Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Living Death

So, how you doin'?

Feeling dead?

Just a little bit, inside?

Maybe lots, and not constrained to remain stuck on the inside?

Do I need to paint you a bleak picture of the miserable existence we spend so much of our time focused on? Jobs, relationships... fucking people, everywhere, with their shit. 

All that shit.

Nah. I got something better.

I had a pretty cool experience with the forces of Mercury this morning. That's how we started our day, an early-morning alarm to get up for a Mercury hour on a Mercury day. The last one possible, skating through on the skin of our teeth. The last-ditch chance of a planetary hour of a planetary day for at least a week. And it's Hermes, ffs. Get up.

Yeah, that went through my head.

We started out the way we usually do, Modern Angelic Grimoire Style, with tweaks. Blessed the inanimate creature of god, blessed the creature of fire, blessed the animate creature of god... but then we pulled a full Israfel, because it felt just right. And into the sacred space descended the spirits, showing us both things in the crystal, speaking to and through the scryer, showing me images in the stone that she then confirmed without prompting. We had a great rite, reminded first thing out of the box that we are creator gods, reminded of the power of the tongue, and being shown the framework and the flesh of all that is, and the flow of its breath.

And then this afternoon, I'm reading the Corpus Hermeticum, and see this:
"seek ye for one to take you by the hand and lead you unto Gnosis’ gates.
Where shines clear Light, of every darkness clean; where not a single soul is drunk, but sober all they gaze with their hearts’ eyes on Him who willeth to be seen.
No ear can hear Him, nor can eye see Him, nor tongue speak of Him, but [only] mind and heart.
But first thou must tear off from thee the cloak which thou dost wear,—the web of ignorance, the ground of bad, corruption’s chain, the carapace of darkness, the living death, sensation’s corpse, the tomb thou carriest with thee, the robber in thy house, who through the things he loveth, hateth thee, and through the things he hateth, bears thee malice."
It's the escape from that shit, that living death that we're stuck in that encapsulates the Great Work. That's what we're trying to do, to wake up and remember who we are and why we're here. The things that distract us are terrible. They're a pain in the ass. Social constraints, tribal obligations, taboos, fear of being shunned, fear of starvation for yourself or your family, fear of being alone. We do things to address these concerns, these requirements. We have to pay for our wi-fi somehow, after all, we can't be ourselves without the things we use, the things we do, the things we need to be ourselves.

And it's that "self" that is our enemy. The self that keeps us plugged in so we can interact. The self that acts on behalf of those things that it needs to sustain itself without consulting you first.

That's the enemy we face. The robber in our house. How many people feel miserable and trapped by their lifestyles? How many people stay with people they can't stand? How many hours do people spend doing jobs they don't like for people they hate so they can have money they don't get to enjoy because they have to spend it on keeping everything they hate running smoothly?

Fuck that shit, man. Fuck it right in the ass.

So I was thinking about monks who try to still the mind so they can comprehend that which observes through them. They turn off the thoughts. They turn their minds within, observing that which is observing, and then seeing who's watching the observer observing. Some go to wildernesses to escape other people, to see their thoughts without need of others. Ascetic Hermits of the East and West, sitting on mountains, eating bugs and mushrooms, and trying to see god.

And I thought of Ecstatic Hermetics, having a great time, projecting yourself through the Seven Spheres, integrating their forces, empowering yourself to accomplish your Will, and in the process burning through all the shit that keeps you from being able to handle those forces.

I think they are different approaches to the same goal. The monk gets to a point where he sees that no matter where he goes, or how alone he is, that ultimately it is he himself projecting and experiencing the universe, and that cannot be escaped. The Ecstatic Hermetic pursues that as the goal from the outset, using that as the standard by which all experiences are measured.

That quote is from "THE GREATEST ILL AMONG MEN IS IGNORANCE OF GOD," in the Corpus Hermeticum. "Him who willeth to be seen." That's the "god" referenced.

Who is Willing? Who, by their Willing can be seen?

Remember your Agrippa?
"Whosoever therefore shall know himself, shall know all things in himself; especially he shall know God, according to whose Image he was made; he shall know the world, the resemblance of which he beareth; he shall know all creatures, with which he Symbolizeth; and what comfort he can have and obtain, from Stones, Plants, Animals, Elements, Heavens, from Spirits, Angels, and every thing, and how all things may be fitted for all things, in their time, place, order, measure, proportion and Harmony, and can draw and bring to himself, even as a Loadstone Iron"
That's you, too.

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