|
Aleister Crowley Diary Entry October 1898
Notes of Astral Travel
No. 1. Gothic throne. Figure on or in front of [the throne]. Mist covers all. Seen with material eyes. Said to be Kether of Yetzirah.
No. 2. With G.C.J. [George Cecil Jones] Basingstoke. Circle. Up. Throne—figure in front of it; female? no, male. Right hand uplifted, grasping lightnings. Behind, faces angelic against a snow sky. Change. Left arm thrown up. Figure of Bellona. Some brilliance throughout.
All visions subsequent to this (unless otherwise stated) begin by prayer to appropriate Sephiroth etc and end with thanksgiving or Pentagram rituals etc. Many of them coincide with the ordinary orison.
No. 3. Alone. 35 minutes. Basingstoke. Circle by censer. Long journey—passed one pageant. Throne etc as before. Figure as before but hermaphrodite. Dark crowd below, indistinct foreground. Many suns roll underneath, interstices sapphire An infinite number of Chariots. Right and left spearmen: these blow trumpets. Intense brilliancy and clang—a noise of many waters. Trumpets—singing of angels behind throne—wild music. I kneel, close eyes, return. Attacked by astrals on way back—formless shapes, grinning, hideous, malignant foes. The circle wavers—I descend steadily.
Note. The ceremony. 1. Ordinary prayer. 2. ADNI to grant vision. 3. ADNI to grant vision and Angels by 4th Tetragrammaton consecration of circle. 4. Entry into circle. ALHIM invoked. Prayer for understanding. 5. Vision. 6. Thanksgiving. Fair separation from Nephesch.
With J.L.B. [Julian L. Baker]. 40 minutes. Hotel Cecil. Circle by sword. Up through small, then large circle. B. brings in shaggy man (shepherd). Over sand and tufts of grass. Defile—man with sword—lion. (As if great eyes behind lion P.) B. explains errard [sic]—after hesitation we turn to the left with Guide. Through rock door—dark passage (as if galleries in rock—windowed—an abyss). Out to middle of a cliff face. We fly—I sink—B. and Shepherd hold me—we proceed. Island—Persians worshipping—temple [. . .] —wide white steps—up these. Enter temple. Feminine Hermes on cubic stone of white light—intense auto-brilliance of this. It is in a slight depression. We advance. B. and I go near stone. Bathe in light and heat. We are very tall. I am in white. B. in red with sceptre crown-ended. She gives B. caduceus, B. to me, I hold it above my head in right hand and return it. We return to P [. . .] and Shepherd—go out—the people regard us with envy and reverence. To a lake side. On to water. I take B.'s hand and we sail through to sky above [Hotel] Cecil. We return.
|