Holy Guardian Angel
Thelema for Beginners - Part 05.
Thelema for Beginners was developed by IAO131 and is hosted here by the Thelemic Order. While it is not an official publication of The Thelemic Order we consider it to be a balanced overview of Thelema.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
- 00. What is Thelema
- 01. Who is Aleister Crowley
- 02. The Book of the Law or Liber AL vel Legis
- 03. Will
- 04. Love
- 05. Holy Guardian Angel
- 06. Ethics/Morality
- 07. Practices of Thelema
- 08. Thelema's Relation to Past Philosophy and Religious Systems
- 09. Symbols of Thelema
- 10. Thelemic Media
- 11. Thelema in Society
- 12. Thelemic Organizations
- 13. More Information
For more information on this subject, we have provided pertinent books & links below:
Books
Links
Books
Links
- “Thelemic Mysticism” on Wikipedia
- “Holy Guardian Angel” on Thelemapedia
- “New Aeon Initiation” by IAO131
- “Liber Tzaddi” by Aleister Crowley
- “Liber LXV” by Aleister Crowley (one of the “Holy Books” of Thelema)
- “Liber Samekh” by Aleister Crowley (advanced ritual for “Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and discussion thereof)
- The Heart of the Master by Aleister Crowley
Quotations
“There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual.
It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and
Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God. All other magical Rituals are particular cases of this general
principle.”
– Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory & Practice, Chapter 1
“The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego—or what not.”
– Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, Letter C from the Introduction
“the Angel is in truth the Logos or articulate expression of the whole Being of the Adept, so that as he increases in the perfect understanding of His name, he approaches the solution of the ultimate problem, Who he himself truly is… The Angel is the spiritual Sun of the Soul of the Adept… The Angel [is] the True Self of his subconscious self, the hidden Life of his physical life.”
– Aleister Crowley, “Liber Samekh“
“The work of each person is the release of identification with the ego and the consequent identification with Horus, That which transcends Life and Death (and all dualities)… Horus, the Sun, is a symbol of That which contains & transcends dualities, an image of our True Selves, identical in essence yet diverse in expression for each individual… The True Self never dies as it is beyond all limitation, containing all things and relations within Itself… The essential symbol-metaphor is that the Star of Unity is always shining, potentially conscious, but we identify with the ego-self and are therefore mired in duality and limitation (once you identify with the ego, you are immediately not the non-ego or the world and therefore the world becomes Two instead of One).”
– IAO131, “New Aeon Initiation“
“It is just possible that the magi wrote their conjurations on this crude hypothesis in order to avoid the clouding of the mind by doubt and metaphysical speculation. He who became the Master Therion was once confronted by this very difficulty. Being determined to instruct mankind, He sought a simple statement of his object. His will was sufficiently informed by common sense to decide him to teach man “The Next Step”, the thing which was immediately above him. He might have called this “God”, or “The Higher Self”, or “The Augoeides”, or “Adi-Buddha”, or 61 other things — but He had discovered that these were all one, yet that each one represented some theory of the Universe which would ultimately be shattered by criticism — for He had already passed through the realm of Reason, and knew that every statement contained an absurdity. He therefore said: “Let me declare this Work under this title: ‘The obtaining of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel'”, because the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it.”
– Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory & Practice, chapter 2
“If we in any way shadow forth the Ineffable, it must be by a degradation. Every symbol is a blasphemy agains the Truth that it indicates. A painter to remind us of the sunset has no better material than dull ochre. So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which is Samadhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the God which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and his Holy Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness transcending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as above, so below. ”
– Aleister Crowley, “The Big Stick” in The Equinox I(04)
“THE AUGOEIDES. Lytton calls him Adonai in ‘Zanoni,’ and I often use this name in the note-books. Abramelin calls him Holy Guardian Angel. I adopt this:
1. Because Abramelin’s system is so simple and effective.
2. Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the metaphysical man.
3. Because a child can understand it.
Theosophists call him the Higher Self, Silent Watcher, or Great Master. The Golden Dawn calls him the Genius. Gnostics say the Logos. Zoroaster talks about uniting all these symbols into the form of a Lion (see Chaldean Oracles.) Anna Kingsford calls him Adonai (Clothed with the Sun). Buddhists call him Adi-Buddha… The Bhagavad-Gita calls him Vishnu (chapter xi.). The Yi King calls him “The Great Person.”The Qabalah calls him Jechidah.
We also get metaphysical analysis of His nature, deeper and deeper according to the subtlety of the writer; for this vision – it is all one same phenomenon, variously coloured by our varying [minds] – is, I believe, the first and the last of all Spiritual Experience… the End of the “Path of the Wise” is identity with Him.
