SET / HORUS

                           BY BENJAMIN ROWE

                 Copyright year, 1992 by Benjamin Rowe


My article titled Enochian Temples contains several "channelings" that
reveal the fundamental relationships existing between the Enochian
Tablets, the path of initiation, and Frater Achad's version of the
Tree of Life. My own comments elsewhere in that work show in consid-
erable detail that the lives of Crowley and Achad and the relations
between them are in fact an enactment of the mythos of Horus and Set.
My purpose in this current paper is to briefly look at manifestations
of these same factors in other parts of the Earth Tablet working, the
magickal work of which Enochian Temples is a part, and in some other
mythological systems, notably that of Arthurian Romance.


The Terrible Twins

Horus and Set were originally expressions of the primal duality, the
two aspects of Heaven, the day-sky and night-sky. As the Egyptian
mythology was elaborated towards its final chaotic state, their
symbolism drifted away from these absolute poles into the middle
ground, first becoming solar, and finally taking on a variety of
solar/martial and zodiacal characteristics. Yet their final form can
still be expressed in a concise symbology, that of the astrological
signs of Aries and Scorpio. Taken whole, their symbolism is that of
the primal duality manifesting in its male aspects. 

A brief list of some of the characteristics associated with the gods
shows their positions as opposite poles of a duality. These charac-
teristics are extracted from myths quoted in Budge's Gods of the
Egyptians.

		Horus   						Set
		Day   						Night
		Life   						Death
		Fire   						Water
		Slayer   						Slain
	Bursting-forth of life   	 Withdrawal of life and its
								reappearance later.
	  Openly active       				Secretive
	Conqueror & King 				 Victim & Rebel
	Hawk, Lion, & Ram 			  Serpent, Antelope, Hippo
	Rises into the sky 			   Descends into the Earth
   Steals Set's virility 		Throws filth in face of Horus


Aries is a fire sign, representing fresh, outrushing energy and the
first explosion of life in the spring. Mars rules the sign and the Sun
is exalted therein. Venus is in its detriment here, and Saturn falls.
The planets detail the sign's character: Mars makes Aries energetic,
impulsive, and combative. Sol provides the sign with leadership
ability and a strong tendency to dominate others, to exalt the self.
The detrimental relationship of Venus indicates that it lacks in
compassion, and Saturn's fall provides a definite lack of restraint.
One need only compare these characteristics with those of Horus listed
above, and those listed in Liber AL to confirm the identity of the god
and the sign.

In its most general form, Aries is represented by the myth-pattern I
call the Man-Who-Lives, which appears in many different myth-systems
essentially unchanged. He is the warrior who by right of conquest
becomes the King, and rules until he is overcome by Death. Cabalisti-
cally speaking, he represents the transformation of the martial sexual
power into a solar child, or the transformation of fire-by-friction
into solar fire.

Scorpio is a watery sign, representing the withdrawal of life from the
plant kingdom at the end of the growing season, and its concentration
into the seed, which is buried in the Earth to await a new life.
Extension of this principle into the animal kingdom accounts for its
connection with the sex act. Mars also rules this sign, demonstrating
its basic connection with Aries. But in place of Sol we have Uranus
exalted. Venus remains in its detriment here, but Luna falls instead
of Saturn. Scorpio shares the energy and combativeness of Aries, and
the lack of lovingness, but the watery nature of the sign makes those
characteristics reflect back on itself. Where the goal of Aries is
exaltation of the self, Scorpio's Uranian influence directs it towards
the disassembly and destruction of the self, particularly its Tipher-
eth aspect.

Horus can not maintain a state of ascendancy without a self-interested
and emotionally passive populace to rule. He requires the peasant
mentality of Taurus (Venus ruling and Luna exalted), which is content
to be ruled so long as it is comfortable and undisturbed in its own
pursuits. His opponent Set/Scorpio seeks to break out of the emotional
passivity, creating disturbances and breaking the patterns of normal
life so that new conditions might be created.

The myth-pattern of Set is that of the Man-Who-Dies. In one aspect, he
is the victim of Horus, the one who is slain so that Horus's reputa-
tion can be enhanced. Except for his slaying of Osiris, there are very
few instances in Egyptian mythology where Set engages in active
violence. In contrast, the myths of Horus are filled with detailed
accounts of slaughter. Set traditionally acts the part of the per-
petual victim. Horus slays him over and over, and always he reappears
in another form to be slain again. 
In another aspect he is the rebel, the man who does not submit to
conquest and goes "underground", opposing the conqueror secretly
because he lacks the power to oppose him openly. His is also the
pattern of the martyr, who submits to death rather than abandon his
principles. Or speaking more generally, the Eagle aspect of Scorpio
represents adherence to the ideal at the expense of the mundane. This
becomes important in considering the Grail myths, as we will later. 

There is also at least a partial correspondence between Scorpio and
the self-immolating Phoenix, which destroys itself in order to repro-
duce. 

Cabalistically speaking Set represents the transmutation of fire-by-
friction (Mars ruling Scorpio) through a dark solar stage into elec-
tric fire, the fire of the divine will (Uranus, exalted in Scorpio).
He is the Wandering Son, the Everyman who breaks away from his home
life and community, passes through strange ordeals and trials, and
returns home a demi-god to save the community from destruction and
oppression by the conqueror. 

