ONE STAR IN SIGHT.
Thy feet in mire, thine head in murk,
O man, how piteous thy plight,
The doubts that daunt, the ills that irk,
Thou hast nor wit nor will to fight ---
How hope in heart, or worth in work?
No star in sight!
Thy gods proved puppets of the priest.
"Truth? All's relation!" science sighed.
In bondage with thy brother beast,
Love tortured thee, as Love's hope died
And Lover's faith rotted. Life no least
Dim star descried.
Thy cringing carrion cowered and crawled
To find itself a chance-cast clod
Whose Pain was purposeless; appalled
That aimless accident thus trod
Its agony, that void skies sprawled
On the vain sod!
All souls eternally exist,
Each individual, ultimate,
Perfect --- each makes itself a mist
Of mind and flesh to celebrate
With some twin mask their tender tryst
Insatiate. {229}
Some drunkards, doting on the dream,
Despair that it should die, mistake
Themselves for their own shadow-scheme.
One star can summon them to wake
To self; star-souls serene that gleam
On life's calm lake.
That shall end never that began.
All things endure because they are.
Do what thou wilt, for every man
And every woman is a star.
Pan is not dead; he liveth, Pan!
Break down the bar!
To man I come, the number of
A man my number, Lion of Light;
I am The Beast whose Law is Love.
Love under will, his royal right ---
Behold within, and not above,
One star in sight!
ONE STAR IN SIGHT.
A glimpse of the structure and system of the Great White Brotherhood.
A.'. A.'.<>.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
1. The Order of the Star called S. S. is, in respect
of its existence upon the Earth, an organized body of men and women distinguished
among their fellows by the qualities here enumerated. They exist
in their own Truth, which is both universal and unique. {230} They
move in accordance with their own Wills, which are each unique, yet coherent
with the universal will.
They perceive (that is, understand, know, and feel) in
love, which is both unique and universal.
2. The order consists of eleven grades or degrees,
and is numbered as follows: these compose three groups, the Orders of the
S. S., of the R. C., and of the G. D. respectively.
"The Order of the S. S."
Ipsissimus ..................
10 Degree = 1Square
Magus .......................
9 Degree = 2Square
Magister Templi .............
8 Degree = 3Square
"The Order of the R. C."
(Babe of the Abyss --- the link)
Adeptus Exemptus ............
7 Degree = 4Square
Adeptus Major ...............
6 Degree = 5Square
Adeptus Minor ...............
5 Degree = 6Square
"The Order of the G. D."
(Dominus Liminis --- the link)
Philosophus .................
4 Degree = 7Square
Practicus ...................
3 Degree = 8Square
Zelator .....................
2 Degree = 9Square
Neophyte ....................
1 Degree = 10Square
Probationer .................
0 Degree = 0Square
(These figures have special meanings to the initiated and are commonly employed to designate the grades.)
The general characteristics and attributions of these Grades are indicated by their correspondences on the Tree of Life, as may be studied in detail in the Book 777.
Student. --- His business is to acquire a general intellectual
knowledge of all systems of attainment, as declared in
the
prescribed books. (See curriculum in Appendix I.)
{231}
Probationer. --- His principal business is to begin such practices
as he my prefer, and to write a careful record of the
same for
one year.
Neophyte. --- Has to acquire perfect control of the Astral Plane.
Zelator. --- His main work is to achieve complete success in Asana
and Pranayama. He also begins to study the formula
of the
Rosy Cross.
Practicus. --- Is expected to complete his intellectual training, and
in particular to study the Qabalah.
Philosophus. --- Is expected to complete his moral training. He
is tested in Devotion to the Order.
Dominus Liminis. --- Is expected to show mastery of Pratyahara
and Dharana.
Adeptus (without). --- is expected to perform the Great Work
and to attain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy
Guardian Angel.
Adeptus (within). --- Is admitted to the practice of the formula
of the Rosy Cross on entering the College of the Holy
Ghost.
Adeptus (Major). --- Obtains a general mastery of practical
Magick, though without comprehension.
Adeptus (Exemptus). --- Completes in perfection all these matters.
