This document records the results of the first use of the Comselha Ritual">
This document records the results of the first use of the Comselha Ritual, described separately in Comselha: An Enochian Macrocosmic Ritual. For those who do not have that paper, the purpose of the ritual is to invoke the power of the creator-god of the Enochian system from its origins outside the Enochian realm, and to bring that power down through all of the macrocosmic powers contained within the Elemental Tablets. Finally, that power is anchored in the magician as he stands in the center of the circle of working.
The symbolism of the circle and the procedures followed are shown in detail in the referenced paper. The rationale behind the attributes of the individual letters of the Senior's names (seen here in the symbolism of the visions) is explained in detail in chapter 2 of a work-in-progress, released through Black Moon publishing under the working title, Godzilla Meets E.T. Since the rationale involves a complete revision of the Golden Dawn system of attributes, it is too complex to go into here.
Briefly, this working transforms the Tablet powers into a form consonant with the medieval conception of the Macrocosm. That is, the conception that the heavens are composed of spherical "shells" surrounding the earth, each holding the power of a given planet. The outermost shell is the sphere of the fixed stars or zodiac. And outside this outer shell is the Empyrean, the unconditioned realm of the divine.
The circle of working is built of four concentric circles. The outermost is a narrow circle divided into twelve sections, each attributed to one of the Enochian Names of God. The next is another narrow circle, divided into four sections attributed to the Elemental Kings of the Tablets. The third sector contains the names of the twenty-four Seniors, arrayed radially from the outside inwards. Each letter of a Senior's name is attributed to one of the planetary circles, going in cabalistic order from Saturn at the outside to Luna at the inside. The innermost circle represents the earth, and symbolically contains within it all the Lesser Angles of the Tablets.
Prior to the opening of this record, I had worked at building the circle and harnessing the powers for a period of approximately three weeks. During this time, I was entirely concerned with establishing the powers in the desired form, and was not looking either for changes in my awareness or visions of the sort recorded here. Nothing of note was recorded during that period. Nor had I as yet conceived of any specific use for the completed circle. The work was an experiment, simply to see what would happen.
The primary work was done astrally, with a physical diagram of the circle (with the names of the powers in place) in front of me for easy reference. I noted that during construction the diagram had picked up a bit of the invoked power, but did not consider it important. It was while studying these forces in the diagram that my vision opened and this record begins.
The reader will note large gaps in time between various sections of this record. During the interim, I was either engaged in activities having nothing to do with the Comselha work, or was receiving results from it in modes other than the visionary. These latter are still being absorbed, and will be presented at some future date, if it seems appropriate to do so.
Note that the visions were recorded as they occurred, and the pages that follow show that record verbatim, without deletions, additions, or modifications.
I was sitting contemplating a diagram of the structure used in the Comselha ceremony. All at once my vision opened up, and it seemed that this was not just a circle of names, but a City. Four great ways led along the four directions; between them lesser (but still large) avenues followed a radial pattern from the center to the periphery, and narrower streets followed concentric circles.
Between these avenues there were buildings, of which each was a great city in itself. I saw beings come out of these buildings; they moved inwards along the avenues, reached the center, and moved outwards again. Each of them carried a banner upon which a unique device was emblazoned.
Looking outwards I saw that the whole was surrounded by a great wall with twelve gates, and beyond the wall there was nothing but a white chaos. Above each gate was a banner on which was written one of the Names of God. And each banner seemed to radiate a power outwards towards the chaos, as if each word were a declaration to the larger universe, made with an unwavering, undefiable intent, as if God were saying through them: "Here I have made my city. Chaos does not rule here, nor the larger order, but only myself. What occurs herein occurs by my will only, and none may enter in nor leave save if they have conformed to my will." The intensity of this radiation is undescribable. It is a power so steadfast, so implacable, that defiance or avoidance cannot even be considered, let alone achieved.
Immediately within the wall was a broad, circular band. At the center of each quarter of the band, there was a tall, thin tower rising high. At the top of each tower was a great spherical light several times the diameter of the tower, burning like a sun. One got the impression that at the center of these lights, matter was so dense, so compressed, that space itself was warped; it seemed as if the radius of the spheres, measured from center to edge, was somehow longer than the diameter of the sphere as measured from opposing points on the outside.
I saw that from the outer chaos many beings were appearing and approaching the gates. As they passed the gates they changed in some way; their movements and forms became restricted in some way that was not clear visually, but was nonetheless certain. Where outside the gates they had come from all directions, now they moved in orderly lines, and the forms of those in the lines were relatively uniform where before there had been great variation.
These lines of beings approached the towers, and the beings began to climb the outside of the towers as if climbing three sets of invisible spiral stairs. They approached the top and vanished into the spheres of light; each one that entered the spheres added to the impression of great internal density, and added to a sense of great power being accumulated therein.
A critical degree of density was reached, and upwards and outwards from each sphere were thrown seven great beams in the spectral colors. The central beam continued directly upwards into the sky; the others fanned out like a peacock's tail. And I saw that these "beams" were composed entirely of living beings, each showing the nature of the planet in whose beam they were. Still at a great height above the city, these beams or streams moved along the band until they were opposite one of the rows of buildings between the avenues. Then the beams or streams of beings fell downwards; as they landed they began to move inwards, entering the outermost building in the row to which they were assigned. But while the stream was still in the air, a few of their number were separated from the stream, as if blown away by a gentle wind. These moved inwards above the buildings, dispersing evenly along the row. Then they fell gently down and in some way became incorporated into the buildings' structure.
As the beings moved inwards through the buildings, some split off from the flow at each. These took up banners, moved out onto the radial avenues, and joined the throng moving towards the center of the city. The remainder continued through the buildings, leaving a seventh of their original number in each.
Now it appeared to me that each circle of buildings, moving inwards, was slightly higher than the one before, so that the whole had the appearance of a shallow cone. The circular area in the center (which contains the lesser angles in the full pattern) appeared as a cylindrical hole. And this hole was filled with light, apparently coming from the innermost circle of buildings, which have the quality of the Sun.
The beings moving inwards, who now appeared angelic in character, stepped off the edge and began to rise in the air, following a widdershins spiral course above the circumference of the hole. The beings on all twenty-four avenues did this, and their paths extended the cylinder upwards. They climbed and reached some point high above, where they disappeared. As more beings followed them, a great sphere of light gradually came into being above the top of the cylinder, echoing the towers in the quarters on a much larger scale.
As the sphere continued to brighten, it seemed as if it were releasing some sort of essence in the form of a gentle wind, breathing outwards in all directions. This essence suffused the region above the city, forming a region shaped like the domed-topped crystal cylinders sometimes used to enclose antique clocks. This region enclosed the entire city, including the central column and sphere, in a violet light.
Now the beings began to emerge from this central sphere, and moved downwards around the invisible column, still moving widdershins so that their paths crossed their upwards paths and enclosed the column in a net or web. Reaching the level of the innermost buildings, they moved outwards along the same columns by which they had entered. Each still carried a banner upon which a unique device was emblazoned.
Reaching the outer ends of the avenues, each line split into two. One line continued to move directly outward, going through one of the twelve gates. The other line moved into the tower of the quarter, entering into it by a series of doors at ground level. These latter appeared to vanish, as if their substance was being re-incorporated into the structure of the tower and its surmounting orb of light.
The former lines moved out into the wasteland, the regions of white chaos surrounding the city. Leaving the outer gate, each individual took on its own path of movement. But all these paths were regular, spiraling outwards for some distance from the city, then coming back in to touch the walls of the city at a tangent, then spiraling outwards again. The combined paths of all these beings began to form the outlines of a lotus of myriad petals. And where these petals formed, the chaos took on colors, all the known colors and some men cannot see with their natural eyes. The city thereby extended its influence beyond its walls, and that which was formerly chaotic took on order as well.
But this was not the same rigidly-defined order as within the city. It was as if the city extended its order outwards, but did not demand that those it influenced do any particular thing to conform to it. Rather it seemed as if each being within the chaos was free to make its own way, to determine it's place within the lotus-pattern, or to choose not to participate if it did not wish to.
And beyond the lotus, threads were thrown out, passing far into the chaos. These eventually made links with other cities which were imposing their own patterns upon the chaos-stuff, far away.
I decided to try exploring this city some more. Entering into the vision at a point high above the city, I moved downward and landed outside one of the gates; specifically, the gate of ORO. As I came down it felt as if my astral body were becoming a sketchy outline of its usual self, as if it were becoming the body of a less than human being, perhaps that of an elemental of some sort.
I moved towards the gate, and saw that an angel holding a writing tablet and stylus was standing there. This angel had white wings, white hair, and was dressed in a robe of Piscean purple. As I moved up even with this being, he said "Hold!" in a loud voice.
I turned to him and did the signs of the Rending and Closing of the Veil, to which he responded with the signs of LVX, which I in turn returned to him. I tested him with the hexagram of Pisces and the pentagram of Air, neither of which affected him.
The angel looked at me for a while, studying me. Then he said, "You may enter in here if you will, o man, yet it would be better to enter by the gates of the Sun." I was uncertain whether he meant the outer gate assigned to Leo, or some other place. He indicated that he meant one of the gates at the center of the city, where the powers passed into and out of the central courts.
It seemed as if I should follow his advice, but while waiting I had absorbed some of the force surrounding the Pisces gate, and felt attracted to it. I hesitated for a while, trying to decide. Eventually I chose to go with his idea, and rose in the air above the city, moving inwards. But at the same time it seemed that a portion of my astral body had split off and continued inwards through the gate of ORO.
This portion of myself passed through a tunnel in the city wall. Inside I saw that the walls of the tunnel appeared to be constructed of a net of forces; behind them, within the city walls, it seemed as if mighty forces had been captured and held. Incredible energy was pent therein, and as I moved inwards, it changed in color from the purple of Pisces to a silvery orange color, perhaps that of Gemini. And it felt that my body was changing in response, through some sort of induction effect.
Coming to the end of the tunnel, I saw a greensward before me, with gravel or stone-covered paths at the inward and outward edges, and another path curving from in front of my tunnel towards a tower set in the middle of the grassy area. There was another angel here, dressed in airy yellow; he looked at me briefly and indicate that I should pass on.
I moved away from the tunnel mouth and looked back. Above the tunnel the glyph of Gemini was carved into the wall, and a banner with the word ORO flew from a standard high above the wall at this point. I noted that a myriad of beings marched along the top of the wall in both directions; those on the inside moved from right to left, those on the outside moved from left to right. Those on the inside carried banners in all the spectral colors, on which were emblazoned a white circle with the enochian glyph of Air.
Following this procession along its path I saw that when these beings reached the boundary of the airy quarter, where it met the earthy quarter, each curved its path towards the outside. At the same time the beings on the outside of the wall in the earthy quarter turned inwards so that the two groups would pass each other. As each being in the airy quarter passed one from the earthy quarter, the being would exchange its banner for a sword held by its opposite number. It then moved outwards and moved back along the wall from left to right. The other being moved inwards and along the wall from right to left in its own quarter. Thus there was a constant flow of banners around the inside of the wall, and a constant flow of swords around the outside, but the individual beings never left their own quarters of the city.
At this point my attention came back to my main body, which had been slowly descending towards the great sphere on the tower in the center of the city. I was now at a point opposite the equator of this sphere.
As said before, the sphere itself appeared to be made of energies that were truly divine and pure in nature, which built the sphere in a web and then filled in the interstices with radiations from the threads of the web, so that the surface was without flaws or holes. The sphere radiated a brilliant light both outwards into the empyrean and inwards to its own center.
