Outer Order Grades 6: Dominus Liminus

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

"Let any Philosophus be appointed a Dominus Liminus".

The status of the Dominus Liminus can be thought of as a sub-grade of the Philosophus. This is not quite accurate however, and in practice this grade bears more resemblance to the Probationer grade, or that of an 'Adept in waiting'. Not being officially assigned to a Sephirah, this grade resides in the region of the Tree of Life called Paroketh. The name of the grade translates as: Lord of the Threshold, and as such the Dominus Liminus is one who again waits at the door, but this time the door is that of the Inner Temple, that of the Rose Cross, as signified by the emblem he wears on his breast.

This grade is situated at the intersection of Peh and Samekh, and is essentially a grade of harmonisation. Having traversed the pillars of severity and mercy he returns to the middle pillar, since it is along this grade that real progress is made. There is no set time limit for advancement to the subsequent grade, which can occur at any time that authority confers it.  

The Dominus Liminus is encouraged to meditate deeply on the path. This is a grade of integration and of bringing to fruition the work carried out so far. In previous grades the aspirant has been assessed by his supervisor at the conclusion of each grade, but here things are different, the tests too critical, and he is instead assessed by Preamonstrator of the A.'.A.'.. I would like to say that assessment is by committee, in that the Dominus Liminus is recommended for advancement into the Order of the Rose Cross by his supervisor, there may or may not be some debate, but ultimately the final decision lies with the Preamonstrator, or else the senior active initiate.

The Dominus Liminus is expected at this point to take up an office in a temple of initiation, and to facilitate this he is issued a copy of Liber Mysteriorum which contains the Temple Initiations of the Outer College. This takes care of his memorisation task and will also help to integrate the essential keys of the outer college curriculum and give structure to his work, furthering his central task of harmonisation. He may well have served in the temple prior to this grade, and in particular a Philosophus may well have served the Order in this capacity, fulfilling the requirements for both grades.

Control of thoughts provides a complimentary exercise to the Yoga prevalent in this grade. Exactly how this is carried out depends on the aspirant who is left to himself in all things. One example might be to adopt separate personalities, and at a physical signal such as the wearing of a ring, adopt one or the other. This is a very difficult practice to maintain for long periods but can prove useful in highlighting where the personality is still dominant, veiling the Self.

The harmonising of knowledge is a difficult thing to assess. Really I would regard this as a work of synthesis. Previously in each grade the aspirant has worked in a specific manner and on particular subjects. The 1=10 concerned himself with ceremonial, hermetic science and all the paraphernalia and objects of occultism, the 2=9 became a Hatha Yogi and so on. The Dominus Liminus is not limited by this, and rather than being partial and deliberately focused on one area of attainment he instead finds his own natural balance where the four broad areas that he has worked on become synthesised into a single praxis according to his own nature. It is for this reason that Initiates of this grade or above may seem a little idiosyncratic in their approach, making them difficult to pin down. What is actually happening here is that the Dominus Liminus is maturing, gestating we might say, in his own silence and according to the inner prompting of the Angel which increasingly is his sole guide in these matters.

This brings us to, Lighting the magick Lamp. We read in Liber A:"This shall he accomplish secretly and apart, without asking the advice or approval of his Adeptus Minor." Refers not only to the practical but the inner requirements. The Dominus Liminus constructs his own lamp and places it within his own temple, where it burns without wick or oil, being fed by the Aethyr, which is to say, from this point he is left to his Angel and should refer ever more to that inner light. To facilitate this the practices of Raja Yoga again will play a key role.

He is expected to bring his Yoga to a higher standard still; Dharana leads naturally to Dhyana, subject and object while still distinct, are at the same time one. Pratyahara begins and consciousness is withdrawn from the senses by profound relaxation, and may well be facilitated by the practice of Mahasatipatthana learned in the 4=7 grade. Where this practice involves a separation of the senses, Pratyahara goes one step further and is removed from the senses. This is not to say unaware,  since consciousness continues, and with a though you can a return to full waking awareness. But within the practice itself is silence, the mind is turned inwards to the secret depths of ones being as if you were at the bottom of a well, something like the space on the edge of sleep, only controlled, balanced, liminal, a door between the worlds, only not the worlds of dream on the threshold of sleep, this is Paroketh, the threshold of Briah, the creative world. The Dominus Liminus will need this liminal space if he is to enter the next grade, since it is here that communication with the Holy Guardian Angel takes place, in silence, withdrawn from the world and even from oneself, where vision proceeds not from the light of the things of the subconscious, but of the Logos itself, the light of the Aethyr.

I recall this grade as a quiet time in my Outer College work. Where the previous grades had been full of activity, suddenly I was left with little to do except digest and reflect. Aside from the aforementioned tasks I worked on commentaries on the Holy Book chapters that I had memorised, and also continued to work on the adaptation of Liber Samekh that I had begun as a Practicus. The effect was not unlike that of a student who, having completed his finals now awaits the exam boards decision. There was also a regular sense of being questioned, almost interrogated by an unseen person or persons questioning my right to be where I was at the threshold, which is consonant with the statement in part 5 of the task of this grade "his mastery will be often disputed, though he knoweth it not".

The transition from this grade to the next was silent, almost imperceptible, as if at a given point my perspective changed of its own accord, the lamp lit as if by itself, and a light ascended to the darkness.

This brings to an end my brief exploration of the Outer Order Grades of the A.'.A.'., a work that covered just under four years of constant daily study and work. On the whole this exercise has been something of a recapitulation on my part, not unlike the work of synthesis carried out as a Dominus Liminus. While some of the ideas and images here may not chime with what others have written, and there is sure to be some disagreement, I hope that there might also be some common ground, and that this account might be of use to somebody considering the path or already on it.

Love is the law, love under will.

Outer Order Grades 5: Philosophus 4=7

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

As before, there is no ritual admitting to the grade of Philosophus. Now entering the third of the yetziratic triad the new Philosophus will now have build up considerable momentum. Furthermore, he will have lost some excess weight in the form of outmoded thinking and attitudes. Having been put through ordeals both of the body and the mind he is ready for the next stage of the process.

Netzach corresponds to the planet and Goddess Venus, and refers to love, more properly Agaph, which we can handily think of here in it's original sense of brotherly love. Where Hod was the library of the temple, Netzach is more of a social space for interactions with other beings, quite possibly a bar, and there may be alcohol, exotic dancers, and other forms of intoxication around with which to lubricate social interactions. Many people stay here all there life, and it is easy to see why! The usual translation of the name Netzach is 'victory', which gives us another insight into Venus, since in ancient times the goddess of love was also goddess of war. Aphrodite was reputed to be the mother of the warrior Achilles, and while we all know him for his weakness in the ankle, from which we draw the name of Achilles tendon, if we re-read the Iliad it becomes apparent that peerless in warfare, his real weakness was of the romantic kind, and was the cause of his dispute with the king Agamemnon which almost cost the Greeks the Trojan war.

The task of the Philosophus is as follows: "To obtain control of the repulsions and attractions of my own being". This compliments that of the previous grade, vacillations being essentially sideways movements, repulsions and attractions are movements forward and backwards, towards and away. This describes in one sense timidity and aggression, what we shy away from and what we head towards vigorously, as well as what repels or attracts us about other people, for the Netzach grade is essentially outward looking. A pattern begins to emerge, and this is summarised by the symbol that distinguishes the Philosophus, the Calvary cross of the elements, which now has a sturdy base with which to touch the earth and is fully extended in all four directions (see the top of this post).

