070: Gathering The Pieces
My editor at Opi8 pointed out in a comment to the 69th SYMBOLIC entry that a chapter in Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies is subtitled: "The way to succeed -- and the way to suck eggs." Now, Ministry's Psalm 69 record has been a favorite of mine for years and I never made the connection between the symbols on the sleeve (and the quote which seals "Psalm 69"), and Crowley's Book of Lies which only serves to accentuate the point for me that all understanding of the world is a matter of your own knowledge. The picture makes sense if you have all the pieces. So, with that aphorism in mind, I go to gather some more pieces.
Crowley's Book of Lies: "This Interchange, the Double Gift of Tongues, the Word of Double Power -- ABRAHADABRA! -- is the sign of the GREAT WORK, for the GREAT WORK is accomplished in Silence. And behold is not that Word equal to Cheth, that is Cancer, whose sigil is...? This Work also eats up itself, accomplishes its own end, nourishes the worker, leaves no seed, is perfect in itself. Little children, love one another!"
The Great Work is the ultimate goal of all magicians and alchemists: the transmutation of dross into gold. While some remained slave to the physical realization of this goal (turning lead into gold -- which, by the way, was the name of a Ministry side-project just to keep track of all these things), others applied this effort to their spiritual selves, seeking to venture beyond their mean flesh and blood existences into purified realms of spiritual and mental enlightenment.
The sigil of Cancer, as mentioned before, is a sideways "69," an Ouroborean birth death life cycle. The more we learn, the more we can nourish ourselves, begatting a self-perpetuating creation which becomes fully self-realized. And, if you have all knowledge, can you not comprehend the totality of all and, in doing so, finally know yourself?
Crowley's Liber 777: "The five letters used in the word are A, the crown; B, the wand; D, the cup; H, the sword; R, the rosy cross; and refer further to Amoun the Father, Thoth His messener, and Isis, Horus, Osis the human-divine triad...but always the symbol will remain the Expression of the Goal and the Exposition of the Path."
writing
This is a reasonably comprehensive list of my published work, both virtual and physical.
THE MISFIT LIBRARY
I am Nine of Thirteen, one of the members of the Misfit Library, a writing collective which puts out a quarterly journal of our respective work. We are scattered across the globe and determined to change the face of the planet one story at a time. The link above will take you to Misfit Central where you can acquire copies of the journal as well as read exclusive online material.
SYMBOLIC
I wrote a column for OPi8.com's Transmit blogs: journals of the new dark underground. SYMBOLIC tracked the novel I was working on, referencing the process and the research materials which mad up the backbone of the work. In addition, SYMBOLIC busied itself with ruminations and considerations on the nature of language and communication. And a wee bit of mythology. The first 100 entries of SYMBOLIC can be found here on this site as well as at OPi8.com.
LITERARY REPRESENTATION
I am represented by Scribe Agency as my literary agents. Please contact these gentleman if you have any queries about my work.