Book of Lies Study Group : Chapter 1

[mol]

1

{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda Alpha}

THE SABBATH OF THE GOAT

O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.
Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.

[loopy]

Originally posted by mol
1

{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda Alpha}

THE SABBATH OF THE GOAT

O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!

The N.O.X -- first quick thought was that it = Night of Pan. But then, of course, the whole x doesn't = P thing. Could X be the Roman Numeral 10, which breaks down to 1, means beginnings, brith? The Night of Beginnings, The Night of Pan.

I'm sticking with my "is to" thing, so I read the next as
Duality is to Energy is to Death.
Death is to begetting is to the supporters of O!

Separating that first half from the rest, and considering that I don't know if O! is just Oh! or an abbreviation for something, I'm going to suggest that it could maybe represent going back to the beginning, a cycle, like

"O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.... "

Anyway. I think it's describing the Night of Beginning, perhaps in the name of Pan (don't know much about the God) and the things that make it so: duality and energy and death, which all equal one another. And Death brings rebirth, and new supporters of O! and so on and so on.

To beget is to die; to die is to beget.
Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.[/quote]

I think here it's saying that life ends in death which brings rebirth.

Casting the seed into a field of night, where perhaps you cannot see where it will land, means there are no certainties.

A stands for All, maybe? And life cannot exist without death, and death cannot exist without life.

The 'Kill thyself' part I'm not sure of. It almost strikes me as a taunting, or a challenge, like saying, "Go ahead. Kill thyself. See if you don't come back in another form" or something.

I'm running on 0 hours of sleep here.

[slvr_phoenix]

Hmm. Wow. Well, I suppose I'll continue down the path of my own interpretation because that's all that I fully understand at the moment, but it'll be interesting to hear everyone else's. :)


O! the heart of N.O.X. Well, to continue from my thoughts from the other thread, I had decided that O was actually 0 (zero), AKA Nothing. Nothing was the heart of which the other two GODs of the Triad sprung forth from. So I would imagine this to mean that N and X are Order and Chaos. (But not necesarily in that order. I'm not sure which is which.)

the Night of Pan. {Pi-Alpha-Nu}This part has me stumped. My Latin (is this even Latin?) isn't the best. It brings up strange imagery for me though. Pi, relates mathematically to circles. Alpha, the beginning, and Nu sounds phonetically like New. So maybe the Night of Pan is the dawning of the circle of life? **L** It's a far stretch probably, but with my limited knowledge it's all I can come up with.

Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.To me, this sounds exactly like the great battle between Nothing fighting for non-existence and Chaos and Order fighting for existence. Nothing is the duality of energy that creates death. But is also in trying to destroy Chaos, that Nothing accidentally creates Order. Order, which of course supports Nothing's desire for peace, but also Chaos's desire for existence. So because Chaos created, Nothing strove to destroy it. And because Nothing tried to destroy Chaos, out came the third element of the Triad, Order.

Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.My guess is that this means that the Nothing, having now completed the Triad (albeit unintentionally), has now cast the seed of existence (The partnership of Chaos and Order) from which all life will grow out into the great expanse of nothingness that the 'universe' used to be when only Nothing non-existed.

Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.This part I'm not sure that I grasp fully, mostly because I'm not sure what is meant by A. It sounds to me like a fourth GOD. Maybe though it represents the partnership of Chaos and Order. Or it comes from PAN, mentioned above. Ooooh. Or maybe A is the goat. Two horns from a head. A triangle of two points balancing the third. So maybe A is the balance that allows our varied and wonderous existence between the three very single-minded GODs who would destroy that existence as we know it if any one of the GODs didn't exist in that balance. I kind of like that thought.

And it even supports the path of The Fool, because if we just understand the GODs alone, if we come to understand just one of their single-minded selves and agree with them, then we are only on a path of destruction. We have to understand more than just the life and death struggle they are in. We have to appreciate the balance involved that we are in, and ignore them as completely single entities to worship, or else we might as well kill ourselves because our life will be meaningless, since they don't value our life in the same way that we do, if at all.

Of course I don't know if I agreed with ANYTHING in the commentary... Hmm. Oh well. **L**

Ouch. My head really hurts. I'll need more than 6 hours of sleep tonight...

[Xois]

not latin, greek, right Mol?

