m1thr0s
12-27-2006, 04:38 AM
The TwinStar Meditation (Numbers Method)
http://abrahadabra.com/images/twinstar005.jpg
A Few Preliminaries
To begin with I should point out that it is highly dubious whether communicating a technical meditation practise in this format is even a good idea. Ordinarily a practise of this sort really needs to be physically demonstrated numerous times while the student fumbles their way through it with a more experienced trainer spot-checking them periodically, much the same as would be done in any conventional yoga practise. Nevertheless, this medium is what we've got and since I appear to have misplaced my lear-jet for the moment and cannot readily run private lessons all over the planet, we will have to do the best we can. The whole point of communicating these kinds of ideas in this format at all has been motivated from the want to inform people who are ready to be informed of these things for whatever reasons. I can't be expected to cram a lifetime of personal study into a few articles and I have no interest in debating things that people have no real grasp of to begin with. What I can do is lay out what I know to the best of my ability and try to plug any logical holes that may exist in any of those explanations. The rest is up to you. Figuring out what meditation is all about is largely up to you. Figuring out what the hell it can do for you is something I simply refuse to rub my nose in...it's your life...it's your dilemma...you sort it out. I never once stated that this practise is right for everybody at exactly the same time. I am saying that it is hands-down the most powerful practise of its kind that I have ever seen anywhere at any time. That being the case, I feel a certain obligation to divulge what of it I may have learned thus far, so that people who find they really need this kind of thing may be able to find more on it than I was able to find for many long and difficult years. I have paid a heavy price to advance this knowledge & conversation and it has by no means all been "worth it". But I have done what needed to be done and have no regrets so far as my own actions are concerned.
The essential practise I am going to define here is not complicated in itself. If you can count to 10 you can do this. But understanding everything that is going on in the actions you will be performing is quite another matter. For the mostpart, this all comes with practise but you will learn to piece your motivation together a little at a time. What you need to stay focused on is the raw strength and clarity this whole practise draws into your sphere. This a tantric practise...it is an energy "weaving" strategy and just like with any tantric practise, the words you say and the lines you run are only the outlines of the meditation process itself. People will experience a whole range of things from powerful energy surges to to remarkable creative and analytical insights, to seemingly nothing at all. Be extremely critical of that so-called "nothing"...measure it with surgical precision, because 99.99% of the time what is really going on is not that "nothing" is occuring...but that what you thought would happen is simply not the same as what is actually taking place. Getting past our own childish notions of attainment is a big part of attainment itself. That doesn't mean you have to give up any noble goals. It means you may have to learn to negotiate those goals more deliberately than you initially realized would be required. We call this growing up and it's not as bad a deal as people often think it is. It means that when you do realize certain successes, you will have earned them pound for pound. They will be altogether yours and you will be free do do with them as you will.
The Nuts & Bolts (part I)
By now it should be reasonably apparent that we are going to be creating energy *leyline* patterns upon the Tetractys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetractys) in lieu of the Tree of Life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life_%28Kabbalah%29). If you are not clear what that means you will need to read through some of my other articles because I am not going to stop and re-explain all of that right here. It is highly recommended that you also do a certain amount of independant study on these constructs until you feel confident that you have a fairly stable grasp of their properties. When we talk about energy *leylines* we are talking about psychic energy *projection*. We are not really just *imagining* these lines of energy to exist...we are, in fact causing them to exist as a matter of creative projection itself. There is a reciprocal principle involved with this because we are attempting to project in lieu of what we *assume* to exist already as a matter of energy potential. Our Body of Light maps inform us that there is a great source of energy just above our heads in what is nearly universally called the "crown chakra" or otherwise just "crown" itself. Above that there is an even higher source of energy which I prefer to call the "highest crown", but is also known by other names such as En Soph (also Ain Soph), the Horizon of Infinity, Wu Chi, The Boundless Light and so on. This is the great "zero point" from which either the Tetractys or the Tree of Life emerge and so this is our source point for all the energy we will be *projecting* So we do have to *imagine* that source to exist on the basis of our defined criterion (ie, our maps) as well as all the various teachings we know that might allude to this source. But the drawing down of this energy and channeling it in various directions is not a passive *imagining* but a much more assertive *projecting*. Everything we will be doing is based upon drawing that energy down and cycling it through the entire Body of Light system, in this case a two-fold Tetractys/Tree of Life anatomical construct.
One of the things we need to get clear on from the outset are the various ways this *projection* work can be performed, because this is all highly flexible stuff. On the one hand, we can work completely internally if we choose to and you can do this from literally any position you are comfortable with from a conventional meditation asana to lying down to sleep, to daydreaming while at work or whatever. The other thing we can do is project talismatically in a more external sort of way which is actually my own personal favorite way to do things. We can use anything at all from a favorite crystal of some kind to an actual crafted image (or magickal mirror) such as the image posted at the top of this article. That image can serve as an energy capacitor/transformer/reactor devise, against which our projections can be channeled and also observed with eyes wide open. The TwinStar itself behaves very like an atom-splitter of some kind anyway, as you will observe the more you work with it. The thing to understand is that you are actually always really doing both things at once in any case, so there is no reason to avoid working externally so long as you understand that the same lines are being generated internally as well. It's all a matter of where and how you are most comfortable projecting. In my case, I am actually partial to external projection because I like to be able to watch for subtle energy shifts that occur right in front of me in many cases. Different people will have different preferences this way all depending on many different kinds of variables, different aptitudes or different areas of exploration.
