There have been certain changes to the FH that I have made, or am presently instituting. The reason is simple. Many of the comments left are quite simply a waste of time to the comment’s writer, blog readers, or myself. So the pages will no longer have comments available as an option. Individual posts will have that capability, until such time as that is abused as well. The original intent of this holocron was as an archive resource for those interested in such things. Quite simply, I have had enough of the unrelated comments. To those who have not abused their privileges  here, please keep commenting.

http://ashlaknights.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2212

This could also be considered simply a Jedi Oath.
 

Upanishadic philosophy: preparing the ground for rationalism

Although the Upanishadic texts (like some of the earlier Vedic texts) are primarily concerned with acquiring knowledge of the “soul”, “spirit” and “god” – there are aspects of Vedic and Upanishadic literature that also point to an intuitive understanding of nature and natural processes. In addition, many of the ideas are presented in a philosophical and exploratory manner – rather than as strict definitions of inviolable truth.

Although the Upanishadic texts goaded the Upanishadic student to concentrate on comprehending the inner spirit,  rational investigation of the world by other scholars was not entirely squelched, and eventually, the Upanishadic period gave way to an era which was not  inimical to the development of rational ideas, even encouraging scientific observation and advanced study in the fields of  logic, mathematics and the physical sciences. 

Following an era when rituals and superstitions had begun to proliferate, in some ways the Upanishadic texts helped to clear the ground for greater rationalism in society. Brahmin orthodoxy and ideas of ritual purity were superseded by a spiritual perspective that eschewed sectarianism and could be practised universally, unfettered by an individual’s social standing. Much of the emphasis was on discovering “spiritual truths” for oneself as opposed to mechanically accepting the testimony of established religious leaders. Although there is a thematic commonality to the Upanishadic discourses, different  commentators offered subtly varying  perspectives and insights.

The concept of god in Upanishadic (and even earlier Vedic) thinking was quite different from the more common definition of god as creator and dispenser of reward and punishment. The Upanishadic concept of god was more abstract and philosophical. Different texts postulated the doctrine of a universal soul  that embraced all physical beings. All life emanated from this universal soul and death simply caused individual manifestations of the soul to merge or mingle back with the universal soul. The concept of a universal soul was illustrated through analogies from natural phenomenon.

“As the bees make honey by collecting the juices of distant trees, and reduce the juice into one form. And as these juices have no discrimination, so that they might say, I am the juice of this tree or that, in the same manner, all these creatures, when they have become merged in the True, know not that they are merged in the True. . . .”

“These rivers run, the eastern (like the Ganges) towards the east, the western (like the Indus) towards the west. They go from sea to sea (i.e., the clouds lift up the water from the sea to the sky and send it back as rain to the sea). They become indeed sea. And as those rivers, when they are in the sea, do not know, I am this or that river, in the same manner, all these creatures, proceeding from the True, know not that they have proceeded from the True. . . .”

In another story, the “wise” father, expounder of the Upanishadic concept of god, asks his son to dissolve salt in water, and asked him to taste it from the surface, from the middle and from the bottom. In each case, the son finds the taste to be salty. To this his father replies that the ‘universal being’ though invisible resides in all of us, just as the salt, though invisible is completely dissolved in the water. (Chanddogya, VI)

As a corollary to this theory emerged the notion that even as individual beings might refer to this universal soul – i.e. god in varied ways – by using different names and different methods of worship – all living beings were nevertheless related to each other and to the universal god, and capable of merging with the universal god. This approach thus laid the foundation for egalitarian and non-discriminatory philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism (as well as non-sectarian streams of Hinduism) that followed the Upanishadic period. As is evident, such an approach  was not incompatible with secular society, and permitted different faiths and sub-faiths to coexist in relative peace and harmony.

In the course of defining their philosophy, the scholars of the Upanishad period raised several questions that challenged mechanical theism (as was also done in some hymns from the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda). If god existed as the unique creator of the world, they wondered who created this unique creator. The logical pursuit of such a line of questioning could either lead to an infinite series of creators, or to the rejection or abandonment of this line of questioning. The common theist solution to this philosophical dilemma was to simply reject logic and demand unquestioning faith on the part of the believer. A few theists attempted to use this contradiction to their own advantage by positing that god existed precisely because “He” was indescribable by mere mortals. But, by and large, this contradiction was taken very seriously by the philosophers of the Upanishadic period. The Upanishadic philosophers attempted to resolve this contradiction by defining god as an entity that extended infinitely in all dimensions covering both space and time. This was a philosophical advance in that it attempted to come to terms with at least the most obvious challenges to the notion of god as a human-like creator and did not require the complete rejection of logic.

Another philosophical advance of the Upanishadic period was that religion was transformed from the realm of bookish parroting of scriptures to the realm of advanced intellectual debate and polemics. The Upanishadic philosophers did not lay down their conclusions as rigid doctrines or inviolable laws but as seductive parables – sometimes displaying remarkable worldly insight and analytical skill. By attempting to win over their followers through analogies from nature, and by employing the methods of abstract reasoning and debate, they created an environment where dialectical thinking and intellectual exchanges could later flourish. (Also see ref. below)

In the very process of their questioning, (and albeit speculative reasoning about god), they had opened the door for rationalists and even outright atheists who took their tentative questioning about the role and the character of god as “creator” to conclusions that rejected theism entirely. But in either case, many rationalist and/or naturalist philosophical streams emerged from this initial foundation. Some were nominally theistic (but in the abstract Upanishadic vein), others were agnostic (as the early Jains), while the early Buddhists and the Lokayatas were atheists. Thus even though the Upanishads contained much that should rightly be dismissed as abstruse intellectual jugglery and philosophical mumbo-jumbo, the Upanishadic philosophers had levelled the ground for the seeds of rationalism to flourish in Indian soil.

The Vaisheshika School

The Vaisheshika school (considered to be founded by Kanada, author of the Vaisesika Sutra) was an early realistic school whose main achievement lay in it’s attempt at classifying nature into like and unlike groups. It also posited that all matter was made up of tiny and indestructible particles – i.e. atoms that aggregated in different ways to form new compounds that formed the variety of matter that existed on the earth.

Their philosophy was described through the enumeration of the following concepts: Dravya (Substance), Guna (Quality), Karma (Action), Samanya (Generality), Visesa (Particularity), Samavaya (Inherence) and abhava (non-existence).

Dravya (or substance) was understood as the specific result of a particular aggregate effect – i.e. the combination of atoms in a unique way. Substances were repositories for qualities and actions. Guna or quality was that which resided in a dravya. Qualities did not however contain qualities themselves. 24 qualities were enumerated, such as – color, form, smell, touch, sound, number, magnitude, distinctions, conjunction, disjunction, nearness, remoteness, heaviness, fluidity and viscosity. (As was typical of the times, psychological attributes such as pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, effort, tendency, cognition, impression, and ethical attributes such as merit and demerit were also included in the list, i.e. – qualities that were inapplicable to inanimate objects were not treated separately)

Action or Karma represented physical movement. Unlike quality which was passive, Karma was dynamic. Action was the determinant of conjuction and disjunction. Five types of action were noted: throwing upwards or downwards, contraction, expansion and locomotion.

Satta or physical existence was viewed as being the common attribute of substance, quality and action – i.e. only existing (as opposed to imaginary) entities could have substance, qualities and be capable of action.

Samanyata or ‘generality’ was seen as a mental construct to create common classes of substances, qualities or actions while Visesata (particularity) was used to identify and separate individual items from their general classes. Samavaya or inherence was a relation that existed in those things that could not be separated without destroying them.

Four categories of Abhava as negation or non-existance were listed: pragabhava or prior non-existance, referring to the absence of an object before it’s creation; dhvamsabhava or posterior negation, as the absence of an object after it had been destroyed; anyonyabhava or mutual non-existance, refering to an object being distinct and different from the other; atyantabhava or absolute non-existence, indicating non-existence in the past, present and future, citing the example of air as permanently lacking in smell – (which was presumably true in a period where air pollution must have been uncommon!).

An important contribution of the Vaisheshika school was a careful study of the time-relation in a chain of causes and effects. In a very rudimentary way, the school (along with other such schools) anticipated the theory of time calculus which could also be extended to space calculus.

The Vaisheshika school thus served as an important step in the study of science by enumerating concepts that could further the study of physics and chemistry. In addition, the the study of medical science (including veterinary science) received considerable impetus from such attempts at methodical observation and classification.

The Nyaya and related schools

The Nyaya schools complemented and built on the Vaisheshika school by elaborating on the process of accumulating valid scientific knowledge through accurate perception and generating valid inferences.

The school articulated four means of acquiring valid knowledge: pratyaksha or perception through one of the senses; anumana or inference; upamana or comparison with a well-known object; or shabda – verbal testimony.

The conditions of perception, and it’s range and limits were carefully studied. Trasarenu – the minima sensibile (i.e. the minimum visible), anubhuta-rupa – the infra-sensible, abhibhuta – the obscured perception , and anubhuta-vriti – potential perception, were recognized as different types of perception.

A general methodology of ascertaining the truth (tattva) was described which consisted of describing a proposition (uddesa), the ascertainment of essential facts obtained through perception, inference or induction (laksan or uppa-laksana), and finally examination and verification (pariksa and nirnaya). This process could involve examples (drishtanta), logical arguments (avayava), reasoning (tarka) and discussion (vada) – , intellectual exchange, or interplay of two opposing sides in the process of arriving at a decisive conclusion. A successful application of this method could result in a siddhanta – i.e. established principle – (or in the case of mathematics – a theorem or theory) elucidated through proofs (pramana). Alternatively, it could lead to a rejection of the initial proposition.

The Nyaya school identified various types of arguments that hindered or obstructed the path of genuine scientific pursuit, suggesting perhaps, that there may have been considerable practical resistance to their unstinting devotion to truth-seeking and scientific accuracy. They list the term jalpa - an argument not for the sake of arriving at the truth but for the sake of seeking victory (this term was coined perhaps to distinguish exaggerated and rhetorical arguments, or hyperbole from genuine arguments); vitanda (or cavil) to identify arguments that were specious or frivolous, or intended to divert attention from the substance of the debate, that were put-downs intended to lower the dignity or credibility of the opponent; and chal – equivocation or ruse to confuse the argument. Three types of chal are listed: vakchala – or verbal equivocation where the words of the opponent are deliberately misused to mean or suggest something different than what was intended; samanyachala or false generalization, where the opponents arguments are deliberately and incorrectly generalized in a way to suggest that the original arguments were ridiculous or absurd; uparachala - misinterpreting a word which is used figuratively by taking it literally. Also mentioned is jati, a type of fallacious argument where an inapplicable similiarity is cited to reject an argument, or conversely an irrelevant dissimiliarity is cited to reject an argument.

The Nyaya school also recognized that intelligent and meaningful debates were not possible if certain fundamental principles and basic definitions and concepts were not mutually accepted. Nigrahasthana was the term used to identify disagreements based on absence of mutually acceptable first principles. An example might be a debate between a theist who rejected logic, and a non-theist who rejected faith.

The Nyaya school also listed five classes of logical fallacies (hetvabhasa) : savyabhichara or the inconclusive type which employed reasoning from which more than one conclusion could be drawn but was used to insist on a single specific conclusion; viruddha or contradictory, where the reasoning used actually contradicted the proposition to be established; kalatita – where the elapse of time had made the argument invalid; sadhyasama, the unproven type, where the reasoning employed rested on arguments or principles that had not been proven and require proofs themselves – i.e. this was the type of fallacy where one unproven result was merely converted into another unproven result.; and finally prakaranasama – where the reasoning employed provoked the very question it was designed to answer – i.e. a recursive fallacy.

In this manner, the Nyaya school defined a very sophisticated school of rational philosophy where the process of scientific epistemology was analyzed threadbare and all the dangers of unscientific reasoning and propaganda ploys were skillfully exposed.

Causality

Buddhist and Jain scholars, as well as later Hindu scholars offered their own approaches to scientific reasoning. Virtually all the rational schools were concerned with describing causality and causal relationships, and recognized that effects may not have single causes but may require a group or conjunction of causes to occur. Buddhist scholars emphasized that cause and effect need not have a linear effect but that desired effects may also require the right conditions for their fruition. (That is to say that for a plant to grow successfully, it would not only need the right seed, but that it would also need the right type of soil, fertilization, sunlight and water.) 

Both the Jains and the Buddhists correctly speculated that a potential for the desired effect must also be present in the cause or causal agent. (For instance, only a mango seed could produce a mango tree because only the mango seed incorporated  the potential of developing into a mango tree.) As another example, one could note that  something with  brittle properties such as glass might break upon impact whereas something strong such as steel would survive. Thus a physical impact on substances of different properties would have different results.  

The Nyaya school also recognized co-effects – i.e a series of antecedants could cause a series of effects – either successive and staggered in time, or near simultaneous. Nyaya texts on causality indicate that there was an awareness that light travelled at a very high speed but the transmission of light was not instantaneous.

Buddhist and Jain Atomic Theories

The Buddhist and Jain philosophers also proposed their own variations of the atomic theory. Like the Vaisheshikas, atoms were perceived as infinitely small by the Jainas. But the Jainas went a step further by positing that the union of atoms required opposite qualities in the combining atoms – as is true in the case of electrovalent bonding. However, they erred in thinking that covalent bonding (which does not require opposite polarities in the combining atoms) could not occur. But their intuition that opposite polarities created mutual attraction and facilitated chemical reactions was correct. In the Buddhist view, matter was in fact an aggregate of rapidly recurring forces or energy waves. Their theory was illustrated with examples drawn from natural phenomenon involved with light emission. An atom was perceived as a momentary flash of light combining and separating from other atoms according to strict and definite laws of causality. Physical matter was thus seen as a denser and more concentrated form of light. Although at odds with other atomic theories of the time, their approach fit in with their general view that all things in nature were temporal, that there was constant change in nature – that degradation and renewal were continuous processes.

The Syadvada system of Jain Logic

Jain philosophers also made certain important contributions to the science of epistemology by proposing that the truth of a concept or observation could not only be true or false but indeterminate – and combinations of the above – such as true under some conditions (or true at a particular time or place – or true based on the validity of certain inferences) and false under other conditions, or true under some conditions but indeterminate under others, and so on. This led to a matrix of seven possible states of the truth (true, false, true or false, indeterminate, true or indeterminate, false or indeterminate, true or false or indeterminate). 

Jaina rationalists also studied the relationship between the universal and the particular and made important points concerning generalities and individual peculiarities. They also noted that  objects in the real world exist in a network of relationships with each other – and have specific attributes that mark them temporally and spatially:  “Every real is thus hedged round by a network of relations and attributes, which we propose to call its system or context or universe of discourse, which demarcates it from others.” Jaina philosophers also successfully synthesized earlier debates on change and permanence by positing that all objects (or parts of objects) passed through phases of  “existence, persistence, and cessation” and that reality was therefore a complex combination of things relatively permanent yet also relatively changing. 

These ideas thus formed the foundations of Indian science and contributed to the gradual elaboration of mathematics and astronomy, as well as agricultural and meteorological sciences. Developments in metallurgy and civil engineering also followed. Medicine and surgery perhaps received the greatest and the earliest impetus from these developments. Developments in philosophy also led to concomitant developments in the realm of art and culture. 

Yet. to a considerable extent, knowledge about the progress of science and reason in Indian history is often scarce.  These (and other such) historical contributions were either denied or demeaned during the process of colonization, and are only now beginning to be re-acknowledged within India and abroad. But in A. D 1068, Indian contributions to the mainstream of science were held in great esteem and readily acknowledged in some parts of the world:

Here is what Said Al-Andalusi, an 11th C Spanish scholar, court historian and chronicler wrote then: “Among the nations, during the course of centuries and throughout the passage of time, India was known as the mine of wisdom and the fountainhead of justice and good government and the Indians were credited with excellent intellects, exalted ideas, universal maxims, rare inventions and wonderful talents … They have studied arithmetic and geometry. They have also acquired copious and abundant knowledge of the movements of the stars, the secrets of the celestial sphere and all other kinds of mathematical sciences. Moreover, of all the peoples they are the most learned in the science of medicine and thoroughly informed about the properties of drugs, the nature of composite elements and peculiarities of the existing things.” (Abu’l-Qasim’s comments on India in Tabaqat al-Umam (Categories of Nations))

References:

• Examples of Vedic/Upanishadic Texts: Atharva Veda, Book 19, Hymn 59; Rig Veda, Book 9, Hymn 112,  Book 10, Hymn 127;  Kena Upanishad, supplement to the Sama Veda; Chandogya Upanishad; Verses from the Bhagavata Purana etc.

• K. Damodaran: Indian Thought, A Critical Survey

• Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya: Lokayata: A study in Ancient Indian Materialism

• Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya: In Defence of Materialism in Ancient India

• Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya: What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy

• R. C. Dutt: A History of Civilization in Ancient India

• Studies in the History of Science in India (Anthology edited by Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya)

• http://india_resource.tripod.com/upanishad.html

The Lord of All, after having come into being, says: I am he who came into being as Khepri (i.e., the Becoming One). When I came into being, the beings came into being, all the beings came into being after I became. Numerous are those who became, who came out of my mouth, before heaven ever existed, nor earth came into being, nor the worms, nor snakes were created in this place. 1, being in weariness, was bound to them in the Watery Abyss. I found no place to stand. I thought in my heart, I planned in myself, I made all forms being alone, before I ejected Shu, before I spat out Tefnut ¹ before any other who was in me had become. Then I planned in my own heart, and many forms of beings came into being as forms of children, as forms of their children. I conceived by my hand, I united myself with my hand, I poured out of my own mouth. I ejected Shu, I spat out Tefnut. It was my father the Watery Abyss who brought them up, and my eye followed them (?) while they became far from me. After having become one god, there were (now) three gods in me. When I came into being in this land, Shu and Tefnut jubilated in the Watery Abyss in which they were. Then they brought with them my eye. After I had joined together my members, I wept over them, and men came into being out of the tears which came out of my eyes.² Then she (the eye) became enraged³ after she came back and had found that I had placed another in her place, that she had been replaced by the Brilliant One. Then I found a higher place for her on my brow⁴ and when she began to rule over the whole land her fury fell down on the flowering (?) and I replaced what she had ravished. I came out of the flowering (?), I created all snakes, and all that came into being with them. Shu and Tefnut produced Geb and Nut; Geb and Nut produced out of a single body Osiris, Horus the Eyeless one ⁵ Seth, Isis, and Nephthys, one after the other among them. Their children are numerous in this land.

Notes

1 Shu the air, Tefnut the moist.
2 Same myth in the Book of Gates, division 4 (The Tomb of Ramesses VI, P. 169).
3 An allusion to the myth of the Eye of the sun god which departs into a foreign land and is brought back by Shu and Tefnut. Another aspect. of this myth is to be found in the Book of the Divine Cow.
4 The fire-spitting snake, the uraeus on the head of the god.
5 The Elder Horus of Letopolis.

Write your own wishes for destruction on your enemy. Set up with black candle in central altar. Weather you do this alone or with people, as you chant this walk around the altar with the candle on it, counter clockwise. Chant this and then read out your destruction wishes.

Principality of Fire, I call upon the Flame to summon you.
I call on the strength of all the Dark Creatures of Nature to summon you.
Principality of Fire, hear me as I call. Rise from the coiling flames!

I summon you in the name of the Seven Plagues.
Azazel, I summon you in the name of the charred and blackened stars that reigned at your beginning!

Cthonie, rise out of the darkness of the earth.
I call you forth from the subterranean rivers of blood, from the smoke of the torment which rises forever.

In the name of every Dark Spirit that is obedient to you,
I invoke you: COME FORTH.

Read destruction wishes. Then burn them up in the candle.

Let the flame carry forth my desires.

Gather up the burned ashes in a sealed container. Bury it

Let the earth carry forth my desires.

Let it be done.

Explanation:

Azazel, or Cthonie, and all the other names for this same alpha-defender is both Innocence, a defender principle of the 7 fold Light and is also the Abyss – Darkness, a horrific destroyer. It is also the manifest-defender of the alpha inner principle of Justice. It is also the destroyer of anti-anima as the pushing principle on that alpha. It is also the “mate” of the Ophion as it merges with this principle. Azazel is half here and NOT behind the “double locked gate.”

Source: Satanic Reds

    I am the protector of justice.
    I know no emotions,
    I know the truth of the force.
    I am the Protector of worlds.
    I know the power of the true Force.
    I am the defender of the true way.
    The Universe knows not of my existence.
    I pledge myself to the Jensaarai.
    For I have found true life,
    In the protection of the people I care.

  ——————————————————————————–
 
    The Jensaarai code made by the first dark side Jensaarai.

    There is no light there is no dark there is only the Jensaarai
    There is no love there is no hate there is the truth
    There is no contempt there is honor
    There are no limits, there are the true believers the Jensaarai

For further explorations of the Jensaarai tradition, I recommend The Order of the Jensaarai at:

http://jensaarai.org/forum/index.php

Wookiee-Cast Episode IX is out! (Digg it)

Four Sages of Dwartii

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

Jump to: navigation, search

Statues of two of the Four Sages of Dwartii from the Chancellor’s office

The Four Sages of Dwartii were controversial philosophers and lawgivers from the early days of the Galactic Republic. The Four Sages were Sistros, Faya, Yanjon, and Braata.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had bronzium statues of the Four Sages in his office suite in the Republic Executive Building on Coruscant. The statue of Sistros, one of the two flanking the doorway to Palpatine’s private antechamber, had a lining of neuranium underneath its bronzium surface. Hidden deep within this statue lay Palpatine’s lightsaber, dormant for decades until finally used against four “traitorous” Jedi Masters on Empire Day.

[edit] Behind the scenes

One of these figures appears in Mas Amedda‘s staff, included in Amedda’s action figure.

[edit] Appearances

• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo

[edit] Sources

• Star Wars Complete Locations
• Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary

Retrieved from “http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Four_Sages_of_Dwartii“

Categories: Philosophers | Government figures | Titles | Art

Actions

• article
• Discussion
• Edit
• History

User

• Log in / create account

if (window.isMSIE55) fixalpha();

Navigation

• Main Page
• Wookieenews
• Featured articles
• Random article
• Help

Interaction

• About Wookieepedia
• Copyrights
• Community portal
• Recent changes
• Senate Hall
• Chat

Search

Toolbox

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link

wikia

• Wikia Home
• Report a problem
• Live wiki help

• Wikia messages:
  Played Halo? Read the books? Waiting for Halo 3? If so, help out Halopedia, the Halo Wiki, today!
  Or, if you like writing stories about Halo, join the Halo Fanon Wiki.

  ---

  Vote for featured Wikia!

Wikia Spotlight

	CNC
Diablo

• This page was last modified 02:43, 31 March 2007.
• About Wikia
• Terms of use
• Advertise
• document.write(”);
• 

Wikia is a service mark of Wikia, Inc. All rights reserved.

if (window.runOnloadHook) runOnloadHook();

• Advanced search
• What’s this? (New Reborn)
• Close

_udn = “none”; _uff = 0;_uacct=”UA-288915-1″; urchinTracker(); _udn = “none”; _uff = 0;_uacct=”UA-1253655-1″; urchinTracker(); _udn = “wikia.com”; _uff = 0;_uacct=”UA-1253655-2″; urchinTracker();

Twisted cartoon
in a pool of doubt,
young grunt soldiers
carried out,
from the Grand Vizier’s
private stables-
run if you are able,
eyes bleeding,
& souls beveled,
leveled up to the dust-
rust & photos
of freedom’s days,
the little ways, we lost,
serenity,
poor girl,
never saw it coming-
let us be-bop
to the cathedral,
we’ll try to remember when,
over gin & cards,
we laugh back to school days,
& pray for rain,
to wash,
Capote blood,
wash it all
from our
stained hands.

                     -Seti I Shadim

OBE – Astral Sex ~ Once the exit out-of-body has been mastered and projectors begin tentatively exploring their new environment, another natural barrier will soon raise its ugly head. As projectors begin expanding their horizons they will soon begin encountering other projectors. Out-of-body sex (more commonly called astral sex) is a human-nature complication of consciousness and bioenergetic incarnation. It forms a strong natural barrier in the way it can hinder serious out-of-body operations. It severely limits projectors’ time out, and hence what can be accomplished, in the control they have over sexual thoughts and urges. Sexual thoughts are veritable time bombs waiting to go off in the minds of projectors. In real life, sexual thoughts and fantasy type sexual imagery pop into peoples minds all the time, privately and harmlessly. These are perfectly natural and do no harm whatsoever. In the sensitive out-of-body environment though, where projectors really are what they think, thoughts are not quite so private and harmless. Sexual thoughts not only affect the sensitive environment, but are also inflicted upon other projectors, often against their will. The quality of projectors’ thoughts have a strong influence on OBE operations, as well as on any other projector or being they happen to come across. If sexual thoughts are not well controlled, projectors will not get very far or last very long in the OBE environment. The telepathic, energetic and empathic linkage provided by the Silver Cord, between the physical/etheric body and its projected double(s), transmits energies and emotions back and forth between them. This includes sexual urges and energies generated by erotic thoughts. The sex instinct is one of the most powerful primal urges and, like all strong emotions, can cause serious energetic problems if allowed to flourish unchecked in the sensitive out-of-body environment. Unchecked sexual thoughts and urges can cause powerful energies to compound back and forth between the physical/etheric body and its projected double. This can cause a type of sexual energy feedback to occur which can have a powerful effect on projectors. Real Time Sex: Out of body sex is much more intense during a real time projection. The closer to real time a projector is, the more sensitive and vulnerable he/she is to sexual energies. There is a more direct energetic connection between the physical/etheric body and its real time projected double, than there is with its astral double; this being dimensionally more remote. Because of this, primary energy centers can become heavily involved when triggered by real time sexual encounters, especially the genital and base centers. These are the underlying causes of the intensity and speed of real time sexual encounters. Real-time sex can be almost instantaneous, as compared with an astral or lucid dream types of sexual encounters. A real time sexual encounter, accidental or deliberate, always has the same outcome. It results in almost instantaneous orgasm for the physical body of the initiator. The same thing can also often happen to the initiator’s passive or unwary sexual partner as well, when another projector is involved. With real time sex between two living projectors, there is more at work than just emotional and sensory feedback between the physical and projected bodies of a single projector. The genital centers of both projector’s can connect in a powerful way. This causes a flooding exchange of male and female sexual energies to occur between the physical bodies of both projectors, via their connecting Silver Cords, regardless of the genders of the projectors involved. Once real time sex is triggered between two projectors, a strong two-way energetic connection forms. This can cause them both to experience uncontrollable sexual arousal which may be completely out of character for either of them. The sexual urge compounds back and forth, causing a shared real-time sexual experience and energy exchange. Each projector contributes to the intensity of the real time sex act, albeit often unwittingly. In most cases there is no deliberate intent on the part of the initiator of the real-time sex act; only a few stray sexual thoughts gone awry. Both projectors are victims of their own built-in sensitivity to sexual urges and energies, with these being greatly intensified in the sensitive out-of-body environment. Real-time sex does not require physical close contact as it does in the physical dimension. Sex can be initiated and consummated from a distance of several meters or more, with the two projectors involved never getting any closer. But some attempt to enact a semblance of physical copulation will normally occur once the real-time sex process is triggered. Enhanced Genital Sensitivity: When a genital center connection (genital chakras) is made during the real-time sex act, both projectors become intimately aware of the sensation of their genitals interacting with each other; as if their physical bodies were actually copulating. But as with all other senses of the projected double, the sensation of touch is enhanced, thereby greatly magnifying OBE genital contact sensations. I would say genital sensitivity is multiplied by a factor of at least ten. It can be so sensitive that orgasm can occur in the physical bodies of both projectors within only a few seconds. This will normally end both projections, for obvious reasons. Because of this enhanced sensitivity, genital sensations experienced during real-time sex encounters are highly abnormal and feel nothing at all like they do in the physical dimension. The nearest I can describe this abnormal sensation is that both projectors feel themselves expanding into and becoming their oversensitive genitals. They become their genitals and then feel they are copulating with another set of whole-body genitalia, those of their real time sex partner. Male Initiator: A male real time sex initiator (his projected double) perceives the rapid extrusion of a giant penis-like limb as extending from his genital area. He then flows into and becomes this penis-like limb. This extends rapidly and deeply penetrates the body of his real-time sex partner in the genital area, even from several meters distance. It rises up through and fills his partner’s whole body. The initiator has the sensation that the inside of his partner’s body is made of dense, warm, energetically tingling and throbbing, ultra-erotic jelly. Female Initiator: A female real time sex initiator (projected double) feels a similar sensation to the above. But her genital limb is usually perceived by her as more of a vagina-like tube extension. This tube grows from her genital area and she flows into it, becoming it. This then extends and deeply penetrates her real-time sex partner’s body in the genital area. It then rises up through her partner’s body. Her sensation is more of an engulfing of the inside of her partner’s body rather than one of simply penetrating. This variation in female genital sensations has also been described to me as an engulfing of the spine of her real-time sex partner. Real Time Sex Process: There are as many possible variations of the real-time sex act as there are variations with physical body sex acts, including gay and lesbian varieties. Also the type of genital-like extension sensations that can be experienced, male or female, are not limited by gender. However, the genital and base centers are always involved somewhere in the sexual energy feedback equation. The coming break-down of a real-time OBE sexual encounter is therefore best considered as being the basic real-time sex process only. 1. Some variation of boy meets girl happens between two real-time projectors. Sexual thoughts and imagery cause desire to be felt by the initiator. This desire reflects back and causes immediate sexual arousal to occur in the initiator’s own physical body. 2. Physical sensations of sexual arousal now rebound back into the initiator’s own projected double, from their own sexually aroused physical body. 3. Sexual thoughts, imagery and erotic sensations flood back and forth, compounding swiftly on telepathic, emotional and bioenergetic levels. This rapidly intensifies sexual arousal in both the initiator’s projected double and physical body. 4. Now fully aroused, the initiator’s physical body floods its projected double with sexual energy from its now highly active genital center, via the Silver Cord, as his/her physical body rapidly approaches orgasm. This sexual energy flooding momentarily strengthens the initiator’s projected double, but sexual urgency now consumes the initiator and results in a total loss of control. Once this stage is reached there is no way to avoid the inevitable consummation of the real-time sex act. 5. The initiator’s own projected double will now usually attempt some form of rapid and urgent copulation with his/her ensnared passive partner. This forms a remote energetic connection between the physical bodies of both projectors, via both their projected double’s Silver Cords. This connection is much stronger if the passive projector becomes sexually active at this stage. 6. Erotic thoughts and sensations, emotional and sexual energies feed back and forth between the initiator’s physical body and its projected double, resulting in a type of erotic sexual energy feedback, swiftly compounding and increasing. This will usually involve the passive partner as well, especially if he/she has become aroused and more or less involved. This creates something like a four sided sexual energy feedback loop, greatly increasing its intensity. 7. Orgasm now occurs in the physical body of the initiator, and very often in his/her passive partner’s physical body as well. Physical body orgasm usually ends the projection immediately. Depending upon the speed and intensity of this type of real-time sexual encounter, the passive partner may or may not become actively involved in the real time sex act. Therefore his/her physical body may or may not experience orgasm. This depends greatly upon the timing of the encounter: on whether or not there is enough time before the energy connection is broken by the initiator, when he/she consummates their side of the real-time sex act. The entire real-time sex process can take place, from the first stray sexual thought to orgasm, in under ten seconds; with either male or female initiator. The above real-time sex process can have many variations and subtle nuances. Orgasm will almost always occur in the initiator, and more often than not in his/her passive partner as well. The above process can happen so fast that the initiator will often be unaware he/she has initiated sex. That is, until a rapidly approaching physical body orgasm signals the end of his/her projection. Age, physical condition, sexual orientation and inclination do not have any effect on out-of-body sex. Many people, although they may be old and think they have outgrown the sex urge, find they feel young and sexually active again during OBE. In the out-of-body environment everyone is young and vital and therefore has an inherently sexual nature. And you will never see an old, fat, skinny, crippled or ugly projector. The innate sense of whole-body self-awareness that everyone has sets when a person is in their prime, usually around the age of thirty-five. This sense of whole-body self-awareness shapes the image of the projected double, which is not limited by the true appearance and condition of the actual physical body. Because of the above, sexual identity can also affect perceptions of the physical body during OBE. For example, a male with female sexual identity can appear as having a female body during OBE. In the fluid OBE environment you are what you think and can become what you feel. (See ‘Shape Shifting’ — Astral Dynamics) Astral Sex: Astral sex (and even lucid dream sex) is dimensionally more remote and thus causes far less sexual energy and sensory feedback than real-time sex; although this will still occur to some degree. Astral sex is therefore slower and more like normal physical body sex. The enhanced genital sensitivity and abnormal genital sensations, as discussed above, are also greatly reduced during astral sex. Because of this, astral sex can provide extremely realistic sensations: much more like normal physical body sex. Astral sex can also sometimes be orgasm-less due to this reduction in sensitivity, and because of the lengthier time it takes to achieve orgasm and hence consummate the astral sex act. Apart from other living projectors, many of the characters encountered during astral projections do not appear to be real; although some are what could be called native inhabitants of astral realms. Also, as I mentioned earlier, most of the characters encountered during lucid dreams do not appear to be real. Many seem to be something like created shells, whose sole purpose is to form a temporary part of the scenery. It is possible to have sex with a created or unreal character, although the genital contact sensations resulting from this type of sexual encounter are greatly reduced; seemingly more distant than sex with other projectors. The sensations of sex, in this case, appear to be provided by the subconscious mind of the projector/dreamer; probably based on memories of past real-life sexual encounters. The erotic mental imagery and sexual sensations are, however, just as real to the physical/etheric body and energetic feedback will still occur, albeit less strongly and in a kind of solo sexual energy feedback loop. In my experience, other people encountered during real-time OBE’s are usually other living projectors. However, this does not hold true once a projector shifts out of the real-time zone and into the lower astral; which will often happen unnoticed. There is one main way to tell real projectors and sentient astral beings from unreal created characters. Real and unreal beings behave and react quite differently to interference, including sexual advances. An unreal character will simply stand there and let anything be done to them, be it sex or murder. They will not resist or complain in the slightest, no matter what is done to them. However, real astral beings and other projectors, even unaware sleep projectors, will be found to object, resist, fight, verbally abuse and even attack interfering projectors; although they will usually just leave the area. In the crowded areas of the lower astral (the lower astral is heavily populated, mainly with unaware sleep projectors) projectors may find themselves occasionally passing through the bodies of other projectors. This often cannot be avoided, given the usual directional control problems. If they are not careful, this in itself can often trigger the astral sex process, especially when passing through the projected doubles of the opposite sex. Even if a projector keeps his/her mind clear they will still feel a sexual stirring; although this can be controlled and overcome if his/her stays focused and keeps moving. This type of accidental astral sex will only snare projectors if they are careless. As I said, the majority of OBE sexual encounters are unintentional and/or accidental affairs; although there most definitely are exceptions. Sex just happens when sexual thoughts, fantasy imagery and sexual energies get out of control. Either male or female can initiate the out-of-body sex process with the same end result. This can also happen between two projectors of the same gender. Only one projector is needed to initiate out-of-body sex, which in most cases is usually enough to involve and consummate sex for both projectors. If projectors do not wish to have out-of-body sex, they have to be aware of what can happen and act quickly. If they meet another projector and think or sense a sexual encounter may be likely, they must move away very quickly to avoid it, especially in real time. But this is easier said than done. It can happen very quickly and the initiator may not even intend to have or cause a sexual encounter. He/she will often be just as shocked by what transpires as their unwitting partner may be. One comforting thought here is that no one can get seriously hurt through chance out-of-body sexual encounters; no matter what or how it happens. It is not only very quick, but there is no actual physical contact. It is also rarely remembered by either party; and if remembered then only as a dream. And as there is no actual physical contact, it really is the ultimate safe sex. In my opinion, OBE sex can cause no more psychological scarring than a bad dream might. An important aspect of the natural barrier which out-of-body sex forms, which deserves consideration, is just what this can do to the energetic value of a projector. In the out-of-body environment like attracts like in a very big way. If projectors deliberately seek out and engage in disreputable sexual behavior during a projection, they will find the dimensional level they are capable of operating on will begin to lower significantly. Repeated deliberate sexual encounters (one could call this astral rape, with all this implies) could well mean projectors will begin sliding down the dimensional scale until they find themselves frequenting the very low astral sub-planes. This new level will have a more predatory sexual nature and theme to it; better suited to this type of projector. For all the above, occasional chance or unintentional out-of-body sexual encounters do not appear to cause any significant or lasting drop in projector’s natural dimensional level of operations. And this does not apply to out-of-body love and romance: where there are shared feelings of love, intimacy and desire. The energetic values involved with love and sex are, I believe, quite different from those generated by lust and sex merely for the sake of release. Consummation of the out-of-body sex act will, however, still be found to cut OBE short, especially real-time OBE sex. Privacy, Ethics & Projection: There is a widespread belief stemming from early this century that has not only remained unchanged but has been continually propagated ever since. This belief is that if a projector deliberately invades the privacy of another person for immoral purposes or unethical gain, or engages in any disreputable or sexual behavior during OBE, they will be banned or stopped from further projecting — grounded by a higher authority. It is even believed by some that there is a kind of astral police force watching out for ethical, moral and astral rights transgressors. According to my experience this belief is a total myth. There are many natural barriers associated with OBE, but there are no ethical nor moral limitations. No higher authority is interested in the activities of projectors. No astral police force will appear and punish bad or naughty projectors. The ethical and moral correctness of any out-of-body action depends entirely upon the judgment and conscience of the projector concerned. With out-of-body sex especially, strong natural barriers are encountered and there are natural repercussions for repeated disreputable behavior. If projectors cannot control their behavior they will not last very long nor travel very far while out of body. Their experiences will tend to be quickly curtailed whenever they meet any potential sex partners, real or unreal. This cuts their OBE’s very short indeed and keeps them off the astral streets, so to speak. If projectors go actively seeking sex, they will come across an ever increasing number of potential sex partners. The lower astral planes teem with these. Like attracts like in a big way in the sensitive out-of-body environment. The only repercussions stemming from habitual bad behavior, as far as I am aware, are a lowering of energetic values and of the levels of operation possible. In this case the attraction of other like-minded projectors and beings is, I consider, natural consequence enough. This has the effect of keeping sexually overactive projectors away from more serious-minded projectors. This has, I feel, a certain poetic justice to it. As to invading the privacy of people in the real world, or other projectors in the out-of-body environment, even for deliberate unethical gain or immoral purposes, there are no restrictions. In my experience there is no astral police force or astral overseer who will suddenly blow a whistle and say: “OK mate…I saw what you just did! Get straight back into your body and stay there…Right Now!” Imagine the enormous number of astral police that would be required just to keep tabs on several billion people day and night? The intentions involved with privacy issues are important. Continual deliberate breaches of privacy will cause a serious alteration in a projector’s energy values. This will attract other like-minded projectors and negative-type beings into their OBE’s as well as into their real life; which is consequence enough methinks. It seems the whole idea that out-of-body behavior is policed was started by early researchers and authors on OBE and related subjects, early last century and late in the century before this. Most would have realized the real truth of this matter, of this I am quite sure. However they seem to have worried that if the public knew the whole shocking truth about the sheer freedom of OBE, they might use OBE for what they considered to be immoral purposes. In a way, these researchers and authors tried to impose their own set of moral judgments and values upon the public with a “Stop it or you’ll all go blind!” kind of attitude and blanket warning. They hoped by this, I am sure, to influence people into using OBE for good and noble purposes only. Stemming from this, these early writers and researchers have unwittingly imposed this same set of values upon the present day. Consider the early written works in OBE and related fields, and how these have been used as reference and source material by all researchers, authors and teachers ever since. All of these early works have had some influence on present day thought, concerning behavioral limitations of OBE. As a result of this we now have many versions of ‘The Astral Overseer’ and ‘The Astral Police’ types of beliefs to deal with; all stemming from the original morally inflicted Victorian fallacy.