[Emy]

Definitly greek :D

Wish I'd known some right about now :)

[slvr_phoenix]

Heh heh. Silly me! Thanks folks for correcting me. :)

The worst part is, I KNEW it, but my brain is so sluggish today that I just couldn't REMEMBER that I knew it. **L** Forgive my temporary idiocy. :)

I can't believe I thought it was Latin when the software I write works with the Greek alphabet for geometrical purposes. **LOL**

Talk about a brain fart and a half. He he he. No wonder I'm having problems getting my software to work right. Maybe I'd be better off NOT touching it until my head clears up. Who knows what damage I might do in this state. He he he he he.

[Semele]

Originally posted by mol
1
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.


Ok, before I read anyone else's ideas, let me just say that this line speaks very loudly to me, sort of justifying my thoughts on the previous chapter. We talked of Nothingness giving birth to God and in doing so becoming less at peace, because he now knew existence. Nothingness then broke into light that eventually becomes us, which in essence killed the original nothingness...by turning it into something else. So when Nothingness begets god he dies. For us to eventually comprehend this and return to nothingness....we become a part of the cylce...we die so now we may beget as well. make sense??

[Semele]

Originally posted by mol
1

Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.

Ok wait a minute...I got another idea here. I was struggling with A, thinking along the same lines of Silver that maybe it was another God....after some thought I figure A represents 1 or the beginning...the first of its kind. Like Nothingness is A and it is comprised of both life and death. It is the beginning and the end. The Fool is the number O. Now we, at this point are life...having not yet returned to death..which is also life. So it says kill thyself because niether life or death alone is complete. Maybe it is a message saying if we really want to understand any of this we must die. Hopefully not physically, but maybe spiritualy or mentally?? For only then can we truly be complete and understand all the pain and love that A feels. If we accomplish this, then we are 0 as well. Not nothing, but everything.

[mol]

Originally posted by slvr_phoenix

This part has me stumped. My Latin (is this even Latin?) isn't the best. It brings up strange imagery for me though. Pi, relates mathematically to circles. Alpha, the beginning, and Nu sounds phonetically like New. So maybe the Night of Pan is the dawning of the circle of life? **L** It's a far stretch probably, but with my limited knowledge it's all I can come up with..

Alrighty everyone...here I go...

Pi Alpha Nu == PAN.

Night of Pan == N.O.X.

My proof of N ( N == 24; 2 * 12 or 2 * A.·.A.·. == Aba(N); Aba == Table of Offerings)

Also, Aba has a value of Ida or 84 which Crowley attributed as one of the 3 stages of Yoga.

My proof of O (O == The Womb; O == 25 which is Aba + 1(I) or Ah [Could also be a phallic reference - For instance Aba + 1 = O Offering a penis to a Woman or Creation])

My proof of X (X == Ain; Ain == Nothing)

So...after looking at the numbers I feel this phrase is very important. I see this:

Creation is laid upon a Table as an offering to the Womb or Mother (Nothing?).

[Swanspirit]

Where the "THEME" is played in the begining ,
in a simple form, and is expanded upon with increasing complexity .
We began with nothing and everything .....and have moved to Nox, which is latin for Night , which he brings to us in whole AND in parts as N. O. X. and P.A.N. The Ecstatic Mysteries of Pan included the death of the grape to make the wine. The theme is obviously that of death and rebirth , and those mysteries which include.....
according to the thoughts of his day ....
The child dies to produce the adult , the the ego dies to produce the mature person.
So he is saying that life and death are two names of the same existence and that all we do is change form.By the very act of begetting we participate in our own demise as we continually change.
Pi is the circumference of the circle, one of the "infinite numbers" (.33333....) so we are on the cycle in infinity .
And that to die and be reborn is not enough , but that we need both the cycle and being reborn in it, to have the entire "ecstatic experience" which is an aware, or cognizant life.
I like the shape of A being the pentagram.
The most ancient pentagram is the path of the planet Venus as it "appears" to move from earth and the points are where it conjuncts the sun in a continuing cycle, and symbolises the path of the Goddess Of Love and Fertility as she was in ancient times.
The Phallus is the Lingam, the Holy Progenitor of birth ...spewing the seeds of life in an ecstatic moment ....P = Phallus= Casting the Seed , A= Pentagram, the Yoni , and the Essence of Fertility= the Field (earth and matter) , and N= the Night = Nox = the Return or Presence of the Eternal Circle
Love and Light of the morning and evening stars
Swannie

[Semele]

Originally posted by mol


Alrighty everyone...here I go...

Pi Alpha Nu == PAN.

Night of Pan == N.O.X.

My proof of N ( N == 24; 2 * 12 or 2 * A.·.A.·. == Aba(N); Aba == Table of Offerings)

Also, Aba has a value of Ida or 84 which Crowley attributed as one of the 3 stages of Yoga.