The Nuts & Bolts (part II)
The first thing we will want to look at is exactly what we are doing and why. In this practise, we are treating the Tetractys as a form of the Tree of Life itself. Like the Tree it has 10 "points" which can be assigned any arrangement of numbers we like. There have been all kinds of "magical" triangles asserted on the Tetractys and entire books written on this subject as well. What we want to do is to ascertain the best possible way to arrange the 10 points of the Tetractys so as to "maximize" energy conduction within the Tree. We already know that the Tetractys coordinates with the Tree perfectly. We want to use that coordination to step up the amplitude as much as this might be humanly possible to arrange. The Tetractys is thus deemed to be an energy-enhancing tool of some kind, which, on the one hand is defining a completely independant arrangement of sepheroth, while on the other is defining the same sepheroth arranged in a more energy-efficient pattern. For this reason we will assign numbers 1-10 to the Tetractys, the same as with the Tree, and all of our planetary and elemental attributions will be considered to be the same...so 1=Neptune, 2=Uranus, 3=Saturn and so on down the line until we come to 10=Earth. The challenge we are thus confronted with is how place these values on the Tetractys that will give us some reasonably "enhanced" arrangement.
The Nine Chambers
One of the things we know about the Tetractys is that it parallels the LoShu Square at the level of its internal "chambers". This is a very important feature of the Tetractys and is something we will revisit again by the time we begin looking at Trigrammal Fields. For the moment, it means that we can look to the LoShu Square itself for clues as to how to numerate the Tetractys.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/nine.chambers01.jpg
What makes the Lo Shu Square "magical" to a mathematician is the fact that its traditional numeration (of squares) gives us the same total no matter how we add them in any straight line, either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. To the ancient Chinese, who first observed this feature, it indicated something very special. When the numbers 1-9 are arranged the right way, we get what amounts to a numerical "supersymmetry". From the very beginning, this numerical supersymmetry has been viewed with a kind of reverence and has been regarded as something sacred...something somehow revealing of nature's "hidden" qualities and reflective of the notion of universal harmony and balance. One of the reasons for this will be dealt with in a moment, but for right now let's just take a quick look at the numbers themselves...
http://abrahadabra.com/images/loshu.numbers01.gif
It can easily be seen that this arrangement of numbers gives us a total of 15 no matter how we add them in straight lines vertical, horizontal or diagonal. It should also be observed that there is a variety of ways we could arrange the numbers that would do the same thing but the essential arrangement will always be the same. Many arrangements you will find start with 1 at the bottom and build up so that 9 winds up on top at center. I have my reasons for prefering this arrangement which is not important to delve into right here. The important thing for the moment is to be aware of how this "magical" property operates at the level of numbers themselves.
Aside from the fact that we get a total of 15 added in any continuous direction, because our central number is 5, we get the added benefit of all numbers opposite of it adding to 10 and this is also an important feature to be aware of because it speaks to an internal polarity within the numbers themselves. The Chinese sages were especially impressed with this internal polarity within the numbers because it could also be expressed elementally in the form of bigrams and trigrams, which would then give us a balanced opposites of elements as well as numbers. Either bigrams or trigrams can also be arranged chronologically since they are built upon a simple binary and ternary mathematics to begin with. The Binary system is better known and only employs the values of Yin and Yang. The Ternary system is a little more complex and includes a third property called "Jen". At the time of this writing it isn't entirely clear the extent to which the Chinese sages were aware of or made use of the Ternary system but it is known that there are exactly 9 possible bigrams existent in that mathematical system. What we more commonly see expressed in ancient documents are the Eight Primary Trigrams flanking the outer edges of the Lo Shu Square with onlt the numbers expressed in the Lo Shu Square itself. These Trigrams would then be aligned as elemental opposites. It is also possible to do the same thing internally, replacing the numbers with the 9 Principle Bigrams from the ternary system. Following our numbers from the above example, the resulting arrangement of ternary bigrams is this:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/loshu.ternaries01.gif
It is somewhat beyond the scope of this immediate tutorial to delve deeply into the intricacies of this powerful mathematical logic but it is nevertheless important to understand that the Lo Shu Square provides a means to establishing a "supersymmetry" condition within numbers and elements both, since the Bigrams constitute our core elemental framework in this entire logic, from which all greater structures such as trigrams, tetragrams and hexagrams are built. From a Tantric perspective this kind of tool is invaluable since it has always been maintained that a balancing of energy polarities within the Body of Light itself was the single most important key to increasing its vitality and overall strength. Mutational Alchemy is the discipline that explores how this may be accomplished with pinpoint accuracy, but for right now our objective is to understand how all of this plays out with the TwinStar Meditation.
The Tetractys Comes to Life
We cannot achieve the exact same thing in triangles as we can in squares because they simply have different kinds of properties, yet the lessons we have learned from the Lo Shu Square can still be put to use in the Tetractys. What we would like to be able to do is to arrange numbers 1-10 so as to achieve as high a degree of numerical "supersymmetry" as possible, and, if at all possible, also be able to establish a molecular (or elemental) balance of opposites at the same time. We want to be able to use all numbers from 1-10 because we know that the Tetractys also parallels the Tree of Life sepheroth. It is our reasonable suspicion from the outset that the Tetractys may provide us with a means of coordinating the sepheroth to a greater degree of efficiency than the Tree itself provides. At this point a certain amount of trial-and-error ensues, since there are no known examples we can find from history that explore this possibilities hardly at all. Suddenly a very promising count emerges that goes like this:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/alchemical.air01.gif
Before diving into the "leylines", it is important to stop a moment and just consider some of the remarkable virtues of this particular arrangement of numbers. It has to be admitted that we will not be able to duplicate the exact "magical" qualities of the Lo Shu Square, but the qualities we are seeing here in this arrangement give us a number of things that the Lo Shu Square does not. To begin with, what we are looking at here is a counter-clockwise (left) rotation of numbers from 1-10, paired with its clockwise (right) compliment. All of the straight line sequences that are being demonstated in this example add up to the same number, in this case 17. To analyze this correctly we need to treat the 10 as though it were not there, so that we see that our middle horizontal line also adds to 17 in that case. If we add the 10 back in but assign it evenly to all of our lines of force, we get the value of 27 on all sides plus at the middle horizontal line. It will be observed that this gives us the traditional symbol for Air, only in this case we are not looking at a conventional air at all, but at what has often been referred to as "alchemical air", which is a kind of an air/spirit fusion...very akin to the Air of Aleph (Atu 0) on the Tree of Life itself.