]]> http://setiishadim.wordpress.com/2007/03/31/oob-projection-training/feed/ 2 Seti I Shadim http://setiishadim.wordpress.com/2007/03/31/book-of-wamphyri-and-shadows/ http://setiishadim.wordpress.com/2007/03/31/book-of-wamphyri-and-shadows/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2007 13:10:30 +0000 Seti I Shadim http://setiishadim.wordpress.com/2007/03/31/book-of-wamphyri-and-shadows/ Continue reading →]]>

Book of Wamphyri and Shadows by Coven Nachttoter     The Black Dragon Arises   Vampyrism, Through the archetypical symbols which have existed since the Sumerian period, such as one of the first known cult of Vampyrism, HEKAL TIAMAT, to Vampyrism in Transylvania as in the reality of the original Order of the Dragon, in which European hero Vlad Draculae was a member of, to current Vampyric covens through the centuries, to current period covens have always, intentionally, blinded the masses.   It must first be known that vampyrism is NOT at all a simple, or relatively quick path for everyone. Vampyres are more or less born dark, those who have been in touch with their darkside or shadowside since their childhood.   Vampyres do not view themselves as humans do, because we are NOT human in all tearms. Humans are sheep to our kind, we do not hold any place for compassion, tolerance or love for sheep. They are our prey, and lifeforce. Vampyres look upon their personal being as GODS, the humanistic concepts of mortals do not guide us in anyway either. To become vampyre, the individual must tear away all strains and weaknesses they have picked up since their first birth.   Do take note, this is not any easy thing to do, however, observe, this is only the beginning. The individual proceeding down this path must push his/her physical body to the limits, as well as testing mental and developing psychic strength. Psychic strength is highly important for developing the Vampyric will. Through a period of several years, the individual will slowly build the character needed for the individual to immolate his/her essence with the crimson of the dragon.   For most involved with BOTD, a parallel with traditional Satanism should be observed. If traditional Satanism defines pushing limits, going beyond what is morally “right” and “wrong”, “good” and “evil”, as well as implementing Aeonic, acasual and casual transference (ie. the Nine Angles), building a superior, elite occult fascist character then Vampyrism can be seen as an extension of the path of traditional Satanism.   That which does not progress, perishes! This is very true and realistic. Any initiate interested in the BOTD will be introduced into a very harsh will training and Alchemical change process. Most of this is done in Hermetic rituals, seperated from all comrades, friends, and lovers. This the ONLY way which will build material for a GOD or GODDESS.   While actual human blood (not animal) holds psychic energies obtained in advanced vampyric rituals, BLOOD ESSENCE (Astral lifeforce) holds the highest significance for such, incorporated through many different levels, is the path or partial key for immortality. The initiate vampyre will learn to set his/her mind from the individual human and realize ALL progressive change and evolution is caused by him/her ALONE! The Vampyre IS god itself. The Vampyre realizes that ALL other humans who are not amoung his/her rank or kin are prey and pawns.   Lifeforce is drained from humans through astral contact, as well as clairvoyance amoung others. The powers of astral hunting through dream and drinking the purest lifeforce is ONLY best described through the experience itself. The symbol of the vampyre who drinks blood from sleeping humans (Opfers) is not far removed from the astral vampyre predator – Known as Varcolaci – who drains lifeforce from the sleeping humans astral body.   Through the nightside, the vampyre through will and practice, can shiftshape, to hunt amoung the shadows. The forms can be several, Varcolaci (a form of demonic bat-wolf and dragon resemblance), to wolf and bat. This is all based on general and simple scientific law.   Vampyric communion is an essential part of vampyric survival and renewal. Secrets of Vampyric communion are first described in “ART OF WAMPHYRI” and further in “CTHULU”.   BOTD is currently guided by Clan Nachttoter, of Germanic blood, under guidance of acasual Vampyres, our goals are quite the numerous. Time will tell the significance. Our sigils to invoke the essence are two : The Wamphyri Pentagram, through the sphere, lifeforce is transfered, godhead is achieved. Nefarious shadows haunt any human uninitiated. The other symbol is the Nachttoter seal, the symbol of the Nachttoter Vampyre Family, descended from Germanic and Celtic blood. Members of Clan Nachttoter currently offer guidance concerning BLACK ORDER OF THE DRAGON trials and paths.     Circle of the Red Dragon - Transcend the flesh in the form of Varcolaci -     This is the rite of dying and being reborn. The sigil is of our coven, our family – The Red Dragon, Tiamat. Of Nachttoter…. Those of royal vampyric blood. The altar should be located on the west wall if at all possible. Upon the altar should rest a human skull or well crafted model. The human skull represents the death of the human condition and rebirth. If the skull is authentic then some essence of the individual may be connected already – thus representing the risen essence – Beyond Godhead towards the black cloak of Azrael. A crystal should be implemented as well as soil from a graveyard enclosed within a cloth pouch. A virgin dagger. Above the altar should be a large plate of the Wamphyri-Varcolaci Pentagram, as well as the seal of Nachttoter – The Red Dragon who is TIAMAT – Vampyre Mother of Chaos and Evolution, 77. Incense should be Frankincense or Jasmine. Candles should be red and black. Enter to die and be reborn. RITE OF THE RED DRAGON With the Sword of the chamber, shape the inverted pentagram, focus upon the fire which be arise from each point as a result chant: ALL THAT IS BORN OF FIRE LIVES IN FIRE.   Through shaping the pentagram the sphere of Satan is opened – the true self is revealed. The Triangle of LAYLAH is to be drawn upon the wind, to inaugurate the symbol of night and death – equaling 77, the tract of rising-GODHEAD. An inverted Triangle should be inverted, focus upon the blood red eye which will glow as much as your desire allows. Point the Sword to the Sigil of Nachttoter and then to the Wamphyri- Varcolaci Pentagram – Call the Undead gods upon the astral plane – FROM THE FOUR WINDS, WEST, NORTH, EAST AND SOUTH – UNDEAD GODS OF THE NIGHT, ARISE FROM THY CRYPT IN THE REALMS OF THE DEAD, SHADOWDEMONS, THOSE WHO VEINS HOLD THE BLOOD OF TIAMAT COME FORTH!   Hold the Virgin Dagger and the pouch of grave soil, focus upon the sigils of the Vampyre and repeat: I have lived as Moroii, transfering the lifeforce into the jaws of the undead gods, I now seek to ascend into the condition of Vampyre-Varcolaci, to die a mortal death and be reborn to the blood of the dragon! I spill my blood into the grave soil and transfer a part of my essence and being into this – My life-immortal-My WILL STRONG!!! TO BE REBORN INTO THE NIGHT! – Cut yourself deeply enough to stream blood into the soil-while doing so chant and visualize TIAMAT – A burning sphere with a blood red dragon – UNDEAD GODS – Witness the deication of the burning spheres, within I have absorbed the WILL of Nachttoter, those shadows demons of TIAMAT – I have died and been reborn into the WILL of the Red Dragon.   -Hold the crystal and focus upon the Chaos that your WILL has evoked and invoked upon the casual realm – Focus and inject your new being, VARCOLACI.   -Begin a sacrifice of Life force into the Wamphyri-Varcolaci Pentagram, once your astral eyes are opened you can see strains of lifeforce entering the pentagram. After the sacrifice, you may feel a stronger Life Force known as the Blood of Tiamat given back to your being – The Undead Gods give such a sacrifice to you.   I AM VARCOLACI – MY WILL IS LAW AND LOVE IS TRIUMPH! THE GATES ARE ALLIGNED AND I HAVE RISEN! SO IT IS DONE!       Night Shadows and Varcolaci     Astral travel and the rising of the Varcolaci is an important step within the awakening of the Vampyric condition. In recent years there have been many books and articles by the so-called “Magick/occult society” who claim to have the secrets and system of astral travel. they call astral vampyrism “wrong” and unnatural. Is it unnatural for the wolf to devour its prey? Is it unnatural for man to kill cattle and other animals for food? An absurd notion for an individual to deny her/his true nature.   The Vampyre looks upon astral travel as a time of meeting with other Varcolaci who have taken to ascending the human condition. Varcolaci will roam the night and brain lifefore from sleeping (i.e.. unaware) humans.   It is, during these times that the Vampyre may shape shift into any form according to Will. The Varcolaci form is always usually different from vampyre to vampyre. Some often resemble the demonic shadows of the Varcolaci – Wamphyri pentagram, while some are more wolf-like. The form is according to will and can change when desired. Some will travel and feed from prey in desired beautiful forms, as white and flowing beings or as ghastly wraiths.   Astral projection is a several step system of meditation and control. To properly meditate and enter the mindset of astral projections, one must prepare the home or place of this practice in a quiet manner. Take the phone off the hook, turn the TV off, and make sure distractions will be to a minimum.   You will need to find a comfortable place to lay – a bed or couch. Incense should be burnt, either Frankincense of Jasmine will do. A red and black candle may be burnt, of course totally optional and rather unimportant.   Once you lay yourself down to begin, you will want and need to clear All worries and thoughts in general from your mind. Be relaxed and slow your breathing and heart rate.   From your feet up, tell yourself as you relax each part of your body. do this until your entire body is relaxed. Once this is done, concentrate on causing your astral to extend and take the form of your desire – it is All according to your will. Once finished, focus your mind’s eye toward extending and rising from your body. You will feel a strike of excitement but you will need to control this emotion and remain calm, nay very calm. The result if not followed will be failure.   Once you rise as Varcolaci observe your chamber and surroundings, look upon your sleeping body and absorb the feeling of pride of watching the sleeping human form in which you walk the earth in.   It is now time to rise and fly the night sky.   The Black Wraiths Ascend     Now that you have risen, you may pass through doors and windows. Float beyond your chamber through a door or window into the night. As you float through you will feel the power that is within the self and only begin to realize your possibilities of being Vampyr.   Once you enter the night, take some time to observe the surroundings, remember your astral eyes are now open and only now can you truly see. things may be a bit different now and you might see things you normally do not ever notice.   A word of caution however, once you have risen as Varcolaci it should be aware that you have practiced a path of inner strength and will to power. The reason is once you enter the state of dream and rise as varcolaci then are you open to the spirits and outer beings and energies within the nightside as well. You are only as safe as you will it. If you travel and float with fear, the predators, others as you may take scent of it… Wolves Smell Fear… a lovely scent for hunting the spirit.   Fly with joy into the night sky and travel where ever you wish to go. You will want to feed upon a sleeping human, for the life force in this state is so pure. Enter their home, float to their sleeping chambers ad watch them with your astral eyes… notice the life force, the astral body which lays with the sleeping opfer.   Float beside them and smell the life force flow through their veins. It is now time to feast and taste the blood which is the life. With your will, send forth a vampyric tendril and make contact with the life force. Once you do so, begin to draw it in deeply, enjoy each slow drain until you are satisfied.   Once you finish draining the opfer, detach yourself and once again enter the night. you will feel much stronger, more invigorated than before. Fly as the bat within the night and enjoy all that is being Vampyr. You are predator and it is your natural duty to feed from humans.   For those advanced into the black arts of wamphyri, there are certain keys to entering other dimensions… however this is only for the inner circle of Coven Nachttoter and is a mystery of the coven. When this is obtained, many strange things will be seen and be sure it is mystery for a good reason. One must be prepared when entering a predatory state… or else he/she becomes prey.   Once you have haunted the night and you are ready to return to your human form let your instincts guide you back to your dwelling… you metaphoric tomb/grave. once you have entered your body then open thy eyes! Behold, you are as god itself. Now open the gates to further realms of Darkness.       The Wake of the Red Death A Ritual of Destruction     “The Masque of the Red Death” is a very powerful tale by Edgar Allen Poe, the late poet and writer who raised the level of literature during his time which has changed the field of writing and those interested in the macabre for all time. Poe used a great deal of symbolism in his works, a manifestation of death incarnated into the archetypical Red Death, the tall and gaunt figure of blood reds cloaked in the shrouds of the dead. The Red Death is implemented in this destruction rite as the plague bearer, an extention of Azrael – the Angel of Death as a messanger of Will.   This ritual is to be done during the night, past midnight for then the powers of the astral waves are yours to manipulte and man is vunerable at night, more of a chance o success if they are not of strong mind and spirit. If they are as an equal, then there are several secrets in the destruction not listed in these pages. this is either a hermetic rite or could be ceremonial as well.   The Sorceror is to be clothed in a blood red cloak and/or robe. The Sorceror should also be clothed in a white grave shroud which would be placed under the robe or cloak. The face should be streaked in blood red paint or blood, same with any bare skin shown. A personal item of the inteded opfer must be present, be it either a cloth, photograph, paper, etc. A crystal should also be present as well as bones, dagger, above the altar the Wamphyri – Varcolaci Pentagram and the Sigil of Nachttoter – The Red Dragon.   This night you shall become vengence and anger – The law of Abraxas is implemented – The spirit of Kali is invoked. Love love and love causing destruction to those who have crossed you.   The Red Death Awakes   Shrouded in the habliments of the grave, take in your hands the grave soil in which you have blessed as your own, in the other the crystal which you store within your acausal energy.   Face the sigil of the Red Dragon and the Wampyre – Varcolaci Pentagram and visualize fire and blood entering yuour being, filling you with violent and destructive energy – Demonic shapes for within your mind, shaping according to your desire. The Red Death you become this night – Chant: Tiamat – Mother of Vampyres and mother of immortality – I seek thy energy – thy life – This Dark night I invoke the powers of destruction to spread destruction to my enemy! I will remain un-harmed from this calling and it is my Will that the joy of causing death to my enemies is one of the ultimate pleaures of existence! I am Vampyre – All humans shall bow before my might and strength – For under the bloodied kiss of LADLAH I have risen!   I invoke the Vampyre Earth Goddess KALI, Mother hear calling and enter my sanctuary and my being – I am GOD! Blood drenched mother of nightmares, My enemy is to be devoured this night through MY WILL! MY DESIRE! MY LAW! Just as I cause Joy and Love to myself and others i can and also do DESTROY those who break my law – Hail Death! I now become the RED DEATH, fill me with the spirit – I am of Nachttoter – Blood of the Dragon fills my veins! The fire of Satan envelopes me, enpowering my being through my desire. the svastika of EA spins fast, causing life, love and destruction according to the strong and clever.   I AM THE RED DEATH!!!   Take hold of the opfer’s personal item, feel the astral energy of the opfer. Raise the dagger and repeat:   Through the sigil of the Red Dragon and the Varcolaci Pentagram I condemn thee to Death – - NAME – - My astral talons are reaching to your dormant body and spirit, I am the Plague Bearer, Vampyre. I cast 1,000 diseases towards they life breathe, infecting you with torment and black death… This is my Will.. This is my Law! I drain from your body thy precious life force and install the breath of the Plague – the RED DEATH now upon thy spirit to suffer and writhe in agonizing pain. – - name – -, your life orce is mine to feast upon. The Red Death is above thee…   In hale deeply the life force from the object. Visualize plague and death infecting the intended opfer and the slow death which affects them.. rejoyce in the death and blood. Mother KALI, I give thee honor as I give myself joy! Victory is mine! Joy to a burning planet which ABRAXAS RULES! SATAN I AM THEE AS 77 – This is my Law – the Joy of the world and the beauty of Night and LADLAH!! I stalk the nightmares of thy enemies – I AM THE RED DEATH!!!! I AM VAMPYRE!!!!   SO IT IS DONE!     “The Moon Drips of Blood: The Wolf (Varcolaci)” (A Raven and Serpent Masquerade excerpt by Peter Nachtgeist and Michael Nachttoter)     The wolf represents the moon and the strength which flows from it’s light. The feelings and emotions awakened in the heart of the predator by the glowing and enveloping fullmoon, are in nature similar to the dark, mysterious moods that the sound of howling wolves inspires.   We, Vampyres, predators of humans – visualize ourselves as the darkness of nature, nature unveiled. Strong, pure and beautiful. – When the night cloaks my thoughts, and by darkness I’m embraced, when the mist is colored red, and the moon drips of blood, when the chill bites my skin, and I ride the winds of Death, when the shadows haunt the night I lust for my nightly sip.. (Moonthirst)   Nocturnals do not fear death, as death only means returning to the infinite darkness, the Dragon’s Womb – as well as for the risen ones – Varcolaci – Vampyres who have achieved Immortality.   Vampyrieth 77   The scorpion symbolizes the starts and the drape of cold and dark infinity in which they lay in wait. The scorpion is strength and honor – love and life – It is also the harvester of Death.   The Raven represents the darkness that cloaks out spirits. The Raven seems to paint pictures of plague, death and misery. The Raven or us is our nature and being. We are of the night.   From the Flesh to Spirit     From the lands of Transylvania and what is now Romania and Hungary comes the Astral vampire known as Varcolaci. The Varcolaci is said to during the night hours, rise from their physical form and under the cover of shadows, ascend towards the nocturnal sky and drink blood from the moon.   Varcolaci is known to appear as a wolf with many mouths, a small dragon or a blackened shape of a demonic winged ghost, filled with an aura of death and lust. In the folklore of Transylvania Varcolaci can travel in several ways: When a woman spins thread alone in the darkness, she may create an astral thread in which the Varcolaci may rise into the sky to devour the moon. Often, the thread would be spun from the accumulated dust and dirt towards the sun and moon, the woman would be covered in blood and continue to spin. She would then have completed the bridge for Varcolaci, therein to wander the dark portals of the cosmos to attack the heavenly bodies.   The reality of Varcolaci is so very true. A Vampire is also in fact Varcolaci, once the discipline of Astral Traveling is Achieved, then Varcolaci is able to develop and rise as a demon of great power. This is the path of immortality, of predator and prey.   While our kind does not exercise just the rising of Varcolaci as it’s primary discipline of vampyrism, the condition and exercise of Astral hunting is very important towards the developing of the Vampyric Godhead, in which under the control of 77 all is possible within Will.   Varcolaci is usually soil based, during the waking hours the Vampyr will walk the earth. When the time for physical rest comes, the Vampyr will then leave his physical body. During this the vampyr is able to shape shift at will.   The Varcolaci will rise especially when the moon turns a blood red or copper color. The dark spirits will then drink astral blood from either the moon, stars, or the sleeping opfer. Remember, the dream is reality and all is formed within the dream.   It is to be known the astral wars are not yet over, that there is to be two rivers of human blood and astral blood poured from the cosmos, that our harvest will come and we shall take heed of the powers in which we sustain as being the Vammpyric Godhead.   Folklore and Reality of the Germanic Vampire Races   In this section we will investigate the folklore and reality of the German Vampire races. Each differs in some way or another depending on the location. Common in folklore is that vampires eat from their own corpse before they rise from their coffins to prey upon human opfers. They would often lure opfers to their graves and by fog and funeral dust they rise to drink the blood which is the life. German vampires are often viewed as spreading plagues, like a cold wave their will calls upon rats and the army of the night to do their bidding. Below is the truth and lie of the vampire. ALP   A german Vampirelike spirit associated with the Incubus and the Succubus, tormenting the nights and dreams of man and woman, driving them toward sexual extasy and then terror. The physical manifestation can be quite dangerous, long connected with the nightmare, the alp is aid to dwell as a demon within a tomb. Some forms include the werewolf or a demonic man-bat-wolf manifestation. (All of which is quite true and accurate as all is possible to those who have utilized magick and the dream. )   During some periods and times, the Alp, in the form of Varcolaci, may enter it’s opfer to command the body. The ghost would enter through the opfer’s mouth in the form of smoke and a serpent.   The alp will often drink blood from the breast of a woman (or any other place in which major vessels are.). The incubus/succubus are in most cases astral vampires, probably in 90% of all encounters. Although it is said that some demonic spirits who are not vampires can haunt sleeping humans. NACHZEHRER It is this race in which one of ours is marked from, the Nachzehrer is long known in Germany and surrounding places in Germany. The Nachzehrer is said to be distinguishable in it’s coffin by odd custom of holding the thumb of one hand and keeping it’s left eye open. The Vampyr is said to chew upon his own limbs within it’s tomb. The coffin in which the Vampyr sleeps is said to be filled with blood and soil of it’s grave and or/ homeland. The Nachzehrer can also eat flesh of the dead and is quite active with Necromancy, the art of the Vampyr.   NEUNTOTER A blood line from Saxony, traditionally the great carrier of plagues, usually seen during grim and severe epidemics. The Neuntoter (Nine Killer) comes from the belief that it takes nine full days for the vampire to develop in it’s coffin. NACHTTOTER This German race of Vampires is currently active in the United States, primarily in Indiana and Houston, a coven which is the control base behind the Black Order of the Dragon. Nachttoter translates “Night Killer – or Killer in the Night” being the power of this vampire as a predator within the casual realm, Varcolaci obtained. Members of this race may be summoned in Varcolaci forms on some nights, beware through, what is obtained comes with a price.     From the seed of Belial - The Inauguration of the Devil -   Before one seeks to master the shadows of his/her astral one must reach a state of completion and strength within the flesh itself. One must never deny the pleasures of the flesh but one must always be aware to practice self-control and inner strength. This is the law of our kind.   Vampyres are masters of the flesh, we indulge fully in that fact. However, we understand that the flesh is not forever and that even though some of us are fully capable of floating from body to body, that eventually the flesh dies.   We are essentially to be as ghosts, vampyre spirits who have achieved immortality through the Blood of the Red Dragon. We do not fear death, as the spirit is immortal according to our will. However, we enjoy the pleasures of life. The devil is lord of the earth.   Vampyres do now bow to any anthropomorphic being, in fact we only view the archetypal “Satan” as a power… the power within the cosmos and earth, the power within us. Those who embrace this power and all that it is and utilize it in fact become the devil itself – Satan Ascend, Lucifer Rising. This is the law of Satan. Bow before no other gods but yourself.   Belial is viewed as a master of the earth. This is the key of understanding the mastery of the earth – Satan incarnate. The following rite is for those who seek the path of Vampyr, those who would stand strong in the face of a world for their own taking.   This rite can be used either as a hermetic rite or as a ceremonial rite. the primary design was for a hermetic rite.   Awaken the archetype of Pan, balance and joy is the key to rising. The Inauguration of the Devil To take place within the chosen ritual chamber. The Wamphyri – Varcolaci Pentagram to be above the altar as well as a Baphomet and the Sabbatic Goat aka the Goat of Mendes. The candles should be black and red. Upon the altar should be an inverted pentagram with some human bones or if possible a human and/or animal skull, to represent the power and lust of the flesh. Clad in black or crimson robes with dagger and chalice. A sword should be used as well. This is the night you shall become as Satan…..     Invocating Belial   Face the Altar and point the sword first to the image of the Varcolaci/Wamphyri Pentagram, visualize what you are and what you shall become… lust upon these symbols for they are to be representations of your essence. “In nomini dei nostri Satanas Luciferi excelsi, I call forth the dark lord of the earth… Belial, I am of your seed, a demon of the flesh to shape the world as I see fit. This is the law of the Strong. My will incarnate.” With the Sword, face the South, point the sword towards the baphomet pentagram: “From the South, I invoke the essence of Satan… upon the wings of darkness you shall come unto me!!!” Face now the East: “From the East I invoke the essence of Lucifer, the bearer of light and insight… come unto me!” Face now the North: “From the North I invoke the essence of belial… lord of the earth, come forth unto me” Face now the West: “From the West, I invoke the essence of Leviathan… come forth serpent of the Depths.. come unto me!” Take now the Dagger and recite: “By the sigil of the Infernal Dragon, the Red Dragon of ALL I call unto the forces of Nature and align myself further with the natural powers of the earth! I will and do partake of the pleasures of the flesh and recognize myself as a god of the Earth. No one is before me as I am the Devil incarnate!   I call with the sigils before the spirits within… enter and grow within for I am Vampyr, of Dragon’s blood. From the four pillars of Satan my law is sounded and the beast is unleashed. My flesh is iron and the werewolf is awakened! My voice and desires enter as will to incarnate in FLESH! This is as PAN and the love of the Earth and Cosmos. LADLAH is witness and love unto me, all is a mirror of sight and vision. Heil Shaitan!” Take the chalice and recite: “Within is the elixir of Life and Love, of strength and hate, destruction and creation. Renewal and completion. I recognize there is no god before the self and that self preservation is the highest law. This I say with my voice, which casts deep into the abyss and carries with it a law forever spoken! Heil Tiamat! I drink and am now reborn from the seed of Belial! So it is done! The gates are aligned!” Meditate now upon the sigils and all that you have recited. Become as Satan. stand proud and push the self towards the heaven of ecstasy. Werewolf       “Heil! Heil! Heil! O, great Wolf Spirit Heil! Mighty shadow within the circle enter the space of time – Make unto me a werewolf, strong and brave as my Will”     The connection of Werewolves and Vampires are quite parallel, in fact in the reality of the Vampire, it is indeed possible for a Living Vampyr to be a Werewolf. Transformation can be in two possible ways, a mental transformation, Lycanthropy as well as astral shape shifting.   When alone in a forest or secluded area is a prime location for a lycanthropic ritual. A skin of the wolf may be worn, a mask or other articles representing the transformation from the human shape into a 7 – 8 foot demonic gray man-wolf, burning blood red eyes of yellow gleams from large, sharp and cruel teeth. Those who seek to master shadows and sorcery may become a lord of Werewolves, in command of the shadow demons which may become as one with the WILL and the SELF.   When in a forest practice a Werewolf rite and feel the transformation, revel in the pleasure, in the hunger, in the burning glow which permeates the senses. When astral traveling, your human shape may shape shift to any desirable form, take pleasure in becoming the Demonic wolf. hunt your sleeping prey with stealth, feasting on astral blood as they sleep.   Below is some teachings of the Werewolf, ending with a rite of Lycanthropic power. Remember, no spell nor word can alter change which has not lit within the WILL. The misanthrope has risen and the age of the wolf is upon us! Feast!   Lord of the Woods     In the year 1502 there was a peasant named Pierre Burgot who was tending sheep while a large and fierce storm broke out. From seemingly out of nowhere rode three men dressed in black riding upon three black horses. One of the men called himself Moyset, tall and pale, sunken eyes with long black hair. Moyset told Pierre he would let his hands watch over his herd and give him great fortune if he would obey him, Pierre agreed. In the next meeting, Moyset stated his commands, to reject a so called “god”, the false virgin, the baptism and confirmation. Burgot accepted the demands and swore loyalty by kissing the hand of the Moyset, which was as cold as the hand of the dead.   The years past and the black rider returned. Moyset demanded that he should grease himself in an ointment he gave him. Verdun, another villager did so as well. soon after as their hearts and will was as Sinister, they turned into werewolves.   These wolves of Magick attacked a seven year old boy, tearing him to shreds, killing a woman and a four year old child and they only left an arm to be found intact. In time they were caught and killed by villagers.   One hundred years ago a fourteen year old boy named Jean Grenier was in a deep forest where they met a man upon a black horse who called himself Herren or Lord of the Forest. With his cold dead lips he kissed Grenier and with his long and sharp nails he cut a mark in their thighs. Herren gave Jean a wolfskin and an ointment. after donning the wolfskin and rubbing the ointment, Jean killed in his werewolf form over fifty opfers.     The Wolfcharmer     In france they are called by the humankind the “Meneurs de Loup” which were said to lead wolves by the use of a bonepipe, creating the orchestra of the night. The Wolfcharmer is a total misanthrope who in his heart hates the human race. The wolfcharmer is the leader of the wolfpack, and can by the use of the bones pipe, command the wolves to attack human prey.     The Wolfgirdle     The Wolfgirdle is commonly made from the skin of the wolf, mixed and sewn together with the skin of a dead witch or an executed murderer. Don the wolf girdle before the lycanthropic ritual.     The Rite of the Werewolf - Mental Lycanthropy and the summoning of Shadows -     The altar can be either within a home or in the woods. Upon the altar should rest bones of the dead and two black candles and two red candles, above the Wamphyri – Varcolaci Pentagram (A Sigil of the Black Order of the Dragon). With your mind draw one circle anti-clockwise that it might fit a man within.   “From the will of that which is Satan I call the Demonic powers of the Wolf – Shadows demons I call to thee! One spirit shall rise through this circle – One chosen of the Demonic hordes I evocate thee to bring forth the Gray Beast which makes all tremble, by my will and will to power I will become WEREWOLF! Phantoms of Darkness I now invocate thee – they likeness is to be within and through my Vampyric Will I implement the power of SATAN!   With your mind focus upon the transformation. Feel each muscle as it stretches, grows stronger, more beastlike. Rough gray hair grows through the skin as the flesh itself turns ghost white and the face blackens. The bones stretch and begin to form a beast between a man and wolf. The face warps into a long snout which holds many razor sharp fangs. The fingers stretch and fold into Talons, cruel to the flesh they Shred..   Feel now the pleasure of the Werewolf, go out into the night and taste the pleasures of the Will.   SO IT IS DONE (c) Church of Vampiria Powrót

//GetResponse popup code
Czary Magia Ezoteryka>

The Art of the Law: Aleister Crowley’s Use of Ritual and Drama

Justin Scott Van Kleeck

            Although Aleister Crowley  (1875-1947) has been the subject of numerous biographies, criticisms, and works of homage, his legacy has largely been defined by his personality.  This fact is, of course, no surprise.  Calling himself the “Beast 666” and labeled the “Wickedest Man in the World,” Crowley vociferously proclaimed a “new Law” of liberation and human empowerment (Thelema, Gk. “will”; Crowley’s “Do what thou wilt”) that required throwing most social and moral conventions to the wind. Those writers who try to “explain” the Beast and his Law often feel compelled to defend or to deride his lifestyle and his magical system based on their own acceptance of occult doctrines.  Kenneth Grant and Hymenaeus Beta, both occult practitioners and Crowley editors, exemplify the sympathetic camp, while John Symonds, also a Crowley editor, speaks for the critical camp.  Caught in the shadow of the Beast, these writers and the wide body of Crowley readers have greatly overlooked the other side of his career: his prolific work as a poet, playwright, artist, and essayist.  J. F. C. Fuller’s The Star in the West, Charles R. Cammell’s Aleister Crowley: The Man, the Mage, the Poet, and J. F. Brown’s “Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis” are notable exceptions in their treatment of Crowley’s writings.  However, they often tend toward panegyric (Fuller, later a disciple of Crowley’s) or negative judgment (Cammell, his friend late in life) of Crowley the man as well.  As a result of Crowley’s cultic status and, admittedly, his almost nugatory influence on later literature, his artistic techniques have gone mostly uninvestigated, both on their own and in relation to his magical/prophetic efforts. 

