OMFG, WTF is the K&C of the HGA?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I can certainly say I know how to keep myself amused. I am constantly finding more and more things that are falling into place and my personal understanding of existence keeps growing. I recently have been having talks with lunar_warden and lady_savant about the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel (HGA or True Self as I prefer) and how it is almost if not equivalent to the subconscious mind.
The funny thing is even among long-time practitioners in and outside of Thelma who have realized their HGA, their is still no agreement as to what it is or where it originates from. Some examples:- Alan Chapman whom I greatly respect and admire says this about the HGA in his book Advanced Magic for Beginners:
"Although I will refer to this entity as your 'future magical self, it is completely independent from what you presently know as 'yourself'. It must be remembered that this being is not you."
- Peter Carroll split the concept in two and speaks of two "Holy Guardian Angels". According to him, one is the Augoeides, a projected image of whatever the magician strives for, and the other is quantum uncertainty, which ultimately determines the acts of the magician and is a spark of the only true creative force, chaos.
- Aliester Crowley who really (IMHO) could be considered THE authority on this subject seems to have one view and "apears" to change his mind later in his life. Whether or not he really did is debatable, but the view he is known to have held is:"the Adept will be free to concentrate his deepest self, that part of him which unconsciously orders his true Will, upon the realization of his Holy Guardian Angel. . . For his Angel is an intelligible image of his own true Will, to do which is the whole of the law of his Being." and "So also our own Silent Self, helpless and witless, hidden within us, will spring forth, if we have craft to loose him to the Light, spring lustily forward with his cry of Battle, the Word of our True Wills. This is the Task of the Adept, to have the Knowledge and Conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel, to become aware of his nature and his purpose, fulfilling them."
- And for good measure, from the diary of a man named Frank Bennet, we are told he had a conversation with Crowley, as they were good friends. Crowley made a comment to Frank that shook him and yet changed him from that point on. The diary entry says that Crowley told him that it was all a matter of getting the subconscious mind to work; and when this subconscious mind was allowed full sway, without interference from the conscious mind, then illumination could be said to have begun; for the subconscious mind was our Holy Guardian Angel.
The above is just scratching the surface of the varying opinions on the matter. However, I must say my own opinions (even before I accepted Thelema) concur with Crowley. Perhaps it is my agreements with Eastern philosophy, but I can not perceive or agree that spiritual guidance, salvation or enlightenment is to be found only outside of us in this life. I personally view the HGA as our "True Self" once we are able to see through the veil that has been placed over us which is our everyday consciousness. This is NOT something we have to earn or work to have it be given to us, it is already with us as who we truly are. The only work required is learning how to see through this veil and realize who we really are. Not who we see ourselves as or how others see us. That is not our True Self. Hence why I prefer the term True Self when speaking of the HGA. I posted a quote by Aliester Crowley on Twitter last night which explains this nicely:"We are not to regard ourselves as base beings, without whose sphere is Light or ‘God’. Our minds and bodies are veils of the Light within. The uninitiate is a ‘dark star,’ and the Great Work for him is to make his veils transparent by ‘purifying’ them. This ‘purification’ is really simplification’; it is not that the veil is dirty, but that the complexity of its folds make it opaque. The Great Work therefore consists principally in the solution of complexes. Everything in itself is perfect, but when things are muddled they become ‘evil’."
And the statement above was very revealing for me on many levels. As a fan of Eastern Philosophy, especially Taoism and Buddhism, this has always been similar to my understanding. But what opened my eyes was the lack of the words "Holy Guardian Angel or True Self." I did some digging and I was blown away by what I found. In his book Liber Aleph, Aliester Crowley has this to say about "The Great Work","This Great Work is the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of thine Holy Guardian Angel."
He is not talking about the "Great Work" as only Thelemites would understand, he here is talking about the Great Work of Magick. In his book Little Essays Toward Truth he says"The Quest of the Holy Grail, the Search for the Stone of the Philosophers-by whatever name we choose to call the Great Work-is therefore endless. Success only opens up new avenues of brilliant possibility."