One of things to bear in mind is that our analysis of principles and properties at this point becomes fairly interdisciplinary, so that some things are going to be more clear than others. In most cases I will only be able to provide an outline or this thing will simply become a whole book, which sort of defeats the purpose of an article attempting to minimize things as much as possible. As it happens, the number 17 is a very important number corresponding to the Word of Perfection which subdivides mathematically into three parts, one corresponding to Heaven (yang), one to Earth (yin) and the third to Man (jen). It is the Jen Line that adds to 17, according to its 4-part spelling of AHVH. On the 27 end of the spectrum we have a no-contest situation brewing, since 27 is the general number of Trigrammaton itself. 27 is the number of unique trigrams that can be constructed from all possible 3-line combinations of Yang, Yin & Jen lines. What this tells us is that our numeration is properly aligned with Trigrammaton itself and this is a very significant thing inasmuch as we are starting from the premise that the Tetractys is a form of the Lo Shu Square as outlined above. 17 also happens to be the number of the Star card in the Book of Thoth and while this may be a lesser consideration, it is nevertheless good form that this should be the case. Finally we need to scrutinize what kind of pattern this will all yield once we actually set to work building upon this numerological matrix.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/leylines01.gif
The term "leylines" as applied to magickal or tantric work simply implies lines of force established through any point-to-point scribing action, whether performed internally or projected externally. The term has special significance due to the "magnetic" quality of these kinds of pathways, very similar in nature to the idea of magnetic leylines in the earth, only here the energy is comprised of psychic force primarily. The pattern we get by counting our numbers chronologically from 1-10 displays two broken, or incomplete pentagrams which become a unified whole only by completing both halves of the equation. It thus takes 2 rotations 1-10 to yield the TwinStar pattern in its complete and proper form. Conveniently, when we are running a counter-clockwise sweep we get a left-hand pentagram and when we run the clockwise sweep we get a right-hand pentagram. These will need to be centered and grounded to complete the entire action, but before proceeding to this I want to draw attention to the "gap" on either side of the TwinStar. It turns out that this is a very important feature of the TwinStar configuration, so I will need to try to explain fairly carefully what is going on with this and how we are going to be treating this very important "gap".
The Lightning Bolts
http://abrahadabra.com/images/lightning01.jpg
A striking parallel to what we are trying to accomplish in the TwinStar can be seen in the traditional "Lightning Bolts" glyph illustrated here. While our objectives are substantially more ambitious, the essential logic is much the same and there are some specific points of interest to us with regards to Daath and how that plays out in the TwinStar. The Lightning Bolts are a powerful grounding operation...one of the most powerful ever defined in Tree of Life literature. A Bolt of energy is drawn down from Crown and channeled chronologically through each of the sepheroth, gathering momentum as it descends, collecting the combined force of the sepheroth and grounding hard in Malkuth (Kingdom) or Earth. One of the things that the Lightning Bolt establishes is proper chronology itself, and while it is very seldom treated, it actually defines 2 chronological possibilities within the Tree of Life system. It has been our accustom to stabilize on the Yang (right-hand) side of the Tree so that this is the normal view of the sepheroth's actual numerations, but the Bolts themselves are actually defining 2 logical possibilities. Another version of the Lightning Bolts you will see occasionally are the Twin Serpents, defining the same principle but with a little more organic character, also reminiscent of the Caduceus of Hermes, and Ningishzidda, of course.
In either case, the bolt passes through Daath at what would be the midway point between 3 and 4 numbering on the Bolts themselves, without regard to the standardized arrangement. Traditional Hebrew Qabbalah does not treat Daath as an actual sepheroth and it never will since it is strictly forbidden in that system to think beyond the 10 sepheroth or add or subtract anything from that total. Hermetic Qabbalah is not so constrained and while Daath's actual sepherotic constitution is still not entirely resolved, Hermetic Qabbalists definitely treat it as real and "on the map" as it were, with specific properties and even a number. They have not assigned a usual sort of number to Daath, but it typically receives a "dash" valuation, making it a kind of technical "not number" property. As it happens, this "not number" property endows Daath with the power of Syntax over all numerical relationships within the Tree, so this is actually an extremely dynamic numerical assignment to have given it. If you were to run a complete count of sepheroth on the Bolts as they descend through the sepheroth, in either case you would be counting one-two-three-(dash)-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten from top to bottom. The reason we count it is because it is there and because it marks an extremely vital coordinate on the Tree of Life, called the Grand Division, separating the Supernals (top 3 sepheroth) from the rest of the Tree. The difference between the Supernals and the rest of the Sepheroth is the difference between Unity and Duality in consciousness itself. Therefor Daath is called the Great Abyss and is the final collection point of all Diadic Mind. So it is important to recognize that Hebrew Qabbalists will be resisting all mention of Daath until hell freezes over and will spend everything they have got to disavow its "physical" existence. Nevertheless, we know from Tantric traditions that the "Throat Chakra" is very real and only a fool would treat it as other than this in the final analysis. For our purposes here, we will also be treating Daath as "real", having as physical an existence as any other coordinate on the Tree of Life.