Both are heroes; both necessary to the accomplishment of the hero's
task. Their fundamental natures embody the same energies but with
dissimilar emphasis. While related to Aries and Scorpio in their
individual manifestations, together they are the twins of Gemini. Thus
they at times appear to be in conflict, as in the Horus-Set, Cain/
Abel, and Romulus/Remus myths, and at other times they cooperate, as
in the Arthurian Romances and the myth of Castor and Pollux. 

This mythology of the two heroes has appeared in nearly every human
culture. The myth is so pervasive that it would be impossible to
examine a significant portion of its manifestations in this brief
study. The examples above are merely a few of the more familiar past
expressions. 

The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest human works recorded,
contains the all the essential aspects of the mythos. Gilgamesh
himself is the Arian man-who-lives, growing to manhood in a foreign
court, returning as a hero to take the place of his father as king,
dying only after a long life of rulership. His friend Enkidu is his
Scorpian counterpart, born and raised in the wastelands, tempted into
human society by the pleasure of sex, dying after attempting to visit
the underworld while in the flesh.

In each astrological age these two reverse their roles. In the age of
Gemini, Arian Gilgamesh survives and Scorpian Enkidu dies. In Taurus
the earliest cults of Set appear in Egypt, and the Cancerian/ Taurean
goddess and Capricornian/Scorpian Horned God of the Old Religion
experience a resurgence in Europe. Places reverse again in the next
age, with Arian gods such as Perseus, Theseus, and Mithras slaying
various Taurean bulls and Scorpian monsters. In Pisces, the Arian
Jesus dies in the scapegoat ritual, betrayed by Scorpian Judas. Later
Paul of Tarsus performs a similar betrayal of the teachings them-
selves, distorting them by emphasis of the death and repression-
oriented aspects at the expense of the triumphal aspect.

All these reversals would tend to indicate that in the current Aquar-
ian astrological period Horus or some other Arian god would again
become dominant. But the planet Uranus rules Aquarius, and Uranus is
exalted in Set's sign. Mercury, Thoth, is exalted in Aquarius, and one
of Thoth's roles in Egyptian mythology was to ensure that neither
Horus or Set ever came to complete victory over the other. So this may
be a time in which both gods manifest in a more-or-less equal fashion,
uniting them in friendship as they were in the previous Airy sign.

Shortly after the first inflows of Aquarian energy, an example of such
mythological cooperation appeared in the form of two historical
figures, John Dee and Edward Kelly, earlier incarnations of Jones and
Crowley. The name of Dee's birthplace and home, Morlake, suggests the
death-waters of Scorpio, as does his obsessive concern with magick
(governed by Mars in Scorpio) and astrology and "radical truths"
(governed by Uranus and Pluto). Kelly's knighthood makes him, nominal-
ly at least, an Arian warrior. His death in a fall from a tower
clearly relates to the Tarot card for Mars, and his own lifelong
obsession with the Philosopher's Stone is Solar, thus confirming his
place as the Arian member of the pair. The cooperation between these
two brought about the first purely magickal manifestation of the
Aquarian energies, the Enochian magickal system. 

The evidence seems to indicate that a similar cooperation was intended
for the incarnations of these two as Jones and Crowley. Astrological
considerations confirm the cooperative-antagonistic nature of their
interaction: Their suns, indicating their individual characters, are
in opposition. Their moons are conjunct, indicating similar pasts.
Their ascendants and midheavens, indicating current environment and
goals, have both beneficent and antagonistic aspects. Liber AL prophe-
sies such a condition. But the partnership was sundered before it
could become productive, and their interaction went into its competi-
tive mode.


Romantic myths and the two Trees

The first inflow of Aquarian energy occurred in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, sparking the Renaissance. Thus it should not be
surprising that the mythological systems that reached their perfection
at that time contain elements of both the Arian and Scorpian modes of
initiation. Examining those myths, we find that some have a near-
perfect correlation with the traditional version of the Tree of Life,
while others correspond closely to the paths of Jones' version of the
Tree, which embodies the Scorpian mode.

In the traditional Tree (hereafter called the "Old Tree") the formula
of Horus has the warrior (Mars, lowest horizontal path) producing a
solar child (Leo, middle path) through divine Love (Venus, highest
path). Going up the middle pillar of the Tree, he passes through the
stages of cloistered training (Saturn), travel and broadening of
experience (Sagittarius) under the instruction of older warriors (path
of Mars crossing Sagittarius), presentation to the King (Tiphereth),
confirmation of his Lordship (Leo), and dedication to the service of
his Lady (Luna) as the embodiment of Love (Venus). 

This is typical of the view of Knighthood in the romantic myths of the
times. Tristam, Lancelot, and Arthur are all exemplars of this for-
mula. 

Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur distills all these myths and combines them
in his tales of the Knights of the Round Table. It is easy for anyone
to determine the correspondences between those sections of the book
and the paths of the Old Tree. But Malory's tales of the Knights of
the Grail have an even more detailed correspondence with Jones'
version of the Tree (hereafter called Achad's Tree), as do other
Parsifal-like legends.

