Samadhi and K&C of HGA: an assortment of quotations
This is a collection of quotations that is not often seen about the Angel and its relation to Samadhi. All of these quotes are by Aleister Crowley. The view asserted may be certainly said to be not that the 'Angel' is an individual external to oneself, but is representative of the result known as 'Samadhi.' On Samadhi, Crowley writes in the introduction to Part 1 of Liber ABA: Book 4, "We assert that the critical phenomenon which determines success is an occurrence in the brain characterized essentially by the uniting of subject and object." -IAO131
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" THE AUGOEIDES.
Lytton calls him Adonai in 'Zanoni,' and I often use this name in the note-books.
Abramelin calls him Holy Guardian Angel. I adopt this:
1. Because Abramelin's system is so simple and effective.
2. Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the metaphysical man.
3. Because a child can understand it.
Theosophists call him the Higher Self, Silent Watcher, or Great Master.
The Golden Dawn calls him the Genius.
Gnostics say the Logos.
Zoroaster talks about uniting all these symbols into the form of a Lion (see Chaldean Oracles.)
Anna Kingsford calls him Adonai (Clothed with the Sun).
Buddhists call him Adi-Buddha - (says H. P. B.)
The Bhagavad-Gita calls him Vishnu (chapter xi.).
The Yi King calls him "The Great Person."
The Qabalah calls him Jechidah.
We also get metaphysical analysis of His nature, deeper and deeper according to the subtlety of the writer; for this vision - it is all one same phenomenon, variously coloured by our varying Ruachs [ Ruach: the third form, the Mind, the Reasoning Power, that which possesses the Knowledge of Good and Evil.] - is, I believe, the first and the last of all Spiritual Experience. For though He is attributed to Malkuth [ Malkuth: the tenth Sephira.], and the Door of the Path of His overshadowing, He is also in Kether (Kether is in Malkuth and Malkuth in Kether - "as above, so beneath"), and the End of the "Path of the Wise" is identity with Him.
So that while he is the Holy Guardian Angel, He is also Hua [The supreme and secret title of Kether.] and the Tao. [The great extreme of the Yi King.]
For since Intra Nobis Regnum deI [I.N.R.I.] all things are in Ourself, and all Spiritual Experience is a more of less complete Revelation of Him.
Yet it is only in the Middle Pillar is in any way perfect.
The Augoedes invocation is the whole thing. Only it is so difficult; one goes along through all the fifty gates of Binah [Binah: the third Sephira, the Understanding. She is the Supernal Mother, as distinguished from Malkuth, the Inferior Mother. (Nun) is attributed to the Understanding; its value is 50. ] at once, more or less illuminated, more or less deluded. But the First and the Last is this Augoeides Invocation."
-"The Temple of Solomon the King," Equinox I(01)
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"This Silence or Equilibrium is described in the 'Shiva Sanhita' as Samadhi: 'When the mind of the Yogi is absorbed in the Great God [ Atman, Pan, Harpocrates, whose sign is silence, etc., etc.], then the fulness of Samadhi is attained, then the Yogi gets steadfastness. [ The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel - Adonai.]"
-"The Big Stick," Equinox I(04)
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"If we in any way shadow forth the Ineffable, it must be by a degradation. Every symbol is a blasphemy agains the Truth that it indicates. A painter to remind us of the sunset has no better material than dull ochre. So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which is Samadhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the God which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and his Holy Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness treanscending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as above, so below. " -Ibid
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"True, it is, of course, that the soul must not unite herself to every symbol, but only to the God which every symbol veils... The 'counterpart' is often impersonated, with the deadliest results. But if the Aspirant be wise and favoured, he will reject all but the true. And I really fail to see much difference between this doctrine and our own of attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, or the Hindu doctrine of becoming one with God." -Ibid
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*"The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego-or what not."
-Magick Without Tears, Letter C
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*"I must insert a short note on the word Samadhi, source of infinite misunderstanding. Etymologically it is composed of Sam (Greek sun), together with, and Adhi (Heb. Adonai), the Lord, especially the Personal Lord, or Holy Guardian Angel. The Hindus accordingly use it to name that state of mind in which subject and object, becoming One, have disappeared. Just as H combines with Cl, and HCl results, so the Yogi combines with the object of his meditation (perhaps his own heart) and these disappearing, Vishnu appears. It is not that the Yogi perceives Vishnu. The Yogi is gone, just as the Hydrogen is gone. It is not that the Heart has become Vishnu, or that Vishnu has filled the heart. The heart is gone, just as the Chlorine is gone. There is the tube, and it is full of HCl out of all relation to its elements, through the result of their union. (I purposely take the "elementary chemistry" view of the matter.) Samadhi is therefore with the Hindu a result, the result of results indeed. "
-The Psychology of Hashish, Equinox 1(02)