So that while he is the Holy Guardian Angel, He is also Hua (The supreme and secret title of Kether.) and the Tao. For since Intra Nobis Regnum deI (I.N.R.I.) all things are in Ourself, and all Spiritual Experience is a more of less complete Revelation of Him… The Augoedes invocation is the whole thing. Only it is so difficult; one goes along through all the fifty gates of Binah at once, more or less illuminated, more or less deluded. But the First and the Last is this Augoeides Invocation.”
– Aleister Crowley, “The Temple of Solomon the King,” in The Equinox I(01)
– Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory & Practice, Chapter 1
“The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego—or what not.”
– Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, Letter C from the Introduction
“the Angel is in truth the Logos or articulate expression of the whole Being of the Adept, so that as he increases in the perfect understanding of His name, he approaches the solution of the ultimate problem, Who he himself truly is… The Angel is the spiritual Sun of the Soul of the Adept… The Angel [is] the True Self of his subconscious self, the hidden Life of his physical life.”
– Aleister Crowley, “Liber Samekh“
“The work of each person is the release of identification with the ego and the consequent identification with Horus, That which transcends Life and Death (and all dualities)… Horus, the Sun, is a symbol of That which contains & transcends dualities, an image of our True Selves, identical in essence yet diverse in expression for each individual… The True Self never dies as it is beyond all limitation, containing all things and relations within Itself… The essential symbol-metaphor is that the Star of Unity is always shining, potentially conscious, but we identify with the ego-self and are therefore mired in duality and limitation (once you identify with the ego, you are immediately not the non-ego or the world and therefore the world becomes Two instead of One).”
– IAO131, “New Aeon Initiation“
“It is just possible that the magi wrote their conjurations on this crude hypothesis in order to avoid the clouding of the mind by doubt and metaphysical speculation. He who became the Master Therion was once confronted by this very difficulty. Being determined to instruct mankind, He sought a simple statement of his object. His will was sufficiently informed by common sense to decide him to teach man “The Next Step”, the thing which was immediately above him. He might have called this “God”, or “The Higher Self”, or “The Augoeides”, or “Adi-Buddha”, or 61 other things — but He had discovered that these were all one, yet that each one represented some theory of the Universe which would ultimately be shattered by criticism — for He had already passed through the realm of Reason, and knew that every statement contained an absurdity. He therefore said: “Let me declare this Work under this title: ‘The obtaining of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel'”, because the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it.”
– Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory & Practice, chapter 2
“If we in any way shadow forth the Ineffable, it must be by a degradation. Every symbol is a blasphemy agains the Truth that it indicates. A painter to remind us of the sunset has no better material than dull ochre. So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which is Samadhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the God which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and his Holy Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness transcending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as above, so below. ”
– Aleister Crowley, “The Big Stick” in The Equinox I(04)
“THE AUGOEIDES. Lytton calls him Adonai in ‘Zanoni,’ and I often use this name in the note-books. Abramelin calls him Holy Guardian Angel. I adopt this:
1. Because Abramelin’s system is so simple and effective.
2. Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the metaphysical man.
3. Because a child can understand it.
Theosophists call him the Higher Self, Silent Watcher, or Great Master. The Golden Dawn calls him the Genius. Gnostics say the Logos. Zoroaster talks about uniting all these symbols into the form of a Lion (see Chaldean Oracles.) Anna Kingsford calls him Adonai (Clothed with the Sun). Buddhists call him Adi-Buddha… The Bhagavad-Gita calls him Vishnu (chapter xi.). The Yi King calls him “The Great Person.”The Qabalah calls him Jechidah.
We also get metaphysical analysis of His nature, deeper and deeper according to the subtlety of the writer; for this vision – it is all one same phenomenon, variously coloured by our varying [minds] – is, I believe, the first and the last of all Spiritual Experience… the End of the “Path of the Wise” is identity with Him.
So that while he is the Holy Guardian Angel, He is also Hua (The supreme and secret title of Kether.) and the Tao. For since Intra Nobis Regnum deI (I.N.R.I.) all things are in Ourself, and all Spiritual Experience is a more of less complete Revelation of Him… The Augoedes invocation is the whole thing. Only it is so difficult; one goes along through all the fifty gates of Binah at once, more or less illuminated, more or less deluded. But the First and the Last is this Augoeides Invocation.”
– Aleister Crowley, “The Temple of Solomon the King,” in The Equinox I(01)