I had previously assumed that this sphere was itself a manifestation of the pure divine nature of the creator of the Enochian system, and it seemed I was at least partially correct. But within the sphere I could see a figure. And it did not seem as if this was the image of that god, but rather was some sort of demonic entity imprisoned therein. What I could see of this figure through the blurring caused by the sphere's surface appeared to be identical to the Devil of the Tarot card, save that he had no pentagram on his brow. Though he moved not, I could see rage in his eyes at his imprisonment.
(Stopping the vision to look at my watch, I noted that it was 3:33 pm.)
From somewhere, I know not where, I got the impression that this demon was Choronzon, "that mighty devil", who is the primary embodiment of Evil in the enochian mythos. And it seemed that his binding to this place -- no, his very existence -- was the result of the manifestation of the enochian creation. He was the total of that which was within the area of creation, but which was not of such a nature that it could be used in the creation.
As such, it was necessarily the antithesis of all which the creation embodied. And since the act of creation moved from the outside inwards, this antithetical material had become concentrated here above the center. And yet it was held separate therefrom, bound into immobility and impotence by the forces surrounding it.
And still, I wondered what it meant to the creatures who were entering into this place, as I had seen in the previous vision. Recall that those who had passed through the initiations in the buildings of the Seniors' names then moved inwards and up to the top of this tower, and entered into this very sphere. Each had released therein a small portion of divine energy, which radiated outwards from the sphere. Had they somewhat to do with the imprisonment of this being, and what effect did contact with him have on them?
It came to me (again, I know not from where) that this city was not a frozen, ideal creation; rather, it was a living, developing creation and changes must occur in the course of that development. When I previously saw it, the city of God was still abuilding, and the creation of this sphere was still in process. Now we were at a later phase, wherein the leftover, incompatible remnants of substance had been brought to this place and concentrated. And at this stage the creatures did not enter into the sphere but instead moved along its surface, strengthening the web with their portion of divine substance and casting part of it outwards to maintain the bell-shaped shield which surrounded the city.
It bothered my sense of balance that at the center of this creation there should be corruption. Would this Choronzon be held therein throughout the life of the creation? Would his existence influence its path and destiny? Or would he somehow be eliminated at a later stage? I waited, but it seemed I would get no answer as yet.
Now it came to me that I should reaffirm the unity of this creation. I did so by invoking the First Call, and followed it with the vibration of all the divine names so far incorporated in it. Then I invoked the First Call again. This had the effect of strengthening the bell-shaped shield and making it more clearly visible to my astral eyes.
But I now saw that, unlike the previous vision, at this moment the shield appeared to have been pushed inward at one point, off-center from its highest point towards the east-northeast. The shield was not broken; rather it appeared to stretch inwards in a teardrop shape to enfold the central sphere and its occupant, so that they were actually outside the shielded area.
Again I felt the need to vibrate the First Call, and did so. And as I did, there was a sense of great Will arising out of the depths of myself. This will projected itself at the sphere, and caused it to be pushed out of its central location, entirely out of the city, and the shield again returned to its pristine shape. The sphere shot outwards into the empyrean; after a while its course began to curve and it gradually orbited the city. It came up underneath the center of the city, and stopped at a point just below its center, in the "shadow" that the city cast.
Now, I didn't think this was much better than the previous situation; the sphere and its occupant seemed to still be attached to the city, and there was still the potential for interference with or corruption of its nature. I worried about this for a few minutes, when I noticed that there was an intense vibration growing in the air around me.
My attention was directed to the sphere. It seemed that it too was being affected by this vibration. Flakes of darkness were falling off of it and moving outwards to be lost in the empyrean. The vibration continued and the sphere and its occupant gradually disintegrated, like a glass paperweight being crumbled into tiny shards. The disintegration continued until less than half the sphere's substance remained, when the rest shattered at once and the remains fell away. These seemed to continue shattering into progressively smaller pieces until nothing was left that could be distinguished in the light of the empyrean.
I raised my viewpoint above the base of the city again, and saw that the whole of it was now coruscating in a tremendous variety of hues and chromas. The vibrations I had felt were now shaking the city itself, but were not shattering it; rather they were raising it to a higher level of power. A new sphere had formed in the place of the old, and even from this distance I could see therein the figure of a god; a bearded man dressed in a white robe, with a breastplate upon which were sixteen stones configured four-by-four, each a different color. His right arm was raised so that the upper arm was horizontal, the lower arm held upwards vertically, with his fingers split in the "V" of the Star-Trek Vulcan greeting. His left arm was draped casually over the arm of his throne. But it seemed to me that this was not the Enochian god, but just his image; a place-holder signifying the outcome of the next stage of the process.1
A voice said, "When the spirit of god is brought into his city, his temple -- any city or temple -- then that which is not god is the first to react, and seeks to take for itself the place that is that of the divine. It enters in and formulates itself into a false godhead, attempting to block the true god from entering, attempting to take god's creation for its own. But that false god cannot control the temple; it acts to seal him off from all that it is. He becomes a thing apart, separate from the world but deluded by his apparent place that he is ruler of that world.
"Thus it is also with man, when the true divine core of his being is prepared to manifest. That which is not the divine, that which is the essence of his individual being raised to its greatest possible height, seeks to believe that it is truly the essence, that there is no god higher than itself. But the world and the temple seal it off; its central place of power is shown to in actuality be cut off, powerless, as the shield of the city did cut off the demon Choronzon even though his sat in the High Seat of the city.
"It is like the scum that forms on the surface of heated metal in the forge, not part of the metal, but impurities in the metal, which cling to its surface and conceal the heat beneath. And as such impurities might actually have been needed when the metal was used for a lesser purpose, so it is with man. That which was necessary at one stage now becomes a hindrance, which must be removed and cast aside in the forging of the pure metal of the divine. And it is the vibrating power of the divine which first concentrates it on the surface, then casts it away from the creation, and finally destroys it utterly.
"But the true metal is not so affected, and neither is the rightly-built city of god. Instead the power of the divine forge enhances it, raises it to the ultimate expression of its own nature, causes it to shine with the myraid colors of the rainbow, and finally raises it to the white heat of purity.
"Now you ask in your heart why, if this is true, you did not yourself encounter Choronzon in your ascent to be Master of the Temple. The answer is that you did, and did then as you did in this vision.2 You recognized it for what it was, a false image of the divine, and rejected it as having no place in the rightful scheme of things. You denied its power, and so it had no power over your being. Thus you did not have to be "eaten" by Choronzon as Crowley claimed, nor wrestle with him, or have any other form of contest. It is only when one believes this demon to have power that he does have power, because one gives it to him.
"Nor was there any sense of destruction in your passage; for it is only when one identifies with the demon, believes with part of the mind that the demon is the true self, that one experiences the destruction of that demon. You did not identify, and so did not have the experience.
"Now we have finished with need of you for this part of the building of your city. We shall continue on and build, and call again when there is more to be done that requires its creator's direct touch. In the meantime, you might continue to send your lesser self on its passage inwards through the gates and buildings of the city, and learn therefrom how this city acts to shape and train the myriad lesser beings who come under its sway. For as you have said, and has been affirmed to you, the man who acts as the minister of the Enochian god does the work of that god, and participates greatly in the raising, the initiation of those lesser orders of being who are attracted and contained by the work.
"Go now and rest, o mage, for there is much to be done here." (I got a subtext that said "Get out of our way and let us work.")
This being said, I ended the vision.
I entered into the Comselha space, and immediately found myself standing in the place where I had left my secondary body in the previous vision. Looking around I could see little changed in the physical aspect of the area, but felt that there had been significant changes in the energetic aspect. The aura of the area seemed to have taken on a rich, deep feel as of fertile earth, not at all in keeping with the airy nature of the sector. My astral body seemed to have taken on a greeness as of flourishing plant life, or the planet Venus.
Looking about again, I saw that I was not were I had thought; the banner above the nearest gate was MOR, not ORO. And then it seemed that my body was lifted up, carried outside the walls, and passed through the gate of MOR. All this was done very quickly; what took several minutes the last time took but a moment now. And then I was back again where I had stood when the vision opened.
Now a being came up to me from my left. He stopped, and raised his arms in the sign some masons call the "Widow's Son" -- upper arms horizontal to the sides, forearms and hands straight up. I tested him with the pentagram of Earth, which did not affect him. I returned the sign, and he immediately did the signs of V and X in LVX; I instantly understood that the first sign was a form of the "L" gesture in that series. I then did the whole LVX series, and he bowed to me.
Coming forward, he took my right shoulder in his left hand, and grasped my right hand with his. He performed a curious gesture with the thumb; tapping the side of his thumb against each side of mine, then touching the balls of our thumbs together, and then the tips.
"Greetings on all three points of the Triangle, o brother. I am Aleph Nun Lamed Oin Shin,3 and I am here to introduce you to the details of the work we do here in your name and God's. For it is the work of the builders, the creators, those who make God's ideas into form, that is done here. And so do I greet you in the manner of those builders.
"Now I know that here you are weak in knowledge of the mason's way, and so I will not further take you in that direction; there is no reason that this building needs be in their symbolism, and much that it might be comprehended in the terms of your own mind.
"Well have you done, in initiating this work; For unless God's building be made manifest, then the Kingdom will not come. There must be an analogue in matter, even the subtle matter of the astral, before that great spirit may come down; this is so that it may be housed in a way fitting with its glory and greatness.
"You have seen in your minds eye the plan of God's will, and the city is the manifestation of that will in matter, brought about, brought forth into the world through your efforts.
"Now let us take a brief tour of the regions herein, and see what may be seen thereof at this point in the construction.
"You have already seen the gates, modeled on your thoughts, modeled on that which God has put into your thoughts. These gates are the entry into this realm for those who reside in the chaos beyond, in the unlimited, unconditioned regions of the heavens; those regions which have not, as yet, come under the aegis of any creator.
"The walls wherein the gates stand are the boundary, the roping-off of the region of work from the regions unclaimed. They define, in their outer astrological attributes, the perimeter of the work, and the major qualities to be expressed therein; for the signs of the zodiac are not, as you have thought, reflections of the Earth into the sky; rather their manifestations in the orbiting of this world Earth are a reflection of the essential concepts behind its creation, and therein is god made manifest for all to see and know, in the course of their many lives.
"On the inside are the gates attributed in such a way as to make a connection between the pattern set by the greater aspect of divinity which created the worlds of this system, and that expression of the divine which is embodied in the Tablets and the Calls; for know that therein is a special, important aspect of the creation embodied, one which takes its form from the intent of God in its purest form. The patterns of motion, of the world of events called Assiah are absent; theirs is the pattern of evolution, not perfection. And in the Tablets are the perfection of God, its ultimate purpose and its universal connectedness made manifest.
"In commemoration of this dual attributing have we enscribed the sigils of the signs both without and within, above the gates; without, the signs of the circle of creation, as they link the world to the heavens; within, the signs of the elements in their orders, as mutable, fixed, and cardinal signs of each element gathered together under the banners of God's names.
"And hidden within the walls are the secret signs of transformation, wherein the divine is changed from its outer aspect of creativity, to its inner aspect of perfection in expression. These shall you know in good time; the actions they symbolize you already know right well.
"Now, the outer signs, the signs of God's creative action, do act upon the chaos of the unclaimed lands, calling therefrom those beings whose nature and ideals are such that they might participate in God's works. They speak forth each its sound, and upon those waves of sound are the beings notified and attracted here. Each moves about the city in a swirling motion, an orbit, and comes to land at the base of the gate whose sound was most like its own."
