alt.magicK KfaQ#07: White Bros. (kreEePing oOze faQ)
tyaginator
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Revised 9412
Alt.Magick Krreeeeping Oooze FAQ #7: "What is the Great White Brotherhood?"
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Heidi=DeRick%Desktop%PCMkt=H...@bangate.compaq.com writes:
| There is a Society called the "Great White Brotherhood". It consists of
| Ascended Masters and their Unascended Chelas. If you would like more
| information you could contact the Summit University Press in Livingston
| Montana, or go to you local bookstore and find anything written by
| Elizabeth Clare Prophet. She is the "Messenger for the Great White
| Brotherhood". They are IMO the Highest Teaching on the planet.
Guru Ma Elizabeth Clare Prophet is fond of purple prose. Literally. Wear
your glasses.
She's also a tiny little bit to the political right.
The doctrine is a syncretism of the I AM Movement, Blavatsky's Mahatmas and
just about anything else going - including, somehow, St. Patrick (no, I am
not making this up).
She doesn't like naughty rock music, but devotees sing a song about The
Purple Ray to the tune of Santa Lucia.
You can pay her to work on her ranch.
I would like sincerely to thank her for being so richly entertaining.
Martin Stower
s4...@csc.liv.ac.uk
------------------
My resources tell me that the (Great) White Brotherhood had its beginnings
on the now submerged continent of Lemuria. Many esoteric schools on that
long forgotten land took their materials, records and personnel to the
asiatic mainland and consolidated into one mystery school. Since then,
this ancient school of Masters, Adepts and Inititates has quietly
influenced man throughout the centuries.
Much of their activity was brought to light by the Theosophical movement
before the turn of the last century. Consequently, their literature can
probably be of some help in furthering your search.
Mark High
Mark...@mindlink.bc.ca
------------------------
[a scrambled and edited version of Crowley's 'One Star in Sight']
A glimpse of the structure and system of the Great White Brotherhood.
A.'. A.'.
1. The Order of the Star called S. S. is, in respect of its existence
upon the Earth, an organized body of men and women distinguished among
their felows by the qualities here enumerated. They exist in their
own Truth, which is both universal and unique. They move in
accordance with their own Wills, which are each unique, yet coherent
with the universal will.
They perceive (that is, understand, know, and feel) in love, which
is both unique and universal.
2. The order consists of eleven grades or degrees, and is numbered
as follows: these compose three groups, the Orders of the S. S., of
the R. C., and of the G. D. respectively.
"The Order of the S. S."
Ipsissimus .................. 10 Degree = 1Square
Magus ....................... 9 Degree = 2Square
Magister Templi ............. 8 Degree = 3Square
"The Order of the R. C."
(Babe of the Abyss --- the link)
Adeptus Exemptus ............ 7 Degree = 4Square
Adeptus Major ............... 6 Degree = 5Square
Adeptus Minor ............... 5 Degree = 6Square
"The Order of the G. D."
(Dominus Liminis --- the link)
Philosophus ................. 4 Degree = 7Square
Practicus ................... 3 Degree = 8Square
Zelator ..................... 2 Degree = 9Square
Neophyte .................... 1 Degree = 10Square
Probationer ................. 0 Degree = 0Square
(These figures have special meanings to the initiated and are commonly
employed to designate the grades.)...
3. "The Order of the S. S." is composed of those who have crossed
the Abyss; the implications of this expression may be studied in Liber
418, the 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, and 9th Aethyrs in particular.
All members of the Order are in full possession of the Formulae
of Attainment, both mystical or inwardly-directed and Magical or outwardly-
directed. They have full experience of attainment in both these paths.
They are all, however, bound by the original and fundamental Oath
of the Order, to devote their energy to assisting the Progress of their
Inferiors in the Order. Those who accept the rewards of their emancipation
for themselves are no longer within the Order.
Members of the Order are each entitled to found Orders dependent
on themselves on the lines of the R. C. and G. D. orders, to cover
types of emancipation and illumination not contemplated by the original
(or main) system. All such orders must, however, be constituted in
harmony with the A.'. A.'. as regards the essential principles.
