0) Introduction
In the Western tradition, the path of
initiation (also known as “the Great Work”) is often laid out
symbolically as “climbing” the Tree of Life from the bottom back to the
top. While the map is not (nor can ever be) the territory, this map of
the Tree of Life can be very useful to help elucidate the stages of the
Path. The different “grades” of the Path are attributed to the different
spheres or “Sephiroth” of the Tree of Life and can be characterized, to
a certain extent, by the Qabalistic attributions of that Sephirah.
The Importance of Trances
If one is truly walking on the Path, one
will not simply be able to pass simple tests of physical ability and
mental knowledge. While these things are assuredly part of the Path and
necessary thereto, real progress on this Path can be seen in changes of
consciousness or the acquisition of new perspectives. Therefore, one of
the indicators of having “achieved” a grade in an informal sense (i.e.
outside of the rules of attaining a grade in any particular formal
organization such as Golden Dawn or A∴A∴) is the attainment of a Vision
and/or Trance characteristic of that grade. The importance of these
Trances is stated clearly by Aleister Crowley:
“The word Trance implies a passing beyond: scil., the conditions which oppress. The whole and sole object of all true Magical and Mystical training is to become free from every kind of limitation… every Magical Operation soever is only complete when it is characterised (in one sense or another) by the occurrence of Trance.”
—Aleister Crowley, Little Essays Toward Truth, “Trance”
Definitions of Trance and Vision
Trance: A Trance is
therefore an event within consciousness where one transcends the normal
state of awareness, often in a “quasispasmodic” manner – that is,
Trances are often (though not always) entered somewhat suddenly and the
entering into Trance often comes at an unknown time. Samadhi can be seen
as a special form or type of Trance characterized by “the supersession
of dualistic human consciousness by the impersonal and monistic state” (Little Essays Toward Truth, “Trance”).
A Trance is not necessarily in line with – and often in contradiction
to – rational thinking: Samadhi is a characteristic example where
whenever someone speaks about its nature they speak in paradox and
contradiction. Trances are also characterized by their noetic nature –
that is, they grant a felt sense of interior certainty regarding the
truth of its content.
Vision: A Vision might be
defined as a lesser form of Trance, where the acquisition of a new
point-of-view or perspective does not necessarily require entering into a
different state of consciousness, but it is still characterized by
being noetic (i.e. granting a sense of interior certitude). Therefore,
this distinguishes this definition of Vision from “astral visions,”
which are not necessarily noetic in nature but may contain instances of
Trance or Vision within them. It must also be stated that, although the
term “Vision” implies sight, it really refers more to a particular type
of experience or insight rather than being a series of visual sights,
whether physical or mental (or astral). It is similar to the term
“visualization” in occultism, which is often taken to mean focusing on
visual images in the imagination but actually, in practice, refers to
imagining things pertaining to all senses. Trances and Visions can
therefore be distinguished from mere intellectual apprehension, for
something can be intellectually grasped but not truly understood and
felt as a certainty. To move beyond intellectual apprehension, one
usually needs to have an experience for oneself that confirms the
original idea but grants it a subject sense of truly “grasping” the idea
or truly understanding it. As an illustration: a child might be told
“you need to listen more carefully to others!” and grasp the idea
intellectually, but not truly understand it. It requires the child
having an experience – e.g., missing something important because of not
listening carefully – to move from intellectual comprehension to real,
certain understanding.
These definitions are not absolute, and
there are blurry areas. People – including Crowley – often use these
terms interchangeably. The main point is that Trance and Vision are
states of consciousness that differ from normal, waking awareness and
are characterized by (a) being noetic (felt sense of interior certitude)
and (b) attaining a new point-of-view or perspective. This
distinguishes them from both “astral visions” (both waking and dreaming)
as well as from mere intellectual comprehension. The very fact of
having attained a Trance or Vision inherently shows progress upon the
Path insofar as they, by definition, imply a change within the
individual – a shift of perspective or consciousness – whereas having an
astral vision or intellectually grasping something do not necessarily
imply any kind of real change in the individual at all.
We can now start to look at the various
Trances or Visions in the context of the Tree of Life. Although the
metaphor of “climbing the Tree of Life” implies that these steps are
sequential, I believe that most of these Trances or Visions may happen
at any time (depending on the right circumstances and intent), some may
happen before others, some may even at the same time as others, and some
may occur multiple times. There is no real test as to whether another
person has attained any of these Trances or Visions, as tests must
inherently be physical or intellectual, and I believe we all know that
anyone can enter into a Yogic asana (physical) or say they are a Master
(intellectual) but not actually be a Master at all. Therefore, this
essay is intended to serve as a map for oneself – a kind of periodic
table of Visions and Trances – both to show the possibilities of these
Trances or Visions as well as to help understand various experiences
that one may have had in the past or will have in the future (or perhaps
presently if the reading of this essay somehow sends one spasmodically
into a Trance – I wouldn’t exclude the possibility a priori!)
