SUBLUNAR SPACE - horus

Daimonic Scrabble

2019-05-01T22:00:00+02:00

A confusing article I wanted to get out on Mayday. I will probably elaborate further in the near future

"The bird rights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." [1]

On Mayday two years ago during a holiday in the French Provence with extended family I had a strange dream in which a scar faced demon gave me three words:

GOD ANKHOR SOLEX

I did not know what to make of it and these words puzzled me for a long time.

The meaning of God was self-evident. I suddenly understood Ankhor ("Horus Lives") during a walk with my daughter two months after. But Solex remained an unsolvable riddle...until exactly two months ago.

I was hanging out in the Charm the Water Discord chat and someone there was trying to figure out the meaning of a word he got in a dream. I was reminded of my aforementioned dream. Aaron suggested to use gematria and I checked the isopsephic (Greek gematria) value of the Greek spelling of SOLEX: ΣΟΛΕΞ.

It is 365!

My mind was blown and a lot of associations rushed through my head. Obviously, 365 days of a solar year, but specifically 365 is also the isopsephic value of one of the most powerful magical names: the seven lettered ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ or ΑΒΡΑΞΑΣ! The megas archon and ruler of the 365 spheres of the Gnostic Basilides, the "the power above all, and First Principle" according to Epiphanius.

Many things have been written about Abrasax (I recommend this and that), but the most significant piece I found was by Carl Gustav Jung in his neo-gnostic work "Septem Sermones ad Mortuos":

"Hear Ye: I begin with nothing. Nothing is the same as fullness. In the endless state fullness is the same as emptiness. The Nothing is both empty and full. One may just as well state some other thing about the Nothing, namely that it is white or that it is black or that it exists or that it exists not. That which is endless and eternal has no qualities, because it has all qualities.

The Nothing, or fullness, is called by us the PLEROMA. In it thinking and being cease, because the eternal is without qualities. In it there is no one, for if anyone were, he would be differentiated from the Pleroma and would possess qualities which would distinguish him from the Pleroma." [...]

"There is a God about whom you know nothing, because men have forgotten him. We call him by his name: ABRAXAS. He is less definite than God or Devil. In order to distinguish God from him we call God HELIOS, or the Sun.

Abraxas is activity; nothing can resist him but the unreal, and thus his active being freely unfolds. The unreal is not, and therefore cannot truly resist. Abraxas stands above the sun and above the devil. He is the unlikely likely one, who is powerful in the realm of unreality. If the Pleroma were capable of having a being, Abraxas would be its manifestation." [2]

Abrasax is the all-uniting god, he is above the benevolent god and the malevolent devil, beyond concepts like morality, sin, good, and evil. In a most Jungian psychoanalytical sense he represents the Principium Individuationis, the individuation of a subject in reconciliation with its own shadow.

Hermann Hesse used this neo-Gnostic Jungian image of Abrasax in his coming-of-age (auto-)biography "Demian" where the protagonist Sinclair chases after the meaning of a god named "Abraxas". (This was one of my favourite books as a teenager, but I completely forgot that Abrasax was part of it)

A powerful paragraph in the book that makes this Jungian understanding of the god very clear is the following:

"You consider yourself odd at times, you accuse yourself of taking a road different from most people. You have to unlearn that. Gaze into the fire, into the clouds, and as soon as the inner voices begin to speak, surrender to them, don't ask first whether it's permitted or would please your teachers or father, or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that. That way you will become earthbound, a vegetable. Sinclair, our god's name is Abraxas and he is God and Satan and he contains both the luminous and the dark world. Abraxas does not take exception to any of your thoughts, any of your dreams. Never forget that. But he will leave you once you've become blameless and normal. Then he will leave you and look for a different vessel in which to brew his thoughts." [1]

I admit, it might seem quite a stretch to claim that SOLEX equals ABRASAX just based on the isopsephic value they share, but let me add a few more pieces of the puzzle. Take the recent synchronicities and adventures following my initiation into the sphere of Jupiter and the fact that the word ANKHOR as "Horus lives" was also significant during another synchro-mystical visit to my hometown.

My ongoing individuation, current readjustment of my relationship to my parents and also my progressing magical journey are all tightly tied together.

In some of the old Gnostic texts Abrasax was seen less as "god above god" but more as a powerful "archon", ranking even below the demiurge Yaldabaoth. Initially the two different concepts seem to contradict each other and are very confusing, but when you try to leave dualistic thinking and rational logic behind and view everything from further above, when you "squint down" onto it - to borrow a Gordonism - from a more irrational, magical "daimonic perspective", these contradictions slowly dissolve and metaphysical borders can get blurry.