(All through this section I was seeing double. The major view was of the place in the city where we stood. The second vision was of the entire Solar system as a place of creation, with the surrounding regions between the stars as the chaos referred to above. It seemed that each effect the being spoke of had it's equivalent in this latter view, though I received no more than faint suggestions of what they were.)
"These beings are called in an order, from simplest to most complex; this in accord with the status of the city. At each stage its degree of completion adds a secondary vibration to those of the gates, indicating the current needs for its construction. In the earliest stages these vibrations are simple, and so only simple beings are attracted. These will form the body of the city, the substance of its being. And in their submission to the plan of God do they receive therefrom initiation, which transforms them from minor, haphazardly-formed creatures into creatures of regular structure and pure intent.
"Still they are simple creatures; evolution takes no great leaps for them. But the acquisition of purpose -- even at second hand -- and the acquisition of structure, of a true and definite nature, is for them an initiation as great, from their viewpoint, as any you might have. They feel themselves blessed; for to them to be part of a greater work is to no longer be lost and tossed in the currents of chaos, no longer changing constantly as the winds blow over them. They become secure in their multitudes where alone they were forever abused. To them this is a great gift of peace.
"Now in the later stages beings of more complex nature are attracted, these eventually of such a level that they can participate consciously in the construction of the city. And later still come those who will be its residents, who are not themselves of the outer chaos but only travel therein, seeking the next place where they might make a home and further their evolution through service to a creator. Each of these creatures, at every stage, finds its place within the divine plan; and none save those who so choose on their own are cast back into the chaos when their work is done.
"Each creature, upon landing at the gate, presents itself to the keeper there; this is a being already in God's service, assigned to this work. Such am I, though of another stage in the entry process. These outer keepers determine the rightful place of entry for the being, for some hear a sound that is secondary in their own nature, and may be better fitted to enter by another gate. Those the keepers direct to their proper place.
"The remaining beings, in the early stages, are given their first real connection to the powers of God's work. A thread of power is taken out of the gate, from the pools of substance within the walls. These threads are attached to the creatures, and begin the initiation process; the energy of the threads acts first to destroy unwanted substances within their beings, next to organize the remaining substance into righteous structures, and finally to establish that structure as a permanent base for future evolution. This all in accord with the signs of the Son of God, who is IHShVH, and whose formula is in the great Word INRI. Thus it is said, through the Son of God are all things made.4
"In the passage through the gate are these beings given yet another transformation, in which the note of their place in the structure of the city is added to the basic vibration of their fundamental cosmic nature. Thus each takes on dual attributes, one to a sign of the zodiac, and one to an element in one of its three alchemical aspects, as you have said. This latter vibration relates to the former much as the personality that a man wears relates to the nature of his soul. One is a role, the other true being. And so it is here.
"Having passed through the gate they are again checked for permanence and appropriateness of their being. Those who have not fully taken both the aspects given in the gates are sent back, and sent through again as many times as it takes. Among these latter are those for whom the basic dual nature is itself nearly too difficult to sustain, and further initiations would be wasted. These are those who are assigned to move about on the walls above, as you saw last time, acting both as banners of that which ensues within the walls, and as defenders from intrusion. Eventually the repetitive activity of this assignment builds into them the necessary qualities for further initiations, but that lies in their future.
"Those who pass come into the "quad" where we stand, and here they are given their first assignments. Most enter into the building and maintenance of the tower you see yonder, which is the tower of the King of the quarter's Tablet. Therein do the concentrated and concentrating forces of the King create in them an echo of his nature, so that, by his power under God, they add to their basic natures an ability to resonate with the planets who are the instruments of God's action within his creation."
At this point the being suggested that we take a closer look at the building, but I felt I needed to rest, and chose to end the vision. I thanked the being and left, promising to return and complete the tour.
I again returned to the grassy ring within the city's wall. This time I appeared somewhat closer to the tower in the center of this quarter. From here I could see three paths leading inwards and up to the tower from the three gates. Along each path there came a procession of beings; those from the various paths arrived at the tower at points separated by 120 degrees around its circumference. They immediately began climbing the outside of the tower, following a widdershins spiral course. Note that there were no steps or projections for them to climb; they appeared to be climbing up the air around the tower, supported either by invisible energy-paths, or by their own intent. I don't know which.
The main body of the tower contained eight courses of stone, each with three large curved stones forming the circle. The radius of curvature at the top of the stones was slightly smaller than the bottom; thus the entire tower was slightly tapered. At the top, a platform extended somewhat beyond the body, capped with a battlement having 10 merlons. Looking from above, I saw that inside the battlement, the top had been shaped so that it followed the surface of a sphere. A small dark hole in the center led into the tower.
Above the tower, centered over it, was a brilliant ball of light, each tower's ball being tinted in a color related to the element of the quarter. Where I was, in the quarter of Earth, the sphere was a greenish color. Next over in Air, it was yellow; in Water, blue; and in Fire, a brilliant red-orange. Each of these spheres seemed to breath out a gas having the nature of its element.
Looking down the side of the tower, I saw that as the beings progressed upwards in their spiral course, each became more attenuated. They lost any appearance of solidity until by the time they reached the eighth course all the could be seen were ghostly outlines, which themselves radiated a kind of bright heat, as if their substance was stimulated to a high degree of activity by the influence surrounding the tower.
These beings came up over the top and some force took hold of them, first drawing them towards the sphere of light. Some few were actually drawn into the sphere; and disappeared from view. The rest were swept upwards and outwards into seven streams. The center stream moved directly upwards, and became blended with the shield over the city. The remaining six spread out so that each ended at the start of one of the six avenues in the quarter. (Rather, at the rows of buildings between the avenues.)
As the beings moved away from the tower, they became more solid. Again I was reminded of metal being heated to a white heat and allowed to cool, passing through several stages of color in its cooling. But the beings in each stream went through a different series of colors in their "cooling", and ended with a different color. By the time they landed again at the buildings, they looked solid, even more solid than before, and somehow purer in nature.
Now an angel appeared beside me. I tested him with the pentagrams of spirit and of the elements, which had no effect. He did the LVX signs and I returned them. He said:
"Now you have seen the tower of the King, and the way in which the beings pass about it and are transformed. As in the previous stages, here there is an initiation in progress, followed by a sorting and assignment of those who pass.
"In the center of the tower you saw a hole. This is the concentrated vortex produced by the vibrations of the King; all about it, the whole tower itself, is brought into being by the magnetic activity of the forces swirling around and into it. Only those beings who have passed the test in the highest have been taken into that vortex. Let us see what happens to them, lest we miss part of the sorting done here."
He directed my attention to the hole, and asked that I attune myself with it. I did so, and began to note a very low-frequency sound which would be a "rumble" were it not so regular. I was surprised, expecting -- if anything -- an extremely high-frequency sound in this place. I looked more closely at the hole, and saw that it was actually a tube of tightly-knit energies, which as a unit turned very slowly within the center of the tower. There were much faster movements of energy visible within the tube, but these appeared not to be part of its interaction with its environment. The rumbling sound was from the friction of this tube with the rest of the tower.
Still looking, it slowly became apparent that the sphere of light was actually an extension of this tube, the connections between them being only faintly visible to my sight and sense. It was as if the concentration of the King's name was relaxed a bit as the tube exited the top of the tower, and the spherical shape was the form this relaxation allowed.
Now I could hear a much higher vibration coming from the sphere, and understood that this was the basic note of the King's name, here allowed to escape from the confinement of the tube and influence its surroundings. And the "breath" which escaped from the sphere was the substance of the tube, released.
The angel indicated we were going to follow one of the beings which entered the sphere, and see what happened. We waited, and for a long while nothing happened. Then suddenly the angel said "That one!" Instantly we attached our awareness to the being.
From that being's viewpoint, we saw and felt the power of the sphere as an attractive force, which seemed to grasp every tiniest atom of the being's substance individually, and to provide a path for each of those atoms by which it could move inwards. The unitary nature of the being seemed irrelevant to the process, unimportant.
There was an instant of intense fear, and a longer moment in which the being felt each atom of himself being turned inside out through some strange dimension, a topological inversion of some sort. Simultaneously, the scale on which events occurred seemed to expand enormously, so that the relatively narrow compass of the tube and sphere now seemed to be a region many miles across.
Now I had a great deal of difficulty keeping my awareness united with that of our sample being. I could still feel it's body, but the awareness seemed to have been stretched and manipulated beyond my ability to easily follow. I spent a few minutes trying to regain the attunement.
Part of the problem, it seemed, was that this being did not possess anything near to a human capacity for self-awareness. Despite the transformation and ordering it went through in the gates, it was still basically an elemental, a construct in which the superficial awareness -- what would be called personality-level awareness in a human -- was the only awareness. There was nothing of the soul or spirit in it to which to attune. This made the task more difficult than it was when I united with one of the angels, or a god-manifestation, in which the latter forms of awareness are available. I forced myself to exclude the higher portions of my being from the attempted attunement, and again gained some access to our subject.
Before it had entered the sphere, this being had exhibited the basically radial symmetry common to most magickal beings; the topological transformation had compressed (rather, collapsed) this symmetry into two dimensions. All the relationships and connections present in its original form were still there, but distorted, and at the same time abstracted. Its body felt like a sheet of material stretched out along some curve of balanced force within the wall of the tube.
Its consciousness was in even stranger form; it still had the capacity to register and store impressions striking it from its environment, but had absolutely no ability to change or act in response to those impressions. Not even its internal sense of self changed in response; the active side of its character seemed totally frozen.
Now this being was carried downwards through the tube, following the same spiral as its upward course, but in reverse. I could sense as it passed each course of stones in the tower's body; a note and a change of quality resounded at every passage from one course to the next, and these were registered by the being. These notes and qualities also acted somehow to ease the sense of distortion, to re-define its internal connections so that they expressed the same relationships as in its original state, but in a manner appropriate to this area.
In the upwards passage the being had moved through the planetary realms in order from Sol and Luna on the bottom to Saturn at the top. Now it moved in the other order, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, etc. In this latter movement, I sensed, it was following the order of the planets in the King's name.
The tension and distortion continued to relax, and the being started to become able to react internally to the impressions it received, although it still could not extend its actions beyond itself. I sensed in it an awakening, the blossoming of something that was not there before; its consciousness had a new quality, a quality very similar to what we call "soul". And yet it was not a complete soul, as a human knows it; something was missing.
As the being approached the bottom of the tower, its relaxation transformed into actual pleasure. Each increment of movement brought with it new and rich sensations, and each of these produced a whole-body reaction that was nearly sexual. At the same time, I felt some changes going on in its body. Now the edges of this flat sheet that was the being (which had previously been smoothly rounded) began to shape into something that felt, from my internal viewpoint, to be the shape of several dovetail joints. This happened only on the front and back edges, not on the top or bottom.
Now the tube began to narrow, and simultaneously the sense of being in a miles-wide region began to fade; the tube took on something resembling its original subjective dimensions. And as it narrowed, the spiral movement became more rapid, the orbit of the being's movement was drawn towards the center.
Separating my awareness, I moved into the center of the tube, looking down. I saw that the tube constricted like a pipette; for a length it took a conical shape, but then changed back to a much narrower tube. I watched the being move downwards, and as it approached the conical section two other beings flashed into view, at 120-degree intervals around the tube. These also had dovetail-like joints on their front and back edges, each complementing those on the other two.