A very curious thing happens in our TwinStar arrangement, based upon the count we have thus far outlined. It is precisely between the numbers 3 and 4 that our mysterious "gap" appears. There is a very strong tendency when scribing the Triangle to want to close any gaps, yet our number system would seem to require us to stop short at 4. The solution is to plug that "gap" with Daath itself whose "dash" will be run all the way to Apex (ie, 1) where it coincidentally originates anyway. The significance of doing such a thing can hardly be expressed adequately in words and the fact that the TwinStar itself would seem to be requiring it is a remarkble indicator of its intrinsic dynamism. We are, in essence, dismantling the Abyss a little more with each successive pass we make. The elevation of Daath to Crown distinguishes the TwinStar as a powerful contender against Division itself (both of Mind & Matter), and I know of no other meditation practise so bold and so decisive in this particular course of action. So we will be closing the "gap" with a "dash", and then sliding back to 4 and continuing all the way to 10 as a matter of course in this meditation practise. It doesn't take very long at all to be able to feel the difference this makes in practical application. As it happens, this actually gives us a total of 11 numerical properties, which is why Abrahdabra can be fitted to this meditation practise without incident. But for the moment, I want to stay primarily to the numbers method itself. Our final arrangement of numbers then with the gaps plugged via the "dash", looks like this:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/leylines02.gif
"1 - 2 - 3 - (dash) - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10"
Centering & Grounding
Any magickal or tantric operation that raises a great deal of energy needs to be centered and grounded on a regular basis. Centering and Grounding is the equivalent of reeling in your nets if you were a fisherman. This how we consolidate and draw the energy we have generated down to meet us on our home ground. In many ways this is where real assimilation takes place, so it is not just some boring thing you do for the sake of proper form. It is proper form because of the many finalization functions it performs.
While it is possible to do this (or any) meditation strictly through numbers alone, I don't happen to find it very "grounding" to use numbers for this phase of the operation. Numbers are a little "airy" by their very nature, so I prefer the application of an actual word or words when the matter turns to centering & grounding actions. The use of numbers on the TwinStar itself is very liberating since here we are often testing something we may not be altogether sure of. Working through the numbers allows us a certain professional detachment, allows us to go a great distance without committing to any particular archetypal associations. We can just work and study the energy itself and needn't concern ourselves with anything other than that. Some may find they like to do the same with centering & grounding and that's certainly fine by me. It isn't my own preference so I will outline what I do because I know it better and am confident that it works well in general. The rule of thumb with anything of this sort is finding what works the best for you internally. Anything anyone can tell you is rooted in their own experience or knowledge, some of which will apply to you and some of which often won't. You've got to be careful here though...when somebody starts in with the physics involved, you might want to take a few notes. That stuff typically either is or isn't what it seems. And if it is, it's not really so much a matter of whether you like it or you don't...for any of us.
I use a very simple and a very powerful grounding standard and have used it for years. I won't try to tell anybody it's the only way to fly, but it definitely flies. Shown here in its counter-clockwise rotation, A-V-M-GN sounds the circle in 4 parts while HUA-AThH executes the drop to Earth. AVMGN would normally be pronounced AH-OH-MM-GN while HUA-AThH would be pronounced AH-HAY-OH-AH (starting from and returning to apex), dropping to Th (pronounced TAW) with a full-impact pause, and continuing again to H (pronouned HAY), piercing infinite bottom and floating back to Center after the drop. We always begin and end this meditation practise from Center, which is always Earth (10) in the TwinStar. This is one of Aleister Crowley's better contributions to formula magick and is an Abrahadabra meditation in its own right. It is definitely one of the strongest grounding operations I have ever worked with and it has a number of qualities especially well-suited to Mutational Alchemy.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/center.ground01.gif
"A - V - M - GN -- A - H - V - H -- Tau - H"
A Recurring Technical Question
People that have followed my work over a period of a few years have sometimes noticed that I might shift things around a bit from time to time, and indeed I do. I am a habitual fiddler and always looking to try something a little different...sometimes starkly different, all depending on what's going on. It has to be remembered that the Tetractys is a highly versatile tool and fits with just about any circle you might choose to work with. There are different ways to approach the Abrahdabra Grid and different ways to approach the Tree and different ways to approach the TwinStar. What I find often happens is that many things are actually occurring at once...so you toss a stone into the water but it doesn't just sink flat down to the bottom in one unimpressive gulp. The energy of the stone creates perfect ripples and echoes out across a wide radius of influence. The same thing happens with the TwinStar. You will set out to do one thing but many things are actually occuring. If you find something has really caught your attention you may want to explore as many of those different things as you can, understanding that it is highly unlikely that there is actually one...and only one...best way to go about doing anything. So for the sake of simplicity I am going to outline a centering & grounding symmetry that is fitted to the TwinStar itself, but if you extend that to the entire Abrahadabra Grid, your symmetry will vary a bit because of that. It really doesn't matter because circles are circles and triangle are tiangles and just like the stone you are really getting a whole chain reaction from the actions you perform here.
Putting it All Together
http://abrahadabra.com/images/weaving001.gif
This article is a little long (even for me) so I am going to forego any additional instruction at this time. The important thing to bear in mind is that you must run 2 rotations 1-10 to get the proper TwinStar configuration. It is customary to start from the counter-clockwise pair first as this is your ascending direction and then center and ground that pair with a counter-clockwise center & grounding action. Then proceed to the clockwise pair (descending direction) and center & ground with the clockwise center & grounding action. Having completed two full directional rotations, it is adviseable to include a Final Center & Ground action, always on the clockwise (descending) side as it is always best to close on the downbeat, or descending direction, in this meditation excercise.
I can take questions on this if anybody has any or you can PM me if that seems more comfortable. There is always more to be said regarding what to look for and how to pace things correctly and thousands of peripheral matters corresponding to this sort of visualization practise. For the time being I think it has run long enough and it would be better to address some of these things at a later time. The goal of this immediate article was to lay out the meditation itself so that anyone interested in working with it has some reliable guide to follow.
