Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Revising the Keyword Analysis

The Golden Dawn Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram opens with the analysis of the keyword INRI and the LVX signs, like so:

INRI,
Yod Nun Resh Yod.
Virgo, Isis, mighty mother,
Scorpio, Apophis, destroyer,
Sol, Osiris, slain and risen,
Isis, Apophis, Osiris,
IAO.

The Sign of Osiris Slain (sign),
The Sign of the Mourning of Isis (sign),
The Sign of Apophis and Typhon (sign),
The Sign of Osiris Risen. (sign)
L, V, X, LUX, the light of the cross.

The Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram represents the macrocosmic component of the operant field and as a result are very important to the practice of any sort of practical magical ritual. For Thelemites, though, the keyword analysis is distinctly "old Aeon" - that is, it is based on the formula of Osiris rather than that of Horus. Of course, Thelemites can also use the Star Ruby and Star Sapphire to open an operant field rather than the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram/Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram, but I have also been interested over the years in coming up with a keyword analysis that would be more "new Aeon."

Eventually we did develop a revised keyword analysis that my magical working group has used to good effect for a number of years. It is based on the version found here in a ritual written by Benjamin Rowe, but it has also gone through a number of changes from Rowe's version. Here's how it goes:

IRNI,
Yod Resh Nun Yod.
Isis, Nature, the Fullness of Earth,
Horus, Volition, the Triumph of Sol,
Set, Guardian, Lord of the Threshold,
Tahuti, Perfection, Uniting them All.
Isis, Horus, Set, Tahuti,
ABRAHADABRA! (sign)

Isis in Fullness (sign),
Horus Triumphant (sign),
Set the Liminal (sign),
Tahuti, Nefer-Neteru (sign).
Isis, Horus, Set, Tahuti,
MAKASHANAH! (sign)

The linking of Earth with the Stars (sign).

The various signs are given as follows:

  1. For ABRAHADABRA, the Sign of Osiris Risen.

  2. For Isis in Fullness, elbows square and hands open, with left arm up and right arm down, looking upwards and to the left. Similar to Mourning of Isis reversed.

  3. For Horus Triumphant, clench fists and place left hand on heart, with right elbow square and right arm up. Like a reversed Hailing Sign of a Magician from Liber XV with fists clenched instead of hands open.

  4. For Set the Liminal, the Sign of Apophis and Typhon.

  5. For Tahuti, Nefer-Neteru, both arms held straight out to the sides with right palm up and left palm down, stepping forward onto right foot.

  6. For MAKASHANAH, both arms forward with palms up, rising upwards as though lifting the rising Sun.

  7. For The Linking of Earth with the Stars, both hands open and placed flat over the heart.
Feel free to try this out on your own and let me know how it works. I have found it to be much more effective than the original in my own practical work.

Technorati Digg This Stumble Stumble

1 comment:

Ben Sandler said...

How about Iacchus, Asi, Orus ;)

IAO131