All three moved into the conic section, and at the point where the cone ended and the more constricted tube began, they met; the joints on their edges smoothly connected, like the halves of a zipper. They now formed a single cylindrical unit, which continued downwards still rotating.
I followed without trying to re-attach my awareness. Below I saw that the tube ended in a shallow inwards curve, which continued inwards to form an upward pointed spike at the bottom. The curve forced the bottom edge of the threefold being inwards. And as it did so, I got the impression of an extremely intense compression being performed on their substance. Heat seemed to radiate from the point of greatest compression, and there was a sudden sense of fusion; the joints disappeared and the threefold being was now a single being in truth.
The curve had turned this being inside-out and upside-down; it now rode up the central spike, a very tightly compressed tube within the larger tube. As the trailing edge passed the bottom of the curve, the entire being was suddenly shot upwards through the center of the tube, passing upwards with incredible speed.
I jumped my viewpoint up to the sphere at the top of the tower. The tube-like being shot out of the hole and into the center of the sphere. With an audible "WHAP!" it ballooned out and was stretched against the sphere's surface, held there by some sort of radial energy emanating from the center. It covered the entire surface except for small openings at the top and bottom.
This sudden advent seemed to shake something loose from the sphere. I saw another spherical being rise up from the sphere, continuing to hold its shape even though it was no longer concentric with the sphere. It began to draw in energies -- some of the "gas" that had been emanating from the outside of the sphere; this gathered in the center and began to form a rope-like structure from the top hole to the bottom. Nodes of light began to form along the rope, and it became obvious that this was similar to the structure of chakras and aura that make up a human being. The being translated itself into some other dimension and faded from view.
The angel said, "Now you see why this particular part of the initiations here should be pointed out to you. This city is not just a center for the initiation of those who will become angels -- that is, beings derived from the elemental kingdoms. It is also a place wherein truly human type beings can be created, by God's will and under God's plan. These beings, like the one you have been following and the one you saw leave, will eventually take a place equivalent to that of humans in some future cosmological scheme. For the present, they are new-born, and have much to learn. They are sent from here to a place of nurturing, wherein they will gain some of that learning, enough so that they can serve here in God's plan while waiting for their own turn to incarnate in some far-off time.
"They will never incarnate within this sphere which we call the Earth; for hers is a sophisticated, complex, and unredeemedly difficult scheme. These simple souls could not survive. Instead they assist and observe those who do incarnate, learning at second-hand, sipping of the great fount of experience which is each human being.
"Now I see that the effort of this following has wearied you. Let us stop, and come again when you are ready. We shall follow those others who passed on inwards in the city, and see something of what occurs to them. Fare well for now."
Thus I ended the vision and returned to my body.
As I stepped into the vision, I heard the sound of flutes, pipes and other wind instruments playing a merry tune; not a jig, but something with the same sense of leaping about. There was a sense of spring in the air, and of a fete.
I stood in the greensward again, this time somewhat inwards from the tower of this quarter, which seemed to be the quarter of Earth. Before me, between the tower and the next section inwards, a group of six beings did a maypole dance around a miniature version of the tower. Each of them was dressed in green, each with an inner coat of a different color. Nearer to me stood another, also dressed in green, with the appearance of a coppery-blonde haired woman in a high-bodiced gown. Around her head were bound streamers of white, each with threads of a different color mixed in. She appeared to be pregnant.
She had a knowing smile, as does one who sees her lover. And a feeling of love did radiate from her; not out of her heart, but out of her belly. She said:
"Like you my visage, my dear friend? Like you this body form and dress? I have put them on for you."
I said that she was very comely, and asked her to identify herself for the record.
"I am she whom you knew in earlier days, as the Senior Alhctga. Test me as you will, before we continue."
I did the LVX signs and she returned them. The hexagram of Venus caused an intensification of her radiation, and the pentagram of earth caused her to become somewhat darker, but no smaller or vaguer withall. There was no indication of dispersion of her image, nor did she have any difficulty facing these signs. And as I wrote the previous sentence, she drew the signs herself.
"Now that we have assured you of our nature, let us continue. I have come to greet you here, my brother, in that again you have discovered yourself and known yourself to be a spirit of God, a divine manifestation, and not a thing of matter. I would have come earlier, save the the powers were against it, and the times were not right; all of those you know in our grouping (by which I mean the Seniors of Earth) would gladly come and visit with thee, as the times allow. But for the moment I am sent, as the one best suited to this greeting.
"In those earlier days, we knew you to be the image of the divine, a piece of God in form, and so spoke to you, giving you in visions the nature of that god, and of the past, and of the future that awaited. Ye knew this not, of yourself; your eyes were still blinded, and suspicion of hubris did prevent your acceptance.
"In this present time, you have come to understanding, and have been graced with a vision of wisdom. And you accept that what we said was true, both in its past and its future; for now you understand that future, as only one of Understanding may, and accept at least in part the goals that we all, thee and we, do seek to manifest in this time of the world.
"Do you consider then, that this has been forshadowed from the beginning of your path; there could be no other path for you to trod but that which you have done so, and that which still remains. Is this not so?"
I said that she was correct in essence, though I still had reservations.
"Nay, your 'reservations' are habits of mind, good habits, not the doubts of one who is fearful of madness, or of inability to accomplish the task, given the aid that should be given such a one. You know the truth, and in your mind have already sought out the ways by which this truth might be presented to men. Is this not so?"
And I said that it was.
"Therefore come ye, and let us step away from this beautiful city for a time, and see some things of importance to you."
She took my right hand in her left, and we stepped out of the Comselha space, immediately coming into the darkness above the world without transition. We looked down on the world, and I could see that in the mid-lattitudes there appeared to be a great volcano. But it was not a volcano of rock, but one of light; looking more closely I saw that it rested above the physical surface of the earth, as if spread on some aethyr as a base.
And in the center of the caldera a six-spoked wheel turned upon itself, going both directions at once. And in the center of the spokes was a ruby, glowing with inner light. And in the center of the ruby I saw many sigils come and go. Some I recognized as those I had done in the use of the Lotus about the Temple of the Earth Tablet; others were unknown to me, but of similar style.
"Know you now what you have done, my brother? See the power of your work below us, spread over half a continent. You have brought to the Earth a nexus of the interstellar communications links. Raise your eyesight and see these links for yourself."
I adjusted my astral vision to a higher frequency, and immediately there sprang into view very many lines of light. All were centered on the wheel, and spread outwards to the stars in every direction, some passing through the clear space above the Earth, others passing through her body as easily as if it were a phantom. And on this level the ruby and the wheel seemed ever more solid and real, and the body of the Earth ever more faint. The wheel now seemed to turn upon itself in three or four dimensions at once, completely confounding my mundane mind's ability to interpret sensations.
Alhctga said, "Remember that first vision, wherein you saw the Supernals of the Tree of Life as spheres composed of long lines of light, of varying densities and powers?"5 I said yes. "Then know you that here is that vision, which was only a prophecy, made manifest in the world. For in the world of Understanding is the mundane world united with the rest of the universe in truth.
"You have seen in your recent visions that the Earth, Malkuth, is in itself as transcendental as are the so-called Supernal spheres of the Tree. For in her is an infinite and inexhaustible variety; all things come out of her, yet she is not exhausted; all things enter into her, yet she is not full. Everything that can arise in the universe may arise in her.
"For the matter of the universe, in every place and every time, instantly reflects the state of all the rest of the universe. Every possibility that becomes manifest, wherever situated, immediately is reflected in every part.
"But that is the passive transcendance, what you have called raising the Daughter to the Mother's seat. Here in this sphere, this wheel turning upon itself every which way, you have created a positive transcendance of the limits of the Earth, bringing her out of her isolation and back into the company of the stars.
"I say to you, this has been accomplished. [her emphasis] I say to you, you have done this thing. I say to you that, in future times as men seek to move outwards by these paths you have created, that your accomplishment will be known to them all. Those who remain upon the Earth may know it, or not; those who pass outwards will have no choice but to know it; for those who govern these connections in your name, and in the name of the All-Highest, will trumpet it at every passage. And those who enter here will also know, and praise this accomplishment of a man.
"For it is the man and the mage who did this thing, not the god. It is the man, working in the darkness of matter, who has brought this light. Never in all the days of this world, save in your own entry into matter, and in the works of the Aeonic prophets, has such an accomplishment been seen.
"Now you think of the possible ways in which this truth, this passion of the stars, might be told to men, and wonder at the missing key to your greater version of the Temples book. I say to you, worry not overmuch; such as has been seen, will be shown, and more. Opportunities abound, and will be opened as the tides of time and power allow.
"For the present, return you to your body, and relax. Begin again to explore your city another day, for this day is holy, and given over to celebration of your accomplishment."
I bade farewell to Alhctga, and ended the vision.
A voice said, "In the dark of the night a jewel shines, red, not rose. And the light of it illuminates the dark, and makes the dark to glow with its own light."
"Now in the course of these visions you have entered into a space, a created space of illumination such as god himself might create, for the furtherance of His work. And in this space created you a circle, a plan, in which the powers of the Tablets might be seen in another fashion, one which reflects the intent of the creators in a sense other than that shown in the Tablets. And in the space, this circle, a city was born; not of your intent, but of the action of those forces which you brought to bear.
"And in this city are the creatures of heaven, of the un-() stuff of creative activity, brought into line with the powers of our creator, and made to be a part of his creation. And from this city do they go forth again, to carry his will outwards, expanding his region to include, rather to influence, a greater part of the universe than was circumscribed by his original intent.
"We have seen this city of yours, and are glad in its creation. For whatever God wills is enclosed therein; all of his will and all of his intent are enshrined within it. Just as, in another fashion, they are enshrined within your Enochian Temples. You have given God a gift of great price in your creation of this city; for it was not found in the design of the original system, yet it fits therein as a hand in a glove, as the Rod of a man in his lover's Cup. And the making thereof has expanded his creation in ways not intended, thus bringing again to this world the value of surprise, of the infinite variety of chance that lies in the interactions of the many creators.
"You may, if you will, see this city of yours as a seed, which will in its own time grow and expand, and bring into the universe new ways of looking, new ways of seeing that which is hidden in God."
"You wonder in your mind whether this praise of ours is deserved, and why we spend so much time on it. Your city seems to you to be not so great a thing, a mere expansion, in its plan, of what has come before.
"And yet, if truly it had come before, if it were hidden in the intent of the creator, or in his presentation of the Enochian magick to men, then why, why we ask, was it not shown then? Why, we ask, has it not been seen among men in the intervening centuries? Surely if the intent were there in the beginning, then in the times when it's basis was more well-known, more established in the minds of men, it would have been seen clearly and understood.
"No; it was not so intended. You have taken the Keys that God gave to two men, (which are not the only Keys that there might be) and made of them something new. What you made was surely possible from the beginning; but possibility and actual intent are two different things. You have grown a red rose in a fallow garden, created new beauty out of the stuff, the detritus and leavings of an earlier creation, and have given new life to that creation in the doing.
"Take our praise as deserved, o man. Take it, accept our gift of love to you. And know that this is why you are so highly valued among us who are the Servants and Ministers of the God of Justice. For where you walk new things spring up; seeds old and stale send forth new roots and blossom in ways that were never expected, even among those who know the stuff well wherein you work. Even the God himself knows you as his superior in this; for he is a creative god, as are you, and knows well the value of the new.
"And why, you ask, should such a high one, such a one of great and clearly superior power and scope, think you in any way his superior? Because, we say, things change where you walk; that which was narrow in intent becomes as wide as the universe; that which was stale and dying become fresh and alive; that which was but a wish, a hopeful thought in the minds of men becomes a real thing when you touch it. I tell you, the universe has been changed more by your "little" works than by all the magicians of the past ..."