All members of the Order are in possession of the Word of the existing
Aeon, and govern themselves thereby.
They are entitled to communicate directly with any and every member
of the Order, as they may deem fitting.
Every active Member of the Order has destroyed all that He is and
all that he has on crossing the Abyss; but a star is cast forth in
{233} the Heavens to enlighten the Earth, so that he may possess a
vehicle wherein he may communicate with mankind. The quality and position
of this star, and its functions, are determined by the nature of the
incarnations transcended by him.
4. The Grade of Ipsissimus is not to be described fully; but its
opening is indicated in Liber I vel Magi.
There is also an account in a certain secret document to be published
when propriety permits. Here it is only said this: The Ipsissimus
is wholly free from all limitations soever, existing in the nature
of all things without discriminations of quantity or quality between
them. He has identified Being and not-Being and Becoming, action and
non-action and tendency to action, with all other such triplicities,
not distinguishing between them in respect of any conditions, or between
any one thing and any other thing as to whether it is with or without
conditions.
He is sworn to accept this Grade in the presence of a witness, and
to express its nature in word and deed, but to withdraw Himself at
once within the veils of his natural manifestation as a man, and to
keep silence during his human life as to the fact of his attainment,
even to the other members of the Order.
The Ipsissimus is pre-eminently the Master of all modes of existence;
that is, his being is entirely free from internal or external necessity.
His work is to destroy all tendencies to construct or to cancel such
necessities. He is the Master of the Law of Unsubstantiality (Anatta).
The Ipsissimus has no relation as such with any Being: He has no
will in any direction, and no Consciousness of any kind involving duality,
for in Him all is accomplished; as it is written "beyond the Word and
the Fool, yea, beyond the Word and the Fool".
5. The Grade of Magus is described in Liber I vel Magi, and there
are accounts of its character in Liber 418 in the Higher Aethyrs.
There is also a full and precise description of the attainment of
this Grade in the Magical Record of the Beast 666.
The essential characteristic of the Grade is that its possessor
utters a Creative Magical Word, which transforms the planet on {234}
which he lives by the installation of new officers to preside over
its initiation. This can take place only at an "Equinox of the Gods"
at the end of an "Aeon"; that is, when the secret formula which expresses
the Law of its action becomes outworn and useless to its further development.
(Thus "Suckling" is the formula of an infant: when teeth appear it
marks a new "Aeon", whose "Word" is "Eating").
A Magus can therefore only appear as such to the world at intervals
of some centuries; accounts of historical Magi, and their Words, are
given in Liber Aleph.
This does not mean that only one man can attain this Grade in any
one Aeon, so far as the Order is concerned. A man can make personal
progress equivalent to that of a "Word of an Aeon"; but he will identify
himself with the current word, and exert his will to establish it,
lest he conflict with the work of the Magus who uttered the Word of
the Aeon in which He is living.
The Magus is pre-eminently the Master of Magick, that is, his will
is entirely free from internal diversion or external opposition; His
work is to create a new Universe in accordance with His Will. He is
the Master of the Law of Change (Anicca).
To attain the Grade of Ipsissimus he must accomplish three tasks,
destroying the Three Guardians mentioned in Liber 418, the 3rd Aethyr;
Madness, and Falsehood, and Glamour, that is, Duality in Act, Word
and Though.
6. The Grade of Master of the Temple is described in Liber 418
as above indicated. There are full accounts in the Magical Diaries
of the Beast 666, who was cast forth into the Heaven of Jupiter, and
of Omnia in Uno, Unus in Omnibus, who was cast forth into the sphere
of the Elements.
The essential Attainment is the perfect annihilation of that personality
which limits and oppresses his true self.
The Magister Templi is pre-eminently the Master of Mysticism, that
is, His Understanding is entirely free from internal contradiction
or external obscurity; His word is to comprehend the existing Universe
in accordance with His own Mind. He is the Master of the Law of Sorrow
(Dukkha).
