Liber Arcanorum, Part I

July 11, 2017 By BethSheba Ashe 1 Comment

Tarot Correspondences to the Seven Palaces.

Liber Arcanorum τών ATU τού TAHUTI QUAS VIDIT ASAR IN AMENNTI sub figurâ CCXXXI [231] was first published in 1909 by Aleister Crowley. It is a Class A paper and students of the mysteries have found it to be one of the more accessible and understandable papers of the A.’.A.’.[1] given that it is concerned with the Major Arcana of the Tarot; a topic that Crowley gave a very thorough treatise on in his ‘Book of Thoth’.

That said, most students err in trying to attribute the verses of Liber Arcanorum to the Tree of life instead of the Seven Palaces, largely because that’s just how the correspondences are given in the Book. The Tree of Life is the public face of the highly secret Seven Palaces, but an adept of the Inner Order understands that when his peers say something like “…the Hierophant, which, on the other side of the Tree of Life, brings down the fire of Chokmah…” he’s actually saying “…the Hierophant, which, on the other side of the Palaces, brings down the fire of Seventh Palace…”.

Crowley hints in the Book of Thoth of “a complete qabalistic system of greater depth and sublimity than any other”, and goes on to explain “The details of this system have not yet been revealed. It has been thought right, nevertheless, to hint at its existence…” He was talking about the Seven Palaces. In this system (which is far older than any other extant) the supernal sephiroth of Kether, Chokmah and Binah are rectified into one combined supernal Palace, and Yesod and Malkuth are brought together as the first Palace.

Just as the Tree of Life is at the core of Kabbalah, the Seven Palaces is the basis of the Merkabah, and indeed the study of Kabbalah may be considered the enciphered study of the Merkabah because the Tree of Life was derived from the Seven Palaces. These Palaces are not to be confused with the Qlippoth nor the Seven Hells as they are things that were themselves derived in their construction from the Tree of life; and are an averse depiction of the purity and sanctity of the former.

Originally, the silence and secrecy that has traditionally surrounded the Seven Palaces was due to a prohibition by Judah the Patriarch[2] that forbade Jewish people from speaking about the Merkabah. The reasons for the prohibition were likely threefold; there was the Jewish desire to reclaim the land of Israel; there are pantheistic elements of the Seven Palaces such as the Goddess Elat and the Elohim of Hadad on its paths and palaces; and there appears to have been some concern over the spiritual welfare of students to the Merkabah, as evidenced by the stories of Rabbi Akiva and the Pardes.

The silence and secrecy of Occult orders on the matter has another source; either they are wholly ignorant of the Seven Palaces through some break in the proper transmission from adept to adept, or they are seeking to preserve knowledge that they have judged to be proprietorial to the wise; something that is (in their view) not to be seen with the eyes of the profane.

Crowley’s work with the Palaces was not a mere reiteration of the Merkabah. He took it upon himself to create an entirely new syncretic system upon it that was fit for the new Aeon as he saw it. His own silence about the Seven Palaces may have been because of Oaths to magical orders that he made[3], and equally – if he had revealed the Seven Palaces openly to the world at any time after he had published the Book of the Law, he would have given away the solution to the Riddle of Liber Al vel Legis.

There is however, no point in keeping something so secret that knowledge of it dies out completely and there is a break in transmission. Therefore I have absolutely no motivation to keep any of the system secret, and unlike Crowley I have made no oaths to anyone that would prevent me from doing so[4]. Rather – I shall throw it open and let the latter day students of the mysteries have at it, and judge for themselves whether it is an effective vehicle for individual transformation and enlightenment – or not – from their results.

A fellow adept once remarked to me that when it comes to the mysteries, there is little need for formal secrecy as it is the limit of the students understanding that draws a veil of secrecy over matters such as these in any case.

Notes – The Gematria used here is biblical (paleohebrew) Gematria. Shin = 3 (not 300) and Tav = 4 (not 400). Also there is no final values for Ashuri final letters. Also the Isopsephy used here is one that adjusts the Greek letters to match their Paleohebrew counterparts. This link HERE takes you to the Isopsephy table.

The cards are keyed to Liber Arcanorum according to the value of their Hebrew letters, with the exception of the Shin and the Tav which appear at the end of the pack according to tradition. See ‘Tarot Correspondences’ for more information about the ordering of the pack.

The Fool (1) Aleph

0. A, the heart of IAO, dwelleth in ecstasy in the secret place of the thunders. Between Asar and Asi he abideth in joy.

[This card is attributed to the two Palaces of the Aleph.

“Wherefore I solemnly affirm
This twofold Oneness at the term.
Asar on Asi did beget
Horus twin brother unto Set.”
– The Twins, by A.C.
[Dedicated to Austin Osman Spare]

There is an essay “The Visions of Aleph” by Doctor T. – which was published in ‘The New York Magazine, Or Literary Repository’ in 1797 that may be of interest: https://tinyurl.com/ya8xwgja

The Aleph appears twice on the Seven Palaces. It is attributed to two of the Palaces themselves, at either side of the Seventh Palace. The Rabbis were wont to say “Aleph is never less than Beth” and this is figuratively true in respect of the Seven Palaces. The Alephs received the influx from the letter Beth above them, for God began the creation of the World with the letter Beth[5]. The influx flows around the circumference to the twin Palaces of the Dalet below which are doors; one opening to allow the spirit to incarnate in the world below (the Palace of the final Heh) and the other allows the return of the spirit through its door once the earthly body is deceased.

