Humming
01-24-2005, 09:51 AM
In my writing class we were supposed to bring in a picture of something about describe it, so I brought in a picture of the Aeon (Judgement)trump card from Aleister Crowley's Thoth tarot deck. This is one of the most fascinating cards to my mind, and is deeply involved with Crowley's philosophy. I am working mainly from the Crowley expert Lon Milo DuQuette's new book about the tarot, "Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot" and also with Terence McKenna's visions of history and the Fall into patriarchy in mind. I thought this might be an interesting and useful read, so I'm posting it here.
“Aeon” (Judgement) picture from Thoth Tarot
(A good image of the painting can be found online here:
http://www.kandayata.net/grafix/tarot/toth/20_Das_Aeon.jpg)
This card, 20 (XX) in the trumps of Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris’ Thoth tarot represents the three aeons of time, which can be understood historically, and related to three Egyptian deities. The painting itself also incorporates surrealism, representing “projective geometry”, sacred geometrical patterns which corresponds with Crowley’s philosophy about the three aeons.
According to Crowley, the first age was the Aeon of Isis, the Great Goddess. This aeon occurred before history, before civilization, when humankind was first developing as a species: living freely as nomadic tribes on the plains of Africa and Egypt. At this time, the feminine aspect was worshipped, the Great Goddess, because of her natural connection to the Earth and ability to give life, which no man could claim. To these early peoples the Goddess was the personification of mystery: she bled for several days each month without dying, and then if the bleeding stopped, her belly would swell up and she would eventually bud and bring another living being into the world. All forms of ritual magic and worship paid homage to this phenomenon of mystery and life. Tribes lived in orgiastic partnership societies where women and men were equal, or sometimes matriarchies where the birth mothers would control the decisions and destiny of the tribe. Eventually, however, the mystery of birth was unraveled as the process of paternity was understood, fathers claimed their children as property, and the mystical divinity of the feminine moon was discarded and forsaken as the patriarchy was established.
The second age was the Aeon of Osiris, the dying god. Habitualized, geographically stable agricultural societies developed and the phallic sun was recognized as the prime giver of life, instead of the feminine Earth. The partnership between women and men was no longer equal, and the backlash against women resulted in the modern crises of sexuality and sexual identity that is still forceful and dominant within our collective psyche to this day. Inherent to this age and this deep schism of spiritual crisis was the belief that the sun was born every day with the dawn, and died at night when it set on the horizon. The elders speculated about whether or not the sun would ever return, or if their crops and livelihood would die with the night. The dreamworld of death became a hellish place of nightmares, anxiety, and fear: the fear of death, not properly understood as a necessary and vital part of life. This disunification was projected in the collective fear about the death of the sun. But, as they watched and waited, it became clear that the sun which seemingly died every twelve hours, would always be reborn in the morning. This phenomenon of death and rebirth became the focus of magical energies, and the pattern of resurrections was codified as a social ritual, and played out in the practice of human sacrifice. Human blood spilled on the fields of crops would act as fertilizer and help the crops to grow. Above all, this ritual gave comfort: as the elders knew for certain that the sun would rise as long as they continued their sacrifices. The priests became very powerful, claiming to interpret the divine will of heaven; it was they who chose who died, and who lived. Eventually, the human sacrifices were replaced with animal’s blood, and then the symbolic offering of wine. Echoes of this early form of self-sacrifice can be seen in many religions today, especially Christianity and the myth of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The third Aeon is the Aeon of Horus, the age in which we live today. The birth of this aeon was marked by Aleister Crowley on March 20th, 1904 in Cairo, Egypt. It signifies a massive shift from the dominant theme of birth, death, and resurrection, to an understanding of life and existence as a continuous and unbroken process: a unitive projection. In the age of Orisis, the sun was worshipped as the divine. In the Aeon of Horus, we realize ourselves as radiantly divine, projecting the same energy and fire which the sun itself exudes to give life and vitality to the world. Like the sun, we do not die. Death, like the time of night before the dawn, is an illusion that has been considered in the past to be a clear division, but the reality is a unity: life is a process of continual growth, a wholeness of existence which is unbroken by death. Death is merely a change of phase from one state to another, and no energy is ever lost.
