The Picatrix, Ghayat al-hakim, And The O9A

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The Latin Picatrix, The Arabic Ghayat al-ḥakim, And The O9A Septenary System
(pdf)

Those who have studied the Renaissance Latin text known as the Picatrix, and those who have studied the more ancient Arabic text – Ghayat al-ḥakim – on which it is based, will be aware of three things.

First, that describing either book as an “astrological” text is a mistake, given (i) what the term astrology now denotes, such as the making of natal charts, and the writing of horoscopes based on Zodiacal constellations; and given (ii) that the classical Latin term astrologia denoted the Art (scientia) of knowing and understanding celestial objects – the stars and planets – and how these objects might affect mortals given that for ancient Greek and Roman philosophers we mortals were considered as connected to, as part of, the cosmic order, κόσμος.

Second, that the subject of Ghayat al-ḥakim – and thus of the Picatrix – is this connection and how a knowledge and understanding of the seven planets, of the Zodiacal constellations, and the relation between them, was a means whereby wisdom – an understanding of the cosmos, and of ourselves – could be attained […]

Third, how a septenary system permeates those two books.

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Editorial Note: The synchronicity of such recent O9A texts dealing with ancient Arabic esoteric manuscripts such as Ghayat al-hakim, and the appearance of Richard Moult’s latest Tarot image The Emissary with its Arabic inscription – أساسيون – is esotericism at its modern best.

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Related:

The Eludent Order Of Nine Angles
(pdf)

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Image credit: The Emissary, by Richard Moult.
Image source: https://starred-desert.com/2018/08/25/the-emissary/

The Eludent O9A

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The Eludent Order Of Nine Angles
(pdf)

This O9A compilation conveniently brings together some recent articles which, as explained in the Introduction, manifest aspects of O9A tradition hitherto neglected by both other Occultists and by academics who have studied or who are studying Western Occultism and/or the O9A.

Which aspects are (i) Occult knowledge – esoteric and pagan traditions, Greco-Roman, Arabic, and Persian – absent from other manifestations of modern Western Occultism; (ii) the link which the O9A has through this knowledge to those ancient traditions; and (iii) the erudition shown by the authors of such O9A texts.

The compilation thus compliments the O9A texts in Aρρενόθηλυς: Alchemical And Hermetic Antecedents Of The Seven Fold Way, issued in 2016.

O9A Notes On Two Ancient Pagan Texts

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O9A Esoteric Notes On Two Ancient Pagan Texts
(pdf)

We republish here two esoteric notes from 2017 ev since they are relevant to and compliment the recent (2018) O9A texts An Esoteric Note On The Somnium Scipionis {1}, Some O9A Notes On The Picatrix {2}, and A Hidden O9A? {3}.

The two esoteric notes deal with ancient Greco-Roman sources that perhaps many of those who describe themselves as practitioners of a Western Occult tradition will be unfamiliar with.

The first deals with the Avenging Alastoras as described in tractate 13 of the Corpus Hermeticum. The second, and more detailed note, concerns a part of Virgil’s Aeneid and provides a scholarly, an initiated, insight into words such as the Latin magicas which via the Greek μαγικός was the origin of the English term magic/magick.

To provide some context, what is evoked by Virgil is the immolation of a lady (Dido) who would rather die than dishonour herself by having to live with a barbarian, and who is angry at Aeneas for deserting her and who seeks aid through The Craft (sorcery) by means of a Dragon-friendly priestess. This is a manifestation of the Western ethos and a world away from what is evoked by the medieval grimoire, Magian influenced, tradition with its profusion of hierarchical ‘demons’, its alleged ‘secrets’, and its hollow promises that anyone can control such ‘demonic’ entities if they have the right accoutrements and the right Magian names.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the Alastoras article:

                  “We read an awful lot, these days, in books, articles, and via the internet, about ‘sorcery’ and invokations, almost all of which books and articles describe or rely on the Magian influenced goetic ‘tradition’ as exemplified by the misnamed Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn. Thus it is refreshing to once again revisit actual Western pagan sources…”

We have corrected a few typos, updated some of the references, and added an additional reference to the Alastoras article.