What is united in the Palace of the Beth (2), is thus divided in the Palaces of the Alephs (1), and we may recall Crowleys equation “2 = 0”.

Asar is thought to be Osiris, and Asi – Isis. In the Palaces of the Alephs, they are primal forces that beget Horus the Sun God – (dwelling in the central Palace of the Resh) and all things on earth.

The Magician (2) Beth

The lightnings increased and the Lord Tahuti stood forth. The Voice came from the Silence. Then the One ran and returned.

[Tahuti or Thoth is the Egyptian version of the Greek Hermes. He represents the wisdom and the word of the aeon. This card is attributed to the highest Palace which is the private abode of the creator divinity. In the heavens this Palace corresponds to the Pole Star. In Canaanite literature this card and it’s Palace corresponded to the God אל (EL).

In the Middle ages the this Palace was split into three to become the supernals of Kether, Chokmah and Binah on the Tree of Life.

Gematria:
The Palace of Beth forms 3 primary gates and 5 small gates from the paths around it.
There’s something very compelling about the initial alphebet of numbers – and by that I mean how each number essentially relates to each other spatially. By the term ‘The inital alphabet of numbers’ I mean all the really interesting stuff happening down at the level of single digits.

The most important permutation is the number base you intend to use. That determines the limit of how many units are accounted for in each cycle of the base number.

Now imagine that each base was a palace, that housed an infinite amount of numbers in each palace. Is there an infinite amount of numbers or is there Seven infinitive amount of numbers?

The seventh palace uses a binary number base; it is the light and the dark; the 1 and the 0; the positive and the negative; and yet, they exist as indivisible united parts of the whole. “What is above the abyss exists in unity and what is below the abyss exists in division.” And yet that is an inadequate description because by trying to describe divinity we can only say what it is not; ergo. God is not a number. God just made everything have a number through the very act of perceiving a difference… and even that shall remain a matter of eternal speculation. Are we all just quantum sparks going off in the quantum night of the pre-material world? Is every man and woman a quantum star?

Essentially we can only speak in numbers because all other qualia is absent on the subject of God. Ought said about God is instantly a thing of speculation only. The symbols of divinity and ancestor worship in both the old and new aeons share essentially the same quality; that they insist upon a God or a state of consciousness that cannot be named, nor described through the medium of words nor numbers. There is a semantic employment of the symbol of the veil being cast over something without form, nor measurement nor localized position in time or space. We can talk around the matter only by making a separation between the creator and the created, and yet that again is a matter of speculation only… the butterfly wing of a quantum fluctuation in the space-time continuum that is everywhere and nowhere and possibly there all at once.

God + Not God + God
אללאאל = 93
31 = אל
31 in base 10 is 11111 in binary.

The following is a list of permutations in their logographic placement of the letters in their mathematical relationship to each other, and to the Beth. There is little else to say, because the rest is God, united and at one with the universe; an all pervading, and everywhere experience of consciousness itself throughout a near infinitely long time period.

The High Priestess (3) Gimel

Now hath Nuit veiled herself, that she may open the gate of her sister.

[The path associated with this card joins the Palace of the Beth with the Palace of Resh. It is the heavenly Holy of Holies between the abode of the Father and the abode of the son (and the Sun). Its gate value of 217 using all the letters is identical to the gate value of all the palaces when added together; thus representing that everything in the Macrocosm is both begat and extant from the manifestation of divine generation.

“Turn it this way, turn it that way, everything is in it” – Ben Bag-Bag.

“The card represents the most spiritual form of Isis the Eternal Virgin; the Artemis of the Greeks. She is clothed only in the luminous veil of light. It is important for high initiation to regard Light not as the perfect manifestation of the Eternal Spirit, but rather as the veil which hides that Spirit. It does so all the more effectively because of its incomparably dazzling brilliance. Thus she is light and the body of light. She is the truth behind the veil of light. She is the soul of light. Upon her knees is the bow of Artemis, which is also a musical instrument, for she is huntress, and hunts by enchantment.

Now, regard this idea as from behind the Veil of Light, the third Veil of the original Nothing. This light is the menstruum of manifestation, the goddess Nuith, the possibility of Form. This first and most spiritual manifestation of the feminine takes to itself a masculine correlative, by formulating in itself any geometrical point from which to contemplate possibility.” – The Book of Thoth, by A.C.

The third sister is Nephthys who creates in the dark and the silence. In the Palace of the Aleph there is only Isis (Asi) but the triune goddess is represented on this path. Isis veils herself with light. Nuit veils herself with the possibility of form and Nephthys veils herself in dense darkness as she creates.

When the Gimel (3) is added to the Zayin (7) and to the Palace of the Resh (200) then the gate of Nephthys is revealed: 210 for N.O.X.

The Empress (4) Dalet

The Virgin of God is enthroned upon an oyster-shell; she is like a pearl, and seeketh Seventy to her Four. In her heart is Hadit the invisible glory.

[The Palaces of Dalet (4) on the left of the Wheel connects with the paths of Mem, Ayin, Peh and Resh. Ayin is 70 and the path of Ayin transmits the fertile and creative force and fire of the Sun from the Palace of Resh at the axis of the Wheel.

