Liber 131
vel
Tridens

Issued by Order of theActing Council of Elders

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

The Rod of the Gnostic Mass

 

May be said to look like an ear of Corn denoting the mystery of Persephone/Kore

So was it — ever the same! I have aimed at the peeled wand of my God, and I have hit; yea, I have hit. LXV I.65

The trident is the fork, which mysteriously appears in our mythology, held traditionally by Neptune, while today it shows up in our cultural depiction of the Devil and interestingly enough, even the classic Norman Rockwell painting of the American farmer and his wife. Its nature is thoroughly understood by our collective unconscious. But the cartoon images of Satan don’t represent it well at all. They are the result of our cultural repression after centuries of domination by the Roman heresy. The trident is a real Magickal weapon and its powers are complex and hard hitting. With its power derived from the AUMGN going forth, the Trident directs and commands the way of the AUMGN; the spiritual content of our world, our reality in its unborn state.

The Trident is held up or down in a vertical line, relating to the equations: 2=0, and 0=2, referring in its downward position, to the birth of duality/polarity, the birth of qualities within the world; or if held upwards, it refers to the process of Aspiration, to reconcile duality with each other in order to take a position beyond good and evil. It points therefore to the highest or the lowest, and make no mistake about the lowest genius, it culminates in poison, disease and corruption. And by comparison, the Rod in the Gnostic Mass is also held upwards and downwards, expressed in both ways during the rite.

The Trident as we’ve presented it here, is a very lofty weapon, and the attainment of it (no less to be able to wield it) is possible for but a very few. It is a type of a wand in that it is the AUMGN going; the dynamic expression of the content of Kether. But it must not be confused with the Lance of the Gnostic Mass, as this Lance personifies the one-pointedness of the Magus. The Trident balances its holy tip; containing the unborn essence by two sides, which will be recognized in this connection as Binah and Chokmah, but the correspondences and virtues of the Trident are many as the following considerations will delineate:

The three Gunas: Sattva, Tamas, Rajas
The three Gunas are in Hindu myth, demons to be overcome. This is so from the point of view of perfection; otherwise they represent principles, which we are best suited by knowing fully, and thereby becoming liberated from, by overcoming.

In Magick in Theory & Practice, the Master Therion describes the principles of the alchemical substances as the energy of things, the fluidity and the fixity.

Rajas = Sulfur; active excitable and even fierce

Sattva = Mercury; equable calm clear

Tamas = Salt; thick heavy sluggish dark

These can be attributed to the basic modes of the Astrological houses: Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. And these also belong to the Sephira of the Zodiac, Chokhmah, or maybe the passing thereof into Kether, the path of the Fool.

Here are some Alchemical definitions:

Sattva = Mercury; equable calm clear: transcendent guide to the ‘above & below’…Spirit

Rajas = Sulphur; active excitable and even fierce: represents passion and will and is associated with the operation of fermentation.

Tamas = Salt; Thick heavy sluggish dark: associated with the Ouroboros, the Stone and the Astral Body. In general, Salt represents the action of thought on matter, be it the ‘One Mind’ acting on the ‘One Thing’ of the Universe or the Alchemist meditating in his or her inner laboratory.

The three Alchemical Principles: Mercury, Salt, Sulfur & the three Magickal Weapons of Geburah: Dagger, Scourge, Chain

Concerning the three weapons received by Runar in Geburah: These have been a part of an ongoing investigation into obtaining ‘New Gnosis’, which is the mark of a strong and functional Magickal Lodge. These weapons are as true weapons of punishment and terror and we see that their function is geared towards that perfection which can give access to the trinity of the Supernal Sephiroth by overcoming Da’ath, Choronzon and his kin. The following quotes from Aleister Crowley are commented by Runar:

The scourge is sulphur: Its application excites our sluggish nature outright, and it may further be used as an instrument of correction, to castigate rebellious volitions. It is applied to Nephesh, the animal soul, the natural desires.

Runar: This weapon is also complement to the wand, in that it fights disobedience. It’s an accuser and must therefore be linked most high in order to accuse, punish and exterminate disobedience to will.

The Dagger is Mercury: It is used to calm to great heat, by the letting of blood; and it is the weapon, which is plunged into the side or the heart of Magician to fill the Holy Cup. Those faculties, which come between the appetites and the reason, are thus dealt with.

Runar: This weapon triggers the Magickal death of the exempt adept and brings him to Da’ath or the Trinity; depending on the remaining circumstances.

The Chain is Salt: it serves to bind the wandering thoughts; and for this reason is placed about the Neck of the magician, where Da’ath is situated.

Runar: Another tool making Da’ath possible to overcome and success attainable.

These weapons are procured in Geburah, possibly earlier for some, but their links to the modes of the Gunas will make them appear different as the Magickian continues. Their refinement will eventually make the three modes of astrology clear. There will the fixed and mutable mode embracing each other in eternal change and ever-flexible stasis. The cardinal mode will show up as the great Cardinal, as the cardinal mode has a unique ability, in that it triggers, it is a catalyst and a prime mover. It creates.

Aleister Crowley has provided a drawing of these weapons surrounding the Phial of Holy Oil in Chapter IV of Book 4. In examining the drawing, it is evident that the highest aim of these three weapons is to preserve the Holy Oil of Aspiration and to maintain its purity. And yes – Victory isn’t attained otherwise. Without the force of Aspiration, there is no drive to attainment. This explains the Trident as its main movement is aspiration; the race for the ultimate divinity, the union of Man and ADM or Asar.

