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"a flower" and also "expelled," "cast forth.">>
This is the Cup of Purification; as Zoroaster says:
"So therefore first the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral water of the loud-
resounding sea."
It is the sea that purifies the world. And the "Great Sea" is in the Qabalah a name of Binah, "Understanding."
It is by the Understanding of the Magus that his work is purified.
Binah, moreover, is the Moon, and the bowl of this cup is shaped like the moon.
This moon is the path of Gimel through which the influence from the Crown descends upon the Sun of Tiphereth.
And this is based upon the pyramid of fire which symbolizes the aspiration of the student.
In Hindu symbolism the Amrita or "dew of immortality"
drips constantly upon a man, but is burnt up by the gross fire of his appetites. Yogis attempt to catch and so preserve
this dew by turning back the tongue in the mouth.
Concerning the water in this Cup, it may be said that just as the wand should be perfectly rigid, the ideal solid, so
should the water be the ideal fluid.
The Wand is erect, and must extend to Infinity.
The surface of the water is flat, and must extend to Infinity.
One is the line, the other the plane.
But as the Wand is weak without breadth, so is the water false without depth. The Understanding of the Magus must
include all things, and that understanding must be infinitely profound. {83}
H. G. Wells has said that "every word of which a man is ignorant represents an idea of which he is ignorant." And it
is impossible perfectly to understand all things unless all things be first known.
Understanding is the structuralization of knowledge.
 All impressions are disconnected, as the Babe of the Abyss is so terribly aware; and the Master of the Temple must
sit for 106 seasons in the City of the Pyramids because this coordination is a tremendous task.
There is nothing particularly occult in this doctrine concerning knowledge and understanding.
A looking-glass receives all impressions but coordinates none.
The savage has none but the most simple associations of ideas.
Even the ordinary civilized man goes very little further.
All advance in thought is made by collecting the greatest possible number of facts, classifying them, and grouping
them.
The philologist, though perhaps he only speaks one language, has a much higher type of mind than the linguist who
speaks twenty.
This Tree of Thought is exactly paralleled by the tree of nervous structure.
Very many people go about nowadays who are exceedingly "well-informed," but who have not the slightest idea of
the meaning of the facts they know. They have not developed the necessary higher part of the brain. Induction is
impossible to them.
This capacity for storing away facts is compatible with actual imbecility. Some imbeciles have been able to store
their memories with more knowledge than perhaps any sane man could hope to acquire.
This is the great fault of modern education -- a child is stuffed with facts, and no attempt is made to explain their
connection and bearing. The result is that even the facts themselves are soon forgotten.
Any first-rate mind is insulted and irritated by such treatment, and any first-rate memory is in danger of being spoilt
by it.
No two ideas have any real meaning until they are harmonized in a third, and the operation is only perfect when these
ideas are contradictory. This is the essence of the Hegelian logic.
The Magick Cup, as was shown above, is also the flower. It is the lotus which opens to the sun, and which collects
the dew.
This Lotus is in the hand of Isis the great Mother. It is a symbol similar to the Cup in the hand of OUR LADY
BABALON.
There are also the Lotuses in the human body, according to the Hindu system of Physiology referred to in the chapter
on Dharana.
middle, Ida and Pingala on either side ("cf." the Tree of Life). The central channel is compressed at the base by
Kundalini, the magical power, a sleeping serpent. Awake her: she darts up the spine, and the Prana flows through the
Sushumna. See "Raja-Yoga" for more details.>> {84}
There is the lotus of three petals in the Sacrum, in which the Kundalini lies asleep. This lotus is the receptacle of
reproductive force.
There is also the six-petalled lotus opposite the navel -- which receives the forces which nourish the body.
There is also a lotus in the Solar plexus which receives the nervous forces.
The six-petalled lotus in the heart corresponds to Tiphereth, and receives those vital forces which are connected with
the blood.
The sixteen-petalled lotus opposite the larynx receives the nourishment needed by the breath.
The two-petalled lotus of the pineal gland receives the nourishment needed by thought, while above the junction of
the cranial structures is that sublime lotus, of a thousand and one petals, which receives the influence from on high; and
in which, in the Adept, the awakened Kundalini takes her pleasure with the Lord of All.
All these lotuses are figured by the Magick Cup.
In man they are but partly opened, or only opened to their natural nourishment. In fact it is better to think of them as
closed, as secreting that nourishment, which, because of the lack of sun, turns to poison.
The Magick Cup must have no lid, yet it must be kept veiled most carefully at all times, except when invocation of
the Highest is being made.
This cup must also be hidden from the profane. The Wand must be kept secret lest the profane, fearing it, should
succeed in breaking it; the Cup lest, wishing to touch it, they should defile it.
Yet the Sprinkling of its water not only purifies the Temple, but blesseth them that are without: freely must it be
poured! But let no one know your real purpose, and let no one know the secret of your strength. Remember Samson!
Remember Guy Fawkes!
Of the methods of increasing Understanding those of the Holy Qabalah are perhaps the best, provided that the
intellect is thoroughly awake to their absurdity, and never allows itself to be convinced.
following.>>
Further meditation of certain sorts is useful: not the strict meditation which endeavours to still the mind, but such a
meditation as Samasati.
Hashish": Equinox VII, "Liber DCCCCXIII.">>
On the exoteric side if necessary the mind should be trained by the study of any well-developed science, such as
chemistry, or mathematics.
The idea of organization is the first step, that of interpretation the second. The Master of the Temple, whose grade
corresponds to Binah, is sworn to "interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God with his soul." {85}
But even the beginner may attempt this practice with advantage.
 Either a fact fits in or it does not; if it does not, harmony is broken; and as the Universal harmony cannot be broken,
the discord must be in the mind of the student, thus showing that he is not in tune with that Universal choir.
Let him then puzzle out first the great facts, then the little; until one summer, when he is bald and lethargic after
lunch, he understands and appreciates the existence of flies!
This lack of Understanding with which we all begin is so terrible, so pitiful. In this world there is so much cruelty, so
much waste, so much stupidity.
The contemplation of the Universe must be at first almost pure anguish. It is this fact which is responsible for most
of the speculations of philosophy.
Mediaeval philosophers when hopelessly astray because their theology necessitated the reference of all things to the
standard of men's welfare.
They even became stupid: Bernardin de St. Pierre (was it not?) said that the goodness of God was such that wherever
men had built a great city, He had placed a river to assist them in conveying merchandise. But the truth is that in no
way can we imagine the Universe as devised. If horses were made for men to ride, were not men made for worms to
eat?
And so we find once more that the Ego-idea must be ruthlessly rooted out before Understanding can be attained. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]