In Achad's Tree, we have the man of the Earth, the Everyman (Taurus,
lowest horizontal path) who goes through trials and ordeals (Scorpio,
middle path) to emerge as a man-god (Aquarius, highest path). His path
up the Tree begins with aimless wandering (Air), during which he is
tempted by two qliphotic females, the Woman-who-gives-Pleasure and the
Woman-who-gives-Death (Yesod-Luna).  He succumbs and is damaged
thereby, or narrowly escapes. He encounters a priest (Taurus, The
Hierophant) who enjoins him to sacrifice the normal use of that part
of himself that caused him to be tempted, and to voluntarily re-
dedicate it to the True Grail of which the temptresses were pale
reflections (Water, The Hanged Man). He does so, and the gods reward
him with full union with his soul (Tiphereth). He then goes through
further ordeals and trials (Scorpio) in which he overcomes by his
will-to-good (Shin, Fire). After passing through all the ordeals, he
enters into the company of the stars (Aquarius) where he attains to
both the Grail (Binah) and the Spear (Chokmah) which glow with the
light of God (Kether). 

Achad's path is also the path of Spartacus, the slave-laborer (Taurus)
who killed his master and rebelled (Scorpio) to bring an end to
bondage (Saturn, old ruler of Aquarius) and make the slaves into free
men (Uranus, new ruler of Aquarius). The story of Moses and the Hebrew
Captivity possibly has a similar intent.

The story of the Knights of the Grail begins in Tiphereth, as did the
channeling in Enochian Temples mentioned above. That channeling
presented the path as it is experienced through the use of a special
technique, which links the microcosm and macrocosm by direct experi-
ence of the energies of the planets. The Grail stories give a more
general view of the process. The footnotes will show the corresponden-
ces with the paths of Achad's Tree.

The knight has been granted union with his soul, and the Angel of God
has spoken to him through the path of Shin, the pillar of light in the
center of the Temple. He has cast aside his lesser elemental weapons,
his sword and shield, in dedicating himself to the search for the
Grail. In his eagerness he ventures forth without arms or armor, and
is captured by another knight.  He is brought to a castle,  where he
explains his search for the Grail and begs to be supplied with wea-
pons. Signs and wonders reveal that he is the rightful bearer of a
magickal sword being kept at the castle. A magickal shield is also
present, and he is told he may keep it if he will slay a monster (or
an evil knight) that is troubling the locals. 

He destroys the monster, and wanders out into a wasteland,  empty of
human life, where he is then confronted by other monsters, sometimes
masking as persons and circumstances out of his past. The consequences
of actions taken before the quest began are not nullified by his
dedication to the Grail, and he must deal with them justly, paying any
penalties due from him, and reaping rewards of right action. But all
in a way that will not hinder the quest. 

These adventures and ordeals bring him to full proficiency with his
weapons. He comes to a chapel or church, where he tells his adven-
tures to the priest. The priest explains the meaning of his experience
in relation to the cosmos  and gives him the consecrated host,
confirming his right to the shield. He is told of a black rock castle
wherein the Grail is kept. 

He travels to that castle, joining up with two of his fellow Knights
of the Grail. They enter, and are asked to attempt the restoration of
a magickal sword that had wounded the King of the castle. The best of
the three Knights succeeds, signaling the fulfillment of the quest. 

The Grail is brought out. The three knights are introduced to three
other groups of three knights who came from the south (Gaul), east
(Denmark), and west (Ireland). Together they complete the circle of
the zodiac, forming the Company of the Stars.  The knights feast on
the fruits of the Earth and drink from the Grail. The Holy Spear is
brought forth, and the best of the knights uses it to heal the wounds
of the old king. 

The knights venture out after the feast and are captured and imprison-
ed.  The Grail comes to their cell and they are sustained by it. The
king of the castle dies, and the people free the knights. The people
declare the best of the knights to be their new King.  The knights
create a chest of gold and jewels for the Grail, declare the chest's
holiness, and pray before it daily. 

The Angel of the Presence appears to them in the form of a holy
hermit.  The Angel blesses them and judges the course of their
quest. The best of the three knights is taken up into heaven immed-
iately, taking the Grail and the Spear with him.  The second-best
becomes a priest, and retires from the world.  The last of the three
returns to the world.  The story ends.

The paragraphs above are a summary of the adventures of the three
Scorpian Knights of the Grail, Galahad, Percivale, and Bors, as they
are portrayed in Malory's work. The events are listed in the order
they occurred in the story. Only a few points were borrowed from other
versions of the Grail legends. Malory wrote over four hundred years
before Jones manifested Achad's Tree, yet the symbolism of the story
matches that Tree exactly. The Spartacus legend is older than Chris-
tianity, but the details of its symbolism can be connected to Achad's
Tree just as directly.


The Abyss and the Two Systems.

The Wasteland of the Grail stories corresponds to the area of the Tree
bounded by Geburah, Chesed, Binah, and Chokmah. This is the area of
the false sephira Da'ath, and of the so-called Abyss, both much talked
about among magicians in recent years. In the initiatory systems based
on the Old Tree, it is perceived as a realm of horrors and of a
rending of the self.

Yet the formulations of the Grail stories and of the channelings in
Enochian Temples reduce the Abyss almost to a trifle, and deny the
existence of anything resembling Da'ath. Instead, we are shown dryness
and lack of nourishment, lack of meaning, illusion and deception as
the primary experiences in that area of the Tree. The reason for this
major difference between the two formulations of the path lies in the
manner in which mind is perceived and dealt with. 

