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Great Work (Latin: magnum opus) is a term used in Hermeticism and occult traditions descended from it, such as Thelema.Accomplishing the Great Work, symbolized as the creation of the philosopher's stone, represents the culmination of the spiritual path, the attainment of enlightenment, or the rescue of the human soul from the unconscious forces which bind it. The Great Work signifies the spiritual path towards self-transcendence in its entirety. This is the process of bringing unconscious complexes into the conscious awareness, in order to integrate them back into oneself. Within Thelema, the Great Work is generally defined as those spiritual practices leading to the mystical union of the Self and the All through the accomplishment of True Will. Its founder, author and occultist Aleister Crowley, re-iterated the idea of the unification of opposites, saying in his book Magick Without Tears:
The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego."
Although the Great Work can describe specifically the moment of union between the self and the divine, it can also deal with the spiritual process in its entirety. Crowley also speaks on the Great Work as the conscious process of spiritual growth. The aspect of conscious devotion to the Great Work is very important.[2][better source needed] By purposefully, consciously turning inward and choosing to pursue self-realization, the seeker seals themselves in their very own vas hermeticum, their very own alchemical vessel. This attitude of deliberate turning within is necessary for the Great Work. By consciously devoting oneself to the Great Work, and therefore sealing oneself within one's own vas hermeticum, the inner heat of psychic struggle which is generated from this aids in the dissolution of ego boundaries and the integration of what is unconscious.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Work_(Hermeticism)
Within Thelema, the Great Work is generally defined as those spiritual practices leading to the accomplishment of the True Will of one's Self in mystical union with the All. Its founder, author and occultist Aleister Crowley, based this path of mystical attainment or enlightenment on his studies in Hermetic alchemy and the Hermetic Qabalah, particularly as they were expounded by Eliphas Levi in the 19th century and later by various members in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult society of which had Crowley had been a member.
Crowley wrote that in 1904 he heard and transcribed, from an entity called Aiwass, a book which came to be titled The Book of the Law. Crowley made this book the central sacred text of his new religious movement called Thelema, which he believed heralded a new Aeon for mankind. Between 1907 and 1911, Crowley wrote a series of other small texts which he considered to be inspired, written through him rather than by him, which he afterwards collected together in an anthology now called The Holy Books of Thelema. These texts formed the mystical backbone of Crowley's system, on which he elaborated in his extensive writings on magick, mysticism, and occult subjects.
True Will and Union
Thelema is a path intended to do two interrelated things: to enable one to learn one's 'True Will'; and to achieve union with 'the All'.[1] This unification of opposites, the individual and the universal, is reiterated by Crowley in his book Magick Without Tears:
The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego.
The techniques for accomplishing these goals Crowley referred to as 'Magick,' a word he used to describe Western ceremonial magic (especially invocations and eucharistic ceremonies) supported by Buddhist meditation, Hermetic Qabalah, English Qaballa, tarot, and yoga, all set in the context of the worship of Nuit, the goddess of "Infinite Stars and Infinite Space"
Within the system of the magical Order A∴A∴, the Great Work of the Probationer Grade is considered to be the pursuit of self-knowledge to, as Crowley said in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, "obtain the knowledge of the nature and powers of my own being."However, Crowley continues, the Great Work should also be something that is integrated into the daily life of all. Although Crowley often discussed the idea of "succeeding" or "accomplishing" in the Great Work, he also recognized that the process is ongoing.
The ability to accomplish the Great Work requires a great deal of preparation and effort, according to Crowley's system. The programme consists of several key elements, including a thorough knowledge of the Hermetic Qabalah (especially the Tree of Life), disciplined concentration (i.e. meditation), the development of one's body of light (in order to experience other planes) and the consistent and regular invocation of certain deities or spiritual beings ('assumption of godforms').
