FROM THE SERIES: ALMOST EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT A.’.A.’.
This article covers:
● Context
● Empty acts and words
● Yearning for union
● The irony
● Allow yourself to be seduced
● Bhakti in Astrum Argentum
Context
Bhakti is a type of Yoga. Yoga are methods of “union”, and Bhakti is a branch of Yoga that seeks this union through Love. The name comes from the Sanskrit root bhaj, which means to Worship. The first use of the word “Bhakti” was probably in the yoga sutras, compiled by Patanjali between 500 BCE and 400 CE.
It is not known exactly when these sutras were written, which is why for historical purposes it is accepted that the first mention of Bhakti was in the Bhagavad Gita. While the Gita is about worshiping specific deities, the Yoga Sutras maintain a much more pragmatic and non-sectarian stance on the practice, not directing it towards any particular expression of the deity.
Also called the Path of Devotion, Bhakti is a state of the soul where the subject — here in the grammatical sense, in the subject / verb / object relations — surrenders everything he is and has to the object of his worship. In the mystical/magical context, this object of worship is almost always some deity, or an idealized aspect of a “myself made perfect”. The idea is that through Bhakti, subject and object, observer and observed, worshiper and divinity become one.
Empty acts and words
Have you ever felt difficulty in conciliating the act and the value of the act? I’ll try to explain better… What is the value of doing certain gestures, and saying certain things that, due to the human cultural context, have the connotation of worship, of devotion? Saying a thousand words of love and desire, and kneeling down, and tending an altar and giving offerings, all of this is more in the realm of theatrics than of worship. Do you act well enough to deceive the object of your devotion? Are you good enough an actor to fool yourself?
Yearning for Union
Do you remember the last time you fell in love with someone? How often did you think about that person and organized your life around them? What did your food taste like with and without them? How was your sleep while you didn't hear from them? Regardless of the words and gestures, there was a constant and intense disposition of the soul to unite with the beloved one. Want a less romantic example? Think back to the last time you were desperately in need to go to the bathroom.
The tale of the Zen master holding a student’s head underwater until he almost suffocates, then releasing him the master says “when you want enlightenment as much as you want to breathe, then you will be enlightened” has been repeated to exhaustion, but few consider the following: You saying how much you need oxygen to survive, and singing praise and grace songs to oxygen, and making sacred gestures alluding to the sacred communion of oxygen inside your lungs has some value as the legitimate and urgent will to breathe of someone who is suffocating?
A quality Bhakti consists of actually feeling for the object of devotion such a great need that your only will is to unite with it. And it can be done without saying a single word or making a single gesture. How would a mute -or better yet, someone who had not developed double articulation of language - perform his adorations?
The same can be said about invocation. Words, gestures, and even a persistent dharana of a few minutes is not invocation if you do not want to bring it into yourself with every particle of your being.
Both in Bhakti, as in the other six branches of magic and yoga, it is necessary to exist within you a will of union that nothing can stop. And how do we do this? Can we choose to will? Can we turn on the love switch?
The irony
True Bhakti must emerge authentic, without ulterior motives. You love because you love, that love itself is your reward. If you love X because he gives you Y, you don't love X, but Y.
There is nothing the grape from which we make wine can do to speed up its own fermentation. Likewise, it does not seem that we can choose to produce in us instantly a true will for anything, nor increase it unless that disposition already exists in our nature.
Despite this, it is one of the most accessible and present spiritual paths in everyday life, even for the uninitiated. The mother practices pure and disinterested devotion to her child. Lovers practice it whether in the most romantic love or the most animal lust. Artists practice it in their art. Ultimately, the child, the lover, the art, and everything else one can love are facets of divinity.
So what do spiritual exercises and practices help in Bhakti? Among other things, they help the practitioner to free himself from what prevents him from following the natural course of his True Will. By becoming free from fictions, traumas, blocks, and impediments, the individual will gradually find himself in a position where Bhakti passively reveals itself in accordance with the individual's nature. A channel through which water is to flow may be clogged and dirty with dry leaves. Remove the leaves and the water will flow.
In addition, certain practices improve awareness by sharpening what already exists and developing new awareness levels, enabling the practitioner to discover new expressions of love that he is capable of manifesting and new stimuli that entices him.
Allow yourself to be seduced
What is the first step to love something or someone? Who speaks of love at first sight, actually speaks of having felt a strong attraction stimulated only by what he saw: He saw a physical trait that stirred his instincts, saw a smile or a gaze that aroused a tendency that emerged in childhood, saw a performance of an act that fits with his ideals.
Others say they fell in love gradually, getting to know that something or someone better, sharing good and bad moments, discovering little details that made all the difference through their experience of life.
By all means, it seems like a good way to start a Bhakti work is to expose yourself to that. Let's say you decide to do Bhakti work with a certain deity. You will seek to read about it, you will seek art in which it is portrayed or that talks about it, such as music, sculpture, illustrations, etc. You will seek to chat with someone who practices the cult of this deity, or who had some kind of experience with it. You will learn what you can about that deity.