Two years ago, when I received the three words, I was confused and I agonized over their meaning. I wanted to know the one real message that was encrypted. After waking from the dream I did not even remember if the second word was ANKHOR or rather ANCHOR, it could even have been ARCHON. Today I do not even want to sharpen the blurriness anymore. Why not take all of them?

It is the same with SOLEX. Yes, it has a strong connection to ABRASAX. But it also contains SOL, the sun; and EX, Latin for "out". But that seems to be precisely why I received SOLEX and not ABRASAX. Because it is "all of the above":

GOD, ANCHOR, ARCHON, HORUS LIVES, SUN OUT, ABRASAX, 365

It was a daimonic message, not a rational one. It makes sense to me now. It is full of Christian, Gnostic, and Egyptian meaning. I can't really explain why in a way it makes sense. It just does. It's beautiful. And it took two years to reach this point. Individuation. Embracing the blurriness.

Happy Beltane!

Sphere of Horus

2018-05-06T18:00:00+02:00

(Version 1.1 - 07/05/2018)

Horus the Saviour

Ever since he knocked on my door I have wanted to integrate Horus more into my ritual practice than the adorations he already receives on an irregular basis. I am currently involved in a year long exploration of the Egyptian Decans (not the Rune Soup Decan Walk), specifically in their final Egyptian forms during the Ptolemaic era (more details about this will come in a future post). The Decan of a few weeks ago (♓3) was symbolized as Heru-pa-khered / Harpocrates (Horus the Child) in his common depiction as a nude youngster seated on a lotus flower wearing a side-lock and holding a finger to his mouth.

In my research about him I discovered that magical stelae of Horus in this form called "cippi" were erected in public places such as the forecourts of temples. His image is often surmounted by a head of the god Bes, and he is grasping snakes, scorpions, and other dangerous wild animals in his hands to signify his dominance over these symbols of mortal danger. They appear to have been used typically by pouring water over them which was collected at the bottom and drunk for protection and healing.

An ancient Egyptian spell to be spoken over such a cippus can be found in Borghout's spell collection (1):

An adoration of Horus, to glorify him, To say on the water and on the land. Words spoken by Thoth, the saviour of this god:
Hail to you. God, son of a god! Hail to you, heir, son of an heir! Hail to you, bull, son of a bull, whom the divine cow bore.
Hail to you, Horuss, who came forth from Osiris, whom the goddess Isis bore. I have spoken in your name, I have recited with your magic, I have spoken with your spells, I have conjured with your conjurations, which your heart has devised — they are your sorcery — which have come forth from your mouth, which your father Geb has entrusted to you, which your mother Nut has given to you, which you have been taught by the Majesty of the Foremost One of Letopolis in order to ensure your protection, to renew your safeguarding, to close the mouth of any reptile which is in heaven, which is in the earth, which is in the water, to keep the people alive, to propitiate the gods, to glorify Re with your hymns.
Come quickly to me on this day like the one did for you who handles the steering oar of the divine bark. May you drive away for me all lions on the desert plateau, all crocodiles in the river, all biting snakes in their holes! May you render them for me like pebbles on the desert hills, like potsherds of a jar along the street. May you exorcize for me the pulsating poison that is in all the limbs of this man who is suffering. Take care not to be negligent when you speak about it!
See, it will come for you when you are coming for it, with your words directed against it. See, your name is involved therein on this day! I have created the awe for you through your magic — and you have grown in prestige through your magic spells — to keep alive those who suffer from an oppressed throat.
Praise is given to you by mankind; righteousness is adored in your appearance. All the gods are invoked in your likeness.
See, your name is invoked on this day: 'I am Horus the Saviour who ensures protection for you'.
(J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Brill - Leiden, 1978, Spell 123)

Having such protective and healing properties, wouldn't Harpocrates be predestined for protective magic such as banishing? Yes! So, let's do it...

The Sphere of Horus

Most of my spellwork is PGM influenced, so naturally I don't do much elaborate ritualized banishing and use mainly phylactery talismans for protection. But since some nasty experiences in my recent past that I attribute to negative spiritual influence, I have become more paranoid about better protection. The LBRP or it's thelemic derivatives don't really feel fitting in my workings.

My favourite banishing rite has always been Jason Miller's excellent “Sphere of Heka” from his poweful book "Protection and Reversal Magic" (2).