Perseverance Furthers,
m1thr0s
http://abrahadabra.com/images/twinstar005.jpg
A Few Preliminaries
To begin with I should point out that it is highly dubious whether communicating a technical meditation practise in this format is even a good idea. Ordinarily a practise of this sort really needs to be physically demonstrated numerous times while the student fumbles their way through it with a more experienced trainer spot-checking them periodically, much the same as would be done in any conventional yoga practise. Nevertheless, this medium is what we've got and since I appear to have misplaced my lear-jet for the moment and cannot readily run private lessons all over the planet, we will have to do the best we can. The whole point of communicating these kinds of ideas in this format at all has been motivated from the want to inform people who are ready to be informed of these things for whatever reasons. I can't be expected to cram a lifetime of personal study into a few articles and I have no interest in debating things that people have no real grasp of to begin with. What I can do is lay out what I know to the best of my ability and try to plug any logical holes that may exist in any of those explanations. The rest is up to you. Figuring out what meditation is all about is largely up to you. Figuring out what the hell it can do for you is something I simply refuse to rub my nose in...it's your life...it's your dilemma...you sort it out. I never once stated that this practise is right for everybody at exactly the same time. I am saying that it is hands-down the most powerful practise of its kind that I have ever seen anywhere at any time. That being the case, I feel a certain obligation to divulge what of it I may have learned thus far, so that people who find they really need this kind of thing may be able to find more on it than I was able to find for many long and difficult years. I have paid a heavy price to advance this knowledge & conversation and it has by no means all been "worth it". But I have done what needed to be done and have no regrets so far as my own actions are concerned.
The essential practise I am going to define here is not complicated in itself. If you can count to 10 you can do this. But understanding everything that is going on in the actions you will be performing is quite another matter. For the mostpart, this all comes with practise but you will learn to piece your motivation together a little at a time. What you need to stay focused on is the raw strength and clarity this whole practise draws into your sphere. This a tantric practise...it is an energy "weaving" strategy and just like with any tantric practise, the words you say and the lines you run are only the outlines of the meditation process itself. People will experience a whole range of things from powerful energy surges to to remarkable creative and analytical insights, to seemingly nothing at all. Be extremely critical of that so-called "nothing"...measure it with surgical precision, because 99.99% of the time what is really going on is not that "nothing" is occuring...but that what you thought would happen is simply not the same as what is actually taking place. Getting past our own childish notions of attainment is a big part of attainment itself. That doesn't mean you have to give up any noble goals. It means you may have to learn to negotiate those goals more deliberately than you initially realized would be required. We call this growing up and it's not as bad a deal as people often think it is. It means that when you do realize certain successes, you will have earned them pound for pound. They will be altogether yours and you will be free do do with them as you will.
The Nuts & Bolts (part I)
By now it should be reasonably apparent that we are going to be creating energy *leyline* patterns upon the Tetractys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetractys) in lieu of the Tree of Life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life_%28Kabbalah%29). If you are not clear what that means you will need to read through some of my other articles because I am not going to stop and re-explain all of that right here. It is highly recommended that you also do a certain amount of independant study on these constructs until you feel confident that you have a fairly stable grasp of their properties. When we talk about energy *leylines* we are talking about psychic energy *projection*. We are not really just *imagining* these lines of energy to exist...we are, in fact causing them to exist as a matter of creative projection itself. There is a reciprocal principle involved with this because we are attempting to project in lieu of what we *assume* to exist already as a matter of energy potential. Our Body of Light maps inform us that there is a great source of energy just above our heads in what is nearly universally called the "crown chakra" or otherwise just "crown" itself. Above that there is an even higher source of energy which I prefer to call the "highest crown", but is also known by other names such as En Soph (also Ain Soph), the Horizon of Infinity, Wu Chi, The Boundless Light and so on. This is the great "zero point" from which either the Tetractys or the Tree of Life emerge and so this is our source point for all the energy we will be *projecting* So we do have to *imagine* that source to exist on the basis of our defined criterion (ie, our maps) as well as all the various teachings we know that might allude to this source. But the drawing down of this energy and channeling it in various directions is not a passive *imagining* but a much more assertive *projecting*. Everything we will be doing is based upon drawing that energy down and cycling it through the entire Body of Light system, in this case a two-fold Tetractys/Tree of Life anatomical construct.
One of the things we need to get clear on from the outset are the various ways this *projection* work can be performed, because this is all highly flexible stuff. On the one hand, we can work completely internally if we choose to and you can do this from literally any position you are comfortable with from a conventional meditation asana to lying down to sleep, to daydreaming while at work or whatever. The other thing we can do is project talismatically in a more external sort of way which is actually my own personal favorite way to do things. We can use anything at all from a favorite crystal of some kind to an actual crafted image (or magickal mirror) such as the image posted at the top of this article. That image can serve as an energy capacitor/transformer/reactor devise, against which our projections can be channeled and also observed with eyes wide open. The TwinStar itself behaves very like an atom-splitter of some kind anyway, as you will observe the more you work with it. The thing to understand is that you are actually always really doing both things at once in any case, so there is no reason to avoid working externally so long as you understand that the same lines are being generated internally as well. It's all a matter of where and how you are most comfortable projecting. In my case, I am actually partial to external projection because I like to be able to watch for subtle energy shifts that occur right in front of me in many cases. Different people will have different preferences this way all depending on many different kinds of variables, different aptitudes or different areas of exploration.