This grade is related to the socio/sexual conditioning of the aspirant. This is the Sephirah not simply of love, but of who and how we love. It is also the sephirah of hate and conflict. The work of this grade seeks to uncover deep drivers of behavior beyond the merely intellectual. The instinctual drives, what you love and what you hate, and how you respond to the world around you. In the Zelator grade something similar is carried out in the physiological training of Hatha Yoga and a good yoga instructor or ones supervisor will be able to test this. In Netzach something similar occurs in the life of the Philosophus as a result of his grade work, and he will be able to adapt this principle of self-testing to obtain insight into his repulsions and attractions, thus enabling him to begin to exercise some control over them. 

The core practice of the Philosophus is that of Bhakti Yoga, which is Yoga by devotion. The precise Bhakti referred to here is para-Bhakti, or pre-bhakti, and is encompassed in the practice of Liber Astarte, a text which instructs in the building of a devotional practice aimed at a specific deity of the aspirants choice. He is also tested in his devotion to the order, but as other writers on the matter have stated, he will by now probably have demonstrated a considerable degree of devotion just by getting to this advanced grade! Crowley writes in Liber Astarte that the practice is better if the deity selected for devotion is one whom the aspirant has no particular love for, and in fact antipathy might be better to begin with. Again this refers to the main task of the grade in which the Philosophus must be ruler of his repulsions and attractions to the extent that he is able to maintain equanimity with regards to his likes and dislikes, thus freeing him from another potential barrier to the realisation of his True Will, being his own personal preferences! In any case this pre-Bhakti is deliberate, targeted, and trains the aspirant in devotion as a principle in itself, not out of instinctive passion, as he might be devoted to a desirable partner, but to willed devotion. We can look at this work as a precursor to 'love under will'. 

The ritual work designated for this grade is Liber V vel Reguli, also called the ritual of the Mark of the Beast. After learning and practicing this ritual for a while, I used it to construct my own ritual of the same type, which I dubbed Liber co, This went on to become my 'Act to represent the Universe', of which more later. He also applies himself to chapters 5 and 6 of Liber O, which instruct in rising on the planes, which is not tested here but should be noted down as usual in the diary, which will give some indication of the quality of the work, which covers the path of Samekh, and Art: leading directly from Yesod to Tiphareth along the middle pillar.

The practice of evocation is assigned to the 4=7 grade and is attributed to the path of A'in. The Devil, with the Goetia being the go-to text. However other texts can and should be looked in to. My approach was to use the Goetia method as a basis, but by this time having obtained certain magickal keys of my own I departed from an exact replication of those methods and instead utilised my keys in harmony with tradition, constructing a lamen, talisman and triangle of art in keeping with my then understanding of ADNI and the names, signs and numbers so far received, and used these in my evocations. It is worth noting that in harmony with what I wrote earlier about Netzach and the socio/sexual drives of the aspirant, this work is by definition a bringing out what is within, so beyond the simple ability to summon a medieval demon to poison your enemies cow or enchant his wife, which is child's play compared to the purpose of the Great Work, the work of evocation summons and bring to the surface the demons of ones own hidden drives and compulsions, which you then have the job of reigning in and bringing into the service of your will. My advice: don't forget to consecrate your triangle of arte! 

The third path to traverse is that of Nun, and the tarot card Death. The practice here is Mahasatipathana, essentially a form of introspective mindfulness. The reason for attributing this to the path of Nun will be apparent once you begin the practice. This practice is really an analysis by detached observation, first of the body followed by the mind-body connection, the thoughts, the impulse of though (pre-thoughts perhaps). The practice can begin in Asana, lying down, or walking, with detached notice being taken of each arising 'skanda', perhaps joined with the phrase 'not this, not this' (neti neti). The four domains in Satipatthana are (Body, feelings, mind, and dharma, which Patenjali divides into Yama (constraints) and Niyama (observances)). You will note here the commonality here with the task of the grade. Mindfulness then becomes another tool for obtaining control over ones repulsions and attractions, and is thus death to the wandering ego that thinks it is in command but is in reality a victim of circumstance, drawn or repulsed like iron filings to a magnet.

Liber DCCCXIII vel ARARITA is a beautiful book which indicates something of key importance to the 4=7 grade. As usual the Aspirant chooses a chapter to memorise. These chapters are short, only fourteen verses each. I would advise study of the whole book for some time before deciding which chapter to commit to memory, since the message contained is a key to understanding the whole grade from the position of equilibrium of the middle pillar.

The wand of a Philosophus, constructed of solid copper and gold-plated brass and formed according to Liber A.

The Philosophus cuts the magick wand (See above), and in accordance with Liber A, uses it in an act to represent the universe. For me this was a ritual act, which as mentioned above, I called Liber co, pretentiously subtitled THE RITUAL OF THE UNIFICATION OF THE ONE WITH THE ALL IN THE FORM OF THE UNIVERSAL FIRE. Since I had been re-reading the Chaldean Oracles at the time, and A'sh you will recall is both fire and that which is burned up in the fire, and encapsulated my understanding of the universe as a self creating, self immolating process at the time. The Philosophus can create whatever act he wills here, the supervisor need only get the gist of it and see that it is in harmony with the overall trajectory of aspirants work.

Some words finally on the ordeals of the grade. Formally, the Qlippoth here is called Orev Zarak, translated by Crowley as 'The Ravens of Dispersion'. This name evokes the aftermath of battle when the ravens descend to devour the corpses that only that morning were proud and belligerent young men, bringing to mind a haiku penned by the wandering poet, Matsuo Basho:

Summer grass,
Of warriors splendid dreams,
The aftermath.

We can reflect on what Basho saw here, at the site of the destroyed capital of Fujiwara, nothing left but ruins and the bones of the dead among the summer grass. You will recall that Venus is a goddess of both love and war, exciting men to passion not only of love but of conflict. Nationalistic pride leads to slaughter, a fight over a girl outside a bar leads to a visit to A&E or the morgue: it's all the same to her once the ravens are flying. 

This grade is essentially outward looking and social. Practically speaking the challenges are those of emotionalism and failure to regulate our response to our environment. Believe it or not these responses and ingrained habits are not absolute and can be changed with conscious training. After all, if such change was impossible then the whole theory of Magick would be in question, the person who feels that they cannot change these things is anything but a magician! 

A way to think about our repulsions and attractions is in terms of likes and dislikes. If you have a lot of likes and dislikes this indicates that you are easily manipulated by your environment. We have probably all had occasions where we meet people that we irrationally dislike; it could be a mannerism or a habit of speech, but is quite often unjustified when we analyse it. The same applies to picky eaters and those with finicky tastes such as the child who will only eat bread with the crusts cut off: a healthy appetite enjoys all manner of food. 

Not that Venusian behaviour is of itself a bad thing, but it can be addictive and can lead to any of the traditional vices. Addiction to socialising itself can indicate a similar reliance on environment to regulate our feelings, as can an intolerance to crowds, which is something I have struggled with, being more of a compulsive hermit. We can also be drawn into cycles of pleasure leading to the abuse of intoxicants or behaviours which can be destructive both to our bodies and our family lives. As initiates we are responsible for ourselves and our own behaviour in response to such things, and cannot blame others or the world around us for our own actions. 