In this learning, you will discover stories about this deity that, regardless of their objective veracity, will begin to move gears within you. You will discover characteristics that may coincide with yours, or that are just the ones you lack and that you would like to have. Perhaps you will find yourself unraveling hidden meanings in that deity's deeds that make total sense and have practical applications for you.
So it might make sense to seek that deity's approach by getting drunk on symbols, colors, perfumes, music, gestures, and acts. Perhaps in an impulse to express a strong feeling, true and spontaneous words of love flow from his mouth.
Bhakti in Astrum Argentum
The most obvious formal instruction regarding Bhakti is given to Philosophus in Liber Astarté vel Berylli, which one must read, experience, and draw conclusions for himself.
Beyond the obvious, we can identify four main occurrences of Bhakti in our Holy Order.
- Guru-Bhakti to the Superior
- Atma-Bhakti to the Holy Guardian Angel
- Ishvara-Bhakti to Nuit
- Devotion to the Order, what permeates the first three
To the Superior
This Bhakti is mainly practiced in the First Order, from Probationer to Dominus Liminis, and if performed perfectly it can lead to the achievement called “Conversation of the A.’. A.’.” The beginning of this relationship begins on the part of the future Superior when, at the end of the Probation period, even before the future student think about contacting him, he assumes the Neophyte degree — a moment from which he can Instruct younger Brothers — through a Magical Oath with his own Superior and the Order. Here is the excerpt from the Oath to which I refer:
In English "deny myself utterly" leaves no doubt. Here the Superior undertakes a devotional work in which he must renounce his own interests and/or natural tendencies and/or sacrifice himself for the benefit of those who, as Probationers, will be sworn under his Instruction. Equivalent oaths are taken at each degree up to Dominus Liminis.
It is a form of devotion to the Order itself, devotion to the Great Work. This is why demanding profit or personal advantage in exchange for instruction results in immediate expulsion. A relationship that ends when money or advantages cease is not conducive to such spiritual work and is directly opposed to such an Oath.
It is worth saying that in no way does it mean to tend to every whim and childishness of the Brother under instruction. It seems to me that the Superior will be failing his Oath unless he continually strives to understand and provide what the Brothers under him needs, not what they wants. Few things helped me on my spiritual path as much as working sincerely and diligently for the good of the younger Brothers.
On the other hand, the disciple voluntarily contracts a vow of Holy Obedience. Let’s see what Liber Aba, Part II, Chapter VI says:
The best vow, and that of most universal application, is the vow of Holy Obedience; for not only does it lead to perfect freedom, but is a training in that surrender which is the last task.It has this great value, that it never gets rusty. If the superior to whom the vow is taken knows his business, he will quickly detect which things are really displeasing to his pupil, and familiarize him with them.Disobedience to the superior is a contest between these two wills in the inferior. The will expressed in his vow, which is the will linked to his highest will by the fact that he has taken it in order to develop that highest will, contends with the temporary will, which is based only on temporary considerations.The Teacher should then seek gently and firmly to key up the pupil, little by little, until obedience follows command without reference to what that command may be; as Loyola wrote: “perinde ac cadaver.”
It is as if the seed of the True Will were watered by an uninterrupted river whose source is found in the supernals, in the purest planes of consciousness. By placing yourself under the instruction of someone connected with this current, this someone becomes your link with that source, and by the nature of that relationship, becomes the representative of this source for you until you can drink from it directly.
As a bonus, this relationship is excellent training for the Ego to gradually leave the throne, and at the critical moment surrender itself to the Holy Guardian Angel.
In short, this relationship is analogous to that of someone who searches for sunlight during a long night, and can only find the reflection of that light on the moon. If that someone were by some way to gaze directly at the sun, he would be blinded by its splendor. May the way be illuminated by the Moon while the seeker's eyes become more accustomed to the light.
To the Holy Guardian Angel
This Bhakti is mainly practiced in the Second Order, from Adeptus Minor to Adeptus Exemptus, and if performed perfectly it can lead to the attainment called "Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel". Analogous to the Superior relationship, in this link, it is also the highest who takes the first step. The possibility of realizing and recognizing the truth seems to exist prior to any individual who comes to connect with it and become a point of manifestation of that truth.
Many religious texts, notably those influenced by the Abrahamic religions, compare the aspirant with the bride waiting for her groom for the nuptials, the princess waiting for the prince to awaken her from her magical sleep.
The yearning for the Angel seems to come from a source prior to the human will. You don't choose to will it, it comes from machinery beyond your control and at the right time. You don't choose the time of the coming. Possibly, nothing you can do would affect because of the absolute ineffectiveness of the medium. As stated in our holy books, “‘Come unto me’ is a foolish word: for it is I that go.”