The Nuts & Bolts (part II)
The first thing we will want to look at is exactly what we are doing and why. In this practise, we are treating the Tetractys as a form of the Tree of Life itself. Like the Tree it has 10 "points" which can be assigned any arrangement of numbers we like. There have been all kinds of "magical" triangles asserted on the Tetractys and entire books written on this subject as well. What we want to do is to ascertain the best possible way to arrange the 10 points of the Tetractys so as to "maximize" energy conduction within the Tree. We already know that the Tetractys coordinates with the Tree perfectly. We want to use that coordination to step up the amplitude as much as this might be humanly possible to arrange. The Tetractys is thus deemed to be an energy-enhancing tool of some kind, which, on the one hand is defining a completely independant arrangement of sepheroth, while on the other is defining the same sepheroth arranged in a more energy-efficient pattern. For this reason we will assign numbers 1-10 to the Tetractys, the same as with the Tree, and all of our planetary and elemental attributions will be considered to be the same...so 1=Neptune, 2=Uranus, 3=Saturn and so on down the line until we come to 10=Earth. The challenge we are thus confronted with is how place these values on the Tetractys that will give us some reasonably "enhanced" arrangement.
The Nine Chambers
One of the things we know about the Tetractys is that it parallels the LoShu Square at the level of its internal "chambers". This is a very important feature of the Tetractys and is something we will revisit again by the time we begin looking at Trigrammal Fields. For the moment, it means that we can look to the LoShu Square itself for clues as to how to numerate the Tetractys.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/nine.chambers01.jpg
What makes the Lo Shu Square "magical" to a mathematician is the fact that its traditional numeration (of squares) gives us the same total no matter how we add them in any straight line, either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. To the ancient Chinese, who first observed this feature, it indicated something very special. When the numbers 1-9 are arranged the right way, we get what amounts to a numerical "supersymmetry". From the very beginning, this numerical supersymmetry has been viewed with a kind of reverence and has been regarded as something sacred...something somehow revealing of nature's "hidden" qualities and reflective of the notion of universal harmony and balance. One of the reasons for this will be dealt with in a moment, but for right now let's just take a quick look at the numbers themselves...
http://abrahadabra.com/images/loshu.numbers01.gif
It can easily be seen that this arrangement of numbers gives us a total of 15 no matter how we add them in straight lines vertical, horizontal or diagonal. It should also be observed that there is a variety of ways we could arrange the numbers that would do the same thing but the essential arrangement will always be the same. Many arrangements you will find start with 1 at the bottom and build up so that 9 winds up on top at center. I have my reasons for prefering this arrangement which is not important to delve into right here. The important thing for the moment is to be aware of how this "magical" property operates at the level of numbers themselves.
Aside from the fact that we get a total of 15 added in any continuous direction, because our central number is 5, we get the added benefit of all numbers opposite of it adding to 10 and this is also an important feature to be aware of because it speaks to an internal polarity within the numbers themselves. The Chinese sages were especially impressed with this internal polarity within the numbers because it could also be expressed elementally in the form of bigrams and trigrams, which would then give us a balanced opposites of elements as well as numbers. Either bigrams or trigrams can also be arranged chronologically since they are built upon a simple binary and ternary mathematics to begin with. The Binary system is better known and only employs the values of Yin and Yang. The Ternary system is a little more complex and includes a third property called "Jen". At the time of this writing it isn't entirely clear the extent to which the Chinese sages were aware of or made use of the Ternary system but it is known that there are exactly 9 possible bigrams existent in that mathematical system. What we more commonly see expressed in ancient documents are the Eight Primary Trigrams flanking the outer edges of the Lo Shu Square with onlt the numbers expressed in the Lo Shu Square itself. These Trigrams would then be aligned as elemental opposites. It is also possible to do the same thing internally, replacing the numbers with the 9 Principle Bigrams from the ternary system. Following our numbers from the above example, the resulting arrangement of ternary bigrams is this:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/loshu.ternaries01.gif
It is somewhat beyond the scope of this immediate tutorial to delve deeply into the intricacies of this powerful mathematical logic but it is nevertheless important to understand that the Lo Shu Square provides a means to establishing a "supersymmetry" condition within numbers and elements both, since the Bigrams constitute our core elemental framework in this entire logic, from which all greater structures such as trigrams, tetragrams and hexagrams are built. From a Tantric perspective this kind of tool is invaluable since it has always been maintained that a balancing of energy polarities within the Body of Light itself was the single most important key to increasing its vitality and overall strength. Mutational Alchemy is the discipline that explores how this may be accomplished with pinpoint accuracy, but for right now our objective is to understand how all of this plays out with the TwinStar Meditation.
The Tetractys Comes to Life
We cannot achieve the exact same thing in triangles as we can in squares because they simply have different kinds of properties, yet the lessons we have learned from the Lo Shu Square can still be put to use in the Tetractys. What we would like to be able to do is to arrange numbers 1-10 so as to achieve as high a degree of numerical "supersymmetry" as possible, and, if at all possible, also be able to establish a molecular (or elemental) balance of opposites at the same time. We want to be able to use all numbers from 1-10 because we know that the Tetractys also parallels the Tree of Life sepheroth. It is our reasonable suspicion from the outset that the Tetractys may provide us with a means of coordinating the sepheroth to a greater degree of efficiency than the Tree itself provides. At this point a certain amount of trial-and-error ensues, since there are no known examples we can find from history that explore this possibilities hardly at all. Suddenly a very promising count emerges that goes like this:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/alchemical.air01.gif
Before diving into the "leylines", it is important to stop a moment and just consider some of the remarkable virtues of this particular arrangement of numbers. It has to be admitted that we will not be able to duplicate the exact "magical" qualities of the Lo Shu Square, but the qualities we are seeing here in this arrangement give us a number of things that the Lo Shu Square does not. To begin with, what we are looking at here is a counter-clockwise (left) rotation of numbers from 1-10, paired with its clockwise (right) compliment. All of the straight line sequences that are being demonstated in this example add up to the same number, in this case 17. To analyze this correctly we need to treat the 10 as though it were not there, so that we see that our middle horizontal line also adds to 17 in that case. If we add the 10 back in but assign it evenly to all of our lines of force, we get the value of 27 on all sides plus at the middle horizontal line. It will be observed that this gives us the traditional symbol for Air, only in this case we are not looking at a conventional air at all, but at what has often been referred to as "alchemical air", which is a kind of an air/spirit fusion...very akin to the Air of Aleph (Atu 0) on the Tree of Life itself.