The Solar-Arian systems of the Old Tree perceive mind as an aspect of
God. Indeed, the god-name for Tiphereth is just that: IHVH ALVH VDOTH,
"God made manifest in the Sphere of Mind". All the magickal techniques
of these systems are designed to make the mind (that is, the Ruach)
formulate itself in such a manner that it is the closest possible
approximation of that which is being invoked. When enough of the mind-
stuff is drawn into the formulation, there is an automatic flow of
force from higher levels following the Law of Similarity or Con-
gruence. It is exaltation through the force of union. 

The Uranian-Scorpian systems, on the other hand, perceive mind as an
aspect of matter. Their techniques are all designed under the assump-
tion that the spirit that the Solar types invoke is something which is
already in the individual in full measure. From their perspective, the
problem is not one of uniting the separated, but of discovering the
spirit by understanding and elimination of that which conceals it.
Knowing that the undying spiritual will is already part of themselves,
they are willing to test every aspect of their own being to the point
of destruction, under the assumption that that part which they are not
able to destroy must be a manifestation of God. Theirs is the path of
exaltation through the force of separation.

In the Scorpian systems, Da'ath is reminiscent of a familiar optical
illusion in which black squares are closely arranged in rows and
columns on a white background. The eye manufactures black spots where
four squares meet, even though there is nothing there but white paper.
It takes a conscious act of will to not see the black spots. Da'ath is
a similar illusion with the force of the whole Ruach behind it. The
Ruach sees this empty space in the middle of the upper Tree, and its
natural tendency causes it to manufacture the illusion of a sephira.
What is actually happening is that the six sephiroth surrounding this
empty space exert a uniform outward pull. The mind, with its solar
habit of creating centralized entities, misinterprets the pull out-
wards as a push outwards coming from the middle of the void. It
invents an entity to do the pushing, the Dweller on the Threshold, and
a place for that entity to reside, Da'ath. The positive characteris-
tics of Da'ath described by some magicians are on close examination
seen to be a forced, unstable mixture of the characteristics of Chesed
and Binah, or of the paths of Scorpio and Aquarius that border the
wasteland on the lower and upper sides.

The practices of the Solar-Arian initiatory systems tend to encourage
the manufacture of this false perception. Their entire practice is
based on taking the natural tendencies of the Ruach, the Solar being,
and expanding them to the utmost. Thus when they reach a point where
the Solar mode is no longer valid, their habitual use of that mode
turns the transition into the next mode into an ultimate disaster for
the personal identity.

The Scorpian initiatory systems avoid this particular pitfall. Since
they are oriented from the beginning to the willful disassembly of the
personal self, the inertia of their work blends smoothly into the
ultimate disassembly that precedes entry into the supernals. The
actual crossing of the "Abyss" simply becomes, for them, the cessation
of the need to engage in the disassembly of the individual self.

But this smooth transition is achieved only at a cost: the Scorpian
initiate trades one great death for a nearly continuous series of
lesser deaths, willfully undertaken over the course of incarnate life. 
As a consequence, his experience of the whole path has more distribut-
ed, low-key spiritual pain and discomfort than that of the Arian
initiate. But his habituation to the experience of pain causes his
transition into the supernals to become an experience of tremendous
relief, rather than one of terror. Accustomed to friction with his
environment, he suddenly becomes frictionless and free-flowing. The
experience can also be quite accurately equated to that of a drowning
man who finally manages to break through the surface to the clear air.

But even for the Arian adept, conscious conditioning of the mind to
the correct perspective on the Abyss eliminates many of the horrors
formerly connected with the passage to the supernals. One can train
the Ruach to not see illusory Da'ath without changing its essential
nature. The attempt also gives the magician a lesson in the incredible
persistence with which the Ruach makes projections of itself. 

If one evaluates the two systems in terms of the overall intensity of
the difficulties experienced, it appears that in the end they are
about equal. There is no particular reason to chose one over the
other, except personal preference and tendency. They are actually one
system, since the same stages (sephiroth) are to be seen in both
cases. Only the degree of emphasis changes from one to the other. In
the multi-incarnational process of evolution, it is likely that the
individual will work with both approaches many times.

The reader might perceive a connection between the Scorpian perspec-
tive as described here, and the principles developed by the Buddha.
This is no accident: Buddha was the expression of the Scorpian per-
spective within his own time and culture. His birth, enlightenment,
and death all took place when the Sun was in Taurus, and the Moon was
full in the sign of Scorpio, signifying him as an exemplar of that
axis of the zodiac.

But cultural perspective produces differences between Buddhism and the
Western, magickal expression of the Scorpio-Taurus axis. Buddha
recognized sorrow as the inevitable result of the interaction of
spirit and matter, but his only goal was to eliminate the possibility
of sorrow by eliminating his connection with matter. The Scorpian
adept perceives sorrow as an intermediate stage in his effort to bring
about a free flow between matter and the divine, creative will. On all
planes, the nature of matter is inertia. It tends to maintain its set
course until the will is strong enough to change that course. Until
that strength is achieved, friction results: pain is the result of
friction. When the will overcomes the inertia of matter, causing it to
fully conform to the will's impulse, then from the standpoint of the
will the friction ceases, and pain ceases.

