More in the literal sense of being both parts of the soul.
Why keep seeing them as things they are not ?
They represent the human dynamic and the classic of the age ;
Damn, ya'll! This is a huge issue in so many ways. Lemme add it is both valid to personalize myths - to find the myth in you own life, and to focus on the Little Story. But it also range-limits you. (Not saying you are doing this, btw, Ohana!)
But taken too far, to reify the Little Story and puff it up, is what holy wars and religions wars do. To see their little story write large and ego-inflate themselves to cosmic dimensions and become a legend in their own minds. Jung would wag his finger here at them. WitchTokers do the same when they cheer on burning Catholic churches. They totally miss the point of all of this.
The real magic (on the more mystical side of the spectrum here) happens, in my view, as I think Firtee is suggesting here, when you see yourself reflected in the Big Story so you rise to become part of the Big Story - not in forcing too much the Big Story down into tight little boxes of ego and self-gratification. Again see Jung for why that is very bad. So "Hell" should be part of the Big Story to overcome Hell, not wallow in it and cheer on. The WitchToker religious hatred and violence and pursuit of the continuation of suffering should be a case study for how to use these stories very, very badly.
This is going off-topic a little, but sinvce we're talking about how to interpret mythic stories and the characters therein, and since I roped in Thelema and Horus into the conversation in reference to Christ's
Harrowing of Hell as mirror-image modalities:
One is free to interpret The Book of the Law however your soul leads you to. But I will say, when seen with EQ, it operates within a highly sophisticated cosmoligcal vision of astro-theology.
Thelema itself is also highly flexible and forgiving regarding how each person wants to interpret the Mystery Play. In Thelema one is free to interpret "the gods" more as Crowley suggested they are, as mathematical formulas in the universe rather than daimons or spirits. They form "formulas for intitation."
Thelema, partually as seent though the number symbolism of the EQ reveals a high-sophisticated atro-theoology. Astro-theology is many orders of magnitited greater than the simplistic sun-sign astrology of the newspapers, where it’s more like a party game of 'Hi, I’m a Cancer. What is your sun Sign?' Here is more about seeing great mythic cycles at play in the universe that we can align with.
The real brothers, according to EQ, are Horus and Set-Typhon, who 'sit' at the gate of the universe and both create/destroy it. In my view, the universe is being created and destroyed many times every second, rather like the flickering of a movie projector. Without destruction, there is no Time and no Movement. But that is my reading of it.
For more of the sophisticated vision of the Universe that The Book of the Law (maybe) operate within see:
The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187 A Workbook of English Qaballa The English Qaballa presented herein encompasses the full definition of a qaballa, not just a system of gematria. This book deals with hands-on applications which will enable the magician to explore its complexities for themselves, and...
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I also do not like making 'unassailable' truth statements, but I will say that contemplating this vision I had a sublime, ecstatic experience where I was in pure bliss and happiness for three whole days. Maybe the Book of the Law really is a mind-virus that rewrites your brain, which I would say is true of all myths. Just beware how you use them. You will evetually live the myths you engage with. So pick a heathy version of them, including the myths around Hell.