Not alluded to in Liber Arcanorum is the Palace of the Dalet on the right, probably because that would have been either too confusing or too revealing to the student. Traditionally, the Palace on the right is like a weigh station that receives dead souls from the underworld. In Sumerian literature this is called the ‘Palace of Ganzer’ which is visited by the Goddess of Inanna as she descends to the underworld, and it is connected to the paths of Kaph, Nun, Peh and a path of four letters below (Tsade, Qoph, Shin and Tav – QShTh spells ‘rainbow’ and pearls have an iridescent rainbow hue commonly associated with dissolution or purification).

From ‘Strong’s Concordance’ we learn that the word Ostrakon means both “oyster shell” and a potsherd; i.e. Terra cotta, earthen-ware; by implication, of earth or earthen. This Palace of Dalet on the left is the doorway (for the letter Dalet was a pictogram of a door) to Life or Rebirth; where the soul was clothed in the material flesh before entering into the world. When connected with the path of Mem above, the Daleth forms the word DM – which means ‘blood’ and when topped with the Aleph we have the spelling for ADM which means mankind – the Adam. Aleph ‘spirit’ + Mem ‘water’ + Dalet ‘earth’, with the solar light being ejaculated from the Ayin and the fire added from the Peh to form the human being.

When the Dalet joins with the Resh (of the solar barge) below then it forms the word DR which means pearl, or mother of pearl in Hebrew. See Strong’s Hebrew: 1858. דַּר (dar): http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1858.htm

The Star (5) Heh

Now riseth Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and dominion is established in the Star of the Flame.

ה‍לא־אלוה גבה שמים וראה ראש כוכבים כי־רמו

“Not is God in the height of the heaven
and behold the head of the stars – how high!”
– Job 22:12.

[ There is a lower Heh attributed to the 1^st (bottom) palace and there is an upper Heh attributed to the path connecting the top (7^th) Palace of the Beth with the Palace of the Resh at the axis of the Wheel. This upper Heh joins Gimel and Zayin on the path. The upper Heh is the first Heh of YHVH while the lower Heh is the final Heh of this name. The upper Heh of the name represents the gate of this path: Beth + Gimel + Heh + Zayin + Resh. Heh = 5 but the two Heh’s together total to 10, which is the value of גֹּ֣בַהּ ‘height’.

“He said: There is an upper Heh and a lower Heh” – The Bahir verse 29.

The lower Heh on the palace represents the earth in motion, and with time passing, but the upper Heh made up part of the home of God in the heavens; his heavenly temple in the stars – the chief or ‘head’ of them being the pole star at the Palace of the Beth. The lower Heh of the name represents the Palaces of the Alephs, the Daleths as well as the Palace of Heh.

הַמְשֵׁ֣ל ‘hamsel’ means the ‘Dominion’ and is seen in verse 25:2 of Job:

המשל ופחד עמו עשה לום במרומיו

“With dominion and fear he makes peace in his heights”

המשל hamsel is 78; the same number as the number of Tarot Cards in the pack, and 78 is the gematria vale of איואס – ‘Aivas’ the Angel of Ra Hoor Khuit (see Sepher Sephiroth). 78 + 15 (Gimel + Heh + Zayin) = 93.

Also כּוֹכָ֜ב שלהבה ‘Star [of the] Flame’ = 93 ( See Sepher Sephiroth); symbol of the macrocosm.]

The Hierophant (6) Vav

Also is the Star of the Flame exalted, bringing benediction to the universe.

[The left hand of the Hierophant is open in benediction, and he points towards the bottom right of the star where the card of the Universe would be if the star were placed over the figure of the Seven Palaces.

The sign indicates the number 4, because there are 4 letters on the path thus indicated and also because the Universe card is attributed the letter Tav which has the value of 4. Essentially the hierophant is counting; starting with a closed fist and putting the thumb out for 1; extending the forefinger for 2; extending the middle finger for 3 then closing the thumb across the base of the fingers to make 4. The shape of three fingers also recalls the letter Tav itself; ת.

The Vav on of the name YHVH represents the 6 paths of the circumference of the Palaces ; Vav, Cheth, Mem, Resh, the fourfold Shin/Tav/Tsade/Qoph path, and the path of Kaph. ]

The Lovers (7) Zayin

Her then beneath the winged Eros is youth, delighting in the one and the other. He is Asar between Asi and Nepthi; he cometh forth from the veil.

[Youth = Y(10) O (70) U (6) Th (4) = 90 + Gimel (3) = 93.
217 (this path’s gate number) – 93 -93 = 31 (אל AL in Thelema or EL traditionally.)
Ὄσιρις ‘Osiris’ = 396 – 93 – 93 = 210 (N.O.X.)

This card is the last of the 3 cards on the path between the Palaces of Beth and Resh. When the Zayin is united with the Palace of the Resh then 200 + 7 = 207 = אוֹר ‘Light’. When Resh (200) is united with the Beth (2) through the medium of the Heh (5) this also sums to 207. Aristophanes (c. 400 BC) writes of Eros:

“At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night (Nyx), Darkness (Erebus), and the Abyss (Tartarus). Earth, the Air and Heaven had no existence. Firstly, black winged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Darkness, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Love (Eros) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in the deep Abyss with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light.”

Nepthi/Nephthys is the Egyptian name of Nyx/Nox = 210
Gimel (3) + Zayin (7) + Resh (200) = 210
מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם = 210 waters from waters (See Genesis 1:6).

