10.1: "What is the Abyss?"
Description
This article is from the magicK kreEePing oOze FAQ, by tyagi nagasiva tyagI@houseofAos.abyss.coM with numerous contributions by others.
10.1: "What is the Abyss?"
[See the alt.magick KabbalahFAQ for introductory information.]
Within popular Qabalah models (sometimes quite simplistic) there is
presumed to exist a vast expanse between what is called the 'Upper
Triad' (the first three spheres in the Tree of Life) and the 'Middle
Triad' (those directly below the Upper).
Some magicians find value in the notion, using this as a metaphor for
psychic transformation, that one may actually 'jump' or somehow move
past this great gap called the Abyss, wherein a strange 'artificial',
'false' or 'hidden' sphere resides, and 'attain to the highest states
of consciousness'. Sometimes there is supposed to be a guardian of
this Abyss and some have given it the name 'Choronzon' (this being a
name of unknown origin, related to the workings of Dr. John Dee and
his Enochian system).
The nature of this guardian, the Abyss in which it resides, and the states
of consciousness to which one supposedly may be initiated in this endeavor,
are all a matter of debate in alt.magick. Even the entire model is
simplistically related here and by others, as Colin Low and others will
make clear below. Far be it from the Kreeeping Ooze FAQ to attempt to
resolve these issues. What lies below are merely samples meant to prevent
endless repetition. Enjoy.
tyagi nagasiva
tyagI@houseofkAos.abyss.coM (I@AM)
"_______________________________________________________________"
Our favorite Shava writes about the Abyss with respect to initiation:
Approaching a time of reorganization/initiation/crisis can happen gradually
or all at once. When it happens gradually, a feeling of creeping horror
and insecurity comes upon one, a more classical form of existential despair,
better recognized in wider European culture.
When it comes all at once -- often voluntarily induced by magickal means,
via a spirit journey or somesuch -- it can be so precipitous as to resemble
a complete dissolution of the Ego, all at once. It is this experience of
dissolution to first causes and reorganization from ground zero, which is
the Abyss. One doesn't really *lose* the ego, the way I think of it, but
rather puts the Ego, as a construct, into perspective as a subsidiary
aspect of ones interface.
It is the Ego's (and possibly the Self's) warning mechanism which
gives a sense of extreme forboding -- even panic -- which I believe
is referred to as the Lurker on the Threshhold, or the Guardian of the
Abyss -- is also a construct. For some people, it becomes demonized
such that it seems like a completely separate entity -- which I suppose,
for folks into archetypical manifestations, it might be. To me, it is
much like the constriction in the belly when faced with a sheer height
(ergo the Abyss -- gee...;) -- something that exists as a warning because
of what could happen. If you stay on your own side, you are probably
as safe as before.
The secret is, if you overcome your fear and jump, you might find you
can fly...
Shava Nerad Averett
shava_averett@unc.edu
"_____________________________________________________________________"
John Greer quotes Taarna savet to make a point:
>...Daath lies at the heart of the
>"Path of the Priestess". This path is by no means easy and represents
>the changeover from "mother" to "crone". To make a long story short,
>Daath, or knowledge, is not a "_false_" sepheroth, but rather a
>"_hidden_" sepheroth, one that can only be revealed after the passing of
>numerous experiences and time.
In another sense, "where Daath is, Kether is not; where Kether is, Daath
is not."
From this perspective Daath is indeed a false Sephirah; as Knowledge, it
is a representation (and thus a falsification) of Kether, which is
unknowable. (It is possible to "be" Kether -- to enter into absolute
Unity -- but one cannot know it, because knowing implies a duality between
knower and known, and there can be no duality whatever in Kether.) Daath
is constructed by every conscious being, as its conception of what Unity/
"God"/what-have-you, and the process of crossing the Abyss becomes one of
removing the image so the reality can manifest itself.
If you happen to be emotionally attached to the image, this becomes the
Dark Night of the Soul; if not, the path of the Camel, which may be slow
(as desert journeys often are) but nothing worse...
-- John Michael Greer
grimoire@u.washington.edu
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Frater Nigris chimed in with some more extreme view:
Below the Abyss Da'ath and Yesod are parallel. In the Abyss they are
united....After one passes through Tiphareth along the Middle Pillar
one moves into a sort of 'mirrored water' in which one simultaneously
enters Daath and Yesod. From there one steps into both Kether and
Malkuth, again simultaneously, due to their essential unity. It is only
the Abyss (Maya) which makes them appear to be different from one another.
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