Within the mystical and philosophical system developed by Crowley, the core task for a practitioner is the discovery and manifestation of True Will. The realisation of this True Will is itself the Great Work, as expressed in the Benediction at the end of Crowley's Gnostic Mass, where the Priest blesses the congregation with the words:
The LORD bring you to the accomplishment of your true Wills, the Great Work, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.
Methods
Tree of Life[edit]
The Tree of Life is a tool used to categorize and organize various mystical concepts. At its most simple level it is composed of ten spheres, or emanations, called sephiroth (sing. "sephira") which are connected by twenty-two paths. The sephiroth are represented by the planets and the paths by the characters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are subdivided by the five elements, the seven classical planets, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
Within the Western magical tradition, the Tree is used as a kind of conceptual filing cabinet. Each sephira and path is assigned various ideas, such as gods, cards of the Tarot, astrological planets and signs, elements, and so forth. Crowley's Liber 777 is one of the most comprehensive collections of such qabalistic correspondences.[7] Other authors have written on the topic, including Eliphas Levi,[citation needed] Israel Regardie,[citation needed] and Gareth Knight.
The path of attainment is largely defined by the Tree of Life. The aspirant begins in Malkuth, which is the everyday material world of phenomena, with the ultimate goal being at Kether, the sphere of Unity with the All. Through various exercises and practices, the aspirant attains certain spiritual and mental states that are characterized by the various sephiroth that ascend the Tree. Crowley considered a deep understanding of the Qabalah to be essential to the Thelemite. The practice of the Middle Pillar is especially important.
Qabalah is key to understanding Thelemic texts and scriptures, many of which, including The Book of the Law, are written in abstract, poetic, and often cryptic language. Through the use of the Qabalah, and especially the function of gematria (a form of numerology), the normally opaque meaning of the texts can be made clear. Thelemites can also make use of gematria to link words and concepts and to validate revelations given to them in magical operations, such as astral travel.
Concentration
Another key element to Thelemic mysticism is the ability to concentrate. This skill has two modalities: the first is the rapid, accurate, and efficient movement of thought (which is the realm of magick) and the other is the stopping of thought altogether (which is accomplished in Yoga). In the first, it is the manipulation of all ideas into one idea, and in the second is the taking of that one thought and reducing it to nothing.
Concentration is essentially the prerequisite for all sustained success, not only in spiritual practices, but in day-to-day life as well. The general program for developing concentration is borrowed almost completely from the practice of Yoga within the Hindu and Buddhist systems. Crowley gives a general overview of the techniques in two books: Eight Lectures on Yoga and in the section called "Mysticism" in Magick
Body of light
Main article: Body of light
Crowley referred to the 'augoeides', a Greek term for the body of light, and connected it with 'the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel' associated with each human being. He stressed that the body of light must be built up though the use of imagination, and that it must then be animated, exercised, and disciplined.According to Asprem (2017):
The practice of creating a "body of light” in imagination builds on the body-image system, potentially working with alterations across all of its three modalities (perceptual, conceptual, and affective): an idealized body is produced (body-image model), new conceptual structures are attached to it (e.g., the doctrine of multiple, separable bodies), while emotional attachments of awe, dignity, and fear responses are cultivated through the performance of astral rituals and protections from "astral dangers" through the simulation of symbols and magical weapons.
Crowley explains that the most important practices for developing the Body of Light are:
1. The fortification of the Body of Light by the constant use of rituals, by the assumption of god-forms, and by the right use of the Eucharist. 2. The purification and consecration and exaltation of that Body by the use of rituals of invocation. 3. The education of that Body by experience. It must learn to travel on every plane; to break down every obstacle which may confront it.
According to Crowley, the role of the body of light is broader than simply being a vehicle for astral travel — he writes that it is also the storehouse of all experience.
The benefit of astral travel is essentially one of education: it is akin to exploring one's own spiritual universe[g] and understanding its fundamental components so that the one can eventually master it. The general object is the "control of the Astral Plane, the ability to find one's way about it, to penetrate such sanctuaries as are guarded from the profane, [and] to make such relations with its inhabitants as may avail to acquire knowledge and power, or to command service". Also, "one's apprehension of the Astral Plane must be accurate, for Angels, Archangels, and Gods are derived therefrom by analysis. One must have pure materials if one wishes to brew pure beer".