In this regard, we read in Liber Aba, Part III:
With regard to invocations of the Gods, such considerations do not apply. The Gods are beyond most material conditions. It is necessary to fill the "heart" and "mind" with the proper basis for manifestation. The higher the nature of the God, the more true this is. The Holy Guardian Angel has always the necessary basis. His manifestation depends solely on the readiness of the Aspirant, and all magical ceremonies used in that invocation are merely intended to prepare that Aspirant; not in any way to attract or influence Him. It is His constant and eternal Will to become one with the Aspirant, and the moment the conditions of the latter make it possible, That Bridal is consummated.Remarkably, the Oath of the Adeptus Minor is the first one in which the Oath of self-denial in favor of the Brothers below doesn’t show. The aspirant should not concern himself with any other matter beyond obtain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. This is the Cult of the Infinite Within.
To Nuit
Like almost everything else in the world of magical symbolism, we see the same thing repeating itself threefold on different planes, albeit with a stark difference in degree and quality. This Bhakti is mainly practiced at the doors of the Third Order, as a Baby of the Abyss, and if performed perfectly it can lead to the achievement called "Crossing the Abyss".
Nuit, who also makes herself known by Her facet as Babalon, the one who rejects nothing, is the one who gives our Order its name. She is the Priestess of the Silver Star represented in Qabalistic symbolism by the path of the letter Gimel, which links Tiphereth to Kether, and also by Binah, the Great Sea that generates and consumes all things.
The essence of this will for union represented by this polarity of the dyad is expressed in a poetic way in the first chapter of Liber Al vel Legis. At the end of verse 61 it reads:
I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!It is difficult to find in our ranks anyone who does not find it easy to fall in love with Nuit and her ineffable grandeur, but of all the forms of Bhakti, this one seems the most difficult, because it requires that, in some way, the aspirant has fulfilled all that is his Will to accomplish and be ready to surrender in this act of union the whole result of all that he is and could be.
In the same verse 61, there seems to be instructions on how to accomplish this union:
(...) if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom.This formula seems to inform the necessary conditions for such attainment:
- Be under the stars;
- in the desert;
- burning Nuit’s incense before Her;
- Invoke Her with a pure heart;
- With Serpent flame therein (the heart).
What are these things? For those familiar with the symbolism of Holy Qabalah and Yoga it is not difficult to compose some theories. Superficially we can say that:
Under the stars may mean before the Veil of the Abyss; “in the desert” seems to indicate seclusion, or the desert where the Adeptus Exemptus becomes a handful of dust; that is the position in which you should be“before Nuit” to burn Her incense.
The incense according to Liber Al itself is “of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein” There is no blood because all the blood of the worshiper must drain to the last drop in the chalice of Our Lady of the Stars. If he retains even a drop, success is impossible. As for the “resin woods and gums”, these are Olibanum, Storax, and Aloes, and their mystical meaning is found in Liber ABA, Part II, Chapter XVI as follows:
This Incense is based upon Gum Olibanum, the sacrifice of the human will of the heart. This olibanum has been mixed with half its weight of storax, the earthly desires, dark, sweet, and clinging; and this again with half its weight of lignum aloes, which symbolizes Sagittarius, the arrow, and so represents the aspiration itself; it is the arrow that cleaves the rainbow. This arrow is "Temperance" in the Taro; it is a life equally balanced and direct which makes our work possible; yet this life itself must be sacrificed!She must be invoked with a pure heart, which suggests what is said here about Bhakti, to purify oneself in order to become compatible with union. The heart, as a representation of the Will, must be free from conflict and division (in this regard, I suggest a careful study of our Liber II). The Serpent flame therein, that is, inside the heart, seems to allude to the ecstasy of the energy rising through the spine to the cardiac plexus called Anahatha by the Hindus. The serpent, mainly associated with the Heart that alludes to Tipheret, is also a symbol of royalty and initiation, of an anointed King-Priest. It is impossible not to remember the Heart Girdled with the Serpent, of which Liber LXV of our Probations speaks.
I believe this is enough for reflection on this supreme attainment. It’s a very difficult subject to talk about, because it goes beyond what speech can reach, beyond what the rational mind can grasp. Let us take refuge in the poetry and symbolism of the Book of Lies:
DUST-DEVILSIn the wind of the mind arises the turbulence called I.It breaks; down shower the barren thoughts.All life is choked.This desert is the Abyss wherein the Universe.The Stars are but thistles in that waste.Yet this desert is but one spot accursed in a world of bliss.Now and again Travellers cross the desert; they come from the Great Sea, and to the Great Sea they go.As they go they spill water; one day they will irrigate the desert, till it flower.See! five footprints of a Camel! V.V.V.V.V
This is the Cult of the Infinite Without.
Conclusion
When I showed this work to my Superior, he called it “Pilgrims’ Guide to the Holy Land.” Some read such a guide, and never make their pilgrimage. There are those who, amid their pilgrimage, pay so much attention to the guide that they miss out on the firsthand experience. I strongly suggest that you consider this material no more than a guide, which although well-intentioned, is uttermost incapable of conveying the richness of the things on which it merely demonstrates a point of view. Pilgrim. Travel, See, Go.
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