He then either ("a") becomes a Brother of the Left
Hand Path or, ("b") is stripped of all his attainments
and of himself
as well, even of his Holy Guardian Angel, and becomes
a babe of the Abyss, who, having transcended the Reason,
does nothing but grow in the womb of its mother.
It then
finds itself a
Magister Templi. --- (Master of the Temple): whose functions
are fully described in Liber 418, as is this whole initiation
from Adeptus Exemptus. See also "Aha!". His principal
business is to tend his "garden" of disciples, and to
obtain a
perfect understanding of the Universe. He is a Master
of
Samadhi. {232}
Magus. --- Attains to wisdom, declares his law (See Liber I, vel
Magi) and is a Master of all Magick in its greatest and
highest sense.
Ipsissimus. --- Is beyond all this and beyond all comprehension
of those of lower degrees.
But of these last three Grades see some further account
in "The Temple of Solomon the King", Equinox I to X and elsewhere.
It should be stated that these Grades are not necessarily
attained fully, and in strict consecution, or manifested wholly on all
planes. The subject is very difficult, and entirely beyond the limits
of this small treatise.
We append a more detailed account.
3. "The Order of the S. S." is composed of those
who have crossed the Abyss; the implications of this expression may be
studied in Liber 418, the 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, and 9th Aethyrs
in particular.
All members of the Order are in full possession of the
Formulae of Attainment, both mystical or inwardly-directed and Magical
or outwardly-directed. They have full experience of attainment in
both these paths.
They are all, however, bound by the original and fundamental
Oath of the Order, to devote their energy to assisting the Progress of
their Inferiors in the Order. Those who accept the rewards of their
emancipation for themselves are no longer within the Order.
Members of the Order are each entitled to found Orders
dependent on themselves on the lines of the R. C. and G. D. orders, to
cover types of emancipation and illumination not contemplated by the original
(or main) system. All such orders must, however, be constituted in
harmony with the A.'. A.'. as regards the essential principles.
All members of the Order are in possession of the Word
of the existing Aeon, and govern themselves thereby.
They are entitled to communicate directly with any and
every member of the Order, as they may deem fitting.
Every active Member of the Order has destroyed all that
He is and all that he has on crossing the Abyss; but a star is cast forth
in {233} the Heavens to enlighten the Earth, so that he may possess a vehicle
wherein he may communicate with mankind. The quality and position
of this star, and its functions, are determined by the nature of the incarnations
transcended by him.
4. The Grade of Ipsissimus is not to be described
fully; but its opening is indicated in Liber I vel Magi.
There is also an account in a certain secret document to be published
when propriety permits. Here it is only said this: The Ipsissimus
is wholly free from all limitations soever, existing in the nature of all
things without discriminations of quantity or quality between them.
He has identified Being and not-Being and Becoming, action and non-action
and tendency to action, with all other such triplicities, not distinguishing
between them in respect of any conditions, or between any one thing and
any other thing as to whether it is with or without conditions.
He is sworn to accept this Grade in the presence of a
witness, and to express its nature in word and deed, but to withdraw Himself
at once within the veils of his natural manifestation as a man, and to
keep silence during his human life as to the fact of his attainment, even
to the other members of the Order.
The Ipsissimus is pre-eminently the Master of all modes
of existence; that is, his being is entirely free from internal or external
necessity. His work is to destroy all tendencies to construct or
to cancel such necessities. He is the Master of the Law of Unsubstantiality
(Anatta).
The Ipsissimus has no relation as such with any Being:
He has no will in any direction, and no Consciousness of any kind involving
duality, for in Him all is accomplished; as it is written "beyond the Word
and the Fool, yea, beyond the Word and the Fool".
5. The Grade of Magus is described in Liber I vel
Magi, and there are accounts of its character in Liber 418 in the Higher
Aethyrs.
There is also a full and precise description of the attainment
of this Grade in the Magical Record of the Beast 666.
The essential characteristic of the Grade is that its
possessor utters a Creative Magical Word, which transforms the planet on
{234} which he lives by the installation of new officers to preside over
its initiation. This can take place only at an "Equinox of the Gods"
at the end of an "Aeon"; that is, when the secret formula which expresses
the Law of its action becomes outworn and useless to its further development.