In Harris’ painting, the three Aeons can be seen eclipsing each other, overlayed and understood as a unity.
[ January 24, 2005, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Humming ]
“Aeon” (Judgement) picture from Thoth Tarot
(A good image of the painting can be found online here:
http://www.kandayata.net/grafix/tarot/toth/20_Das_Aeon.jpg)
This card, 20 (XX) in the trumps of Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris’ Thoth tarot represents the three aeons of time, which can be understood historically, and related to three Egyptian deities. The painting itself also incorporates surrealism, representing “projective geometry”, sacred geometrical patterns which corresponds with Crowley’s philosophy about the three aeons.
According to Crowley, the first age was the Aeon of Isis, the Great Goddess. This aeon occurred before history, before civilization, when humankind was first developing as a species: living freely as nomadic tribes on the plains of Africa and Egypt. At this time, the feminine aspect was worshipped, the Great Goddess, because of her natural connection to the Earth and ability to give life, which no man could claim. To these early peoples the Goddess was the personification of mystery: she bled for several days each month without dying, and then if the bleeding stopped, her belly would swell up and she would eventually bud and bring another living being into the world. All forms of ritual magic and worship paid homage to this phenomenon of mystery and life. Tribes lived in orgiastic partnership societies where women and men were equal, or sometimes matriarchies where the birth mothers would control the decisions and destiny of the tribe. Eventually, however, the mystery of birth was unraveled as the process of paternity was understood, fathers claimed their children as property, and the mystical divinity of the feminine moon was discarded and forsaken as the patriarchy was established.
The second age was the Aeon of Osiris, the dying god. Habitualized, geographically stable agricultural societies developed and the phallic sun was recognized as the prime giver of life, instead of the feminine Earth. The partnership between women and men was no longer equal, and the backlash against women resulted in the modern crises of sexuality and sexual identity that is still forceful and dominant within our collective psyche to this day. Inherent to this age and this deep schism of spiritual crisis was the belief that the sun was born every day with the dawn, and died at night when it set on the horizon. The elders speculated about whether or not the sun would ever return, or if their crops and livelihood would die with the night. The dreamworld of death became a hellish place of nightmares, anxiety, and fear: the fear of death, not properly understood as a necessary and vital part of life. This disunification was projected in the collective fear about the death of the sun. But, as they watched and waited, it became clear that the sun which seemingly died every twelve hours, would always be reborn in the morning. This phenomenon of death and rebirth became the focus of magical energies, and the pattern of resurrections was codified as a social ritual, and played out in the practice of human sacrifice. Human blood spilled on the fields of crops would act as fertilizer and help the crops to grow. Above all, this ritual gave comfort: as the elders knew for certain that the sun would rise as long as they continued their sacrifices. The priests became very powerful, claiming to interpret the divine will of heaven; it was they who chose who died, and who lived. Eventually, the human sacrifices were replaced with animal’s blood, and then the symbolic offering of wine. Echoes of this early form of self-sacrifice can be seen in many religions today, especially Christianity and the myth of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The third Aeon is the Aeon of Horus, the age in which we live today. The birth of this aeon was marked by Aleister Crowley on March 20th, 1904 in Cairo, Egypt. It signifies a massive shift from the dominant theme of birth, death, and resurrection, to an understanding of life and existence as a continuous and unbroken process: a unitive projection. In the age of Orisis, the sun was worshipped as the divine. In the Aeon of Horus, we realize ourselves as radiantly divine, projecting the same energy and fire which the sun itself exudes to give life and vitality to the world. Like the sun, we do not die. Death, like the time of night before the dawn, is an illusion that has been considered in the past to be a clear division, but the reality is a unity: life is a process of continual growth, a wholeness of existence which is unbroken by death. Death is merely a change of phase from one state to another, and no energy is ever lost.
In Harris’ painting, the three Aeons can be seen eclipsing each other, overlayed and understood as a unity.
[ January 24, 2005, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Humming ]