1) Malkuth (1°=10☐: Earth)
The Trance of Sorrow
The first Sephirah we encounter when
“climbing the Tree of Life” is the 10th Sephirah that is called
“Malkuth” (literally, “Kingdom”). We may attribute the Trance of Sorrow
to Malkuth. The Trance of Sorrow may be defined as the Trance wherein
one perceives that any and every endeavor, accomplishment, joy,
connection, et cetera are ultimately insubstantial and will therefore eventually dissolve or end; essentially the Trance of Sorrow is where one realizes that nothing whatsoever lasts.
We may understand “Sorrow” as being a translation the Buddhist term dukkha, which
is often translated as “suffering” (or “sorrow,” “misery,”
“discontent,” “stress,” “dissatisfaction,” “anxiety,” etc.). In this
way, the Trance of Sorrow represents an experiential understanding and
appreciation of the First Noble Truth, which can be stated in many ways
but ultimately means that “All things contain or are subject to
suffering.”
The Trance of Sorrow helps to illustrate two
points mentioned previously. Firstly, the “Trance of Sorrow” is called
such by Crowley throughout his works, yet it is called the “Vision of
Sorrow” in 777 and the “Vision of Universal Sorrow” elsewhere. This
illustrates the point that “Trance” and “Vision” are terms that are
often used interchangeably: one should not get too caught up in the
words. Secondly, the Trance of Sorrow is a good example of how Trance is
different from mere intellectual comprehension. One may intellectually
grasp what has been said above – one may have previously encountered the
First Noble Truth of Buddhism and grasped the idea being conveyed – yet
the Trance of Sorrow goes beyond mere comprehension to a felt sense at
the core of one’s being. The Trance involves an encompassing and even
overwhelming sense of sorrow, dread, and even hopelessness. Although one
can reach the Trance through intellectual contemplation, the Trance
itself shows when this felt sense of certitude kicks in and one truly
experiences the idea not merely as an idea but as an inescapable truth. A
certain poetic explanation of this state can be found in Crowley’s “One
Star in Sight” which begins with the lines, “Thy feet in mire, thine
head in murk, / O man, how piteous thy plight, / The doubts that daunt,
the ills that irk, / Thou hast nor wit nor will to fight— / How hope in
heart, or worth in work? / No star in sight!”
To go further into the nature of the Trance
of Sorrow: Nothing whatsoever lasts. You will inevitably die. Your
family will die, your loved ones will die, your friends will die, your
enemies will die, and all the people you’ve never known will all die:
everyone will die. Every place you have been will change and pass away.
The cycle of Life never stops; the Wheel of Samsara will never stop
turning. Everything you know will eventually transform and perish. The
greatest joy and happiness you ever will achieve will eventually pass.
No food, drink, idea, love, or anything else will ever truly satisfy
you. Everything that you are striving for – all of your hopes, goals,
and ambitions – will either remain unaccomplished or will be
accomplished but will not last for long. No job lasts forever, no art
piece lasts forever, no political change lasts forever, et cetera.
Even if you were to become the most powerful and famous person on
Earth, your memory will be distorted throughout time and eventually
forgotten. If not within a few years, then it will happen in a few
centuries; if not in a few centuries, it will happen when the human race
no longer exists. While we may already know this to some extent and
while one may grasp this idea while reading this essay, the Trance of
Sorrow begins when it is truly felt and understood on a deep level that
shakes the core of one’s very being.
In a sense, this Trance is one of the most
crucial of all, for it is the Trance that leads one to tread the Path of
the Great Work in the first place. Striving to attain the Light
requires the acknowledgment that one is in Darkness. If one is
completely content with oneself and one’s surroundings, there is no need
to change anything or attain anything: this is the inertia of
ignorance. Thus it has been said by Aleister Crowley that, “The
Aspiration to become a Master is rooted in the Trance of Sorrow” (Little Essays Toward Truth, “Sorrow”)
and also, “It is the Trance of sorrow that has determined one to
undertake the task of emancipation. This is the energising force of Law;
it is the rigidity of the fact that everything is sorrow which moves
one to the task, and keeps one on the Path” (Eight Lectures on Yoga, “Niyama”).
It is when one enters into this Trance that one determines to find a
way to transcend it: one seeks to be liberated from the Wheel of Samsara
in terms of Eastern phraseology; one seeks to find one’s immortal soul
that is not subject to change, death, and sorrow in terms of Western
phraseology. As Crowley once put it, one determines to enter upon the
Path of “the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a
Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and deceptions of
material existence” (Magick in Theory & Practice, “Introduction and Theorems”).