To attain the grade of Magus he must accomplish Three 235} Tasks;
the renunciation of His enjoyment of the Infinite so that he may formulate
Himself as the Finite; the acquisition of the practical secrets alike
of initiating and governing His proposed new Universe and the identification
of himself with the impersonal idea of Love. Any neophyte of the Order
(or, as some say, any person soever) possesses the right to claim the
Grade of Master of the Temple by taking the Oath of the Grade. It
is hardly necessary to observe that to do so is the most sublime and
awful responsibility which it is possible to assume, and an unworthy
person who does so incurs the most terrific penalties by his presumption.
7. "The Order of the R. C." The Grade of the Babe of the Abyss
is not a Grade in the proper sense, being rather a passage between
the two Orders. Its characteristics are wholly negative, as it is
attained by the resolve of the Adeptus Exemptus to surrender all that
he has and is for ever. It is an annihilation of all the bonds that
compose the self or constitute the Cosmos, a resolution of all complexities
into their elements, and these thereby cease to manifest, since things
are only knowable in respect of their relation to, and reaction on,
other things.
8. The Grade of Adeptus Exemptus confers authority to govern the
two lower Orders of R. C. and G. D.
The Adept must prepare and publish a thesis setting forth His knowledge
of the Universe, and his proposals for its welfare and progress. He
will thus be known as the leader of a school of thought.
(Eliphas Levi's "Clef des Grands Mysteres," the works of Swedenborg,
von Eckarshausen, Robert Fludd, Paracelsus, Newton, Bolyai, Hinton,
Berkeley, Loyola, etc., etc., are examples of such essays.)
He will have attained all but the supreme summits of meditation,
and should be already prepared to perceive that the only possible course
for him is to devote himself utterly to helping his fellow creatures.
To attain the Grade of Magister Templi, he must perform two tasks;
the emancipation from thought by putting each idea against its opposite,
and refusing to prefer either; and the consecration of {236} himself
as a pure vehicle for the influence of the order to which he aspires.
He must then decide upon the critical adventure of our Order; the
absolute abandonmnt of himself and his attainments. He cannot remain
indefinitely an Exempt Adept; he is pushed onward by the irresistible
momentum that he has generated.
Should he fail, by will or weakness, to make his self-annihilation
absolute, he is none the less thrust forth into the Abyss; but instead
of being received and reconstructed in the Third Order, as a Babe in
the womb of our Lady BABALON, under the Night of Pan, to grow up to
be Himself wholly and truly as He was not previously, he remains in
the Abyss, secreting his elements round his Ego as if isolated from
the Universe, and becomes what is called a "Black Brother". Such a
being is gradually disintegrated from lack of nourishment and the slow
but certain action of the attraction of the rest of the Universe, despite
efforts to insulate and protect himself, and to aggrandise himself
by predatory practices. He may indeed prosper for a while, but in
the end he must perish, especially when with a new Aeon a new word
is proclaimed which he cannot and will not hear, so that he is handicapped
by trying to use an obsolete method of Magick, like a man with a boomerang
in a battle where every one else has a rifle.
9. The Grade of Adeptus Major confers Magical Powers (strictly
so-called) of the second rank.
His work is to use these to support the authority of the Exempt
Adept his superior. (This is not to be understood as an obligation
of personal subservience or even loyalty; but as a necessary part of
his duty to assist his inferiors. For the authority of the Teaching
and governing Adept is the basis of all orderly work.)
To attain the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus, he must accomplish Three
Tasks; the acquisition of absolute Self-Reliance, working in complete
isolation, yet transmitting the word of his superior clearly, forcibly
and subtly; and the comprehension and use of the Revolution of the
wheel of force, under its three successive forms of Radiation, Conduction
and Convection (Mercury, Sulphur, Salt; or Sattvas, Rajas, Tamas),
with their corresponding natures on {237} other planes. Thirdly, he
must exert his whole power and authority to govern the Members of lower
Grades with balanced vigour and initiative in such a way as to allow
no dispute or complaint; he must employ to this end the formula called
"The Beast conjoined with the Woman" which establishes a new incarnation
of deity; as in the legends of Leda, Semele, Miriam, Pasiphae, and
others. He must set up this ideal for the orders which he rules, so
that they may possess a not too abstract rallying point suited to their
undeveloped states.