One of things to bear in mind is that our analysis of principles and properties at this point becomes fairly interdisciplinary, so that some things are going to be more clear than others. In most cases I will only be able to provide an outline or this thing will simply become a whole book, which sort of defeats the purpose of an article attempting to minimize things as much as possible. As it happens, the number 17 is a very important number corresponding to the Word of Perfection which subdivides mathematically into three parts, one corresponding to Heaven (yang), one to Earth (yin) and the third to Man (jen). It is the Jen Line that adds to 17, according to its 4-part spelling of AHVH. On the 27 end of the spectrum we have a no-contest situation brewing, since 27 is the general number of Trigrammaton itself. 27 is the number of unique trigrams that can be constructed from all possible 3-line combinations of Yang, Yin & Jen lines. What this tells us is that our numeration is properly aligned with Trigrammaton itself and this is a very significant thing inasmuch as we are starting from the premise that the Tetractys is a form of the Lo Shu Square as outlined above. 17 also happens to be the number of the Star card in the Book of Thoth and while this may be a lesser consideration, it is nevertheless good form that this should be the case. Finally we need to scrutinize what kind of pattern this will all yield once we actually set to work building upon this numerological matrix.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/leylines01.gif
The term "leylines" as applied to magickal or tantric work simply implies lines of force established through any point-to-point scribing action, whether performed internally or projected externally. The term has special significance due to the "magnetic" quality of these kinds of pathways, very similar in nature to the idea of magnetic leylines in the earth, only here the energy is comprised of psychic force primarily. The pattern we get by counting our numbers chronologically from 1-10 displays two broken, or incomplete pentagrams which become a unified whole only by completing both halves of the equation. It thus takes 2 rotations 1-10 to yield the TwinStar pattern in its complete and proper form. Conveniently, when we are running a counter-clockwise sweep we get a left-hand pentagram and when we run the clockwise sweep we get a right-hand pentagram. These will need to be centered and grounded to complete the entire action, but before proceeding to this I want to draw attention to the "gap" on either side of the TwinStar. It turns out that this is a very important feature of the TwinStar configuration, so I will need to try to explain fairly carefully what is going on with this and how we are going to be treating this very important "gap".
The Lightning Bolts
http://abrahadabra.com/images/lightning01.jpg
A striking parallel to what we are trying to accomplish in the TwinStar can be seen in the traditional "Lightning Bolts" glyph illustrated here. While our objectives are substantially more ambitious, the essential logic is much the same and there are some specific points of interest to us with regards to Daath and how that plays out in the TwinStar. The Lightning Bolts are a powerful grounding operation...one of the most powerful ever defined in Tree of Life literature. A Bolt of energy is drawn down from Crown and channeled chronologically through each of the sepheroth, gathering momentum as it descends, collecting the combined force of the sepheroth and grounding hard in Malkuth (Kingdom) or Earth. One of the things that the Lightning Bolt establishes is proper chronology itself, and while it is very seldom treated, it actually defines 2 chronological possibilities within the Tree of Life system. It has been our accustom to stabilize on the Yang (right-hand) side of the Tree so that this is the normal view of the sepheroth's actual numerations, but the Bolts themselves are actually defining 2 logical possibilities. Another version of the Lightning Bolts you will see occasionally are the Twin Serpents, defining the same principle but with a little more organic character, also reminiscent of the Caduceus of Hermes, and Ningishzidda, of course.
In either case, the bolt passes through Daath at what would be the midway point between 3 and 4 numbering on the Bolts themselves, without regard to the standardized arrangement. Traditional Hebrew Qabbalah does not treat Daath as an actual sepheroth and it never will since it is strictly forbidden in that system to think beyond the 10 sepheroth or add or subtract anything from that total. Hermetic Qabbalah is not so constrained and while Daath's actual sepherotic constitution is still not entirely resolved, Hermetic Qabbalists definitely treat it as real and "on the map" as it were, with specific properties and even a number. They have not assigned a usual sort of number to Daath, but it typically receives a "dash" valuation, making it a kind of technical "not number" property. As it happens, this "not number" property endows Daath with the power of Syntax over all numerical relationships within the Tree, so this is actually an extremely dynamic numerical assignment to have given it. If you were to run a complete count of sepheroth on the Bolts as they descend through the sepheroth, in either case you would be counting one-two-three-(dash)-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten from top to bottom. The reason we count it is because it is there and because it marks an extremely vital coordinate on the Tree of Life, called the Grand Division, separating the Supernals (top 3 sepheroth) from the rest of the Tree. The difference between the Supernals and the rest of the Sepheroth is the difference between Unity and Duality in consciousness itself. Therefor Daath is called the Great Abyss and is the final collection point of all Diadic Mind. So it is important to recognize that Hebrew Qabbalists will be resisting all mention of Daath until hell freezes over and will spend everything they have got to disavow its "physical" existence. Nevertheless, we know from Tantric traditions that the "Throat Chakra" is very real and only a fool would treat it as other than this in the final analysis. For our purposes here, we will also be treating Daath as "real", having as physical an existence as any other coordinate on the Tree of Life.