When Crowley states that “All Art is Magick,” he essentially defines the aesthetic sentiments lying at the core of his system of magic.1  Thus, the body of Crowley’s writings provides an equal wealth of material for those interested in esoteric traditions, cultural studies, and literary criticism—not to mention psychology.  A particularly important development in Crowley’s overall work is his marriage of “traditional” ritual and drama; by drama, I refer to plays blending scripted action with poetry, music, dances, and so forth, usually intended for performance.  After taking part in magic rituals as a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and writing occult-influenced dramas, Crowley eventually came to see the usefulness of integrating the two genres or forms more explicitly as a means of personal work and of communicating his message—of preaching the Law and teaching magical wisdom.  Although The Rites of Eleusis is the only theatrical production of what he came to call “dramatic ritual” aimed at the general public, this mixed method permeates much of his subsequent theory and practice.  By combining the two genres into a single “dramatic ritual,” Crowley sought to create the enthusiasm necessary for magic—which drama did most effectively for nearly all personality types—and, through that liberated ecstasy, to prove the validity of Thelemic principles.

-194-

The relationship between ritual, myth, and drama was not a new topic in the Victorian England of Crowley’s adolescence, even in the banal circles of scholarship and literature not attached to occult groups like H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society and the Golden Dawn.  The most significant work of this time is J. G. Frazer’s The Golden Bough, which first appeared in two volumes in1890 and, over the course of more than twenty years, grew to twelve in its third edition (1911-5).  Frazer’s work on magic, myth, and ritual is a watershed in the study of mythology and society, filled with countless examples of ritual actions, taboos, and cultural practices from around the world.  He specifically articulated the importance of seasonal and vegetative cycles, which diverse cultures had “celebrated with dramatic rites” since the origins of society.2  Frazer is well aware of the sympathy that myth and magic have with drama, for he continues, “But if the celebration was in form dramatic, it was in substance [and desired effect] magical.”3  The Golden Bough brought to the fore such prominent mythological concepts as the “Dying God” (used by Eliot in The Waste Land) and the “Corn-Spirit.”  Crowley certainly knew Frazer’s work intimately: not only does he quote Frazer in the opening of Magick part III and persistently use the dying-god myth, but he also launched an attack on Christian orthodoxy based on Frazer in The Gospel According to Bernard Shaw (collected for The Equinox III.2 in 1919 but unpublished until 1974 in Francis King’s Crowley on Christ4).  Crowley also wrote a collection of short stories based on The Golden Bough entitled Golden Twigs (several of which were published in 1917-8; the entire collection was first published in 1988).  Further, his play “The God-Eater” (1903) may be a nod toward Frazer’s chapter on “Eating the God,” and he may have drawn partly on Frazer when promising to “choose” and “test” and “instruct” the world in “the Mysteries of Eleusis” in his scathing essay “Eleusis.”5 

The Golden Bough also influenced the Cambridge Ritualists—Jane Harrison, Gilbert Murray, Francis Cornford, and Arthur Cook.  This group of scholars further developed the study of ancient ritual and its intimate tie to drama (specifically in Greece) in the first two decades of the twentieth century.  Jane Harrison’s Ancient Art and Ritual, in which she claims that art and ritual “have a common root, and that neither can be understood without the other,” is a good example of the group’s interests.6  Harrison also states, “It is at the outset one and the same principle that sends a man to church and to the theatre.”  As we shall see, Crowley expressed and developed nearly the same view and during the same time, the first two decades of the twentieth century, though he does not specifically cite any of the Cambridge Ritualists.  The social context of Crowley’s early years, then, was one in which ritual and drama were by no means occult, hidden subjects of debate.

-195-

Despite this rich scholarly context, the roots of Crowley’s approach to dramatic ritual ultimately lie in his experience with the Golden Dawn, into which he was initiated on 18 November 1898.  Briefly stated, the Golden Dawn was (and is) an occult group with ties to Freemasonry, H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society, and other similar groups active in the mid nineteenth-century.  Unlike Blavatsky’s group, the Golden Dawn was largely western in its magical inclinations: Christianity, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and alchemy shaped much of its teachings, though blended with Egyptian and (originally) Jewish Qabalistic elements.  The group initiation rituals that the Golden Dawn employed were particularly crucial to shaping the principles of its members.  Besides Crowley, W. B. Yeats drew heavily on Golden Dawn knowledge in his poetry and plays, though with far-different goals than the Beast came to do.7  Also, interestingly enough, Samuel Lidell MacGregor Mathers, long-time head of the Order, put on his own “drama” in March 1899 called the Rite of Isis.  The show involved recitations from the Egyptian Book of the Dead and a dance to invoke the goddess.8  Thanks to Crowley breaking his oath and publishing the Golden Dawn rituals in his journal The Equinox (Vol. I, Nos. 2 and 3), as I will discuss further below, we can see just how theatrical the Golden Dawn initiation ceremonies were.9  For instance, the initiation ritual for the first grade of Neophyte, one of if not the most important of the rituals, incorporates props and scenery (banners, scepters, lighting, etc.), characters (various officers like Hierophant and Kerux), and scripted dialogue and actions that instruct, purify, and initiate the candidate.10  Some essential elements of this ritual that later appear in Crowley’s own works—ritualistic and dramatic—include the initial purification of the temple, officers/actors explaining the symbolic meanings of their roles, and a “rebirth” of the candidate as he/she is given a new magical name and brought closer to the “Light” of the “Higher Self.”11  Missing from these rites, however, were poetry (the speeches were prose of the headiest “occult wisdom”), music, and a general exploitation of more familiar dramatic conventions.  Still, it is clear that Crowley felt the impact that these rituals had, for he would venture on in his way to “search for the Quintessence; the Stone of the Philosophers; the true Wisdom and Perfect Happiness, and the Summum Bonum” alluded to at the closing of the Neophyte ritual.12 

But for Crowley, that search would also take on a public dimension that both flew in the face of occult rules of secrecy and made him the simultaneously famous and infamous representative of modern magic.  The event: Crowley’s “reception” of The Book of the Law; the result: Crowley turning from lone magician to prophet of Thelema, the Beast 666.13  The details surrounding this event are too complex to discuss fully here, but the basic information can be summed up as follows.14  According to Crowley, The Book of the Law was delivered to him by a being named Aiwass or Aiwaz on 8, 9, and 10 April 1904 in Cairo.  The three chapters of the work are the dictated speeches of three (symbolic?) Egyptian deities: Nuit (infinite space), Hadit (the central point of each individual self), and Ra-Hoor-Khuit (or Horus, their “Crowned and Conquering Child” who is the lord of the New Aeon, a sort of “spirit of the age” symbolizing creative energy).15 

-196-

While questions of authorship, validity, and so forth inevitably come up with regards to The Book of the Law, I want to focus on the role Crowley believed he had been given and the central doctrines that he was compelled to teach.  Nuit names the chief officer of Thelema “the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space […] the prince-priest the Beast,” who is accompanied by his consort “the Scarlet Woman”; later, in verse 32 and subsequent chapters, the Beast is specifically called “prophet.”16  Like any good prophet, the Beast (Crowley) needs a message to prophesy.  Thus, Nuit gives him “The word of the Law,” Thelema, and explains that it means liberation under the aegis of true Will: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” for “The word of Sin is Restriction.”17  Moral, sexual, and social freedom to be what you truly are is humanity’s new raison d’etre, though with a maintained respect of others as equally independent and free beings.  Also like any good prophet, the Beast has a task set upon him by the god(s) for whom he speaks: “He must teach” the new arts of magic in accord with the new Law, which are laid out in each chapter by the particular god.18  But Nuit gives one crucial statement about those rituals, the Law, and the Beast’s task: “the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: the Law is for all.”19  That is, Crowley was not chosen to hide the Law of Thelema within a tiny group of initiates only; he was, by express order of the gods, to promulgate the Law to all of humanity in “half concealed” rituals, to free them from “Sin” in accordance with the rule of the liberated child ruling the world.  The only stipulation was that each individual had to pass through the various “ordeals” that would prove their rejection of the old law and bring them to know their true will.20  This is an important point, especially when we see the shocking amoral and violent content of chapters II and III—“Therefore strike hard & low, and to hell with them, master!”21  To find freedom, to come into the realm of the gods (i.e., humans become gods), each individual had to actually work through the difficult process of finding his/her true will through the necessary ordeals.  These ordeals (of initiation) were the responsibility of the Beast.

Fulfilling this prophetic task eventually became, for Crowley, a twofold endeavor.  First, as he had been told in the days leading up to The Book of the Law, the Golden Dawn was “to be destroyed, i.e., publish its history & its papers.”22  But as an initiated member of the Order, he knew that “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 which I should fall slain or paralysed, as if blasted by the lightning flash.’”23  Luckily for Crowley, the Secret Chiefs “released me from my obligation of secrecy” and, partly because of his “literary ability,” made his “chief duty […] to publish the Secret Wisdom of the Ages.”24  Crowley thus set about publishing the grade rituals and other important papers in The Equinox in 1909, though he had to first undergo and ultimately win a lawsuit by Mathers to halt publication.  Added to the earlier schism in the Golden Dawn, the publication of its secrets was a serious blow to its operations at the time. 

-197-

The second part of Crowley’s task was to teach.  But what, exactly, would the Beast teach to humanity?  Asking himself this question in a series of meditation/visionary exercises in early 1906, Crowley discovered the answer: “THE KNOWLEDGE AND CONVERSATION OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL.”25  The “Holy Guardian Angel,” a term for the higher self used by the Golden Dawn (and taken from The Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage as translated by Mathers c. 1898), is essentially the true self of every individual.  It is only by “conversing” with that self that a person can know his/her true will.  Thus, in order for a person to “Do what thou wilt” in accordance with the Law of Thelema, he/she had to first discover his/her true will by conversing with his/her Holy Guardian Angel—which was an act of magic, an ordeal.  However odd Crowley’s occult and spiritual terminology may be to skeptics and laypersons, his system of first finding the true will and then doing it is consistent.  And, lest we forget, it is a system open to all who are willing to embrace it and to work within it: “Every man and every woman is a star.”26

Having received the Law and its concomitant demands on him as the Beast, Crowley at first struggled with the shocking ethics that Ra-Hoor-Khuit brought with him.  In Confessions, Crowley recounts his difficult years of coming to terms with The Book of the Law and how he “tried to forget the whole business.”27  Besides the harshness of Thelemic ethics to stubborn “non-believers,” Crowley could not accept the idea of opening up the secret wisdom to the world at large: “I was still obsessed by the idea that secrecy was necessary to a magical document, that publication would destroy its importance.”28  Thus, he determined to publish it out of pure spite—except that “the manuscript had been lost!”29  Crowley’s complete conversion, his acceptance of the Law and of his role as prophet, came in 1909 with the “miraculous” (as he recounts it) rediscovery of the manuscript at his home in Scotland, after which point he dutifully began preaching the word in every way that he could.30  “I further resolved uphold the dignity of Magick by pressing into its service science and philosophy, as well as the noblest English that I could command, and to present it in such a form as would itself command respect and attention.”31  In September of that year, number one of The Equinox (1909-1913)—a variorum of occult poetry, plays, fiction, essays, teachings, etc.—came out to serve as his major vehicle for this endeavor.  The diversity of the contents, as Lawrence Sutin comments, reflected “Crowley’s view of magic [that] held that artistic expression was one measure—a fitting one—of true attainment.”32  However, Crowley also recognized that actual work, not just publishing on his end and reading/studying on the public’s end, was required for individuals to thus attain in their own ways.  Consequently, he co-founded and oversaw a new magical order, the Argenteum Astrum (“Silver Star” or A.A.), to initiate and instruct those who desired to “seek the light” of true freedom and true will.  But Crowley’s task was also a public one, we must remember, and closed-door societies were not enough for the prophet of the New Aeon.

-198-

It was during a ritual with other A.A. members to evoke the spirit Bartzabel on 9 May 1910 that Crowley realized firsthand the power and efficacy of looking beyond the conventions of traditional magic rituals.  Although the form of the ritual (published later in The Equinox I.9, pp. 117-36) is ostensibly conventional in its actions, symbolism, speeches, and multiple participants—following the pattern of Golden Dawn rituals—the content is unique.  Besides being updated to reflect the new Thelemic context for magic (now that he was the willing Beast, that is), Crowley remarks:

Here [in the use of a person as a “material basis” to evoke the spirit] was a startling innovation in tradition.  I wrote, moreover, a ritual on entirely new principles.  I retained the Cabbalistic names and formulae, but wrote most of the invocation in poetry.  The idea was to work up the magical enthusiasm through the exhilaration induced by music.33

The success of this ritual in manifesting the spirit and “conversing” with it for divinatory purposes proved to Crowley that turning to other artistic forms could add to a magical working by stirring the “magical enthusiasm” necessary to success.  As he would later write, “There is no more potent means than Art of calling forth true Gods to visible appearance.”34 

Crowley’s insight coming from the Bartzabel ritual and his resulting innovation led to further technical development—and thoughts of actually staging, as a sort of play, a ritual in order to create a group “enthusiasm” later in 1910.  Indeed, he wrote a ritual for public performance to invoke the moon that involved a violinist—Leila Waddell, a member of the A.A. and Crowley’s lover—and poetry written for the occasion.  The event, with tickets and all, took place in August.  As Francis King describes (paraphrasing the account by Ethel Archer, an attendant and friend of Crowley’s), Crowley used tried-and-true staging techniques like lighting effects, curtains/veils, and costumes along with the music, poetry, and dancing.35  Further, in a shrewd move to help include the audience, the attendants “sat on cushions scattered around the circumference of the room, all its usual furniture having been removed.”36  Apparently, Crowley’s new methods were not based on unsound opinions, as an attendant from the Sketch testifies: “We were thrilled to our very bones. […] in very deed most of us experienced that ecstasy which Crowley so earnestly seeks.”37  The writer may not “understand the ritual that runs like a thread through these meetings of the A.·. A.·.,” but he admits “that the whole ceremony was impressive” and “artistic.”  We should note, of course, that the audience and performers partook of a “Cup of Libation” containing alcohol, fruit juice, and likely peyote beforehand—all in accord with Thelemic principles.38  Regardless, and as the Sketch review supports, it was apparent that magic rituals, presented in particular ways, in theatrical ways, could affect more than just the participants within the circle.  They could initiate the audience, as it were.  For Crowley, toiling to spread the Law and to liberate humanity from self-imposed restrictions, the ability to create such an extended effect was obviously astounding.

-199-

            In the wake of these experiences and their apparent public and private success, Crowley seems to have been struck in his magical, artistic, and prophetic senses, for he soon began to marry ritual and drama very deliberately.  He created “new methods of Magick.”39  The culmination of Crowley’s theatrical approach to magic, in terms of staged dramatic rituals for the general public, is The Rites of Eleusis.  The Rites consist of seven rituals—six original and the seventh derived from the ritual put on in August—following Crowley’s new method of ritual composition.  This method, he explains, was based on the ancient custom of invoking gods “by a dramatic presentation or commemoration of their legends” that he had “brought up to date” and supplemented with passages “whose sublimity would help to arouse the necessary enthusiasm.”40  And, brimming with optimism after the August staging, Crowley put the on the Rites for a general audience in Caxton Hall over the course of seven Wednesdays in October-November 1910.  First, in respect to their formal techniques, Crowley again blended conventional ritual with other artistic forms for effect.  Thus, hearkening back to Golden Dawn standards, in each ritual there is an opening “Banishing Ritual” to purify the workspace; speeches of (rather banal and even melodramatic) explanation and setting by the officers; props such as shrines and altars; and symbolic movements such as circumambulations.41  But there are also violin pieces by Waddell and composers such as Beethoven; dances by Victor Neuberg to “dance down” the gods; and a great deal of poetry by Crowley and a few passages from Swinburne.  Crowley seems to have placed a great emphasis on the aesthetic quality of the Rites, for he includes some of his most powerful and affective verse, such as this passage in “The Rite of Jupiter” taken from the song of Dionysus in his epic poem Orpheus:

For I am of force to shatter

   The cast that hideth—Pan!

[……………………………]

I lead you, lord of the maze,

   In the darkness free of the sun;

In spite of the spite that is day’s

   We are wed, we are wild, we are one!42

Along with these artistic elements, the Rites also involve the audience as “the officers circumambulate the temple [in “The Rite of Saturn”] and the audience are [sic] picked at random, one by one, to join the procession, the last to do so being reminded, ‘Thou also must die!’”43  (Notably absent from the performance at Caxton Hall, for the audience at least, is the “Cup of Libation.”)  That is, they are—in content, if not in quality—much like a play.  Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, for instance, incorporates prose, verse, and a dance at the end, and may have thus used music as well; T. S. Eliot’s Sweeney Agonistes, a more modern example, includes verse and songs usually accompanied with music when staged.

-200-

J. F. Brown is one of the few critics to make a close examination of the Rites in dramatic terms, including the relationship between art and ritual, how Crowley approached “a theatre of altered consciousness,” and in the similarity between Crowley’s staging and that of Symbolist drama.44  When he remarks, “Crowley felt his drama also must have a myth, to serve as the vehicle of initiation,” he points out the second element of the Rites: their instructional intent and content.45  Crowley gives a useful summary of the cognitive framework—not particularly lucid in the rituals themselves—behind what Crowley calls “seven acts of one play”:

Man, unable to solve the Riddle of Existence, takes counsel of Saturn, extreme old age.  Such answers as he can get is the one word “Despair”.

Is there more hope in the dignity and wisdom of Jupiter?  No; for the noble senior lacks the vigour of Mars the warrior.  Counsel is in vain without determination to carry it out.

Mars, thus invoked, is indeed capable of victory: but he has already lost the controlled wisdom of age; in a moment of conquest he wastes the fruits of it, in the arms of luxury.

It is through this weakness that the perfected man, the Sun, is of dual nature, and his evil twin slays him in his glory. […] and who shall mourn him but his Mother Nature, Venus, the lady of love and sorrow[?] […]

But even Venus owes all her charm to the swift messenger of the gods, Mercury, the joyous and ambiguous boy whose tricks first scandalize and then delight Olympus.

But Mercury, too, is found wanting.  Now in him alone is the secret cure for all the woe of the human race.  Swift as ever, he passes, and gives place to the youngest of the gods, to the Virginal Moon.

[………………………………………………………………………………]

But Artemis is still barren of hope until the spirit of the Infinite All, great Pan, tears asunder the veil and displays the hope of humanity, the Crowned Child of the Future.46

When we read Crowley’s summary and the Rites themselves, it is at first obvious that these rituals have virtually nothing to do with accounts of the Greek Rites of Eleusis based on the myth of Demeter and Persephone.47  Still, Crowley’s modern version is not completely disconnected from its classical namesake.  The original Mysteries were rites of initiation, and they answered a “riddle” (in the revelation of vegetative cycles as symbolic of personal rebirth), like Crowley’s Rites.  Also, we should recall Crowley’s reference to the Mysteries as part of his teaching and instructing in his essay “Eleusis,” which shows that he (like virtually every occultist) connected initiation with a tradition of which the Eleusinian Mysteries were a part.  And he likely expected his audience to do the same.  This fact speaks to the importance of the underlying “myth” of Crowley’s Thelemic system as they appear in his Rites.  What we have is a revelation/initiation progressing from a god of death (the “Dying God” and empty shrine of the previous aeon) to a “death” of the lower self (the crucifixion) to a descent of “occult” wisdom (Mercury) and at last to the enthronement of a “Crowned Child” (cp. Ra-Hoor-Khuit).48  And, in the ultimate Thelemic move, that child is barren and virginal until the earthly, lusty, libidinous Pan asks, “Of what worth is the gold in the mine?” and finally tears down the veil—removing the hiding “restriction” of the old law to show forth the naked, available youthful energy of the new Law.49  The importance of this act to the “initiation” of humanity into its new (rightful) place of “divinity” is particularly clear in Pan’s song to Luna at the conclusion of the Rite just before he tears down the veil:

-201-

            O virgin in armour

                 Thine arrows unsling

            In the brilliant resilient

                 First rays of the spring!

            No Godhead could charm her,

                 But manhood awoke—

            O fiery Valkyrie,

                 I invoke, I invoke!50

The final vision of the Rites is of powerless gods replaced by empowered “manhood,” with Pan bridging the gap between the virginal goddess and the earthly participants in the Rite by his song and his removal of the obscuring veil.

Unfortunately for Crowley, the Rites, as a prophetic and artistic event, were almost a complete flop.  Even Crowley, not known for his humility, admits that they failed, but for telling reasons: “I diminished the importance of the dramatic elements; the dialogue and action were little more than a setting for the soloists.”51  Although he goes on to blame the surroundings and his refusal to “condescend to theatricalism,” it is interesting that he locates the problems in the ineffective artistry, not the basic method and message of the work.52  Indeed, despite a slew of biting reviews in papers like The Looking Glass (which also made innuendoes of sexual misconduct), Crowley deems the dramatic-ritual technique “a stupendous idea.”53  Thus, when Brown says that “Crowley the playwright came into conflict with Crowley the magician,” he is not far off the mark.54  As the Rites show, and as Sutin intelligently articulates, Crowley avoided overt Thelemic language and “conveyed the teachings of Thelema without expressly announcing the Book [of the Law] or his vocation as its prophet.  In this sense, Crowley was most cautious in his approach to his intended public.”55  Again, initiation and ordeals are important here: Crowley certainly dramatized the teachings in a veiled manner in the hope that the effect would serve as ecstatic propaganda to bring more “uninitiated” candidates to him for initiation and further teaching.  With their bones still thrilling, the audience might surely desire to know and experience more.  Whatever their theatricality, or lack thereof, the Rites were certainly intended to be a part of Crowley’s task as the prophet of Thelema.

Despite Crowley’s caution with the Rites and his failed proselytizing via the theatre, when critics treat the Rites as a mere episode in a beastly life or, like Brown, leave them as an embarrassing exhibition by “a bad 19th-century romantic poet,” they impose a sense of utter failure on Crowley’s work with dramatic rituals.56  In fact, Crowley clearly took the “stupendous idea” of the mixed-genre method he used in the dramatic-ritualistic Rites and made it a fundamental principle in his subsequent work as a poet/playwright and a magician—though generally aimed at a more sympathetic and initiated audience.57  With respect to his plays published after 1910, there is a striking new integration of ritual form, best exemplified by Adonis: An Allegory and The Ship: A Mystery Play (a Mystery!). 

-202-

Crowley identifies Adonis (published in The Equinox I.7, March 1912) as “a dramatic ritual in the modern style,” which is interesting for tying drama and ritual together with contemporary movements in art.58  The play hearkens back to Frazer and his extended treatment of the myth and rituals of Adonis as a dying vegetation god.  It also incorporates some important thematic elements of Crowley’s Rites, though the ritual aspect is not as overt in this more traditional play.  The plot of Adonis involves Adonis (at first named Esarhaddon) having forgotten his “divinity” and his true wife Psyche because of the seduction of Astarte.  That is, as Crowley explains in the later Argument, “Esharaddon is a man ignorant of his high destiny, lost in love of the body (Astarte) […].  The soul (Psyche) appeals to him in vain, but awakes his dread of the King of Babylon (the material plane), who is Death.”59  This part of the storyline seems to be very close to the “Riddle of Existence” and “Despair” of Saturn in the Rites, the wasted vigor of Mars in the arms of Venus, and to the subjection/death of the perfected man because of his dual nature respectively.  Further, just as in the Rites, Hermes (Mercury) plays an integral role in Adonis as a Greek physician and magician who, as “the wisdom of God, leads the man to recollection of his true nature.”60  As Hermes promises in the play, “as from eclipse the sun’s / Supernal splendour springs, [Adonis’s] sight / Shall leap to light” if Psyche follows his instructions.61  And, when at last Adonis awakens from his amnesiac state, he is aware of his spiritual power—but far from chaste or otherworldly!  He sings to Psyche, “I am myself, knowing I am thou,” and this “Truth […] / […] / Sets the God within the shrine / And my mouth on thine, on thine.”62  And much like Crowley has the earthly Pan tear down the veil of chaste Artemis/Luna in the Rites, Adonis and Psyche embrace rather than reject Astarte at Psyche’s insistence: “We need thee / To serve us.”63  Adonis, then, incorporates a cyclic “death” and rebirth, as in ancient rituals explained by Frazer, as its dramatic vehicle, though Crowley focuses much more on the triumphant rebirth and creative-life elements of that cycle.  But it is also very close in plot and theme—liberated, spiritual, and initiated love that regenerates the material nature of humanity—to Crowley’s Rites and his essential Thelemic message.

The Ship (published in The Equinox I.10, September 1913) is a second example of Crowley’s dramatic-ritual technique as applied to plays rather than magic rituals.  The Ship, “a magical ritual in dramatic form, commemorating the return of Spring,” is almost stunningly ritualistic in form; when reading it, one actually gets the sense of a magical working rather than a play.64  It is clearly a dramatic rendering of traditional ritual, using all of the Golden Dawn standards.  To point out some of the most noticeable instances, the characters are all robed; the set includes symbolic scenery and veils; and the characters all use secret signs and words.65  Even closer to the form of the Rites, The Ship is in rhymed couplets and includes dances and music played by the character Julia.66  Also like the Rites, the crux of The Ship is the “crucifixion” of the key male character John, the ritual death from which he is reborn as “the youth John […] dressed in the crown and robes of his father.”67  Further, this child, reinvigorating the trappings of his father as “the author of the aeon,” is reborn after being carried in the ark of the “Moon of our love, most wondrous womb.”68  With the emergence of the child, as with the return of spring, a lifeless shrine becomes fruitful with “corn” and “wine.”69

-203-

It is surprising and important that the plot of The Ship, written by the Beast 666, is disturbingly Christian in its finale, with loaded references to “I am that I am” and “the Father” and “Son” and “Holy Spirit.”70  But Crowley’s use of this language is appropriate in two ways.  First, The Ship is his expression “in dramatic form” “of the central mystery of freemasonry,” and freemasonry is essentially a Christian movement.71  Second, Crowley often adopts Christian language in an ironic fashion, as is surely the case here in his drama of the return of spring.  By tying the Christ myth to the ancient vegetation-god myth, Crowley seeks to expose the former as a version of the latter (much like Frazer’s evidence tacitly does).  And, truth be told, Crowley never escaped the Christianity of his youth, no matter how hard he tried to rebel against it; it appears constantly in his artistic and other writings.  Combining all of these elements, The Ship is a strikingly ritualistic drama—or dramatic ritual—that exemplifies Crowley’s post-Rites approach to magic.  At the same time, like Adonis, it also exemplifies how this approach was harmonious with his prophetic task, for it expresses some of the key principles of Thelema: passing through an initiating ordeal or ritual “death” to be reborn as the perfected child of creative energy. 

Alongside these more artistic endeavors after 1910, Crowley also continued to follow the technique he used in the Rites by marrying ritual and drama in his strictly (in intention) magical rituals, both for individual and group work.  Liber XLIV: The Mass of the Phoenix, first published in 1913 as part of Crowley’s The Book of Lies, is a Thelemic ritual again celebrating the renewal of the perfected individual after consuming his/her own material nature—the mythical phoenix rising from its own ashes.72  What is worth noting in this ritual is that, along with the use of signs, magical instruments, and even a bell, Crowley sets the speech in rhymed couplets.  “There is no grace: there is no guilt: / This is the Law: Do What Thou Wilt!” the magician states; then, after striking the bell eleven times for emphasis, he/she cries “I entered in with woe; with mirth / I now go forth, and with thanksgiving, / To do my pleasure on the earth.”73  Liber V vel Reguli, written c. 1921, uses other, more dramatic forms in a different way.74  This ritual, an interesting Thelemic adaptation of older Golden Dawn rituals, includes a “Spiral Dance” to arouse the enthusiasm of the magician, though it “may be omitted” depending on the aim of the working.75  Liber V is also significant because Crowley originally used it for group working at his Abbey of Thelema in Cefàlu, Sicily, later applying it to individual work as well.76  In The Mass of the Phoenix and Liber V, then, we see Crowley continuing to mix genres/forms in his magic—ritual and poetry in the former, ritual and dancing in the latter—in accordance with his belief in the efficacy of that approach and its usefulness in a Thelemic system of magic.

-204-

Probably the most outstanding dramatic ritual that Crowley ever composed is Liber XV. O.T.O. Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ Canon Missæ or the “Gnostic Catholic Mass,” written in 1913 and first published in 1918.  Crowley wrote the Gnostic Catholic Mass after he became involved with (and later headed) the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), a magical Order that is much more communal in its workings than was Crowley’s A.A.  Further, Crowley directed the majority of his energies to the O.T.O. after 1912 as he grew more convinced of the powers of sexual magic, which the O.T.O. practiced.77 

This new shift in Crowley’s magical direction is crucial to his later work and reputation (as a drug-crazed sexomaniac), so a little background for the Gnostic Catholic Mass may be helpful here.  As Crowley recounts in his Confessions, he was put in charge of rewriting the rituals of the O.T.O., which he calls “dramatically worthless” when naming their faults.78  But, to Crowley, the heart of the Order’s teachings was of great value, and (with a little revision) harmonious with Thelema.  The Gnostic Catholic Mass is just one of the many O.T.O. rituals that Crowley wrote in the years after he took over the order (under the name Baphomet), and it is still performed by various O.T.O. offshoots.  Crowley speaks to the communal nature of the Gnostic Catholic Mass, a ceremony to satisfy “the religious instinct,” and explains that in it he aimed “to construct a ritual through which people might enter into ecstasy as they have always done under the influence of appropriate ritual.”79  Much like its orthodox Catholic counterpart, even including a sacrament of wine and “Cakes of Light,” the Gnostic Catholic Mass is truly remarkable even on paper with the elaborate decorations of the temple, the rich attire of the participants, the accompanying music, and the multi-lingual speeches and aves punctuating the ceremony.80  However, Crowley incorporates verse at key points in the ritual, such as during the “Consecration of the Elements” (section VI) when the priest makes the blessing/transubstantiation of the Cakes (“By the virtue of the Rod / Be this bread the Body of God!”) and the wine (“By the virtue of the Rod / Be this wine the Blood of God!”).81  And for the poetic “Anthem” that closes the ceremony in a flourish of poetic exaltation, Crowley used the final lines of his play The Ship, that dramatic ritual celebrating the return of spring and the creative rebirth of life.  The Gnostic Catholic Mass thus seems to serve as the success that Crowley sought but failed to find in The Rites of Eleusis.  It is his grandest work of dramatic ritual, a ceremony of community in which the officiating “actors” lead the audience through a musical and poetic experience to equally induce and celebrate the ecstasy of liberated life—of life under the Law of Thelema, whose yoke, Crowley proclaims, is hard won but light.

