Atu XV - IO PAN

[Aeon418]

The Book of Thoth, p.106:

 

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The formula of this card is then the complete appreciation of all existing things. He rejoices in the rugged and the barren no less than in the smooth and the fertile. All things equally exalt him. He represents the finding of ecstasy in every phenomenon, however naturally repugnant; he transcends all limitations; he is Pan; he is All.

 

The Devil card represents the Thelemic path of spiritual liberation. 😈😱

 

According to Thelema existence is composed of two fundamental principles - the Knower and the Known. This concept of conditioned reality is shown explicitly on the Thoth Tarot's Devil card.

 

For the sake of literary convenience and because we generally relate to things better when we are able to put a name and a face on abstract principles, these two fundamentals of reality are symbolized by the god, Hadit, and the goddess, Nuit. On the Devil card the former is represented by the Winged Circle on top of the wand. While the latter is represented by the rings that circle the top of the "tree." These two represent at inseparable unity that manifests under the appearance of duality for the sake of experience of its own limitless possibilities. Elsewhere Crowley refers to this of 0=2.

 

Hadit is always the Knower who can never be known. He is the subjective point of view at the heart of Nuit and is the very source of impersonal life and awareness behind any manifestation of the personal.

 

Nuit is everything that can be known by Hadit. In one sense she is the sum total of all possibilities of any and every kind. As I sit here typing this post it is an experience of the goddess Nuit. The sensations of the keyboard on my fingertips are an experience of Nuit. As I look at the room around me it is all Nuit. Looking out of the window at the world outside, it is all Nuit. And from my perspective so too are all the other people passing by. However, from their perspective, I am an aspect of Nuit.

 

Bringing this all back to the Devil card. Crowley only ever uses the term "Evil" in a very technical way. Basically it is a kind of confusion between the Knower and the Known. We are all subject to bondage and limitation when we mistake our true natures for appearances. The Devil card corresponds to the Hebrew letter Ayin, which means an Eye. 

 

I appear to be a separate individual that is distinct from the world "out there." I also appear to have a body. If I turn my awareness back upon itself and observe my mental state, my thoughts and emotions, I appear to have a thing called a mind and a sense of "self." But because I am ultimately Hadit the Knower, this is all my experience of Nuit-the Known. This basic confusion between the Knower and the Known is part and parcel of the human condition, and it is that which causes us to obsessively crave the temptation for exclusively pleasurable experiences. While at the same time we are engaged in a life long and ultimately futile non stop struggle to keep any kind of discomfort or pain at arms length. But eventually everyone, even the most fortunate, gets old, gets sick and dies. (Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, Lord of Time.)

 

2500 years ago the Buddha diagnosed this dilemma of existence and called it Dukkha, which is usually translated as suffering, but is actually closer to "unsatisfactory." His solution was a progressive renunciation of all conditioned reality, both the painful and the pleasurable. The final goal of this renunciate path was Nibbana or Nirvana, beyond the duality of pleasure and pain. For a time Aleister Crowley was attracted to this path, but the seemingly life-denying element of renunciation grated on him and left him ultimately dissatisfied. In fact he eventually came to view the renunciate path as a form of cowardice in the face of life. The Thelemic path that Crowley developed goes in the exact opposite direction. It is a non-renunciate path that seeks to embrace ALL experiences, both positive and negative, as a manifestation of the Divine Feminine. This path necessitates a progressive opening of the Heart to all aspects of the goddess Nuit, both the sweet and the bitter, that transforms the totality of life into a divine sacrament where the Knower and the Known are engaged in constant erotic union. This is the path the transforms the Devil into Pan, the ALL.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Aeon418
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[Aeon418]

Recently I finished reading a book called Erotic Liberation by an author calling himself, Entelecheia. Despite the title, the book is not what you think it is. 😉 Rather, it is a collection of essays on aspects of Thelema. A passage on page 17 caught my eye. It seems to pointing directly to the Devil card. 

 

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Entelecheia. "The Personification of evil in Thelema is the person who insists upon their separation from life. They observe and control nature from an outside point of view. They assert their individuality against time."

 

To me this suggests the typically ego centred view of life that is rooted in fear. Our egoic sense of self forces us to divide the totality of reality into positive and negative experiences. We cherry-pick the good stuff and fight like hell to resist what we think is bad stuff. This selection process is driven by the ego's self protection mechanisms. While the world outside may be constantly changing, the ego constantly seeks to maintain its sense of a fixed and unchanging self by only admitting certain kinds of experiences through its filters. Anything that threatens this must be kept away. Unfortunately, life isn't a "safe space." All life is in a state of constant change, which Crowley called "love." To seek to isolate oneself from this is futile and, according the Buddha, is a cause of suffering. Life itself becomes the Devil to one who refuses life.

 

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Entelecheia. "The personification of goodness or holiness is the Saint. They have sacrificed their individuality, meaning, there is no longer anything standing between them and the universe. Their hearts are open, and they unconditionally affirm existence."

 

The Saints are the same ones described by Crowley in connection with Atu XI - Lust. They have courageously opened their individual hearts to life as it is. It is an opened hearted acceptance of reality, or if you prefer it, the Divine Feminine, Nuit a.k.a. Babalon. Instead of fighting a futile battle against life, they have become willing vehicles of Universal Life an affirm to totality of all existence without restriction. (Liber AL: "The word of Sin is Restriction.)

 

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Entelecheia. "Regardless of whatever misfortune befalls them, they no longer experience resentment. While they may not be free of physical pain, they are free of existential despair."

 

Life isn't fair. Sometimes it's downright terrible. The Buddha proposed renunciation as a solution to suffering and a progressive withdrawal from life. While Crowley went in the opposite direction and asserted an open hearted acceptance of life (PAN) where the most exalted and spiritual things are wedded to the most earthy and sensual aspects of life in one divine sacrament. On the Devil card this is symbolised by the trunk of the "tree" penetrating heaven, while the shaft of the Wand goes down to the centre of the earth and affirms the Unity of All. But try to "cherry pick" from the ALL and it inevitably becomes the Devil.

 

The Book of Thoth, The Devil: "With thy right Eye create all for thyself, and with the left accept all that be created otherwise." Which is why the Devil has a Third Eye in which the creator and the created are one and the same. IO PAN!