 straight-up 49×49 tables of letters (and with one exception, numbers), each of them uniquely titled;
4. 40 titled tables of 49×49 with every other letter missing (i.e., tables to be completed/solved).
5. One table of five 21-letter triangles (side length 6).

Another bible passage that is used by the angels in their transmission to Dee & Kelley, and seems very apt, is The Gospel of Luke (here I use the King James Version): “And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” This suggests that the last table should at least be considered first; I have yet to write it but it can be found at the end of this version attributed to Donald Correll. Perhaps the sequence of all of the chapters of the book is to be reversed.

Some of what I have realized about this last table is that it was originally transmitted via Galvah (whose is described as “the end of wisdom”–suggesting the path of Aleph (or Heh, depending on the source) connecting Chokmah to Kether), and in that transmission, there is an additional word, “LOAGAETH,” which of course itself means “Speech of God.” This leaves 5×21 =105 letters (or 113 letters if we include Loagaeth). This once again leaves two approaches to understanding ways to unlock and use this table.

Both approaches have the five triangles together suggest inner and outer 4-simplexes (AKA a 5-cell), which is a 4-dimensional regular polytope made of tetrahedra (just as the 5-simplex is made of 4-simplexes). Galvah says of this table: “In them is the Divinity of the Trinity. The Mysterie of our Creation. The age of many years. And the conclusion of the World. Of me they are honoured, but of me, not to be uttered: Neither did I disclose them my self: For, they are the beams of my understanding, and the Fountain from whence I water.”

Any correct understanding of this must include a mystery of the Trinity (i.e., look for triangles of words), the mystery of our Creation, and the conclusion of the world. Since this is coming via Dee, we can expect a mathematical bent to this, but let’s first look at one of the triangles (using English letters; sorry if the formatting comes through weird, essentially it’s an equilateral triangle with side-length six (keep that number in mind) and 21 letters arranged from top to bottom in a 1-2-3-4-5-6 format):

S
EG
LOX
IBRI
NCCLA
RZEDDO

The “middle triangle” of 3 that one could make from this would be OBR (Med-Pa/Peh-Don). Thus the mystery of the trinity would be to create one of each of these creating 5 three-letter words in all. This would match the 15-nature of Saturn and, with 105 letters across these five tables, would also be 15*7. This would be the first approach. Keep, 15, 3 and 5 (the factors of 15) and 7 in mind, they’ll come up again.

Taken as-is, the 105 letters of the final table are divisible by 7, 15, yet we see that 15 is the mystery of the trinity, for it means that humanity) long associated with the number 5) is in production with God and with creation (7 planets suggesting the three Kabbalistic worlds of Formation, Creation, and Emanation). Remember that in mathematics, products are definitionally the result of multiplication. The implications of this are that God’s work on earth is something He produced with/through humanity to bear witness to his Creation (105 in Gematria: “God is Witness”/ALAD; “Yah is omniscient”/YHVYDA). Finally, note that Galvah says it is “the conclusion of the world.” Another word for conclusion is “end” and thus “purpose.” This suggests that the end of wisdom is to understand the purpose of the world, and here we see that this purpose is to understand ourselves to be in constant co-working with the trinity (at Binah/Understanding) and the creation. Regardless, we have a strong case for this approach.

The next approach is to note the glaringly absent word LOAGAETH from these equilateral pyramids. Why would happen if we put this at the bottom? The 8-letters would be imbalanced, but if we omit the name of God eL/L (again, too holy to be included), we get 7 letters, and a 1-2-3 triangle (six letters–I told you this number would come up again!) of OBRCCL, which is of side-length three and also a divisible in number by 3.

Well, I admit I had to put something back in to get this interesting take, but let’s step back a minute and look at 113 (the number of letters if you include LOAGAETH). Turns out, this is an interesting number for various reasons. In Gematria, it suggests gems & glowing. Mathematically, it’s prime, and a centered square number, the sum of 49 & 64 (these numbers have a difference of 15!), and is part of a Pythagorean triple of 15(!), 112, and 113. Speaking of triples, 49 (7^2) + 24^2 (576) = 25^2 (625)–now we have our friendly 24×25 returning.