Gimel (3) + Heh (5) + Resh (200) = 208
In the Torah: שָׂרָ֖ה – ‘Sarah’ (208); הָגָ֖ר – ‘Hagar’ (208); יִצְחָ֑ק – ‘Isaac’ (208)
Also Eros Ἔρως = 191. 191 + 26 (YHVH) = 217.

One Zayin (7) + Two Heh’s (10) + Three Gimels (9 – one for each goddess) = 26 (YHVH). ]

The Chariot (8) Cheth

He rideth upon the chariot of eternity; the white and the black are harnessed to his car. Therefore he reflecteth the Fool, and the sevenfold veil is reveiled.

[ This card corresponds with the path of Cheth that joins the Palace of the Beth to the Palace of the Aleph. The Palace of the Aleph is corresponded with the card of the Fool; thus the Charioteer reflecteth the Fool.

Merkabah in Hebrew means ‘Chariot’.
Liber 500 gives notes that Eternity ‘דּ֣וֹר דּוֹרִֽים’ means literally a ‘cycle of cycles’, and while this word is more usually translated as ‘generations’ the primitive root of דור properly, is to gyrate (or move in a circle) and it also means to remain or dwell (through cycles of time).

The design of this card appears to have been heavily influenced by Zechariah 6:1-7:

ואשב ואשא עיני ואראה והנה ארבע מרכבות יצאות מבין שני ההרים וההרים הרי נחשת׃
במרכבה הראשנה סוסים אדמים ובמרכבה השנית סוסים שחרים׃
ובמרכבה השלשית סוסים לבנים ובמרכבה הרבעית סוסים ברדים אמצים׃
ואען ואמר אל־המלאך הדבר בי מה־אלה אדני׃
ויען המלאך ויאמר אלי אלה ארבע רחות השמים יוצאות מהתיצב על־אדון כל־הארץ׃
אשר־בה הסוסים השחרים יצאים אל־ארץ צפון והלבנים יצאו אל־אחריהם והברדים יצאו אל־ארץ התימן׃
והאמצים יצאו ויבקשו ללכת להתהלך בארץ ויאמר לכו התהלכו בארץ ותתהלכנה בארץ׃

1 And I turned and lifted up my eyes and looked and behold, four (273) chariots (272) were coming from between two (63) mountains (260); and the mountains (266) mountains (215) of bronze (65).
2In chariot (279) the first (264) – horses (176) red (95) , and in chariot (285) the second (72) horses (176) black (261),
3And in chariot (279)the third (55) horses (176) white (132), and in chariot (279) the fourth (291) horses (176) spotted (256) bay (181).

4And I answered and said to the angel that spoke in, “What these, my Lord (lit. Adni)?”
5And answered the angel and said to me, “These four spirits of the heaven, go forth from standing before Lord (lit. Adun, (אֲד֥וֹן (61) all the earth,
6That in the horses black go forth to north land, and the white ones go forth to after, and the spotted go forth to the south land.
7“And the bay went out, and sought to go to patrol in earth.” And He said, “Go, get you here, walk to and fro in earth.” And they walked to and fro in earth.”

We cross reference against Crowley’s notes from the Book of Thoth:
The “amber coloured armour” of the Charioteer corresponds to the Bronze mountains.
“Upon his armour are ten Stars of Assiah, the inheritance of celestial dew from his mother”: this detail was inspired from the spots on the horses. The amber-coloured cobblestones underneath the Chariot reinforce this earthly facing attribution; to the North are the heavens and to the South is the Earth; so when the spotted horses go forth to the south country in Zechariah we may understand that they are going forth towards the earth.
“The scarlet wheels represent the original energy of Geburah which causes the revolving motion.” On the Seven Palaces; the Energy of Geburah is unveiled as the Energy of the Palace of the Aleph that begins the motion of all things, and this is represented in the biblical text by the red horses. Note that the red horses travel in no direction!
“This chariot is drawn by four sphinxes composed of the four Kerubs, the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Man.” These are corresponded to the four spirits of heaven. The Bull and the Lion are coloured black like the black horses of Zechariah, and the Eagle and the Man are coloured white like the white horses of the biblical prophet. The inspiration to use Kerubs instead of horses probably came from Ezekiel 10:14-15:

As for the Wheels, they were cried the wheel in my hearing. And each one had four faces.The first face was the face of a cherub, the secondface was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

On the canopy on the chariot is written Abrahadabra, which Crowley referred to in the Book of Thoth as ‘the Cypher of the Great Work’. ABRHD; the letters used to compose the word Abrahadabra are all the letters of the Palaces too. The eleven letters of Abrahadabra suggest the gate of this path, which is 11.

לְבָנִ֑ים White + וּשְׁחֹרִֽים and Black + מֶּרְכָּבָ֥ה Chariot = 666
מַסְוֶֽה a Veil = 111
666 + 111 = 777 “and the sevenfold veil is reveiled”.]

Lust/Strength (9) Teth

Also cometh forth mother Earth with her lion, even Sekhet, the lady of Asi.

[ This card is attributed to the path between the two Palaces of the Aleph. The card was traditionally called ‘Strength’, and the path and was the domain of the Canaanite goddess Elat, and possibly her daughter Anat (daughter of El and Goddess of War and Fire). Sekhet is the Egyptian counterpart of Anat and her name means “the powerful one”. She is depicted as a lioness and she is a goddess of healing, but she can be enflamed by bloodshed and so festivals were celebrated at the end of battle to pacify the lust of Sekhet for war and conquest.