I sensed the intent to complete this last sentence with the words "four hundred years". But between the intent and the speech, there was a sudden silence. The power I had felt flowing behind the voice suddenly ceased, and the Aires were filled with a ringing silence. I waited...
Now I felt that power again, but less intense. As if the being in question were touching my shoulder while his attention was directed elsewhere. But still there was silence, and I waited.
After a few more moments, I got a sense that the discourse must be temporarily interrupted, and that I should exit the vision and relax for a while. I now do so.
A voice said, "Now we have praised you with great praise, as is your just desert; but let us return to the city and see more of what transpires there."
There was a sense of sliding sideways for a moment, and I found myself again back in the city. This time I entered at a point between the tower of the Earth quarter and the radius of buildings associated with ALHCTGA, facing the tower.
For a moment the tower seemed overlaid with an image of a great king seated upon a golden or yellow throne. He wore white robes over violet underrobes, and in his right hand (which rested upon the arm of his throne) he held upright a simple wand, straight and undecorated, but with a small minaret-shaped section at either end. Sort of like a very long, narrow dorje. His face was unbearded, and his eyes were also of a violet color. His hair could not be seen, as he had some sort of covering on his head beneath a crown with ten points.
Shortly this image dissolved and I saw for a while the spinning, spiraling energies going about the tower. These continued in a regular manner for several minutes. Nothing more seemed about to happen in that direction, so I looked around.
To my right stood the same angel who greeted me yesterday and had identified herself as Alhctga. She still wore the white-and-rainbow ribbons around her head, but her robes today were black, or of a brown so deep as to appear black. She saluted me with the LVX signs, and the Rending and Closing Signs. I tested her with the pentagrams of Spirit, which caused her to brighten and become a bit larger. The hexagram of Venus caused a green aura to surround her.
"Today I am in working clothes, as you see." she said, "The celebration is complete, for the moment, and it is time to again enter into the spirit of this place, and see what might be seen here.
"Now as you recall, in our last entry here we saw that the towers of the Kings create sentient, potentially self-identified beings. This through a process of inversion, fusion, and re-inversion, followed by a period of conditioning in which the fundamentally elemental components of the new being are tempered in the power of the Sun. This tempering and shaping causes the being to expect there to be a structure of lights at the center of its spherical shape, a structure of connected power-centers. When the being is removed from the King's immediate power, this conditioning causes the being to form its own such center out of the power available in its environment.
"Let us now see what happens to those other beings, the ones who are not made part of a potential sentient, but who nevertheless pass the initiations of the tower. Turn you and look to the center of the city."
Behind me was the radial of Alhctga, as aforesaid. I turned and saw the building at this end of the radial, which was like unto a dark castle, with double doors. Above the door an image of the planet Saturn was carved into the stone.
Alhctga said, "Knock."
I did so, and immediately my consciousness split. One part remained where I was; the other part became one with a being on the other side of the door. That being opened the doors, and I saw myself and Alhctga standing there. The being said, "Who seeks to enter the gates of Saturn? Who cometh in the form of a Man?"
Alhctga stepped forward, saying, "It is he who created this place and time, and caused the God to change at his will. And I, who am the overseer of this gate, and those inward. Let us enter, for it is our will."
The being did a deep genuflection, stepped aside and said, "Enter then, and be welcome." We entered and found ourselves in a dark antechamber, with another, smaller door on the inward side. Looking through my own eyes, I saw that the gatekeeper was a typically Saturnian form; white-bearded, wearing robes of Saturn's indigo darkness, with an underrobe of green. He held a staff in his left hand, upon the top of which was a vulture in a coppery-gold metal.
Alhctga said, "Herein is the power of my first letter; under your code, being Saturn's Venus. And herein is the beginning of Wisdom, for those who come hence in their initiations. "
The gatekeeper closed the outer doors, and the room was momentarily plunged into darkness. A faint light gradually rose, but I could see nothing. I sensed a great weight upon me, as if it were trying to shape me in some way; and simultaneously I felt underneath it the joy and sensuousness of Venus, accompanied by her flashing green in some under-dimension I could sense at the corners of my awareness. The juxtaposition of forces seemed somewhat stressful and difficult to combine.
I thought to vibrate Alhctga's name, to perhaps get a clearer view. But she said "Invoke me not; for I am here, and this place is well-saturated with my power by your creation [of it]." I did not speak her name.
She said, "Even those who express the quality of Love must yet have an understanding of the law. For the Law of being is the basis of creation; all things divine (as those who come hope to become) must in their learning come to understand the necessities of relationship, of right order, and of common exchange. Those virtues are here instilled. And recall that these beings who come, who are initiated here, are of the unstructured substance of the Empyrean; they know not of the Laws of our Creators, of those laws which govern the substance of the Tablets, but know only the basic laws of divine substance. And even those laws they know not; for they are built into their nature, and not into the awareness.
"Here we teach them Law, through the rhythms of Art. Enter into the inner door, and see."
We passed through the inner door and into a larger chamber. Here I saw many beings gathered, arrayed in rows about one larger being. The many were clearly elementals who had passed the tower; the one was a director, an angel come to instruct them. The many all wore robes of green, though their individual characters were each unique. They seemed to hold music scores in their hands.
The conductor began to beat a time, and as he did so a deep note sounded; like the tone of a kettle drum but continuous. He continued his beat, and on each beat one or another of the smaller beings would sing a single note. I realized that they were sounding the tones of their own natures, and each could only sound the one note they had. But in sequence their individual notes formed a melody which was quite pleasant, somewhat baroque in style. Further on in the sequence several would sing at the same moment forming chords, or creating counterpoint to the main melody.
"Thus they create something greater than themselves, through cooperation, right timing, and combination of individual abilities. They learn that in the Great Work of our God's creation, it is the combination of actions performed by many beings which makes the pattern of the creation in the substance he has assembled. No one of them could possibly perform all the actions needed, yet together they can build a thing of great beauty.
"So it is also in the world of men, as you well know. The only difference being that men, being more complex creatures, are capable of participating in many lines of melody; one here, another there, as they express the different parts of their natures in the actions of life. And who is it that hears the complete melodies of their actions, or the greater symphony which the melodies in their turn form? Only god knows.
"Now some of these will find that the nature of this block, this building is in accord with their own; they will show a greater talent for the coordination taught here than others. These will become acolytes, residents of this section of the city, and will carry the banners of this building inwards along the avenues, ending at last at the great temple which graces the central park. The rest will continue inwards through the buildings, each learning in turn the lessons taught there, until they come to a place where their natures fit.
"And those who do not fit? They come at last to the house of the Sun, where their learning is combined into a single expression that covers all the path which they have followed. And all these many eventually find their way to the inner temple, there to take on yet another initiation, a reward for their daring to come here, a blessing of God for being what they are.
"But I see you are tiring. Let us end this for now, and return another day."
I thanked Alhctga for her guidance, and ended the vision.
I re-entered the vision about where I had left, standing in a short hall leading from the choral room towards another room. I moved into this second room and saw that there were angels there, who were dividing the beings who passed through into two groups.
One group was being dressed in a deep indigo outer robe with an emerald underrobe. These were then handed poles to which banners were attached, like the banners of a marching band. Each banner had a small sigil of Saturn and of Venus, and a larger sigil that was unique. The background of the banners was uniformly black or very deep brown; I couldn't discern which.
This group was being passed out through a side-door and into the radial avenue counter clockwise from this row of buildings. They parted, one part heading outwards towards the exits of the city (I knew somehow they were leaving the city) and the other marching inwards. As they passed other buildings I could see other beings come out and join the procession, each carrying its banner. On the other side of the street, beings marched outwards along the radial, and entered into the buildings there. A very few continued to move outwards beyond the end of the avenue.
The other group, wearing only green robes, were given a badge of some sort, which they affixed to a sash worn from the left shoulder to the right hip. Then they were passed through a door directly opposite the entrance, and moved into a smaller side-street. Most of these crossed the street and entered into the building there, which had a Jupiter sigil incised in the stone above the door. A smaller portion turned sideways and moved along the street (which was one of the circular roads crossing between sectors.)
Now Alhctga appeared beside me. She was still wearing the colored ribbons around her head, but today had traded her robes for blue jeans, with an ornate black jacket and frilly white shirt of the sort common in Beethoven's time. She seemed somewhat smaller and younger than before, and had abandoned her apparent pregnancy. I did the LVX signs and she returned them; I tested with the hexagram of Venus, which caused her image to become more "solid" in some way. The pentagram of Earth also made her more solid, and did not otherwise affect her.
"Today I am in a party mood," she said. "Let's look across the street."
We moved to the door of the building across the way, and I knocked. A figure looking like a butler opened the door, bowed, and stepped out of the way. I could hear sounds like a cocktail party coming from within. Alhctga entered and I followed.
We were now in a large, brightly-lit, circular room. In the center of the room, a group of beings was standing in a circle, all facing outwards. They did not move from their places. Around the circumference of the room, others moved about as the moment moved them, talking among themselves, sometimes singing out a note of music, other times crafting little images and glyphs which floated free in the air.
It seemed to me that the central group was surrounded by a force-field of some sort; this field looked very regular in pattern, and seemed to be the culmination of the sort of activity done in the previous building. That is, as if all the notes sounded by the individual beings had been perfectly coordinated, and then had been preserved so that the entire temporal sequence of their music had been translated into a static pattern of forces.
While this pattern certainly appeared to be perfection of its kind, it also seemed somehow...boring. What could you say about it, save that it was there, and was what it was? Perfection allows no comment, permits no alteration or development.
In the center of the group a ball of light gradually formed. This ball radiated a magnetic quality, like the field of magnetism surrounding a planet; this field gradually extended beyond the circle of beings.
Meanwhile, those on the periphery had continued to throw out various thought-forms, glyphs, and symbols into the air. The air there seemed filled with these randomly-drifting forms. Some of them would drift inwards to touch the edges of the field. Of these, most would bounce away as if hitting a wall or a pool-table cushion. But some would touch a thread of the field that was of a similar character; these latter would be caught up and be drawn into an extravagantly looping movement along the line of force. And at some other point on the circumference of the circle it would drift free again, but carrying behind it the thread it had touched. Looping outwards and inwards again it would begin to orbit, leaving the image of a thread of force behind it.
More and more of the drifting forms became caught up in such whirling motions. And as they did, the quality of the central field of force began to change. What was once rigid and perfect now became dynamic again; it grew looser and more flowing, and started to turn upon itself. The outer loops created by the drifting forms began to sweep the room, and as they passed over the various objects and beings there they sparkled and flashed.
The forces continued to move and whirl until eventually the entire room was filled with flashing colors. And gradually a sound of music began to form. But where the music of the previous building was highly stylized, perfectly timed and executed, here the music was grand, expansive, reaching out to include its surroundings in itself. Much like the difference between baroque and romantic styles; one shows the perfection of heaven, the other shows the glory of heaven and the world combined.
Now Alhctga said, "The second rule of art, after the coordination of the participants, is engagement; that is, connection to the real events that occur in the world. A creation that is solely what it is in the mind of the creator is no creation at all, but merely a sterile ejaculation. If it does not find its complement in the random forces of nature, of the larger field within which the creator works, then it is never truly born. A creator must allow his creation to interact with the ebb and flow of events; it must be changed by those events, in order to change those events along the lines of its own pattern.