Sticking with the 15/112/113 triple, let’s look at this kabbalistically: 15 squared, which is 225 (“Worthy gift”), which comes to 9 in Gematria. Thus 15 reconciles Yesod (2+2+5=9) with Binah (15 as the the sum of any row in a Saturn Square–you could also say it is 45 (the sum of the entire Saturn square) as seen through humanity (5). 15 itself relates to Hod, leading us back to the 8 and thus 8^2 +49 = 113. 15 itself comes to 6 in Gematria–suggestive of Tiphareth.

112 is not only the first product of 7 with its first 2-digit Kabbalistic form, 16 (16*7=112), it also expands into 12544, which comes to 16 & then to 7. I see this more as a reconciliation of the 7 planets with the product of quadriplicity, the elements interacting with themselves. Alternatively, Jupiter/Chesed is its own product (4^2) and Mercury/Hod meets itself (8*2)–Mercury being a pretty dualistic planet in its own right). On its own, Gematria for 112 includes “To thrust” which suggests Chokmah (it reduces to 4 which is Chesed again, which links directly with Chokmah on the Pillar of Mildness on the Tree of Life), which has been linked to KAOS/disorder in the Aethyrs, and indeed Galvah says of this table, “[I]t signifieth a disorder of the World, and is the speech of the Disorder or Prophesie.”

113^2 is 12769, which comes to 25 & 7 via gematria. 113 itself reduces to 5, suggesting Geburah. The largest number in this Pythagorean triple expands Creation to a balance between Mars (5^2) & Venus at Tiphareth. Creation is balanced within itself. Note that 15=6, 112=4, and 113=5 suggests the central world of Creation.

So I’ve offered two pairs of approaches to solving it, laying out some ideas of what a solution to Loagaeth may look like. The math here is incredible and I respect Dee’s ability as a mathematician, the words within Loagaeth itself do not seem to be glossolalia, and I look forward to finishing copying the book and seeing whether I can combine these insights with 46a (hey, how many chromosomes do humans usually have again?).

One additional thing I would like to do is see what happens when you draw, from the center of the Holy Table of Practice, lines from the center to each of the 7 ensigns and see which letters on the outer square you pick up….

More on Enochian astrological order

So I’ve been thinking a little more about the Enochian astrological order (both the Enochian heptarchical order as well as the order of ensigns of creation), and it occurred to me to think of Saturn as being the “standout” of the planets (Saturn ruling the Kabbalistic sphere of Binah, or Understanding, into which the system of Aethyrs slowly initiates the magician). Working from the Holy Table of Practice, one is closest to the ensign of Saturn facing south (and closest to the Sun when facing north); this mirrors the astrological rulership of Saturn ruling Aquarius, a sign opposing Leo, which the Sun rules. So I have given some thought to Saturn being at its most powerful compared to the other planets (in order to bring Binah to its peak strength), and have come up with another plausible rationale to the Enochian order of the planets (Venus, Moon, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Sun):

Venus (detriment) –> Scorpio
Moon (detriment) –> Capricorn
Saturn (domicile) –> Aquarius
Mercury (detriment & fall) –>Pisces
Jupiter (detriment) –> Gemini
Mars (fall) –> Cancer
Sun (fall/domicile)–> Libra/Leo

I wasn’t sure the strength to put the Sun in this configuration. Should it be at peak strength, wherein the individual comes to know the true core of what they are, and oppose Saturn, also at peak strength, drawing distinctions between who/what one thinks one is and who/what one actually is? Or should the Sun be at a lower power, willing to come into agreement with the discipline of Saturn?

In some ways, I think both views are correct and are supported by the Kabbalistic implications. If the former view is correct, then it’s emphasizing the link from a balanced personality, which we saw in my first exploration of the rationale for the planetary order (in which case it is a sephirothic order, not planetary per se). In this rationale, a symbolic Leonine Sun’s strength is stripped away of ego, and brings Tiphareth into enough fullness to be able to face the cosmic feminine of Binah.

If the latter view is correct, and the Sun is suggestive of Libra in its fall in this schema, then it joins Mars and Mercury as being in this condition. Both Mars & the Sun rule sephiroth–Geburah & Tiphareth–which have direct paths to Binah on the Tree of Life (heh & za(y)in, respectively). Saturn in its domicile strengthens Binah, the sephiroth nearest Binah are in their fall but not completely weakened, whereas the sephiroth farthest away on the Tree of Life from Binah are at their weakest (in detriment). The third planet to be in fall, Mercury, rules Hod, which is at least on the same pillar as Binah & Geburah, though it lacks a direct path (which is interesting, because it’s also in detriment). This configuration also emphasizes water, air, and earth placements–perhaps to allow the initiate up into the supernal, least dense sephiroth of Atziluth (often associated with fire compared to the lower three worlds of Briah, Yetzirah, & Assiah).

