Azoth or The Star In The East- Commentary Part 1

"I knew on a very deep level that this was a Sacred Art"

Alchemy is known as the Royal Art. It is an art in the sense that it calls forth both the creative and destructive forces within. It stimulates both the inner and the outer, and gives a greater meaning to that which at first glance may seem worthless or trite. It opens the world like a book to the hungry reader and tells a magnificent tale of worlds outside, within, and surrounding our own. It is Royal or Noble in that it repels any superfulous influence. Its is a path of purity, of higher status for the soul trapped in a muddied world, one that places the crown of immortabilty on anyone who would undergo its trials and blessings. It is spoken of in Greek Myth and in Spiritual Allegory. In fact, I would say that it is the only Art. Truly every spiritual tradition, every system of High Magic, every mystical teaching is only an extension of the process of alchemy The transmutation of the soul from the state of unknowingness and plumbous nature of lead to that of the perfected, incorruptable, and auriferous nature of gold. To elevate oneself from the imperfect to the perfect, to be a vessel which holds the essence of the All, and can with a touch turn other things imperfect into their exhalted counter-parts...that is the nature of the mystical life, the spiritual life. To those who seek the Royal Path I offer a commentary on portions of Azoth or the Star of the East. It's purpose to offer a bridge for your own research and development in the Great Work for you will see that alchemical texts draw from many, many sources and it is the work of the alchemist to delve into each mystery slowly uncovering its source and its meaning, digesting it and making it apart of oneself. And as I am a student always and forever I welcome any commentary from fellow alchemists and mystics alike. May we all move forward together in the Great Work. I hope this short blog is helpful and interesting. I will be off on a spiritual journey for a few weeks time, so this one is short but when I return I shall continue with Part II.

Nosce te Ipsum

Soror FSO

Preface.

In the books of the old physical Mystics, who conducted the experiments of transmutation and investigated the possibility of Nature in the world of metals and minerals, we find frequent reference to an all-permeateing and sublimating principle, which of the many forces deal with or referred to in occult chemistry appears most potent and most universal.

metals and minerals- refers to a more advanced stage of alchemy usually partaken of only after mastery of the

vegetable/herbal realm in which one has completed the "vegetable stone" known as the Minor Opus. This is the process of balancing and purifying the elements within through seperation and recombination. This work corresponds to the work of the Outer Order in the Golden Dawn taking one from Malkuth to the threshold of Tiphareth as well as to the world of Yetzirah and its effects on the astral body. The mineral work corresponds to the permanent psychic changes that are made in Briah, the Inner Order work and the spheres of Tiphareth, Geburah, and Chesed.

all-permeating;all-evading- Azoth is effective in all planes and for all times

sublimating-the spiritualization of matter; purification, the raising of one's vibrational energy. In chemistry this corresponds to the process of transition from a solid to gas with no liquid phase in between. Sublimation begins with the removal of the superfulous so that the purest parts remain possessing only the quality of the spirit, the term sublimation can also refer to the creation of the astral body.

It is the 'essential and final principle of the Great Work; its analogies in the intelligible order are to be found in the Divine Will; it is, allegorically speaking, the hand of God in Nature, and therefore in its symbolical aspect, as the outward sign of a withdrawn and unattainable potency; it has not been inappropriately designated the God of the Sages.

intelligible- denoting the metaphysical ream which is accessible to the intellect as opposed to the world of phenomena accessible only to the five senses. According to Pythagoras there are two worlds the sensible and the intelligible, the latter has the Monad as an originating principle. Plato also expounded on the intelligble world using his "Divided Line" analogy, a quick summery which can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line

This force is the alchemical Azoth, The Catholicon, Magnesia, The Sperm of the World, Mercury, and the "Universal Medicine of Things, endowed with the most intent and concentrated virtue.

Azoth- The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, formed from the first and last letters of the hebrew alphabet Aleph-Tav

Catholicon- a remedy for ills

Magnesia-the "white" or "red" magnesia, the "magnet of Jah", the attractive principle of Divine Wisdom. This 'magnet' is also the power of attraction which establishes the orbits of the planets and the astronomical order of the heavens ( we hear this echoed in the Zelator initiation "He has bound Man with the Stars as with a chain. He allures him with Scattered Fragments of the Divine Body in bird and beast and flower, and He laments over him in the Wind and in the Sea and in the birds".\) It is the matter of the Stone. It "yields to nothing but love because generation is her aim and this is never accomplished through violence" The Sperm of the World from which all things are naturally generated, she (Magnesia) is of a middle nature (the Reconciler)

