Gematria - Sepher Sapphires Volume 1.pdf

stork (traditionally associated with childbirth),
the dog, companion of the virgin huntress
[Artemis in her lunar phase], and the camel. The
camel is the chief totem of this path for it
traverses the desert of the Abyss; it is the
traditional ark or ship of the desert. Its humps
contain the vital liquid of life that sustains the
Adept during his crossing. The 13'~ path is thus
the path of the Virgin who contains within
herself the unawakened potential of the wife who
is ascribed to the next path. The position of these
two paths - 13 and 14 - constitutes the Sign of
the Cross. The Abyss is the place of crossing
over from the world of appearance
(phenomenon) represented by the obverse of the
Tree, to that of dis-appearance (noumenon)
represented by the hind side.
The magical powers of the kala of the moon
include clairvoyance and divination. Not the kind
of divination associated with the eleventh kala
(q-v.) which issues ventriloquilly via the open
womb, but divination by dreams emanating from
the 'sealed womb at night, i.e. when the lunar
light is eclipsed.
The 1 3th, 14'~ and 1 5th kalas, resuming as they do
the full formula of the female, form the Primal
Cross or place of crossing over from the material
world into the world of ghosts or spirits. The
virgin menstruates and is sealed, dark,
unillumined, unawakened; the wife or whore is
open, awakened, her formula is love; the mother
again is sealed, but after a different fashion for
she brings forth what is shut in her womb.
The fluid plasma of the astral light that
permeates the tunnels is alive with potential that
becomes manifest only when it comes to the
surface of the Tree, splits into myriad forms, and
swarms through the black hole in space
represented by Daath, the Gateway to the Abyss.
The manifestation of the non-manifest is
effected, magically speaking, via the lunar
current which characterizes the High Priestess of
this kala in her virginal, unawakened, or
'dreaming' phase. The verse in the grimoire
applicable to this kala reads: Now hath Nuit
veiled herself, that she may open the gate of her
sister.
Not two women, but one only is implied by this
statement. Nuit veils herself in sleep, i.e. she
becomes virginal, menstruous, in order to open
the gate of her sister - the gate of dreams. In a
naturalistic sense the veil is the clothing assumed
by primitive woman at the onset of puberty. In a
physiological sense it is the unruptured hymen.
When Nuit opens the gate she veils herself and is
therefore able to divine by dreams seen in the
mirror of magical sleep or trance. This is the
sense in which virginity, or the state of 'sleeping',
is here intended. In yet another sense, the
opening of the gate refers to the gate of the
mother of Path 15 wherein the unmanifest is
made manifest as the birth of the child through
the gateway of matter. But this is a later formula
and belongs properly below the Abyss, whereas
the Gate here intended is the Gate of the Abyss
itself.
The disease typical of this path is not
surprisingly subsumed under the general label
'menstrual disorders', but it should be understood
that whereas this disease is applicable to the
path, the corresponding disorders obtaining in
the tunnel beneath the path comport disorders of
the lunar current itself, and the consequent
spawning of lemurian horrors. This is
substantiated by the magical weapon of the path,
the Bow and Arrow. In the Tarot Trump
attributed to this kala, the High Priestess is
shown with the bow and arrow across her thighs.
The bow is also a glyph of the rainbow which
has a direct mystical connection with the lunar
formula.
The symbolism of the bow, as the emblem of
Sothis, the Star of Set, and of the rainbow. In
ancient Hebrew the name of the rainbow -
qesheth or gashed is a qabalistic synonym of
qadosh, a method- of sexual magick involving
the use of the lunar current.
The specific magical formula of kala 13 is P'?N
[signifying the 'Elemental Gods'], the number of
which - 81 - is the number of witchcraft presided
over by Hecate, or Hekt, the frog-headed
goddess. It is necessary to guard against
interpreting the term witchcraft in its usually
accepted sense, which does not pertain to these
higher levels of the Tree. The real meaning of
witchcraft is to be sought in the image of the frog
which has a secret significance for initiates that
is far closer to the concept of Lovecraft's
batrachian fantasies than is the puerile
assessment of the subject by mediaeval
churchmen and witch-hunters. [Grant, 1994, pp.
166-1 75.1