-205-

One final example of Crowley’s use of ritual and drama in terms of magical work worth looking at is his Magick, an encyclopedia of occultism that is impressive in its scope and depth.  The book consists of four parts: “Mysticism,” “Magick (Elementary Theory),” “Magick in Theory and Practice,” and “ΘΕΛΗΜΑ: The Law” (which includes the text of The Book of the Law).  Part III is of particular interest here, for in it Crowley first lays out his definition of “MAGICK” as “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will” and then gives its theoretical and practical principles.82  Now, Crowley began writing part III with Leila Waddell (the violinist in the Rites) as amanuensis c. 1912, he advertised it in 1913 in The Equinox, he made the first typescript of it in 1921 while at his Abbey, and he finally published it in 1929-30.83  As we can see, Crowley’s work on this part of Magick began shortly after his staging of the Rites and coincided with his involvement with the O.T.O.  Thus, in writing his Thelemic-magical “textbook” for the world of interested students of the Mysteries, Crowley codifies the theories of dramatic ritual that he had been practicing since 1910.  In chapter 1, “The Principles of Ritual,” he defines “the object of all magical ritual” as “the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm.  The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel.”84  That is, the ultimate aim of all proper rituals is the very thing that he made it his task to teach in the wake of The Book of the Law.  Also in this chapter, he gives the “Third Method” of invoking a deity as “the dramatic, perhaps the most attractive of all” in its ability to create “sympathy” (i.e., identity) with the deity.85  Besides his equation of art with magic quoted above (from chapter 10, “Of the Gestures”), Crowley devotes chapter 19 to “Dramatic Rituals.”  Here, he again speaks to the force obtained from harmonious group work (which dramatic rituals best provide), the necessity of a “well-skilled poet” to compose the “story,” a ritual climax, and then a final “impromptu” that has as its “most satisfactory form” a dance.86  Although this chapter is only two pages long, it is a virtual summary of the principles that Crowley had developed, practiced, and found successful since 1910.  Clearly, if he feels confident enough to make the married dramatic-ritual technique that we have been examining part of his most scientific, delineated, and serious treatment of magic, then he must have been convinced that the singular failure of the Rites did not nullify his “stupendous idea.”  Indeed, he seems to have been otherwise convinced of its efficacy for the remainder of his life: he continued to write, act, and publish as poet, magician, prophet, and Beast.

-206-

 Whether or not one accepts Crowley’s system of Thelemic Magick, with its gods and doctrines of liberated ecstasy, or Crowley himself as the self-convinced prophet of a new Law, it is irrefutable that he was prolific in his efforts to operate in accordance with that system.  Moreover, he continued to work in the public’s often-critical eye as the Beast 666, engaging his talents as writer, magician, and eccentric in order to make the Law available to all.  Crowley was convinced that human perfection requires liberating the self from restriction and entering a state of child-like energy, and that such perfected energy was in its essence ecstatic and artistic.  Consequently, he developed and applied a technique of dramatic ritual, almost a genre in itself, which married all the conventions of magic and all the conventions of drama in order to unite the microcosm and the macrocosm, the higher and the lower self, through an experience engaging all of the faculties.  Through his early success with his dramatic-ritual form, his failure with the public Rites of Eleusis, and his continued reworking of his “new methods of Magick,” Crowley enacts his basic prophetic creed that “All Art is Magick,” that all magic is liberating, and that liberation is the right of all humankind.

 
Notes 

1 Aleister Crowley, with Mary Desti and Leila Waddell, Magick: Liber ABA.  Book Four.  Parts I-IV, ed. Hymanaeus Beta, rev. ed. (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1997) 197; Crowley’s boldface. 

2 James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, abridged ed. (New York: Collier Books-Macmillan Publishing Company, 1963) 448.

3 Ibid.  In addition to this mythical-magical relationship, Frazer also recognized the development and succession of science out of the “superstitions” of the past (see the final chapter of The Golden Bough, “Farewell to Nemi”).  Crowley presents a similar view with his system of “Scientific Illuminism,” mysticism practiced along scientific lines.

-207-

4 See Crowley, Magick 793 and 795. 

5 Aleister Crowley, “Eleusis,” The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley, vol. 3 (Foyers, UK: Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth, 1907; Des Plaines, Ill.: Yogi Publication Society, n.d.) 230. 

6 Qtd. in Robert Ackerman, The Myth and Ritual School: J. G. Frazer and the Cambridge Ritualists, Theorists of Myth, ed. Robert A. Segal (New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991) 153. 

7 For instance, Yeats’s Rosa Alchemica contains a ritual climax relying heavily on the Golden Dawn.  However, Yeats’s works are not meant to be rituals themselves, nor do they support a system and cosmology, as Crowley’s do. 

8 See J. F. Brown, “Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis,” Drama Review 22.2 (1978): 11-2. 

9 See also Israel Regardie’s The Golden Dawn for a more complete edition of Golden Dawn rituals and teachings. 

10 See J. F. C. Fuller, with Allen Bennett, “The Temple of Solomon the King.  Part II,” The Equinox 1.2 (Sept. 1909), in vol. 1 (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998) 244-61. 

11 Fuller 257 and passim. 

12 Ibid. 261. 

13 Originally titled Liber L. vel Legis, the title changed to Liber AL vel Legis c. 1919.  It is conventionally referred to by its English title, The Book of the Law.

-208-

14 See Aleister Crowley, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, eds. John Symonds and Kenneth Grant, 2^nd ed., (1929; London and New York: Arkana-Penguin Books, 1989), and Magick part IV, passim, for detailed discussions of the reception of The Book of the Law, the gods and beings it describes, and the principles of Thelema it contains. 

15 Crowley’s remark on the progression of human civilization underlying this cosmology evidences the importance of the Golden Dawn to his later work: “The Neophyte ceremony of the Golden Dawn prepared me for the New Aeon [of Ra-Hoor-Khuit]; for, at the Equinox, the officer who represented Horus in the West took the throne of Osiris [the “Dying God” of the previous aeon ending with The Book of the Law] in the East” (Crowley, Confessions 399). 

16 Aleister Crowley, “Liber L. vel Legis svb figura CCXX as delivered by LXXVIII vnto DCLXVI” [The Book of the Law], The Equinox 1.10 (Sept. 1913), in vol. 2 (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998) I:15, p.12. 

17 Ibid. I:39, I:40, I:41, p.14. 

18 Ibid. I:38, p.14. 

19 Ibid. I.34, p. 14; emphasis added. 

20 Ibid. I:38, p.14 and passim. 

21 Ibid., II:60, p.23.  As I will discuss further below, Crowley was so troubled by this part of The Book of the Law that he shirked and even rejected his office as its prophet for many years; his final acceptance of it in 1909 is both significant and timely. 

22 Qtd. in Crowley, Magick xxxviii.

-209-

23 Crowley, Confessions 177. 

24 Ibid. 404. 

25 Qtd. in Crowley, Confessions 516. 

26 Crowley, The Book of the Law I:3, p.11. 

27 Crowley, Confessions 451. 

28 Ibid. 541. 

29 Ibid. 541-42. 

30 See ibid. 595-96. 

31 Ibid. 582. 

32 Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000) 193. 

33 Crowley, Confessions 630; emphasis added.

-210-

34 Crowley, Magick 197; Crowley’s boldface. 

35 Francis King, The Magical World of Aleister Crowley (London: Wedenfield and Nicolson, 1977) 62-4. 

36 Ibid. 63. 

37 Qtd. in Crowley, Confessions 32.  The writer, Raymond Radclyffe, was “an admirer of Crowley’s poetry” (Sutin 210) but apparently not Crowley’s disciple. 

38 See Sutin 210 and King 63. 

39 Crowley, Confessions 632.

-211-

40 Ibid. 633.  Although Crowley bases this claim on the content of the “masonic rituals” he was using at the time, his opinion of ancient customs virtually echoes the entirety of Frazer’s The Golden Bough.  Jane Harrison’s works (Themis and Ancient Art and Ritual) and those of the other Cambridge Ritualists, published after the Rites were performed, also lend credence to Crowley’s statement. 

41 See Aleister Crowley, et al., “The Rites of Eleusis,” The Equinox I.6 (Sept. 1911), Special Supplement, in vol. 2 (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998) p.5 and passim.  (My future references to poetry and plays from The Equinox will indicate page numbers, “p.,” as line numbers are not given.) 

42 Ibid. p.42. 

43 Crowley, Confessions 636-37. 

44 Brown 26, 12-3. 

-212-

45 Ibid. 12. 

46 Crowley, Confessions 635-36. 

47 See Frazer 456ff. for a discussion of the Greek Rites. 

48 See Crowley et al., The Rites of Eleusis pp.14 and passim. 

49 Ibid. p.120. 

50 Ibid. p. 124. 

51 Crowley, Confessions 636. 

-213-

52 Ibid. 637. 

53 Ibid. 638.  Crowley’s friend George Cecil Jones sued The Looking Glass for libel, as Crowley’s other acquaintances urged him to do, but lost the case (see ibid. 635 et al.). 

54 Brown 12. 

55 Sutin 210.  Some of the most direct references to Thelemic principles come in “The Rite of Mars,” with lines such as, “Crowned child and conquering Lord! / Horus, avenger!” (p.51); though not overt, the Thelemic system is still pervasive. 

56 Brown 26. 

57 For purely “secular” theatre, Crowley took Waddell and other women performers on tour in England and Russia as “The Ragged Ragtime Girls.”  See Crowley, Confessions 690 and 711, and Will Ryan, “The Great Beast in Russia: Aleister Crowley’s Theatrical Tour in 1913 and his Beastly Writings in Russia,” Symbolism and After: Essays on Russian Poetry in Honour of Georgette Donchin, ed. Arnold McMillin (London: Bristol Classical Press-Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1992), passim. 

-214-

58 Crowley, Magick 450. 

59 Aleister Crowley, “Notes and Corrections,” The Equinox 1.10 (Sept. 1913), in vol. 2 (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998) 30. 

60 Ibid. 

61 Aleister Crowley, “Adonis: An Allegory,” The Equinox I.7 (March 1912), in vol. 2 (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998) p.147. 

62 Ibid. p.155. 

63 Ibid. p.156. 

64 Crowley, Magick 450.

-215-

65 Aleister Crowley, “The Ship: A Mystery Play,” The Equinox I.10 (Sept. 1913), in vol. 2 (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998) pp.59-60, 61-3. 

66 See ibid. pp.70, 73-4. 

67 Ibid. pp.63, 75. 

68 Ibid. pp.76, 73. 

69 Ibid. p.77. 

70 Ibid. pp.76, 78. 

-216-

71 Crowley, Confessions 714. 

72 E.g., its “Cakes of Light” follow the recipe given in The Book of the Law III:24: “meal & honey & thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood” (Crowley, The Book of the Law p.27). 

73 Aleister Crowley, “Liber XLIV: The Mass of the Phoenix,” in Magick (op. cit.) 572. 

74 See Crowley, Magick 772-73. 

75 Aleister Crowley, “Liber V vel Reguli,” in Magick (op. cit.) 575. 

76 See Crowley, Magick lxi. 

77 Although Crowley began announcing the O.T.O. as early as 1912 in The Equinox I.8 and again in I.9, he was reticent to reveal the “wisdom,” sexual in nature, which the Order taught and practiced.  Crowley offers tantalizing hints of the secrets in Confessions.  He states, “I am always ready to communicate them to inquiring Brothers” (706), and he admits that he could give them and appropriate rules “without doing much harm” (709), but he never does so.  Perhaps the efficacy of sexual magic, having impressed Crowley so deeply, and combined with the attacks on his character growing out of his staging of The Rites of Eleusis, led him to focus more on the “ordeals” and “half concealed” rituals of The Book of the Law as necessary preparations.  Whatever his motivations for this secrecy, Crowley continued to publish his magical works and to remain in the public sphere as the prophet of Thelema, preaching the Law to all, up until his death in 1947. 

-217-

78 Crowley, Confessions 701. 

79 Ibid. 714. 

80 See Aleister Crowley, “Liber XV: O.T. O. Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ Canon Missæ” [The Gnostic Catholic Mass], in Magick (op. cit.) 584, 593-94). 

81 Ibid. p.593; admittedly, these couplets are less than “ecstatic” poetry. 

82 Crowley, Magick 126; Crowley’s boldface hereafter unless otherwise noted. 

-218-

83 See ibid. 725-26. 

84 Ibid. 144. 

85 Ibid. 145, 147. 

86 Ibid. 265.

   Little Mary Margaret was not the best  student in Catholic School.  Usually she slept through the lesson

One day her teacher, a Nun, called on her while she was  sleeping. 

“Tell me Mary Margaret, who created the universe?”
When  Mary Margaret didn’t stir, little Johnny who was her friend sitting behind her, took his pencil and jabbed her in the  rear.

“God Almighty!” shouted Mary Margaret.

The Nun said, “Very  good” and continued teaching her students

A little later the Nun  asked Mary Margaret, “Who is our Lord and Savior?” But Mary didn’t  stir from her slumber.  Once again, Johnny came to her rescue and stuck  Mary Margaret in the butt.

“Jesus Christ!!!” shouted Mary Margaret and  the Nun once again said, ”Very good,” and Mary Margaret fell back  asleep.

The Nun asked her a third question…”What did Eve say to  Adam after she had her twenty-third child?”

Again, Johnny came to  the rescue, but this time Mary Margaret jumped up and shouted, “If you stick  that damn thing in me one more time, I’ll break it in  half!”

The nun  fainted………..

Uncle Setnakt would like to share with you a few exercises you can do with his favourite subject Darkness.

1. Close your eyes. Inside this Darkness, you can picture anything. Conjure up the notion of an extraterrestrial invader. One entirely of your own making. The fact you can visualize this here-to-fore nonexistent object shows that your awareness is not bound to nor constrained by the natural order. The knowledge that your stand separate from the universe is the beginning of the Left Hand Path.

2. Look at the stars. Find a grassy hill and look up at the stars on a warm, clear moonless night. Relax and let your mind soar towards the stars. That feeling of falling up into the Abyss of Stars is a predictable part of your natural self. The desire to project your psyche to its utmost limits is one of the forces that drives the Initiate along the Left Hand Path. It is why we choose role models like Set, the first historic example of the rebel against cosmic injustice.

3. Sit quietly in a darkened room. Find a place away from radio, TV, family etc. Here alone and away from a constant stream of messages telling you what to think, just relax and see where your own thoughts go. Don’t try to interfere. This may be the first time you’ve heard your own voice. When you’ve done this for a few minutes, light a candle and write down three things — the thought that surprised you the most, the desire that appeared most often in your thoughts, and the thought from somewhere else (advertising jingle etc.) that intruded the most. The next day search out the source of the unusual thought — this brings your actions in line with your godhood. Do something that distances you from the unwanted mind control (even if it’s just being aware of it and rejecting it) — this bring you closer to controlling your own mind.

4. Make a list of associations. Write down all the things that Darkness implies. Start with personal things like, “Darkness is excitement — Father Christmas brings me goodies in the dark. Darkness is the time of transformation — many times has my mind made monsters out of the pile of laundry at the foot of the bed. Darkness is the time of sexual arousal –etc.” Then add historical meanings of Darkness, “Darkness plus the sound of the bullroarer creates the sacred space for Aboriginal initiation. Darkness is the time when Vampyres are said to roam. Etc.” When you’ve made your list consider what the Prince of Darkness can mean as model for your own Initiation. Consider how these things stimulate your imagination and will.

5. Make of Night a personal symbol. It is in the nature of mankind to assign meaning to events in the meaningless natural order. They fashion constellations, omens, etc. and then bend themselves to their creations. The Black Magician can consciously assign a symbol to an operation and use that symbol for his/her own growth — and discard it when necessary. Since night is the traditional time for Satanic/Black Magical activity, you may wish to invest it with meaning. Hold a ritual that places a certain meaning in the dark of night — so that its coming will begin to Work your soul automatically. I choose, “Night is a time of rebirth.” This way, the nonego parts of mySelf begin to recharge the batteries of inspiration and magic every time the sky darkens. If I am doing some other kind of Work as part of my life work of Becoming, I can choose another meaning.

6. Seek out the Brothers of Darkness. Learning the art of magic goes a hell of a lot swifter if you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You’ll accomplish your goals faster if you’re drawing on the experience of others. It’s a lot easier Working with people who think the way you do.

Look around for a group whose approach to Darkness is the same or very similar to yours. If the group has been around for a few years, you have the additional benefit that some of their magic has already Worked itself into the fabric of the objective universe and you have a greater magical lever to use for your own Work. Uncle Setnakt is, of course, a proud member of the Temple of Set.

7. Contemplate Darkness as a place of growth. In the soulcraft of the ancient Germanic peoples is a concept very useful to the Left Hand Path. The Sal is that part of the soul into which one evolves. It is a holder of potential, a dark vessel that cannot be filled. By using this imagery life is not a simple discovery of the self, but an active creation that may be consciously drafted. As long as their is Darkness, one can grow — there are no limits except those you consciously create. If you become aware of this Dark container within you, it can become more than a mere symbol, but an actual vessel for awareness to survive after death.

8. Contemplate Darkness as a symbol of mystery. In the Right Hand Path, white light is used as a symbol of Initiation. In the light everything is quickly revealed and the self extinguishes itself because of boredom. There are no mysteries, nothing to discover, and ultimately nothing to think about since there is a total unity between the perceiver and the perceived. In the Left Hand Path Darkness is the symbol of mystery. By accepting Darkness, you accept dynamism — you don’t know what lies within your Black Heart. And as you discover more and more; the desires from within cause you to act to bring your deepest Self into Being in the objective world. In short as you become the Self created god you must create creations. Ultimately you will begin to have a sense of the great twofold secret — one pole of which lies deep within yourSelf — the other is hidden deeply within the objective universe.

9. Seek to unleash the Darkness in others. Look for and strengthen the manifestations of Darkness in those around you. This should be done very gently and with great forethought. After you have begun to master steps 7 and 8 above consider that Darkness also resides in the other human beings around you. If you can transmit some of that excitement and potential for awareness into others — not only will you have made the world a more darkly resplendent place to live, but you will have opened up the world around you for more exciting potentials for your own growth.

Uncle Setnakt hopes you have a pleasant day.

The Force Academy – www.forceacademy.org – A
JEDI – www.thejedi.org – A
The Jedi Creed – www.jedicreed.org – A
The Jedi Mythos – www.jedimythos.com – A
The Jedi Order – www.thejediway.org – A
Jedi Realist Academy – www.jedirealistacademy.org – A
Unified Jedi – www.unifiedjedi.com – A

The Jedi Archives – www.jediarchives.net – N
The Jedi Community – www.jedicommunity.com – N
The Jedi Path – www.jedipath.com – N
Jediism – www.thejedireligion.org – N
The Jedi Resource Center – www.jediresourcecenter.org – N
Jediism: The Way of the Force – www.freewebs.com/thejedibook – N
New Jedi Realm – www.newjedirealm.org – N

Aaron – www.jedi.ws/aaron – Q
The Jedi Academy West – www.jediacademywest.com – Q
Jedi Knight School – www.angelfire.com/theforc…ightschool – Q
The Jedi Knights of Canada – www.angelfire.com/ca4/jed…tsofcanada – Q
The Jedi Training Archive – jediarchive.freewebpage.org – Q
Real Jedi Knights – www.geocities.com/realjediknights – Q
Students of the Force – sotf.8m.com – Q
Temple of the Jedi – jeditemple.freehosting.net – Q

Contemplari Eruditio – www.contemplarieruditio.com – C
The Jedi United Organization – www.freewebs.com/jediunited – C
Sithism – www.sithism.com – C

Apple Jedi – www.applejedi.org – D
California Jedi Assembly – www.caljediassembly.org – D
The DEGA Group – dega.freeservers.com – D
Jedi Consortium – www.thejedi.org/jediconsortium – D
Jedi Consortium – www.angelfire.com/ab6/jediconsortium – D
Jedi Faith – www.jedifaith.com – D
The Jedi Force – thejediforce.s5.com – D
The Jedi Mythos Universe (The Jedi Mythos) – www.angelfire.com/realm/jauniverse – D
Jedi Praxeum – www.freewebs.com/jedi – D
Jedi Teal’c Nyal’s Website – www.jedi.wz.cz/home.html – D
Jedi Union – www.jediunion.freeservers.com – D
The Jedi Way – jediway.freeservers.com – D
Johauna’s Hompage – thejedi.privacy.cz – D
Master Jinn’s Jedi Training – www.geocities.com/masterj…ining.html – D
Reflections of the Force – www.jedi.ws/mitth – D
The Shadow Jedi – www.freewebs.com/shadowjedi01 – D
Shadow Jedi Academy – www.shadowjediacademy.8m.net – D
Shadow’s Wing of the New Jedi Order – www.newjediorder.4t.com – D
Storm Jedi Praxeum – stormpraxeum.tripod.com/main.html – D
Tri-Jedi Unity – tatooine.fortunecity.com/ewok/245 – D
The United Jedi Academy – www.uja.2ya.com – D
Universal Faith Fellowship – www.universalfaithfellowship.org – D
University of the Gedi Arts – us.geocities.com/jedijames22 – D

The Jedi Academy – www.jedi.ws/jediacademy – R
The Jedi Council – www.jedi.ws/jedicouncil – R
Jedi Lore – www.jedi.ws/jedilore – R
Temple of the Jedi Arts – www.jedi.ws/totja – R
Star Wars: The Jedi Academy – jedi.ws/swja – R

Citadel of the Guardians – www.cotg.tk – L
The Halls of Challenge – www.geocities.com/lancasterjidai – L
Jedi Academy: Knights of Peace – knightsofpeace.tripod.com – L
Jedi Holocron – www.jediholocron.iwarp.com – L
Jedi of the New Millennium – pages.hotbot.com/edu/jediwalker – L
Jedi of the New Millennium – www.jediofthenewmillennium.com – L
The Jedi Praxeum – thejedipraxeum.homestead….axeum.html – L
Jedi Psi Learning Center – www.homestead.com/BrianBs…index.html – L
The Jedi Resource Center – www.jediresources.cjb.net – L
The Jedi Stronghold on Ossus – members.tripod.com/~Greyson/ossus.html – L
The Jedi United – www.jediunited.com – L
The Jedi United Organization – www.thejediunited.org – L
Jediism – www.jediism.org – L
Light Sith – www.lightsith.cjb.net – L
The Praxeum – www.geocities.com/thepraxeum – L
Praxeum II: A New Hope – www.fortunecity.com/tatto…antine/179 – L
Project Jedi – www.eccentrix.com/members…ctjedi.htm – L
The New Jedi Academy – www.geocities.com/Area51/Aurora/4120 – L
School for the Jedi Arts – www.homestead.com/jediarts/jaindex.html – L
Shadow Jedi – www.shadowjedi.com – L
Steffan’s Garden – p090.ezboard.com/bsteffansgarden – L
Temple of the Shadow Jedi – www.stonedog.f2s.com – L

Forums:

Force Council (Force Academy) – www.forceacademy.com:8080/~force – A
The Jedi Academy (JEDI) – p090.ezboard.com/bacademy – A
The Jedi Community (JEDI) – p208.ezboard.com/bthejediorg – A
The Jedi Mythos – forums.jedimythos.com – A
Jedi Realist Academy – p078.ezboard.com/bjedirealistacademy – A
Sithism – www.sithism.com/forums – A
Unified Jedi – www.unifiedjedi.com/phpBB2/index.php – A

Contemplari Eruditio – www.contemplarieruditio.c…/index.php – N
Force Disciple Academy – fdacademy.proboards79.com – N
International Jedi Alliance Academy – ijaa.proboards42.com/index.cgi – N
Jedi Archives – www.jediarchives.net/Forum/index.php – N
The Jedi Council – www.thejediway.org/council – N
Jedi Order – www.hosted-forum.com/inde…er&act=idx – N
The Jedi Path – p086.ezboard.com/bthejedipath – N
The Jedi Order – www.thejediway.org/board/index.php – N
The Jedi Order – www.gaiaonline.com/guilds…ld_id=5449
The Jedi Order of Ashla Knights – wayofthejedi.proboards61.com
Jedi Realism (Version 1) – www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/in…rum=313437 – N
Jedi Realism (Version 2) – jedirealismforums.forumsplace.com – N
The Jediism Way – www.thejediismway.org/smf/index.php – N
The Jedi United Organization – www.thejediunited.org/forum/index.php – N
Sith Shadow Academy – sithshadow.proboards21.com – N
Unifying Force Academy – jediofamerica.proboards44.com – N

International Jedi Alliance – ija.proboards23.com – Q
The Jedi Knights of Canada – p203.ezboard.com/bjedikni…canada9246 – Q
The Jedi Mythos – p214.ezboard.com/bthejedimythos – Q
Jedi Gatherings Group – p097.ezboard.com/bjedigatheringsgroup – Q
Jedi Temple (Temple of the Jedi) – p078.ezboard.com/bjeditemple39003 – Q
Students of the Force – p094.ezboard.com/bshutupandlearn – Q
The Order – p217.ezboard.com/btheorder49149 – Q
The United Jedi Order – p209.ezboard.com/bunitedjediorder – Q
University of the Gedi Arts – p208.ezboard.com/bunivers…hejediarts – Q

Discussion Hall (The Jedi Consortium) – pub46.ezboard.com/bdiscussionhall – D
Jedi Central – p200.ezboard.com/bjedicentral – D
Jedi Masters Holocron – p073.ezboard.com/bjedimastersholocron – D
Jedi Mysticism – p217.ezboard.com/bjedimysticism – D
The Jedi Order – p078.ezboard.com/bthejediway – D
Jedi Outreach – p102.ezboard.com/bjedioutreach – D
Jedi Temple Academy – p200.ezboard.com/bjeditempleacademy – D
Jedi Training Center – p200.ezboard.com/bjeditra…enter82820 – D
Jedi Union – p199.ezboard.com/bjediunion – D
The Jedi Unity – p200.ezboard.com/bforcecouncil51596 – D
The Jedi United (The Jedi United Organization) – p069.ezboard.com/bju15226 – D
Light Sith – p207.ezboard.com/bls52987 – D
The New Jedi Order Academy – newjediorder18.proboards31.com/index.cgi – D
Shadow Jedi Academy – p214.ezboard.com/bshadowjediacademy7995 – D
Temple of the Jedi Order – p207.ezboard.com/btju75026 – D

All Jedi – p069.ezboard.com/balljedi – L
Blue Group Training Grounds (Temple of the Jedi) – p066.ezboard.com/bjeditraininggrounds – L
California Jedi Assembly – b17.ezboard.com/bcaliforniajediassembly – L
Daye’s Meditation Chambers – p223.ezboard.com/bdayesme…onchambers – L
Force Center – pub19.ezboard.com/bforcecenter – L
The Great Hall (The Jedi Praxeum) – pub11.ezboard.com/bthegreathall58767 – L
The Guardian Academy – pub15.ezboard.com/btheguardianacademy – L
Jedi Center – p078.ezboard.com/bjedicenter – L
Jedi Creed – p066.ezboard.com/bjedicreed – L
The Jedi Force – p066.ezboard.com/bthejediforce69517 – L
The Jedi Guidebook – pub23.ezboard.com/bthejediguidebook – L
Jedi Knights of Great Britain – p208.ezboard.com/bthejedi…eatbritain – L
The Jedi Knights of Great Britain Academy – p219.ezboard.com/bthejkogbacademy – L
Jedi of the New Millennium – p066.ezboard.com/bjediofthenewmillenium – L
The Jedi Niche Forums – p071.ezboard.com/bjedisnicheforums – L
Jedi Order – pub101.ezboard.com/bjediorder87782 – L
Jedi Protectors Academy – pub9.ezboard.com/bsfsjedi…andacademy – L
The Jedi Religion (Jediism) – www.jediism.net/forum/index.php – L
Jedi Salvation Project – pub95.ezboard.com/bprojecteclipse42066 – L
The Jedi Sanctum – pub17.ezboard.com/bthejedisanctum – L
The Jedi United – pub7.ezboard.com/bthejediunited – L
Kights of the Jedi Templar – p080.ezboard.com/bknights…editemplar – L
Land of the Jedi – p104.ezboard.com/blandofthejedi93427 – L
Legends of the Force – pages.prodigy.net/jedi_in_lv – L
New Jedi Order: Light Hall – p089.ezboard.com/bnjolighthall – L
New Jedi Realist Order – p211.ezboard.com/bnewjedirealistorder – L
Project Jedi – p090.ezboard.com/bprojectjedi – L
The Spectrum Council – p089.ezboard.com/bthespectrumcouncil – L
Temple of the Jedi Arts – p221.ezboard.com/btotja – L
Temple of the Shadow Jedi – www.stonedog.f2s.com/cgi-…matebb.cgi – L

Mailing Lists:

Jedi Gatherings Group – groups.yahoo.com/group/je…ringsgroup – A
Jedi Knight Movement – groups.yahoo.com/group/Je…t_Movement – A
The Jedi Order – www.thejediway.org/mailma…ediway.org – A

Unified Jedi Order – groups.yahoo.com/group/Un…Jedi_Order – N

Academy of the New Jedi Order – groups.yahoo.com/group/ac…jedi_order – Q
Jedi Training Group – groups.yahoo.com/group/jedi_training – Q
Jediism – groups.yahoo.com/group/Jediism – Q
Unified Jedi Order – groups.yahoo.com/group/Un…Jedi_Order – Q

JEDI – www.elistas.com/list/jedi – D

Chat Rooms:

The Jedi Community (JEDI) – pub55.ezboard.com/bthejed…munityChat – A

The Jedi Academy (JEDI) – p090.ezboard.com/bacademy.communityChat – Q
The Jedi Order – thejediway.org/chat/phpMyChat.php3 – Q
Jediism: The Way of the Force – www.freewebs.com/thejedib…atroom.htm – Q

The Jedi Consortium – www.angelfire.com/ab6/jed…/chat.html – D
The Jedi Knights of Canada – www.angelfire.com/ca4/jed…ogram.html – D

Journals:

The Jedi Journals – www.blogigo.com/thejedijournals – D
Tales of a Jedi – www.greatestjournal.com/u…lesofajedi – D

Webrings:

The Jedi Webring – www.fatumoperandi.org/ringmaker.php – A

Jedi Community Web Ring (JEDI) – www.thejedi.org/community/links – Q

Maps:

World Map (The Jedi Order) – www.thejediway.org/member_map.html – N

JEDI Map – pub9.bravenet.com/guestma…=714960633 – D
Jedi Gatherings UK Map – pub10.bravenet.com/guestm…=797092570 – D
Jedi Gatherings US Map – pub39.bravenet.com/guestm…3303898019 – D
Jedi Gatherings World Map – pub46.bravenet.com/guestm…3885774323 – D

Offline Groups:

Jedi Gatherings Group (Moonshadow) – groups.yahoo.com/group/je…ringsgroup – A
Jedi Training Center (James Adamik) – A
The Jedi Way (Brandel Valico) – www.thejediway.org – A

Cajun Jedi Association (JBar WolfKnight) – reconjbh@hotmail.com – Q
United Jedi Order (TrigJedi) – trigjedi@juno.com – Q

Fitness Center Project (Jade Tigresse) – jadetigresse@yahoo.com – D

Articles:

Blairite and Jedi Enter Dictionary – news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2282572.stm – D
Finding Faith in the Force – www.filmfodder.com/mt-web…0904.shtml – D
Following the Jedi Path – www.metrotimes.com/19/34/…lowing.htm – D
From Apostle to Apostate: Revenge of the Sith as a Cautionary Tale – news.christiansunite.com/…2748.shtml – D
George Lucas, The Force, and God – www.leaderu.com/humanitie…ingly.html – D
The Gospel According to Luke Skywalker – news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/enter…204829.stm – D
TGAt Star Wars – www.monkeyouttanowhere.co…_acco.html – D
Jedi A U.K. Religion is – www.scifi.com/scifiwire/a…10.30.film – D
Jedi E-mail Revealed as a Hoax – news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/enter…271380.stm – D
Jedi Religion Grows in Australia – news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/enter…218456.stm – D
Jedi ‘Religion’ Sees Dramatic Growth – www.explorefaith.org/news/05_17_05.html – D
Jediism Religion has Sprouted Worldwide – www.thejedi.org/database/…diism.html – D
Jediism: What’s it All About? – www.godulike.co.uk/faiths…ject=intro – D
Nerds Bid to Make Jedi Religion Official – www.thejedi.org/database/…nerds.html – D
Richard’s Dish TGAtLS – www.rlew.com/archives/00000034.htm – D
So You Wanna be a Jedi – www.nqtnews.com/?story=article&id=28 – D
Star Wars Film Depicts New Age Messiah – www.mt.net/%7Ewatcher/sta…ssiah.html – D
Star Wars: The Force, Tao, and Butterfly – www.scifidimensions.com/J…terfly.htm
‘Star Wars’ Presence in Religion – www.detnews.com/2005/reli…180130.htm – D
Star Wars: Return of the Pagan – www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va…ds&id=9727 – D
The Wisdom of the Living Force – www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16739/91663 – D

Theses:

The Development of Star Wars – hem.bredband.net/wookiee/development – D
From Fall to Redemption – galactic-voyage.com/Fan%2…20Wars.pdf – D
Luminous Beings and Crude Matter (by JA’s Hellflower) – p214.ezboard.com/fthejedi…D=22.topic – D
Star Wars As a Mythology – wso.williams.edu/~rfoxwel…Thesis.txt – D
Star Wars Canon – www.st-v-sw.net/STSWCanon2A.html – D
Two Audiences, Two Spirits – starwarsessay.blogspot.co…chive.html – D

Books:

The Dhama of Star Wars – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0861714970 – A
Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0787978949 – A
The Journey of Luke Skywalker – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0812694325 – A
Shimmering Sword – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0971879605 – A
Star Wars: The New Myth – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…1401039898 – A
Star Wars: The Power of Myth – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0789455919 – A
Star Wars and Philosophy – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0812695836 – A
The Tao of Star Wars – www.amazon.com/exec/obido…0893343854 – A

Related Websites:

Alan Watts – www.alanwatts.com – A
BeliefNet – www.belief.net – A
Bujinkan Martial Arts – www.winjutsu.com/seminars.html – A
Dragon Spyre – www.dragonspyre.org – A
Embracing Mystery – www.embracingmystery.org – A
Ezboard – www.ezboard.com – A
Fencing.Net – www.fencing.net – A
The Force.Net – www.theforce.net – A
Godulike – www.godulike.co.uk – A
The Imperial Order – www.imperialorder.org – A
Jedi Net – www.jedi.net – A
Jedi Net.Com – www.jedinet.com – A
Jedi: Wikipedia – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Realism – A
Joseph Campbell Foundation – www.jcf.org – A
Live Journal – www.livejournal.com – A
LucasArts – www.lucasarts.com – A
phpBB – www.phpbb.com – A
Shaolin-Do – www.shaolin-do.com – A
Star Wars – www.starwars.com – A
The Star Wars Sim Forum – www.fallenjedi.com – A
True Tao – www.taoism.net – A
Toshi Station – www.toshistation.com – A

All-Faith Spirituality Headquarters – www.afshq.net – Q
Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters – www.christianwisdomofthejedimasters.com – Q
Echosation – www.echostation.com – Q
Fatum Operandi – www.fatumoperandi.org – Q
The Jedi Assembly – www.thejediassembly.com – Q
Jedi Church – www.jedichurch.com – Q
Order of the Grey – www.greyjedi.net – Q
RLSA Sabers – members.tripod.com/rlsasa…-style.htm – Q
Wiley: CWotJM – www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Wi…78949.html – Q

Academy of Life – www.geocities.com/theacademyoflife – D
Art of the Jedi – www.artofthejedi.com – D
Collected Quotes & Passages – www.angelfire.com/al/Swordsman – D
Dhammapada – home.comcast.net/~Brandel…apada.html – D
The Domain of Falcon Taelonos – tatooine.fortunecity.com/…intro.html – D
Gadoman Knights – gadomanknights.homestead….index.html – D
Imperial Dragon Martial Arts Academy – www.idmaa.com – D
Jedi: Enpsychlopedia – www.psychcentral.com/psypsych/Jedi – D
Lionsong’s Den – lionsongsden.netfirms.com – D
The Power of the Force – www.wingtsun.nl/PowForce.htm – D
The New Jedi Council – hometown.aol.com/nickrepka – D
Star Wars: Realities Beyond the Myth – www.exn.ca/starwars/home.cfm – D
The ‘Star Wars’ Religion – sw-anthropo.ibelgique.com…tangl.html
What It All Means – www.what-it-all-means.com – D

The Dark Side: The Lightsaber Blueprint Resource – www.geocities.com/c-boath/index2.htm – L
Sparks Home – www.thejedi.org/spark – L
Star-Network – www.star-network.com – L
Star Wars: Lightsabres – www.synicon.com.au/sw/ls/sabres.htm – L

Related Forums:

Dewback Wing: ASAP – p082.ezboard.com/bpropreplicas – A
Dragon Spyre – p206.ezboard.com/bdragonspire – A
The Gungan Council – p089.ezboard.com/bthegungancouncil – A
Embracing Mystery – www.embracingmystery.org/forum – A
Fatum Operandi – www.fatumoperandi.org/phpBB2 – A
The Jedi Assembly – apfoister.proboards9.com/index.cgi – A
The Jedi Elite – p097.ezboard.com/bthejedielite13283 – A
JediBites – p209.ezboard.com/bjedibites – A
Mindful Wisdom – p200.ezboard.com/bmindfulwisdom – A
Misfit of the Jedi – p217.ezboard.com/bstarwarsacademy – A
Star Wars: Legends of Destiny – p097.ezboard.com/bthejedielite13283 – A
Universe of Chaos – p212.ezboard.com/buniverseofchaos – A
Yoda’s Yarns – pub13.ezboard.com/byodasyarns – A

Foresaken Jedi (The Jedi Academy) – p209.ezboard.com/bjediacademy – Q
Jedi Church Forum – www.jedichurch.com/webapp…forum.html – Q
Jedi Praxeum – jmdavid96.proboards44.com – Q
Pantheism – p199.ezboard.com/bpantheism – Q
The Rebel Alliance – p080.ezboard.com/brebelalliance82574 – Q
Rogue Sith Order – p074.ezboard.com/bzoistempire – Q
Steffan’s Community – p103.ezboard.com/bsteffanscommunity – Q

The Cabin of Legend – p211.ezboard.com/bcheveyosforesthideout – D
Crystal Dancer – p087.ezboard.com/bcrystaldancers – D
Elysium – p074.ezboard.com/belysium97062 – D
Gadoman Knights – p200.ezboard.com/bgadomanknights – D
Greater Jedi Order – p066.ezboard.com/bthejedilounge – D
Jedi Arts (Art of the Jedi) – p211.ezboard.com/bjediarts – D
Jedi Philosophy and the Force – home.earthlink.net/~starw…page4.html – D
Jediism: The Jedi Religion – www.abovetopsecret.com/fo…d14761/pg2 – D
LightSide Lounge – p216.ezboard.com/blightsidelounge – D
The New Phoenix Group – p087.ezboard.com/bthenewphoenixgroup – D
Psi Learning Center (Jedi Psi Learning Center) – p216.ezboard.com/bjedipsilearningcenter – D

Academy of Life – p200.ezboard.com/bacademyoflife – L
Brain Stormin’ – p219.ezboard.com/bbrainstormin – L
Gardarism – p218.ezboard.com/bgardarism – L
Illumination Network – www26.brinkster.com/illumnet – L
Influx the Learning – p071.ezboard.com/binfluxthelearning – L
Order of the Dark – p210.ezboard.com/bdark – L

Dead (Lost Bin) Links:

Jali’s Jedi Academy – www.geocities.com/Hollywo…/jedi.html – L
Jedi Beliefs and The Will of the Force – www10.brinkster.com/jusite/beliefs.htm – L
The Jedi Church – www.thejedichurch.org – L
Jedi Council – www.homestead.com/jedicoucil/main.html – L
UK Jedi – www.ukjedi.co.uk – L

This list is from:

JEDI website database

http://p208.ezboard.com/fthejediorgfrm113.showMessage?topicID=3.topic

THE ANTI-CALIPH

Ibn ‘Arabi, Inner Wisdom, and the Heretic Tradition

by Peter Lamborn Wilson

I.

and Khezr, the Hidden Prophet, the Green Man, King of Hyperborea, wily servant of Moses, trickster-cook of Alexander, Khezr who drank from the fountain of life in the Land of Darkness. Flowers and herbs spring trp in his footsteps, and he strolls across the water, walking toward Ibn ‘Arabi’s ship, coming closer; his green robe trailing on green waves – or perhaps woven of waves. Or Khezr appears in the desert with water and initiation for the masterless ones, the mad and blameworthy, the unique ones… `And three things of this life are worthy of the glance: water, green things, and a beautiful face…’

and the Hidden Imam who vanished into a cave, perhaps in Samarra, perhaps in Yemen, who lives beyond the Isthmus of Similitudes in the midst of the sea of Images, on an island all of emerald, with trees of’ emerald and flowers of green beryl, palaces of jasper and jade – the young man dressed in black, who appears in dreams to alchemists, who initiates in dreams…

and Ovays al-Qarani, hermit of the Yemen who met the Prophet – but only in dreams – who upheld the Household of All – who appears to the masterless ones in dreams and initiates them into the Order of the Ovaysiyya.

II. The Silsilah

Sohrawardi al Magtul, who was executed for heresy, established for himself a silsilah or Initiatic Chain, consisting of teachers whom he met in visions or dreams – that is, in the Imaginal Realm. Here then follows a list in no particular order, of names each of which constitutes a link in such a chain – Imaginal or imaginary…

Mansur ibn al-Hallaj, executed for heresy, for preaching ‘I am the Truth’, defender of Satan as `the perfect lover and unitarian’, supporter of the Zinjarite Black Slave Rebellion, condemned to the gibbet on a warrant signed by his own sufi master;

Hafez Shirazi, who recommended that we `stain our prayercarpets with wine’;

Mahmud Shabistari, who said, `If moslems really understood Islam, they would be idol-worshippers’;

Ahmad Ghazzali, Fakhroddin Iraqi and Awhadoddin Kermani, the three poets of Witness Play or ‘contemplation of the Beardless’;

Shaykh Husayn Kashefi, nay patron alchemist-saint of Herat;

Lal Shabazz Qalandar, the `Red Hawk’ of Sindh, shaykh of the Lawless dervishes and hasheesheen;

Hassan-i Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain of Alamut, founder of the Assassins; and his descendant Hassan II ‘On Whose Mention Be Peace’, who declared that ‘the Chains of the Law have been broken’;

the Egyptian Fatimid ‘Anti-Caliph’ Hakim, who wrote treatises on alchemy and ordered that day be turned to night and night to day in Cairo, who vanished into the desert;

Sunan Kalidjaga, who brought esoteric Islam to Java and invented the Wayang Kulit Shadow Puppet play, based on the Hindu epics;

Mushtaq Ali Shah the mad musician, who was stoned to death in Kerman for playing the call to Prayer on his sehtar;

Mohiyoddin Ibn ‘Arabi, initiated by Khezr, chased out of Cairo for writing love poems to a fourteen-year-old girl, founder of the School of the Oneness of Being.

By invoking each of these figures to bestow a particular baraka on the present undertaking, enough will have been said to those who are familiar with their names, that what follows will be almost superfluous. One meets these shaykhs by pilgrimages to their tombs, or to their books (for cenotaphs and divans are both square dead objects which may seem to hold living spirits) – or in visions, or dreams – and virtually everything we might say here is already swallowed up by their presence.

‘Catastrophe Theory’ in science deals with sudden and drastic changes in some feature of a system, such as the earth’s crust, or human society. In popular usage the word catastrophe has ‘bad’ connotations, but some sudden changes may well be experienced as positive. Revelation itself might be called a catastrophe. Mystical insight or Wisdom (hikmah) can also work catastrophically on the system known as human consciousness.

Scholars generally limit themselves to descriptions of change while mystics and poets prefer to participate in or even to precipitate catastrophes of consciousness. What follows can be classified neither as scholarship nor mystical poetry; it is rather a prolegomena to a study of certain catastrophic potentialities in the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabi and the heretical tradition. Here we are concerned neither with facts nor with poetry per se, but with poetic facts – bits of information which, at a certain density, may cause a sudden breakthrough or catastrophic breakdown of the border between ordinary consciousness and the alam-i khyyal or World of Imagination.

What follows is almost more story than scholarly text – the idea of `fiction’ will help provide an appropriate bezel for our shadowy confusion, hyperbole and rhetoric, palpable orientalismo, scandalous and unfounded assertions. This text may push itself toward the edge of discourse, in danger of a Humpty-Dumpty-like crash into totally arbitrary semantics (`words mean what I want them to mean!’). As one of the Persian poets (Salman Savaji) said:

Who does not know my bad reputation? like a bath-tub fallen off the roof!

III. Ibn ‘Arabi and the Heretics

In the long and beautiful introduction to his Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi, the late Henry Corbin summarized, in effect, an idiosyncratic philosophy of `Oriental Wisdom’ which illuminated all his writing. This essay presents itself as rooted in a tradition: Corbin mentions all his favourite figures (many of the same listed in the ’silsilah’ of the present text as well). Corbin’s essay focusses on certain events in the biography of the Shaykh al-Akbar, but Corbin’s sub-text is in fact his own spiritual autobiography. As he says, he has lived certain events, temporal and a- temporal, historical and spiritual. The ta’vil in this context serves as more than a tool of the intellect or even of the Imagination: like a bathysphere, it offers to plunge the entire self, body included, into the depths – a Catastrophe Machine!

One of these events, Ibn ‘Arabi’s birthday, provokes in Corbin an indulgence in sheer occult synchronicity, the celebration of a coincidence which assumed for him an archetypal importance. According to the lunar calendar, this birthday (17 Ramazan 560/July 28, 1165) marked the first anniversary of the proclamation of the Great Resurrection at Alamut (17 Ramazan 559/August 8, 1164). Corbin’s exquisite hagiography invites us to meditate on this double anniversary, this holiday, but does not stop to explain why. A clue has been offered, or perhaps one of Corbin’s obsessions has briefly and rather mysteriously surfaced. What was the Great Resurrection and what connection might it have with lbn ‘Arabi beside a happenstance of dating?

Corbin himself had plenty to say on the subject in other books, which cannot be too highly recommended. Here however a somewhat different slant is proposed, one based on the literal significance of the Great Resurrection of Ruz-i Qiyamat. In brief, Hassan 11, the Ismaili Pir of Alamut, proclaimed on this day a general esoteric abrogation of the Shariah. The veil of dissimulation (tagiyya) was lifted from the letter of the Law, and its outer form was shattered. ‘The Chains of the Law have been broken.’ The uncovering of the inner meaning of Revelation results in a benign reversal of its outward symbolism; those who participate in this gnosis are freed from both the, literal meaning and the legal stipulations of organized religion. In both senses of the word they have broken the code. The Ismailis (or ‘Assassins’) of Alamut signalled this general amnesty from the tyranny of Exoteric Authority by drinking wine for lunch in the middle of Ramazan: thus they broke their Fast forever.

Outward Islam must of necessity view the Qiyamat as antinomian, heretical and revolutionary – and indeed it did so, with good reason. No doubt, as Corbin emphasizes, Ismailism was primarily gnosis, Oriental Wisdom – but it also acted with overt militancy and stealthy terror to propagandize itself. In Islamdom, where politics and religion form parts of a seamless life and culture, ‘heresy’ works as both critique and polemic, as discourse and as war. Heresy speaks the same language as its surrounding culture but insists that certain words possess a catastrophic significance: hidden meanings capable of transforming an entire world suddenly from within itself, like a self-resurrecting phoenix.

The Qiyamat, then, represents a radical break with institutional, ritual and traditional Islam – a rupture which cannot be attributed to lbn ‘Arabi. His autobiographical writings bear witness to a classical sufi intention to intensify the ritual aspect of Islam as part of his practical path. Nevertheless, the hyper-orthodox have always looked on the Shaykh as somehow risky, if not downright suspect.

For example, while living in Egypt he published his Interpreter of Desires, a book of poems celebrating his love for a young girl he met while circumambulating the Kaaba in Mecca. The local ulema smelled blasphemy; lbn ‘Arabi hastily removed himself to Syria – and we can thank the outraged mullahs for inspiring his next work, the Interpreter of the Interpreter, in which he defends his erotic-mystical ambiguities with dazzling scholasticism. Centuries later (a few years ago) Ibn ‘Arabi was again in trouble in Egypt: the Muslim Brotherhood and other reactionaries inspired a law banning publication of his Meccan Revelations. And scholars like Fazlur Rahman still blame him for the ruination of orthodox sufism.

Ibn ‘Arabi’s continental mass, so to speak, covers too much territory to fit on any single map. His writings have been used to bolster up the most impeccably orthodox mysticism – as in the North African sufi orders, for example – as well as many other types of Islamic esotericism, some not so orthodox. Treatises such as the R. al-ahadiyya (on the hadith ‘Whoso knoweth his Lord’), which present a pure and radical monism, might well serve the outlaw purposes of Ismaili metaphysicians. Indeed, Corbin shows that Ismailis did make such use of Ibn ‘Arabi’s teachings on ta’vil, the Perfect Man, the Oneness of Being, etc. The Nizaris of Alamut experienced the Great Resurrection as an historical moment and as a mythic or Imaginal Archetype; what Ibn ‘Arabi gave them was a new vocabulary with which to expand their exegesis of the Qiyamat and its radical ramifications.

“I o the Persian poets the Shaykh bequeathed still another map, one which begins its cartomantic project with texts like The Interpreter of Desires, and the 28th chapter of the Fusus al-hikam (on the hadith “Three things of this world are made worthy of love to tile: women, perfume and prayer’). Here Love is declared the equivalent or perhaps superior of religion; the human beloved becomes a Witness (shahed), a Theophany of the Real. Again, the poets received from Ibn ‘Arabi a language of discourse with which to expand their comprehension of a complex already central to their very being: eros, desire, and the borderland between erotic and mystical consciousness.

Out of such speculation arose a spiritual practice, the `Witness Game’, which uses Imaginal Yoga to transmute erotic desire into spiritual consciousness. The means include poetic and musical improvisation, dance, and `gazing’ chastely at beautiful boys (whence the practice was also known as ‘Contemplation of the heartless’),

This teaching was perfected in the centuries after Ibn ‘Arabi’s death by a series of gifted poets closely associated with his School – Fakhroddin Iraqi, Awhadoddin Kermani and Abdul Rahman Jami, to name three of the best-known. Without specific reference to the Witness Game, other poets such as Mahmud Shabistari and Shah Nematollah Vali synthesized Ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics with a general poetic and romantic symbolism. All this together constitutes what can be called a Persian ‘School of Love’ within the general context of a School of wahdat al-wujud.

Needless to say, although the poets of the Witness Game followed the letter of the Shariah and its sexual code, their dangerous game of Sublimation was condemned as rank heresy by such as Ibn Taymiyya, who complained, `They kiss a slave boy and claim to have seen God!’ However orthodox (or not) the sufis might have been in their private lives, their poetry has given much aid and comfort to `real heretics’ like the Ismailis, who would of course take quite literally such lines as Iraqi’s:

Forget the Kaaba:

The vintner’s gates are open!

Despite the protests of scholars like lvanov and even Corbin, the later (post-Alamut) lsmailis did not adopt Persian dervishi sufism simply as a mask. They incorporated such poets as Shabastari and Shah Nematollah wholesale into their grand synthesis, just as they did with Ibn ‘Arabi’s more austere metaphysics.

In mapping Ibn ‘Arabi’s influence on the heretical tradition, we see his language (or landmarks) taken up by erudite cosmopolitan philosopher-rebels and erudite aesthetical/emotional sufi poets. But as this synthesis moves Eastward from Andalusia through Egypt and Persia, it begins to acquire a more popular and cultic aspect as well. Shi’ite sectarians such as the Qizilbashi, Hurufi, Alevi, Bektashi, Ahl-i Haqq,, Ali Hahi, Kakhsari, Ovaysi – and the Shi’ite alchemists – all inherit something of the basic mix. In Afghanistan and North India the tradition includes the so-called Lawless (bi-shahr) dervish orders such as the Qalandars, the transvestite dancers and hashish-maulangs, heterodox sufi orders such as the Shattariyya (’Rapid Way’) and certain offshoots of the Sohrawardiyya; also syncretistic sects such as the Emperor Akbar’s Din-i Hahi, as well as various folkish combinations of Ismailism, Tantrik Hinduism, Bakhti yoga, millenarian Shi’ism and dervish madness.

All these names are dropped not merely to disturb the mystico-academic dust but to point toward a project; a tradition has been invoked, but only in order to ask of it whether it still lives, whether it still possesses a practical and soteriological (or ’salvific’) vitality. Let us imagine that this tradition, which is no longer to be identified only with lbn ‘Arabi, might be somehow personified or poeticized. Call it ‘The Anti-Caliph’, with reference to its heretical antecedents and in honour of the Fatimid Ismaili ‘Anti-Caliphs’ of Egypt such as Hakim Billah the alchemist whose name, ‘the Wise’, echoes the theme of our conference. This fictional character, the Anti-Caliph, who is also a text, will stand for our Imaginal reliving of the tradition it evokes.

The Anti-Caliph will exist only within the confines of this text, where it will act as an oracle, answering certain questions about the past, present and future. The Anti-Caliph may well be antinomian, heretical, mad, ‘blameworthy’ – but it demands recognition for its own ‘traditional authority’, and phrases all its answer$ in reference to its own authentic and coherent past.

We want to know the meaning of that past, but even more – if we can perform a little hermeneutic phenomenology and live at least for an hour within the Anti-Caliph’s world – we will demand to know what it can teach us here on this most mysterious of planes (’everyday life’) at this most precious of moments, the present. When the text is read, we can allow it to slip back into the Imaginal World again – and perhaps retain from it a few poetic facts.

IV. Cyclic Time

For lsmailism, history takes place in cycles. This is a way of valuating Time, of symbolizing the way in which meaning penetrates Time. But Ismailis do not emphasize decline (as in the myth of the Ages of Gold, Silver, Bronze and Lead) so much as simply change itself. For the conservative mind things always get worse: perfection lies in the Golden past. The radical views matters in a more complex way: the past englobes a certain primordiality, origins and revelations, but time can also present certain unfoldings, processes or progressions. The modern notion of ‘progress’ has nothing to do with this unfolding; a cyclic conception of time admits no omega points, no ultimate perfections either in the past or future.

Each sub-cycle in Ismaili gnosis is ‘ruled’ by a prophet, who represents the outward aspect of revelation, and a saint (or asas, whence ‘assassins’), who represents the inner. Moses, for example, brought the Law – Aaron taught its esoteric significance. Jesus spoke in parables – John the Baptist (or some other gnostic figure) unveiled their hidden meaning to the Elect. Mohammed brought the Koran and Shariah; Ali embodied their secret significance.

Orthodox Islam claims – like all established religions – to be the final cycle of revelation. To recognise a prophet after Mohammed is therefore to cease to be a moslem. Ismailis accept this, but they maintain that the cycle of prophecy has been replaced by the cycle of esoteric interpreters: All and the Household. In one sense, this represents not a decline in the spiritual quality of time, but rather an advance, or at least a wonderful chance: the inner meaning of revelation formerly taught only to the Elect will become the outer path accessible to all. Time turns inside out, Revelation and Law disgorge meanings so hidden they seem to turn the very words and ordinances on their heads, to make them their opposites – `benign inversion’.

For the Ismailis this unfolding begins with Ali, passes on to the first six Shi’ite Imams, then from Jafar al-Sadeq to his son Ismail, the seventh Imam – thence to the Egyptian `Anti-Caliphs’, the Fatimid dynasty.

The Fatimids believed their caliphs to be blood descendants of Ali and the Prophet through Fatima’s line: these were the Imams, rulers of the secular world and simultaneously of the spiritual world: king/saints. The higher-ranking initiates were taught the esoteric secrets of Ismailism but outwardly the Shariah was still followed. For the inner circle, this outward conformity was called tagiyya or `permissible dissimulation’; the Fatimid dais or missionaries (such as Nasir-i Khusraw) were also permitted to practice tagiyya, pretending to be Sunni or Orthodox Shi’ite when necessary.

The Persian or Nizari Ismailis, the so-called Assassins, split away from the Fatimids originally over a question of legitimacy – i.e. of succession to the Caliphate/Imamate. Here looms up a confusing issue: the present day Aga Khan, head of the Nizari Ismailis, claims actual blood-descent from the Fatimid Pretender Nizar, who in turn claimed blood-descent from Ali. The Nizaris maintain that their founder, the notorious Hassan-i Sabbah, secretly spirited out of Cairo the infant son of Nizar, took him to Alamut and raised him in secrecy. This very hidden Imam married and had a son who married and had a son (a secret process involving various cradle-substitutions and devious strategems of byzantine complexity) who was Hassan II ‘ala dhikrihi’s-salam, `Upon Whose Mention Be Peace’, the proclaimer of the Qiyamat in 1164. According to the Aga Khans, the abrogation of the Shariah thus coincided with the open manifestation of the blood-legitimate Imam. This claim, incidentally, was upheld by a 19th century British court in Bombay.

Since the Mongols burned the great library at Alamut, Ismaili history yawns with lacunae. No real evidence exists to support the story of Nizar’s infant son. Some historians believe these claims of legitimacy to be later fabrications. But who would have fomented such a hoax? Hassan-i Sabbah? Apparently he preached only in the name of the murdered Pretender Nizar, and never mentioned any rescued infant. Was the hoaxer then Hassan II, Master of the Qiyamat? No. In the earliest descriptions of the Qiyamat, he presents himself as speaking on behalf of the Imam. Apparently only after^- his violent death – a few years after the Qiyamat – was he openly proclaimed Imam.

These vexing historical problems must be addressed if the true nature of the Qiyamat is to be uncovered. Corbin believed, with justification, that the Qiyamat was a purely esoteric event, and had nothing whatsoever to do with legitimacy. He felt that the later blood-line claims constituted in effect a betrayal of the Qiyamat’s deepest sense, an attempt to force pure free spirit into the forms of dogma, cult and history.

In opposition to the concept of blood-legitimacy Corbin emphasizes that of adoption on the spiritual plane, the initiatic vision which can link two souls as kin, even though they be separated in time, space and genetics. Moreover, Corbin introduces the typically Ismaili concept of ‘the Imam -of-one’s-own-being’: whoever has gnosis of self has gnosis of the archetypal Imam and in effect ‘becomes’ the Imam.. In Corbin’s hypothesis, such a theophanic vision allowed Hassan II to speak `on behalf of’ the Imam, to lift the veil of tagiyya forever and for all gnostics, to abrogate the Shariah and proclaim its hidden meanings. Indeed, even if the Qa’im or Saheb-i Qiyamat had spoken of himself as the Imam, he could have done so with perfect right according to the doctrines of spiritual adoption and the realization of the inner Imam. An event such as the Qiyamat consists of an intersection between history and the timeless ‘Nowever’; to drag it down to the level of blood again is to ruin it. In a sense, anyone can be the Imam; in a sense, everyone already is the Imam.

With all respect to the Aga Khans (especially the third, that bon vivant and gambler who gave away his weight in diamonds, and wrote a gem-like treatise on Hafez) the present text prefers to follow the Corbinian version of the Qiyamat: a total opening-up of esoteric truth which liberated its celebrants from all outward forms of authority, whether of Revelation, Law – or blood.

Each adherent of the Qiyamat does not suddenly and miraculously become a perfect saint. But the chains of Law have been broken for all who adhere and hear, for all who know. A new Cycle has been inaugurated; those who realize it are in it; time has a different value for them. Within this Cycle of course different seekers attain different degrees of realization. However, for each one the path now begins with esoteric interpretation (ta’vil). The meanings of. Koran and Shariah are now interiorized as a first step.

Prayer becomes any process or act which serves to open the conscious self to the Imam-of-one’s-own-being;

Fasting becomes the avoidance of anything which impedes this enlargement of awareness;

Pilgrimage signifies major efforts to unify individual consciousness with its ultimate manifestation as the Self;

Belief in Allah, Prophets and Angels means the esoteric understanding of theology as symbolic;

Almsgiving means generosity of self, the open interdependence and mutual realization of all life (especially consciousness, which can be given and shared);

Justice (the `Sixth Pillar’ of Shi’ism) means the simultaneous realisation of the Self in oneself and in others, in all life, and giving it its due in every situation;

The Last Judgement means Resurrection Day as taught by Pir Ha^ssan II. Hell and Heaven are seen as present and interior states; eschatology in its literal sense is either denied or ignored.

This new Cycle portends upheavals in politics as well as theology. If every person is potentially the Imam, and partakes through the Qiyamat directly in the Imam’s authority, then each individual is his or her own ruler – a system which might be called paradoxical anarcho-monarchism! We can scarcely imagine what this might have meant to the people of Alamut, who in any case enjoyed no more than a few years of total revolution. Hassan 11 was probably murdered by conservative elements within the Ismaili community, unable to share his utopian vision.

But for this text – The Anti-Caliph – the Qiyamat signals the beginning of a Cycle which is still in the process of unfolding. Following Corbin, we can experience the Qiyamat in the alam-i mithal or Imaginal Plane, and receive its gnosis direct and unmediated. The Qiyamat survives, and we can participate in it.

Through it, the ‘Nowever’ remains always accessible; moreover, history itself is now defined for us by our Qiyamat-consciousness. Thus we appear as authentic interpreters of the Qiyamat, able to explain its past and present unfolding, its ever-changing strategies, its perpetually revolutionary energies.

For example: what would the Qiyamat today `say’ about… sexual liberation? about the social revolution? about an authentic contemporary spiritual path? Using these questions as examples, let us treat The Anti-Caliph as a crystal ball, and entrance ourselves with Imaginings, flashes of prismatic light.

V. Sexuality and Hermeneutics

Most antinomian sects have been accused of sexual license, polymorphous and perverse, and many such cults have indeed practiced variations of `free love’. The Adamites and Families of Love took ‘no marriage in heaven’ to mean no marriage here on earth, since for them the Millennium had arrived. For Alamut also a Millennium had arrived, and although we know almost nothing about love amongst the Assassins, we can easily extrapolate. The Qiyamat philosophy leads logically to a contemporary position outwardly similar to that held by the most radical of sexual liberationists.

One of the commonest misapprehensions about antinomianism claims that it causes (or is synonymous with) libertinism – doing `whatever you want’ regardless of other peoples’ values or lives. Luckily Nietzsche (that Islamophile) settled this point once and for all for everyone, no matter what their sect or belief: ‘beyond good and evil’ means nothing without that ’self-overcoming’ or ’sublimation’ which utterly rules out the banality of a pointless and self-defeating ‘evil’. The antinomian may commit crimes in the eyes of society or the Law, but only out of a personal ethics which reaches unimaginably higher than any moral code. Antinomian ethics does this precisely because it is Imaginal, ‘made up’ by the individual, personal and central.

Islam begins as one of the very few pro-sexual-pleasure religions known to civilized humanity. Paul may say it is better to marry than burn, but the Prophet advises a follower to ‘marry a young woman so that you may enjoy life’ – and says, ‘Three things of this world I love, women, perfume and prayer.’ He married eleven times, allowed his followers each four wives and countless concubines; at one time he instituted ‘temporary marriage’, which is still practiced, by the Shi’ites. He permitted birth control (but not abortion). This high valuation of sexual pleasure has led to a ‘tantrik’ aspect in Islamic spirituality, exemplified by Ibn ‘Arabi’s exposition (in the Bezels of Wisdom) of sexual intercourse as the supreme form of contemplation:

But as tile (Divine) Reality is inaccessible in respect (of the Essence), and there is contemplation only in a substance, the contemplation of God in women is the most intense and the most perfect; and the union which is the most intense… is the conjugal act.

… God causes the forms of the world to blossom by the projection of His Will and by the Divine Command… which manifests itself as the sexual act in the world of forms constituted by the elements, as the spiritual will (al-himmah) in the world of the spirits of light, and as logical conclusion in the discursive order, the whole thing being but an act of love of the primordial ternary reflecting itself in each and all its aspects.

People know well that I am in love; Only they do not know with whom…

This applies well to he who loves only voluptuousness, that is to say he who loves the support of voluptuousness, the woman, but remains unconscious in the spiritual sense of that which is really in question. If he knew it, he would know by virtue of what he enjoyed it, and who (really) enjoys the voluptuousness; then, he would be (spiritually) perfect.

(Burckhardt trans.)

Revolutionary as this may be, Ibn `Arabi still writes from the essentially masculinist point of view which permeates the Koran and hadith. Women are seen in themselves as individuals with souls, but as virtual property in relation to men. The `Feminist Principle’ is notoriously hard to locate in Islam. True, on the mystical or popular and syncretistic level, all sorts of hints and echoes of the Anima are found: the cult of Buraq, the cult of the Beloved in Persian poetry. The veiled and secluded woman becomes the symbol of all that is esoteric and hidden. But, outwardly, in contemporary terms – women are simply suppressed. Examples of this bias are already well-known and constitute a major charge against orthodox Islam. How would a contemporary Qiyamat-mystic deal with this problem?

A freedom or pleasure that rests on someone else’s slavery or misery cannot finally satisfy the self because it is a limitation or narrowing of the self, an admission of impotence, an offense against generosity and justice. Our freedom depends on other people’s freedom, for our fates are inextricably interwoven with others’, especially with those we love. Our text – The Anti-Caliph – would doubtless recommend (along with the abrogation of the Shariah) the abolition of all forms of marriage, temporary marriage, concubinage and slavery, all human relations expressed in terms of owner/property (including the parent/child relation). Now, according to orthodox Islam, the result of this liberation would be simply a state of unbridled sin and disorder. But, by reversing the Shariah, the esotericists have in fact interiorized its meaning, not simply discarded it. They no longer wish to take refuge in empty form when the essence of a relation (love, friendship, mutual advantage) has been poisoned by enmity and possessiveness. The spiritual meaning of sexual pleasure precludes for them all uncaring or selfish attitudes, all violence, all brackish resentment and cold fetishism – in short, all libertinage.

Moreover, the polarity masculine/feminine can now be seen and experienced as reversed; the Anima now gains a certain ascendancy (and this is the meaning of Islamic syncretist sects in Bengal and Java which worship goddesses like Kali or Loro Kidul. It is said that at one time the Prophet contemplated allowing two pagan goddesses to survive as Allah’s `consorts’ – so perhaps this `feminine’ Islam could be viewed as authentic and even ‘pre-Koranic’!). In practice, this feminization of Islam or reversal of polarities must involve a code of sexual behavior both highly ethical and highly humane, including a strong valuation of both pleasure and conviviality (’living together’) as spiritual practice, as the `good life’, virtually as purposes in themselves.

‘The Shariah bestows many privileges on the adult heterosexual male, but few on anyone else. Homosexuality for example is strictly forbidden. The devotees of Witness Play in theory remained chaste, arguing that desire for a boy was permitted even if sexual union were forbidden. Certain hadith seem to support this point of view; for instance it is said that those who love but remain chaste and die as a result of frustration, must be considered holy martyrs. Iraqi and Kermani believed also in the yogic or alchemical efficacy of chastity – but clearly from a psychological perspective their path must indeed have seemed a sort of martyrdom… and their poetry does contain elements of repression and melancholy.