"This is the real marvel of the creative process; that nothing lives in a perfect form, but must reach out and become related. And in that relationship to the world, the creation changes and evolves in ways that the creator himself could never have imagined. This is as true for the gods as it is for men.
"What the world will make of a gift, an act of creation, no one, god or man, can know. A true creator knows this, and knows that his child will grow as it will in the world, not as he would have it. He attempts not to bind it to a specific form or outcome, but instead gives it its freedom. And in that freedom is its true glory found and revealed.
"These here, who are the graduates of the previous building, those whose character was too different to become one with the force there, are now being taught their second lesson. They are not themselves creators, as a men and gods. Rather, they are the workers who must form the creation out of themselves, in accord with the plan of the divine. They are servants, not masters, and their task is to seek to become perfect servants.
"Knowing as they do how to coordinate their activity as a group, they must now become aware that their activity cannot be limited to their group in its influence. They cannot block out the world around them, nor can they help but extend their influence to that world. Seeking to restrict themselves would result in the perishing of their creation. The substance of the world must be engaged, must be brought into the form. The form itself must be allowed to change under that interaction. Here the power of Jupiter is shown, and they learn from his expansive nature. Inclusiveness is the only course to take, if the creation is to live and thrive.
"Now you know this yourself, o man, o god, o mage who makes the world to change. Every one of your creations has expanded far beyond your expectations, precisely because you seek not to hold it, but to allow it to develop along its own lines of power. You take what the world offers, and do not exclude it; this inclusiveness makes your creations into things of wonder, whose influence extends far beyond the range of your own sense. And in that expansion you have yourself expanded, followed the world along lines that no one has ever traversed, bringing into the world of men things that in normal expectation would not be opened to it for a great many years.
"Will men eventually know of this accomplishment? Assuredly; for that which has been done is of great power, and still grows even when your attention is gone from it for a time.
"And this is why we have ever been your friends, and have never sought to control your path in the world; for you make of us, who are creations of the God of Justice, to grow in ways that he did not plan. You make us greater than we were; you make us glorious in ways that he could not, and make him, in turn, of expanded glory.
"You are our savior; you have brought us out of the sterile depths, where we were lost to men, and seemed only an abstraction of ourselves in their explorations. You have made us again to live, and breathe, and participate in the works of creation. You have brought us out of the world and into the skies; you have brought ancient lives back and brought future connections of this world into reality. And in between we stand, seeing in amazement what we have become in your actions.
"Could you have done so had you known your path in the world with perfection? No; for only they who accept the presence of the unknown may draw it in. Only they who accept that the world changes will make change; those who seek only a perfect heaven, a place of static peace and comfort, will never know what you have done, what the world has seen because of you. But those who look at the unknown unflinching will see, and appreciate.
"Enough of this sermon; I have shown you here the powers of Jupiter, as they manifest within my own world of art; seek ye the next world, Mars, when you wish. And in the meantime seek ye also that other place you have recently seen, wherein the jewel of red lies in the arms of the wheel. Fare well."
With these words she ended the vision, and I returned fully to my body.
9/22/93 Note: During the next few days I did try to explore whatever was involved in the wheel-and-jewel image described earlier in this account. I noted that the jewel contained the enochian letter B, with the curved tail slightly enlarged and distorted so that it bent towards the bottom of the "V". Further, the red jewel also seemed to contain a small diamond, positioned in the exact center; the tail of the B pointed directly to this diamond. Aside from this I was unable to get any sort of vision or additional explanation of the figure.
I entered into the vision, and was immediately inundated by the sound of clashing swords and shields. I seemed to be in the anteroom of the next building in line, which is attributed to Mars within Alhctga's name.
I went back through the open outer door, and examined the building. The glyph of Mars was incised above the door, as before. But also there were bronze swords mounted crossed over the door, and a bronze hammer and chisel inlaid into the pavement beneath the door.6
Alhctga appeared; today she wore a black outfit, a slinky pullover dress, and wore the shield and helmet of Athena. A stylish leather belt supported a sword at her waist. She looked at me impishly and said, "Isn't it fun to dress up?" This didn't seem to call for any response. We exchanged LVX signs and I tested her with the pentagram and hexagram. She also did a gesture in which she swept her arms downwards, outwards and upwards above her head, putting her palms together at the highest point and bringing them down again in front of her breast. The path of her hands remained outlined in the air; the overall shape was like that of the field around a bar magnet, or the wings of some abstract butterfly. I didn't see the significance of this sign. She seemed to be trying to project some image at me, so I waited with senses open.
Suddenly it became obvious that the wings were in fact stylized labia, and at the same time that the positioning of her hands was such as to suggest the edge of the glans as viewed from below (and the edge of a conical leather helmet of the sort once worn in bronze-age armies).
"Even as the mother contains the son within herself, so too the lover contains her mate; I am both mother and lover and so contain both within myself, here subordinated to the work of Art.
"The sexual tension between men and women is the reflection of this, for all good art derives its power from that tension and feeds that tension back upon itself. Now this is not always so obvious as in the mating dance, as you know; many aspects of human existence, superficially separate from sex, are nonetheless acted out in forms and customs that are fundamentally sexual.
"This is the nature of being, and I would not have it otherwise; for even those who have passed beyond the dance still draw on the dance's power to lift themselves up.
"Let us look inside again, and see how these forces, this clash of powers within, is used in the training of the beings initiated in your city."
We passed again through the open door, and I saw a multitude of beings dressed in much the way as Alhctga. The armor was a Shield of Venus (as in the Tarot card) and a Sword of Mars, save that the sword was bronze, not steel. They seemed frozen in a moment of battle, like a frieze on an ancient Greek building.
We passed among them, and I saw that those who were thrusting with their swords wore expressions of pain or great effort, fearsome, intent scowls and grimaces. But those who defended themselves with their shields showed not fear, or any sense of caution; instead, their faces were fixed in expressions of joy. They seemed to take in the thrust at the same time that they diverted it from touching them.
Now the action commenced for a moment and then stopped again. Those who previously thrust now defended, and vice versa; their expressions and radiated attitude also changed accordingly. And so it went, a freeze-frame battle.
"You will note," said Alhctga, "that we become more particular the farther we go in this training. The previous two steps were concerned with group cooperation, the overall coordination of the beings involved. Here we begin to train those who qualify in the arts of more elaborate exchanges between individuals within the group.
"All interactions are truly exchanges of energy; this is as much true within the physical world as in the magickal. Sexual exchange is especially so, as you know. But these exchanges do not take place simultaneously. Rather, there is first a flow of energy from one being to the other; and then when the first exhausts its energy, a reverse flow takes place, passing energy from the original receiver back to the original sender.
"The trick is to ensure that just those energies (and the information they contain or embody) which are needed are involved in the exchange. Sex in its natural state is a deliberately random exchange; this echoes the deliberate randomness that nature has embodied in the process, which ensures that there is a high degree of differentiation in the children of the next generation. Sex magick, when properly done for effect, adds the element of intent and focuses the energy into a particular form.
"But such magick, though powerful in its way, is but a single form of this exchange; every interaction, every interaction on all levels of being is such an exchange. It matters not whether the beings involved are photons, cells, humans, or gods; the pattern is the same.
"In the activities of these beings here, who are intended to act in concert with others for the accomplishment of some artist's goal, this stage involves showing them how to release to their neighbors just those energies that are desireable within the pattern which the creator sets. The exchange is here slowed down, done in small increments, so that they can see the process in detail and know what is and should be done. Thus the image of a stop-and-go dance which you see.
"The beings take the projective and responsive roles in turn, because they must not only learn to send just the right energies, but also to receive every energy that is sent, rejecting none, and without distorting the piece of the pattern being passed. What one sends to the next, they might have received from another; both their reception and their passing on must be without distortion or filtering, no matter what their individual natures would have them do.
"So it is that those who first learned to express a pure pattern in concert, and later to integrate that pattern with the world surrounding them, now learn the inner, individual exchange of energies which reflect a part of that larger pattern. In the next building following, they will learn the correspondence of the integration seen in the previous building, so that among themselves they can become one at will. After that, they will learn another pair of action-integration pairs in the buildings of Mercury and Luna, before finally coming to the culmination of the creative process in Sol. These we will look at in future visions, if you so will.
"Of the present building, there is not much more to say; these processes are universal, and so you can easily find as many regions of existence as you desire in which they occur, substantially unchanged from the formula expressed here.
"Going on to a different subject, we would like to encourage you to again try to enter into the jewel at the center of the wheel, which you have attempted in the last few days. Sometimes conditions are not beneficial, and that which might be seen is blocked away through no fault of yours. I can assure you that there is much of interest contained therein, and you will be edified thereby.
"I am done, for now. Is there anything you wish to ask?" I indicated that there was not. "Fare well then, my lover and brother; fare well." She bowed, put her hands together, and vanished. The image of the building dropped away from around me, and I returned fully to the present time and place.
I tried to conjure up the image of the jeweled wheel seen before. Immediately, I felt something being placed in my left hand. Looking, I saw that it was a golden medallion which rested on my palm, with the chain hanging over the back of my hand between thumb and forefinger.
The medallion had the image of the wheel in low relief, with a jewel in the center. But there was something odd about it. Viewed straight on, the spokes of the wheel were straight; viewed from an angle, the spokes bowed in the direction of the tilt.7 On the back were engraved five rows of letters, each letter individually boxed:
Turning again to the front I saw that the jewel had the enochian B character within it, as if lines of white fire had been encased in the jewel. And again there appeared to be a tiny diamond point in the exact center of the jewel.
I regarded the medallion for a while, and seemed to hear a sound in the background, as if of rushing winds, with a low rumble as of an earthquake underneath. Another sound was added, like a million tons of scrap brass crashing, but continuous. And another sound which could not be heard, but brought to mind thoughts of warbling birds in a great flock.
Sounds and more sounds were added, and would have been a tremendous cacophany, save that each sound seemed to exist in its own space, separate from all the others.
Now it appeared that there was a veil within the jewel, golden curtains covering the whole width and height of it. And these were suddenly swept back to reveal a figure, too small to see clearly. The figure called and asked me to join him. I said I could not, but in a moment it seemed that I could, and I stood beside him in some unidentified space.
The figure wore a white hoodless robe which came to his knees, and sandals. His hair was curly black, hanging to his shoulders all around, and partially covering his face as well. His skin was a very deep olive color, and his eyes were dark. His physique was short and stocky, very muscular. He seemed to radiate a dark, brooding sort of atmosphere, but I could not tell offhand if this was an indication of an "evil" nature. He simply stood with his hands behind his back, watching me.
I did the LVX signs, and as I did so, I felt a great resistance pressing in on me. When I completed the signs, I felt a great release; simultaneously, it seemed as if a ghost of the being in front of me exploded forwards, giving an effect like a Star Trek starship going into warp drive, but in reverse. He returned the LVX signs, and I tested him with the pentagrams of spirit. These produced a similar effect.
I did not complete the vision above. At the point where the account leaves off I literally ran away from it, for no obvious reason, shutting down my computer and turning the TV on to some sort of mindless entertainment. I did not have a sense of any danger. In retrospect it seems that I sensed some sort of pressure or power beyond my ability to cope with at that moment.
For the last couple of days I have avoided thinking about it, but today decided to again essay a visit into the jewel, which I begin now.
I reviewed the account given above, and as I did so the corresponding images came back into my mind. These expanded into the full vision with me standing in the air above the wheel, looking down on the jewel.