(Thus "Suckling" is the formula of an infant: when teeth appear
it marks a new "Aeon", whose "Word" is "Eating").
A Magus can therefore only appear as such to the world
at intervals of some centuries; accounts of historical Magi, and their
Words, are given in Liber Aleph.
This does not mean that only one man can attain this Grade
in any one Aeon, so far as the Order is concerned. A man can make
personal progress equivalent to that of a "Word of an Aeon"; but he will
identify himself with the current word, and exert his will to establish
it, lest he conflict with the work of the Magus who uttered the Word of
the Aeon in which He is living.
The Magus is pre-eminently the Master of Magick, that
is, his will is entirely free from internal diversion or external opposition;
His work is to create a new Universe in accordance with His Will.
He is the Master of the Law of Change (Anicca).
To attain the Grade of Ipsissimus he must accomplish three
tasks, destroying the Three Guardians mentioned in Liber 418, the 3rd Aethyr;
Madness, and Falsehood, and Glamour, that is, Duality in Act, Word and
Thought.
6. The Grade of Master of the Temple is described
in Liber 418 as above indicated. There are full accounts in the Magical
Diaries of the Beast 666, who was cast forth into the Heaven of Jupiter,
and of Omnia in Uno, Unus in Omnibus, who was cast forth into the sphere
of the Elements.
The essential Attainment is the perfect annihilation of
that personality which limits and oppresses his true self.
The Magister Templi is pre-eminently the Master of Mysticism,
that is, His Understanding is entirely free from internal contradiction
or external obscurity; His word is to comprehend the existing Universe
in accordance with His own Mind. He is the Master of the Law of Sorrow
(Dukkha).
To attain the grade of Magus he must accomplish Three
235} Tasks; the renunciation of His enjoyment of the Infinite so
that he may formulate Himself as the Finite; the acquisition of the practical
secrets alike of initiating and governing His proposed new Universe and
the identification of himself with the impersonal idea of Love. Any
neophyte of the Order (or, as some say, any person soever) possesses the
right to claim the Grade of Master of the Temple by taking the Oath of
the Grade. It is hardly necessary to observe that to do so is the
most sublime and awful responsibility which it is possible to assume, and
an unworthy person who does so incurs the most terrific penalties by his
presumption.
7. "The Order of the R. C." The Grade of the Babe of the Abyss is not a Grade in the proper sense, being rather a passage between the two Orders. Its characteristics are wholly negative, as it is attained by the resolve of the Adeptus Exemptus to surrender all that he has and is for ever. It is an annihilation of all the bonds that compose the self or constitute the Cosmos, a resolution of all complexities into their elements, and these thereby cease to manifest, since things are only knowable in respect of their relation to, and reaction on, other things.
8. The Grade of Adeptus Exemptus confers authority
to govern the two lower Orders of R. C. and G. D.
The Adept must prepare and publish a thesis setting forth
His knowledge of the Universe, and his proposals for its welfare and progress.
He will thus be known as the leader of a school of thought.
(Eliphas Levi's "Clef des Grands Mysteres," the works
of Swedenborg, von Eckarshausen, Robert Fludd, Paracelsus, Newton, Bolyai,
Hinton, Berkeley, Loyola, etc., etc., are examples of such essays.)
He will have attained all but the supreme summits of meditation,
and should be already prepared to perceive that the only possible course
for him is to devote himself utterly to helping his fellow creatures.
To attain the Grade of Magister Templi, he must perform
two tasks; the emancipation from thought by putting each idea against its
opposite, and refusing to prefer either; and the consecration of {236}
himself as a pure vehicle for the influence of the order to which he aspires.
He must then decide upon the critical adventure of our
Order; the absolute abandonment of himself and his attainments. He
cannot remain indefinitely an Exempt Adept; he is pushed onward by the
irresistible momentum that he has generated.