There is an element of stoicism in this: the aspirant, having hopefully begun to experience the fruits of meditation will be in a position to go beyond the judging mind and the human tendency to discriminate and blame and instead will have begun to develop what another school calls a 'spirit of non-dissension. This attitude is what is meant by the often misunderstood injunction to "love one's neighbour as oneself", not as passive, servile acceptance of hurt or injustice by which a coward convinces himself of his virtue, still less the silent harboring of the words and misdeeds of others in our hearts, which is mere endurance and leads only to resentment and the internalisation of strife, but  is the expression of an open, magnanimous attitude, as that of the sea that accepts all tributaries into the wave-less depths of the heart. 

Between birth and death,
Three in ten are following life,
Three in ten are following death,
And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
Why is this so?
Because they live their lives on the gross level.

He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinoceros or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn,
Tigers can find no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so? Because he has no place for death to enter.

(Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 50)

A look at the book 777, column 50 shows us that the transcendental morality associated with Netzach is unselfishness. Just as the Practicus is bound to an adherence to reality as it is in itself (truthfulness), the Philosophus is bound to realise unselfishness, which is an expression of Bhakti yoga. This is the original meaning of Agaph, brotherly love, which is not to say you need to like everybody you meet, but should work to maintain a positive attitude despite the behaviour of others. The Ordeals of the grade can also take on a sexual character that requires a deep understanding and control of the reproductive instinct. The approach is much the same, Agaph implies absolute respect for other persons as "members of the body of God".

My supervisor regards this grade as the one most likely to blow a fuse in the aspirant and the one responsible for more casualties than any other. Most of us with the best will in the world, even when we are capable of controlling the foundations and vacillations of our being, have our work cut out when it comes to our repulsions and attractions. In most situations where this gets put to the test will find that we have acted without thinking as our socio/sexual circuits take over, revealing us to be little more than semi-aware automatons programmed to flee, fight, procreate or eat according to deeply ingrained responses of desire, anger, love, hatred and the rest. 

To my mind, the best weapon for this fight, and the core practice to carry out all throughout the Philosophus grade is that of mindfulness. The aspirant has demonstrated courage as a Zelator, and shown insight as a Practicus, and an incisiveness which like a razor can, if held with a cool eye and steady hand, cut painlessly into the tender flesh of the aspirants deepest fears and desires which he has exposed by his evocations and which will, unless he is prepared, run riot in his life. Here, perhaps more than ever, I am inclined to agree with Israel Regardie's assessment, anybody approaching initiation needs their head examined!

Success in this work entitles the aspirant to add the red petaled rose of the Spirit to the cross of the elements, which is the symbol of the willing crucifixion of the Self in the world. The developed Philosophus may then take the oath of a Dominus Liminus, returning him to the middle pillar in preparation for the final stage of the Outer College work.

Love is the law, love under will.  

Outer Order Grades 4: Practicus 3=8

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

There is no ritual admitting to the grade of Practicus. This is probably because the ceremonial initiations are reserved for movement between the four qabalistic worlds as vertical shifts in consciousness, which is not the case here. The Practicus has taken a shift in perspective that can appear quite dramatic, but he nonetheless remains in Yetzirah. The difference is now more of a change in perspective than an entirely new vantage point, the same story of the tower, but a different window. It is worth thinking of the three grades of 2=9, 3=8 and 4=7 as a unit, set as they are in the Ruach below Tiphareth. The Zelator has made the first vertical shift along the path of Tau, the next vertical shift will be via the path of Samekh, which joins Yesod to Tiphareth. These three grades can be thought of as sub sections of Yetziratic consciousness, they correspond to instinctual/territorial, intellectual/conceptual and emotional/sociosexual centres of the initiate.

Hod corresponds to the intellect, the initiate has made his way to the library of the temple. This sphere is ruled by the god Mercury. Once admitted the new Practicus fixes the 48 rayed hexagram, with the eye of Horus, to the hood of his robe.

This is a difficult grade to write about adequately, it's multi-faceted nature makes it shift and change rapidly and it is difficult to pin down, much like the quicksilver of its patron deity. Technically speaking the initiate of this grade has made a shift to the left hand pillar of severity, an unbalanced position, and thus given to extremes of expression if care is not taken. There are three paths to be traversed as part of the work here which all head to Netzach. They are Qoph, going from Malkuth via the path of The Moon, Tzaddi, starting from Yesod via the path of The Emperor, and Peh, going from Hod via the path of The Tower. The tasks associated with these three paths are the mastery of divination, the methods of expansion of consciousness, and the destruction of thoughts. 

The central task of the Practicus is: To obtain control of the vacillations of my own being. Simply put, the Practicus must learn concentration, one-pointedness, and singularity of purpose. His greatest aid here is the practice of Yoga, and in particular Dharana and Pratyahara. Much of the reading material prescribed for this grade points in the same general direction. Several instructions can be gleaned from Liber E, but as with the methods prescribed for the previous grade I would advise the Practicus to seek out formal training under somebody who knows what they are doing. In the very least one's supervisor will be able to offer guidance.

The practice designated for the expansion of consciousness is called Liber Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia (DXXXVI). Personally I would start with the simpler meditation of Dharana, and when some proficiency is obtained, start with Liber DXXXVI. For this practice I spent considerable time learning the constellations, using apps and online resources and plotted the paths of the planets so that I could then visualise these clearly. Getting outside under the starts is ideal but care must be taken not to let emotions and thoughts of 'the beauty of Nuith' overcome the mind. Now is a time for rational thought, not flights of fancy! This is clearly a very advanced practice and good results will only be obtained if the prior work in the fundamentals of meditation has been sufficiently rigourous.

At this grade the Practicus is expected to complete his Qabalistic training. The texts given here are Liber 777 and Sepher Sephiroth. If the Tarot has been thoroughly learned then this will be a great help at this point. I would expect the major correspondences for the tree of life; the ten spheres, twenty two paths and four worlds, to be memorised, as well as the values and meanings of the Hebrew Alphabet. More information can be obtained in Liber O. There is a deeper meaning here, which is found in the literal meaning of the word 'Qaballah', which refers to a reception.

Receptiveness is key to this grade, a quality that is signified by the forging of the Magickal Cup, in which a number to represent the universe must be discovered by the aspirant and adequately described. Since a symbol and a word to represent the same have already been discovered by the aspirant the number should be consonant with these. This receptiveness is described in the Japanese axiom, that the mind should be "like the calm smooth surface of the water, that reflects the moon and a flying bird", that is to say, the surface is so still and serene, that no ripple disturbs, and a bird can be readily distinguished from the moon. This means that the movement of the mind does not obscure reality as it is in itself, only then can real reception take place. Success in this task is signified by the cup and its number. 

The Practicus must memorise the whole of Liber XXVII, Liber Trigrammaton. To understand this book a study of both the I Ching and the Theosophical system contained in the book of Dyzan. The book itself while obscure is short, and should not take long to memorise. I used imagery and visualization to help in understanding the interaction of the trigrams, as you can see below:

Which, while admittedly imperfect, serves to order the mind via the visual cortex by way of a mandala summarising the book..

Liber HHH (SSS) consists of a practice of kundalini yoga. It is not really possible to force kundalini activity, and really this activity can arise without the aspirant being aware of it, being indicated only in its results. I found I started to have occasional activity long before reaching this grade so it is not restricted to the Practicus. Nonetheless the practice here should be carried out and the results noted.