Such poetry, however, often attains the opacity of code; moreover, many heretical texts have vanished. Did any mystic ever hit upon the idea of combining the Witness Game with the Qiyamat, the abrogation of the Shariah? Some dervishes boasted of enjoying far more than `glances’, or even kisses. Why should they not have enjoyed a philosophy – a spiritual hermeneutics of sex – with which to understand their practice and construct their apologia?

Such a philosophy might of course interest all believers in sexual freedom, not merely a few mystical boy-lovers. If we combine Ibn ‘Arabi’s ‘tantrik’ teachings with the actual practice of the Witness Game (the yoga of music, poetry, dance, wine and love) under the sign of the Qiyamat, we arrive at a new valuation of all and every variety of sexuality – both as ‘permissible voluptuousness’ and as spiritual practice.

This valuation uproots all orthodox morality – but even from the usual modern `Sexual Liberation’ standpoint it appears highly radical as well. Religious morality condemns non-ordinary sex as sinful and criminal, but vulgar materialism condemns sexuality itself to joyless commodification, the fetishization of desire, the proliferation of a pornography of violence and advertising. Without a `spiritual dimension’, the sexual revolution can only betray itself into libertinage and other distortions.

The Anti-Caliph dares to assert that its new valuation of sexuality transcends both religious morality and vulgar materialism. It affirms the reality and centrality of physical love, and at the same time identifies this love with the highest form of spiritual experience. It frees every amorous individual from the myriad varieties of repression, whether chains of the Law or numbness of alienation. Its touchstone is joy, and the agreement of two sovereign monarchs to share it. Body and soul are one – the erotic constitutes the essence of spirituality.

VI. Social Justice

With the exception of the Caliphate of Ali (and certain other brief periods in Islamic history) the Shi’ites have generally existed as a powerless minority within Islam, and consequently have elaborated a particularly interesting teaching on Social Justice, even going so far as to call it the Sixth Pillar of Islam. In political terms (although one can never wholly separate theological from political terms in Islam) Shi’ism begins as a form of mystical monarchism, a line of deposed Pretenders to the Caliphate who claimed not only bloodline legitimacy but also spiritual preeminence. Socially Shi’ism consisted of Hashemite aristocrats and marginalized groups such as the Aryan Persians, pockets of the rural poor, `primitive communists’ (such as the Qarmatians, who at one point managed to steal the Black Stone from the Kaaba in Mecca);, unofficial mystics and dissident intellectuals (such as the alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan or the secretive sect of scientists called the Brethren of Purity, Ikhwan al-Safa). Revolution, or at least the hope of revolution, became a Shi’ite principle. After Ali, none of the orthodox twelve Imams ever ruled – but the black banners of Shi’ism were carried by the Abbasids in their successful uprising against the Ommayids, by the Fatimids who conquered Egypt and built Cairo, by the victorious Safavids in Iran, by innumerable less successful rebels in North Africa, Syria, Persia and India.

The Assassins established a revolutionary Shi’ite `state’ which consisted not of a single land ruled by a king but a network of autonomous castles and mountain strongholds, separated by thousands of miles, defended not by armies but by fedayeen-terrorists, by bribery, secret propaganda; dedicated to science and learning, and ruled by a hierarchy based on spiritual attainment. With the total abrogation of the Shariah and the teaching of the Imam-of-one’s-own-being under the Qiyamat, this `state’ or web of armed communes must have attained a height of libertarianism unknown elsewhere or elsewhen in lslamdom. The Caliphs of Baghdad failed to destroy them – only the Mongol avalanche succeeded in burying Alamut and its scattered allies.

In the 20th century Sunni modernists and reformers have tended to look toward such Western models as Protestantism and Democracy for inspiration. Shi’ite thinkers however have shown an interest in more revolutionary philosophies. Dr Ali Shariati, who is said to have been murdered by SAVAK, attempted a brilliant if somewhat tendentious rapprochement between Shi’ism and Socialism which inspired many Iranians to revolution: the Mujaheddin or Holy Warriors, despised equally by the Shah, the Ayatollah and the U.S. State Department. Khomeini’s revolution demands `pure’ Shi’ism, unmixed with foreign influence or heretical Ismaili-like extremism. Khomeini himself was considered something of a wild-eyed mystic (he wrote a treatise on Ibn `Arabi) and rebel in his youth and exile, but in power he has enforced the Shariah with public executions of loose women, dissidents, Mujaheddin, homosexuals, drug addicts, Bahais, sufis, Jews, Ismailis, Christians, Kurds, monarchists, communists… an almost endless list of scapegoats. Most traces of utopian Shi’ite social experimentation have been outlawed or `postponed’ due to endless war in Kurdestan and Iraq, which now consumes thirteen-year-old children like a demented Moloch. Theater, music, painting, dancing and subversive poetry are banned. Shi’ism in triumph has turned out as dismal and terrifying as if Cotton Mather and Dr Mengele had cooked it up to torment a conquered foe.

What other forces in the Islamic world might attract an esotericist interested in social justice? Pakistan and the Reformist movement? Saudi `Arabia, with its oil and Wahhabiism? Qaddafi? Perhaps the Afghan rebels?

Some mystics may perhaps even feel a twinge of nostalgia for old-time corrupt venal dim monarchs like Farouk of Egypt or Zahir Shah of Afghanistan or Idris of Libya or the Persian Qajars – bad as they were, at least they had no ideology to push and no urge to `purify the Faith’! Indeed, traditional monarchism still finds favour with certain mystics such as the Guenonian sufis or the Javanese adherents of the `Just King’ – but even granting them sincerity and humane intentions, their ideas are impractical, and repugnant to the libertarian spirit of the Qiyamat.

One might derive a great deal of enjoyment from contemplating – imagining – a contemporary version of the concept of social justice propagated at Alamut. The abolition of Law characterizes only one other ‘political system’: anarchism. Moreover, the idea of the Imam-of-one’s-own-being implies the idea of self-rule, autarky: each human being a potential ‘king’, and human relations carried out as a mutuality of `free lords’. Of course, Alamut retained a hierarchy – but so did Nestor Makhno’s anarchist army. Moreover, the economic `communism’ and the cooperation between autonomous strongholds which characterized Nizari society somewhat resembled certain ideas such as syndicalism and `council communism’. Altogether, a curious blend of individualist anarchism, Bakuninism and antinomian mysticism sums up Alamut in modern political language.

In ‘up-dating’ the Alamut revolution we might also try to imagine a workable contemporary version of the Alamut-concept itself – the protected autonomous enclave of free spirits, warriors and scholars. In an age of airplanes, bombs and universal state control of land and resources, the notion seems quite impossible. Gold and daggers no longer entice or terrify a world grown numb with endless commodities and megadeaths; deserts and mountains all are mapped, not one remote valley or island remains unguarded or untaxed. What about survivalist hide-outs? artificial islands? underground computer networks? Antarctica? submarines? orbital L-5’s? the asteroid belt?

Outside of a Science Fiction story and short of some catastrophic change in the general world order, none of these versions of Alamut seems practical or feasible. However, some shards of praxis do survive amid the rubble of utopian fancies. One may always attempt as much insight, love, freedom of thought and expression, justice and tolerance as possible for oneself and the very few people who share one’s truest life. To be a ‘free lord’ in secret is better than being a public slave, a willing accomplice of repression and injustice. As for a more general struggle, Ismaili history provides an answer to the question of revolutionary tactics in times of outward powerlessness: propaganda. According to the doctrine of tagiyya or Concealment, Ismailis are allowed to pretend or disguise themselves at will in order to propagate the message to keep it alive. In such a situation the attentat or political assassination, terrorism and propaganda of the deed may be deemed tragically counterproductive. What counts is action on the personal and cultural level – ‘poetic terrorism’ if you like – but also simply bearing witness.

Above all, the latterday devotee of Alamut might feel almost an obligation (if a free spirit may admit of any duty whatsoever) to experience joy, and not postpone it to an afterlife or some utopian future. In this ‘imperative’ lies the need of doing justice to oneself, for those who cheat themselves can scarcely expect to know how to deal fairly (i.e. beautifully) with others. Here again the esotericist is capable of imagining an ethics much more demanding than any moral or civil law, precisely because it is based on expansion of self to include others rather than denial of self, resentment and hopeless longing. The practice of this sort of politics-of-eros cannot be totally suppressed even by our present technarchies, mandarins of snoop or commissars of hysterical greed.

To liberate ‘everyday life’, to seize back our own history from the society of the Spectacle – the Empire of Lies – this project begins with the individual and

spirals outward in love to embrace others. From the ruins of Alamut The Anti�Caliph creates a catastrophic archaeology of desire – and out of this, our insurrection creates itself.

VII. Taste

Here, words like ritual, mysticism and religion cannot be taken in their usual exoteric meanings of obligatory sacrifice, unreasoning piety and organized endarkenment’. The Anti-Caliph esotericizes these terms, turns them inside-out, wreaks upon them a benign inversion. It models itself on some Paleolithic language which has not yet differentiated between ritual and art, between mysticism and personal awareness, between religion and the harmonious life of the tribe. Only such no-longer-extant ur-words would really fit our precise needs. (And only poetry can hope to re-create them.)

In a society which used such a language, the artist (as A.K. Coomaraswamy pointed out) would not be a special sort of person, but every person would be a special sort of artist. In effect, as a Javanese pamong or teacher of the Sumarah sect exhorted me with permissible hyperbole, ‘Everyone must be an artist!’ In Javanese and Balinese society, this maxim amounts to a cultural axiom. Tremendous prestige attaches to the arts of shadow-puppetry, dance, gamelan, batik, etc. – to participation in these arts. The kebatinan or ‘pure esoteric’ cults (which have cut themselves off from orthodox Islam and Hinduism alike) often teach their devotees nothing more than meditation techniques and art-appreciation. The trance-dance epitomizes this path: complete identification of self with aesthetic action. “I he Javanese or Balinese who lacks talent is like a Lakota Sioux without a vision-quest, or a Malaysian Senoi who cannot dream, or an African pygmy deaf to the music the forest makes. In Java this ideal has survived since Independence as at least a partial reality thanks to the renaissance-like efforts of esotericists to keep the culture alive, comprehensible and accessible to all. Rather than aping the West, many young Indonesian artists experiment with elegant new syncretisms of traditional and modern (the Balinese `Monkey Dance’ for example was introduced in the 1930’s); the pure Classical forms are seen as sources of inspiration which must be fostered rather than dead weight to be tossed aside.

Such paleolithic culture-remnants were long ago buried among us occidentals by Church, Empire and Machine. Our cliche of the artist is the alien and isolated individual, who continually betrays or exposes our cultural ideals as sham, or else kowtows to them by producing expensive pap and elitist rubbish. With the Romantics – the first completely marginalized artistic group – we can begin to trace the idea of the artist as revolutionary (whether progressive or reactionary), the voice saying No to that society whose vision the artist no longer embodies or creates. By our century all art, for whatever reason, stands against modern society – in fact, this very movement constitutes what is called Modernism. Even the Futurists who loved machines wanted a revolution – as for the others, each tried to heap up a few shards of something or other, whether from the past or the future, against the present ruin. With Dadaism, art is pronounced dead and simultaneously announced as the only possible revolution. The Surrealists picked up this idea but then sold it for a mess of Vienno-Moscovian pottage. In the 50’s and 60’s the Lettrists and Situationists unearthed the notion again and polished it into a statement of the artist as a model of revolutionary consciousness – still a close relation to Shelly’s `unacknowledged legislator’. To say that our Consensus Art is dead – and this school of thought says so – means that now everyone must be an artist. The paleolithic credo reborn. Modernism and tradition like an ourobouros.

Once again (as with Alamuti utopianism) our era seems particularly unsuited to this dream, which appears as yet another hopeless desire to add to our list of miseries. How can we turn our cities into Java and Bali? Not even Bali is Bali anymore, but is now polluted with Kentucky Fried Chicken and mass tourism. After all, artists do not choose alienation – they want to add to the tribal image-hoard – that is their vocation. But modern society itself decrees this alienation by teaching its children that play and work are mutually exclusive and hostile realities, that vision and practice are forever at odds. Where can one see hope (outside the legendary past or the exotic orient or the Future Perfect) for a society of artist-visionaries, a world with no separate words for work and play?

As with questions of social justice, each era creates some possibilities and destroys others, offers certain tactics and withdraws others. The chances for action here are exactly the same as in the field of justice: work on the self – and propaganda.

Art-work on the self includes art as meditation and meditation as art; it includes shaping the personal environment; it. includes direct and beautiful communication with close comrades or chosen collaborators as a deep primary purpose in life; it includes both visible and invisible artifacts as expressions of spiritual states, as `self-expression’; it includes adopting the code of the artist, which has about it something of the antique ludicrousness of a code of honor or a code of duelling, but also bestows experience and grace in all the unconventional freedoms.

This new art involves a certain `spiritual childliness’, what the Zen dramatist Zeami called the `First Flower’ – the ‘Beginner’s Mind‘ – the ability to see and act with spontaneous directness; all(] thus it holds out the promise of a genuine maturity, rather than the sort of deadly adulthood that now prepares the world for robotic mindlessness and/or hellish war.

At this level, art has little to do with made things, but rather concerns a state of mind, a way of being, a gesture that cannot be betrayed, a life.

When we consider art as made things however, the possibility of a teleology arises – the possibility of a purpose, a usefulness of the artwork. For the paleolithic tribe this purpose remains transparent and unquestioned: all made things have purpose, all made things are art. Such a culture possesses neither useless ugly commodities nor useless beautiful commodities, nor does it possess the concepts `utilitarianism’ or `art for art’s sake’. We however have lived with all this clutter to the point of suffocation and claustrophobia, weighed down with excremental monuments and mausoleoid museums, crushed with separated alienated isolated immobile chunks of dead art. Aside then from the charming personal esoteric cult of the artist outlined in the last few paragraphs, what purpose can be served now by our art? Why are we making it? and for whom?

If we fall back now on the word `propaganda’ it should be obvious that we intend to freight the term with more than its usual load of meaning. In totalitarian nations censorship works by fiat; in democratic nations the Market accomplishes the same end, since anything which fails as a commodity cannot conceivably damage the Empire. The avant-garde and the `folk’ have both been reduced to suppliers of imagery for advertizing; the lag-time between the birth of a new artform and its appropriation by the Consensus Media has almost ceased to exist. In, such a situation, any art which manages to slip between the cracks of the monolith or eke out an existence on the margin can only have one purpose: propaganda, insurrectionist propaganda.

This does not mean `art in the service of the revolution’ – an impossible tyranny – nor `Social Realism’, nor any recognizable form of `political art’. Garbage is garbage, no matter how pure its intentions. No, for The Anti-Caliph art is politics, art is the revolution, art is religion. Art which succeeds in beauty and cannot be absorbed by the Machine is already propaganda for the truth, no matter what its style and content, because it is already a manifestation of the truth in cognizable and ordered form. Please do riot take these words in their platonic sense: by `truth’ we do not mean an abstract and bodiless Ideal, nor even an unspeakable mystical sentiment. This is something much simpler and yet more difficult to explain or define, something for which we might use the ‘Arabic/Persian word zawq and the Sanskrit/Javanese term rasa:

TASTE – INTUITION – FELLING – AESTHETIC CATEGORY – the interiorization of a perception (’becoming the bamboo’ as The Mustard Seed Garden puts it) – hence a kind of mystical/aesthetic state of consciousness – a sense of what ‘fits’ – the faculty of choice or discrimination, choosing this color or note or word and not that one – artistic appreciation, ‘good taste’ – the quality of a performance or artwork – ‘tasting’ as direct experience, experiential certainty…

Here we reach the keynote of this entire exercise in esoteric propaganda, the key term of the text and the closest approximation to an actual spiritual path ‘recommended’ by The Anti-Caliph: the cultivation of taste both as work-on-the-self and as propaganda for the esoteric ’cause’. To awaken in others the desire for that which can scarcely be spoken at all except in booming cliches or divine names – the desire for desire, for Eros son of Chaos – the taste for life itself and none of its cheap representations or lying substitutes: the desire to be art, spontaneously and absolutely.

For the future, then, The Anti-Caliph recommends that everyone be an artist. First, certain traditional arts might be taken up, such as Persian and North Indian classical music, poetry, Far Eastern martial arts, Javanese dance, music and puppetry, calligraphy, illumination. Such traditions do not deserve preservation for any inherent goodliness or godliness, but as living possibilities. Like speaking another language they help us get outside our own cultural skins – and they provide ground for powerful new cross-fertilizations and syncretisms. All of Oriental Wisdom has been made accessible to our century; the rootless cosmopolitan culture of the future will create endless mosaics and mandalas out of ten thousand tribes and civilizations.

Adab, which means both good manners and aesthetic cultivation as well as literature and also the spiritual path, is a quality which seems appropriate to the artist and the anarchist as well. Emma Goldman once said that in an anarchist society everyone would be an aristocrat: `Radical Aristocratism’ as Nietszche put it.

The art of love as adjunct of the other arts and also their chief `Muse’: the sufi sama’ interpreted as an aesthetic-erotic love feast; the intoxication of music, poetry, dance, the presence of the beloved.

Hospitality as an artform. The Javanese give so-called `Peace Banquets’ (slametan) to appease spirits, celebrate luck or rites de passage, any excuse for good food and entertainment, but with a spiritual slant. Neighbours and passersby invited in a spirit of conviviality and openness.

Salons, musicales, symposia, pilgrimages to spots of geomantic beauty or baroque and eccentric spiritual potency; public celebrations of great works of art or exquisite folly – finally the creation of shrines dedicated to moments of aesthetic breakthrough and mystical `taste’.

`Poetic Terrorism’ – art as propaganda of the deed – aesthetico-Assassinism. Powerful propagandistic art should produce powerful emotion or rasa – as powerful as terror or joy – forcibly ripping aside the veils of inattention, anaesthetized dullness, self-betraying egotism and forgetfulness by acts of unexpected art – a sort of `theatre of Cruelty’ without walls.

And as a final suggestion (before The Anti-Caliph slips back into the World of Archetypes): the creation of holidays, pure acts of celebration. For example, the 17th of Ramazan, Ibn `Arabi’s birthday and the Anniversary of the Qiyamat – a banquet to proclaim the Oneness of Being, the Inner Wisdom, the breaking of the chains of the Law.

And as the night drew itself upon Cain and the Fallen Angel, Satan shared His philosophies with His disciple.“Listen to these words, for they come from all the souls which comprise my being. The words are simple, yet they hold power. Abide by them and they shall serve thee well.”

And so Cain listened…

Do unto others as ye wish to do unto them. For this is thy right as a being of free will. Thou may treat thy neighbor good or ill, as per thy will. But remember this: He also is free to respond according to his will; and it would do thee well to temper thine action with judgment.

Thou shalt not kill out of anger, lust or evil. Yet to protect that which is important—self, family, liberty—kill swiftly and without mercy. If thou art not willing to do this, ye shall lose all that matters to thee.

Worry not of covetousness, for thoughts are free and difficult to rein. Work, rather, on restraint in thine actions.

Worship not idols, symbols, gods nor men. Worship only knowledge, freedom and thine own self.

A man may do all that he wishes to do. Yet it may not always be wise for him to do so.

Listen to the opinions of others and weigh their merits, for others may see options ye have not. Yet follow thine own heart for the final decision. If thou art not willing to do this, then take heed: Thou hast delivered thy destiny into the hands of strangers.

Truth is beauty, yet beauty is not truth. Knowledge is power, but power is not knowledge. Keep thy logic in its proper sequence.

Faith is the greatest force within this universe. With it, ye may do all that is possible, and even that which is not. Yet ye must channel this energy within thine own soul: keep faith in thy hopes, faith in thy dreams, faith in thyself.

Within thee lies the power of the gods. To gain it, strive for understanding: of the firmament, of thine earth, of others, and most importantly, of thyself.

Seek the philosophy within thy soul, for others cannot reveal it nor dictate it to thee. Neither god nor man may lead thee to thyself, for only the individual soul knows its own path.

No one may control thee or manipulate thee unless ye allow it to be. Thee and thee alone art thy destiny’s master.

Thy path in life must be thine own, let not others choose it for thee. If ye wish a chance at greatness, follow thine own path. If it should lead to misery, so be it. At least is it a misery of thine own choosing. And remember, ye may always try again.

Curse not others if thy life is disordered, for the choice of direction rests ultimately with thee. If ye must curse, then curse thine own self for allowing it. Yet this degradation serves no purpose. If thou art wrong, state it plainly, then work toward its correction.

He who liveth without purpose liveth without life. If thou art without goals, then ye shall accomplish nothing. Know what ye would like in life, then seek it out. It is that simple.

Death comes to all, bidden or unbidden. Accept this, then live as if it were untrue.

Thou shalt always have choices in life. But this does not guarantee that they shall be favorable choices, and, at times, the best ye may do is choose the lesser evil.

Nothing is impossible. Thy limits are without limit. However, if ye do not believe this, ye shall find thou art correct.

If thou findest an inequity, ye must correct it. If thou art witnesses to injustice, ye must not stand idle. If ye come upon pain, then give relief. For if the lot of Man is to improve, the seer must be the doer.

Judge and let thyself be judged. For it is thy right as a being of free will. Yet live a goodly life so that ye may judge fairly. And, should ye be falsely judged by others, it shall matter not.

Hear the instruction of thy mother and father, for experience was their teacher. Start with these teachings, then add thine own learning, and change that which must be changed.

If thou followest the philosophy of others and add nothing of thine own, then thou art no more than a beast of the field and have wasted thy soul.

Carry not the sins of thy father with thee, for thou art thine own person and accountable only for thine own actions—not the actions of thy father, thy brother, thy tribe or thy race.

Allow thy children to live, think and feel freely, for the mother and father know not all things.

Believe in thine own self, and serve no other, for others know nothing of what is best for thee. Yet do not shut out opposing philosophies, for at times their teachings may be clearer than thine own.

There is no sin. Do that which is right for thee, for only in this shall ye find happiness. Yet remember always: thine earth is a shared space.

Let morality guide thee, but not out of fear. Rather, follow it for thine own sake.

Trust thy judgment with all thy heart. If ye can do this thing, then, truly, ye shall not be forsaken.

Believe in thine own free will. Listen to its dictates and not to the dictates of others. In this and this alone shall true happiness be found.

Blessed is he who findeth wisdom and seeketh knowledge, for these are more precious than gold; and the gain thereof shall be the immortal universe itself.

Friends are precious; keep them near. But thy family is sacred. One may treat them ill, slander them and do them evil. Yet when thy need is greatest, they shall always be with thee.

History is not a fixed thing. Although the event may remain constant, the interpretation is ever fluid. And the interpretation is all: for a grown man will look back upon a childhood act and see his guilt, where earlier he saw only vindication. Change the mind and change the past—and with it, the present and future.

Be not the hedonist, seize not the day without an eye to the morrow. Yet enjoy the flesh, for it is thy legacy.

Thou hast within thee gifts without measure and powers beyond comprehension. Ye need but use them. Take pride in thy gifts, pride in thy power, and pride in thy accomplishments.

Seek not the praise of others and heed not their condemnation—for within thee and thee alone lies the power of self-fulfillment.

Thou art neither better nor worse than thy neighbor, no matter how much more righteous or evil he may be.

Hope maketh the heart stronger, where desire unfulfilled maketh the heart ill. Hope for fulfillment and work toward its achievement. And if thy goals go unmet, ye shall still find peace, for within the journey does the true goal lie.

Error and forgiveness are the traits of humanity, fear and condemnation the traits of gods. Strive to be human; strive not to be gods.

Subjugate thyself not to God nor man, for subjugation knows no honor. Why should the Father wish His children to kneel in fear before him? Better to die free than to live as sheep.

There are those who understand reason and those who understand violence. Reason is wasted on the violent man and violence is wasted on the reasonable man. If thou wishest one to hear thee, speak in his language or speak not at all.

Ye may speak truth or deception, according to thine own free will. But to thine own self, know the difference.

If a man wrongs thee, look to thyself to see why thou hast allowed the transgression. Learn from it, then seek vindication or reconciliation, as ye see fit.

Others may lead thee to temptation, but only by thine own hand can ye partake of it. If thou later seekest to lay blame, seek thyself.

In life, some have more and some have less. Yet what matter? Peace and happiness stem from within, not without.

Do what ye will with thy life. Give freely, love freely and expect nothing. In this shall ye find true happiness, and there will be no reason for disappointment.

If thou desires an action to come about then bring it about. Ye may fail, but, then, ye may not.

There is knowledge in all things, in all actions, in all places. Learn from all things. It may come from the mouth of a child as easily as from the wisest of men. Always listen, always learn: Knowledge is all around thee.

Knowledge is a painful thing, for it always bears a price. Accept the risk and pain, for life without risk or pain is not life.

Look not to the Lord God for direction; look not to Satan. Look, instead, to thine own self.

Live each day as if it were thy last day. Yet live it also as if it were not.

If thou wishest to die, then thou art dead already.

Thou art stronger than ye can ever know, search for the strength that wells within. It is there. It is waiting. And somewhere out there, someone needs you more than you can ever imagine.

Life and hope are one. Seek thy gifts and share them. It is for this reason that thou art truly here.

If thou wishest life in death, then ye must live in life.

That which ye can touch and hold and lose is of little importance. The greatest thing in life cannot be taken.

It comes to this: by design, the Race of Man is half man and half beast. Thou art not beings of reason, but, rather, beings capable of reason. There is much difference between the two. Exercise thy capabilities.

Thou art a being of free will. Ye may follow the instincts of the beast or the reason of the man. The choice has been forever yours. Yet know this: a life ruled by the beast shall lead thee to subjugation and destruction, for it is the beast that is in thrall to the Lord God.

For everything there is a time: a time to live, a time to die; a time for peace, a time for war; a time to create and a time to destroy. Learn to tell time.

The flesh is a vessel, a conduit to the immortal. If thou learnest from thy travels, the destination is assured.

It is in thy nature to take the familiar for granted. Strive against this. Question always, question often, in this shall ye keep what is most important. The price for thine immortal soul is constant vigilance.

Seek to understand the unknown. Expand thy thoughts and seek out knowledge, for in this shall ye become as One in death.

The answers to all things are always within thy grasp. Ye carry within thee all that is needed to comprehend the infinite. And it is waiting for thee to find it.

He who knows himself knows others, for a piece of ourselves dwells within every other.

If ye have not known hate, pain, greed and cowardice then thou hast not known love, pleasure, generosity and courage—for they are all degrees of the same ideal. Accept both the good and the bad within thee, for there is no separating the two. Without one, the other has no meaning.

Until life has given thee its worst, thou hast not been at thy best.

All has been brought to bear against thee. Thine instincts were bred into thee; thy laws created for they could not be kept. Question all, for this is the path to Oneness. Heed not the beliefs, laws and actions of others unless they suit thee. And be prepared to die for this.

Fear of the Lord is the end of Knowledge and of Reason, and these two pursuits are the keys that shall free thy soul. If ye sacrifice these philosophies, then ye shall cease to grow in spirit. And there shall be no life in death.

And so it ended, for it was enough.

“Remember what has been said here,” Satan concluded. “For the salvation of the earth is contained within the simple words thou hast heard here this night.” And Satan said, “For one with no soul, Cain, ye art wiser than many. Take the life ye have been given and make it purposeful, regardless of what hast befallen thee. We are remembered for what we do and how we live: make yours a goodly remembrance.”

“I say again to thee, Cain, take what I have given thee this night. Thou art a tiller of soil: take the seeds of wisdom I have placed within thee, plant them, tend them, see that they take root.”

“Remember this always.”

And Cain did remember. Always.

Such is the wisdom given to Cain by our Lord Lucifer. And such is the wisdom we at The Church of the Fallen live by and build upon to prepare for the End Times. For if you don’t add some of your own knowledge and experience to that which is passed to you, you are nothing more than a beast of the field. “Yes, I see the truth in what Ye say, Teacher,” Cain replied. “And of all things, one must learn to recognize the truth.”

Black Mass for the Solitary Practitioner Written and compiled by: Rev. Diabolicus I. Order of the Four Horsemen, Church of the Fallen Copyright © 2003 Rev. David L. Litts

Many of us do not have a group to work with due to living situations, and location. The Order of the Four Horsemen feel that each member should be included in special events, and have the right to the rituals of the Church of the fallen

This right is for the Solitary Practitioner. It can be used for workings of magick, or just celebrating major rites of the Luciferian faith.

Preparation:

Some Practitioners have a room that they can dedicate as a Temple, or just a small piece of their apartment. Either way it is important that you take the time to worship.

Here are some supplies that you will need in order to get started.

1.An Alter. This can be a small coffee table or one that it made. The size and dimensions are up to you. 2.An alter cloth. This cloth should be black, and can be made from any fabric you wish. 3.A bell or gong 4.Candles for illumination, these candles should be black. 5.One black and one white candle for the alter, the white candle is used for casting spells of destruction, and the black candle is used for spells of blessing 6.An incense burner and a good supply of incense. 7.A chalice, of any type, and wine 8.A pitcher holding water, which symbolizes the waters of life. 9.A Bowl and an aspergian. 10.A Patent, holding the wafer and black bread 11.A black cloth which covers the Patent

The Practitioner sets up his or her Alter, and makes sure that all materials are present for the ritual about to begin. All candles and incense are lit, and wine is poured into the chalice. The lights are turned out and the Practitioner makes sure that there will be no disturbances during the ritual. This may including making sure no one comes over, or the phone is unplugged, and cell phones are turned off.

It is very important that each Practitioner take a few moments in quiet contemplation. This is the stage where each Practitioner thinks about the reasons for holding the mass, and how they hope Lucifer will change their lives. If you are going to perform a magickal act you must be sure you are ready for the outcome, no matter what it will be, and that you are ready to suffer the consequences if your magick is not just.

Approach the Alter and make the sign of the inverted Cross, while saying:

In the name of Lucifer, his Daemons, and Legions

Now trace an inverted pentagram before you, while saying:

May the Blessings of Darkness be with me this night/day.

Stand with your arms out in front of you with your palms down toward the Alter, with bowed head, and say:

In the Name of Lucifer I will go to the altar of the Infernal Lord. To Him who gives me joy. My help is the Name of the Infernal Lord. Who reigns on Earth.

Before the mighty and ineffable Prince of Darkness, and his Daemons and Legions, who dwell in the fires of Perdition, who fought the first battle of heaven for our sake and the sake of freedom. I acknowledge and confess my past error, Renouncing all past allegiances to He Who Is Three, and his Angelica, I proclaim that Satan-Lucifer rules the Earth, and I ratify and renew my promise to recognize and honor Him in all things, without reservation, desiring in return His manifold assistance in the successful completion of my endeavors and the fulfillment of my desires. Keep me, Lord Lucifer, from the hands of the wicked, and from unjust men deliver me. Lord Lucifer, Thou shalt rise again & quicken me. and I shall rejoice in Thee. Show me Thy power, and grant me Thy bounty. Hear me, and let my cry come unto Thee. Make the sign of the inverse cross. Glory to Lucifer the Infernal Lord, & on earth life & strength to man. I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I adore Thee, I glorify Thee, I give thanks to Thee for Thy great power; Lord Lucifer, Infernal King, Almighty Emperor.

Make the sign of the inverse cross.

Offertory The chalice & paten, upon which rests the wafer, are uncovered. Take the paten in both hands & raise it breast-high in an attitude of offering, then speak the following words: Lord Lucifer, receive this host which I, Thy worthy servant, offer to Thee, my True and Living God, that it may avail for my rejoicing in this life. So be it. Replacing the paten and the wafer raise the chalice in like manner, saying: Lord Lucifer, I offer to Thee the chalice of Desire, that it may arise in the sight of Thy majesty for my use & gratification & be pleasing unto Thee. So be it. Replace the chalice upon the altar, then extend your hands, the palms downwards, and say: Come Lucifer, Emperor of the World that I may profit by this sacrifice. Take the incense burner and sprinkle incense onto the burning coals, while saying: May this incense rise before Thee, Infernal Lord, & may Thy blessing descend upon me. Take the incense burner & cense the altar & gifts. First cense the chalice & wafer with three swings widdershins and bow. Then raise the censer three times towards the Image of Satan, bow again. Lastly cense the top & sides of the altar three times, by circumambulation if the appointments of the temple be convenient. Replace the Incense burner upon the Alter, and say: I lift up my heart to thee, Lucifer my Infernal Lord and give thanks, at all times & in all places I give Thee thanks: Lord, Infernal King, Emperor of the World, Jubilantly all the infernals praise Thee, & with them I join my own voice, saying: Salve, Salve, Salve. Strike the gong or ring the bell three times. Lord Lucifer, God of Power, Earth & Infernus are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the depths. Make the sign of the Inverted Cross. Cannon Therefore Lord Lucifer, I entreat that you receive and accept this Sacrifice, which I offer. You have set your mark upon me, that you may make me proper in fullness and length of life, under thy protection, may cause the inhabitants of The Fires of Perdition to go forth and give me their blessings and strength in the fulfillment of my desires, and the destruction of my enemies. In concert this day/night I ask Thy unfailing assistance in this particular need. At this point in the ritual, the specific purpose is mentioned for holding the Mass, or Magickal acts are preformed. In the unity of unholy fellowship I praise and honor first Thee, Lucifer, Morning Star, Teacher of Philosophies, Beelzebub, Bringer of Peace, and Lord of Regeneration, and Baal, Ruler of the Physical, Shield of the Faithful; Abaddon, Knower of theories, and bringer of arcane knowledge, and Asmodeus, Seer of integration, Lord of Creativity. I call upon the nameless and formless ones, the mighty innumerable hosts of Hell, by whose assistance I may be strengthened in mind, Body, and Will. I therefore beseech Thee, Lord Lucifer, to accept this offering of my bounden duty as also of Thine whole household; order my days in joy & count me within the fold of Thine elect. Shamhemforash! Take the pitcher from the alter, and pure the water into the bowl while saying: After the one who called himself God put his mark upon the flesh of Cain, Cain wandered through the desert of Nodd. As Cain approached death from the desert heat, he said, “It is better I die then to live a life void of dreams and hope and knowing, far better, for the bitter God of my father to have spared His wretched mercy.” And with these words, the ground parted. And water sprang thereof. And Cain partook of its sweetness. And the mystical water filled and expanded his shriveled flesh. Now dip the aspergeant into the bowl, turn to each compass pint, shaking the aspergeant thrice at each point saying: (Facing South) In the name of Lucifer, I bless thee with the waters of life (Facing East) In the name of Lucifer, I bless thee with the waters of life. (Facing North) In the name of Lucifer, I bless thee with the waters of life. (Facing West) In the name of Lucifer, I bless thee with the waters of Life. Replace bowl, pitcher, and aspergean upon alter.

The Consecration Take the wafer into your hand, bending low over it, whisper the following words into it. Here is the body of Jesus Christ. Raise the wafer before the image of Lucifer. Replace the wafer on the patent, which rests on the Alter. Take the Chalice into your hands and bend low over it; as with the wafer, whisper the following words into it. Here is the Chalice of Desire. Raises the Chalice above your head before the image of Satan. The Chalice is then replaced, The gong is struck or the bell is rung, and the following is recited. To me, thy faithful child, O Infernal Lord, who glory in my iniquity and trust in your boundless power and might, grant that I may be numbered among Thy chosen. It is ever through you that all gifts come to me; knowledge, power, freedom, and wealth are yours to bestow. Renouncing the false spiritual rewards that are offered by He Who Is Three, the one who calls himself God, I place my trust in Thee, the Lord of this world, and teacher of Philosophies, looking to the satisfaction of all of my desires, and the petitioning all fulfillment in the land of the living.

Shemhemforash! The following prayer can be used at this point, or the Prayer of the Light Bringer, which can be found in the Book of Power in John De Vito’s The Devils Apocrypha.

Prompted by the precepts of the earth and the inclinations of desire, I am bold to say; Our Father who art in Hell, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom is come, Thy will is done; on earth as it is in Hell! I take the day/night my rightful due, and trespass not on paths of pain. Lead me unto temptation, and deliver me from false piety, for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever! Let reason and freedom rule the earth! Deliver me, O Mighty Lucifer, from all past error and delusion, that, having set my feet upon the path of Darkness and having vowed myself to Thy Service, I may not weaken in my resolve, but with Thy assistance, grow in wisdom and strength. The Repudiation and the Denunciation Take the wafer into your hands, extend it before you, and say the following: Behold the body of Jesus Christ, Lord of the humble & King of the slaves. Now hold the wafer up before the image of Lucifer, while saying: I invoke thee into this wafer. You who came to earth to enslave the race of man. You were sent by He Who Is Three, to strengthen the chains of bondage. You were sent to increase faith which feeds the one who calls himself God, and the host of the heavens. I invoke you in order to brake the chains of bondage and kindle the fires of freedom. I will push the crown of thorns deep into your head, and drive the nails deeper into your hands, which hold you upon the cross, I shall once again pierce your side and show all that you are nothing, but the true father of lies, and your words and deeds are false. You would have men and women live their lives in poverty, just so they can give more faith. Yes, you have gained many followers and sheep for your fold, but now the tide is turning and your flock is learning the truth. In the name of Lucifer, his Daemons, and Legions. I condemn thee to the abyss, and free the souls of all you have taken. Raise the wafer, dash it to the ground, and crush it under foot. Strike the gong or ring the bell nine times. Then take up the Chalice into your hands, and before drinking say: Behold the Chalice of Desire which gives joy and meaning to my life. I Accept the Chalice of Desire in the name of our Infernal Lord. Drink from the Chalice, and when the Chalice is empty, make the sign of the Inverted Cross, and replace the Chalice upon the Alter. Place the patent on top of the Chalice, and cover it with the veil. Say the following:

I have received the Blessings of our Lord Lucifer, may his protection and grace be with me in all of my endeavors. My rite is at an end, and I shall go forth into the world spreading the word of our Infernal Lord to all who care to listen. I shall stand tall and bring comfort to the faithful when needed. For the end time are nearly upon us. I will stand with the faithful and fight. Our freedom is at hand. Make the sign of the Inverted Cross, and trace the Inverted Pentagram before you and say: Hail Lucifer!

Make sure that you extinguish all candles. Some practicioners will have a small snack to help them ground after the ritual.

 http://loreleiscrolls.wordpress.com/2007/03/02/alignment-test/

Your Character’s Alignment

Based on your answers to the quiz, your character’s most likely alignment is Lawful Good.

Lawful Good

A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. She combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. She tells the truth, keeps her word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion.

–excerpted from the Player’s Handbook, Chapter 6

Keep in mind the alignment suggested by the quiz is just that: a suggestion. It describes your character no better than a 36-question test would describe you. But it’s a good way to start thinking about how your character acts when confronted with issues of alignment.

Now that your character has taken the test, make a note of which questions scored in the opposite direction from your overall alignment. These exceptions can tell some interesting tales about your character Are you a good character with a greedy streak? Are you a lawful character who can’t stand the village elders? Don’t just roleplay your alignment — roleplay your alignment exceptions, too. Few characters perfectly embody their alignment choice.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20001222b

, you’re now logged in!

Below you’ll find your test result. After, continue on to your homescreen to discover what we’re about.

continue to OkCupid homescreen>

Jedi Knight You scored 58 Jedi, 21 Sith, 42 Dark Jedi, and 44 Grey Jedi!

You are a Jedi Knight, the thoughts and ideas of the Code and the Jedi order come to you naturally, you don’t even think what is the right thing to do, you just do it.

Pirs and Semiotic Presence. A Case of Islamic Anthropology

By

Manzurul Mannan

Email: monzurul@bangla.net

Introduction

This paper analyzes some aspects of the cognitive domain and internal thought process of Pirs. The Pirs are the Islamic spiritual persons who are popularly known as Sufis in many part of the Islamic world. The cognitive domain and internal thought process of spiritual persons find its partial expression in their explanation and representation of human body and self. The thought process of spiritual persons has patterns and structures that form the core of Pir ideology in Bangladesh, and perhaps of the South Asian Sufi world [1].

This study is exploratory in nature and attempts to open new dimensions rather than providing an inference to the established practice of Islamic spiritualism. This paper is based on the ethnographic materials and also my long association with the spiritual practice at Maizbhander. Maizbhander become a séance of spiritual persons with the rise of spiritual leader Pir Ahmed Ullah in the last decade of 19th century. Maizbhander spiritualism is one of the latest developments to the Sufi movements of South Asia. This spiritualism has grown to its present spiritual crescendo by synthesizing culture and religion at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. This has further contributed a new flavor to the existing syncretistic tradition (Roy 1983). This paper will proceed on by explaining its theoretical position and the limitations of the semiotic presence. It will, then, discuss and draw a boundary between the theoretical analyses of Man as exists in semiotic anthropology and Islamic analysis of Man [2]. It will, in turn, forward an analysis of Pirs; the spiritual construction of body and semiotic presence in relation to spiritual hierarchy in order to offer a new perspective on spiritual persons.

Theoretical Construct: Islamic Anthropology

The semiotic anthropology flourishes in the western anthropology primarily through the work of Charles Peirce (Buchler 1955). Peirce’s semioticism, the quasi-necessary, is another name for logic and a formal doctrine of sign [3] and signs are divisible by three trichotomies: iconic, indexical and symbolic signs (Buchler 1955:98-104). It yields a theory of self that sees it both as the object and the subject of semiotic systems. It also views that the locus, unity, and continuity of the self would be found in the system of signs, and it will, in turn, create a basis of dialogues between utterers and interpreters of the sign. Inspired by Peirce’s theory, Singer infers man as a “Glassy Essence” (Singer 1980) and considers self as a system of symbols and meaning, which is both a phenomenological and pragmatic conception (Singer, 1980:486). He views Man’s glassy essence consists in his being a symbol and man is a window that frames a vision of the world or a mirror through which the cosmos is reflected (Singer, 1984:3). Other viewed person as a “Fluid Signs” (Daniel 1984) or symbolic construction (Boler 1963; Cornell 1983). A semiotic approach sees consciousness as a product of the body, mind and culture nexus that can be best understood by seeing it from a dimensionality principle (Danesi 1998:253).

This paper examines how sign and symbol construct the spiritual persons within the framework of the religion of Islam. It is, therefore, important not to treat anthropology of Islam from the western anthropology of religion. Islamic anthropology distinctively represents an alternate discourse of religion. Western anthropology of religion aims at constructing a reality. The notion of reality has originated from the word rez, which also means ‘objectification.’ Because of the objectification, the emphasis always placed on visible factors or objects. However, Islam does not recognize reality; what is more important than reality is the notion of huq, that is, Islam searches for “truth.” Huq in most cases is invisible, and thereby, Islamic discourse is about the making of visible of the invisible phenomenon. The attempt to transform invisible factors into visible objects opens up avenues and dimensions that in turn create space for discussion to accommodate consensus and conflict. The continuous creation of space made Islamic discourse more attractive. The use of western scientific terminologies and the methodology in constructing Sufis led to delink terminologies and methodology from discourse. Since discourse is a convention of knowledge that is historical to a civilization, this delinking renders terminology meaningless (Davies 1988:149).

The semiotic study or the study of signs gives a different twist when applied to the context of Islam. The framework of Islamic anthropology opens up a new paradigm on the question of the representation of the inner world of Sufism. While there is a need for Islamic anthropology (Ahmed 1987), it finds its inescapable foundation in the Qur’anic conception of human life and its entailments (Davies 1988:113). Qu’ran recognizes spiritual persons through the following verse:

Can he who was dead.

To whom We gave life.

And a Light whereby

He can walk amongst men

Be like him who is

In the depths of darkness,

From which he can

Never come out?

[Sura VI. An’am, Ayah 122]

The above verse clearly indicates that Allah has infused power of light (An-Nur) in some chosen persons that make them special in comparison to commoners. The semiotic construction of self and body finds expression through interpretation of meanings and meanings within the meanings. To understand the semiotic presence, one has to allow an equation of self; soul, spirit and body centered on the ‘essence’ or he generic quality of body. The essence of a human body has two distinct dimensions: first, living and biological body during one’s lifetime, and secondly, the other body after the death. The existence of living body is a temporary phenomenon, but the ‘other’ body exists after death as a permanent phenomenon in eternal form. However, the manifestation of living body as a temporary phenomenon is nothing but the expression of the eternal one through the medium of evanescent. This process occurs through the continuous representation and interaction between the existing body and the other body in another time. The body continuously transforms from one state to another within a given time frame, but such transformation does not alter the generic quality of body. This essence of body throughout the history remains unchanged and unaltered, but the description of the essence of body has been done with the languages, words, and sentences and linguistic of a particular period and epoch. By that, description of the same essence varied from one epoch to another resulting in the generation of various interpretations and meanings. Such interpretations often contradict and negate each other, although the essence remains the same.

While Qur’an provides the conceptual framework, which shapes, influences and construe Islamic societies, it is important here is to examine how the Qur’anic framework is operationalised by contextualizing spiritual persons in a given time and space. The process of contextualizing has two aspects of actuality and truth. The actuality refers to interacting events among actors that is seen and observable, but the truth is the unseen dimension which only Sufis are able to comprehend. We are dealing with a conceptual fabric of Islam that offers a totality and a whole system of interconnected and interrelated terms that are mutually defining. A way to understand Islamic anthropology is to examine the key concepts like Khalif, Din and Fitrah. Khalif (Sura II, Baqara Ayah 30) stands for human trusteeship as God’s vicegerent on earth. Khalif represents the dimension defining human status and rights. Din stands for the concept of religion as a total way of life in the widest possible sense of the term. The Fitrah is created as a faculty, a disposition, with inherent knowledge. This knowledge encompasses, in conventional Islamic term, both the seen and unseen (Davies 1988:88-89). The possessor of Fitrah has both cultural and spiritual existence. Qu’ran clearly states:

From changing your Forms

And creating you (again)

In (Forms) that ye know not.

[Sura LVI. Waqi’a, Ayah 61]

The verse indicates that there exist at least two human forms of a single living person, which may be conceptualized as physical body in the present world and spiritual body in the unseen world. Thereby, cultural existence of Pir is manifested in his social capacity to attract followers and making new ones with articulated speech, thoughts, reasoning and imagination. It is also the Pir through his spiritual existence inspire followers by linking them to unseen world whereby they experience new sense of power unknown till hitherto. Spiritualism is then trying to give visible expression to invisibility. It is expressed in signs with inner certainty to construct the semiotic presence of Pir and spiritual persons, that is, a `Man’ with spiritual powers. Semiotic presence occurs for regulating a consensus for shaping ideology among Murids (disciples and devotees) of Pirs. Murids‘ perceptions, knowledge, beliefs and analyses, in turn, contribute significantly to construct the structure of Pirs [4]. A semiotic presence is empirically known rather than analytically comprehended, which is felt through the intense verbal and nonverbal human communication among the partaker devotees. The devotees use religious and cultural symbols and signs to construct the symbolic reality of Pirs. Only a direct spiritual experience allows one to explain truth, but the explanation of `that’ experience may easily create problem of interpretation of how one knows the spiritual experience is true? The semiotic presence explains the body (- a biological reality), and self (- a symbolic reality). In general, the body and self are not considered as a separate entity, but a difficulty remains in that the presence of self is itself only subtly distinguishable from body.

Limitation of Explaining Semiotic Presence

Cornell (1983) applied the analytical tools of symbolism provided by Peirce to study Sufi spiritualism. This interesting study shows how western logic can be applied to explore the cognitive structure of the non-western religious mind without resorting to dogmatic positivism or denial of objective reality, which often occurs while dealing with alien symbols (Cornel 1983:79-80). However, Islam in anthropological discourse perhaps gains its widespread recognition from the writings of Geertz (1968, 1973, 1993). In western scholarship of anthropology of Islamic spiritual persons, there are tendencies to consider Muslims from two points of view. The first view is that Muslims belong to the peoples of the Book (Geertz 1973:187). By that, Islamic saints are metaphors originating from a contrast between a spirituality, which consists in psychic balance, and one that consist in moral intensity (Geertz 1968:25). Similarly the anthropology of psychoanalysis offers Islamic individual spiritual men as subject (Heald and Deluz 1994: 160). The second view is that the practice of spiritual persons revolves around miracles (Gilsenan 1982:95-115). The Muslims’ beliefs in miracles are considered as hallucinatory contrivances manipulated by clever individuals or the rural Holy men (Geertz 1993:195) in their search for personal power.

The problem with Geertz and other western studies on Islam is that they reduce diversity of religious forms to significant cultural symbols. Geertz’s religion from symbolic perspective is unable to distinguish religious symbols from nonreligious cultural symbols. The religious symbols cannot be understood independently of their relations with nonreligious symbols or of their articulation of social life in which work and power are always crucial (Asad 1983:251). What appears that most of the studies on Islam are unable to forward an analysis on the dynamics of internal ideological and symbolic structures of Islam that continuously produces both religious and nonreligious cultural symbols. These studies are unable to analyze the dynamic interpretation of internal structure of spiritualism that produces events like miracles. One reason of such failure is that these studies are deeply influenced by Durkheim, Evans-Pritchard, and Redcliff Brown’s writing’s on beliefs, magic and religion of primitive world (Ahmed 1987: 41-44). Moreover, there is an emphasis in the western self for a concern to be “rational,” exemplified in Aristotelian logic (DeVos et.al. 1985:14). The limitation of anthropological approach to spiritualism is that it naturally ignores people’s everyday experiences whose cosmology is largely implicit in their ritual practice and everyday behavior (Keesing 1985:201). Explanation of body and self must be contextualized within a culturally specific situation so that a cultural anatomy of body and its representation can be made.

Semiotic presence of a body is seen and interpreted in a two ways. First, body has a physical existence and biological form. Secondly, the very physical existence of body is described and interpreted by symbols and symbolic codes. These codes are decoded by language, words, specifically by producing phonetic sounds like “Hu-ha-hum,” “Allah-hu,” “Illal-lah” silence and feelings. The decoding process depends on one’s own understanding of the semiotic presence of Pirs. Constructing and also deconstructing process of the body and self explain an important element of spiritualism. However, the limitation in explaining semiotic presence is both related to the methodology and substance. The semiotic presence of Pir is very much a function of a cognitive process, but we hardly understand the actual operation of this cognitive process that reinforces Sufi ideology. A concern in the semiotic representation of body within the Islamic framework of spiritualism is that the semiotic presence is located not within the semiotic and symbols itself; rather, is located beyond the meaning of signs and symbols in a fashion of what may be termed as formless void.

To avoid initial difficulties in analysis, I propose to view the representation of body as a cultural phenomenon of a knowledge system. By that we wish to raise a basic question on the epidemiology of representation of cultural phenomenon: they are either mental representations inside brains or public representations in the environment of brains (Sperber 1985). By raising questions, we can presume and develop a consensus that we are dealing with a knowledge system and much of that knowledge system is fundamentally non-linguistic (Bloch 1991:186). The non-linguistic aspect of knowledge is formed partly by experience of the external world and partly through the historical accumulation of knowledge transferred from anterior generation to posterior generation. When this knowledge is expressed and explained with one’s own cultural dialect and language of contemporary time and moment, the interpretation and cultural construction of knowledge system may vary.

A problem with different actors is that when they interpret apparently similar cultural symbols and phenomena, they do so with their different levels of intellectual and mental capacities, specific language and choice of words. These interpretations usually result in the diversity of meanings that may appear: at some point as contradictory, but at other point as complementary. The problem of writing and representing the non-linguistic knowledge is related to the choice of languages and words that one may apply to express and explain similar cultural symbols and phenomena. Thus, the real problem remains forever in dealing with interpretation of meaning of cultural symbols is distorting and producing fiction about reality. The other problem is that non-linguistic symbols may render fragmentary coherence resulting in the confirmation of a religio-centric worldview of the actors. The resultant gap between the linguistic and non-linguistic usually is filled with missing words. Now the serious problem is that missing words supplied by the analyst may be wrong, resulting in a spurious inference by the ethnographer (Keesing 1985:202). However, a proper but dynamic understanding of the semiotic and symbolic presence may reduce the probable danger of a non-linguistic expression.

The application of Peirce theory in understanding man poses serious theoretical limitations. The limitation of semiotics is that it does not explain how the semiotic richness of signs and symbols, which is thought of as practical, becomes expressive and evaluative. A reason of failure of semiotic anthropologists in drawing attention to the relationship between self and metaphoric process in everyday discourse is that this discourse lacks both the cosmological richness that intrigues the ethnographer and the boundedness that makes it phenomenologically compact (Merten 1982:808). It clearly violates the symbolic properties of everyday discourse that shape the meaning of social experience. An individual’s sense of self in a particular social context is constituted by metaphorically transferring qualities or attributes from one cultural domain to another (Merten 1982: 796). It is equally important to know how people construct their own models that are otherwise termed folk models, cultural models, or folk knowledge. These models are at once cultural and public, as the historically cumulated knowledge of a people and the embodiments of a language, and cognitive, as paradigms for constructing the world (Keesing 1987:373).

Further, the risk of not incorporating religion and rituals in symbolic studies is that they isolate symbols from the ritual process; and then they interpret symbols as units containing meaning (Bloch 1989:19). The approach of isolating symbols from religion may justify the theoretical excellence, but it may otherwise negate the people’s way of thinking, analysis and interpretation. Another misnomer in anthropology of the self is that many anthropologists tend to consider the self as an experiential or “emic” concept which is to be distinguished from social “roles” and also from the “ego” as used in an “etic” or externally analytic approach to personality structure (DeVos et.al. 1985:3).

Islamic Construction of Body and Self

Islamic anthropology at the outset enables one to be free from western methodological biases and prejudices (Ahmed 1987:65) only to provide a radical alternate of analysis (Davies 1988). Therefore a new look is required to study body and self of spiritual persons in Islamic society. Islamic construction of body radically differs from what anthropologists are failing to capture. An Islamic anthropology of body emphasizes that body is also a part of ideology and cosmology. Islamic construction of “Spiritual Man” has to be looked from the perspective that many Muslims extend recognition to the orthodox practices of Islam, which radically differ from the non-orthodox, but apparently queer form of religious practices. Beside the representation of Islamic body, it has also to be understood in the backdrop of the prohibition on anthropomorphic and animal pictorial and sculptural imagery (Parkin 1994:54).

The everyday ritual discourse and practice of Muslims are largely influenced and explained by Islamic theology which borrowed its basic principles and ideas from the Qu’ranic source. Sufis recognize that human body is made of earth, air, fire and water; and these elements are retained in body as a container. Human body as a retainer contains both Ar-Ruh (spirit) and Al-Qalb (soul) and the relationship between Ar-Ruh and Al-Qalb is a subtle, but an intricate one. Lexically Al-Qalb means the heart and also the supra-rational organ of intuition; it also corresponds to the heart as thought corresponds to the brain (Ibn’Arabi 1984:143). Spiritual persons locate Al-Qalb in the heart and do not consider it an intellectual intuition but a sentiment. It is largely held that Al-Qalb occupies the center of the individuality. On the other hand, Ar-Ruh may simply mean the spirit as the Qu’ran spells, “They will ask thee concerning the spirit; tell them; the spirit was created at the command (amr) of my lord.” (Ibn’Arabi 1984:144). In Sufism, Ar-Ruh is understood at four levels following its principal significance. First, it is the Divine Spirit, so, uncreated (ar-ruh al-ilahi), and also called the Holy Spirit (ar-ruh al-quds). Secondly, Allah creates it in form of the Universal Spirit (ar-ruh al-kulli). Thirdly, Allah also creates the individual spirit, which more exactly, is polarized with regard to an individual. Finally, there exists the vital spirit, an intermediary between the soul and the body.

The focus of Sufism is concentrated then not on the body itself, but on substance or essence of which body appears as an element only. Here the concepts of Ar-Ruh and Al-Qalb are considered crucially important since through these concepts men become part of Allah, ie, his An-Nur. An-Nur means the divine light or energy. In metaphysics, it stands for the divine light indicating the source of existence (Ibn’Arabi 1984:144). An-Nur is known as God’s pattern since it provides a vital linkage between men and God. Allah who has an omnipresent existence is a gender-neutral concept and is indicative of a source of ultimate power. God’s pattern is in fact the manifestation of His Energy, which has made man numinous in essence (Amini 1988:19). This God’s pattern is recognized by the prophet Muhammad (s) who said: “He who knows himself, knows his Lord” (Ibn’Arabi 1984:117). Thus, Sufi theosophy claims, “man is infinite in the finite; in other words, he is a God in the form of man.” (Haq 1975:54). The spiritual persons equate the nature of Allah with Pirs so that no difference or separate entity can exist between the two. However, this does not imply the plurality of God. God is manifesting himself through the diverse phenomena of the universe, but remains to be one without undergoing any changes: “Say not that the plurality of phenomena is contradictory to unity. View thou the reality of things – all is He (Haq 1975:65).”

Islamic scholars view that there exists an intricate relationship between body and soul that is subjected to ranking of three substances: `Aql’ (Intellect), `Nafs’ (Soul) and `Jism’ (Body). These three substances, although all partaking of the light of Being, remain in the domain of cosmology as separate entities which propose a rank in the hierarchy of being. The substances are organized and ranked from higher to lower scales in the following manner: Separated substances; Form; Body; and Matter (Nasr 1978:200). This notion of scaling of substance to matter is a uniquely dominating theme that exists throughout the Islamic Sufi world. However, the scaling of substance is manifested in the polarity of Bateni and Zaheri forms of body only to mean “the Interior” and “the Exterior” Qu’ranic Names of God. Western scholars again misconstrue these two terms as inside and outside worlds in that the words Batin and Lair (synonym for Bateni and Zaheri) refer, on the one hand, to the felt realm of human experience; and on the other to the observed realm of human behavior (Geertz 1993: 60-61). Another scholar provided a closer meaning of Bateni as the hidden or the Inner Secretes (Gilsenan 1982:116-124). In Sufi mysticism, a body has two manifestations. It has external, but visible manifestation, which is known as Zaheri form of body. At the same time it has internal, but invisible form which is know as Bateni form. Both Zaheri and Bateni forms are the opposite sides of the same coin. Every man has outward Zaheri form, but the Bateni form is hidden and a few persons master the art of manifesting their Bateni form.

Pirs and the Construction of Spiritual Body

The appellation Pir is a Persian word, which means elderly persons and saints. In practice, it also means a teacher who can guide one for spiritual attainments; salvage one from worldly sins; protect one from evil; and enlighten oneself with the wisdom of Allah. Pirs have spiritual powers with which they can heal incurable diseases like cancer or AIDS; make one rich from the poor; and can do or undo, make or unmake from anything to everything. This accreditation of Pirs with spiritual power means the Pirs have phenomenal extra-sensory perception and gift of prophecy. In the eyes of commoners and devotees, the Pirs are “super human beings” who possess knowldge both on Ilm-i-Tasawwuf (science of mysticism) and Elme-Ludunni (esoteric knowledge). The possession of esoteric knowledge gives Pirs access to and command over “Lawh-Mahfuz.” [5]. However, Pirs have differential access to Lawh-Mahfuz which depends on their attainment and degree of spiritual powers and knowledge.

The degree of power also categorizes Pirs into two categories [6] of mystic Pirs: Ba-Shara and Be-Shara (Khan 1960:53-54). These two categories of Pirs represent two interrelated spiritual orders, namely, “Nobuyot” and “Belaiyat” orders. Ba-Shara Pirs are representatives of “Nobuyot” order that deals with human well being and a material world. The Ba-Shara Pirs are known mainly as orthoprax Pirs because of their practices of conforming Islamic Shari`ah (teachings of Prophet Muhammad). They are also known as Saliks. Saliks are representatives of Nobuyot order and assigned with tasks to orient their disciples and followers according to the teachings of Allah, Quaran, Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad (S)) and Shari`ah. Their main purpose is to prepare, guide and enlighten the commoner’s narrow world view into the path of spiritualism set by Allah and his prophet Mohammed (S). The most powerful Salik with highest spiritual authority and power is recognized as Gaousul Azam.

On the other hand, Be-Shara Pirs belong to the “Belaiyat” order and they control nature’s vagaries, rain, flodd, calamity, weather, environment, Jinn (angels) and a mystic world. The Be-Shara Pirs are known as heteroprax since they have own self-innovative styles and their practices do not conform to Shari`ah. They are nihilists in their relation to Islamic Shari`ah as they nakedly move in public and follow their own appetites and passions, eat and drink whatever they fancy. They also occasionally lead disreputable and scandalous lives. Although they wander around naked, they are universally accredited for the possession of supernatural and spiritual powers. These Pirs are unmindful and indifferent toward earthly matters and affairs. They are also known as Majzubs. The Majzubs represent the Balaiyat order, and their main tasks are related not with commoners’ well being and worldly etiquette, but related with control of the invisible system of nature. The most powerful Majzub with highest spiritual authority is known as the “Kutubul Aktab.” However, the early Pirs of Bangladesh appeared to be orthodox Muslims. And in spite of their greater attention to mysticisms (Tasawwuf), they managed to observe the religious duties prescribed by the “Shari`ah” (Islamic Law). However, in course of time, around the 15th century, a heterodox type of mystic Pirs has emerged (Khan 1960:53).

The devotees’ construct Pirs by extending recognition of spiritual powers to the body of Pirs, which in turn relates the body to the genre of Allah. However, much of the semiotic meanings, symbols and signs are associated with Majzubs. The significant difference between the Saliks and Majzubs is that Saliks provide lexical interpretation of Islam and Majzubs provide etymological interpretation of Islam. Saliks interpretation of everyday discourse is based on the holy Qu’ran and Hadith, but the Majzubs’ interpretation goes beyond the lexical Qu’ranic interpretation. They deconstruct and reinterpret the standard Qu’ranic interpretation only to justify their action by the verses of Qu’ran. This, in turn, reproduces a deep but new meaning of Qu’ran. The reproduction of meanings by Mujzubs may appear very weird to normal religious understanding. For example, Saliks suggest their followers to follow standard Islamic practice to pray five times a day. On the contrary, Majzubs think that there is no necessity to pray five times a day, because a holy person is always praying by remembering Allah. General belief is that the desire of Majzubs, in reality, is the desire of Allah. Allah’s image is reflected through Pirs. Pirs’s talk, his eye, his behavior in essence is Allah’s talk, words, eyes, behavior and existence. There exist no separation and separate entity between Pirs and Allah, since Pirs contain in their body the element of Allah’s An-Nur. This is why Pirs especially Majzubs, Gausul Azam and Kutubul Aktab are parts of Allah’s An-Nur as they are inseparable from Allah’s entity and existence. This line of interpretation is rooted in the Islamic idea that man is the vicegerent of God. The idea of vicegerent is so central in Islam that it has generated a debate, which polarize Muslim world into two antipodes. The first view is that Allah has created man and appoints a Khallifa on earth. The second view is that God’s decision to appoint a Khallifa is nothing, but through man God is prescribing His own image (Idris 1990:99-110).

In the eye of devotees, Allah is not separated from the Pirs. For example Qu’ran‘s begins with three letters: `ILIF’, `LUM’, and `MIM’. Though Qu’ran and Hadith are silent about the possible interpretation of `ILIF’, `LUM’, `MIM’, the spiritual persons went on by proving their own interpretations of these three letters. But, when one recites Qu’ran, it pronounces as ILIF-la-mmim. The heteroprax Pirs interpret differently and say that `ILIF’ means “Allah”; `LA’ means “No” and `MIM’ means “Mohammed (s).” It also means, Allah, Gabriel and Muhammad (s) are the one, but they have different expression and meaning. This simultaneously produces two separate meanings. First, Allah cannot exist without Muhammad (s) since Muhammad (s) is everything. Secondly, it also stands to reason that Allah does not exist without Mohammed, that is, Allah, indeed, appeared as Muhammad (s) himself. By that, it is all about men and many cite the sayings of Allah’s: “I am men’s mystery and men are mystery to me.” In the anthology of Maizbhander, one mystic rhythmic song sings:

Manush Rheke Khoda Bhoz E Montrona Ke Deache . . .

(Who has given you the idea to pray to Allah by denying the existence of men . . . ).

Thus many devotees, instead of asking Allah, pray and request directly to Pirs for favor or fulfill their prayer. On many instances, we have witnessed that diehard devotees request their Pirs with certain demand to be fulfilled by his miracle power. The Pirs may turn down follower’s prayer by saying, “I wish Allah will fulfill your desire and I am praying for you to Allah.” The devotee sharply replied, “You may request to your god whom I have never seen, but I am asking my god (that is, you) to solve my problem.”

The domineering practice of spiritualism establishes the idea that the Pirs are Allah’s genus. The essential qualities of Allah are metaphorized in Pirs, although Pirs might not be the Allah. This is a problematic understanding for one because it immediately leads one to produce a generic image of Allah in Pirs. That is why we see occasionally the semiotic presence of Pirs is constructed as a “concrete image” which is contrasted with “abstract image” of Allah. This image of Pirs relates to Allah’s genus. Again to partakers the construction of a concrete image is a real construction. Devotees believe that Allah reappears in human body, but such reappearance varies [7] from one epoch to another. Allah in guise appeared as Prophet Muhammad (s) at Mecca; as Gausul Azam Abdul Quader Zillani appeared at Baghdad; and as Gausul Azam Ahmedullah appeared at Maizbhander.

One Body and Two Forms

Devottes make continuous effort to prove that Pirs body has definite linkage to Allah. Allah is an infinite concept whereas man is a finite one. Devotees thus describe body as a part of continuity toward infinity. As has already been pointed out men as a part of God have two forms: Zaheri and Bateni. By that, the outward Zaheri form of body is temporary and perishable, but the inward Bateni form is eternal and everlasting. Men are the one with God and again God will be one with men. Zaheri form is only manifested in current world while one is alive. One’s present existence is the outcome of a temporary cessation from his everlasting abode in God (Haq 1975:55). But the Bateni form continues after the death of human beings, which suggest the existence of two parallel worlds.

The two forms of Zaheri and Bateni are nothing but a representation and expression of one body in plurality. The plurality is expressed in two forms, which is manifested through the concept of ME. Although the ME is the concept of totality, but such construction of human body, thereby, produces the concept of “TWO ME” [8]: first ME and second ME, that is, two forms of body within a single body. The first ME is the microcosm reflected in small world and second ME is the macrocosm with a big world. It is precisely the second ME which represents the God in Bateni form. The outcome of the Bateni form is the “Effacement in the Essence of God” (Valiuddin 1987:81). The two forms of Zaheri or first ME and Bateni or Second ME can be represented by following causal diagram.

The first ME, with human flesh and biological form, has a physical boundary, but exists within the second ME. We could only observe the first ME – which has a figure, color, creed, physical appearance, boundary and obvious fact. In this sense, the first ME has limited and narrow time span; and it would dilapidate and disappear with death after representing certain time and period serving the humanity and present world.

First ME is visible, but inseparably connected with second ME. The second ME could be explained with an invisible and unexplainable structure shaped by the idea of infinity and continuity that exists as a part of a continuum process. Thus, it does not have any physico‑biological configuration, shape, color or creed. During one’s lifetime, one as first ME, represent the present “time” in present “space” (i.e., world) [9] and could possibly be able to develop a relationship with second ME. This could be possible through the practice of spiritualism. The Pirs are able to develop their own second ME through their strict practice of spiritualism and meditation while they exist in their first human form, i.e., first ME. The second ME continues to exist after one’s death with the dilapidation of first ME.