Should he fail, by will or weakness, to make his self-annihilation
absolute, he is none the less thrust forth into the Abyss; but instead
of being received and reconstructed in the Third Order, as a Babe in the
womb of our Lady BABALON, under the Night of Pan, to grow up to be Himself
wholly and truly as He was not previously, he remains in the Abyss, secreting
his elements round his Ego as if isolated from the Universe, and becomes
what is called a "Black Brother". Such a being is gradually disintegrated
from lack of nourishment and the slow but certain action of the attraction
of the rest of the Universe, despite efforts to insulate and protect himself,
and to aggrandise himself by predatory practices. He may indeed prosper
for a while, but in the end he must perish, especially when with a new
Aeon a new word is proclaimed which he cannot and will not hear, so that
he is handicapped by trying to use an obsolete method of Magick, like a
man with a boomerang in a battle where every one else has a rifle.
9. The Grade of Adeptus Major confers Magical Powers
(strictly so-called) of the second rank.
His work is to use these to support the authority of the
Exempt Adept his superior. (This is not to be understood as an obligation
of personal subservience or even loyalty; but as a necessary part of his
duty to assist his inferiors. For the authority of the Teaching and
governing Adept is the basis of all orderly work.)
To attain the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus, he must accomplish
Three Tasks; the acquisition of absolute Self-Reliance, working in complete
isolation, yet transmitting the word of his superior clearly, forcibly
and subtly; and the comprehension and use of the Revolution of the wheel
of force, under its three successive forms of Radiation, Conduction and
Convection (Mercury, Sulphur, Salt; or Sattvas, Rajas, Tamas), with their
corresponding natures on {237} other planes. Thirdly, he must exert
his whole power and authority to govern the Members of lower Grades with
balanced vigour and initiative in such a way as to allow no dispute or
complaint; he must employ to this end the formula called "The Beast conjoined
with the Woman" which establishes a new incarnation of deity; as in the
legends of Leda, Semele, Miriam, Pasiphae, and others. He must set
up this ideal for the orders which he rules, so that they may possess a
not too abstract rallying point suited to their undeveloped states.
10. The Grade of Adeptus Minor is the main theme
of the instructions of the A.'. A.'. It is characterised by the Attainment
of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. (See
the Equinox, "The Temple of Solomon the King;" "The Vision and the Voice"
8th Aethyr; also "Liber Samekh", etc. etc.) This is the essential
work of every man; none other ranks with it either for personal progress
or for power to help one's fellows. This unachieved, man is no more
than the unhappiest and blindest of animals. He is conscious of his
own incomprehensible calamity, and clumsily incapable of repairing it.
Achieved, he is no less than the co-heir of gods, a Lord of Light.
He is conscious of his own consecrated course, and confidently ready to
run it. The Adeptus Minor needs little help or guidance even from
his superiors in our Order.
His work is to manifest the Beauty of the Order to the
world, in the way that his superiors enjoin, and his genius dictates.
To attain the Grade Adeptus Major, he must accomplish
two tasks; the equilibration of himself, especially as to his passions,
so that he has no preference for any one course of conduct over another,
and the fulfilment of every action by its complement, so that whatever
he does leaves him without temptation to wander from the way of his True
Will.
Secondly, he must keep silence, while he nails his body
to the tree of his creative will, in the shape of that Will, leaving his
head and arms to form the symbol of Light, as if to make oath that his
every thought, word and deed should express the Light derived from the
God with which he has identified his life, his love and his liberty ---
symbolised by his heart, his phallus, and his legs. It {238} is impossible
to lay down precise rules by which a man may attain to the knowledge and
conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel; for that is the particular secret
of each one of us; as secret not to be told or even divined by any other,
whatever his grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof each man is
his own High Priest, and none knoweth the Name of his brother's God, or
the Rite that invokes Him.
The Masters of the A.'. A.'. have therefore made no attempt
to institute any regular ritual for this central Work of their Order, save
the generalised instructions in Liber 418 (the 8th Aethyr) and the detailed
Canon and Rubric of the Mass actually used with success by FRATER PERDURABO
in His attainment. This has been written down by Himself in Liber
Samekh. But they have published such accounts as those in "The Temple
of Solomon the King" and in "John St. John." They have taken the only proper
course; to train aspirants to this attainment in the theory and practice
of the whole of Magick and Mysticism, so that each man may be expert in
the handling of all known weapons, and free to choose and to use those
which his own experience and instinct dictate as proper when he essays
the Great Experiment.