As somewhat of a sidenote: In 777, the
“Vision of Sorrow” is attributed to the 3rd Sephirah, Binah, and not
the 10th, Malkuth. There is, in many ways, a resonance or harmony
between Binah and Malkuth: they are both attributed to Heh’s in YHVH
(the first Heh is attributed to Binah, the Mother, and the second or
final Heh is attributed to Malkuth), and Malkuth is called the Daughter
that is uplifted to the throne of Binah, the Mother (As in the 4th
Aethyr of The Vision and the Voice, “And this is that which is
written: Malkuth shall be uplifted and set upon the throne of Binah”).
This shows that, although they are not the same, the Trance of Sorrow of
Malkuth is related or harmonious with a Trance or Vision that is
characteristic of Binah. In a sense, it is the Trance of Sorrow in
Malkuth that gives one the impetus or motive to tread the Path of the
Great Work that leads eventually to “crossing the Abyss” and landing in
Binah as a Master of the Temple. To make the distinction clear, the
Trance of Sorrow in Malkuth involves perceiving the insubstantiality or
unsatisfactoriness of all phenomena and is therefore within the realm of
duality; Binah is above the Abyss and therefore beyond duality and so
not subject to “facts” or “rules” of the realm of duality. To
distinguish between the two, the Trance related to Malkuth is called the
“Trance of Sorrow” whereas that related to Binah is the “Trance of
Compassion.” We should not get too far ahead of ourselves, though. The
Path is tread step by step, and one should always seek to take the Next
Step: first things first.
The Vision of Adonai / The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel
The other Trance or Vision is called “The
Vision of Adonai” or “The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel.” Adonai is a
name for God or the Lord that comes from Hebrew, and The Holy Guardian
Angel is often called Adonai (for example, it is repeatedly named
“Adonai” in Liber LXV, a Holy Book of Thelema). Again, it is
not useful to get caught up in names: the point is that “The Vision of
Adonai” and “The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel” are two names for
the same Vision.
Malkuth: The Trance of Sorrow & The Vision of Adonai
The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel is characterized by a certain awareness or perception of the Goal of the Path of the Great Work.
One may get a glimpse of a certain state of consciousness that
transcends the sorrow of duality, or one may even meet an aspect or form
of Adonai in an astral vision or dream. Within the world of Darkness
and sorrow, one catches sight of a Star that gives direction and hope:
there is now “one star in sight.” In a way, the Vision of Adonai is a
sort of answer to the Trance of Sorrow. Although one does not transcend
the Trance of Sorrow, this Vision gives one the hope or notion of the
possibility of transcending it. The Trance of Sorrow is the gravity that
pulls one onto the Path that starts at Malkuth and the Vision of Adonai
is the force that propels one forward to begin the climb upwards (so to
speak).
To be clear: The Vision of the Holy Guardian
Angel that is attributed to Malkuth is different from Knowledge and
Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, which is attributed to
Tiphareth (the 6th Sephirah). An analogy from the Golden Dawn may be
useful to help explain. In the first initiation of the Hermetic Order of
Golden Dawn, the “Neophyte” ritual, one is blindfolded to symbolize the
darkness of ignorance. Eventually, the blindfold is removed and one is
met with the sight of the Hierophant who symbolizes the Higher or True
Self of the candidate. Crowley wrote:
“[The Adept] acclaims his Angel as ‘Himself Made Perfect’; adding that this Individuality is inscrutable in inviolable. In the Neophyte Ritual of G[olden] D[awn] the Hierophant is the perfected Osiris, who brings the candidate, the natural Osiris, to identity with himself. But in the new Aeon the Hierophant is Horus, therefore the Candidate will be Horus too.”
—Aleister Crowley, Liber Samekh, Point II, Part A, line 5
That is, one is given a glimpse of the goal –
the True Self with whom one must become united and identified – but one
has not yet attained thereto. As it is said, “the End of the ‘Path of
the Wise’ is identity with Him” (“Temple of Solomon the King” in Equinox I:1). This shows how Malkuth reflects Kether in a sense (just as the grade 1°=10☐
has both the number of Kether,1, and Malkuth, 10), for the Goal can be
grasped at the beginning of the Path, although one’s understanding of it
is inherently limited by ignorance and misconception. One therefore
sets upon the path to reach the Sun (the Sun or Sol is attributed to
Tiphareth, the sphere where Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy
Guardian Angel is attained, which is Kether “on a lower scale,” so to
speak): the star is in sight and one is determined to reach it. When one
has experienced the Trance of Sorrow and been granted the Vision of
Adonai, one may truly be called a “neophyte,” a newly planted seed that
may one day, if cultivated carefully and consistently, grow into a
Flower of Truth.
Love is the law, love under will.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario