Liber 175

[Morell]

I'm reading this one and actually considering developing a prayer/invocation basing on the concept given there. I have to alter it somehow, because this way would not exactly work for me.

Concerning the ceremonies. Let the Philosophus prepare a powerful Invocation of the particular Deity, according to his Ingenium. But let it consist of these several parts:
First, an Imprecation, as of a slave unto his Lord.
Second, an Oath, as of a vassal to his Liege.
Third, a Memorial, as of a child to his Parent.
Fourth, an Orison, as of a Priest unto his God.
Fifth, a Colloquy, as of a Brother with his Brother.
Sixth, a Conjuration, as of a Friend with his Friend.
Seventh, a Madrigal, as of a Lover to his Mistress.
And mark well that the first should be of awe, the second of fealty, the third of dependence, the fourth of adoration, the fifth of confidence, the sixth of comradeship, the seventh of passion.

Does anyone has experience with Liber 175 or developing invocation with this concept? I find it to be contradictional... maybe. I think that combination of servitude, trust and love is not exactly what I would want, feels like mixed signals to me.

 

[frater_pan]

This is specifically reflective of Tibetan Buddhist classes of tantra (note that one of the meanings of tantra is continuation) where kriya tantra regards the meditator-deity relationship as a servant to an external Lord or King (the meditator regards his ishtadeva or deity as a Lord or a King to be served and/or worshiped); this level of tantra emphasizes actions, charya/upa tantra in which the relationship is friend to friend , yoga tantra which is the yoga or yoking of all perceptions to those of the deity (the meditator regards their body, speech and mind as inseparably linked to the deity), and highest yoga tantra in which the meditator is inseparably identified as the deity and the deity is the ultimate expression of enlightenment 24/7 (and there are 3-4 or even more different levels here). Crowley had not likely encountered Tibetan Buddhism directly but the divisions in Hindu tantra are the same or similar and he had apparently encountered Hindu tantra directly (whether he took direct teaching is another matter). Crowley has broken these tantra divisions down to emphasize different aspects. The first 4 above all map to kriya tantra, the next two are charya, and the last one can be seen as highest yoga .

Rather than contradictory this is intended to be a deepening of the relationship moving the practitioner to samadhi (as implied later in the text) and ultimately union with the god/deity. Crowley gives lots of examples in the text.