He is furthermore trained to the one habit essential to
Membership of the A.'. A.'.; he must regard all his attainments as primarily
the property of those less advanced aspirants who are confided to his charge.
No attainment soever is officially recognised by the A.'.
A.'. unless the immediate inferior of the person in question has been fitted
by him to take his place.
The rule is not rigidly applied in all cases, as it would
lead to congestion, especially in the lower grades where the need is greatest,
and the conditions most confused; but it is never relaxed in the Order
of the R. C. or of the S. S.: save only in One Case.
There is also a rule that the Members of the A.'. A.'.
shall not know each other officially, save only each Member his superior
who introduced him and his inferior whom he has himself introduced.
This rule has been relaxed, and a "Grand Neophyte" appointed
to superintend all Members of the Order of the G. D. The real object
of the rule was to prevent Members of the same Grade {239} working together
and so blurring each other's individuality; also to prevent work developing
into social intercourse.
The Grades of the Order of the G. D. are fully described
in Liber 185<>, and there is no need to amplify what is there stated.
It must however, be carefully remarked that in each of these preliminary
Grades there are appointed certain tasks appropriate, and that the ample
accomplishment of each and every one of these is insisted upon with the
most rigorous rigidity.<>
Members of the A.'. A.'. of whatever grade are not bound
or expected or even encouraged to work on any stated lines, or with any
special object, save as has been above set forth. There is however
an absolute prohibition to accept money or other material reward, directly
or indirectly, in respect of any service connected with the Order, for
personal profit or advantage. The penalty is immediate expulsion,
with no possibility of reinstatement on any terms soever.
But all members must of necessity work in accordance with
the facts of Nature, just as an architect must allow of the Law of Gravitation,
or a sailor reckon with currents.
So must all Members of the A.'. A.'. work by the Magical
Formula of the Aeon.
They must accept the Book of the Law as the Word and the
Letter of Truth, and the sole Rule of Life.<> They must acknowledge
the Authority of the Beast 666 and of the Scarlet Woman as {240} in the
book it is defined, and accept Their Will<<"Their Will" --- not,
of course, their wishes as individual human beings, but their will as officers
of the New Aeon.>> as concentrating the Will of our Whole Order.
They must accept the Crowned and Conquering Child as the Lord of the Aeon,
and exert themselves to establish His reign upon Earth. They must
acknowledge that "The word of the Law is GR:Theta-Epsilon-Lambda-Eta-Mu-Alpha."
and that "Love is the law, love under will."
Each member must make it his main work to discover for
himself his own true will, and to do it, and do nothing else.<>
He must accept those orders in the Book of the Law that
apply to himself as being necessarily in accordance with his own true will,
and execute the same to the letter with all the energy, courage, and ability
that he can command. This applies especially to the work of extending
the Law in the world, wherein his proof is his own success, the witness
of his Life to the Law that hath given him light in his ways, and liberty
to pursue them. Thus doing, he payeth his debt to the Law that hath
freed him by working its will to free all men; and he proveth himself a
true man in our Order by willing to bring his fellows into freedom.
By thus ordering his disposition, he will fit himself
in the best possible manner for the task of understanding and mastering
the divers technical methods prescribed by the A.'. A.'. for Mystical and
Magical attainment.
He will thus prepare himself properly for the crisis of
his career in the Order, the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation
of his Holy Guardian Angel.
His Angel shall lead him anon to the summit of the Order of the
R. C. and make him ready to face the unspeakable terror of the Abyss which
lies between Manhood and Godhead; teach him to Know that agony, to Dare
that destiny, to Will that catastrophe, {241} and to keep Silence for ever
as he accomplishes the act of annihilation.
From the Abyss comes No Man forth, but a Star startles
the Earth, and our Order rejoices above that Abyss that the Beast hath
begotten one more Babe in the Womb of Our Lady, His concubine, the Scarlet
Woman, BABALON.