Crowley believed that what was experienced during "astral travel" was not relevant in terms of what is "real" or "unreal". He thought that the only value to this practice is in the utility it provides to the practitioner.[h] He believed that the body of light is more important than simply for astral travel—that it is also the storehouse of all experiences.[i]
Magick
Main article: Ceremonial magic
According to Crowley, there is a single definition of the purpose for ritual magick: to achieve Union with God through "the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm". Since this process is so arduous, it is also acceptable to use magick to develop the self (i.e. one's body of light) or to create ideal circumstances for the Work (e.g. having access to a place in which to do ritual undisturbed). There are many kinds of magick, but the categories of ritual that are recommended by Crowley include banishing unwanted forces, various forms of invocation, and the eucharist, which "consists in taking common things, transmuting them into things divine, and consuming them".
Milestone
Further information: A∴A∴ § Initiatory structure
Crowley often wrote that every practitioners's path will be unique. He also wrote that two major milestones are fundamental to Thelemic mysticism, which he called the knowledge of and conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel and the crossing of the Abyss. Crowley wrote, "the two crises—the Angel and the Abyss—are necessary features in every career. The other tasks are not always accomplished in [any given order]".
Holy Guardian Angel
Main article: Holy Guardian Angel
Even though the Holy Guardian Angel (or HGA) is, in a sense, the “higher self”, it is often experienced as a separate being, independent from the experiencer. In the system of the A∴A∴ magical order, the single most important goal is to consciously connect with one's HGA, a process termed “Knowledge and Conversation.” By doing so, a magician becomes fully aware of their own True Will. For Crowley, this event was the single most important goal of any practitioner of magick.
In most of his writings, Crowley described the Holy Guardian Angel as one's "Silent Self", at times equitable with one's deepest unconscious. In later writings, he insisted that the HGA is an entirely separate and objective being. Whichever position is taken, the object remains the same—to gain an intimate spiritual connection so that one's True Will can become fully known and manifested. When using the Tree of Life as a guide, this event occurs in the Sphere of Tiphareth.
Crowley wrote Liber Samekh as an example of a ritual designed specifically for attaining the Knowledge and Conversation with one's HGA. In his notes to this ritual, Crowley sums up the key to success: “INVOKE OFTEN.” Another detailed description of the general operation is given in The Vision and the Voice, Aethyr 8.
Crossing the Abyss
Main article: Abyss (Thelema)
After one attains Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel, a practitioner may choose to then reach the next major milestone: the crossing of the Abyss, the great gulf or void between the phenomenal world of manifestation and its noumenal source, that great spiritual wilderness which must be crossed by the practitioner to attain mastery.
According to Crowley, Choronzon is the Dweller in the Abyss; he is there as the final obstruction. If he is met with the proper preparation, then he is there to destroy the ego, which allows the practitioner to move beyond the Abyss. If unprepared, then the unfortunate traveller will be utterly dispersed into annihilation. Both Choronzon and the Abyss are discussed in Crowley's Confessions (ch. 66).
However, just on the other side of the Abyss awaits Babalon (in the sphere of Binah on the Tree of Life). She calls the practitioner to surrender completely, so that they may cross over.[citation needed]
City of the Pyramids and the Night of Pan
Main article: Night of Pan
If a practitioner gives themselves to Babalon, as symbolised by the pouring of the practitioners' blood into Babalon's graal, they become impregnated in her, becoming a "Babe of the Abyss" who is then reborn as a Master and a Saint that dwells in the City of the Pyramids.