As for the destruction of thoughts, a little to say on this matter. Quite frankly the only way to really destroy thoughts is to commit suicide, since thought continues even in deep sleep, so the literal destruction of thoughts is not indicated here. The study and practice of Liber XVI (Tvrris) is best carried out once proficiency in the practice of Yoga and Liber HHH has been obtained. The Practicus will also have by this point we hope, completed his Qabalistic training, including the excessive use of gematria. We can think of gematria as qabalistic koans, that is paradoxical problems that use the mind against itself, so that the only way out for the hapless aspirant is to overcome the thinking apparatus itself, and thus escape from the ruins, which we will cover now.

The Practicus task goes well beyond the technical qaballah, to the structure of the mind itself. He should, if he is performing his meditations properly, begin to discern this structure more clearly. He will be in a position to see how and where thoughts arise and how his conceptual framework structures his thinking. Once he begins to discern the limits of his thinking, it follows that breaking out of it becomes a possibility, and thus the path of Peh begins. The image of the tower suggests that all could come crumbling down at this point, blasted by the Eye of God, which is in reality his own inner vision freed from conceptual limitations. Old and outmoded patterns of thought begin to fall away, self delusions, sometimes comforting ones that protected him from less pleasant aspects of reality or shore up a wavering ego may also crumble. This may encompass a loss of faith, a loss of certainty, a lack of reliance on assumptions that previously gave some security. This can be quite threatening to the ego invested in these things, thus the Practicus will experience this grade with discomfort insofar as he is invested in his preconceived conceptions.

The negative aspect of this grade is known as Samael, The Litigation or the False Accuser. This can be seen as a negative reaction of the ego to the dissolution indicated above. If the aspirant is stubbornly unable to let go of outmoded concepts, to shun truth that doesn't flatter his vanity, to ignore reality in favour of a comforting falsehood then he has fallen into the Qlippoth of Samael. Another expression of this qlippoth is the wrong use of knowledge. One aspirant described it to me as a harsh coldness with a lot of severity. I will say that Mercury can be rather blunt and logical, inexorably so in fact, and when taken to a qlippothic extreme, devoid of Agape, Samael is the one who comes up with 'final solutions' to problems, with no thought for the human cost.

The transcendental morality of Hod is Truthfulness, (Liber 777 column 50), which is must more than the refusal to tell a lie but encompasses ones whole demeanor and what we communicate to others, as well as the things we tell ourselves. This truthfulness is implied throughout all I have discussed so far, seeing reality as it is, unvarnished, direct perception. I found that personal integrity was also thoroughly tested at this grade. I found myself in situations where I could have lied to save my own skin, or used (misused) logic to free me from responsibility or the need for honesty. The mercurial mind wants to protect itself and keep the ego from being bruised and so is quite capable of weaving a fiction in order to deceive itself and others. There are of course good reasons to lie at times, when doing so thwarts evil, but doing so in order to cushion oneself from reality and responsibility is never anything but a misuse of the mind. The mind is like a sword in the scabbard, it must be kept sharp and rust free, but it must always be used sparingly and is worse than dangerous unless you have it by the hilt. An important aspect of this grade then is the right use of the mind.

For the Practicus, equilibrium in action is key to his task. We know that he must control the vacillations of his being. We can envisage a spinning top which is stable so long as it keeps spinning. So with the mind, it never stops until death, so we must endeavor to make this movement as smooth as possible. The technical methods to achieve this are those of Yoga, but also encompass his way of life which should become balanced and harmonious. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and proponent of Zen meditation wrote: "Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony". To my mind this is the ideal mode of life for an initiate, and particularly the Practicus whose mind, an increasingly sensitive tool responding to the slightest touch, must like an astrolabe be allowed to find its own balance. The methods of doing this will vary from student to student and each must find his own balance according to his station in life. It will be obvious that this task has much in common with what I wrote above regarding the magickal cup, essentially approaching the same issue from a slightly different direction.

The final strand of work that the Practicus should be familiar with in that of Invocation, that is, bringing outside forces in. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished, from purely qabalistic using the hexagram rituals, to more obscure methods. It is essentially up to the Practicus. My Supervisor advised Liber Chanokh and the Enochian system. Liber 418 gives an account of Perdurabos' adventures in this area, from which much of Thelemic doctrine is derived. This system deals with beings that we do not fully understand, but loosely refer to as angels, that is messengers. This system is more complex than the Tree of Life system that he will be accustomed to, but can be an interesting foray into paths less trodden. My supervisor also suggested at this point that I begin to work with Liber Samekh, which was designed as an invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel. In structure this ceremony is like an elaborate version of the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram, complete with Enochian calls and signs. I adapted this heavily using my own symbol, name and number to represent the universe, and modified some of the barbarous names of invocation.

The Practicus advances to the next grade at any time that authority confers it. That is, as usual when he has completed his allotted tasks he submits his diary to his Philosophus who then administers any exams. He recites Liber XXVII and signs the necessary paperwork, and advances directly to Netzach on the pillar of mercy.

Love is the law, love under will.

Outer Order Grades 3: Zelator 2=9

Zelator 2=9

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

When he feels his work is complete, no more than a month before the minimum eight months from his admission to the grade of Neophyte, the aspirant delivers a copy of his diary to his supervisor and makes arrangements to meet face to face. He then passes the necessary tests and repeats his chapter of Liber VII. At the satisfaction of his supervisor, the Cancellarius of the A.'.A.'. is informed of the same and arrangements are made for advancement. The ceremony of initiation is called Liber CXX vel Cadavaris, called Passing through the Tuat. 

The transition from 1=10 to 2=9 represents the first real shift in awareness in the aspirant, who has moved up the path of Tau from the world of Assiah into Yetzirah, the world of formation. This transition has not been without its dangers; the Siren Ordeal, the qlippoth of Lilith, and dog-faced demons of the astral will have been encountered and known. He was required, in order to consolidate this beachhead to come face to face with his own demons so that he might know the face of his enemy. Many who start the grade of Neophyte never complete it and withdraw from the A.'.A.'. at this point, unable to deal with their complexes and the gravitational pull of Malkuth. So advancement to the grade of Zelator is truly something to be celebrated.

The Zelator is a different kind of creature to members of the preceding grades. Having followed the advice given to him as he entered the path of Tau, not straying from the straight path, in due course he has experienced the first real result of the work: The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel. This difference is reflected in the symbol of his grade, the silver Eye in the Triangle fixed to the hood of his robe. This is not quite enlightenment,  but a preliminary glimpse of coming attractions. The advent of this vision leaves the aspirant with the understanding that there is 'something' towards which he is heading, there is indeed a Star in Sight. A new confidence and zeal for the work overtakes him and the great work becomes the central focus of his existence.

This knowledge though obscure strengthens him for the coming trials in the astral realms which will be his home for the next few grades. Aspirants of this grade rarely withdraw from the Order, since unlike the Neophyte, the sort of delusions and phantasms that haunt Makuth are largely done away with. Much that was once important fades into insignificance in the light of his central star. Indeed, his task makes it clear that he couldn't withdraw even if he wanted to, and that having come this far his fate is sealed: he must eventually arrive at the City of the Pyramids, or else the Towers of the Abyss. We might say that having broken out of earths orbit, he now follows a new trajectory which we may call True Will. The success or failure of that trajectory depends entirely on the nature and powers of the aspirant. In a sense he is now in the hands of his Holy Guardian Angel, although he will probably be some way from knowing this as a conscious fact, but it will nonetheless guide him and open the ways for him. 

