Tag Archives: become

This constitutes a profound Riddle of Holiness. Note η Σφίγξ = Υραίος = 781 = 71 x 11. See authorities for special meanings of these words.*

Those only understand it who combine in themselves the extremes of Moral Idea, identifying them through transcendental overcoming of the antinomy. They must have gone further yet, beyond the fundamental opposition of the sexes. The male must have completed himself and become androgyne; the female become gynander.

This incompleteness imprisons the soul. To think “I am not woman, but man” or vice versa, is to limit one’s self, to set a bar to one’s motion. It is the root of the ‘shutting-up’ which culminates in becoming “Mary inviolate” or a “Black Brother”.

Aleister Crowley, Commentary to Liber LXV, V.44 in Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers, pp202–204 and In The Continuum, vol II no 1, pp37–38

* “η Σφίγξ is ‘the Sphinx,’ or ‘the strangler.’ Υραίος is not a Greek word but adds to 781, and appears to be a transliteration of ‘uræus.'”—Hymenaeus Beta, Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (N.B. Though ‘uræus’ indeed seems more relevant, I note that υραῖος appears at least in Skeat’s as a Greek word meaning “aged, gray” listed as a root for the word “gray”—Librarian)

Hermetic quote Crowley Commentary Liber LXV think not woman man vice versa limit self bar motion root shutting up culminates becoming mary inviolate black brother

For those in whom the truth has not yet become a living power, fictitious forms are necessary to show them the way, but the majority of the ignorant see only the fiction; there being no truth within themselves, there is nothing to perceive the truth in the form.

Franz Hartmann, In The Pronaos of The Temple of Wisdom

Hermetic quote Hartmann In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom truth living power fictitious forms necessary show the way majority ignorant see only fiction

since he had read the Word, the Word was now lodged inside him, even if he had not met the Author; that he had become the Book, the Word made flesh, through that little bit of the divine that the craft of reading allows to all those who seek to learn the secrets held by a page.

Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]

Hermetic quote Manuel The Library at Night read word lodged inside become book word made flesh divine craft reading seek learn secrets held by page

To live in the sense of these great cosmogonies means to work for the attainment of personal spiritual perfection. Only by so doing can man become a servant of the world and of humanity. Self-perfection is by no means self-seeking, for the imperfect man is an imperfect servant of the world and of humanity. The more perfect a man is, the better does he serve the world. “If the rose adorns itself, it adorns the garden.”

Rudolf Steiner, How to Know Higher Worlds [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]

Hermetic quote Steiner How to Know Higher Worlds attainment personal spiritual perfection servant of the world self-perfection is by no means self-seeking

“The other self, the anti-self or the antithetical self, as one may choose to name it, comes but to those who are no longer deceived, whose passion is reality”

Susan Johnston Graf, W.B. Yeats Twentieth Century Magus: An In-Depth Study of Yeat’s Esoteric Practices and Beliefs, Including Excerpts from His Magical Diaries [Bookshop, Amazon]

“Yeats explains what he meant by ‘passion is reality’: ‘… for the awakening, for the vision, for the revelation of reality, tradition offers us a different word-ecstasy’ … Immersion in the anti-self brought about a ‘revelation of reality,’ an ecstatic state that enabled the artist to create works of genius. … Only when he became the anti-self could he become a totally subjective individual, overcome the illusion of duality, and find a ‘revelation of reality.'”

Hermetic quote Graf W B Yeats Twentieth Century Magus to those who are no longer deceived whose passion is reality