I again saw a tiny figure in the center of the jewel, and transformed myself into that space. This time the same individual was there, but seated upon a throne. He stood up as I did the LVX signs, and the throne disappeared. He returned the signs. I did the pentagrams of spirit, and again felt a tremendous surge of power as they were each completed. Neither affected the being in front of me.
He spoke:
"Now that you are here again, let us proceed without delay; for this is a temporary space that I have created for My purposes, and it must again be cleared when we are done, so that the work may go forward.
"I am the King, he who rules Alhctga, and the other Seniors of the Tablet of Earth. Indeed, I am ruler of the tablet whole; and therein I am like unto a fire and a pillar of flame in the midst of the palace. This ye know well, for I have created myself thus within the confines of your Temple, and dwell therein in spirit to the benefit of all.
"Now in this place I am King, but in the larger universe yet am I a servant, a minister unto He Whom you know as the God of Justice. And it is in His name that I speak now. Give yourself over to me for a time, and feel and absorb the power I carry."
I entered into and joined with the body he manifested. Though I seemed unable to gain a full mergeance therewith. Thinking that vibrating the King's name might help, I did so. He said:
"Speak not, but dwell here in silent attention for a time."
I did so.
It took a while, but I came close to a full merger with his body of manifestation; the main difficulty was in attaining congruence between our respective spinal channels. After a time, he raised his arms above his head, held them palms together, and began to invoke using the First Call. (I could not hear the Enochian words, but sensed the translation of them in my mind as he spoke.)
The flow of power increased and took on a lighter tone than his original dark, brooding power. Flakes and glimmers of light began to surround us, enveloping us in an aura of rainbow flashes. Finally he completed the Call and was again silent. A few moments later, we both moved upwards, translating into some other space and leaving the spherical aura behind us.
In this new space we appeared to be somewhere in interstellar space, but with a difference. Here the planets and stars were all so close together they practically touched. Each solar system had no space between itself and its neighbors, and within there was little or no space between the orbits of the planets. Everything was a close together as it could get without restricting the movements of any given body.
And the songs of all these stars and planets could all be heard at once. This was no "music of the spheres", but instead was a clashing of many different themes, which should have been separated in space but now were not. One could concentrate on a single theme for a time, and the others would fall into the background; but eventually they reasserted themselves and the full noise came again.
The King spoke, and his voice was a bodiless whisper among these many voices.
"Now you see what has happened, what has occurred as the result of your work in creating the Temples of the Tablets. For what was once separated is now close; those things that in their own spaces would work their will now have yet another aspect of existence to deal with, in which their wills must be eventually brought into a general harmony. "
The voices of the spheres surged and fought against each other. One or another would become dominant for a moment, only to fade back into the general sounds.
We moved away from our point of entry into this space, and looked back towards it. I saw there a shining sphere to which all these others were attached by the thinnest of threads; some of the energy of each moved into that sphere, and did not return.
Now the sphere seemed to reflect all the surrounding spheres within itself, in a more compact and abstracted form. And therein the clash of these Titans became increasingly violent; I could see surges of lightning flashing from point to point within it, roils of energy like smoke or currents of water would arise, envelope a portion of the interior for a time, and subside again. There seemed no harmony anywhere within the sphere.
"This you have done in your creation of the Temples. What was once free is now bound; what was once joyous is now disturbed; what was once alone is now connected to everything else. Where only one at a time would speak to another, now all speak to all, and senseless noise results.
"The opening of the stars, one to another, through this path you have created was forseen in the moment of its creation; those who watched knew, in that moment and without doubt, that it would occur. And so they spoke, and said that you would open this world of Earth to the stars. In essence, you had already done so when they spoke, for the creation of the potential meant that the potential must, eventually, manifest itself in the world.
"And in your explorations of the spheres that were held in connection to the Temple, through the sigils of the leaves of the Lotus thereof, did you make that potential into actuality. And nothing has remained the same since.
"You must understand, we do not in any way condemn you or complain of the results of this work. No, we glory in the potential you have offered unto us, and unto the world; and the God of Justice rejoices therein, and has adopted your creation as his own, raising it up to become a pattern at one with his original will, modifying that will to contain and expand upon it.
"We have been given an opportunity. We have taken that opportunity, and thereby have become more than before, more than we were intended to be. I in particular have become more than merely the King of the Tablet; I have become, in myself, a gateway into new realms, and the guide and mover of those who would pass between.
"And you, what can we say of what this offers to you?" (He was silent, as if searching for words.) "I am confounded; speech fails me, as do sight and sound; the potential is too vast to compose into symbols, the possibilities to great to be foreseen, let alone expressed." (Again, a searching silence for a time.)
"But what of this chaos, this roil that goes on within the focus you created? It gathers strength, as additional lines come in from distant points in the universe, as more voices of the spheres are drawn in. Could it be that it will collapse into complete disorganization? Could it fall, and thereby release all these back into their original patterns, to take with them only the memory of this one-time connection?
"No; it shall not be. And look you -- even now it becomes clearer what is to be done."
In the center of that sphere of chaos there appeared the image -- perhaps the reality -- of that pattern of forces I had defined in the city of the Comselha working. Not the city itself, for that is of another level; but the pattern of my devising, a circular, centered organization. Though flat, it seemed to create a smaller sphere of clear air about itself, just large enough to enclose it.
We waited in silence for a time, watching. I thought again of the diamond in the center of the jewel; the white hardness and unchangeable purity of it, centered within the red color of conflict. And I wondered if perhaps this was an expression of what now would occur.
A voice spoke; not that of the King, nor my own, nor of any of those who were bound in this roil.
"Here is that which is like unto a jewel, a perfect compaction of being into essential pattern. Here is that which compacts my own creation into perfection of form. Can you, o you stars and planets, who are so much greater than he who created this, do likewise? Can you, who are graduates of the worlds of pain, and see nothing more of it, make use of that which has arisen from those worlds? Can you become, in your relations, like unto this jewel of perfection?
"Tell me, o you voices, speak, and say if you can follow that which your lesser has created. Can you make of yourselves in your joining such a creation, such a pattern of perfect completion? Tell me now, o you stars, say if you can."
And there was a sense of consternation among the roiling voices. One after another fell into silence; not the silence of absence, but a silence of consideration. New threads continued to enter the sphere, and I could feel surprise (or its equivalent) among these new entries, as they found themselves suddenly connected to a body in deliberation.
I myself thought of the possibilities. It was clear that the simple pattern of the Comselha exercise would be insufficient for such a varied and vast assembly. Their individual natures were too different, had too many unique patterns to be molded into even a supremely complex version of my simple form.
And yet, perhaps not. Did not these beings in turn recognize a "boundary" condition within which they all worked? Let the boundary of this sphere of their union then represent that greater boundary; let the way in which the unknown passed from without to within this boundary be reflected in its nature, as the circle of the Twelve Names of God does in my own.
And what are the highest organizing principles they recognize among them? If not all recognize the same principles, then let them group together according to those they do see. And each shall make these the next sphere within the boundary, using as many dimensions as necessary to complete the pattern.
The important point was to make the organization such that there could be free communication between individuals and groups, without one trying to impose itself on another. This called for agreement on the intensity of force each contributed to the pattern, and a definition of the ways in which information could be passed between similar or compatible participants, and between groups of incompatible or conflicting participants. These might contain certain restrictions common to all, and other restrictions or ameliorations negotiated between differing groups. I thought of the way in which the black cross acted as a buffer between tablets in the Great Table, and considered that some sort of buffers might be appropriate at some level within this larger organization.
While I thought, it seemed that some form of sorting out was going on among the participants. It was far from a real organization, but the amount of conflict and the clashing of voices seemed to have been reduced.
The King said, "Surely it will take time for this organization to reveal itself. A new thing is being formed, and as ever there must be starts and stops, partial formations and reorganizations as things go along. Let us return to our starting point, for there is nothing more to see here for the present."
We slipped downwards into the envelope from which we had emerged, and were again inside the "jewel".
"This place where we are, and the image of a jewel through which you entered, are constructs, simple symbols of that outer process we just observed. Not even reflections of that process, but only images of two major points. First, the conflict above, contained within the sphere of force created by your Temples. This is the red color of the jewel, as you surmised. Second, the potential for a seed of resolution to come out of your pattern created of the Tablet entities, the circular formation that was not found in the original design. This latter was the diamond, again as you surmised. The Enochian B in the jewel indicated that a higher process was being represented here. And the Wheel around the jewel was an abstraction of the Temple itself, with the sphere of the Names of God on its top. And also the gathering in of energies that the Temples cause to come into being.
"Now it seems that some resolution of the conflict is coming into being here, and it will probably be that you find changes in the way the Temple reflects the outer universe, when next you go there. For the present, we would ask that you continue your exploration of the spoke of Alhctga within the Comselha pattern.
"I have done for now. Alhctga will no doubt have more to tell you when next you meet. Goodbye."
I was thrust out of the jewel and back to my starting size and position. From there I ended the vision.
I tried to enter into the city at the place where I last left it. But instead I found myself in a blank space, filled with white but having no images at all. Alhctga gradually faded into the space in front of me, and the space took on some dimensionality.
She was dressed as the Empress of the Tarot. We exchanged the LVX signs, and I tested with the hexagram of Venus, which produced a strong flow of Venusian force between us.
She said, "We are in this place, rather than your city, because the focus of your inner awareness has risen somewhat above the city's current level, due to your exploration of the Sphere of Contact. In the sphere you were dealing with the interstellar forces which were brought to this world through your Temple of Earth, and these are of a much higher nature than the city, which in its current form is mainly a tool for the initiation of the elementals. In later times, it will become more; after there are sufficient workers to create what it will be.
"But now with a little attunement, we can again descend to its level, and see what there is to be seen in the next building of my radial. Please to follow."
We fell out of the space as if falling from inside a cloud down to the Earth, and ended up in the street just inward of the building of Venus of Mars. I could see many workers issuing therefrom, some going crosswise along the circular road, others crossing the road and into the next building inward. And I sensed others exiting from the building into the radial street to the clockwise of it, and passing inwards and outwards along the avenues. And many more issuing from the other buildings of the city in the same fashion. The whole place felt very busy.
"Now in this next building is my power expressed in its greatest purity, for this is the building whose attributes are Venus of Venus, within the quarter of Earth. And herein are the creations of man made real; come and see."
We entered the building without passing through the door, in an instantaneous transition. I could not see anything at first, but I heard a humming sound, like a beehive in full activity. And this sound gradually changed into a moaning sound, as would follow a great effort. And the moaning gradually changed into a cry of triumph, a cry of joy over effort which was ended. The voice that moaned and then cried was clearly a woman's voice.
"You think that Mars is the force of thrusting, of effort; and yet woman also has her way of expelling that which is created within her. Is this then Mars as well? No. Venus has her outwards-moving force as well as her inwards-accepting force; creation is her sphere, especially the creation which is Art. Man is the stimulus and the power, but hers is the act of creation itself.
All the time I was listening to the sounds and to her speech, I had felt changes occurring in my astral body. It changed into a female form, and went through a (greatly accellerated and stylized) representation of pregnancy and birth. During the humming sounds, I felt something begin to radiate in my belly from a point inside and about four inches below the navel. This radiating point increased in size, and created a bubble inside me, a great hollow which eventually filled the entire center of my being.
As the sound changed to a moaning, my body contracted around this bubble in waves, each wave stronger than the previous, in a tension that was both incredibly painful and incredibly pleasurable. And as the voice changed to its cry of triumph, the contractions reached some peak of force; and that which was within the bubble was expelled. In this case, the expulsion was not through a birth canal; instead, I felt some sort of topological inversion, as if I was turned inside out for a moment, and that which was within was released.