And a famous artist/engraver named Albrecht Druer created beautiful engravings signifying the path of an adept, including a famous engraving titled "St .Jerome In His Study" representing the revelation of the HGA. Commenting on this, author David Bowman says,"It represents the High Priest in the in the innermost sanctuary, a cubical Devir or Holy of Holies in the Temple of Solomon, receiving the oracle from above. From the alchemical point of interpretation it is the philosopher's stone, the stone of the wise. In terminology of Abraham the Jew this represents the 'Knowledge and Conversation of Holy Guardian Angel', the prime goal of every adept."
And consistent research and study with few exceptions shows that the Great Work of Magic, the search for the fabled Philosopher's Stone of alchemical lore and the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel are synonymous. This revelation obviously excited and gave me a feeling of satisfaction. And quite frankly, while Western magick is by no means the only method of realizing your True Self, it is my preferred method. And if you are not a fan of the terms True Self, or Holy Guardian Angel or Higher Self… or if you are not a fan of Western Magick, Aliester Crowley has this to say about himself as The Master Therioun in Magick in Theory and Practice:"Being determined to instruct mankind, He sought a simple statement of his object. His will was sufficiently informed by common sense to decide him to teach man ‘The Next Step’, the thing which was immediately above him. He might have called this ‘God’, or ‘The Higher Self’, or ‘The Augœides’, or ‘Adi-Buddha’, or 61 other things - but He had discovered that these were all one, yet that each one represented some theory of the Universe which would ultimately be shattered by criticism - for He had already passed through the realm of Reason, and knew that every statement contained an absurdity. He therefore said: ‘Let me declare this work under this title: “The obtaining of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”’, because the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it."
Being no fan of the modern-day incarnation of Christianity, I do feel slight apprehension when using the term Holy Guardian Angel which is part of why I prefer an alternate term. And throughout Aliester Crowley's magical career to the end of his life, he was certainly not Christian, so the question often comes up, why did he use that term? Well the answer is revealed in the above quote. I think it bears repeating because of how important it is:"the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it."
I hope this article will open some eyes and make others less apprehensive. Although I can almost guarantee it will cause quite the opposite reaction. Many will criticize for it being nonsense or inaccurate only because they don't like the implications. I can live with that.
Love is the Law, Love under Will.
I.N.R.I.
I can certainly say I know how to keep myself amused. I am constantly finding more and more things that are falling into place and my personal understanding of existence keeps growing. I recently have been having talks with lunar_warden and lady_savant about the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel (HGA or True Self as I prefer) and how it is almost if not equivalent to the subconscious mind.
The funny thing is even among long-time practitioners in and outside of Thelma who have realized their HGA, their is still no agreement as to what it is or where it originates from. Some examples:- Alan Chapman whom I greatly respect and admire says this about the HGA in his book Advanced Magic for Beginners:
"Although I will refer to this entity as your 'future magical self, it is completely independent from what you presently know as 'yourself'. It must be remembered that this being is not you."
- Peter Carroll split the concept in two and speaks of two "Holy Guardian Angels". According to him, one is the Augoeides, a projected image of whatever the magician strives for, and the other is quantum uncertainty, which ultimately determines the acts of the magician and is a spark of the only true creative force, chaos.
- Aliester Crowley who really (IMHO) could be considered THE authority on this subject seems to have one view and "apears" to change his mind later in his life. Whether or not he really did is debatable, but the view he is known to have held is:"the Adept will be free to concentrate his deepest self, that part of him which unconsciously orders his true Will, upon the realization of his Holy Guardian Angel. . . For his Angel is an intelligible image of his own true Will, to do which is the whole of the law of his Being." and "So also our own Silent Self, helpless and witless, hidden within us, will spring forth, if we have craft to loose him to the Light, spring lustily forward with his cry of Battle, the Word of our True Wills. This is the Task of the Adept, to have the Knowledge and Conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel, to become aware of his nature and his purpose, fulfilling them."
- And for good measure, from the diary of a man named Frank Bennet, we are told he had a conversation with Crowley, as they were good friends. Crowley made a comment to Frank that shook him and yet changed him from that point on. The diary entry says that Crowley told him that it was all a matter of getting the subconscious mind to work; and when this subconscious mind was allowed full sway, without interference from the conscious mind, then illumination could be said to have begun; for the subconscious mind was our Holy Guardian Angel.
