THE ART OF CROWLEY

"Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul."

Francois Rabelais in Gargantua and Patagruel

(François Rabelais was a writer, priest and French doctor of the Renaissance. His Book "Gargantua and Patagruel" was one of the sources of inspiration for Aleister Crowley to develop the Thelemic Religion.)

According to the Catholic Church there are four cardinal virtues that polarize all other human virtues. The theological concept of these four virtues was originally derived from Plato's scheme and adapted by St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Augustine of Hippo, and St. Thomas Aquinas. They are habitual and stable perfections of the intelligence and the human will, which regulate our acts, order our passions and guide our conduct according to reason and faith.

The four cardinal virtues are:

The Prudence. The reason and the measure to discern our choices.

The Justice. The will to give others what is their due.

The Force. That which assures us the firmness in the difficulties.

The Temperance. The Moderation. The balance.

The Art / The Temperance

The Arcanum Number XIV

Art of Crowley painted by Lady Frieda Harris

In this little essay we will talk about the Good Measure, the Temperance that Aleister Crowley called Art in his Tarot of Thoth. The Art possesses the zodiacal attribute Jupiter (the planet of the expansion) in Sagittarius (The Constellation of the Archer, of the arrow that aims to reach great distances).

In the Kabbalah it represents the path 25 of the tree of life that connects Tiphareth (the beauty) to Yesod (the foundation). Hebrew Letter: A'ain which means: Eye. In Roman mythology it represents Diana (the Goddess Artemis for the Greeks) the hunting goddess who rules the moon while her twin brother Apollo rules the sun.

In this rereading of Crowley, since the Diana of the Arcanum has several breasts, we can say that it was inspired by the Diana statue of Ephesus (Greco-Roman city of antiquity that is currently part of Turkey today).

Diana of Ephesus

This Arcanum XIV, as Aleister Crowley says in his book of Thoth, is the consummation of Arcane VI (The Lovers) when the two beings of the other arcane merge into a hybrid being promoting their communion in the deepest sense. The black king and the white queen of Arcane VI merge here in harmony and balance of forces giving rise to this other two-headed alchemical being who mixes fire and water in his cauldron, joining opposites and promoting perfect unity of being . It may be further noted that the white eagle and red lion of Arcane VI appear in Arcane XIV with their dramatically inverted colors intensifying this mixture and the consummation of this union. As The Lovers dissolve into the Sixth Arcanum, they coagulate in the 14th Arcanum as Crowley explains.

The Lovers / Arcane VI

One can also note the representation of the Orphic Egg in the two arcanum. The Orphic Egg refers to the Golden Egg of Brahma (Indu God of creation) that symbolizes the universe. The Orphic Egg also refers to the mysteries of Dionysus in the sense of transformation (since Dionysus before becoming immortal, died as Zagreb and was stored in the thigh of Zeus as it was transmuted into the Olympian God). And finally the Orphic Egg refers to Orpheus and his descent to the kingdom of Hades to rescue Eurydice. Brahma creating a universe that transmutes, Dionysus became immortal god, and Orpheus descending into hell are references to alchemical processes and purification. And the Art of Crowley, represented by the Arcanum XIV, above all makes reference to all these alchemical processes.

Observing the axiom above the head of Temperance we have:

"Visita Interiorem Terrae, Rectificando, Invenies Occultum Lapidem."

Translation: "Visit the Center of the Earth, Rectifying yourself, you will find the Philosopher's Stone". In other words, "Visit Your Inner Purification, Find Your Hidden Self, or the essence of your human soul." We can even change this axiom by the inscription of the Oracle of Delphi which means exactly the same thing in other words: "Know thyself and you will know the Universe and the Gods." It is through self knowledge and inner alchemical changes that we can transmute lead into gold and also transform things and people around us. The two axioms that follow obey exactly this same principle:

INRI - Igni natura renovatur integra. (Nature is completely renewed by fire.)

INRI - Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum. (Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.)

Nature being transmuted and Jesus resurrected are two examples of alchemical processes governed by Arcanum XIV. For in the universe and in the cycle of life everything is transmuted, everything has a beginning, a means and an end. And in this case the mediator (Art / Temperance) balances the forces of the beginning and the end. Thus, we see that everything has a creative energy, which then organizes itself and then disseminates.