“In a myth about the end of Ra’s rule on the earth, Ra sends Hathor as Sekhmet to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet’s blood-lust was not quelled at the end of battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra poured out beer dyed with red ochre or hematite so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the slaughter and returned peacefully to Ra.”[6]

The Hermit (10) Yod

Also the Priest veiled himself, lest his glory be profaned, lest his word be lost in the multitude.

This card corresponds to the path of the Yod between the Palace of the Aleph (on the right) and the Palace of Resh. Crowley makes an equivalence between the figure of this card and spermatozoa. The figure of the priest resembles the phallus with the hair of streams of semen. The Yod of this card is part of the name: YHVH, and the paths of Teth, Lamed, Nun, Samekh and Ayin are also represented by the Yod in the name.

Gematria:

כֹּהֵן Kohen meaning ‘Priest’ (75)
לָ֑יְלָה Layelah meaning ‘Night’ (75)
אֹ֖הֶל – Ohel meaning covering, dwelling-place, home, tabernacle, tent (36). Ohel is from the primitive root word Ahal יאהיל; shine – to be clear (56). The two Yod’s are removed from Ahal to make Ohel.
75 + 36 = 111 מַסְוֶֽה a Veil.

The primary gate number of this path is 211 (Aleph + Yod + Resh), but gates are also had at either side such as Aleph + Yod = 11 and Resh + Yod = 210.

Fortune (20) Kaph

Now then the Father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the Sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and Typhon, were bound on his circumference.

[ This path falls between the Aleph and the Daleth on the right hand side of the Seven Palaces.

Gematria:
The gate of the path of Kaph is 25 (Aleph + Kaph + Daleth). When it’s gate is added to the opposite gate of Mem (45) the total is 70.

אֲבִ֕י כָּל The Father of all (63); Abi Kal
אוֹפַ֣ן Wheel (137); Ophan
63 + 137 = 200 = Resh. The Sun is the axis of the Wheel of the Seven Palaces, and the letter Resh is attributed to the Palace at the center.

And I’ll be covering the second part of the tarot pack soon in Liber Arcanorum Part II.

Bethsheba Ashe 11th July 2017.

[1] Although there remains much imaginative speculation over what name these initials represent, it is probably true that they represent no name for the Order at all; being simply the two Alephs of the Seven Palaces.

[2] See ‘The Faces of the Chariot’ by David Halperin.

[3] “I had been most solemnly sworn to inviolable secrecy. The slightest breach of my oath meant that I should incur “a deadly and hostile current of will, set in motion by the Greatly Honoured Chiefs of the Second order, by the which I should fall slain or paralysed, as if blasted by the lightning flash”. And now I was entrusted with some of these devastating though priceless secrets. They consisted of the Hebrew alphabet, the names of the planets with their attribution to the days of the week, and the ten Sephiroth of the Cabbala” – ‘The Confessions of Aleister Crowley’, pg 177.

[4] On one occasion when I was a young woman, my HGA actually intervened to prevent my initiation into one of the outer Orders. I stood before my well intentioned would-be initiators with the hood over my head and heard her calmly announce “I am sorry, but this may not be. You may not proceed”.

[5] So sayeth the Zohar.

[6] Lichtheim, Miriam (2006) [1976]. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume Two: The New Kingdom. University of California Press. pp. 197–199

Liber DCCCXIII vel ARARITA sub figura DLXX

July 4, 2017 By BethSheba Ashe Leave a Comment

Liber 813 vel Ararita sub figura 570

Liber Ararita was written for the use of the Philosophus (4=7) in 1907 by Aleister Crowley.
In Sepher Sephiroth, Crowley tells us that Ararita (ARARYThA) is a name of God and a Notariqon of the hebrew “One is His Beginning; one is His Individuality; His Permutation One”.

AChD RASh: AChDVThV RASh YYChVDVThV: ThMVRThV AChD = 777
In standard gematria this numbers to 813 but in Paleohebrew (biblical) gematria it sums to 777.
[For more information of the original gematria of the alphabet please see ‘Chariot’.]

In Sefer Sephiroth, Crowley also references the sum of the third verse of Genesis which is 813 in both Biblical and the ‘Standard system’ of gematria.

VYAMR ALHYM YHY AVR VYHY AVR = 813.
This translates as “And said Elohim Let there be light (207) and there was light (207)” and this accounts for the sub figura number of 570 because 777 – 570 = 207.

‎The text of Liber Ararita is laid out in 7 chapters of 14 verses, but it is designed to be studied as 14 chapters of 7 verses each, and so it is presented below in its reordered form with commentary. Once reordered, each chapter is attributed to one of the 14 paths of the Seven Palaces for meditation. Each line is contrasted with the former line until any concept of form has disappeared.

Crowley writes “The use of this Name and Formula is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as “true” (and therefore binding); one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach. See Liber 813, vel Ararita. Contrast each verse of Cap. I with the corresponding verse of Cap. II for the first of these methods. Thus in Cap. III (still verse by verse correspondence) the Quintessence of the ideas is extracted; and in Cap. IV they are withdrawn each one into the one beyond it. In Cap. V they have disappeared into the Method itself. In Cap. VI they reappear in the Form appointed by the Will of the Adept. Lastly, in Cap. VII they are dissolved, one into the next until all finally disappear in the Fire Qadosh, the Quintessence of Reality.” – Note from ‘The Cry of the 22nd Aethyr’ (The Vision and the Voice), by Aleister Crowley.