I cannot describe the feelings that went with this process; the best I can say is that they were what I recognize as "Venusian", and that the entire process was an illustration of the functioning of that force. But this is meaningless speech, an abstraction; it touches not at all on what it was to experience it.
What struck me most was the lack of conscious control over events, and the lack of desire to control the events. The self was completely at the service of the process, which was the creation of something not the self. My being changed as the process dictated, and the conscious self was totally subject to these changes.
Now before me in the air was a small ball of light, about eighteen inches in diameter, and I knew that this is what had been created within me. I had a strange urge to put it back inside me, and at the same time to keep it outside me and watch it grow. I felt that it was myself and was not myself. Then suddenly the ball collapsed, and with it this dual sense; now that which was within the ball (which took here the form of a child) was totally outside me and separate from me.
"Is this not also the act of the artist?" said Alhctga, "For in the act of artistic creation, that which is created grows in the artist; often in levels below his consciousness. And the conscious being can do nothing but put itself at the service of getting that creation out into the world. The conscious being must direct itself, must shape itself, or be shaped, in such a way as to allow that thing to grow and be expressed. In the true artist the consciousness is at the service of the unconscious creative process; only in the false artist, the intellectual pretender, does the conscious mind control what is expressed.
"You know this, and I know this; but do the pretenders know it? Some of them, perhaps; and to the extent that they know it, they know their own works are hollow and without life, no matter what the opinion of the world. And so they know themselves to be less than true creators; and out of their sense of inadequacy do they exalt their conscious efforts, as if those were in fact the Artistry that they lack.
"But we know that the true art derives not from the conscious self, but arises out of the unknown depths of being, quickened by our union with some unknown force; and so are we artists, even though we do nothing that the world would recognize as art.
"You hurt as you see this, wishing that there were more times when you could be truly said to create in this fashion. Wishing that always you might have that union with the unknown, that you might be continuously pregnant with the creations that arise from that union.
"I say to you, wish not; for there is more within you being created than any man could express; the world is your child, and the changes of your creation shall be birthed therein, in good time. Not any man or woman can be guaranteed a continous act of creation. The unknown spirit strikes where and when it will, and of its strikes, none may know which shall be quickened and brought to term. Be content, you have given the world three great creations, and many of lesser stature; this is never enough, but it must suffice until the next shows itself.
"Now we know that here in this building we are not dealing with the artistry of men and gods, but rather the equivalent as it is expressed by those beings who are trained here.
"In the previous buildings, the previous steps of this process, the beings were taught how to integrate themselves in the various ways necessary to the creative process. First in expressing the primal pattern, what one might call the "genetic code" of the creation. Then in taking from the environment that which is in accord with the creation, so that there might be material to hand. This might be characterized as the forming of the placenta. Next after, they learned the integration with each other, taking and giving, and forming a whole therefrom; thus do the single cells become gradually an integrated being within the womb, a balanced homeostasis of processes.
"All of these are to the intent of making the creation a balanced, functioning being in its own right. They are the steps which precede the formation of the being as something separate from its mother. Now here is that being given birth, released from the control of those who made it.
"That is, the pattern generated by these beings begins to take on an existence separate from them. It is not complete independent of their nurturance, but is nevertheless still something more than they are in their summation. The synergy of their interactions produces a meta-being, which is the creation itself. This being is stable apart from their efforts to maintain its form, and so they must "give birth" to it, releasing it from their control. From this point on they can only feed and guide it. "
I now saw an image similar to the one seen for the Jupiter square. The beings sat or stood in concentric circles about the center of a room. And in the center of their circles there was a ball of light. At first, like the previous vision, this ball was small, and seemed to be generated out of their interactions. But gradually this one grew larger, expanding until it was wider than the innermost circle of beings. And it seemed that suddenly processes began to occur within the ball that were not created out of the beings' interactions, processes that were in some way on a higher level. Dependent upon the processes controlled by the beings, but not themselves within the beings' control. A meta-level of existence had come into operation. The degree of order shown within the ball was greater than the degree of order shown by its creators.
Now the outer rings of beings gathered in closer to the center, and the sound of humming increased; I realized this sound was a measure of the intensity of interaction between them, and the amount of energy they were feeding into the sphere. They still seemed to control its outer shape in some way, despite their loss of control over its internal processes.
But now this too began to change. Gradually the sphere itself took control of its entire functioning, wresting it from the beings below it. This produced the moaning sounds among them, as the last remnants of their control were forcefully taken away from them. And as the last of their control gave way, so arose the cry of victory, of relief, from them.
And I understood that this was not as the human process of birth. For these beings were not creating something of their own kind. Rather, they were only supporting characters, "devas" in the Theosophical sense of that term. Beings whose function was only to ensure the continuance of the physical substrate upon which the creation grew, out of which arose the true, independent character which was the creation itself. They had nothing to do with the meta-functions which were its true self, but only with its bodily support. That this meta-being grew out of their efforts was not of consequence; in its own sphere it was a greater thing than they in their individual or collective activity could ever be. Their status did not change just because its did; they did not advance because it had advanced.
At this point in the process they ceased to be active, directing participants in the process, and must now take on the role of single-minded, unquestioning support, without any attempts to regain control. Thus the moaning as their status was changed, and relief when the change was complete.
Now Alhctga said, "You have seen truly here, and now know that this is not the square, the letter, of Venus of Venus, but rather the square of Venus of Sol. For the child grown and given birth here is the Son. But still is this my square of greatest expression, for I also am a son, an independent and living being manifesting my qualities as an individual.
"In the next square you will see another aspect of Venus, and this will show you the difference between what is seen here and what is true Venus of Venus; this square might be said to be the exaltation of Venus, while that next in line might be said to be its rulership, to use your astrological terms.
"You have seen much here, and experienced more, and felt again the pangs of creativity which you desire so much. It is time to rest, and absorb, and know the consequences of your success. Take time, and relax, and come again when your are ready.
"I now say goodbye to you, for now, o my brother and lover. Fare you well in the interim."
I did not want to leave this place, its energy was so attractive. But I forced myself to do so, and ended the vision.
Last night I had tried to enter the city again, and could not find it. It was not as if its power had failed and it had fallen apart; I could still feel its existence somewhere, but beyond my reach, temporarily or permanently. I tried invoking the First Call to better attune myself, and found that I could see the city, but only from outside it's crystal dome. I could not bring myself into its scale.
After a few minutes of trying, I saw that the city was connected across dimensions to a larger version of the Comsela Working circle, and this in turn was connected across dimensions to some even larger version that I could not see.
Next I tried moving my viewpoint around the city, and found that I could not get my view to a point directly above either it or its larger cousin. There did not appear to be any sort of barrier or energy activity that would prevent doing so, but it occurred nonetheless. This attracted my attention.
I can't describe the mental contortions I went through. But after a few more minutes I found that I could get my viewpoint above the city by attaining a state of complete mental silence. I remained in this state for some time, but nothing obvious happened.
This afternoon I again tried entering the city. There was a substantially different feel to it, and it may not have been the same version I have been exploring. The buildings were all much more solid, the general air was darker. And despite every effort, the only image I could get was of a being walking along one of the circular streets, wearing a heavy black robe with a cowl so deep that I could not see the face. I saw this being as if frozen in the motion of walking, and nothing I could do would bring action to the scene. Did the LVX signs, the Veil signs, the pentagrams of spirit, etc. with no effect.
It is now 11:23 pm, and I am trying again.
The being in the robe is still there, and still does not respond to the signs and pentagrams; neither do the signs and symbols cause any fading or diminution of it. But my viewpoint no longer seems frozen to a specific view of the being.
I tried moving behind the being and merging with its form, all other recourse being exhausted. Doing so, it seemed that the being was Alhctga again, but for some reason she had sealed herself off from the surrounding environment. I could feel her energy within the robe, and I myself took on the character of the robe itself.
She mentally indicated that I should wait and watch.
After a few minutes it seemed that I could hear a deep rumbling sound, accompanied by a higher-pitched whine, almost at the upper threshold of hearing. The surroundings brightened a bit. There was a sense that these vibrations were putting a stress on the city.
The whine clarified and now sounded like a horde of angry bees. It seemed to be coming from a specific point close by, clockwise from us and slightly outwards on one of the radial avenues. I moved to the nearest corner in that direction and looked outwards along the avenue.
Some distance away there was a bright, formless cloud, apparently made up of a very large number of small elemental beings, perhaps of the cacodemonic level. I felt that this cloud was intent upon some destructive course, but could not yet find a point of attack for whatever it intended. It whirled about in the middle of the avenue in an indecisive manner.
Now it seemed to me that I could see the beings who were usually traveling the avenues, carrying their banners. But they were ghostly, as if out of phase with myself and the cloud. They existed in some different framework. My vision doubled, as if I was looking through a pair of diver's goggles half in and half out of the water. Above was the cloud, below the usual crowd. I momentarily sank completely below, and saw that from the crowd's perspective there was a membrane or film separating them from the cloud.
Coming back up again, I worried that my own penetration of this film would somehow provide an opening for the cloud, but Alhctga said not to worry, and to continue waiting.
Nothing more happened for a while.
Now I began to hear a faint music, as of pipers, drummers, fiddlers, and players on those buzzy-sounding medieval instruments (hautboys?). With the sound came a sense of cheer, and an image of musicians weaving in and out among the travelers on the avenue. (This was an image in my head, and not in front of my eyes.)
More sounds came from further away, as if the whole city had suddenly become filled with musicians playing similar but not identical tunes. The beings of the city began to step about in a small dance as they moved down the avenue. Sometimes they would swing around with their neighbors, other times bow and turn with those moving in the other directions. Their banners came and went as necessary to the movements of their dance. From somewhere I heard the words, "Our god is here, and the oppression is lifted."
Now my viewpoint rose above the city, and I could see the party spreading from street to street until every being in every avenue and street was dancing. The dance varied from place to place, seemingly according to the nature of the beings involved.
I rose until I was in the position of the great sphere in the center of the city. The deep rumbling I had heard was like a heartbeat emanating from this sphere. I found myself taking on the form I had seen earlier in this place, a god on a throne, wearing a white robe with a breastplate having sixteen stones arrayed on it. Then this form burned away in a brilliant flow of light, and in its place I took the form of a flame, supported on two legs or posts in an inverted V.
Now the flame transformed into a fluted column, still supported on two posts. The circumference of the column was much larger than the posts, and I wondered at the imbalance of the position. It did not seem to matter; I was the column, and it stayed in place without effort.
Looking to the west, I saw the cloud of small beings still hovering over the city. I understood that these were some of those who had been rejected for entry and training here, attempting to take a place for themselves by force. I felt sympathy for them, for they were attracted to the city and desired to participate, yet could not meet the measure of need.
Gently I reached out and took the cloud into cupped hands, and lifted it before my eyes. Within the cloud I could see every being individually; they were misshapen and distorted versions of the city's members, as if they had been trying to emulate the forms of those members and had failed.
I took them out of the cloud one by one, and bestowed on each individually a blessing. For each, I reached out into the Empyrean, and drew in a thread of connection to some other place. I attached the thread to the being and watched it get drawn away from the city forever. It seemed that I was sending them somewhere else, where they had a chance of participation in an ongoing creation.
This whole process took but an instant, though I gave careful consideration to each and every one of a myriad of beings within the cloud. The cloud shrank as the process continued, until eventually there was nothing left of it but a few. These remaining beings I enclosed between the palms of my hands. I rubbed the hands