Inspired by Harpocrates the Saviour I took the opportunity and modified Jason's ritual to make it even more Greco-Egyptian than it already was. I dubbed it Sphere of Horus.

This version uses Greek instead of Latin and invokes different guardians of the cardinal directions.

Many thanks to my Facebook buddy and fellow mage Lazaridés at the foot of mount Olympos for the invaluable translation work!

Part 1: Conjuring the Column

Begin by standing and facing east. Imagine that you are at the very center of the universe. Take a deep inhalation and imagine that above you, emanating from the highest heavens descends a column on pure white light. This light enters the crown of your head and passes through you, down into the ground. This white light has the qualities of purification and centering. Exhale and intone the following:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Iέρακος Κάθοδος	Ierakos Kathodos	The descent of the falcon

Take another deep inhalation and imagine that a reddish colored light from beneath you rises through the column and passes through you upwards. Whereas the white light was purifying, this light is vitalizing. Exhale and intone the following:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Οφεως 'Ανοδος	Opheōs Anodos	The ascent of the serpent

Inhale again and feel the two energies entering into you from above and below. Exhale and feel the two energies flow throughout your body, impregnating every cell of your being with their power. Feel your connection between earth and sky, underworld and heavens.

With your right hand. point at your third eye and intone: I (eeh).
Move your right hand over your heart and open your hand so that your palm faces your chest and intone: A (ah).
Most your hand lower over your genitals and turn the palm upwards, connecting the thumb and forefinger. Intone: Ω (oh).

This portion of the rite grounds, centers, purifies, and empowers you so that you are in a proper position to exercise authority over the forces that you wish to banish. The Falcon and the Serpent are universal symbols of chthonic and ouranic forces. By conjuring the column you take in the totality of all that is, above and below. After the column, you invoke the divine by the ancient formula of IAΩ.

Part 2: Delineating the Boundaries

Still standing within the column, pronounce to the powers that be:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Eκάς, εκάς εστέ βέβηλοι!	Hekas, hekas este bebeloi	Afar, afar, all the profane!

Make a fist with your left hand and place it against your chest over your heart, cover it with your right hand and apply about five pounds of pressure there and imagine that the force that you summoned forth from the column begins to concentrate at the heart. Imagine that this power, drawn by the physical pressure and force of will, takes the shape of a gray sphere about the size of a baseball. Visualize this until you have it very clear in your mind. Release the pressure, and in one motion step forward with your left foot and throw your arms outward in what is called the Sign of the Enterer. As you make this sign, see the sphere at your heart grow. As it grows and spreads, it pushes back all malefic forces and harmful spirits. It grows past your body and continues until it stops where you wish to make the boundary, forming a wall of grayish astral force. Intone:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Kύκλον Κατάσχω!	Kyklon Katas-chō	I seize the circle!

Take your wand or knife of the art in your hand, and extend your arm straight out. The tip of the tool (or your finger, when working without tools) should touch the edge of the circle that you want to make. If you have extended the circle past the walls of the room that you are in, then you can simply point towards the edge. Pivot, or walk the edge of your circle and intone the following:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Καθιερώ και ευλογώ τούτο τον κύκλο, ότι ασπίς μου έστηκε , φυλλάτειν με και άπαντες εν το κύκλο τιαύτον , απο παντός πονηρού, εις το όνομα της Μεγάλου και Αητήττου Ἥλιου Αρποκράτου! Ψοϊ φνουθι νινθηρ!	Kathierō kai eylogō touto ton kyklo, oti aspis mou estēke, phyllatein me kai apantes en to kyklo tiauton, apo pantos ponērou, eis to onoma tēs Megalou kai Aētēttou Heliou Harpokratou! Psoi Phnouti Ninthēr!	I consecrate and bless this circle, that it may shield and protect me and all inside against all evil in the name of the most powerful and invincible Helios Harpocrates! [Egyptian:] Fate, the god of the gods

Consider that this sphere is an invisible and impenetrable fortress surrounding you, keeping out all harmful forces and spirits of ill-intent.

Part 3: Invoking the Guardians

The last section of the ritual invokes the four winds as guardians to the four comers of our sphere.

Face East and visualize Henkhisesui standing at the eastern edge of the circle facing the center. The Egyptian east wind, Henkhisesui, sometimes occurs in anthropomorphic shape, and has a ram’s head, but he is occasionally figured as a winged beetle with the head of a ram. Make the gesture of conjuring and invoke:

Phonetic	Translation
Orkizo Henkhisesui!	I conjure Henkhisesui!

