On Chastity, Part 3
by Christopher Reed Johnson | https://www.corneliuspublications.com/chastity-part-3/ | October 13, 2024 | Repost of an FB article for those who haven't read it.
[T]he first step of the Aspirant toward the Gate of Initiation tells him that purity - unity of purpose - is essential above all else. ‘Do what thou wilt’ strikes on him, a ray of fierce white flame consuming all that is not utterly God…. [which] purges his every part.
Aleister Crowley
Liber ABA, “Of the Oath”
My Will which is thine be done!
Aleister Crowley
Book 4, “Of the Oath”
Exercise moderateth cold; stillness heat. To be pure and to keep silence, is the True Law of all that are beneath Heaven.
Aleister Crowley
Tao Teh King
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law – AL, I:40
Before concluding this analysis, an etymological investigation of the word ‘Chastity’ will yield fruitful results. According to An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Walter W. Skeat traces the original meaning of Chaste to be “pure, clean, and disciplined”. Along the same lines, in Little Essays Towards Truth, Crowley attributes the word to “castus, possibly connected with castrum, a fortified camp [which] may be supposed to assert the moral attitude of readiness to resist any assault upon an existing state of Purity” (p. 60).
Thus far, Chastity in the context of Thelema involves several conceptual principles that differ from its modern usage, namely defined as an abstention from sexual contact. Chastity in Crowley’s estimation can be gleaned through the following:
Eight Lectures on Yoga contains all the secrets of the system. Morality (Yama) rules The Fool (Atu 0)—the most critical card in the deck. You must learn Yama to really get The Fool and do something in sex magick. The attainment of proficiency in all eight limbs, especially Yama (control, restraint, and command) and Niyama (virtue, simplicity, insensibility, endurance, and patience), is key. These also encompass Universal and Selfless Love (Altruism), Vitality, Creativity, Trance, Aspiration, Indifference, Purity, and Joy (and, of course, a desire for Union with All), all of which require the courage To Dare. Yama pertains to the male, left side of the Tree of Life; the other seven limbs rule the female, right side.
The reconciliation and balancing of opposites between the pillars on the Tree of Life: Victory and Splendor, Mercy and Strength, and Wisdom and Intelligence.
The development of Purity and perfection in giving oneself up to the beloved.
The breaking of all habits that serve to enslave oneself is often achieved and facilitated by the awakening of tendencies and the subsequent destruction of each.
The acceptance of and Will towards Death and Annihilation.
Overcoming forgetfulness.
The abandonment of mundane love in favor of Sacred Love – “Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love…” (AL, I:57).
The formation of the Magical Oath, the vow of Holy Obedience, as well as one’s continual efforts towards Purification and Consecration.
The contacting of one’s Holy Guardian Angel, and thus also with beings on other planes of existence, as well as to bring forth the New Aeon of Horus.
Crowley aptly defines Chastity in Little Essays Towards Truth, which is worth quoting in full:
A chaste man is thus not merely one who avoids the contagion of impure thoughts and their results, but whose virility is competent to restore Perfection to the world about him…. Chastity may thus be defined as the strict observance of the Magical Oath; that is, in the Light of the Law of Thelema, absolute and perfected devotion to the Holy Guardian Angel and exclusive pursuit of the Way of the True Will…. The chaste man, the true Knight-Errant of the Stars, imposes continually his essential virility upon the throbbing Womb of the King’s Daughter; with every stroke of his Spear he penetrates the heart of Holiness, and bids spring forth the Fountain of the Sacred Blood, splashing its scarlet dew throughout Space and Time. (p. 61)
Here the question about the nature of the Magical Oath naturally arises, namely, how is the Oath defined and employed? In brief, the Oath is the statement of “the purpose of the ceremony” taken before the “Lord of the Universe”- ‘My Will which is thine be done!’ – as witness to the act of will he is going to perform, despite any obstacles that hinder success in its performance (vowing to perform the operation no matter what and to persevere to its successful conclusion). This declaration is one of the most important aspects of any operation as it is the foundation of all the work, serving as an “Oath [that] binds the Magician forever” (Crowley, Book 4, p. 227). Following this definition, Crowley emphasizes that
“the first step of the Aspirant toward the Gate of Initiation tells him that purity – unity of purpose – is essential above all else. ‘Do what thou wilt’ strikes on him, a ray of fierce white flame consuming all that is not utterly God…. [which] purges his every part” (p. 228).