The City of the Pyramids is the home to those practitioners that have crossed the great Abyss, having spilled all their blood in the Graal of Babalon. They have destroyed their earthly ego-identities, becoming nothing more than piles of dust (i.e. the remaining aspects of their True Selves without the self-sense of "I"). Within, they take on the name or title of Saint or Nemo (Latin for No-Man or No-One). In the system of A∴A∴ they are called Masters of the Temple. It is a step along the path of spiritual purification, and a spiritual resting place for those who have successfully shed their attachments to the mundane world.
The City exists under the Night of Pan, or N.O.X. The playful and lecherous Pan is the Greek god of nature, lust, and the masculine generative power. The Greek word Pan also translates as All, and so he is “a symbol of the Universal, a personification of Nature; both Pangenetor, "all-begetter," and Panphage, "all-devourer".[21][better source needed] Pan is both the giver and the taker of life, and his Night is that time of symbolic death where the practitioner experiences unification with the All through the ecstatic destruction of the ego-self. In a less poetic symbolic sense, this is the state where one transcends all limitations and experiences oneness with the universe.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Work_(Thelema)
This and the next photo are of the same couple on their honeymoon.
I love her, I love her confidence and style. You can tell in these images she has never felt more beautiful.
Body image.... women, we have a really rough time with it. We unconsciously tear other women down at the beach when they show some cellulite, or stretch marks, or just not what we believe is perfection. How dare someone wear a bikini when they have wrinkles, lumps, bumps, scars..... when they look like the average woman.
*continued on next photo*
I know this one is a little bit obvious for this exhibtion but as I said in the other 'stomach' photo I needed to do it as part of my personal recovery...
I have been so touched by the comments I have received from flickr people over the last couple of days.
My hope was that by telling my story it would help others to understand the illness a little or for those who are suffering/have suffered to not feel so alone.
From what I have heard from you it's working!
I am hoping to have some kind of online space for comments about the exhibition. When I've got something sorted I will let you know. Please do contact me if you'd be willing to let me add any of your comments, responses and thoughts to an exhibition logbook type thing - whether that's online or in print.
Many thanks to you all...
Experiments for an exhibition about a journey to recovery from anorexia.
I am working on 6 images of "illness" and 6 images of "recovery".
This exhibition is a big challenge for me but it is something I really want to do. So, I guess the first step is to post a few of my "works in progress" on flickr.
The exibition will be on show from 6th February in Brindley Place in Birmingham. Details to follow...
Your Reality: The Truth About Your Body medium.com/@YounusAlGohar/your-reality-88c44f7e65c1
Why your time in this world is like a visit to space!
Bikini Thoughts - Kneeling (B&W): Godox V1 rear left and right with umbrellas. Godox AD200 in octogonal softbox above left for main light, above right in 30x120 softbox for fill.
Sac Alum End of Year banquet. 2013
Pandemic Self Care. Processing pics from the boneyard (my “vault” that stores pics I have taken, but never processed and/or posted).
Stay Safe and remember wearing a mask protects you from me and me from you. We are in this together.
Fitness and Lifestyle photo session with Victoria Garrick on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at the Tongva Park in Santa Monica, CA.
Photo by Matt Pendleton for Matt Pendleton Photography
Read more about the project here:
tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2008/08/doll-project.html
The Doll Project is a series of conceptual digital photographs that uses fashion dolls to embody the negative messages the media gives to young girls. Though it would not be fair to blame it all on Barbie, there have been many instances in which she has come dangerously close. I chose to use Barbie dolls because they are miniature mannequins, emblems of the fashion world writ small, a representation of our culture's impossible standards of beauty scaled to one sixth actual size. The little pink scale and How To Lose Weight book are both real Barbie accessories from the 1960s. They are recurring motifs in the pictures in the series, symbolizing the ongoing dissatisfaction many girls and women feel about their weight and body image. The dolls' names, Ana and Mia, are taken from internet neologisms coined by anorexic and bulimic girls who have formed online communities with the unfortunate purpose of encouraging each other in their disordered eating. With each passing era, Ana and Mia are younger and younger, and the physical ideal to which they aspire becomes more unattainable. They internalize the unrealistic expectations of a society that digitally manipulates images of women in fashion and beauty advertisements and value their own bodies only as objects for others to look at and desire.