A careful warning comes by way of Runar’s experience: The turning of the Trident downwards, initiates the corruption process wherein we can find the lowest creep; the extracted “genius” of the bottomless pit. And in order to fully understand Da’ath, and to let the Adepts head surpass the heavens with their feet below the hells, some acquaintance must be made with this position. But please do such work in secret. Silence is one of the four Powers of the Sphinx.

The Rod of the Gnostic Mass is a variant on this theme as it deals with the other major veil, the Veil of Paroketh and the heart of the Aspiration. As the Lance, it is the symbol if the great Wand. The wand of Netzach (lesser wand of the Philosophus) being that of the personal Will, the Lance being that which corresponds to the Holy grail of Binah. The Lance symbolizes Thelema as divine will, undivided and one-pointed. The premium weapon of the Great White Brotherhood; especially its White School of Magick, the greatest attainment of Chokhmah, the perfection of the Magus. And so an intimacy with the Trident is readily apparent.

The Lance is divine Will, but it’s still personal in that it’s connected to the Logos of the Magus. The HGA connection and the Magus’ own divinity is here brought to its high as a personal exponent. This is what makes Thelema different from most of religions; the personal is aligned and upraised to a divine level. The Trident doesn’t touch this point the same way. Its holy nexus is of Kether, in that it is the AUMGN going. If it partakes in Chokhmah, it will also by its triplicity also partake in Binah, by virtue of its M (Water).

The Lance is not of Binah, but is directed towards it, as it is its primary tool. We must be careful to not replace the Lance with the Trident, because the Trident doesn’t favor the one-pointed will the same way as the Lance does, that is the anchor of the Great White Brotherhood and its White School of Magick. The one-pointedness of the Will of the Lance is by strict rulership over false will; victory over the Qliphoth (The crushed universe of RHK?). The Trident balances its will by the Love and Understanding of Binah. In the Gnostic Mass the Priest holds the Lance, and the Priestess holds the Trident (if she have learnt it) in her body.

In lettering, we find a Nun (final) below Shin, composing the Trident. (Death under the Primordial Fire of the Aeon). On the highest possible plane (Geburah-Chesed), the Dagger, Chain and Source make sense in the performance of the Great Work, which is prosecuted by the Adeptus Major in Chesed. Yet note these weapons surround the Oil (Weapon of Tiphareth…the Aspiration). So it seems that the Trident (tool of Neptune/higher arc of Venus) should indicate the lower end of the Ruach as much as the higher end…making it the weapon of the Gnostic Mass (the Rod being in actuality, the Trident in its most secret nature). Neptune is attributed to Chokmah as well and confirms Runar’s attribution of the Trident to the Path of the Fool.

The three Mother Letters (Aleph Mem Shin) are the flames of the Shin and spokes of the fork. These are each three Yods (as Hebrew letters are always composites of Yod), giving us Yod in a three-fold form. Vau (as the Rod of the Trident) connects AUMGN with Shin and the Trident. Elementally, Air-Water-Fire with Virgo (in opposition to Pisces…the present Aeon and inaugural Aeon of the Sagittarian Manifestation); Nun(final) attributed to Scorpio (alternatively shaped as the Rod) is also there, connecting this water sign with the Fire of Shin…highly combustible.

The Priestess holding the Trident symbolizes also the link between the perennial truth and the body. The incarnation principal, that must appear from the AUMGN and ends up creating our bodies. It’s in the aspiration of the Holy Oil as well. The letters of the Trident are first AMSU (Aleph, Mem, Shin-Mother letters with Vau), if then added N (the principle of surrender for the Priestess in the formula of ON) we can make SMA NU – that is “the name of NU”. That may mean that herein is found the secret name, which at last is to be told!

AUMGN is the boom of the Beetle and the Midnight Sun; the shriek of the Hawk at sunrise as it is the roar of the Lion at noon.  But Nun [N] is the path from Venus (Netzach) to the Sun where we are nailed (Vau) to the Cross of L.V.X. at the base of which is Gimel [G] with its intersection Daleth (also ruled by Venus).  Venus of course, is Isis…she who leads Christian Rosencreutz to the Chemical Wedding. The GN represents the ‘surrender’…well…affixing this to the Trident at Geburah and on the plane before the Abyss (with an association also with Chokmah),

Virgo comes into play as these are three ‘mother’ letters, thus Demeter…who has her stages of development in this earthly life…Taurus/Virgo/Capricorn of the Quadruplicities of the Zodiac. These three ‘Mother’ letters show the journey of her daughter, from the naiveté of Persephone/Kore before Pluto (Aleph/Fool) and then to the underworld and the emotional attachment to Pluto (Mem/Water) to spiritual perfection through this union (Shin/Fire/double-duty as Spirit). Nun as Scorpio/Transformation gives us the hint for this tale. Note that all things stay as they are: “Deem ye not of change” but yet they become transformed…a change of perspective through the removal of veils upon the consciousness and the body/mind matrix.

Crowley on Vau: “V – is 6 – dual nature of the Logos as divine and human – the son himself as the child begotten of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit”

–and–

“The light has then crystallized itself into matter, thus ‘redeeming’ it.”

So the dual-Vau in AUMGN is surrounded by Air (Son/male) and Water (Mother/female) connected to putrefaction or dissolution (Nun) as the handle to the Trident and Shin/Fire, the heat given off by putrefaction on its tip…crystallizing into matter. And “to go” is the nature of the Egyptian Gods, whether to go UP or DOWN is a matter of learning to work this weapon.

As the path of Gimel passes through Da’ath, the security of the Priestess lies in the attainment and great understanding of the three weapons Dagger, scourge and chain. These bind Choronzon and his kin, preserving the link between Body and Spirit, which gives the Priestess power to continue her daring ways. She keeps the Trident upwards for us, and thereby upholds sincerity, and respect for the divine.

Love is the law, love under will.