The task of the Zelator is summarised as follows: To obtain control of the foundations of my own being. This task is largely carried out using the methods of Raja Yoga, specifically the practice of asana (posture). The text offered here in the traditional syllabus is Liber E, a handbook of Raja Yoga outlining various postures as well as methods of pranayama (breath control). There are a number of ways that this practice can be undertaken, and I feel that Crowley's instructions here while useful as a starting point do not really meet the Zelators needs. In the 100+ years since the writing of Liber E much more has been learned about Yoga and human physiology, and better systems exist. I would advise the formal study under a qualified practitioner of a system of meditation that includes both sitting and breathing methods, so long as the methods and objectives are consonant with the requirements of the A.'.A.'..

Since the grade is concerned with the connection between the mind and body I would also recommend Tai Chi Chuan, Aikido, or another of the internal martial arts which provide both training and testing in posture, stability, relaxation and control of the mind-body connection. There are plenty of other options but these are the ones that I am most experienced with.

Control of the automatic consciousness is central to the work of this grade, residing as it does in Yesod, the sphere governed by the moon and the animal soul. Whereas the Neophyte is concerned with getting 'out of the body', the Zelator by contrast concerns himself with strengthening and refining this connection. Just as the alchemical motto says: Solve et Coagula, we must first separate mind and body to understand their nature and distinction, and then the essential unity of the two must be more fully realised as a new coordination is developed. The Zelator is never an air head or astral junky, but is firmly grounded in reality.

The work with Liber HHH continues with the second chapter (AAA), which as with MMM, reflects the nature of his initiation and aims to consolidate his yetziratic awareness. Where MMM works the path of Shin, which is governed by Fire and the Last Judgement, AAA reflects a further stage in development, that of Resh, and The Sun. If MMM is birth then AAA is adolescence, not only life, but freedom to move and act under his own volition. Having received the kiss of the Angel (The Vision of ADNI), the corpse shrouds are loosened and the newly arisen Horus goes forth to do his Will among the living.

The symbolism of rebirth is clear, not just rebirth into Yetzirah, but into the New Aeon, a fact that is also emphasised by the selection of text for this grade, Liber CCXX, the Book of the Law, of which as usual he must memorise one chapter.

Study of the formula of the Rosy Cross is conducted by the student largely under his own discretion. The ways and methods of this are many and varied, and various examples exist within the A.'.A.'. syllabus such as Liber XXXVI The Star Sapphire. A lot can also be gleaned from the essay 'Energised Enthusiasm', and the book 'A Treasure house of Images'. The Zelators job here it must be noted is to study, not practice, the formula of the Rosy Cross. The practice of the formula is reserved for a higher grade for which he is now preparing by laying a firm foundation.

The Zelator must also forge the magick dagger, as instructed in Liber A, and must formulate a word to represent the universe and inscribe this on the blade of his dagger. While a physical dagger is meant here, we also mean that he must forge his discriminating mind. The assiduous practice of meditation, breathing exercises, and to a lesser extent concentration exercises (Dharana & Pratyahara), will contribute to this, which essentially means strengthening the mind as a tool for cutting. This dagger being airy in nature operates in the lower Ruach of the mind and intellect, severing false ideas from true and further improving the aspirants ability to separate thought (Hod) and feeling (Yesod), lest the tale wag the dog. It will be apparent from this that a lot of the work of each grade is aimed at overcoming the sephirah in which the aspirant currently resides, onwards and upwards!

With the grade of Zelator, laziness and complacency are his biggest enemies. The ordeal is that of overcoming automatism or 'zombieism' in his work and is attributed to the qlippoth Gamaliel (The Obscene Ass in Liber 777). He has by now been on the path for some time, at a minimum of nearly two years, but likely much longer. He has demonstrated considerable knowledge and proven himself in the astral. He may also have students by this point which takes up some of his time and energy and may also be entrusted with greater responsibility within the Outer College. At the same time he must also continue his own work, and getting up in the morning to meditate, sitting late at night, or attending regular classes in Yoga or meditation will all take up significant periods of time. He must try to maintain a sense of wonder, alacrity and interest in the work.

A clear eye and sharp mind are needed, what D.T. Suzuki called a 'beginners mind'. His Ruach must be the light zephyr of a spring breeze, not the dank air of the home of a sloth who neglects to open the windows once in a while. Without cultivating this beginners mind his work is likely to devolve into laziness and complacency. Exactly how he tackles this will depend on the individual, but personally I advocate a measured approach, once dryness sets in then change tack and do something completely different for a while, interest in the work will renew itself in time. Since by this time the work of the A.'.A.'. should be thoroughly ingrained in the being of the Zelator  there is little danger from having a break for a while, and this is far preferable to the alternative.

Success in the grade of Zelator is marked by the experience called "The Vision of the Machinery of the Universe". The Zelator has been practicing Yoga of some sort for a while, leading to an appreciation of the body and its connection with mind. This combined with his astral awareness will allow him an appreciation of this mind-body connection, how the two interact, as in fact they are one, not two. The awareness of this interplay makes it clear that the 'person' whom he took himself to be is not so much a noun as a verb, a process rather than a solid state. In the wider sense this naturally extends out to the universe as a whole which he can now see is an eternal change of matter-energy, light-darkness, life-death in endless infinite cycles by which the universe as a whole continues to exist, and that if any of this stopped even for one second, existence would cease. In more visually dramatic terms this vision is described in the Book of Ezekiel as the vision of God and the Chariot (Ezechiel Chapter 1), which the Zelator can study to some benefit.

The Zelator shall proceed to the grade of Practicus at anytime that authority confers it. There is no set period for the completion of this grade except insofar as his supervisor needs time to read the record and ensure that he is tested. The main test here is the infamous asana test. Personally I never saw the merit in placing a bowl of boiling sulfuric acid on the candidates head for one hour, nonetheless sufficient control to sit still for one hour in one's chosen asana is needed. In reality the requirements of this grade can be met in a number of ways, my own came by passing certain tests designed to demonstrate control over the mind-body connection, which my supervisor judged as sufficient demonstration of progress when supplemented with the one-hour asana.

In this test the instructor will usually sit with the student for the allotted hour, also in asana, and will monitor the time as well as the student, making the test more difficult for him than for the student! Once this test is passed the candidate recites his chapter of Liber CCXX, and perhaps a short written examination, he is then formally advanced to the grade of Practicus, and his first trip away from the middle pillar.

Love is the law, love under will.

Outer Order grades 2: Neophyte 1=10

Neophyte 1=10

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

After his eleven months metaphorically sitting outside the temple doors, and the period of examination prior to formal initiation, the aspirant has been invited to undergo the ritual T'raa (aort), the Ritual of the Gate. I will not discuss this ceremony here, but I will recall some of my own thoughts and feelings afterwards in my own case.