"It contains within itself" says the Book of the Wood of Life, "all other Medicines, as well as the first principle of all other substances, their accidents excluded. Unto this all things are alike; it uncovers every species, and imparts and immense streangth and catholic, central virtue.

catholic- universal

accidents-The nine accidents are quality, quantity, relation,action, passion, time, place, disposition, rainment. Accident was a term used by Pythagoras to describe a quality that was not apart of something's inherent nature (substance). For example a dog is a dog whether it is black or white. Therefore the dog is the substance, and the color is its accident. When the substance and accidents are reconciled together they form the one title, the perfect number, iota (10) (Matt 5:18: Verily I say unto you, till the heaven and earth pass away, one iota, or one title may not pass away from the law, till that all may come to pass). The iota is associated with the letter Yod-Hand in the hebrew alphabet. It is also associated with Virgo and The Hermit in the Tarot. (refer to the previous reference as Azoth being the hand of God in Nature)

Path of Purification/Enochian Seniors

In my last blog I spoke about the effects of inward purity on the power of one's magical workings. In theurgy, the process works in tandem. High Magic helps you purify, purity brings you closer to God, and thus your magic becomes more powerful thus leading you to greater purification. However, I have found to get the most efficient effects it is helpful to add onto one's magical practice other practices of purification such as prayer, fasting, meditation, right thought, right action, reading the lives of spiritual masters etc...

Over the next few months I will be undergoing a particularly special practice which will include a gradual purification practice that will build upon itself. Thus, I will start out slowly with one discipline and every few weeks add another until I have a very stringent regimen right around the time the event will take place. I would like to share the results on my blog of how this begins to affect my magic, its power and my consciousness.

Over this past week I began practicing the technique which I shared with you in my previous blog of constant prayer. I have used this technique before and have found it to be quite powerful. It is a little difficult at first to try and realize when your mind has entered a state of empty chatter while doing mundane things. The mind doesn't tame so easily, but as you begin to remind yourself over and over again, it becomes more natural. I haven't reached the state yet where my mind goes naturally to prayer...however I am already seeing the effects it is having on my magic.

This evening a Frater and I did a special ritual for peace. We have dedicated our personal practices to spiritual enlightenment, but our group work to healing the world and others. Recently I just came out of a bought of deep alchemy which was causing me to lose my motivation a bit, thus my magical practice was suffering. But I have been back on track for a few weeks now, and my experience has been good during magic, but not what it could be.

Tonight was a different story. I have been using constant prayer all week and today I made sure to go to Church as partake of the Eucharist. (This is not Golden Dawn, however I am a Rosicrucian and I choose to add Church etc...to my personal practice) During the banishings I began to see an underlying shimmer in the space around me. I can't exactly describe it, but it was if I was seeing that Light does permeate all things. Everything in the astral plane had a glow around it as if there was a Light shining from behind it somewhere. As I began moving through the rituals I found myself more intensely connected to the Divine Light than normal (normally its pretty good, but tonight was very powerful) I started to enter a state of bliss and felt entirely connected to the beings around me that we were invoking. It was as if I was on the threshold of a state of oneness with all that was around me, rather than it being there and me being here. Compared to the what I have been feeling recently this was a big jump...I guess a little purification can go along way.

This week I am thinking of adding on a Wed/Fri fast. This is a traditional Orthodox practice that is kept most of the time throughout the year. However, this week is a special week long fast of St. Peter and Paul so I am thinking of just fasting for the whole week. If I choose to do this I will then commence with the Wed/Fri fast the following week as well as the constant prayer.

On a separate note, I would also like to mention that I have found if you are going to seek counsel from the Enochian Seniors it is best if you are fairly purified first. I have been working with them for about 6months, and for about 3 wks or so I wasn't following as strict of a daily regimen as usual. Let me tell you, it is no fun to get your ass handed to you by Enochian Seniors...I very promptly began my practices again and took my butt to Church today to partake of the Eucharist. Of course, you may find a difference in your practice, which I would love to hear about. But this recent instance reminds me of the story of Moses when he hit the rock twice...it seems in my experience that once you have purified to a certain level, and you go backwards a bit, the spirits are not always as forgiving as they may have been when you were ignorant of that state. Just a heads-up ;)

I look forward to telling you all of my progress, please pray that I will remain steadfast throughout the months...may you be greatly blessed in your Work.