Buddha claimed that the perceptible universe is Maya, illusion. The
Scorpian adept restates this idea in slightly different terms, saying
that all perceptions are limited or partial by the very nature of the
mechanism of perception. But he further recognizes that the illusions
themselves have a kind of order, and that this order is determined in
all aspects by the interaction of will and matter. Will and matter are
both entirely mysterious in themselves. It is only by understanding
the patterns taken on by the illusions their interaction generates,
which we call by such names as Mind, Ruach, Soul, and consciousness,
that we can come to some awareness of their intrinsic nature.


The Expanded Formula -- INRI/IRNI

The myth of the two heroes, or the two gods, forms the core of the
INRI formula, one of the most subtle and mysterious of all magickal
formulas. In the Golden Dawn system, this formula is equated to and
interpreted in terms of the formula of IAO. But there is only a
partial correspondence between these two formulas; IAO is a specifi-
cally solar formula, a single expression in time and space of the more
general conception of INRI. 

In one interpretation, INRI exactly reflects the astrological founda-
tion of the Set/Horus mythos. That is, a Gemini mythos, twin forces
represented by the two I's or pillars, whose interaction is defined by
the modes of Scorpio and of Sol in his exaltation. What has been said
so far in this paper is in fact an examination of this interpretation
of INRI.

In the most inclusive interpretation, the last I of INRI is not
redundant, but rather expresses a perfection of what is only latent in
the first I. The symbolism of alchemy shows this best. The following
table shows the basic correspondences.

Letter	Elemental	Planetary		Zodiacal	Alchemical

I		Earth	Earth/Luna	Virgo	Materia Prima

N		Water	Mars/Uranus	Scorpio	Solve

R		Fire		Mars/Sun		Aries	Coagula

I		Air		Mercury		Virgo	Essence or
									 Elixer

All alchemical processes involve changing the materia into the essence
or elixer by various sequences of Solve and Coagula, of dissolution
and concentration. In one description of the work, heat (Mars) is
applied to the materia prima, resulting in a separation of its com-
ponents (Uranus), and the reduction of the "dead head" (Scorpio) to an
ash, alchemical salt. More heat being applied to the separated com-
ponents causes first a coagulation (Sol) then a separation of the
active sulphur (Aries) from the Mercury. 

(Basil Valentine notes that these processes rarely occur without the
concurrent appearance of the Taurean and Libran complements. His
descriptions are too prolix to quote, but careful reading indicates
that these complements operate under the formula AGLA, which can be
considered the complement of INRI. The Aleph of Air or spirit replaces
the Earthy Yods, the Gimel of Luna replaces the Resh of Sol, and
Lamed/Libra replaces Nun/Scorpio.)

We have seen previously that the two heroes are to a certain extent
interchangeable. Depending on circumstance, one or the other dominates
the relationship. A similar principle holds for INRI. The two central
letters can be interchanged without destroying the validity of the
formula. IRNI works as well as INRI. With respect to the Enochian
Temples and Achad's system, INRI represents the formula of initiation
as it applies to humanity as a whole, while IRNI applies to the
initiatory path of individuals.


IRNI - The Individual Formula

The IRNI formula divides the path of initiation into four stages:

Earthy/Lunar: encompassing all aspects of the personality, represented
in the Tree of Life by the triangle formed by Netzach, Hod, and
Malkuth, with Yesod as the stage's primary point of focus. Element of
Earth.

Solar: concerned with the powers of the awakened soul. This stage is
shown in the Tree by the golden rectangle surrounding and focused in
Tiphereth. Element of Fire.

Transitional: concerned with the passage from soul consciousness to
divine consciousness. Represented in the Tree by the centerless golden
rectangle formed by Chokmah, Binah, Chesed and Geburah. Element of
water.

Divine: concerned with the activities of the transcendental or divine
consciousness, and represented in the Tree by the triangle of Kether,
Chokmah, and Binah. Element of Air.

These four stages have been examined in Enochian Temples and the two
papers so far released in the Achad's Cabala series. My intent here is
to outline the expression of these four stages in Le Morte D'Arthur. 

Malory's work falls into two clearly defined sections, those concerned
with Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and those concerned
with the Knights of the Grail. The Round Table stories relate primari-
ly to the first two stages, showing the transition from normal human
awareness to solar awareness, ending with the start of the third
stage. 

The symbolism of the Blasted Tower pervades the sections of the book
concerned with Arthur and the Round Table Knights. The title itself
shows this as a central theme. All the heroism, triumph, and glory
portrayed is negated by the "Morte Saunz Guerdon", the unmitigated
disaster with which it ends. The glorious rise followed by disaster is
characteristic of Martial energies, and of the sign of Aries. 

The Tower itself is never mentioned explicitly in the book, but it is
the central theme of the events preceding the book's opening. Prior to
the beginning of the book, Britain is composed of innumerable small
kingdoms, constantly at war with one another, and only loosely reigned
over by a false king, the usurper Vortigern. This state corresponds to
the lunar stage, and Vortigern to the unintegrated personality and the
lower type of Aries, who is capable of war and slaying, but lacks the
unifying ability provided by the influence of Sol. Vortigern, out of
fear  of the true princes Pendragon and Uther, attempted to build a
mighty tower as a place of defense against them. But each time he
built, the tower fell for no reason.

