Anthony Testa - The Key of the Abyss.pdf

it’s own inertia. That is, while it is certainly possible for a person to be
deluded about what initiation is (simply look at some of the nonsense
spouted in the so-called New Age movement), we are here considering
whether or not an aspirant that comprehends the path can falsely claim
multiple initiations. It may be possible for a person to delude
themselves into thinking they have attained but it cannot be that he
should be able to deceive the guardians of the Spheres, whose
existence is, after all, to prevent any passage to those that are
unworthy. This is not a question of claims, but a question success or
failure. If the aspirant takes the Oath of the Abyss, he is drawn into the
Abyss. Must it not be that he shall also, if swearing to the oaths of the
earlier grades, be drawn into the sphere of that Grade? The answer
must be in the affirmative, though the failure of the Abyss can be
catastrophic in a way that the earlier grades are not, the false Adept
(liar or deluded) will be ejected from the Sphere of whatever grade he
has sworn the oaths to, unworthily. Therefore, it must be that the
Exempt Adept has obtained to his grade, else he would be cast back to
Tiphareth. One must climb a ladder one rung at a time.
It is likely that the point Crowley makes regarding the Oath is
responsible for this confusion: Any neophyte of the Order … possesses
the right to claim the Grade of Master of the Temple by taking the
Oath of the Grade. It is, no doubt, possible to fail in the crossing and
the magician would then fall prey to the destroying void of the Abyss.
Nevertheless, the Exempt Adept, having the counsel of his Angel
should be immune to this error. Even if not, the fact is, the failure of
the Crossing ought to lead to the ejection from the Abyss. If the Adept
could remain in the Abyss by his will (or more properly, to postpone
his dissolution in the Sea of Binah, thus making it possible for him to
integrate the phenomenal universe, he would be a different creature
altogether from the Black Brothers we have been considering).
The consequences of the Oath and the subsequent passage into (if not
through) the Abyss are described…To attain the Grade of Magister
Templi, he must perform two tasks; the emancipation from thought by
putting each idea against its opposite, and refusing to prefer either;
and the consecration of {236} himself as a pure vehicle for the
influence of the order to which he aspires. He must then decide upon
the critical adventure of our Order; the absolute abandonment of
himself and his attainments. He cannot remain indefinitely an Exempt
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