THE HEXAGRAM
OF MAGICK

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By David Cherubim
(Frater Aurora Aureae)
Copyright © 1992 e.v.
The Order of the
Thelemic Golden Dawn.

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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

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The Hexagram represents the formula and accomplishment of the Great Work in both the material and spiritual worlds. It is composed of the symbols for Fire and Water. It is synonymous with the symbol of the Rose and Cross, the Ankh (Crux Ansata), the Sun and Moon Conjoined, and the Cross in the Circle. It represents the union of the two opposites in Nature, male and female, light and darkness, activity and passivity, and all other opposites that constitute creation.

The Hexagram is a geometrical symbol of the Sun. The Sun is an external symbol of the One Reality or the One Self that is manifest in all things. One of the most significant of all realizations for the Adept is that s/he is the Sun made manifest in the flesh, an incarnation of the Lord of the Solar System. The Hexagram is the Sign of such an Adept.

From one point of view, the upright triangle of the Hexagram represents the Holy Guardian Angel, our inner Self, and the inverted triangle represents WoMan, our human self. These two triangles united represent what is called in Magick "the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel." The Holy Guardian Angel is the "star" of every man and every woman, that is, their inner celestial nature as opposed to their purely human self. To unite one's human consciousness with that Angel is to awaken the Solar Consciousness and to realize oneself in the Sun of Light and Life.

From another point of view the upright triangle represents WoMan ascending into Godhead through the power of Aspiration, and the inverted triangle represents God descending into WoMan through the power of Inspiration. These two triangles interlaced indicate the completion of the Great Work; they represent a perfect balance of the human and divine Will, a complete synthesis and harmony of all that is terrestrial and celestial. The Hexagram is also a geometrical symbol of Lapis Philosophorum, the Stone of the Philosophers, which is the product of Sol and Luna and/or Fire and Water. It is therefore a symbol of what is termed in Magick, "the Mystery of Mysteries" and "the Secret of Secrets." It is said that by the application of this Great Secret the Alchemist can transmute all base metals into the perfect material gold of the Sun, which is the first and final product of the mineral kingdom. Gold is the perfect metal of all metals, the most exalted form of the mineral kingdom. It is a material symbol of a spiritual reality that is also symbolized in Heaven by the Great Sun of Light. All other metals are said to be imperfections of gold, and they are striving in Nature to become the perfect gold. Thus the Hexagram represents that which brings Nature to perfection.

In the Hexagram are not only contained the mysteries of Fire and Water, but also of Air and Earth. Notice that when you combine the symbols for Fire and Water to produce the grand symbol of the Hexagram, you also make the symbols for Air and Earth, which are the same as the symbols for Fire and Water but with a cross bar or line in each triangle which is formed in the Hexagram.

Each line of the Hexagram or Hexalpha indicates the number 111, since a single line of the Hexagram contains three equal parts, each of which may be represented by the number 1, so that the number 111 can symbolize every line. There are six lines in all, so that 111 x 6 = 666, the Most Holy Number of the Sun. Each angle of the Hexagram is 60 degrees. 60 is the number of the Hebrew letter Samekh, which is the letter of the Holy Guardian Angel. Six angles of 60 degrees each equal 360 degrees, and 360 is the number of the Hebrew letter Shin spelled in full. Shin is the letter of the Spirit of the Sun and it is esoterically composed of three Hebrew Vavs. Vav is the sixth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, so that three Vavs indicate the number 666. 666 is the number of Sorath (SVRTh), the Spirit of the Sun. It is also the number of Shemesh Yahweh (ShMSh IHVH), the Sun of Tetragrammaton.

The Hexagram of Magick further represents the operation of the Seven Planets under the presidency of the Sephiroth and of the seven-lettered name ARARITA. ARARITA is a Notariqon. In other words, it is a word which is composed of seven letters formed from the initials of a Hebrew sentence meaning: "One is His Beginning: One is His Individuality: His Permutation is One."

Concerning the word ARARITA, Aleister Crowley wrote: "The use of this Name and Formula is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as "true" (and therefore binding); one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach."

The seven letters of ARARITA are linked to the six points of the Hexagram and its center. Thus these seven letters also correspond with certain Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life and their corresponding Planets, since the seven Planets and their corresponding Sephiroth are linked to the points of the Hexagram. Such are the following:

LETTER     PLANET    SEPHIRA

A                Saturn       Binah (3)

R                Jupiter      Chesed (4)

A                Mars         Geburah (5)

R                Sol           Tiphareth (6)

I                 Venus       Netzach (7)

T                Mercury    Hod (8)

A                Luna         Yesod (9)

The attribution of the Planets to the points of the Hexagram is derived from superimposing the Hexagram on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. (For the sake of convenience, the Sun and Moon are also called Planets). Thus the Path between the Sephiroth called Chesed and Geburah corresponds with the base of the inverted triangle, while the Path between the Sephiroth called Netzach and Hod corresponds with the base of the upright triangle. The uppermost point of the Hexagram corresponds to Daath, the invisible Sephira, and the lowest point corresponds to Yesod, the ninth Sephira.

The Planets (including Pluto, Uranus and Neptune) are linked with certain Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Pluto corresponds with Kether (1); Uranus corresponds with Chokmah (2); Saturn corresponds with Binah (3); Jupiter corresponds with Chesed (4); Mars corresponds with Geburah (5); the Sun corresponds with Tiphareth (6); Venus corresponds with Netzach (7); Mercury corresponds with Hod (8); and the Moon corresponds with Yesod (9). Neptune corresponds with Daath, the so-called eleventh Sephira, which is located in the Abyss below Chokmah and Binah on the Tree of Life. It was the original location of Malkuth, the tenth Sephira, before the so-called Fall of Man. It is said that Daath was formed out of the conjunction of Chokmah and Binah.

Since the Hexagram cannot embrace any of the Supernal Sephiroth to correspond with any of its points, it is said that these Supernals called Kether, Chokmah and Binah are concentrated in the uppermost point of the Hexagram at the place of Daath. Crowley informs us that Daath is in another dimension to the other Sephiroth, and it forms the Apex of a Pyramid of which the three Supernal Sephiroth form the three basal angles.

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Love is the law, love under will.