TWS Nexion
August 2018 ev

{1} https://www.o9a.org/2018/08/concerning-the-somnium-scipionis/

{2} https://www.o9a.org/2018/08/some-notes-on-the-picatrix/

{3} https://omega9alpha.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/the-hidden-order-of-nine-angles/

Concerning The Somnium Scipionis

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An Esoteric Note On The Somnium Scipionis Of Cicero
(pdf)

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The above text is a companion to the author’s recent essay Some Notes On The Picatrix.

Some Notes On The Picatrix

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The Latin text known in the West as the Picatrix – a medieval translation, via Spanish, of the Arabic text Ghayat al-Ḥakim, which Arabic text has been dated as from around the year 1000 CE {1} – has received some attention in the last few decades by those interested in or claiming to be practitioners of Western Occultism, with a few English translations of the Latin text by such people available and with some of these versions stating that they are based on the scholarly version of the Latin text, edited by David Pingree, published in 1986 by the Warburg Institute. The problem with these modern translations based on the text of the Picatrix is of course that they are translations of a Latin medieval translation of a Spanish translation and thus are quite far removed from the original Arabic text.

The Picatrix itself is widely believed – by scholars – to have influenced and informed the European Renaissance, and a recent book titled Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy {2} places the Picatrix in the necessary historical context, referencing as it does works by and studies of figures such as Marsilio Ficino, Aristotle, Macrobius (who wrote Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis), and Al-Farabi.

In terms of modern Western Occultism, the Ghayat al-Ḥakim – the original Arabic text – and some other Arabic texts would seem to be the origin of the ‘grimoire’ and talismanic tradition predating as they do the much later Hebrewesque and Kabbalah influenced grimoires – with their Hebrewesque ‘demons’ – beloved by The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, Howard Stanton Levey, and by perhaps the majority of individuals claiming to be practitioners of Western Occultism.

            In contrast to this later Hebrewesque and Kabbalah influenced grimoire tradition, the Order of Nine Angles (ONA, O9A) have always claimed not only that their Occult tradition pre-dates such Hebrewesque and Kabbalah influenced Occult traditions but is also the original, the traditional, Western Occult tradition, melding as that original tradition did Greco-Roman pagan sources – for example, the Somnium Scipionis of Cicero, and the Corpus Hermeticum with its septenary anados {3} – with Arabic sources such as Al-Kitab Al-Alfak (The Book Of The Spheres) and which Arabic text was most probably influenced by, or derived from, the Ghayat al-Ḥakim.

The O9A have also claimed that the later Hebrewesque and Kabbalah influenced Occult tradition – with its ten-fold Otz Chim – is a distorted version of the earlier, Greco-Roman and pagan, septenary tradition. {4} {5}

That the O9A claims have scholarly, historical and Western pagan foundations should by now be obvious to those who have studied primary sources such as the Arabic text of the Ghayat al-Ḥakim, other Arabic works such as De Radiis Stellarum by Al-Kindi, {6} and Kitab Al Madkhal Al Kabir Fi’ilm Ahkam Al Noudjoum, {7} and who have also taken the trouble to read Myatt’s commentaries on the Corpus Hermeticum as well as O9A essays such as (i) Lapis Philosophicus, Isaac Newton, And The Septenary System and (ii) Azoth: Western Alchemy And The Seven Fold Way Of The Order Of Nine Angles. {8}

R. Parker
July 2018 ev
v.1.03

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{1} As of July 2018 ev, a digital edition of the Arabic text of Ghayat al-Ḥakim – published in 1933 in Germany – is available at http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/record=b2205045~S12

{2} Liana Saif, Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy, Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic, 2015, ISBN 978-1137399465.