Consulting his astrologers, he was told that for the tower to stand,
the cornerstone must be bathed in the blood of a child with no mortal
father.  This turned out to be the child Merlin. But Merlin con-
fronted him with the true reason for the fall of the tower: the tower
was built over the den of two dragons, whose conflict shook it down.
Digging beneath the tower, Vortigern discovered the two dragons, one
red and one white. The dragons fought, and the white dragon slayed the
red.

The red dragon was naturally symbolic of Vortigern, being of the red
of Mars. The white dragon represented the true princes, its color
representing the brilliance of the sun. Shortly after this incident,
Pendragon and Uther invaded Britain, Vortigern was slain, and Pendrag-
on assumed the throne as rightful king. But Pendragon and Uther are
themselves still primarily of the martial type, rather than the solar.
The name Pendragon actually means "warlord" or "war-leader". Uther's
sexual obsession with Igraine is obviously martial. The true Arian
type, martial and solar, does not appear until Arthur. But, being the
true and victorious rulers, they represent the integrated personality,
which is the precursor to fusion with the soul.

Nearly all the Knights of the Round Table follow this same pattern of
triumph followed by disaster. None of them could handle the darker
Scorpian side of the martial force, and suffered as a result. Those
whose personal success was not marred by disaster were caught up in
the general disaster of Arthur's death.

As I mentioned earlier, both the Arian and Scorpian paths differ
mainly in emphasis. Each contains the other to a certain extent.
Within the Arian symbolism of Arthur and the Round Table, Merlin
represents the shadowy presence of the Scorpio side. He is the child
of a maiden and an incubus, representing the Taurus/Scorpio axis (and
possibly the Old Religion, still influential in Britain at that time).
He is a master of magicks. Depending on the version, he ends his life
either hidden in a thorn bush (attributed to Scorpio) or buried in a
cave (again Scorpio, the underworld). 

His death or disappearance occurs just as the Quest for the Grail
begins, as if his presence is no longer needed with the Scorpian Grail
Knights coming into the foreground. His place is taken by Lancelot,
who represents the solar presence within the predominantly Scorpian
symbolism of the Grail Knights.

Merlin being a Scorpian archetype, the end of Arthur in a death
without recompense is inherent in the events by which he was brought
to be born. For it was Merlin who arranged for Uther to be spirited
into Tintagel, and to lie with Igraine in the semblance of her husband
so that Arthur would be conceived. And it was he into whose hands the
newborn child was given.

The means of Arthur's ascent to the throne establishes that he em-
bodied the lesser mysteries of the knife and pantacle, of Tiphereth
and Malkuth/Yesod. The sword in the stone is a direct correspondence
to these magickal implements, and the fact that they are stuck togeth-
er indicates the fusion of the earthly being with the soul. The sword
in addition confirms the martial/solar character of his expression,
for it is the implement of Mars as well as the knife of Air, and
letters are written upon it in gold, the metal of the Sun. 
So, where Uther and Pendragon are the integrated personality, the
Netzach aspect, Arthur is the soul itself come to full consciousness.
He not only unites the diverse kingdoms of Britain under one banner,
but serves as well as the ideal to which all the lesser kings and
knights, and the people themselves, aspire. His presence causes the
alignment of all the castes of British society to a single purpose, as
the soul brings the lower vehicles into alignment with its own pur-
poses. His conquest over the invading Saxons can then be equated to
the elimination by the soul of all in the personality that is unfit. 

In the channelings of Enochian Temples, the conquest of the personal-
ity by the soul is followed by a period of peace and pleasure. In the
Arthurian myths, this is the period following the conquest of the
invaders, and before the beginning of the Grail quest. But this period
comes to an end when disturbances of another kind arise. These new
problems do not stem from material causes. Instead, they come from the
spirit. The easing of the challenges of incarnate existence brings a
relaxation to the soul that allows previously unnoticed influences to
affect events. The channelings indicate that the influences come
mainly from the planets, representing the macrocosm.

This stage is represented in Arthurian myth by an increasing restless-
ness in the knights. The unity gained in battle begins to dissolve,
and they fight among themselves and with other British knights. Some
distraction is needed if the kingdom is not to fall into its previous
disarray.

By this time Merlin had been overcome by his Taurean opposite, Vivi-
ane, and had withdrawn into the secrecy of his own sign of Scorpio.
But he briefly reappears at this time to announce the Quest for the
Grail, and to prophecy concerning those who will succeed in the quest,
primarily about Galahad.

Galahad, the perfect knight of the Grail, is the child of Launcelot,
the most perfect worldly knight after Arthur. The name Galahad is also
Launcelot's baptismal name, indicating that his son represents an
extension of his worldly being into a spiritual context. There is an
echo of this in modern times in the way that Crowley as Horus fathered
the "magickal child", Jones/Set.

Galahad is the next step beyond the pure solar consciousness, in which
the soul begins to perceive itself not as the Lord of Creation, the
positive pole of the Malkuth-Tiphereth polarity, but as a middle
aspect between the spirit and matter. As the middle aspect, its
characteristics and very existence are determined by the interaction
of those two greater poles. In order to unite itself with the divine,
it must go through the process of destroying or shedding those aspects
of itself that are caused by the material pole. 