Having spent the night waiting for the ceremony it seemed very brief, an hour perhaps, full of events that whirled in my mind as I put it all together. After the ritual I was unceremoniously released from the house of initiation into the street, in the very early morning. It was summer so the sun was up, but only just. I left the place where the ceremony had taken place into the bright reality of a town beginning its day. You might say I landed with something of a bump. Stinking of pungent oil and the residue of incense, with my newly presented Neophyte's robe and freshly signed oath papers in my rucksack. I felt oddly out of place, but at the same time this mundane landing was exactly what was needed to start the Neophyte journey, I was brought down to earth, since this is exactly where a Neophyte is supposed to start, with the ground beneath my feet, so it was fitting to behave accordingly: After a hot fried breakfast and coffee in a nearby cafe I got on the train and made my way home to begin the work.

The Neophyte has been invited in from the temple steps, and now stands within the porch. It is as if the door has been opened, and he has been invited to stay, as long as he knows how to work and what to work on, which come to think of it is a lot like graduate school. Yet he is still only in the hall and must make his own way to the courtyards of the Outer College. He has been given clear directions during the ceremony of the gate that he has just undergone, and he has a syllabus to follow. If he follows these instructions, understands the nature of the work and focuses on it's achievement to the exclusion of all that might inhibit this one end, he will be through in his allotted eight months.

The syllabus of this grade is nothing to be sniffed at. To all intents and purposes the A.'.A.'. Neophyte grade contains all of the technical teachings of the old Golden Dawn Outer Order up to the Portal grade. This grade stands in stark contrast to the previous grade of Probationer, wherein he had so much leeway that the aspirant could more or less do whatever he liked. Here he has no such freedom. He has a lot of work to do, and while he may race through in eight months, more likely it will be a few years before he has completed the allotted tasks. 

I was one of those who tore through this grade like an arrow to the target, but then I came to the A.'.A.'. with nearly 20 years of prior reading and practice behind me and was already intimately familiar with the syllabus. That doesn't mean it was easy, but I did have something of a head-start. My advice to new Neophytes would be; make a plan and stick to it. I planned out my grade-work, and with the blessing of my supervisor approached it as a series of tasks to be completed by set dates, much as you might if you were attending a university course. My approach was to complete the reading list, and using the GD syllabus of grades as a guide, work my way up the tree of life in a series of pathworkings as far as Tiphareth in Assiah, the world of formation which opens out into Yetzirah, the objective of the 1=10 grade. This completed the astral aspect of the grade in an organised and timely way. I would advise that neophytes approach the work systematically, completing the various tasks at definite intervals so that you know exactly what is done and what yet remains, and importantly, don't stop, hang around or get distracted.

The task of the Neophyte can be summarised as follows: "To obtain control of the nature and powers of my own being." Contrast this with the Probationers oath, where he has to obtain knowledge of the same. The Neophyte now has to translate knowledge into action. Therefore while all the reading is important, the real driver of his progress is the capacity for work and for self organisation. This work is carried out ideally in silence, i.e. away from prying eyes, not shouting about it, bragging on the internet or in other ways involving oneself in the drama of the marketplace. The work is called 'Hermeticism' for a reason.

The robe of the Neophyte is plain black and hooded, he resides in the darkness of matter and has not yet earned the eye in the triangle that marks a Zelator; he must know the secret of work first, which is the key to the realm of disks in which he works, both figuratively and literally. He must be self-contained and self-directed. While his supervisor waits in the wings in case of problems, on the whole contact should be infrequent and suggestive rather than instructive. The last thing we want is needy Neophytes, that is not how you earn your freedom. Equally though, the last thing the Neophyte needs is a supervisor hovering overhead like a helicopter mum, ready to attempt course correction at the slightest provocation. The Neophyte must be allowed to make his own mistakes and learn from them, if he is to make the wisdom acquired in doing so his own.

The memorisation task for this grade is less intense than for the previous grade. Liber VII is more earthy, cthonic, but still beautiful. The chapters reflect the planetary deities reflected into the sphere of earth. I chose the chapter of mercury, chapter V. Again this choice is left to the Neophyte. As before, I feel that the best way to memorise this is daily repetition (several times a day), from the first verse, adding a verse as each one is memorised before going back to the start and reciting the whole thing again with the newly acquired verse added on to the end. I punctuated this with long walks in the countryside, through the woods and fields of my native county. Getting back to nature, learning about plants, soil and sky are all good things for a Neophyte, since the rest of his work is based in the astral. Strong grounding not only makes him intimately familiar with the physical world around him, but also mitigates the risk of falling fowl of what Israel Regardie called "Cosmic foo foo". Indeed the Neophyte is strongly advised to 'fortify his body' get fit, engage in manual labour or take up some sport, and to fortify his mind against incursions of 'wooly thinking', idle day dreams and fluffy ideas of all sorts. Luckily the means to accomplish this are covered in his prescribed reading. 

The main tasks aside from this are work with Liber O, Liber HHH, and divination, which introduce him to the paths of Tau, Shin and Qoph respectively, although only Tau is traversed in full at this point. Liber O contains the fundamental ceremonies of the pentagram and hexagram, as well as instructions in journeying in the spirit vision. With much of this his diary will be his witness, however there are two practical tests for the spirit vision which he must pass before being admitted as a Zelator. I won't disclose their nature here, except to say that he will only pass if he is able to demonstrate the capacity to obtain new information from the astral that can be verified by his supervisor. Methods for this will probably vary between lineages.

Liber HHH (MMM) is an astral recapitulation of the ceremony of the gate. Weekly repetition of this exercise should remind the Neophyte of that ceremony, which he will also study having been given a copy of the ritual. (If he hasn't he should ask his supervisor).

He must pass the four tests called the 'Four Powers of the Sphinx'. A little to say about these tests without repeating too much what is readily available elsewhere. These tests are really tests of the conduct of the Neophyte, character tests if you like. We know that formally they are: To Know, To Will, To Dare, and To Keep Silent, and they represent the four sides of a pyramid, the summit of which represents the fifth power 'To Go', which is handily represented in the Zelator insignia of the Eye in the Triangle.

In contemporary terms we might call these four powers: Knowledge, Focus, Courage, and Tact. Such tests will arise constantly in the life of the Neophyte, and to all of us really, it is a never ending test that continues as long as one lives and has interaction with other human beings. As a simple example, although there are others: when necessary can you demonstrate knowledge of that which you aught to know according to your station in life? With regards to your work, are you able to concentrate and complete your tasks in a timely manner without undue distraction? When challenged by difficult situations do you rise to the moment and act in the best way possible or do you retreat as soon as things get difficult? And finally, do you know how to exercise tact in your words and actions, knowing when to speak and when to remain silent, when to advance and when to withdraw?

It will be appreciated that without these four one is barely living a human life at all, let alone that of an initiate. This is the grade of Malkuth, the first task is really one of getting one's mundane life in order, living deliberately rather than being blown by every wind.

The Neophyte must also construct a Pantacle to represent the universe as per Liber A. The exact form that this takes is his own concern, although it must be approved by his supervisor. This task, along with his study of the Qaballah, Liber 777, divination and astral work should all work towards the same end, that of assimilation of the language of the A.'.A.'., which is based on the tree of life system with which he should be intimately familiar. Not that this system is in any way truer than any other, but that it is the language with which he will communicate in symbol with his subconscious in the first instance, learning to interpret and distinguish the impulse from the subconscious within from that which is outside and above him, which is the true aim of this grade, the tip of his earthly pyramid. His supervisor will be able to recognise this capacity. 