My proof of O (O == The Womb; O == 25 which is Aba + 1(I) or Ah [Could also be a phallic reference - For instance Aba + 1 = O Offering a penis to a Woman or Creation])

My proof of X (X == Ain; Ain == Nothing)

So...after looking at the numbers I feel this phrase is very important. I see this:

Creation is laid upon a Table as an offering to the Womb or Mother (Nothing?).

I think I like this idea!!

[Revelation]

Might I make a suggestion, Mol? Can you save the commentary until weve had a chance to ponder the chapter without it? IT would be nice to start raw.

[Semele]

Originally posted by Revelation
Might I make a suggestion, Mol? Can you save the commentary until weve had a chance to ponder the chapter without it? IT would be nice to start raw.

I was actually thinking that too...in fact I haven't yet read the commentary.

[mol]

Originally posted by Revelation
Might I make a suggestion, Mol? Can you save the commentary until weve had a chance to ponder the chapter
without it? IT would be nice to start raw.

Ack! Absolutely correct. Let me kill the commentary on this one...just for that sake...for the next chapters I will leave it off. Until we have torn it apart.

[Revelation]

>>THE SABBATH OF THE GOAT

O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.
Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.<<

Ok, here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

O, knowing Crowly, probably has a some specifically sexual connotation. Vaginal opening, perhaps? Or perhaps Orgasm. I think that's probably more likely. Sure, why not.

Duality, Energy, Death--Union requires duality. It is often said that GOD created polarity in order that creation might experience the joy of union, the rapture of becoming whole. In duality, in sexual polarity, that coming together creates great energy, and that energy gives over to death (orgasm is often described as akin to death).

In that death comes life. From orgasm to conception. Death, the end of one, begetting, the beginning of another. Also, death and birth are just flip sides of one coin--also akin to the notion of the fool's journey, i fyou will. To die in place is to be reborn in another.

Ths upporters of O--death, begetting--they are both intrinisic to the orgasm.

Cast the seed into the field of night--two interpretations here. One, the obvious sexual connotation, the male orgasm ito the womb. Second, the ability to sow the seeds of our own rebirth upon the fertile ground of the unkowable future.

Life and death are two names of A--I dont know what that means, exept that they are reflective of each other, just as the letter A is symmetrical, one half reflecting the other.

Killthyself, neither alone is enough--destroy this vestige of yourself in order to be reborn. Make that transformation eternally ongoing. Of course, kill yourself could also refer to, shall we say, self fulfillment? Neither intercourse nor self-pleausre is enough? Maybe. Who knows. Crowley supercedes even my depravity ;)

[Silver Venus]

I cant really understand the commentary so it makes no difference to me :crazy:
.. and I thought we were all supposed to be interpretating it in our own way Rev, so does it really matter?

THE SABBATH OF THE GOAT ~ Reminded me of the Devil Tarot card immediatley!!

O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!

-->> Death, nothing and everything <<-- So is O

To beget is to die; to die is to beget.

-->> I liked this too Semele ~ It really struck me hard ~ We must die a spiritual death of materialism and restraints to learn more of O

Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
-->> Very sexual for me ;) The Pan impregnating the goddess


Life and Death are two names of A.
-->> I took this to refer to Pan again the goat god
~ the devil card and the death card

Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.
-->> Thought this was for shock factor by Crowley... but thats me..
Or again talking about a spiritual death maybe..

[Revelation]

Thanks Mol :)

I'm with you Semele--I skipped the commentary this time around.

[Swanspirit]

The term for "orgasm" means "little death", and the "ecsatic moment" of the Saints union with the Christian god has been compared to sexual ecstacy as well.
The mystic union of the god and goddess is the basis of the fertility union, and the union of seed and earth is responsible for life ongiong as we know it, so he is connecting the sacred union to the eternal cycle of life and death, and placing the mysteries at the beginning of creation. I feel this deeply is the UNION of he Goddess and God, and for me completely distinguishes the "creation Mythology " here from the " all male all spirit triad, and includes the feminine as all important, as well.
Love and light
Swannie

[Silver Venus]

Yes that makes allot of sense to me Swan!! :D
Ill always remember now about 'little death' ~ what is the actual french word?

[slvr_phoenix]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one making silly mistakes today. I'd just like to take this moment to point out that Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter, and that it's value (out to 13 decimal places) is 3.1415926535898.

But the rarest thing about Pi is actually that (as far as we know) it's a non-repeating number of infinite decimal places.

So it's a tool that we use to put Order into things, yet at the same time seems pretty Chaotic in nature. Perhaps Pi (mathematically) is the union of Order and Chaos. **shrug** Just a quick thought.