Each of the 14 chapters has been ordered quite simply by the total of the letters attributed to the paths (low to high numbers) rather than by their gate numbers (presumably because two of the gates = 11). Therefore they follow the order:‎

Chapter 0: Vav (6)
Chapter 1: Cheth (8)
Chapter 2: Teth (9)
Chapter 3: Yod (10)
Chapter 4: Gimel, Heh & Zayin (15)
Chapter 5: Kaph (20)
Chapter 6: Lamed (30)
Chapter 7: Mem (40)
Chapter 8: Nun (50)
Chapter 9: Samekh (60)
Chapter 10: Ayin (70)
Chapter 11: Peh (80)
Chapter 12: Shin, Tav, Tsade & Qoph (197)
Chapter 13: Resh (200)

Liber Ararita Reformatted for Meditation.

Chapter 0. The Path of Vav.

‎1. O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!‎

[The entire verse totals to 777. The path of Vav (6) connects the Palace of Beth (2) with the one of the Palaces of Aleph (1). When the word ‘Aleph’ is numbered then it totals to 111: A(1)L(30)P(80).

7+7+7= 21 and when the word ‘Vav’ is numbered it totals to 12: Vav(6)V(6), and these two numbers are symmetrical suggesting the Beth and Aleph once again. 12 is also the number of ‘חַ֣ד’ (Had) which is the short version of echad. Both words mean ‘one’.]

2. Now then I saw these things averse and evil; and they were not, even as Thou ‎art Not.

[If we read the numbers from Beth to Aleph in sequence we may write 2, 6, 1 or 261. The word דֵּרָאוֹן meaning aversion or abhorrence numbers to 261. Also, in early biblical Hebrew the “Vav + suffix conjugation” was called “the Vav of reversal”. It turns Past to Future, and Future to Past; from something done, into something that will be done.

When the word Beth is numbered then it totals to 16 which is the reverse of the number 61. The word ‘Ain’ has this gematria number and its meaning in Sepher Sephiroth is “negative, non-existent; NOT” and in the Book of Lies (Chapter 61) as “nothing”. Another way of saying ‘Not’ in Hebrew is simply to reverse אל to spell לא ‘Not (31), and as there are two nots in the verse then 31 x 2 = 62 which could also be read as 6, 2 which is Vav, Beth.]

3. Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal, ‎or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face.‎

[ה֣וּא אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֶחָֽד; ‘He God (Elohim) [is] one’ = 111.

אלהים העוֹלָֽם אֶחָֽד; ‘God [is] the Everlasting One’ = 250, but as in Chapter 1, verse 3 this requires a conversion of the number base; 250 in base 7 is 111 in base 11.

The wife or companion of God is found on the path of Teth (and she is Elat). The Son of God (HDD – Hadad the Son of El) is found on the bottom 3 palaces. The paths of Yod and Ayin (80) are equal by number to the paths of Lamed and Nun (80). So there is a process of elimination happening with the end of this verse, allowing the reader to narrow in on which path is being discussed.

In the Tarot, the aleph is attributed to the card of the Fool, which is card 0.]

4. Also the little child, the lover of Adonai, even V.V.V.V.V., reflecting the glory of ‎Adonai, lifted up his voice and said:‎

[See the little dancing child in the centre of the pentagram (itself within the hexagram) that is drawn on ‘The Hierophant’ of the Thoth Tarot. This card is attributed to Vav and the child symbolizes “the law of the new Aeon of the Child Horus which has supplanted that Aeon of the “Dying God” which governed the world for two thousand”. The child is also centred over the heart of the Hierophant who Crowley describes in the Book of the Thoth as the ‘Manifestor of the Mystery’ and here as Adonai (אֲדֹנָי 65). All of these symbols and V.V.V.V.V (5 sixes’) concern the union of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm and this union is personified by the figure of Adonai as the Hierophant.]

5. In the place of the cross the indivisible point which hath no points nor parts nor ‎magnitude. Nor indeed hath it position, being beyond space. Nor hath it existence ‎in time, for it is beyond Time. Nor hath it cause or effect, seeing that its Universe is ‎infinite every way, and partaketh not of these our conceptions.‎

[In this verse, the child Horus is telling us that in the new aeon the symbol of the cross – which represented the dying god of the old aeon – is to be replaced with the ‘indivisible point’; essentially the new formula for initiation shall have no symbol.]

6. Deeper and deeper into the mire of things! Farther and farther into the never-‎ending Expansion of the Abyss.‎

[The ancients conceived of the world as being surrounded by water, and the word for heaven translates as ‘the fiery waters’. This imagined expanse of water that we now call space, was also namedתְּהֹמֹ֖ת / תְה֑וֹם ‘the Deep’ or ‘the Abyss’. There is no end to space. The universe is an ongoing explosion without end that continues to expand in all directions. There is no thing that is outside the universe; all one’s thinking is done inside of it and as part of it. When the water of heaven is mixed with earth you get mud – the mire!

This path and the path of Cheth traditionally denote the two waters around the earth that were separated by God; one to the east and one to the west. (See Genesis 1:6)]

7. Then in the might of the Lion did I formulate unto myself that holy and formless ‎fire, which darteth and flasheth through the depths of the Universe.‎

[The might of the lion is the Kerub shown on the card of the Hierophant, and his force is the Solar fire of the Sun – the light itself.]

