ON CHASTITY - PART 2

Chastity is not abstinence of sex but abstinence of unwanted thoughts. Further, Chastity is correctly directing the Serpent under the aegis of Silence.

Having mastered the prerequisites of Yama and Niyama (more or less), we can now then get a clearer sense of what Crowley meant by Chastity.  Using the metaphor of the Wand as Phallus, it must be transformed into the Lance such that (1) the Absolute becomes the Crown, (2) God the Father unites the Pure Soul with the Mother, (3) becomes the Holy Guardian Angel, the Son, and (4) the Natural Soul becomes the Daughter: “The Son purifies the Daughter by wedding her; she then becomes the Mother, the uniting of whom with the Father absorbs all into the Crown” (Crowley, Book 4, p. 63 footnote 3).  The name of the Wand is the Magical Oath.  The Word is the Will (Chokmah-2).  Those who work with Woman and form as vehicles of Will transform their sexual energy (Yesod-9) into devotion (Netzach-7). As such, they command their Universe with the authority of the Father.

In a Diary entry for March 19^th, 1924, Crowley writes, “All sexual acts are lawful.  But two conditions must be strictly observed”: (1) The first is that they must always be unto Nuit, meaning that the act must be an austere Magical Act (i.e., “self-indulgence is barred, [and] physiological necessity is pleadable”). This means that the “act must be one of love under will, not enthusiastic attraction combined with the technical Magical purpose…. No conditioned Act can be wholly free: at the best, it relieves the existing stress to the maximum. It is essentially therefore a destructive act. It destroys the existing partial energies (Two reverting to Zero) yet it also creates the ‘child’ (Two combining to form the twins VH)”; (2) The second embodies the maxim that “Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Marriage e.g. must have nothing to do with the matter… The point is to avoid impurity in any form.”

As alluded to above, “the essence of the Will is its one-pointedness”.  The best and most powerful weapon is the vow of Holy Obedience.  Purification and Consecration are tools leading towards the perfection of the Temple with the aim being that the Ultimate Will becomes Unconscious; in other words, Will becomes Destiny.  In brief, one must realize the Divine Will as One.

“Love under will” is a Love that is not secular but is rather coition raised to the level of the sacred, often by means of the rites of orgia.  The purpose of Sex Magick accumulates in importance by a series of steps, starting with its utilization for contacting one’s Holy Guardian Angel (in fact, during the act of Sex Magick, the man’s conceiving of the Woman participant as his Holy Guardian Angel initiates contact with beings on other planes and constitutes spiritual puberty). 

Other goals aimed at by utilizing the potent energies of sex magick include insight into Nature, spiritual attainment, and, some would say at least second if not first in importance, “the establishment of the Kingdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit upon the Earth” (De Arte Magica) – that is, Sex Magick as the conjunction of Hadit and Nuit who join to bring forth the New Aeon of Horus.

Before concluding this second part, here are a few thoughts that are worthy of further meditation: The Fleur-de-lys symbolizes Chastity–again, the state of wielding one’s Phallus only as an instrument of God. In the Tarot, this symbol is depicted on Atu IV, where The Emperor’s shield also bears a two-headed eagle crowned with a crimson disk. The King is another name for The Emperor. Crowley says that this represents “the red tincture of the alchemist, of the nature of gold.” The red tincture being a desired product of alchemy, The Emperor represents a King who already knows how to make “Gold,” or, in other words, to bring God’s Will below the Abyss in the form of the divinely charged seed. Referring to the position of The Emperor on the Tree of Life in the previous Aeon, Crowley states that his “authority is derived from Chokmah.” That is, he’s One with the Father. Ultimately, The Emperor symbolizes Jesus Christ, but in his Universal aspect as the aroused phallus—the “male fiery energy of the Universe, Sulphur.” He is the initiator of male divine creativity in general. Here The Emperor is not only the courageous Lamb, the true Jesus Christ, he is also any new-Aeonic avatar of Christ. Thus, every man could be the Son of God if only he learned how, for “the Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!” In the Old Aeon, The Emperor (Atu IV/Tzaddi/Aries) was the consort of The Empress (Atu III/Daleth/Venus). In the New Aeon, The Emperor is no longer Her counterpart. Rather, the “husband” of The Empress is now The Hierophant (Atu V/Vav/Taurus).

“The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret. I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven.”

Together they formulate Adjustment (Atu III + Atu V = Atu VIII/Lamed (30)). In L.V.X. (156), the male becomes an avatar for the Messiah (358); in N.O.X. (210), the woman as an avatar for Babalon initiates the worthy King and Emperor (2), thereby inaugurating his transformation into The Hierophant (1) as Nemo (0)—i.e., the Teacher as Phallus and therefore vehicle of transmission for the Word of God (Binah) before becoming the Word Itself (Chokmah-2). The Devil (XV/Ayin) becomes The Hanged Man (XII/Mem) suspended from the gallows of The Empress (III/Daleth), which allows Yesod-9 and Daath-11 to align while he channels from his position in Tiphareth-6 as the Son/Sun (XV + XII + III = XXX).

(Note also that Ayin-Mem-Daleth bears the letters for both blood (DAM) and the first man (ADM).)

Simply stated, Chastity means that The Hierophant as Taurus knowingly wields the Phallus (Vav, nail) unto Nuit, and as such unites himself with The Empress. Netzach-7, the seat of Bhakti, symbolizes the man’s Chastity, by which he may act as the Redeemer and thereby himself be Redeemed. On the other hand, Netzach is the sphere in which the Scarlet Woman (scarlet on account of receiving the ray of Mars, Aries’ ruler, from Geburah-5, through Tiphareth-6) may be Redeemed by him, and thereby uplifted upon the throne of her Mother, Binah-3 (Babalon). In doing so, he unites the Macrocosm (6) with the Microcosm (5). Thus joined, he becomes eleven (5 + 6 = 11).

The Redeemer protects the Woman’s Holy Kteis by preparing for it only the sacrament, uncontaminated by his earthly thoughts. For “the King bears a cup and thus is connected with the symbolism of the Holy Grail.” The Man becomes a true Grail Priest through his Silence, or Chastity. In so doing, he elevates the virginal Woman to a functioning (not merely potential) Grail Priestess. Through correctly directing the serpent, The Hierophant creates the conditions under which the dove of the Holy Spirit might descend by grace from Heaven to Earth.

[To be concluded in Part 3…]

Frater L.'.P.'.D.'. 217
In the valley of Atlanta, Ga.
☉ in 20º Libra : ☽ in 17º Aquarius : dies Saturnii : Anno Vx æræ legis

P.S. For further information about the concept of Chastity, see Liber 333, Chapters KE, A, H, IA, IE, IF, IH, ΛB—their proper names being: The Star Ruby, The Sabbath of the Goat, Steeped Horsehair, The Glow Worm, The Gun Barrel, The Stag Beetle, Dewdrops, and The Mountaineer.