This then is the crux of the Neophyte grade, that he is able to distinguish between the qlippotic imagery and impulses of his own subconscious mind and it's hells full of dog-faced demons, and that higher inspiration that should be beginning to glimmer in the darkness; One Star in Sight in a night of endless darkness. This star once perceived is again represented on his brow by the Eye in the Triangle, the result of his success in the grade and the light that will guide him through subsequent grades. Here also we find the greatest potential danger, and one by which I have seen good neophytes fall by the wayside. Not perceiving this star, unable to learn the lessons of the Sphinx, they drift from system to system, interest to interest, as the impulse moves them. They feel drawn to this or that practice and meander all over the lower astral and ever farther away from the straight path. Such may perhaps have some early success in astral work, and in fact the occult 'scene' is filled with people like this, with latent skill but none of the discipline required of an initiate. Failing to adequately protect themselves they let all in, paying heed to all the many voices of the unconscious, which they mistake for their True Will, as if True Will were the impulse of the day or the small insidious voice which tells you that they are on the wrong path, that they should not be constrained by any system (as if you could master a system by refusing to undergo it fully), they who are called by a higher road. Fears and insecurities are fed and with them the the ego in its self-assertion until they become unmanageable. 

When it gets to this point the supervisor can try to warn, but more often than not will be ignored, since "how can he possibly know what I am going through?" The supervisor and the system itself are seen as a tyrants hellbent on restricting the poor Neophyte with the demands of the grade, expecting him to fulfill tasks which he has no interest in fulfilling, the student then begins to doubt the supervisor, who is all too human in his eyes and therefore not fit to instruct. Then he doubts the system itself, determined to go the way of these willow-the-wisps that beckon from the darkness, he finally cuts himself off from the Order once and for all and is released. He is free, but free to do what? True Will has been spurned in favour of personal preference, Do what thou wilt may be given lip service, but in the heart of such a one is written "Do what we want", the we here being legion, giving no true sign, the dog faced demons of ones lower nature.

For the Zelator supervising there is one rule in this: Speak once, and then keep silence. Each candidate is entitled to fair warning, but the Zelator has his own work to do and cannot risk becoming engaged in battles with anothers Choronzon.

This is the ordeal of the Vampire. It may take many forms according to the weakness of the aspirant, the gap in his defense through which the vampire gains ingress, always by invitation! This vampire sucks the life out of the aspiration by causing the energy thus gained (for a Neophyte is a beacon of light on the astral, due to the work he has already done) to be frittered away on inconsequentials. Imagine a gun with holes in the barrel; the force needed to propel the bullet is lost and there is no energy left to hit the target. And the Neophyte, having not gotten so far as to perceive the target, will probably never really know what he has missed, except as a vague sense of loss with no cure, he may wander endlessly from system to system, teacher to teacher, yet nothing connects, since he lacks the staying power required to persevere with any one course of action to its conclusion. This is why I advocate strict discipline at this grade. Design a course of study, make a plan and stick to it. Stray not from the straight path, for beyond the limits of the path their power is infinite.

Warnings and advice heeded, the Neophyte if he is wise, one-pointed, courageous and tactful, will pull through and arrive at the other shore of the styx, having successfully traversed the path of Tau. This arrival from Assiah into the world of Yetzirah and the sphere of Yesod is marked by the experience called 'The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel', which is again the summit of his mundane pyramid. The vision will dawn on the aspirant and change his outlook permanently. The arrival of this vision may not be obvious to the aspirant, but will be clear in his demeanor and will have the effect of increasing his devotion to the Great Work, since he is now certain that there is something behind it all. Once the formal tests confirm this he may be invited to the second and last formal ceremony of the A.'.A.'., Liber Cadavaris, which will constitute him a Zelator.

Love is the law, love under will.

Outer Order grades 1: Student and Probationer

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

The A.'.A.'. journey starts, with most aspirants, with the non-official grade of student. We call it non-official since it has no place on the Tree of Life scheme that contributes the system proper. I will discuss it only briefly before moving on. 

A students job is to read a given set of texts which he will be given by the Cancellarius of the A.'.A.'., and after three months apply for examination which should he pass will give him the right to be formally tried and tested. Crowley instigated this grade after realising that most people came to the work with little or no prior knowledge, and so floundered before they had even started. We can consider the student grade to be a primer in A.'.A.'., Thelema, and Magick/Mysticism in general.

Studentship also serves a second purpose, that of winnowing. Those who are simply sniffing around the door will tend to fade away at this point, once they realise that we are not messing about and that actual work is required. This period is simple and only requires concentrated reading over a short period of time, followed by proof that said reading has been carried out. Once this proof is obtained, then applicants are taken a bit more seriously. You might say that an applicant transitions here to being formally recognised as an aspirant. From here things get interesting.

Probation 0=0

The grade of Probationer can be visualised as the aspirant waiting patiently outside the temple gates. On the tree of life this grade is a sub-grade of the Neophyte 1=10, we might say that they represent the 'without' and 'within' stages of Malkuth respectively. A Probationer has found the porch, but the door remains closed. 

The door is solid oak, with only a tiny slat for letters. It is set in stone and their is no discernible lock or door handle. There is a sign posted on the door, with a simple instruction: "KNOCK ONCE AND WAIT". 

This really is the essence of the Probationer grade. He or she will have met his assigned supervisor, establishing a tentative relationship. He will have been given instructions in the form of the Probatoner paperwork which he has signed and read aloud in the presence of that supervisor. His job now is to go away, carry out the required tasks of reading, practicing and diary writing, for 11 months, before handing in a diary to his supervisor. The task is summarised as 'to obtain a scientific knowledge of the nature and powers of his own being'. That is, to find out what sort of person he is, what are his strengths and weaknesses, what is he likely to be good at. This is all useful information later in the work when different grades make different demands on his physical body, his instincts, intellect, emotions and aspiration itself. Without this preliminary work he is essentially sailing blindly off into the unknown, so we insist that it is carried out to a high standard. 

If a Probationer is diligent and applies himself steadily to his own work it is not so difficult, but it does require a certain amount of grit, patience and humility. Problems can arise when he starts to realise that gradually the path is taking over his life. This can lead to a sense of separation that some find uncomfortable, he may feel lonely or depressed being unused to this insular lifestyle. More often than not, life itself gets in the way and the solitary existence of an aspirant is impossible for any number of reasons. There will be a variety of reasons, but the root cause of suffering here is the inability to be alone with oneself. 

If we consider this grade as preparing the ground for one's personal temple, these things can be envisaged as rocky ground that needs flattening before the foundations can be laid. It may be that such rocky ground needs levelling before the student can proceed, which is perfectly normal. On the other hand, if he cannot, or as is sometimes the case, will not do what is necessary, cast off old sweetness's, do some mental, emotional and physical spring cleaning, then the work will stall. This is what we might call the ordeal of the siren, the song of Lorelei that beckons unwary fishermen only to wreck their ships on the rocks. In modern parlance I would label this ordeal DISTRACTION. At this stage, the unwary will be distracted by this fairy daughter, who, jealous that her victim might seek another lover, drowns him in her underwater kingdom.    