Relatedly,
“love under will” esoterically refers to the absorption of nymphs and elementals into the magician’s aura in such a way that their absorption imparts them with a perfect soul through their death because of the union with man, which thereby serves to redeem them.
However, this topic is ultimately beyond the purview of the main point discussed in this essay. (See Liber NV, Liber Had, and The Scented Garden for further details; cf. Liber 418, the Second and Ninth Aethyrs as well.)
In any case, Grady McMurtry often stated that if a person was not willing to change their behavior and, more importantly, the way they think and live on a daily basis, then no “thought” at the point of orgasm would ever suffice; hence the need to properly fulfill the original requirements of VII° (Chastity) before attempting to use yoga and magick as a tool for IX° workings.
Basically, a magician might try to perform the secret, but success is found in their Intent (VII°). In other words, the goal cannot be something desired for themselves and their personal Wants but rather for the Will of Humanity, which is situated outside of Chokmah. This requires that one undergoes the training and endures the trials of each sephira on the Tree of Life. The sacred Saturnian tree of Binah (corresponding to the birth occurring in the 1st degree in the O.T.O.) will become a mighty oak whose roots become entrenched on Malkuth, thereby allowing the candidate to become a Thelemite.
Taking further degrees, one after another, inevitably allows the candidate to ascend into the higher branches of the Tree and back into Chokmah as IX°, where “the First Word [is] as the last.” At this point the initiate realizes that his personal Will is now synonymous with the Will of Humanity and that he must, from this day forth, act accordingly; if not, he has no right to claim to be a true IX°. Abandoning one’s personal will for the Universal Will is what is known as crossing the Abyss. It means resisting all temptations from both without and within.
In other words, it means, “I must put a tight leash on my demon and remain vigilant”. Vigilance, devotion, prayer, and Chastity – i.e., awareness that the Phallus is not mine, but that of my Father’s in Chokmah, and perfect Devotion to the Holy Guardian Angel and the pursuit of the One True Will – are of utmost importance.
Abiding by the virtues mentioned in Ephesians, 6: 10-17 is supremely helpful: One must put on the armor of God as protection against the demon as spiritual weakness and wickedness, gird my loins with the belt of Truth, protect myself with the breastplate of Righteousness, continually wear the shoes of Peace, hold fast to the shield of Faith, take the helmet of Salvation, and finally arm myself with the Sword of Spirit (the Word of God).
At this point, I think that it’ll be useful to investigate the theories and practices set forth in De Nuptiis Secretis Deorum cum Homnibus sub figura XXIV (On the Secret Marriages of Gods with Men) to synthesize the principles outlined thus far in this series. In this document, it is outlined that Chastity is necessary to the employment of Redemption, which can only take place on the planes of Earth (Gaia) and Heaven (Uranus) by means of the ecstasy of sex in the former and in the spiritual experience of sex on the subtle spiritual planes of the latter. Thus, Redemption takes place in both the Innermost and the Outermost. The most straightforward way of describing the techniques to which Crowley is referring in this document follows:
The prerequisites that one must initially possess: One has worked diligently through their psychological issues and as a result is living in close alliance with their True Will (e.g., for simplicity and convenience's sake, a married couple where the man before engaging in coitus with his wife—defined exclusively by his sex as opposed to any gender identifications—can easily empty his mind in the service of becoming an avatar for their sex magick ritual, which has been planned for later that evening according to their predetermined and ideal astrological conditions.
As Crowley once mentioned, once the ritual begins, both participants usually spend at minimum one hour, but often two or three hours on average engaged in the orgia, so that the energy generated becomes progressively intense and powerful. Grady adds to these statements that the man should have no issue with going a whole year without ejaculation, which is important given that the alchemical laboratory of the conjoined bodies will not only share the energy generated, but that the continuous heating and cooling of the Seed serves to purify the Mercurial substances, which should never be grounded or released within the triangle until this process has been completed.
The ego is collected in the semen (Holy Spirit) and subsequently drained by means of the orgia;
progressively over time, the Deity is allowed to manifest through the magician with the caveat that every last drop of semen (blood) is offered unto the Virgin Grail (which is especially important given that each sperm in the semen is a complete Spirit; cf. The Book of Lies, Chapter 18 concerning the “Dew of Immortality”). This is what is esoterically referred to as the Elixir when consumed as described in Section II (De aliquot ritu; “Of the Rites of Blood”, literally, “Of some rites”).