This destructive process is interpreted as purification in the Grail
stories, and sexual purity or abstinence is deemed to be a basic
necessity. Normal sexual activity tends to tie the consciousness to
the body, and therefore to the Tiphereth-Malkuth polarity. Practition-
ers of tantric systems are able to overcome this tendency, but tantric
magick is related to the path of Horus, the path of exaltation through
union. The Grail stories as Malory tells them are concerned with the
path of Set, of exaltation through separation. 

Nevertheless, the Grail stories show clearly that overcoming of the
normal sexual urges is intended to be a part of the path they express.
There is the Siege Perilous, which kills any worldly knight that sits
in it. There is the "Sword which was broken", and the king who was
wounded in the thigh by the Holy Spear for thinking lustful thoughts
about a female servant of the Grail. These symbols are all correspon-
dences to the Blasted Tower, which figures so strongly in the tales of
the Round Table. Only Galahad, the virgin knight, can sit in the
Siege, and only he can mend the sword which was broken, and wield the
Spear to heal the king. 

There are also a number of episodes in the stories that deal explicit-
ly with tests of the Grail Knights' sexual purity, and the three
knights who achieve the Grail are ranked according to the manner in
which they pass these tests. Galahad, who never responded to the
temptation, was ranked first. Percivale, who responded but overcame
temptation is ranked second. Bors, the last ranked, is apparently more
an Arian type than a Scorpian type. His temptation was not overtly
sexual. Instead, it enacts the typical ritual of the two heroes,
wherein the Arian hero-who-lives must slay the hero-who-dies. The test
is to see whether he can break out of the Arian role by refusing to
slay. (Note that it is not repression of the martial force that is
shown in these stories, but always conscious redirection of the force
to a spiritual object.)

After passing the tests, the three knights are ready to achieve the
Grail. Their achievement is easy compared to the experience of the
Abyss common to the path of Horus. Horrors were all part of their
testing and need not be experienced again. Two different versions of
this achievement both express the same essence in different symbols. 

In the first version, the three knights simply come to the edge of the
sea, and discover a richly decorated boat. Within the boat they
discover the Grail. The sea in this case is the watery aspect of the
"N" of IRNI. The boat rides above the sea as the initiate who achieves
Binah floats free above the transitional area of the upper Tree. The
Grail itself is naturally Binah, the Greater Mother. 

The second version is the one used by Malory, and was described in the
earlier section of this paper dealing with the story's relation to
Achad's Tree. Carbonek, the castle transformed to coal, is clearly
Binah. The three knights simply arrive at the castle and are greeted
by those who tend the Grail. After a demonstration by one of the
Knights of their fitness (by mending the sword which was broken) they
are feted and fed from the Grail. 

Both stories demonstrate that the passage into the supernals is not a
trial in the Scorpian path, but a relief from trial. Everything of
trial has been done over the whole course of the path, and the final
passage is simple and free from pain or terror.


INRI - The Group or Communal Formula

The application of INRI to humanity is shown in The Book of the
Seniors, another part of the Earth Tablet working. Here we see the
basic Set/Horus formula modified by the addition of Isis (Earth/Luna,
first I) and Thoth (Mercury, last I). Osiris, humanity, is not shown
in the formula because he is the subject on whom the other gods are
acting. 

The story of Seniors follows one of the several versions of the Osiris
myth. In this particular version, Isis betrays Osiris into the hands
of Set, who rends him to pieces and buries those pieces about the
Earth. Horus overcomes Set and recovers the pieces, which are then re-
united and re-animated by Thoth.

In the Isis stage, humanity is shown in a state of innocence, living
on the astral plane of the planet Earth but not yet incarnated. At
this point humanity has not developed the sense of individuality or
the consciousness of mortality, and is no more than a type of deva or
nature spirit specialized for a particular function. Isis/Earth
decides that humanity can be used as the tool by which she can rid
herself of involutionary forces, which she had absorbed into herself
in order that they not manifest elsewhere in the solar system. 

To accomplish this task, she requires that humanity be brought out of
its stage of innocence by the introduction of individuality and
mortality. She calls upon Set, the serpent, who governs the action of
the next stage, with Horus taking a lesser role.

Set first creates bodies in which the human race-soul can incarnate,
through a process of forced evolution working on the material of the
Earth. He and Horus both attempt to create different types of bodies
through different methods of evolution. Horus's types are judged to be
inadequate to the task, and Set's types are allowed to flourish and
develop. (In the distorted Christian version of the tale, the Serpent
subverts Eve to his own purposes, rather than the other way around.)

Once the bodies have been developed, Set creates an opening in the
barrier between the astral and physical realms. He then tempts suscep-
tible aspects of the race-soul into incarnation. The qualities and
perceptions they pick up through incarnation infect the race-soul,
causing a disruption of its natural unity, and its shattering into
individual souls of the type currently possessed by the race. Thus he
"tears Osiris to pieces".

Set uses the involutionary forces to sweep all of these souls into the
cycles of incarnation. Having focused their awareness on the physical
plane, he closes the passage between the planes, locking them in. He
has scattered the pieces of Osiris and buried them in the Earth. (In
the Christian version, Eve tempts Adam to eat the apple, the fruit of
incarnate experience, causing them to be ejected from the garden of
Eden and cast into the desert of Earthly existence.)

Having closed the passage, Set distributes the involutionary force
into the auras of the human beings, each to his capacity, and releases
the remainder back into the environment. (Thereby creating "original
sin", not mentioned in the Egyptian version.)