[slvr_phoenix]

For some reason I'm just not seeing it. **shrug** Is it a woman thing, or am I just missing a certain level of stimulating 'converastion'? :crazy:

[Revelation]

No, its not a woman thing. Its a poetic thing. Poets have, for ages, been describing orgasm as ecstatic death. Why? Because they're poets and they can get away with it.

[mol]

We also have to think about what is happening here at orgasm. Out of all the sperm only one can survive and most of the time...not even one.

Little Death.

Just another take on it..

[Semele]

Originally posted by mol
We also have to think about what is happening here at orgasm. Out of all the sperm only one can survive and most of the time...not even one.

Little Death.

Just another take on it..


ah...poor lil guys!!! Now I have the urge to hold a service for all the lost soldiers on their journey!!

[Swanspirit]

ohhh sheeesh LOL sorry about the PI thing LOL I was deep in the infinity idea ....
and not just poets, but mystics, saints, and sinners...... ( and myself on occasion ..rofl)have described the moment of orgasmic ecstacy as seeing god , or an experience close to that of death ,as in a near death experience ,,and Silver,, as to what you are missing.. NOT GOING THERE no no no.......:D not not not ....
Seriously .... the moment of orgasm as mystic union has been descibed by many practitioners of magic, and the creation of a vortex and mystical children have been mentioned as magical byproduct of mystical sexual unions.
In the eastern systems Siddhis or mystical or spiritual children are created as products of mystical sexual unions, and these siddhis give
powers. "The word Tantra means loom... to weave the basic underlying fabric of existence :>, the result of the interaction of pure consciousness " Judith Anodea ....
Lets face it..Crowley was HIGHLY sexually oriented so any discussion of Crowley is going to include sexual references and it is the basis of much of his magical working , this interweaving of consciousness is it not? Or do I have my numbers wrong again ?? LOL
Love and light
Swannie

[mol]

Crowley was overtly sexual and YES this discussion will come across this many...many times. Crowley used sex to explain a lot of things. I am sure we can all discuss these matters safely.

[Swanspirit]

condoms......sponges ..... Ladies??
and Semele If you are going to have a service for all the "lost soldiers" .... I recommend we also have one for the unfertilised eggs .... you know the Sperms can be the 1's and the Eggs the 0's ...........;)
Venus.... that word in the French is "petit mort".....
It seems to me that Christianity ( as a system not Christian bashing here ) and even other systms have gone to great lengths to suppress sexuality , because it is such a powerful motivator even in the stictly physical sense . And that part of the separation from the sexual parts of life , and seeing life in sexual reference is part of the disconnection that many feel , and thus the preoccupation with it , because we have taken it from its spiritual context , and "demystified it " so to speak .
Love and Light
Swannie

[Semele]

Good point Swan. Sex isn't something dirty as some would have us believe...but can be a very spiritual practice in and of itself.

Hey Mol...ones and zeroes...get it???

And keep those condoms away from me....I am going the unsafe route...hoping the stork will come to visit!!

[mol]

We are getting a little off-topic. ;) This is not solely a sexual discussion here... :)

So..back to it.

[IOLO]

...hehehe.....knew you'd bring foot fetishism into this thing sooner or later....( teasin' ya)...

Crowley was touching at the root source of the power upon which for instance witches draw. Exoterically it is the "sex" we know.....esoterically it is the very universe itself....god--goddess and the whole (s)he-bang.(howzat for pc?...haha)...Quite literally in orgasm one is directly experienceing the undifferentiated life force.....it is that flow of energy out of which all things emenate...quite literally..(ole Albert's E=MC2 and all).....Deepak Chopra has a nice way of explaining that. We are all like light bulbs through which the energy flows....perhaps a better analogy would be as waves upon the ocean....actually of the same "fabric" as the ocean but reacting to the ebb and flow of the tides we manifest....I've always believed that Crowley was trying to demonstrate the fundamental axiom that we and the unviverse are not separate we are of the same material none the greater non the lesser....all interconnected......if that is axiomatic in your thinking...then a whole diffrent view of thingsmanifests itself.....This world no longer becomes a place we are just passing through...or we are trying to overcome....it becomes a manifestation of ourselves....and intimately connected....whole new possibilities open to one who knows this axiom....

Just my take.....

Merry Be!!

IOLO

[Silver Venus]

The best way!

Thanks Swan ~ Ive understand much more now ;)
I cant think of anything on topic to add right now.. so Ill just keep quite and learn..
:)