Face South and visualize Shehbui standing at the southern edge of the circle facing the center. The Egyptian South wind Shehbui, is represented as a man with a lion’s head, and wings. Make the gesture of conjuring and invoke:

Phonetic	Translation
Orkizo Shehbui!	I conjure Shebui!

Face West and visualize Hutjaiwi standing at the western edge of the circle facing the center. The Egyptian West wind, Hutjaiwi, has a serpent's head on the body of a winged man. Make the gesture of conjuring and invoke:

Phonetic	Translation
Orkizo Hutjaiwi!	I conjure Hutjaiwi!

Face North and visualize Qebui standing at the northern edge of the circle facing the center. The Egyptian North wind was called Qebui, and is pictured as a four-headed ram with wings. Make the gesture of conjuring and invoke:

Phonetic	Translation
Orkizo Qebui!	I conjure Qebui!

Face East and imagine all four guardians in their corners protecting the circle. Intone the following:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Προ μου Henkhisesui, οπισω μου Hutjaiwi, επι δεξια Shehbui, επαριστερα Qebui.	Pro mou Henkhisesui, opisō mou Hutjaiwi, epi dexia Shehbui, eparistera Qebui.	Before me Henkhisesui, behind me Hutjaiwi, to my right Shehbui, to my left Qebui.

Of course you may also use the Greek Anemoi wind spirits instead:

Greek	Phonetic	Direction
Ευρο!	Euro	East
Νότο	Noto	South
Ζέφυρο	Zephyro	West
Βορέα	Borea	North

Part 4: Closing

Take a single deep breath and bring your hands together in front of your heart is if you are praying. Intone:

Greek	Phonetic	Translation
Eκάς, εκάς οι βέβηλοι, εις το όνομα του Παντοδυνάμου Φρη Σαβαωθ Αβρασαξ ΙΑΩ!	Hekas, hekas oi bebēloi, eis to onoma tou Pantodynamou Phrē Sabaōth Abrasax IAŌ!	Away, away o profane, in the name of the most powerful Phrē Sabaoth Abrasax IAO!

Confirmation

I wrote Jason Miller and told him about this variant of his banishing ritual and he loved it and encouraged me to publish it!

I have successfully used the Sphere of Horus to remove potentially harmful spiritual residue after having to apply Gordon's Hoodoo Hex to an obnoxious neighbor. First I wasn't completely sure if it worked but then my cat walked into the room, let himself fall on his side, stretching all paws out and gave me his usual blinky look of total relaxation. I fully trust his judgement! He might be a really bad hunter, but he usually seems to be quite aware of things from the other side.

Here is the Sphere of Horus as a Google document for nicer print layout, also including Jason's original descending dove and Hekate

(1) Borghouts, Joris Frans, ed. Ancient Egyptian magical texts. Vol. 9. Brill, 1978.

(2) Miller, Jason, Protection and Reversal Magick. New Page Books; 1 edition, 2006.

Ankhor

2017-07-30T18:00:00+02:00

I walked home from the pediatrician with my daughter today and I had a sudden realization.

In the face of the feverish headless Horus vision from last week one of the words of the scarred French demon from my other dream suddenly falls into place: it wasn't ARCHON or ANCHOR.

It must have been ANKHOR, ANKH HOR, ˁnḫ ḥr, ancient Egyptian for "Horus Lives"

(A quick online search revealed that there even was a person of that name

Opus Apus

2017-07-26T18:00:00+02:00

I was visiting my parents over the weekend in my hometown together with my wife and daughter for my mom's birthday. We spent the afternoon doing a picnic at a beautiful green clearing on one of the foresty hills just out of town and had an extended dinner out on the terrace at my parents house. Right after dinner my dad got stung into his upper lip by a wasp while taking a sip of his wine. It was the first time in the 74 years of his life that he got stung by an insect. But this was just the beginning of weirdness to come.

The next morning dad asked me to come to the street in front of the house with him. He found a bird in the middle of the road that looked hurt and he didn't know what to do with it. It was quite small, a bit larger than a sparrow and with a tiny hooked beak like of an owl. I gently took the animal with a paper towel and brought it to our back yard for further investigation. According to its beak shape, feather color and surprisingly short legs it was a young swift (apus apus). I called an animal rescue number and did a bit of online research and found out that swifts are a type of bird of prey that spends most of its life in the air - up to ten months straight. Their legs are too short for them to be able to easily take off from the ground. Dad kept telling me to put it back to the street "because it will die anyway" which I refused to do and I waited for my sister to arrive and fed some water to the poor bird.