The A.'. A.'. possesses the secrets of success; it makes no secret
of its knowledge, and if its secrets are not everywhere known and practised,
it is because the abuses connected with the name of occult science
disincline official investigators to examine the evidence at their
disposal.
...the A.'. A.'. intends to make occult science as systematic and
scientific as chemistry; to rescue it from the ill repute which, thanks
both to the ignorant and dishonest quacks that have prostituted its name,
and to the fanatical and narrow-minded enthusiasts that have turned it into
a fetish, has made it an object of aversion to those very minds whose
enthusiasm and integrity make them most in need of its benefits, and most
fit to obtain them.
It is the one really important science, for it transcends the conditions
of material existence and so is not liable to perish with the planet,
and it must be studied as a science, sceptically, with the utmost energy
and patience.
Members of the A.'. A.'. of whatever grade are not bound or expected
or even encouraged to work on any stated lines, or with any special
object.... There is however an absolute prohibition to accept money or
other material reward, directly or indirectly, in respect of any service
connected with the Order, for personal profit or advantage. The penalty
is immediate expulsion, with no possibility of reinstatement on any terms
soever.
But all members must of necessity work in accordance with the facts
of Nature, just as an architect must allow of the Law of Gravitation,
or a sailor reckon with currents.
So must all Members of the A.'. A.'. work by the Magical Formula
of the Aeon.
They must accept the Book of the Law as the Word and the Letter
of Truth, and the sole Rule of Life.... They must acknowledge the
Authority of the Beast 666 and of the Scarlet Woman as ...in the book
it is defined, and accept Their Will ...as concentrating the Will of our
Whole Order. They must accept the Crowned and Conquering Child as the
Lord of the Aeon, and exert themselves to establish His reign upon Earth.
They must acknowledge that "The word of the Law is GR:Theta-Epsilon-
Lambda-Eta-Mu-Alpha." and that "Love is the law, love under will."
Each member must make it his main work to discover for himself his
own true will, and to do it, and do nothing else....
He must accept those orders in the Book of the Law that apply to
himself as being necessarily in accordance with his own true will,
and execute the same to the letter with all the energy, courage, and
ability that he can command. This applies especially to the work of
extending the Law in the world, wherein his proof is his own success,
the witness of his Life to the Law that hath given him light in his
ways, and liberty to pursue them. Thus doing, he payeth his debt to
the Law that hath freed him by working its ill to free all men; and
he proveth himself a true man in our Order by willing to bring his
fellows into freedom.
By thus ordering his disposition, he will fit himself in the best
possible manner for the task of understanding and mastering the divers
technical methods prescribed by the A.'. A.'. for Mystical and Magical
attainment.
He will thus prepare himself properly for the crisis of his career
in the Order, the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of his
Holy Guardian Angel.
His Angel shall lead him anon to the summit of the Order of the R.C.
and make him ready to face the unspeakable terror of the Abyss which
lies between Manhood and Godhead; teach him to Know that agony, to
Dare that destiny, to Will that catastrophe, ...and to keep Silence
for ever as he accomplishes the act of annihilation.
From the Abyss comes No Man forth, but a Star startles the Earth,
and our Order rejoices above that Abyss that the Beast hath begotten
one more Babe in the Womb of Our Lady, His concubine, the Scarlet Woman,
BABALON.
There is not need to instruct a Babe thus born, for in the Abyss
it was purified of every poison of personality; its ascent to the highest
is assured, in its season, and it hath no need of seasons for it is
conscious that all conditions are no more than forms of its fancy.