{3} qv. David Myatt’s translation of and commentary on the Pymander text of the Corpus Hermeticum, available in his book Corpus Hermeticum: Eight Tractates. 2017. ISBN 978-1976452369

See also the O9A text Alchemical And Hermetic Antecedents Of The Seven Fold Way, available from https://omega9alpha.wordpress.com/ἀρρενόθηλυς/

{4} qv. O9A texts such as https://omega9alpha.wordpress.com/2013/12/25/originality-tradition-and-the-order-of-nine-angles/

{5} qv. the O9A compilation The Esoteric Hermeticism Of The O9A, available from https://omega9alpha.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/the-esoteric-hermeticism-of-the-order-of-nine-angles/

{6} According to some scholars this treatise by the Arab philosopher Al-Kindi influenced John Dee.

{7} A copy of the Arabic text is, as of July 2018 ev, available at https://archive.org/details/1H5Uuo

{8} The essays are included in The Esoteric Hermeticism Of The O9A.

Western Paganism

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Regarding Western Paganism And Hermeticism
(pdf)

A selection of recent articles about Western paganism and hermeticism.

Contents:

° Preface
° Re-discovering Western Paganism
° An Insight Into Pagan Mysticism
° Regarding The Hermetica
° The Divine Pymander
° Monas – A New Translation of Corpus Hermeticum IV
° On Native Egyptian Influence In The Corpus Hermeticum
° Suffering, Honour, And The Culture Of The West
° A New Pagan Metaphysics

Appendix I – Concerning ἀγαθός and νοῦς in the Corpus Hermeticum
Appendix II – A Review Of ‘Classical Paganism And The Christian Ethos’

Some Notes Concerning The O9A

A selection of articles, germane to the pagan and hermetic esotericism – and the practical ‘Dark Arts’ – of the Order of Nine Angles, that have been published in the past year.

Contents:

° Preface
° Some Background To The O9A.
° Masculous And Muliebral: The Sinister Feminine And Homo Hubris.
° A Note Regarding The Sinister-Numinous Aesthetic Of The Order Of Nine Angles.
° On Native Egyptian Influence In The Corpus Hermeticum.
° Re-discovering Western Paganism.
° The Avenging Alastoras.
° On Sorcery In Virgil’s Aeneid.
° Some Thoughts Of Some Solitary Seeker.
° The Peculiar Matter Of Mr Myatt And Mr Long.
° It Can Sometimes Be Informative To Chastise.
° A Note Regarding The Term Numinous.

O9A Q&A 2017 Part Two

Contents:

§ Preface
§ Some Questions From An Aspirant Adept
§ Regarding Inciting Criminality
§ Being Anti-Magian And Pro-Western

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Related:

The Sinister Feminine And Homo Hubris

The Sinister Feminine And Homo Hubris (pdf)

The O9A Aesthetic

The O9A Aesthetic (pdf)

A collection of some extracts from articles which deal with the sinister-numinous aesthetic of the Order of Nine Angles. As the extracts reveal, significant manifestations of this aesthetic occur in the Occult fiction of the Order of Nine Angles, that still rather neglected aspect of ONA Occult culture.

For their Occult fiction not only reveals and explains the unique sinister-numinous aesthetic of the O9A, but also provides:

“a different way into the complex O9A mythos; a way that many will find more interesting (and certainly more entertaining) than thousands of pages of sometimes polemical and sometimes ponderous O9A factual texts, and a way that especially places the O9A’s satanism into perspective, Aeonically and otherwise.”

Other manifestations of the aesthetic are O9A specific archetypes, The Art Of The Insight Role, and Sinister Chant.

Contents:

° A Note Regarding The Sinister-Numinous Aesthetic Of The Order Of Nine Angles
° The Occult Fiction Of The Order of Nine Angles
° O9A Aural Tradition And The Deofel Quartet
° Appendix: Missing The Sinister Angles, Again