The above is just scratching the surface of the varying opinions on the matter. However, I must say my own opinions (even before I accepted Thelema) concur with Crowley. Perhaps it is my agreements with Eastern philosophy, but I can not perceive or agree that spiritual guidance, salvation or enlightenment is to be found only outside of us in this life. I personally view the HGA as our "True Self" once we are able to see through the veil that has been placed over us which is our everyday consciousness. This is NOT something we have to earn or work to have it be given to us, it is already with us as who we truly are. The only work required is learning how to see through this veil and realize who we really are. Not who we see ourselves as or how others see us. That is not our True Self. Hence why I prefer the term True Self when speaking of the HGA. I posted a quote by Aliester Crowley on Twitter last night which explains this nicely:"We are not to regard ourselves as base beings, without whose sphere is Light or ‘God’. Our minds and bodies are veils of the Light within. The uninitiate is a ‘dark star,’ and the Great Work for him is to make his veils transparent by ‘purifying’ them. This ‘purification’ is really simplification’; it is not that the veil is dirty, but that the complexity of its folds make it opaque. The Great Work therefore consists principally in the solution of complexes. Everything in itself is perfect, but when things are muddled they become ‘evil’."
And the statement above was very revealing for me on many levels. As a fan of Eastern Philosophy, especially Taoism and Buddhism, this has always been similar to my understanding. But what opened my eyes was the lack of the words "Holy Guardian Angel or True Self." I did some digging and I was blown away by what I found. In his book Liber Aleph, Aliester Crowley has this to say about "The Great Work","This Great Work is the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of thine Holy Guardian Angel."
He is not talking about the "Great Work" as only Thelemites would understand, he here is talking about the Great Work of Magick. In his book Little Essays Toward Truth he says"The Quest of the Holy Grail, the Search for the Stone of the Philosophers-by whatever name we choose to call the Great Work-is therefore endless. Success only opens up new avenues of brilliant possibility."
And a famous artist/engraver named Albrecht Druer created beautiful engravings signifying the path of an adept, including a famous engraving titled "St .Jerome In His Study" representing the revelation of the HGA. Commenting on this, author David Bowman says,"It represents the High Priest in the in the innermost sanctuary, a cubical Devir or Holy of Holies in the Temple of Solomon, receiving the oracle from above. From the alchemical point of interpretation it is the philosopher's stone, the stone of the wise. In terminology of Abraham the Jew this represents the 'Knowledge and Conversation of Holy Guardian Angel', the prime goal of every adept."
And consistent research and study with few exceptions shows that the Great Work of Magic, the search for the fabled Philosopher's Stone of alchemical lore and the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel are synonymous. This revelation obviously excited and gave me a feeling of satisfaction. And quite frankly, while Western magick is by no means the only method of realizing your True Self, it is my preferred method. And if you are not a fan of the terms True Self, or Holy Guardian Angel or Higher Self… or if you are not a fan of Western Magick, Aliester Crowley has this to say about himself as The Master Therioun in Magick in Theory and Practice:"Being determined to instruct mankind, He sought a simple statement of his object. His will was sufficiently informed by common sense to decide him to teach man ‘The Next Step’, the thing which was immediately above him. He might have called this ‘God’, or ‘The Higher Self’, or ‘The Augœides’, or ‘Adi-Buddha’, or 61 other things - but He had discovered that these were all one, yet that each one represented some theory of the Universe which would ultimately be shattered by criticism - for He had already passed through the realm of Reason, and knew that every statement contained an absurdity. He therefore said: ‘Let me declare this work under this title: “The obtaining of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”’, because the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it."
Being no fan of the modern-day incarnation of Christianity, I do feel slight apprehension when using the term Holy Guardian Angel which is part of why I prefer an alternate term. And throughout Aliester Crowley's magical career to the end of his life, he was certainly not Christian, so the question often comes up, why did he use that term? Well the answer is revealed in the above quote. I think it bears repeating because of how important it is:"the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it."
I hope this article will open some eyes and make others less apprehensive. Although I can almost guarantee it will cause quite the opposite reaction. Many will criticize for it being nonsense or inaccurate only because they don't like the implications. I can live with that.
Love is the Law, Love under Will.
I.N.R.I.