After some more phone-calls to vets by my sister (it was Sunday and no animal shelter was open) and attempts to feed it some flies and more water we put the swift into a cardboard box and put it in a dark and quiet place. My sister had arranged to bring it to some "lady specialized in caring for wild birds" in the evening.

In the early afternoon we all went for a walk into the forest up on the hill in walking distance from where my parents live. I felt oddly anxious when we left the house and my skin felt weirdly sensitive but i didn't worry too much about it. We reached the top of the hill where the forest opens up to beautiful farmland with a few grazing cows and ancient apple and pear trees. I had instant memories of feeding white horses with clover and fruits as a child. We walked past a group of young cows and a beautiful bull with a ring through his nose. I had never noticed cows can be so beautiful.

As we started heading back downhill I started to feel weak and lightheaded and I had to sit down several times to not faint. I told the others I needed a moment alone and they continued walking home. I sat on a bench next to the footpath and closed my eyes. The sound of wind rustling the leaves in the trees was quite meditative and I felt like my head wad humming from the inside and I became a bit dizzy. I slowly walked back home thinking that I'd need to do something about my blood pressure.

At home I had a coffee and a piece of cake and felt slightly better until a sudden very heavy tiredness overcame me and forced me to lie down. That's when I felt the fever taking over.

In a half awake and half asleep state, feeling hot blood pumping through my head the nightmarish visions crept in from the edges. Scenes of a medieval dungeon that seemed too familiar.

As a child around seven or eight years old I remember I watched a TV show that had caught my attention randomly zapping around after school. It was a story in a medieval setting told from the point of view of a prisoner in a dungeon. He gets visited by a guard handing him food and another time by a priest praying with him. He is being told that he will be picked up at six o'clock. In the last scene the church bells toll six and the narrator is being dragged through the dungeon hallway into the open where an executioner with an axe is waiting on a scaffold. Screaming and fighting he is beimg decapitated — all shown from his point of view.

I was terrified by what I had watched and quite traumatised. For a quite long time (years?) I had an irrational fear of "six o'clock" to a point where I didn't want to go to bed or be awake or wake up around that time. Fortunately this obsessive anxiety faded in my early teens. I never thought about it again for decades until now…

…lying in bed, shaken by waves of fever, I had a vision of this last scene from my childhood nightmare. I was being dragged through the same hallway and half awake I heard the church bells through the window toll six o'clock for real and I was in a raging fear. I cringed, sweating in my bed as I was dragged up to the scaffold where the executioner was waiting. My visions slowed down and started looping repetitively. A staccato of images, the axe being raised. I screamed in my dream and as the images repeated themselves faster and faster to an infinitely blurry freeze-frame the fear suddenly faded and I knew I had to let go. I knew I had to give in and embrace death. It was an almost joyful moment of peace and as I was losing my head the vision suddenly changed and I saw a bird of prey rising up in slow motion. It was a swift spreading its wings, gliding towards me, staring me in the eyes. I felt blissful and I heard and saw the words around me:

I AM HORUS!

…I heard the front door of the house slam shut and woke up. I was sweating. I knew immediately that my sister had just left the house with the cardboard box sheltering the swift bird to bring him to the animal lady. The last sound of the church bells faded and I sat in bed feeling nothing but awe. Horus? Why Horus?

Sceptical sidenote:

I have been researching about "Akephalos" in the "Stele of Jeu" text from the PGM V some weeks ago and what it has to do with Osiris (but no mention of Horus). And yes there is a sub-species of Apus Apus called "Apus Horus" but I didn't read much into it until after this experience because it seemed irrelevant at that point for my research about helping the poor bird. Was it all my fever boiled brain wildly associating things as the clock tolled six? (although i didn't know it was six until after the dream)

Synchronicities:

reading later about Apus Horus revealed that it doesn't build its own nest but dwells in nests built by bee-eaters!
reading later about the Osiris myth revealed that after Set killed and dismembered Osiris and after Osiris came back to life with the help of Isis to create their son Horus he went to the underworld forever. But he appears in this world in different forms. One of them is a young bull.
the night after this experience I had fever with crazy dreams too. But nothing even close to the visions before. The next morning I felt very good but I suddenly strained my neck and was suffering a lot of pain in the back of my neck for two days.
I later learned by coincidence that the day I had this vision was the 23rd of July, which marks this year's heliacal rise of Sirius. In Ancient Egypt this event marked the start of a new 360 days long year after five epigomenal days of celebrations of the birth of Nut's children Osiris, Set, Horus the Elder, Isis and Nephthys.