Read more about the project here:
tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2008/08/doll-project.html
Purchase prints here:
I paid attention all day and didn't find anything for the prompt - no love anywhere! I was all ready to set something up after I finished cleaning out the last of my old files. At the last minute I found this poem in the last file, a poem I've been looking for all year! Couldn't find it online, couldn't remember the poets name - and there it was. I'd been looking for it because reading it the first time felt like a burst of love. And it felt that way again today.
Bikini Thoughts - Closer (B&W): Godox V1 rear left and right with umbrellas. Godox AD200 in octogonal softbox above left for main light, above right in 30x120 softbox for fill.
Already a week? It feels like I've been doing this challenge for forever! Here's my low angle shot. Not sure why I took a picture of my feet (and I only noticed now that my varnish is completely messed up haha!) Anyway it is what it is. Now onto my opinions about my body and such. I kind of touched on this yesterday but I didn't really go into depth. I suppose this is the perfect opportunity to express what I've gone through. I'm not 100% sure when it all started, but I think it was around beginning of high school but I started to really notice my weight, as most girls do when entering high school and joining cheerleading. I wasn't too uncomfortable with myself, but I didn't love the way I looked, at all. I tried to diet, I went as far as restricting (within limit, I never starved myself or binged and purged..) I didn't eat healthily. I never really lost a ton of weight that way, and there was a year when I actually GAINED weight (due to a combination of not working out or moving around aside from practice, and a horrid diet filled with candy and soda) I have gone through ebbs and flows of diets and no diets, working out and being lazy. Recently I went through another bout of working out and dieting and saw very little results. I've also recently (after stopping my diet) realized that I will never be a size zero, nor do I want to be. Because of the synthroid and such I will not lose a ton of weight, and I've found that I have gained a lot of muscle back to my body which I lost from having Grave's Disease. I have come to terms with my body and my weight and i don't have any plans in the future to try to diet. I do however have plans to be healthier with my eating habits and living habits, and if that changes my weight, then so be it.
My body isn't the one that's messed up, society's views of my body is the thing that's messed up.
[:
Cut-paper collage (w/ acrylic paint) created for the Kollage Kit theme: "Body Image: your own, someone else's, the idea of..."
This one is definitely personal. I had what one might call a difficult childhood. The first thing I thought of with regard to body image is the need for protection. Hence a frame: a hand-crafted Mexican frame in honor of my growing up in Texas. The spiky points are also fitting.
Next I thought of a box, wanting a box I could crawl into and hide. I almost made a collage of just a closed metal box inside of that frame.
But the problem was, I couldn't hide, no matter how hard I tried.
getting the whole thing ready was a pain in the neck - by the time i had enough milk to make the bath water opaque enough to my liking, half of it went sour! so the model had to bathe in the smelliest bath ever. but since sour milk is really good for your skin, she didn't have a problem with it at all :)
No. No. No. No.
I judge other women and critique their bodies on days when I feel like shit.
The lies we believe are so seductive.
I expected to hate this picture, and myself in it. But quite unexpectedly actually, my God, who designed me, seeped into the cracks of this whole photographic effort to remind me that all those lies I'd been trying to ward off all day held no clout with Him. Every curve on my body was smooth and soft. His design was first choice. Bar none.
Adele, unlike most others in her similar standing, doesn't pay attention to her fluctuating weight. In response to what she would say if someone told her she was fat she said "I would tell them to f-off and fire them." Thank you Adele. I find you inspirational.
Pandemic Self Care. Processing pics from the boneyard(the vault that stores pics taken, but yet to be processed). Stay safe everyone.
This poster is dedicated to all the girls in the world. Always remember that you are beautiful, too!
Blogged at: tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2014/03/you-are-beautiful-too....
Like this poster? Buy it here: society6.com/TiffanyGholar/You-are-beautiful-too_Stretche...