These rites, and others, are performed under the aegis of Chastity (which is also referred to as “Charity” in some sections). Moreover, the instructions of how to utilize these techniques in the manufacture of the Host in the Gnostic Mass are given in the sometimes-omitted Section III (De aliquot ritu Ecclesiae Gnosticae; “On the Rites of Blood in the Gnostic Mass”). Simply stated: In addition to operations of Chastity (Male) and Virginity (Female), the operations of Purification occur by Water and those of Consecration is achieved by Fire. The offspring is the magical child, or Homunculus, which is then used to anoint the magician and the figure of Baphomet. At any rate, the male power can make all deeds Holy if used in the correct manner, which is one of the esoteric doctrines taught in the upper degrees of the O.T.O. (The others being the astral celebration of the Sabbath wherein copulation with spirits is performed by means of the Consummation of the rite of Marriage with the “Incarnate One” often represented by the personifications of various Gods, such as Pan, Bacchus, Baphomet, Satan, Babalon, et al.).
Given knowledge of these facts as described in De Nuptiis Secretis Deorum cum Homnibus, the clearest and simplest definition of Chastity can now be encapsulated in one sentence: Be mindful to control the outcome of every sexual act and perform every act unto Nuit – in Devotion to the highest – while keeping in mind the Great Death to come. (For example, the Knight, in “Service to His High Lady above” is inspired by a real woman whom he idealizes as a variation of the Virgin Mary. He prays to her as an astral deity to whom he devotes himself and his labors. In many cases, it is the unattainable mistress who sparks the truest form of love. Ultimately, it is the worship of his inner goddess as the reflection of the outer that sparks his Lust.)
Now consider this –
The supreme and absolute injunction, the crux of your knightly oath, is that you lay your lance in rest to the glory of your Lady, the Queen of the Stars, Nuit. Your knighthood depends upon your refusal to fight in any lesser cause. That is what distinguishes you from the brigand and the bully. You give your life on Her Altar. You make yourself worthy of Her by your readiness to fight at any time, in any place, with any weapon, and at any odds. For her, from Whom you come, of Whom you are, to Whom you go, your life is no more and no less than one continuous sacrament. You have no words but Her praise, no thought but love of Her. You have only one cry of inarticulate ecstasy, the intense spasm, possession of Her, and Death, to Her. You have no act but the priest’s gesture that makes your body Hers. The wafer is the disk of the Sun, the star in Her body. Your blood is split from your heart with every beat of your pulse into Her cup. It is the wine of Her life crushed from the grapes of your sun-ripened vine. On this wine you are drunk. It washes your corpse that is as the fragment of the Host, broken by you, the Priest, into Her golden chalice. You, Knight, and Priest of the Order of the Temple, saying Her mass, become God in Her, by love and death… The end is everything: that by the act, whatever it is, one worships, loves, possesses, and becomes Nuit.
—Commentaries to Liber AL vel Legis, I:52
In the end, this is the real meaning of Thelemic Chastity – “take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will! But always unto me” (AL, I:51). As for the Woman’s role (herein described in the context of heterosexual operations), Chastity, in the case of a true Scarlet Woman, necessitates that SHe keeps his and her own libido at peak performance while at the same time aiding him in avoiding Death. If she cannot fulfill this role then “another woman shall awake the lust & worship of the Snake.” (AL, III:34).
In the Parzival legend, the Kingdom and wounds of Amfortas could only be healed by a child of innocence bathed in Chastity—a Foolish youth named Parzival whose sacred number is 777. This implies the need for a third factor to be brought into the picture as the card of Art (Atu XIV) represents and what Crowley calls “the hidden content of the Egg”, i.e. The Fool.
At the stage of The Hierophant, we must turn our backs on ‘All’ Wants and seek the solution as to who we are from within and across the ‘bridge’ of The Empress, for only then can Binah (Mother) unite with Chokmah (Father) such that, the Lance being placed in the Graal properly, a child known as Daath can be opened. Daath was, as Crowley always said, the Doorway, or, more appropriately, the ‘wires’ connecting the Above to the Below wherein the Kingdom would become healed. As was the case with Parzival, we also gain the power to heal the wound at the very moment we understand this Truth (of Aletheia), which is concealed within the alchemical formula of V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Frater L.'.P.'.D.'. 217 In the valley of Atlanta, Ga. ☉ in 21º Libra : ☽ in 4º Pisces : dies Solis : Anno Vx æræ legis
Love is the law, love under will. –AL, I:57