Anthony Testa - The Key of the Abyss.pdf

Work. 83 The point is important, for if we are to tie the Babalon
Working to Tyson’s Apocalypse Working, it is through this conjunction
As to the outline of the ritual “working” 84 it is not terribly clear exactly
how this might have been actualized though this is not a problem for
the working magician, as it is often the case that rituals are developed
from contacts with various forces in the course of a working and as
Tyson says in regard to the missing Key; …this is a matter of practical
magic and there is no space to investigate the details of the
Apocalypse Working in this brief essay. 85 We might speculate that the
ritual would be accomplished, as Tyson describes it, by opening all of
the Watchtowers simultaneously – possibly leaving them open for the
forces otherwise contained to come and go as they will 86 . It is also
worth mentioning that during the series of rituals enacted in Algeria
and recorded in the Vision and the Voice that Crowley enacted a
variation of an event right out of the Revelation of John, which one
might imagine would form some part of the complete working, namely
the opening of the Abyss on Earth.
Revelation: 9 : 1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven
fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the
abyss.
Revelation: 9 : 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a
smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air
were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Compare this to the Opening of the Abyss (the 10 th Aethyr, ZAX) as
recorded by Crowley; This Aethyr being accurs`ed, and the seer
forewarned, he taketh these precautions for the scribe.
83 Crowley, Liber 418, The Cry Of The 3rd Aethyr, Which Is Called ZON
84
Working is a term oft used by Crowley and others to denote a magical operation that takes
place over a period of time and consists of multiple ritual and other acts all geared toward the
goal or purpose of the magician(s).
85
Tyson, ibid.
86 This has some resonance with a science fiction novel written by James Blish, fittingly called
Black Easter, in which a magician with the Crowlean name Theron Ware is contracted to
conjure all of the demons he can and turn them loose on the earth for a night. The magician is
unable to control what he has unleashed, which turns out to be the Apocalypse itself. In a
sequel, Satan builds the city of Dis in Arizona and the protagonists travel – like Dante and
Virgil – to the center of Hell’s capitol on Earth and find Satan lamenting his victory.
65