Probation comes from the Latin :Probare, to prove.  The probationer is proving that he is fit to enter the temple doors. If in the space of his year sitting there waiting, he gets distracted, moves off in other directions, starts to fidget and worry and doubt himself or the order, he will tend to drift off and return to his previous existence. He may also find that aspects of his outer life intrude, making sitting at the temple porch impossible for the time being. Sometimes the duties of family or society preclude initiation, in which case he should accept this with humility, since this may be his true vocation, his True Will. However, if he can sit still and wait, not be distracted, and obey the simple instructions of the grade he will after eleven months be invited by his supervisor to first submit his diary, perhaps sit a small written exam, and recite his chapter of Liber LXV.

I should say something about Liber LXV, since really it is through the memorisation of this chapter that the Probationer is instructed as to the meaning not only of his current grade, but that of the Outer Order as a whole. It is not by accident that the robe of a 0=0 is the same robe as that worn by a 5=6. The aspiration is the same at 5=6 as at 0=0, it must be so, since the path of the Outer College is so wide and varied, that it is easy to become distracted or caught off-guard, particularly later on when the aspirant leaves the middle pillar for Hod and Netzach. 

At the Probation stage this memorisation serves as a lode-stone for the aspirant, focussing his work on the one aim of the whole of the Outer College. Though his studies may take him in various directions, with much reading and practice, if, at the heart of it all, he consistently wears the robe of a 5=6 and recites his chapter of LXV daily until it rolls off the tongue without a thought, and seeks into his consciousness to rise unbidden at odd moments, he will be able to pull through the eleven months period, and thereby earn the right to the following grade. From there he may be invited to attend the initiation ritual of a Neophyte, Liber T'raa, and begin the next stage of the Great Work.

Love is the law, love under will.  

Who owns the Silver Star

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

I despise the politics that have grown around Thelema, and particularly, around the A.'.A.'.; it was this politicking that caused me to withdraw from social Thelemic groups and pursue a completely solitary path away from the constant gossip of those who should know better. I do however feel the need to respond to something that has come up on my radar a number of times over the last year or so. Having given it some thought and boiled it down to its essentials I have a few comments to make on the matter. This is not to cast blame, but in the interests of clarity. There are those who seek to capitalise on the reputation of the A.'.A.'., and do so with impunity due to our unwillingness to discuss the matter lest we draw accusations ourselves. Complicit silence allows untruths to become truths. Yet, one of our mottoes is : Mystery is the enemy of Truth!

It is no news to anyone involved in Thelema over the last 30+ years that some representing the A.'.A.'. have devoted considerable effort to claiming sole proprietorship, spreading propaganda and retelling history to fit a version of events, relying on the naivety of new aspirants to form a narrative supporting the fantasy that the Holy Order is the preserve of a handful of individuals and those who align with them. While I had thought this had died down, recently the question has come up as to whether it is possible to trademark the initials A.'.A.'. or the sigil of the Holy Order?

There are those who wish to pursue this course of action and who question why it hasn't been done? To do so would mean that the rest of us would be infringing trademarks should we presume use the Sigillum Sanctum of the Holy Order that we serve. So far this has only been implied in passive aggressive threats and attempts to dissuade others from using the sigil on websites or other publications, claiming it is too holy to be used. I find this quite odd for Thelemites, who generally make a hobby out of sacrilege, making me wonder about the cult mentality being fostered. The tactics here are obvious and unsubtle, but the concern lingers that eventually such a mundane route to control of the Order may be followed. Such superficial minded individuals probably wouldn't care if they had to proclaim the A.'.A.'. a mundane order, so long as they control it.

In a transactionary world of legalisms the idea of control of the sigil and initials being seized in a battle in the courtroom appears to be a valid fear. It would mean that the rest of us would have to drop the name and sigil of the Order or bow down to the 'World Teacher of Thelema (TM)'. Knowing Thelemites this is quite frankly never going to happen. Getting initiates to agree on anything that might be seen to infringe on their autonomy is pretty much impossible, and those who would willingly bow down to such gangland tactics for the sake of a label are not worthy of being called initiates.

Luckily it isn't that simple. In order to make such a claim in the courts of law, it would be necessary to demonstrate its actuality beyond doubt. In a race to the bottom several others have stronger Malkuthian credentials and demonstrable lines of succession in the form of paperwork and copious written records. In any case, (if we are to resort to Malkuthian standards) we need only refer to the editorial of Motta's Equinox V:v (Sex and religion), to blow the pretense out of the water, since A.'.A.'. membership relies on a successional link from teacher to student, and this depends on the acknowledgement of that link from the teacher to the student, which in the case of the current pretense is proven in print not to be the case (parties requiring online or PDF copies of Motta's equinox please contact me). 

It should be stressed here that these flaws are pointed out not so much as to criticise a claim to aspire to the Holy Order, which is between the aspirant and the Order itself, and such is neither my intention nor my right. My sole measure of an aspirant in this regard is the same as Crowley's, if a person makes such a claim, the let him abide by it. I draw a line when individuals make a point of repeatedly referring to others as 'pretenders', in an effort to validate themselves and shore up their insecurities by casting accusations, thereby bringing the Holy Order down to the level of petty intrigue. They might want to recall the proverb about people in glass houses not throwing stones. 

The nature of the Order itself also makes the idea of such action laughable. In the introductory papers, and throughout the literature associated with the A.'.A.'., Crowley is clear that this is not a mundane order, which implies that it has no legal entity. The A.'.A.'. is a sempiternal Order, an Order of the Spirit, any attempt to politicise, or to bring it down to the mundane level automatically cuts one off from it. The surest way to lose the Silver Star is to try to grasp it. To paraphrase the Tao te Ching: that A.'.A.'. which can be owned, is not the real A.'.A.'.. 

"But all exterior societies subsist only by virtue of this interior one. As soon as external societies wish to transform a temple of wisdom into a political edifice, the interior society retires and leaves only the letter without the spirit". (Liber XXXIII, An Account of A.'.A.'.)

It is clear from this that while we might work within a group of people under the banner of the A.'.A.'., this is no more than a name for our group if we do not abide by the spirit of that sempiternal Order to which we claim to aspire. With that basic principle violated all words are revealed as hollow, wisdom turns to dust, and aspiration to the highest becomes slavish adherence to a dead structure and a me, my, mine type of mentality at odds with the spirit of fraternity so essential to membership to that august body. On the whole I am convinced, perhaps it is an underlying faith in human nature, that most aspirants understand this. Those that I have come across tend to exhibit a tacit understanding completely at odds with this behaviour, best described again, in the words of Liber XXXIII: 

"This community has no outside barriers. He who may be chosen is as the first; he presents himself among the others without presumption, and he is received by the others without jealousy."

Humility and mutual recognition are the hallmarks of those chosen, who are linked not simply by lineage, but by direct connection to the current of the A.'.A.'.. Certainly not tribalistic games or grasping at paperwork or other credentials in an effort to own what cannot be owned, which was given freely at the beginning, and which Frater O.M. was at pains to make freely available to all, eschewing elitism and exclusivity. I suspect that a lot of the online chatter regarding this is lower level initiates still immersed in anal-territorial behavior and unaware of the reality of the Order as it is in itself, since I find it hard to believe that an adept would misunderstand the nature of things so severely. 

In conclusion: It is clear that the first person to make a grasp at the Silver Star, tries to make it a legal entity subject to the laws of men, in that very stroke cuts themselves off from the interior society, makes a mockery of their supposed aspiration, and just as surely if a man were to saw through the branch that he was sitting on, all credibility would be gone at a stroke regardless of the technical or legal outcome. 

Love is the law, love under will.