A problem exists in defining the second ME: whether it is Allah’s An-Nur or the replica of first ME. Hardly anyone could provide concrete answers; but the lack of clarity is much to do with the nature of semiotic presence. However, “time,” “space” and “matter” are important factors in understanding the ME concept. Men originate from infinity in the past from Lawh Mahfuz and enter the present world through the womb of mother. That is, persons are born into present time; and with death they proceed further into the future and end their travel either in hell or heaven in the direction of infinity. So, the birth and death are two nodal points in person’s life continuum. The three time elements – past, present and future – though they have different expressions, still remain a part of the same essence of a single continuum process.

Pirs, as first ME, represents a time or period. After their death, performing worldly duties and providing service to humanity, they mix and merge with second ME. The death event related with Pirs obituary is known as Urs. The events of Urs confirm Pirs’ return to the essence, that is, to Allah’s own genus. Therefore Urs is not a sad event, rather a happy occasion. Pirs after death returns to Allah’s An-Nur. Since Allah has an omnipresent phenomenon, he exists everywhere. So do the Pirs! After death, they exist in their second form, that is, second ME.

The second ME, after his death, contacts his devotees and provides spiritual guidelines. The second ME appears more frequently in dream, vision, imagination or a real appearance. Dreaming the Pirs is not a dream, neither a vision nor a hallucination! It is, irrespective of whether Pirs is dead or alive, a real construct. For example, in rare occasion, some devotees claim that they have seen their Pirs after their Pirs death. Actually we presume that they have seen the second ME or came across with the imaginary construct of Pirs. Whatever may be the thought construction of disciples, such belief in Pirs provides a sense of driving force as they feel their whole existence, body and mind are encompassed and influenced by the presence of their Pirs.

Pirs are the experts of the mystic world as they know how to control and operate invisible mechanisms and the system. Their invisible mechanisms and systems are, as understood, beyond the commoners’ apprehension. Pirs as first ME may be considered as a window through which one can reach to unknown but the real world. When I requested one to explain real world, he replied: “It is like a television. One can only see the pictures in a TV screen, but one cannot understand, but perceive, the real mechanism behind the TV screen. Only an electronic expert knows the real mechanism.”

In one sense, Pirs intercede between these two forms of the world. They argue the present world is an artificial one and is not a real one, but it may be seen as an important element in the continuity. They try, in their ritual and spiritual practice, to enter or seek access to an unknown, but the real world. This real world lies behind the artificial world (i.e., present world) of ordinary objects given in our normal awareness. The present world – as such – does not exist, but it is only a fraction of the continuum whole. Present world is a pulpit upon which representation of body occurs.

Semiotic Presence and Spiritual Hierarchy

The semiotic presence is materialized through the spiritual hierarchy. Allah is placed at the apex of this spiritual hierarchy. Pirs followed by Khallifs and the devotees are placed at each successive lower ladder of hierarchy. The logic is that Allah is close to Pirs; Pirs are close to Khallifs; and Khallifs are close to devotees. The relationship between Khallifs and devotees is conceptualized as Pir Bhais (spiritual kin). Pirs give preferential treatment to Khallifs like Allah’s preference for Pirs. The power of Allah is metaphorised in Pirs and similarly the powers of Pirs in Khallifs and devotees. Pirs say: “When one concentrated in his Pir, he immediately enlightened by the spirit of Pir.”

The transformation and interpretation of symbols are done through a spiritual hierarchy: Allah to Pirs, Pirs to Khallifs and devotees. There is sort of spiritual buffer zone between these interacting actors. The first buffer zone is between God and Pirs. The communication between the God and Pirs takes place through the Hall. Hall is spiritual stages that reflect the Pirs state of mind, mood and position of soul. The spiritual hierarchy comprise of the seven stages that correspond to and express by mysticism (Hossain 1969; Haq 1975). The Hall is a complex transient spiritual stage and state of mind. An understanding of Hall is complex and depends on the stages determined by two nodalities: Fana and Baka. Fana literally means to die and disappear and Baka means to live and survive (Ansari 1986:33-59). However, Khallifs and a few empowered devotees do the interpretation of Hall of Pirs. Most importantly it is not the commoners, but the vindication of Pirs and how the latter induce impression and generate understanding about themselves to devotees.

Hall understanding is complex and only Khallifs is in the best position to interpret the exact Hall of Pirs. Pirs spiritually authorized and educate Khallifs to interpret their Hall. The empowering of Khallifs by Pirs provide recognition to Khallifs they have the required knowledge of interpreting Hall and the ability to show the followers the path of spiritual and divine world. Since the souls of Pirs are elevated to different spiritual stages of Hall and Khallifs are the legitimate heirs of interpreters, Khallifs become the “spiritual‑general” in the spiritual hierarchy. The devotees and commoners have no idea or notion of the complex spiritual world, but they accept the divine direction of Pirs and interpretation given by Khallifs. Eventhough many have problem in understanding the interpretation of Khallifs, they are not supposed to question the interpretation and meanings. In this way Pirs‘s word is metaphorised through Khallifs. By that, problem of misinterpretation and mistranslation of languages, words and messages of Pirs by Khallifs exists.

Pirs communicate messages to followers, but the meaning embedded in messages depends on Pirs level of Hall at particular point of time and moment. Communication may take in many ways: from mind to mind, eye to eye or words to words. And some massages are silent, some are expressive and other messages are full of metaphors and polysemic meanings. By that, the semiotic construction of Pirs is based on how one “sees as,” “feels as,” “understand as” or “explain as” his Pirs. Then it becomes an arduous task to construct a Pirs since it varies from one individual to another individual: how one sees, feels, understands and experiences. Pirs is an iconic sign because it resembles or refers to its object – Allah. Pirs is also an indexical sign, because through him we can touch and feel the Allah. Pirs is, too, a symbolic sign since usage, convention and anthology could interpret his presence. However, often intuition is used to construct Pir and many even do not feel urge why to concretize the construction of Pir.

While communicating with each other, the level of understanding determines the semiotic functions between the producer (Pirs) and the receivers’ (devotees). Moreover, this communication certainly occurs through the use of linguistics and may be sequentially seen as: the words transmitted from Allah via Pirs; words between Pirs and followers; and interpretation of Pirs words by Khallifs to devotees. It appears that the messages that are communicated are not important but how the image of Pirs defines the content of messages. The devotees receive messages, but the meanings of these messages depend much on how Khallifs interpret them.

Conclusion

This paper tries to explain when the spiritual partakers formulate a relationship between time and two forms of body; they believe that men are not God, yet men are not separated from God. This process is captured through a dynamic concept of semiotic presence and it tries to capture the continuously changing forms of human body and draws causal linkages between material, physical and mystic dimensions of human body into a holistic framework. For example, a childhood form of body is radically different from that of old age; with death the bodily forms transform into new dimensions and configuration and so are the cases before the birth.

Body is merely a container for manifestation of different times in one essence. What exists is the continuum process of the same essence or An-Nur, but it has different manifestation as it takes different forms and shapes in accordance with time, space and matter. People can only become aware of their the past, but they cannot see the events of the past. The past is known through the transfer of experience, hearsay, myth and interpretation of facts from anterior generations to posterior generations. Similarly, people do not know about future, but it can be seen through anticipations, dreams, visions, images, feelings, etc. which can be concretized in to the present time. This way the three-time dimensions the past; the present and the future are compressed into one time, that is, the present.

The semiotic presence is a continuum process that on the one hand, represents past and present in the present, and on the other hand, future in the present. Having pointed out the representation of three times in the present, it suggests a representation of time in human bodies. That is, the past is brought forward and reflected in present time and also the future is drawn backward to represent in the present. By that, a body is both a matter of past and future that is represented in the present time with specific physical shape. The core to developing an understanding of the Islamic anthropology of body is the representation, reflection and powerful combination of the three‑time dimensions into a single, but a living human body.

ENDNOTES:

1. One argues that there is one Islam, but many Muslim societies (Ahmed 1987:58). Muslims are divided on the question of interpreting Islam and Allah of which Sufism is only one version.

2. I have used the term ‘Man’ in generic sense to include spiritual persons who could be both man and woman.

3. Peirce writes: “A sign, representamen, is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity. It addresses somebody, that is, creates in the mind of that person an equivalent sign, or perhaps a more developed sign. That sign which it creates I call the interpretant of first sign. The sign stands for something, its object.” (Buchler 1955:99)

4. Many view Pirs from a opposing perspective: Pirs are either saint or insane, fake or true, etc. A problem with the opposition is that they fail to see the Pirs from the perspective of devotees who construct the existence of Pirs as a semiotic presence.

5. Formal meaning of Al-lawh al-Mahfuz: the Guarded Table. Lawh-Mahfuz is a kind of repository where men’s origin, future and fate are written and recorded long before men’s birth. A Pir by seeing the records in Lawh-Mahfuz can guide persons for their material and spiritual well-being.

6. People often confuse between four types of Pirs. First type of Pirs poses true spiritual powers; second type of Pirs control and manipulate Zins (angels), but they do not possess spiritual powers; third type of Pirs follows Islamic rituals and have in-depth knowledge on Islamic theology, but they neither possess spiritual power nor controls Jinns; and the last type of Pirs is fake one who pretend that they have spiritual powers and plays with the beliefs of people.

7. Reappearance of Allah in human body may not to be confused with reincarnation of soul as believed by Hindus.

8. The ME concept is adopted to avoid the confusion with “self” as “self” may be compared with “otherness.” The First ME could be a phenomenal self and the Second ME could be cosmological self.

9. Human being, as a “matter” or “image of matter” not only represents a “time” in “space”, but also constructs a “time” for himself. For example, if one live in this world for 50 years, then he has not only represented the 50 years, but also millions of seconds. For example 50 years x 365 days = 18 250 days x 24 hours = 4 38 000 hours x 60 minutes = 2 62 80 000 minutes x 60 seconds = 157 68 00 000 seconds). Human being after death enters into another time dimension.

REFERENCE

Ahmed, Akbars 1987. Toward Islamic Anthropology. Definition, Dogma and Directions. Lahore: Vanguard

Amini, Md. Taqi 1988. Reconstruction of Culture and Islam. New Delhi:Kitab Bhavan

Ansari, M A Haq 1986. Sufism and Shari`ah. A Study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s Effort to Reform Sufism. Leicester:The Islamic Foundation

Asad, Talal 1983. Anthropological Conception of Religion: Reflections on Geertz. Man (N.S), 18, pp.237-59

Bloch, Maurice 1991. Language, Anthropology and Cognitive Science. Man (N.S) Vol. 26, No.2 1991, pp. 183-198.

Bloch, Maurice 1989. Ritual, History and Power: Selected Papers in Anthropology. Monographs on Social Anthropology, No.58. London School of Economics.

London and Atlantic Highlands: The Athlone Press Boler, John F 1963. Charles Peirce and Scholastic Realism: A Study of Peirce’s Realism in Relation to John Duns Scotus. Seattle: University of Washington Press

Buchler, Justus ed. 1955. Philosophical Writtings of Pierce. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Cornell, Vincent J 1983. The Logic of Analogy and the Role of the Sufi Shaykh in Post-Marinid Morocco. International Journal of Middle East Studies. Vol.15, No.1.

Danesi, D 1998. Sign, Thought and Culture. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Daniel, E. Valentine 1984. Fluid Signs. Being a Person the Tamil Way. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of Calofornia Press

Davies, Merryl Wyn, 1988. Knowing One Another. Shaping an Islamic Anthropology. London and New York: Mansell Publishing Limited.

Geertz, Clifford 1993. Local Knowledge. London: Fontana Press

— 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

— 1968. Islam Observed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press

Gilsenan, Michael 1982. Recognizing Islam. Religion and Society in the Modern Middle East. London, New York: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.

Haq, M Enamul 1975. A History of Sufism in Bengal.

Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Hossain, Syed Delwar 1969. Tajkiyaye Moktachar (The Essence). Chittagong: Churtia Press

Ibn’Arabi, Muhyi-D-Din 1984. The Wisdom of the Prophets (Fusus al-Hikam). New Delhi:Taj Company

Idris, Jafar Sheikh 1990. Is Man The Vicegerent of God? Journal of Islamic Studies, No.1, Vol.2, pp.99-110

Khan, M A 1960. Research in the Islamic Revivalism of the Nineteenth Century and Its Effect on the Muslim Society of Bengal. In Social Research in East Pakistan (ed.) Bessaignet,

Pierre. Asiatic Society of Pakistan Publications No. 6. Dacca: Asiatic Society of Pakistan.

Keesing, Roger M 1985. Conventional Metaphors and Anthropological Metaphysics: The Problematic of Cultural Translation. Journal of Anthropological Research. Vol.41. No.2. pp.201-217.

— 1987. Models, “folk” and “cultural” Paradigms Regained? In Cultural Models in Language and Thought. (eds.) Holland, D & Quinn, N eds. Cambridge, NewYork, Sydney: Cambridge University Press

Marsella, Anthony J 1985. Culture and Self: Asian and Western

Perspective. In Culture and Self: Asian and Western Perspectives (eds). DeVos, G., 77Marsella, A J., Hsu, F K L. New York and London: Tavistock Publications

Merten, Don 1982. Metaphore and Self: Symbolic Process in Everyday Life. American Anthropologist, Vol.84, No.4, 1982, pp.796-810.

Nasr, S Hossein 1978. An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines. Bath: Thames and Hudson Parkin, David 1994. Islam, symbolic hegemony and the problem of bodily expression. In

Anthropology and psychoanalysis. An encounter through culture (eds.) Heald, Suzette & Deluz, Ariane eds. Routledge: London and New York

Roy, Asim 1983. The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal. Prinston: Princeton University Press.

Singer, Milton 1984. Man’s Glassy Essence. Exploration in Semiotic Anthropology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press

— 1980. Signs of the Self: An Exploration in Semiotic Anthropology. American Anthropology, Vol.82, No.3, 1980. pp.485-507.

Sperber, Dan 1985. Anthropology and Psychology: Towards an Epidemiology of Representations. Man (N.S), 20, pp.72-89.

Valiuddin, Mir 1987. The Quranic Sufism. Delhi, Veranasi, Patna, Madras: Motilal Banarsidass

http://www.sufimaizbhandar.org/pirs_semiotic.htm

In the Houston ARMA class, when covering defense and parrying with either Medieval or Renaissance cutting swords we go about it in a simple way. Even before telling students to void or to use the flat and not the edge, we first just make simple strikes at them and let them defend as best they can (assuming they have already become familiar with getting hit by contact-weapons or learned caution and control with wooden wasters). When hitting at the student they are left free to block in any way they can or want. We hit them with a speed and intent that depends on their aptitude and level of experience, but always at a minimum standard that they everyone must be capable of reacting to (naturally, you can’t learn to block if you aren’t concerned about preventing something from actually hitting you).

Overall, students are allowed to experiment to find for themselves the true simplicity and necessity of defensive movements that the weapon calls for. The student is also shown how proper parrying movement using the flat of cutting swords allows a much more effective and efficiency return cut to be made. These are revealed by virtue of the action itself providing the very wind up or pull back necessary for the return blow. This applies whether parrying to the sides, low and close-in against the hips, or low to the legs. This is something impossible to comprehend in words but easy enough once seen in person.

In all parrying, students are taught to never just hold their weapon still and ready to receive a blow. They are shown how to move in or move out to deflect or smack an attack (i.e., to displace it). They are instructed in the two positions to turn the wrists to allow the flat to easily take the force of a blow and leave the edge properly aligned. The act of intentionally sticking your sword out to receive the attacker’s blow (on flat or edge) is an idea that never even arises in the course of teaching parries. In fact, defense is integrated into the whole idea of fighting with the weapon in general and not broken down separately such as in later methods of European fencing.

All the above then teaches the idea of “understanding parrying” as opposed to learning a “set of parries”, as in modern fencing for example. Parrying in this way is learned not as the familiar “one, two” action of fencing’s double time (“dui tempo”). It’s instead ideally taught as a single action who’s goal is to allow you to exploit openings in the opponent’s attack by responding with an instant counter-strike (a similar philosophy is expressed in Japanese swordsmanship). Foil and epee fencing (based mostly on an 18th century small-swords style) teaches a greater separation between attacks, parries, and other techniques. But medieval swords (and other cut and thrust blades) really just do not effectively utilize such an approach. This is evident in the historical manuals and learned in contact-sparring. This is also a very different philosophy than the parrying theory in theatrical swordplay, which must break down parries and attacks into separate structured actions that can be choreographed. Do keep in mind the above describes parrying methods different from that with rapiers or even with some slender cut and thrust blades (and very different also from the sabers, cutlasses and spadroons of later centuries).

Through ARMA’s martial approach to studying and practicing historical swordsmanship, when it comes to understanding parrying emphasis is placed on helping students develop the prerequisite reflexes and perception over “assuming” where incoming blows are being directed. Surprisingly, the above lessons are presented to new sword students in about a mere hour or so of class. Of course, introducing these concepts is only the beginning. Learning them well takes years of practice ..but then that’s what it’s all about.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/parrying.htm

There are other parts there. If you are a fencer, please give them your support. They are a very worthwhile organization.

Midi-chlorians

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

“Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you’ll hear them speaking to you.“

―Qui-Gon Jinn to Anakin Skywalker ^[src]

Midi-chlorians were microscopic life forms that existed inside the cells of all living things. While they were not the Force itself, they formed a link to it, acting as a sort of sensory organ through which it could be perceived. Midi-chlorians enabled the perception of the Force just as having eyes allowed people to see light or having ears allowed them to interpret vibrations as sound. If an individual had enough midi-chlorians in their body they could use them to communicate with the Force. In essence, midi-chlorians were the connection between a being’s mind and the Force, enabling certain sentients to intentionally manipulate it, or allow themselves to be manipulated by it.

A high midi-chlorian count was usually an indication of Force-sensitivity, meaning that the creature had the potential to become a Jedi. The Jedi Order was always on the lookout for Force-sensitives, who would be brought to the Jedi Temple and inducted into the ways of the Force. To further this goal, the Jedi learned how to quiet their minds and focus, so they would be able to sense the midi-chlorians that lay inside of other creatures. Once a being was suspected of having a high midi-chlorian count, a simple blood test could be administered to determine a definite amount.

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, midi-chlorian tests were performed to root out Force-sensitives and Jedi in hiding. Such individuals were rarely heard from again. In response, an underground trade of drugs and blood treatments sprang up that could supposedly fool a test or lower one’s count; however, they were largely ineffective.

if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = “show”; var tocHideText = “hide”; showTocToggle(); }

[edit]

Midi-chlorian research

“The reading’s off the chart – over twenty thousand. Even Master Yoda doesn’t have a midi-chlorian count that high.“

―Obi-Wan Kenobi to Qui-Gon Jinn ^[src]

The Rakata were thought to have experimented with medically transferring midi-chlorians into other beings in an attempt to transfer Force-sensitivity. They supplanted the genes responsible for midi-chlorians from Force-sensitives into their own genetic code to try and help their race ‘remember’ forgotten Force abilities. It is not known whether these experiments had any success, as the Rakata believed it would still take many generations for the experiment to be complete.

Millennia later, scientists had been known to increase the midi-chlorian count of normal individuals on Vjun by artificial means. However, this led to many extremely Force-sensitive people who did not know how to control their power, and in turn, many of these Force-enhanced beings went insane. The Malreaux family was an example: Whirry Malreaux was a housewife who read the future in broken things and went insane after the death of her father. However, her son Whie Malreaux was taken away by the Jedi to begin Jedi training, and was spared from losing his mind. Whie also had premonitions and dreams of the future, similar to those of his mother and Anakin Skywalker.

When Supreme Chancellor Palpatine told Anakin Skywalker of the so-called “Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise”, he spoke of the legendary Sith Lord acquiring the power to “influence the midi-chlorians to create life”. It is not clear whether or not Palpatine was lying on this occasion.

The Dark Jedi Desann managed to artificially infuse the Force to non Force-sensitive individuals by using special Artusian crystals. Desann referred to these people as the Reborn. Whether his method had anything to do with midi-chlorians remains a mystery, but it is thought that either the crystals caused the midi-chlorians to multiply or somehow ‘reinforced’ the ones that already existed, producing a totally artificial Force-sensitivity.

[edit]

Behind the scenes

The concept of midi-chlorians was introduced in Episode I. Some fans of the saga saw midi-chlorians as adding hard science to the mysteriousness of The Force and disliked what they saw as a new concept. However, giving the Force a biological basis was hardly a fresh idea. Luke and Leia’s inheritance of Force powers as children of Darth Vader already suggested such a power was heriditary and thus based in one’s genes. Also, several novels printed before the prequels were even released had similarly carried the suggestion that sensitivity to the Force was a biological phenomenon. Lando Calrissian carries out a search for potential Jedi for Luke’s new Academy by using a device that can supposedly detect affinity to the Force. In The Thrawn Trilogy, two organisms are mentioned, the ysalimiri and the vornskrs, that have ‘evolved’ the ability to use or block the Force in a predator-prey relationship. While the vornskrs have evolved the ability in order to hunt, the ysalimiri have responded with the ability to generate ‘force bubbles’ in which the Force cannot be used. Novels following release of the sequels in the New Jedi Order series would reinforce this basis in biology by describing beings whose makeup made them inherently resistant to the Force: the Yuuzhan Vong and the voxyn.

In real science, midi-chlorians appear to be based on mitochondria, which were once separate organisms that inhabited living cells and have since become part of them. Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, suggesting that perhaps midi-chlorians create the energy of life and thus The Force. Unlike midi-chlorians, which in the Skywalker family are passed on by both father and mother, mitochondrial DNA is only transmitted on the maternal side.

The cause-and-effect relationship between midi-chlorians and Force-sensitivity seems to be a matter of debate. In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn states that users sense the Force through midi-chlorians; however, some argue that he may have been giving Anakin Skywalker a childish explanation, and that the midi-chlorians may actually be a simple indicator rather than the actual method of communication.

Despite how it might first appear, the existence of non-living yet Force-enhancing objects such as rocks and crystals, does not seem to contradict the midi-chlorian explanation. Midi-chlorians are simply a way for organics to perceive the Force, and thus a non-organic object can be strong with the Force without perceiving it, just as a light emitting object does not necessarily have eyes. Another likely explanation is that the various crystals and other Force-enhancing objects work like a magnifying glass, multiplying the power the Force-user puts in.

The existence of some non-organic beings which are occasionally Force-sensitive (such as the Shards and the Tsil) does pose more of a problem, though an explanation may yet appear.

It is possible that while midi-chlorians provide a way to communicate with the Force, they are not necessarily a measure of Force ability as a whole. This idea is supported by the fact that both Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Yoda, the three Jedi with the highest known midi-chlorian counts in the Jedi Order, seem to be the most prone to visions received through the Force; or at least more so than others of similar Force ability (such as Mace Windu).

The Willow April Fool’s Day entries of the Databank joke that Midi-chlorians may have originated on the planet Andowyne.

In 2006, a newly discovered species of bacteria was named Midichloria mitochondrii after the midi-chlorians.

[edit]

Appearances

• Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace (Mentioned only) (Non-canonical appearance)
• Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (First mentioned)
• Episode I: Qui-Gon Jinn (Mentioned only)
• Rather Darkness Visible (Mentioned only)
• MedStar II: Jedi Healer
• Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• The Last of the Jedi: A Tangled Web (Mentioned only)
• The Return of Tag & Bink: Special Edition (Mentioned only) (Non-canonical appearance)
• Star Wars Tales 10 intro (Non-canonical appearance)

All works in which the force appears

[edit]

Sources

• The New Essential Chronology
• The Shadow War Chronicles in the Databank (Non-canonical appearance)
• The New Essential Guide to Alien Species

[edit]

See also

• Midichlorian Manipulation

Retrieved from “http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Midi-chlorian“

Categories: Creatures | Force entities | Mystery species | Sentient species (M)

Wikia is a service mark of Wikia, Inc. All rights reserved.

if (window.runOnloadHook) runOnloadHook();

_udn = “none”; _uff = 0;_uacct=”UA-288915-1″; urchinTracker(); _uff = 0;_uacct=”UA-1253655-1″; urchinTracker();

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

[Hide]	[Source]

“Long ago the Rakata ruled all the known Galaxy; all species bowed down to us.“

―Keeper Orsaa ^[src]

The Rakata (also known as the Builders) were a roughly humanoid species with distinctive amphibian features. They were a scientifically advanced people that developed early in galactic history. Long term use of the dark side of the Force corrupted their society and turned them into a race of merciless warriors. The Rakata used their potent Force-powered technologies to conquer and enslave every other species they came across throughout the known Galaxy. During the reign of their Infinite Empire, they were characterized by their cruelty, savagery, and arrogance. They were known to strip entire planets of their resources, terraform worlds to fit their own shifting needs, kill entire slave workforces, and to eat and defile the bodies of slain enemies.

if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = “show”; var tocHideText = “hide”; showTocToggle(); }

[edit]

Technology

The Rakata’s rise to power was fueled by a range of advanced devices that married the Force to high technology. The Builders were rumored to have been one of the first species to develop energy shields and were credited with the invention of the earliest form of the interstellar hyperdrive. The Rakatan drive, however, was a severely limited device due to the fact that it relied on the Force itself to function. It was only capable of perceiving and traveling to worlds with a significant Force signature (ie. a high degree of native life). As such, the number of worlds under the Rakata’s thumb was limited, though diverse and far flung.

A Star Map.

Star maps were placed on conquered worlds as a lasting monument to the power and scope of the Infinite Empire. Like many Rakatan technologies, the Star maps were self-sustaining and capable of regeneration. Terraforming machines were also frequently used to modify a conquered world’s climate, geology, flora, and fauna to meet the Builder’s needs. In so doing, the Rakata transformed entire worlds and greatly influenced the development of native species. One of the Rakata’s most interesting inventions was a “mental prison“, a peculiar box that trapped the mind of its victim. The only way for a prisoner to escape (a flaw discovered by a Rakata imprisoned for an exceptionally long time) was to take over the body of the next being to foolishly open the box. Revan very nearly suffered this fate after playing with one such device, but after winning a game of riddles with the Rakatan captive, he was released. Unfortunately, he could not figure out how to save the prisoner from bondage without imprisoning a replacement.

Slaves construct the Star Forge.

A virtually endless stream of supplies was needed to expedite the expansion of the Rakatan empire. To this end, the Rakata created the Star Forge in 30,000 BBY. The Star Forge was the centerpiece of the Rakatan empire and the most advanced of their technological innovations. It was a massive space station fueled by the Rakata system‘s star and built for the mass production of war hardware. It alone was capable of meeting the entire Empire’s demand for starships and war droid construction, yet such efficiency came at a terrible price. The Star Forge was, in part, powered by the dark side of the Force and was, therefore, highly corruptive. Rakatan scientists and engineers allowed the Star Forge to have access to a near-limitless supplies of energy because they believed that they could control it, but they were wrong. As a semi-living entity, the Star Forge gorged on dark side energies and with time, it began to feed itself by manipulating its own creators.

[edit]

History

[edit]

The Infinite Empire

Five thousand years before the formation of the Galactic Republic, Rakatan civilization was at its peak. Through the use of dark side fueled technologies, the Builders had formed the Infinite Empire which dominated known space for thousands of years and enslaved numerous developing species including the Duros and Humans. By transporting these slave species to new worlds, the Rakata were believed to have inadvertently seeded swaths of the galaxy with sentient life.

At its height, the Empire governed 500 worlds and its population numbered ten billion Rakatan warriors and one trillion slaves. Among its conquests were the Selkath of Manaan, Sith of Korriban, Wookiees of Kashyyyk, Kumumgah of Tatooine, Noghri of Honoghr and the natives of the Corellian Sector. The powerful, Force-wielding Rakata may have even displaced the most advanced species of that time period, including the Killiks of Alderaan and the Sharu of the Rafa system, during their meteoric rise to power.

After generations of galactic supremacy, the Infinite Empire began to fracture. Constant tensions between internal factions suddenly erupted into a devastating civil war caused by the Star Forge’s corrupting influence. Adas managed to drive the Rakata off Korriban. Already weakened by warfare, the Builders were suddenly struck by a deadly plague that spread rapidly through their ranks. Later, it would be theorized that the disease was created by a slave species because it only infected the Builders themselves. The virulent plague nearly exterminated the Rakata and brought the Infinite Empire to its knees, yet the worst was yet to come.

The Rakata suddenly and inexplicably began to lose their connection to the Force. Worse, they were unable to uncover the source of their failing sensitivity. Rakatan scientists came up with numerous speculative hypotheses to explain their worsening condition, but in the end, all of their theories proved incorrect. In time, it would be revealed that a mysterious mutation in the plague had caused it to strip the Builders of their powers.

As the Force users were culled from the overall population at an ever increasing rate, the Rakata lost their ability to manipulate their own technology. Soon, they were forced to rely on inferior devices that were not dependent on the Force. Sensing weakness, slave species rebelled in large-scale insurrections on many member worlds and stemmed the total collapse of the Infinite Empire in 25,200 BBY. The nearly decimated Rakata could do nothing but abandon their conquests and retreat to the safety of their homeworld of Lehon.

The Temple of the Ancients.

The Rakata system was protected by a disruptor field that could disable any incoming ship’s communications and navigational systems. The field, operated from the summit of a Temple on the surface of Lehon, was originally constructed to protect the Star Forge, but it was now used to protect the Rakata themselves.

On their homeworld, Rakatan civilization rapidly faded into obscurity and barbarism. Warlords devastated the surface of the planet with weapons of mass destruction and the majority of the Rakata were forced to flee underground. Only the descendants of the Priest Caste, the Elders tribe, remained on the surface protected by their ancient temples and enclaves. They alone would retain full knowledge of the potent technology and turbulent history of their species. In the following centuries, the Builders were purposefully erased from the records of their slave subjects and the Infinite Empire slipped from the pages of galactic history.

[edit]

Jedi Civil War

20,000 years after the fall of the Infinite Empire, most Rakata had only just begun to reemerge onto the surface, yet the Elders Tribe still thrived within their secluded compound. After long millennia of solitude and contemplation, the Elders desired to destroy their great factory so that they could finally put their bloody past behind them, but there was a problem. They could no longer enter their own Temple of the Ancients, the nexus of their collected knowledge and the key to accessing the Star Forge, because the Force was lost to them.

Lehon during the Jedi Civil War.

Darth Revan and Darth Malak‘s timely arrival in the system gave the elders a perfect opportunity. Promising to destroy the Star Forge, Revan entered the temple, but he betrayed the Elder’s trust and took the space station for himself. Around 3,959 BBY, he harnessed the full power of the Star Forge and began a massive military invasion of the Galactic Republic that would culminate in the Jedi Civil War. Meanwhile, the Rakata were forced to watch their species’ actions repeat themselves through the person of Revan, powerless to stop it. Their Temple and Star Forge became the dwellings of dark side users once more.

Yet Revan would return, unlooked-for, three years later and redress that betrayal. A redeemed Revan ended the Sith occupation of the Rakatan temple and deactivated the planet’s disruptor field so that the Star Forge could be destroyed by a Republic fleet. He also aided the Rakata’s efforts to regain their lost Force sensitivity which would eventually allow them to rejoin the Galactic community.

[edit]

Post-Civil War

In the following years, the Rakata were welcomed into the Republic, but because record of the Infinite Empire was lost to time, some were skeptical of the notion that the seemingly primitive beings had once ruled hundreds of worlds. Nevertheless, the Republic’s academic circles began cataloging and studying Rakatan artifacts, and would continue to do so for thousands of years.

Many of the Rakata dispersed off-world, and the Rakatan gene pool ultimately became too limited to sustain the species. By the time Darth Bane arrived on Lehon in search of Darth Revan’s holocron (c.1,000 BBY), the Rakata had become extinct.

[edit]

Behind the scenes

A Rakata.

Rakata is the name of a volcano on the island of Krakatau. After the destruction of Krakatau, it’s now the name of the island that is once part of Krakatau.

[edit]

The Rakata and the ‘Hyperspace aliens’

‘Hyperspace aliens’ is a fanon nickname of the otherwise undescribed aliens who according to Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, gave the Hyperspace technology to Humans.

In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the player can find a Rakatan Band which has a description that reads:

“This simple device improves the wearer’s ability to perceive the reality of their surroundings. The origin behind the item’s name is unknown, but rumor has it that these bands were constructed as a defense against an ancient species of alien deceivers, who made absurd claims of dominance concerning their role in the galaxy. It is said this species of lying primitives went so far as to take credit for almost every major event in galactic history since the discovery of the hyperdrive.“

―Rakatan Band description ^[src]

The statement above obviously implies that the Rakata made some contact with the greater galaxy between the Battle of Rakata Prime and the Jedi Exile‘s mission to unite the Jedi.

According to The New Essential Chronology, the Rakata were the original creators of the hyperdrive. The Corellians, Duros, and various other civilizations adopted and modified it for their own needs after the fall of the Infinite Empire. However, it is notable that the book refers to the mysterious Architects separately from the Rakata.

[edit]

Appearances

• Shadows and Light (Vision to Duron Qel-Droma)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Mentioned only)
• Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars Republic 68: Armor (Mentioned only)

[edit]

Sources

• The New Essential Chronology
• Heritage of the Sith
• Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties
• The New Essential Guide to Droids
• The New Essential Guide to Alien Species

[edit]

See also

• Pre-Republic

Retrieved from “http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rakata“

Categories: Aquatic sentient species | Extinct sentient species | Force-sensitive species | Mystery species | Pre-Republic | Rakata | Sentient species (R)