And here we have several examples of how this trinity was represented in several cultures referring to this concept of creation, organization and dissemination. The first and best known is: FATHER (the creative energy) SON (the organizing energy that establishes the order of the father) HOLY SPIRIT (the disseminating energy that ends on the one hand and on the other opens to something even greater). In Indian culture we have this same concept of representation in the figures of BRAHMA, VISHNU and SHIVA, the three faces of God representing the three energies of the cycle of life. Brahma being the creative energy, Vishnu the organizing energy and Shiva the disseminating energy. Representing these same energies for the goddesses of Destiny we have in Greece the MOIRAS: CLOTO (the one who sewed the thread of life) LAQUESIS (the one who knotted the thread during life) and ARTROPOS (the last one who cut the thread) and in the Nordic culture the NORNS: URD “What Once Was” (Old Norse “Urðr”), VERDANDI “What Is Coming into Being” (Old Norse “Verðandi”) and SKULD “What Shall Be” (Old Norse “Skuld”). In Egypt OSIRIS appears as the creative energy, ISIS, the sister, the mediator energy and HORUS, the son, the transformed energy of Osiris resurrected. In Crowley's Thelemic religion we see a similar one of Osiris, Isis and Horus in the figures of NUIT, HADIT and HA-HOOR-KHUIT.

These three figures (NUIT, HADIT and HA-HOOR-KHUIT) also appear in the Aeon, Arcanum XX, which corresponds to the Judgment and the beginning of the New Age. In astrology we can also observe the representation of this energy through the concepts of CARDINAL, FIXED and MUTABLE. The zodiac has twelve signs divided in twelve months. We have four seasons of the year and therefore three signs for each season. Here the cycle of life is represented by a station that is born in the cardinal sign, establishes itself in the fixed sign, and disseminates itself in the changeable sign. Then we have the spring being born in aries (cardinal), establishing itself in bull (fixed) and spreading in twins (mutable). The summer is born in cancer (cardinal), establishing itself in lion (fixed) and spreading in virgin (mutable). Autumn is born in pound (cardinal), establishing itself in scorpio (fixed) and spreading in sagittarius (mutable). And the winter being born in capricorn (cardinal), establishing itself in aquarium (fixed) and spreading in fish (mutable). Thus, the seasons of the year and the zodiacal signs also carry within themselves this cyclical energy of life.

Another example of this energy lies in the alchemy itself being represented by SALT, MERCURY and SULFURIC ACID, for these three elements carry in themselves, in that order, the same energy of the cyclic of the other correspondences already mentioned. Mediating between the salt (concrete past representing memory and immutable) and sulfuric acid (abstract future representing aspirations, intensions, and goals), mercury represents the variations of the present moment. Mercury in the center also represents the ability to change the inner and outer orientations of existence.

Still considering the Greek mythology we have, CORI, PERSEFONE and HECATE, the three faces of the lady of hell, wife of Hades and that also corresponds to the three phases of the moon that can be seen. Cori (the young woman, the crescent moon), Persephone (the woman, the full moon) and Hecate (the old woman, the waning moon).

And the new moon, which we do not see, is linked to what happens after the cycle ends. The new moon is linked to the Ascension which would be the V.I.T.R.I.OL., the Fifth Element, the ether, the spirit. And as far as the human being is concerned, the divine energy of the trinity and the life cycle refers to LOVE, WISDOM and TRUTH. Energy that is born in love, establishes itself and puts order with wisdom and closes the cycle with truth. Examples of trinity energy are endless in various cultures. Our part here is the one about Art, Temperance, the mediator of these alchemical transmutations represented by the Arcanum XIV in the tarot.

And I would say it was not without a touch of extreme insight that Aleister Crowley decided to call his Temperance "Art."

Masks of Greek Theater

The "Art" is the Hebrew "A'ain", the all-seeing eye, the mirror that makes people face each other to meet the Universe and the Gods. Art is magic, it is the expansion of Jupiter, it is the arrow of Sagittarius that reaches unimaginable distances . Art is the cabalistic path that links the beauty of the work to its foundation and meaning. Art is this transmuting, revealing, expurgating alchemy; It is Temperance mediating between the beginning and the end of all things. Art is the philosopher's stone, it is descent of Orpheus to hell by his celestial cause. And once we have experienced this journey, transmuted, transcend and close the cycle, we will reach the last stage. The stage of the moon that we do not see with the naked eye. Once we face the new moon, the V.I.T.R.I.OL., the ether and the spirit, we can finally say goodbye.

I close this essay with the final monologue of the character Prospero of the play "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare. This monologue is Prospero's farewell to life and Art after his profound transmutations and the understanding of all things.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,

And what strength I have’s mine own,

Which is most faint. Now, ’tis true,

I must be here confined by you,

Or sent to Naples. Let me not,

Since I have my dukedom got

And pardoned the deceiver, dwell

In this bare island by your spell,

But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands.

Gentle breath of yours my sails

Must fill, or else my project fails,

Which was to please. Now I want

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,

And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so that it assaults

Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardoned be,

Let your indulgence set me free.