There is not need to instruct a Babe thus born, for in
the Abyss it was purified of every poison of personality; its ascent to
the highest is assured, in its season, and it hath no need of seasons for
it is conscious that all conditions are no more than forms of its fancy.
Such is a brief account, adapted as far as may be to the
average aspirant to Adeptship, or Attainment, or Initiation, or Mastership,
or Union with God, or Spiritual Development, or Mahatmaship, or Freedom,
or Occult Knowledge, or whatever he may call his inmost need of Truth,
of our Order of A.'. A.'.
It is designed principally to awake interest in the possibilities
of human progress, and to proclaim the principles of the A.'. A.'.
The outline given of the several successive steps is exact;
the two crises -- the Angel and the Abyss --- are necessary features in
every career. The other tasks are not always accomplished in the
order given here; one man, for example, may acquire many of the qualities
peculiar to the Adeptus Major, and yet lack some of those proper to the
Practicus.<> But the system here given shows {243} the correct
order of events, as they are arranged in Nature; and in no case is it safe
for a man to neglect to master any single detail, however dreary and distasteful
it may seem. It often does so, indeed; that only insists on the necessity
of dealing with it. The dislike and contempt for it bear witness
to a weakness and incompleteness in the nature which disowns it; that particular
gap in one's defences may admit the enemy at the very turning-point of
some battle. Worse, one were shamed for ever if one's inferior should
happen to ask for advice and aid on that subject and one were to fail in
service to him! His failure --- one's own failure also! No
step, however well won for oneself, till he is ready for his own advance!
Every Member of the A.'. A.'. must be armed at all points,
and expert with every weapon. The examinations in every Grade are
strict and severe; no loose or vague answers are accepted. In intellectual
questions, the candidate must display no less mastery of his subject than
if he were entered in the "final" for Doctor of Science or Law at a first
class University.
In examination of physical practices, there is a standardised
test. In Asana, for instance, the candidate must remain motionless
for a given time, his success being gauged by poising on his head a cup
filled with water to the brim; if he spill one drop, he is rejected.
He is tested in "the Spirit Vision" or "Astral Journeying"
by giving him a symbol unknown and unintelligible to him, and he must interpret
its nature by means of a vision as exactly as if he had read its name and
description in the book when it was chosen.
The power to make and "charge" talismans is tested as
if they were scientific instruments of precision, as they are.
In the Qabalah, the candidate must discover for himself,
and prove to the examiner beyond all doubt, the properties of a number
never previously examined by any student. {243}
In invocation the divine force must be made as manifest
and unmistakable as the effects of chloroform; in evocation, the spirit
called forth must be at least as visible and tangible as the heaviest vapours;
in divination, the answer must be as precise as a scientific thesis, and
as accurate as an audit; in meditation, the results must read like a specialist's
report of a classical case.
But such methods, the A.'. A.'. intends to make occult
science as systematic and scientific as chemistry; to rescue it from the
ill repute which, thanks both to the ignorant and dishonest quacks that
have prostituted its name, and to the fanatical and narrow-minded enthusiasts
that have turned it into a fetish, has made it an object of aversion to
those very minds whose enthusiasm and integrity make them most in need
of its benefits, and most fit to obtain them.
It is the one really important science, for it transcends
the conditions of material existence and so is not liable to perish with
the planet, and it must be studied as a science, sceptically, with the
utmost energy and patience.
The A.'. A.'. possesses the secrets of success; it makes
no secret of its knowledge, and if its secrets are not everywhere known
and practised, it is because the abuses connected with the name of occult
science disincline official investigators to examine the evidence at their
disposal.
This paper has been written not only with the object of
attracting individual seekers into the way of Truth, but of affirming the
propriety of the methods of the A.'. A.'. as the basis for the next great
step in the advance of human knowledge.
Love is the law, love under will.
O. M. 7 Degree= 4Square A.'. A.'.
Praemonstrator of the
Order of the R... C...
Given from the Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum, Cefalu, Sicily, in the Seventeenth Year of the Aeon of Horus, the Sun being in 23 Degree Virgo and the Moon in 14 Degree Pisces.
{244}