——————————————

Before I move on to the next chapter, I’d like to make a few notes about the paths of Vav and Cheth when taken together, but first a few final notes about Vav:

The gate of Vav is 9 – i.e. Beth + Vav + Aleph = 9. This may be why the Hierophant card has nine nails in the illustration. Its opposite counterpart on the Wheel (below) is Resh, which has the gate number of 209 – i.e. Heh + Resh + Dalet. Together they make a combined or secondary gate of 218. However, Resh is attributed to both a path and a palace and if they (the two Reshs) are taken together (as one Sun) then the total for this gate would be 418.

Crowley tells us that 418 is “the number of the word of the Aeon, ABRAHADABRA, the cypher of the Great Work”.

Regarding Vav and Cheth:
When all the letters from the top of the Wheel’s circumference are counted from Aleph to Aleph then: Aleph + Cheth + Beth + Vau + Aleph = 18 and the word אחבוא means ‘Hidden’ or ‘Hiding’. Cheth is attributed to the Tarot Card of the Chariot, and Crowley writes of the Charioteer “the vizor of his helmet is lowered, for no man may look upon his face and live. For the same reason, no part of his body is exposed.” ‎

Chapter 1. The Path of Cheth.

‎1. Let me extol Thy perfections before men.‎

[The explanation for this verse is that the various perfections of the Cheth attributed to this section of heaven are above the path of Mem, and the gate of Mem is Aleph + Daleth + Mem = 45 ‘Adam’ which means ‘mankind’.

The Path of Cheth connects the Palace of Beth and the Palace of Aleph.
The word ‘Cheth’ is spelled Cheth, Yod, Tav = 22.
“The rabbis ascribed special sanctity to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Psalmist’s declaration that “By the word of God were the heavens made” (Ps. 33:6) was taken to indicate the power of the letters, which form the “Word” of God. Bezalel succeeded in the construction of the tabernacle because he “knew how to combine the letters by which the heavens and earth were created” (Ber. 55a).” – sourced from:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hebrew-in-ancient-jewish-scriptures

The gate of this path is Beth, Cheth, Aleph = 11.
The first two letters of the word ‘Cheth’ are Cheth, Yod = 18 and mean ‘life’.

A secondary gate number is made with the opposite path on the wheel (below) that totals to 217: 206 + 11 = 217.
217 is 7 x 31 (אל).
It is the total of all the letters of the Palaces when added together; Beth + Aleph + Resh + Aleph + Heh + Dalet + Dalet =217 (Bara Hdd).
It is the gate number of the first Heh of YHVH (Beth + Gimel + Heh + Zayin + Resh = 217), and this is the ‘holy of holies’ or abode of God.

It is also the sum total of the order of the alphabet when the 22 letters are placed in their proper order of 20 places. Gimel(3) and Shin(3) share the third place, and Dalet and Tav share the 4th place. Thus:
1 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 = 217

The sum total of the gematria of all the letters is 802 and 8:02 minutes are 482 seconds; 482 is the sum of the two gates in the middle of the Wheel:
217 (Beth + Gimel + Heh + Zayin + Resh) + 265 (Heh + Samekh + Resh) = 482.

[[Note – Base 60 has been used since early Babylonian times to count minutes and seconds, and it is also the basis of geometry (360 degrees in a circle / 6 = 60).]]

Another interesting pairing that occurs with the gate of Cheth is with the gate of Resh:
11 + 209 = 220, which is the gematria sum of the words Bereshith and HaTorah, and it brings us around again to the sum of 220 when written out: מָאתַ֔יִם עֶשְׂרִ֑ים ‘two hundred twenty’ = 418.]

2. I saw the twin heads that ever battle against one another, so that all their ‎thought is confusion. I saw Thee in these.‎

[This probably refers to the Qlippoth; Crowley writes that Thaumiel have two contending heads so as to deny the unity of Kether, and they are called ‘the Twins of God’. The three supernals of Kether, Chokmah and Binah are reunited into a singular palace of Beth on the Wheel. This Palace is a harmony of the Indivisible Point that all things revolve around (analogous to the Pole star), and Wisdom and Understanding all at once.

The Thaumiel would therefore represent the averse of these qualities, being stupidity and misunderstanding; but as all things come from God; are set in motion by God, and are God, then these two qualities may also be appreciated as aspects of God’s greater unity.]

3. Even for five hundred and eleven times nightly for one and forty days did I cry ‎aloud unto the Lord the affirmation of His Unity.‎

[Here, Crowley uses different number bases that require conversion. 511 in decimal is 777 in base 8 and 41 in decimal ‎is 56 in base 7; and the word יוֹם (56) ‘Yom’ means ‘Day’.‎

A misunderstanding may be eliminated here. In Sepher Sephiroth the World of Shells (i.e. the Qlippoth) totals to 777, but only in the standard gematria that has been degraded from its original beauty and purpose. All words that contain a shin or a tav are miscalculated by standard gematria, so while it may have some truth to it, it’s really only suitable for cipher and bluff. עולם הקליפות ‘The world of shells’ = 381 by biblical gematria and 381 is 3 x 127. 127 has many correspondences but Crowley only gives us the word ‘מוטבע’ – which leads to quite an amusing meditation on the shells however. 381 is the sum total of the first 3 words of Proverbs 25:2: כבד אלהים הסתר: “[It is the] glory [of] Elohim to conceal.”]