The intention of Isis was that she would rid herself of the involu-
tionary forces through humanity's struggles to survive and to improve
their condition on Earth. Having unconscious memories of their previ-
ous existence on a higher plane, the human souls would be perpetually
creating thought-forms of desire to return to that plane. These
thought-forms directly counteract the matter-oriented tendencies of
the involutionary force. Their attempts to gain control over their
physical environment would also generate counteractive thoughts, since
control implies imposed order, and the involutionary aspect relates
strongly to randomness. 

As the story is told in The Book of the Seniors, this elimination of
the involutionary forces was fully accomplished prior to the beginn-
ings of recorded history. All that has passed since then has been
aimed towards the re-unification of the race-soul. Thus the era of Set
ended, and the era of Horus, representing the solar or coagulating
aspect, began. Horus collected the scattered pieces of Osiris and
assembled them into their prior shape, but still lacking their origin-
al livingness.

Horus is a god of conquest, and conquest has been the primary means by
which humanity has been gathered together. From scattered groups
living in near-isolation, the trend since the last ice age has been
constantly towards bringing larger and larger groups of people into
coordinated activity. The martial/solar figure, the warlord or king,
has been dominant throughout most of this period both as the leader
and war-chief and as a point of focus for the consciousness of the
individuals making up the society. In this latter role he acts as the
ego, the motivating self-interest that determines the actions of the
community. He is the social equivalent of the individual's ideals and
goals.

After the group reaches a certain size, the importance of the in-
dividual ruler lessens and power begins to be distributed within a
larger group. Other individuals appear who express the purposes of
special groups within the social structure. Eventually a point is
reached where the solar king acts as only one among many more or less
equal centers of power in the society. This is the social correspon-
dence of the stage in individual evolution where the power of the sun-
sign in his astrological pattern lessens and the other planets in the
pattern each become a focus for part of the individual's attention,
interacting with each other and with the sun-sign in a constantly
changing dance of activity.

But unlike the original, naturally unified humanity, this new or-
ganization is being built up on the material side of existence rather
than strictly on the spiritual side. It is an attempt to re-create
that original unity in matter. While the attempt has had its cyclic
advances and fall-backs, each cycle has created larger groups in each
succeeding civilization. 

Today a point has been reached where all of humanity is effectively
one economic organism, each part dependent on and affected by every
other part. No country or culture is independent of the others.
Despite this de facto unity, the mental perceptions of the race have
not yet adjusted, so that there is still a sense of nationalism or
cultural chauvinism, of "us against them", in a large portion of the
population. Circumstance will gradually eliminate this perception as
various economic and political disasters resulting from nationalistic
viewpoints force people to recognize the interdependence as a fact.
The necessity for preventing the recurrence of such disasters will
force an adaptation to that fact based on practical considerations,
rather than on any particular idealistic or political basis. Adjust-
ments that grow up from the needs of living, as these will, tend to be
absorbed and retained in a culture where those adopted on principle
(or forcefully imposed by a ruling class) eventually die out. 

Thoth governs this final stage, for it is communication that is
creating the circumstances where these adjustments can take place. The
speed of communication and transportation has always been the prime
determinant of the level of interdependence. Where communications are
slow, changes spread slowly, and people in one part of the world are
able to think of themselves as separate from the rest. Where com-
munications accelerate, the spread of change also accelerates, and
events occurring at a distance take on more importance. 

Today we have a situation in which events in any part of the world can
be known in any other part almost instantly. Our consciousness of
distance has been overwhelmed and negated. A rebellion occurs in
Tibet, and we see it here as it happens, where as little as fifty
years ago the event would have been long resolved before we could know
of it. Parallel to this, we can now exert an influence on events
anywhere in the world as they happen, almost as easily as we can
influence events in our own neighborhoods. McCluhan's "global village"
has become a fact of life.

It is this instant communication that will break down the barriers of
nationalism and cultural chauvinism, creating a global perception of
humanity as one interdependent civilization. This is not to say that
cultural differences will cease to exist. In fact, friction between
cultures is likely to increase before adaptation takes place. Friction
between cultural perspectives will force the adaptation as much as
will economic considerations. But the final result will be a great
weakening of the sense of "otherness" that peoples have towards
different cultures. 

When the cultural perception of interdependency catches up with the
factual economic interdependence, the human race as a whole will be in
a state that corresponds to that of the integrated individual per-
sonality when it is ready for fusion with its soul. Gradually the veil
between the race's personality aspect and the race-soul will fall
away, and the power and increased awareness that has been gathered
through the eons of struggle in the cycle of incarnation will be added
back into the race-soul, making it conscious of itself for the first
time as an entity with an existence apart from the individuals whose
awareness contributes to it. 

Osiris, betrayed by Isis, sundered by Set, and gathered again by
Horus, awakens again to life by the power of the words of Thoth. With
the awakening of this great consciousness, individuals who are ready
for fusion with their own soul will discover that that fusion also
brings them into the sphere of activity of the race-soul. They will be
able to consciously participate in the deliberations and actions of
that being as it seeks to express itself in matter through humanity,
while still maintaining their distinction as individual beings with
the ability to evolve further, beyond the levels where the race-soul
lives. 

                                 -oOo-