10. The Grade of Adeptus Minor is the main theme of the instructions
of the A.'. A.'. It is characterised by the Attainment of the Knowledge
and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. (See the Equinox, "The
Temple of Solomon the King;" "The Vision and the Voice" 8th Aethyr;
also "Liber Samekh", etc. etc.) This is the essential work of every
man; none other ranks with it either for personal progress or for power
to help one's fellows. This unachieved, man is no more than the unhappiest
and blindest of animals. He is conscious of his own incomprehensible
calamity, and clumsily incapable of repairing it. Achieved, he is
no less than the co-heir of gods, a Lord of Light. He is conscious
of his own consecrated course, and confidently ready to run it. The
Adeptus Minor needs little help or guidance even from his superiors
in our Order.
His work is to manifest the Beauty of the Order to the world, in
the way that his superiors enjoin, and his genius dictates.
To attain the Grade Adeptus Major, he must accomplish two tasks;
the equilibration of himself, especially as to his passions, so that
he has no preference for any one course of conduct over another, and
the fulfilment of every action by its complement, so that whatever
he does leaves him without temptation to wander from the way of his
True Will.
Secondly, he must keep silence, while he nails his body to the tree
of his creative will, in the shape of that Will, leaving his head and
arms to form the symbol of Light, as if to make oath that his every
thought, word and deed should express the Light derived from the God
with which he has identified his life, his love and his liberty ---
symbolised by his heart, his phallus, and his legs. It {238} is impossible
to lay down precise rules by which a man may attain to the knowledge
and conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel; for that is the particular
secret of each one of us; as secret not to be told or even divined
by any other, whatever his grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof
each man is his own High Priest, and none knoweth the Name of his brother's
God, or the Rite that invokes Him.
The Masters of the A.'. A.'. have therefore made no attempt to institute
any regular ritual for this central Work of their Order, save the generalised
instructions in Liber 418 (the 8th Aethyr) and the detailed Canon and
Rubric of the Mass actually used with success by FRATER PERDURABO in
His attainment. This has been written down by Himself in Liber Samekh.
But they have published such accounts as those in "The Temple of Solomon
the King" and in "John St. John." They have taken the only proper course;
to train aspirants to this attainment in the theory and practice of
the whole of Magick and Mysticism, so that each man may be expert in
the handling of all known weapons, and free to choose and to use those
which his own experience and instinct dictate as proper when he essays
the Great Experiment.
He is furthermore trained to the one habit essential to Membership
of the A.'. A.'.; he must regard all his attainments as primarily the
property of those less advanced aspirants who are confided to his charge.
No attainment soever is officially recognised by the A.'. A.'. unless
the immediate inferior of the person in question has been fitted by
him to take his place.
The rule is not rigidly applied in all cases, as it would lead to
congestion, especially in the lower grades where the need is greatest,
and the conditions most confused; but it is never relaxed in the Order
of the R. C. or of the S. S.: save only in One Case.
There is also a rule that the Members of the A.'. A.'. shall not
know each other officially, save only each Member his superior who
introduced him and his inferior whom he has himself introduced.
This rule has been relaxed, and a "Grand Neophyte" appointed to
superintend all Members of the Order of the G. D. The real object
of the rule was to prevent Members of the same Grade {239} working
together and so blurring each other's individuality; also to prevent
work developing into social intercourse.
Such is a brief account, adapted as far as may be to the average
aspirant to Adeptship, or Attainment, or Initiation, or Mastership,
or Union with God, or Spiritual Development, or Mahatmaship, or Freedom,
or Occult Knowledge, or whatever he may call his inmost need of Truth,
of our Order of A.'. A.'.
It is designed principally to awake interest in the possibilities
of human progress, and to proclaim the principles of the A.'. A.'.
===================================================== END OF OOZE FAQ #07
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_________________________________________________________________________
This is from a series of continually-updated posts responding to recurrent
questions in this newsgroup. Please debate anything in here which seems
extreme and add your own response to these questions after the post. I'll
integrate what I like. Thanks.
tyagi nagasiva
ty...@houseofkaos.Abyss.coM (I@AM)