4. Glory to God, and Thanksgiving to God! There is One God alone, and God is ‎exceeding great. He is about us, and there is no strength save in Him the exalted, ‎the great.‎

שבינה ] = 88 Gloria cohabitans [vide K.D. L.C.K. p. 711]; the Glory of God.
הוֹד֤ו לַֽיהוָהּ֙ = 77 ; Thanksgiving to God. ]

5. So wrote the Exempt Adept, and the laughter of the Masters of the Temple ‎abashed him not.‎

[ The Exempt Adept’s focus on this path comes from the Palace of Aleph. He is concerned with the One but the Master of the Temple has no attachments, not even to the one, or the 2=0, and so all the universe appears as a cosmic joke. ]

6. The great goddess that bendeth over the Universe is my mistress; I am the ‎winged globe at her heart.‎

[ The Goddess Nuit is here identified and the winged globe is the Holy Grail seen in the Tarot card of the Chariot. Crowley writes of this “the central and most important feature of the card is its centre – the Holy Grail. It is of pure amethyst, of the colour of Jupiter, but its shape suggests the full moon and the Great Sea of Binah. In the centre is radiant blood; the spiritual life is inferred; light in the darkness.” ]

7. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the earth melted into a liquor clear as water.‎

[ The Fire Qadosh means the Holy Fire of the Solar force. Earthly attachments are transmuted into their abstract forms becoming as the light of the stars in the heavens. ]

Chapter 2. The Path of Teth.

‎1. In the Image of a Sixfold Star that flameth across the Vault inane, let me re-veil ‎Thy perfections.‎

[ This path connects the two Palaces of the Alephs. Before 1190 BCE when the city of Ugarit fell, the wife of the God ‘El’ (or ‘AL’ in Thelema) was the Goddess Elat, and this is her path. She is the face of the Heavens; the roof of the Temple that lends it strength and stability; and she prevents the waters outside from rushing in to flood the earth; and she is the veil before the tabernacle.

Although there is little record of her in the Torah, references to her crop up here and there. Her word is אתה (9) ‘You Are’ seen in Psalm 90:2 ‎as ‘You are El’ (40). Also אַטֶּ֣ה ‘to incline’ or to ‘stretch’. אט means ‘slowly’ or ‘softly, in reference to her slowly moving face, and is associated with words indicating gentleness or secrecy. Words that end with the אט suffix tend to indicated covering or containing. The Paleohebrew letter was shaped as a wheel, and this is why we have the famous biblical references by Ezekiel to ‘a Wheel within a Wheel’.

The gate of this path is 11, and when added to the gates of Vav (9) and Cheth (11) they total to 31 for the number of El.

In Thelemic theology, this path is the abode of the Goddess ‘Babalon’, and she is seen in the Tarot card called ‘Lust’ (formerly named ‘Strength’) riding upon a Lion-Serpent. The stars of this lady are the circumpolar constellation of Draco that can be seen all year round from Northern Latitudes.

2. I saw the darkeners of wisdom, like black apes chattering vile nonsense. I saw ‎Thee in these.‎

[ These are of the Qlippoth. – The path of Teth is entirely creative and represents the original marriage, so the Qlippoth of this path would be entirely destructive and heedless of consequence.

We might think of a capitalist with a large factory that shows neither foresight nor beneficence towards the life of the planet, but poisons the Ozone layer for a slight increase in his profits today. Yet God is all, even in these and they stimulate the nurturing beneficence and activism of goodly people to thwart and erase such destructive and unwise elements.

These are (perhaps) the ‘Flaming Ones’, but whose flame has went out leaving the black shell of the apes? They are (perhaps) all that remains of the Saints once they have poured their entire blood into the cup of Babalon? They are (perhaps) the Nephesh cut off from its spiritual source above? ]

3. Also did I glorify His wisdom, whereby He made the worlds.‎

4. Thus did V.V.V.V.V. become mad, and wend about naked.‎

[ Crowley writes in the Book of Thoth “The woman is shown as more than a little drunk, and more than a little mad; and the lion also is aflame with lust. This signifies that the type of energy described is of the primitive, creative order; it is completely independent of the criticism of reason. ]

5. Nor was he ashamed, hearing the laughter of the little dogs of hell.‎
6. I contract ever as she ever expandeth;‎

[ The interplay of Hadit and Nuit. ]

7. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the water smoked into a lucid air.‎

This path draws down (and along) the holy fire through the water from the left; and the light of the solar fire from the right to create the medium of the air through which the light continues its travels.

Chapter 3. [ The Path of Yod ]

1. Thou hast appeared unto me as an aged God, a venerable God, the Lord of ‎Time, bearing a sharp sickle.‎

[ The Path of Yod falls between the Palace of Resh and the Palace of Aleph. It has a gate number or 211, but when the letters are attributed to the Seven Places by order – rather than by gematria value, then this palace has the gate value of 31.

In the oldest representations of the Hermit card we see the personification of Saturn as the Father of Time, holding an hourglass. In later representations he holds a lamp and this may be related to the practise of using special lamps to measure the hours with. Saturn is the most closely associated deity to El, and he is sometimes represented as holding a scythe. ]

End of Part II. 03/07/2017