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Another Step of my Enochian Journey: Gebofal

I know, it sounds like another strange Enochian word: gebofal. Sorry. SORRY. (Not sorry.)

Having done Enochian with relative consistency over the last year and a half, I have touched many parts of the system, but I haven’t yet done the 49-day ritual of working with Liber Loagaeth, named gebofal, as a way of attuning myself to that book. I haven’t found a good copy of the book; the best copy of Loagaeth that I can find, from which I have done a tentative translation of part of one leaf that remarkably parallels the Tzimtzum, doesn’t have all of the characters in Enochian, and many parts are corrupted! So begins my hunt for the original scans from Sloane, which unfortunately are no longer available to order online.

What I can gather from Leitch is that there may be a zodiacal-by-elemental force (four elements within each of the twelve signs) associated with doing this. The stepwise moving through the gates of heaven also parallels the counting of the Omer, which is a symbolic contemplation designed to aid the opening of the 50 Gates of Binah. This would seem to parallel the Aethyrs themselves, but I sense there is a larger cosmological work at play, and probably initiation into Chokmah (which is ruled by the entirety of the zodiac) via the original Enochian system (rather than my hack). The combination of zodiacal and elemental efforts–along with the celestial (and by implication, the Aethyrs) imagery–strongly suggests to me a primary scaffold to ascend the three higher worlds. As such, it makes sense that Leitch describes it (based on his review of some others’ experiences) as the primary Enochian initiatory ceremony.

Wish me luck in my search for a good copy of Liber Loagaeth for me to reproduce! Perhaps after completing this ceremony, I will be more capable of translating Loagaeth into English….

Update 1: I think I found a version. It may be too low-quality to be sure but I will do my best with it.

Update 2: The resolution on the image was far too low to work with. Back to the search!

Update 3: Aaron Leitch was kind enough to reply and is working on it. Thanks, Aaron!

Progressing in Magick

So this is a question I’ve given some thought to: how quickly should one progress in magick? How far, how fast? What should you get into?

Having tried several things in magick, I can recommend the following:

1. Meditation (at the beginning and throughout your journey, perhaps to be foregone towards the end). Vipassana & Raja (one or the other), once or twice a day. I also recommend using simple pranayama techniques to relax one’s mind and emotional state, and then mentally confronting emotional triggers (i.e., “Why do I get angry about this? Is this really me, or am I just attached to [XYZ]? Does my emotional intensity match the situation?”) at least once a week for at least a year. Don’t be afraid to go deep. This will start clearing your mind of identifications that do not match who you are, and the best part is, you’re doing the clearing, so you are in control. It’s also good to talk through your insights with good friends.

Allllsoooo…therapy, especially as you get to the weirder stuff: find a therapist who doesn’t judge the woo.

Congratulations, your mind is now on a path towards healing.

2. Groundedness practice. (added) I recommend also doing some groundedness meditation (such as imagining roots growing from your feet into the earth and drawing in from the infinite amount of energy available that which you need). To complement this, spend time walking outside, gardening, etc., to stay in touch with the real world.

Congratulations, you’re able to live in reality.

3. Hatha yoga. The mind and body are intimately connected. In general, you will want to be in excellent physical shape, so if you can, Hatha yoga regularly, do cardio at least twice a week, and add in strength training (always talk to your doctor about exercise). Give yourself a couple of months to get in good (or better) physical shape. Obviously this depends on whether you are disabled, but think about how you can get in touch with your body.

Congratulations, you’re working on integrating your body and mind.

4. Sigils (as needed). After about a month of meditation, teach yourself to make a sigil (the Austin Osman Spare method is easy to learn, but others exist). They are easy, they are cheap, they will work with beginner’s luck. Start with something simple at the “5% probability” level and charge it the easy way (look at it during the “big O“).

Congratulations, you’re empowering yourself.

5. Learn (and DO) banishing (regularly, but eventually to be largely eschewed). A few weeks after your sigil, note the degree to which it was successful (you can do more, but for serious things). Then learn the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP). After you have started a daily meditation practice, for at least a month, start learning the LBRP. It’s not that complicated. Use flash cards to memorize directions, angel names, and the like.

