EsotericElucidations

an attempt to elucidate the esoteric

[esotericelucidations]

“If you think you don't have a sacred duty in life, you are profoundly mistaken. No matter what your life circumstances are, there is a job that must be done, a need that must be filled, a role that must be played in the grand comedy/drama of existence that can be done/filled/acted out only by you and you alone.”

—Lon Milo DuQuette

[esotericelucidations]

“It might appear to the casual observer that my magick effects changes in the outside world. But ultimately, my outside world is one and the same as my inside world.

If my magick does indeed bring about some desired change, it merely proves to me that… I have succeeded in transforming myself into the kind of person to whom such things happen.”

—Lon Milo DuQuette, “Low Magick”

[esotericelucidations]

"He that is so foolish as not to follow his own Will, how shall he be so wise as to pursue that of another?"

—Aleister Crowley, “148. De Stultis Malignis, Liber Aleph”

[esotericelucidations]

“Tarot is a telescope through which we can gaze at the great macrocosmic world of deity; and it’s a microscope by which we can dissect the tiniest secrets of nature and our own souls.”

—Lon Milo DuQuette, “Low Magick”

[esotericelucidations]

“Magic is art, and imagination is the lifeblood of the artist. Every artist is a magician, and every magician is an artist. The painter's creation is a painting; the composer's creation is the score; but the magician's creation is the magician—nothing else. Ultimately, the only thing the magician can directly change with magic is the magician.”

—Lon Milo DuQuette, Foreword to “Stellas Daemonum”

[esotericelucidations]

“In practice, magic is performance art staged for an audience of one—a lavishly costumed and meticulously choreographed meditation projected externally upon the screen of the magician's own objective reality.”

“Magic can be generically described as . . . the dramatic and ceremonial awakening of symbols and mythological archetypes and metaphors performed with intent to trigger specific changes in the magician's consciousness.”

—Lon Milo DuQuette, Foreword to “Stellas Daemonum”

[esotericelucidations]

“The fundamental operating principle of evocation is to give outward substance to inner realities. The sooner you rid yourself of preconceived ideas of how all of this is going to manifest, the sooner you’ll be able to recognize it when it really does start to manifest.” “Just as no two people see and react to a play in the same exact way, so too no two magicians will have identical experiences in evocation.”

—Lon Milo DuQuette

[esotericelucidations]

"Look around. You are smack dab in the middle of a ribbon of repeating patterns stretching infinitely toward macrocosmic immensity in one direction, and infinitely toward microcosmic smallness in the other. As above, so below. If we study the tiny subject, we simultaneously study its giant counterpart and vice versa."

—Lon Milo DuQuette, "The Chicken Qabalah"

[esotericelucidations]

KING OF WANDS / KNIGHT OF WANDS

WAITE / THOTH

Dates: July 22 – August 22 (Leo) | 21st degree of Scorpio to the 20th degree of Sagittarius.

Yi-Ching: The Arousing, Shock (51); Refers to the feeling of heightened awareness after a shocking event. WAITE

"The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne."

"Divinatory Meanings: Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long. Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant."

CROWLEY

Fire of Fire, Lord of the Flame and the Lightning, The King of the Spirits of Fire, King of the Salamanders.

"The Knight of Wands represents the fiery part of Fire; he rules from the 21st degree of Scorpio to the 20th degree of Sagittarius. He is a warrior in complete armour. On his helmet for a crest he wears a black horse. In his hand he bears a flaming torch; a flame also in his mantle; and upon the flames does he ride. His steed is a black horse leaping."

"The moral qualities appropriate to this figure are activity, generosity, fierceness, impetuosity, pride, impulsiveness, swiftness in unpredictable actions. If wrongly energized, he is evil-minded, cruel, bigoted and brutal. He is in either case ill-fitted to carry on his action; he has no means of modifying it according to circumstances. If he fails in his first effort, he has no resource."

"In the Yi King, the fiery part of Fire is represented by the 51st hexagram, Kan. The significance there given is entirely in accordance with the doctrine of the Tarot, but great emphasis is laid on the startling, perilous, and revolutionary character of the events cognate."

"The Querent is advised to be apprehensive, yet cool, resolute and energetic: to beware of untimely action, but to go forward with tense confidence in his own ability."

DUQUETTE

"When you have your shit together, you should never really be afraid."

"Fire of Fire. A proud, generous man. Sometimes impulsive or brutal. Action, but indicates failure if not successful on first try."

[esotericelucidations]

“Were the world understood. Ye would see it as good. A dance to a delicate measure.”

—Aleister Crowley

[esotericelucidations]

"Humble thyself before thy Self, yet fear neither man nor spirit. Fear is failure, and the forerunner of failure: and courage is the beginning of virtue."

—Aleister Crowley, Liber Libræ sub figura XXX

[esotericelucidations]

"The secrecy observed by the alchemists was made necessary by the power of persecuting Churches. Bitterly as bigots fought among themselves, they were all equally concerned to destroy the infant Science, which, as they instinctively recognized, would put an end to the ignorance and faith on which their power and wealth depended."

—Aleister Crowley, "Book of Thoth"

[s-n]

[esotericelucidations]

"Is Magick real, or is it all just in your head?"

It's all in your head.

"So if everyone knows it's just a placebo, why does it still work?"

Because it works.

[esotericelucidations]

"Their faces and their shapes are terrible and strange. These devils by my might to angels I will change. These nameless horrors I address without affright; On them will I impose my Will, the law of light."

—Eliphas Levi, “The Magician”

[esotericelucidations]

"Are angels, demons, spirits, and other magical phenomena objective or subjective realities? Do they exist outside of us or are they just in our heads?"

"The spirits and every other denizen of objective reality are all in your head—only—you have no idea how infinitely huge your head is!"

—Lon Milo DuQuette, "The Chicken Qabalah"

[esotericelucidations]

"If the Bible leaves a bad taste in your mouth, welcome to the club. But before you throw old King James out the window, I'd like to point out that the Bible is holy—but so are the phonebook, Webster's Dictionary, Robert's Rules of Order and the menu at McDonalds." "...Everything is holy and anything is capable of being the vehicle of divine revelation."

—Lon Milo DuQuette, "The Chicken Qabalah"