Refuge

The Three Rivers (& To Take Refuge Therein)

The Three Rivers also forms the basis of "Refuge" for an adherents much like the Buddhist refuge of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, respectively.

• Mind of the Magus (The Prince-Priest)
  To Take Refuge in the Mind of the Magus means, not taking refuge in Crowley as a person or even as the first prophet, but taking refuge in the knowledge of his attainment: placing trust in the belief (1) that he did awaken to the truth, (2) that he did so by developing qualities that we too can develop, and (3) that the truths to which he awoke (i.e., the Law of Thelema) provide the best perspective for the conduct of our life.
• Speech of the Soul (The Book of the Law)
  To Take Refuge in the Speech of the Soul refers not merely the Book of the Law itself, but also to the path of practice (praxis) that we gather from its elucidation and edification. This also has three levels: the words of the Law itself (Liber AL), the act of putting the Law into practice (the Great Work of each individual), and the awakening that occurs as a result of the Law in action (HGA/True Will).
• Going Forth of Heaven (The Body of Nuit)
  To Take Refuge in the Going Forth of Heaven has two aspects, or senses: conventional and ideal. In an ideal sense, the Going Forth of Heaven consists of all Stars; that is, all manifestations of Nuit regardless of awareness or attainment. In a conventional sense, it is a reference to those individuals, as a whole, as the greater community, who have accepted the Law of Thelema as their sole rule of existence. It is through this conventional sense of the Going Forth of Heaven that the Law of Thelema is maintained and sustained through temporal history.

Taking Refuge

1. I partake in the current of the Revealer [Mind of the Magus]. "That there was once a man [the Prince-Priest] who found the Way is my encouragement."^[1]
2. I partake in the current of the Revelation [Speech of the Soul]. "The Law [Thelema] underlying phenomena and its unchanging certainty; the Law [i.e., the Book of the Law] given by the [Prince-Priest] to show us the Way …"
3. I partake in the current of the Revealed [Going Forth of Heaven]. "These are not isolated efforts on my part; although in one sense isolation is eternally perfect and can never be overcome, in another sense associates [the Body of Nuit, i.e., other stars, the “company of heaven,” etc] are possible and desirable."

Note: In short, to put it another way, we start with a foundation that there is an archer (The Revealer), an arrow (The Revelation), and a target (The Revealed).

Further Notes

The Revealer: Mind of the Magus (Crowley)

What is it that we need to understand about Crowley? Plenty of people have done biographies. Plenty of people have dissected nearly every aspect of his life. There is certainly no desire here to offer up any kind of additional biographical details and add to the redundancy of information. My interest here, specifically, is how does Crowley relate to the Law of Thelema and the instance of history in which we find ourselves now.

Within the conception of The Three Rivers we find the first aspect as that of the Revealer. When we look at this in relation to our underlying metaphor, we have to ask what is it about Crowley that we need to take away for our presuppositions.

The Revealer of The Three Rivers is also called the "Mind of the Magus" and it is in this aspect that we have the greatest use for Crowley in all of Thelema. In one sense, we must deify Crowley in order to kill him. Only then are we able to move past the man and recognise the Magus.

The Mind of the Magus is that which is the spirit of the Law. It is the movement within history.

To take refuge in the Mind of the Magus means, not taking refuge in him as a person, but taking refuge in the fact of his attainment: placing trust in the belief that he did awaken to the truth, that he did so by developing qualities that we too can develop, and that the truths to which he awoke provide the best perspective for the conduct of our life.

The Revelation: Speech of the Soul (Book of the Law)

To take refuge in the "Speech of the Soul" refers not merely the Book of the Law itself, but also to the path of practice (praxis) that we gather from its elucidation and edification. This also has three levels: the words of the Law itself (Liber AL), the act of putting the Law into practice (the Great Work of each individual), and the awakening that occurs as a result of the Law in action (K&C/HGA).

The Revealed: Going Forth of Heaven (Company of Heaven/Body of Nuit)

To take refuge in the "Going Forth of Heaven" has two aspects, or senses: conventional and ideal. In an ideal sense, the Going Forth of Heaven consists of all Stars; that is, all manifestations of Nuit regardless of awareness or attainment. In a conventional sense, it is a reference to those individuals, as a whole, as the greater community, who have accepted the Law of Thelema as their sole rule of existence. It is through the conventional sense of the Going Forth of Heaven that the Law of Thelema is maintained and sustained through temporal history.

Symbols of Refuge

Outer Symbols

Mind of the Magus: The Prince-Priest - The Revealer
Speech of the Soul: The Book of the Law - The Revelation
Going Forth of Heaven: The Body of Nuit (Company of Heaven) - The Revealed

Inner Symbols (The Wellsprings)

Wellspring of Initiation: The Angel
Wellspring of Awakening: The Word
Wellspring of Action: The Will

Secret Symbols

No-Thing: Truth
Ecstasy-of-Motion: Khabs
Pain-of-Division: Khu

Three Depths of Existence

Secret Centre
Heart
Tongue

When we discuss the issues of truth, authority, and the fullness of perspective, it's interesting to compare the structure of The Three Rivers—The Revealer, The Revelation, and The Revealed—to the Three Truth Domains—the True, the Good, and the Beautiful; broadly speaking—to see how they compare across those dimensions.

The Revelation throws us in the objective realm of 'IT.' This is the Letter of the Law, that aspect of authority that is fixed, tangible, capable of being touched, examined, dissected, reasoned with (despite all notions to the contrary).

The Revealer heads over the the subjective realm of 'I.' This is the Spirit of the Law, the Magus, the Prince-Priest, the Prophet. Yet, at the same time, it is each one of us individually that exists in that same time-space as a Star. (This indicates the deeper layers of The Three Rivers to be explored in a different time.)

The Revealed, as the Body of Nuit, the corporate manifestation of Nuit, is the intersubjective realm of 'WE.' Here we find the Tradition of the Law in motion, in slow evolution or adaptation. It is that aspect of the Law that happens within and between us all.

As with truth, authority likewise cannot ignore any one domain or the whole becomes pathological.

Attribution

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Canons of Thelemic Philosophy & Religion © 1996-2024 by Qui Vident.

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