Then do it for the first time. Don’t be surprised if you experience some clairaudience: I definitely did my first time and I had a huge WTF moment! Once you have it memorized and can perform it fluidly, it should not take more than five minutes. Start off doing that on a weekend, then add it to your “stack” and do it once a day (ideally before a meditation), then twice a day (morning and night). If you’re not in your own place, do it silently. If space is an issue, you can do it imaginally. Later, learn the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram (LBRH).

Congratulations, you’re starting to determine your circumstances.

6. Study the elements and astrology. The classical elements are fundamental to the LBRP, and now is the time to understand what they are about. It’s good to learn about them in conjunction with astrology, because there is some overlap. For that, The Astrology Podcast is excellent. Take their significations of the signs (parts 1 & 2), the planets, the houses (parts 1 & 2), then the ones on sect, essential dignities, and then look into the aspects. This will help you understand the LBRH. It will also help you understand the astrological forces, whether they are “good” for a working and invoked, or whether they are bad and should be banished. This will take some time, definitely no less than three months, probably no less than six.

Congratulations, now you understand how circumstances can arise.

7. Raising & balancing consciousness. (added) At this point, I also would recommend slowly adding in the Middle Pillar Ritual at this point. Once a week, then twice, then daily. The idea is to start raising your awareness. It’s very important to balance this with the groundedness meditation I previously mentioned.

Congratulations, you’re developing perspective on circumstances.

8. Start thinking about your True Will. Your understanding of astrology will come in handy now. Jason Louv offers a course on this, which is excellent.

Congratulations, now you know how you want to change circumstances.

9. Holy Guardian Angel ordeal. By now you should at least have a couple of years into your studies. I really can’t recommend this enough, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this for someone who hasn’t yet had their Saturn return. Knowledge and Conversation of your Holy Guardian Angel is the first great feat of the Western magickian, according to Crowley. I recommend the Abramelin operation (I was told by my HGA to forego the demon-binding portion of the operation, as was James Eshelman). It is an ordeal, and should only be undertaken when you can. Modify it as you can for your circumstances: the original presumed so much wealth but a sincere effort to have the key aspects of the ritual (isolation, prayer, etc.) is vital. Congratulations, now you have an ally in reaching towards your true nature.

10. Enochian. Having done all of this work, you might decide to take up Enochian. It’s complicated. It’s a lot of work. But it’s worth it, soooo worth it. I’ve written before that I consider it the key to plugging in to the great Western and Eastern accomplishments (such as a Chokmah initiation and the rainbow body–a Tibetan Buddhism arising–respectively). Congratulations, you are now on the path to reaching your true nature.

You may be surprised that I have left off this list other things such as talismans (I do them, but these are not necessary), alien contact, past-life regression, and so many others. I just don’t think that they are necessary, and may even side-track from paths to some core insights. I’m willing to change my mind on this, and I’ll let you know if I do.

Enjoy!

Enochian initiation into Chokmah, Kether, Ain Soph Aur, & Ain Soph

Jason Louv contends that Enochian is a means to initiate into the Kabbalistic sephirah (sphere of consciousness) of Binah. The final seven Aethyrs, he argues, reveal the final to sephiroth of Chokmah and Kether, but these lock up if one has not initiated into these sephiroth. In my experience, this is absolutely true.

It is possible to request the Enochian angels show you how to initiate into these sephiroth and thus enable full visions when you scry the last seven Aethyrs. Assuming you have successfully scried through ZID, you should have begun the initiation into Binah and thus be ready for the following sephiroth. The process is long, but it is started very simply. What you do is make the normal call to the Aethyrs (“MADRIAX DSPRAF ___,” where the blank is filled in with the name of the Aethyr) and then substitute the Enochian word for the name of the sephirah (rather than the name of the Aethyr).

So, to initiate into Chokmah, you would use the word for “the secret wisdom,” ANANAEL. After making the call, follow the instructions of the angels and you will begin the initiation process. The same can be done for Kether (the highest sephiroth) as well as Ain Soph Aur and Ain Soph. I have tested this technique on three of the following four (once again, do not make this call until you have successfully scried through ZID–that itself should be challenge enough):

Chokmah (Wisdom): ANANAEL (Secret Wisdom).

Kether (Crown): MOMAO (Crown)

Ain Soph Aur (Limitless Light): MAOFFAS OLPIRT (Measureless Light)

Ain Soph (No Limit): MAOFFAS (Measureless[ness]).