A very curious thing happens in our TwinStar arrangement, based upon the count we have thus far outlined. It is precisely between the numbers 3 and 4 that our mysterious "gap" appears. There is a very strong tendency when scribing the Triangle to want to close any gaps, yet our number system would seem to require us to stop short at 4. The solution is to plug that "gap" with Daath itself whose "dash" will be run all the way to Apex (ie, 1) where it coincidentally originates anyway. The significance of doing such a thing can hardly be expressed adequately in words and the fact that the TwinStar itself would seem to be requiring it is a remarkble indicator of its intrinsic dynamism. We are, in essence, dismantling the Abyss a little more with each successive pass we make. The elevation of Daath to Crown distinguishes the TwinStar as a powerful contender against Division itself (both of Mind & Matter), and I know of no other meditation practise so bold and so decisive in this particular course of action. So we will be closing the "gap" with a "dash", and then sliding back to 4 and continuing all the way to 10 as a matter of course in this meditation practise. It doesn't take very long at all to be able to feel the difference this makes in practical application. As it happens, this actually gives us a total of 11 numerical properties, which is why Abrahdabra can be fitted to this meditation practise without incident. But for the moment, I want to stay primarily to the numbers method itself. Our final arrangement of numbers then with the gaps plugged via the "dash", looks like this:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/leylines02.gif
"1 - 2 - 3 - (dash) - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10"
Centering & Grounding
Any magickal or tantric operation that raises a great deal of energy needs to be centered and grounded on a regular basis. Centering and Grounding is the equivalent of reeling in your nets if you were a fisherman. This how we consolidate and draw the energy we have generated down to meet us on our home ground. In many ways this is where real assimilation takes place, so it is not just some boring thing you do for the sake of proper form. It is proper form because of the many finalization functions it performs.
While it is possible to do this (or any) meditation strictly through numbers alone, I don't happen to find it very "grounding" to use numbers for this phase of the operation. Numbers are a little "airy" by their very nature, so I prefer the application of an actual word or words when the matter turns to centering & grounding actions. The use of numbers on the TwinStar itself is very liberating since here we are often testing something we may not be altogether sure of. Working through the numbers allows us a certain professional detachment, allows us to go a great distance without committing to any particular archetypal associations. We can just work and study the energy itself and needn't concern ourselves with anything other than that. Some may find they like to do the same with centering & grounding and that's certainly fine by me. It isn't my own preference so I will outline what I do because I know it better and am confident that it works well in general. The rule of thumb with anything of this sort is finding what works the best for you internally. Anything anyone can tell you is rooted in their own experience or knowledge, some of which will apply to you and some of which often won't. You've got to be careful here though...when somebody starts in with the physics involved, you might want to take a few notes. That stuff typically either is or isn't what it seems. And if it is, it's not really so much a matter of whether you like it or you don't...for any of us.
I use a very simple and a very powerful grounding standard and have used it for years. I won't try to tell anybody it's the only way to fly, but it definitely flies. Shown here in its counter-clockwise rotation, A-V-M-GN sounds the circle in 4 parts while HUA-AThH executes the drop to Earth. AVMGN would normally be pronounced AH-OH-MM-GN while HUA-AThH would be pronounced AH-HAY-OH-AH (starting from and returning to apex), dropping to Th (pronounced TAW) with a full-impact pause, and continuing again to H (pronouned HAY), piercing infinite bottom and floating back to Center after the drop. We always begin and end this meditation practise from Center, which is always Earth (10) in the TwinStar. This is one of Aleister Crowley's better contributions to formula magick and is an Abrahadabra meditation in its own right. It is definitely one of the strongest grounding operations I have ever worked with and it has a number of qualities especially well-suited to Mutational Alchemy.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/center.ground01.gif
"A - V - M - GN -- A - H - V - H -- Tau - H"
A Recurring Technical Question
People that have followed my work over a period of a few years have sometimes noticed that I might shift things around a bit from time to time, and indeed I do. I am a habitual fiddler and always looking to try something a little different...sometimes starkly different, all depending on what's going on. It has to be remembered that the Tetractys is a highly versatile tool and fits with just about any circle you might choose to work with. There are different ways to approach the Abrahdabra Grid and different ways to approach the Tree and different ways to approach the TwinStar. What I find often happens is that many things are actually occurring at once...so you toss a stone into the water but it doesn't just sink flat down to the bottom in one unimpressive gulp. The energy of the stone creates perfect ripples and echoes out across a wide radius of influence. The same thing happens with the TwinStar. You will set out to do one thing but many things are actually occuring. If you find something has really caught your attention you may want to explore as many of those different things as you can, understanding that it is highly unlikely that there is actually one...and only one...best way to go about doing anything. So for the sake of simplicity I am going to outline a centering & grounding symmetry that is fitted to the TwinStar itself, but if you extend that to the entire Abrahadabra Grid, your symmetry will vary a bit because of that. It really doesn't matter because circles are circles and triangle are tiangles and just like the stone you are really getting a whole chain reaction from the actions you perform here.
Putting it All Together
http://abrahadabra.com/images/weaving001.gif
This article is a little long (even for me) so I am going to forego any additional instruction at this time. The important thing to bear in mind is that you must run 2 rotations 1-10 to get the proper TwinStar configuration. It is customary to start from the counter-clockwise pair first as this is your ascending direction and then center and ground that pair with a counter-clockwise center & grounding action. Then proceed to the clockwise pair (descending direction) and center & ground with the clockwise center & grounding action. Having completed two full directional rotations, it is adviseable to include a Final Center & Ground action, always on the clockwise (descending) side as it is always best to close on the downbeat, or descending direction, in this meditation excercise.
I can take questions on this if anybody has any or you can PM me if that seems more comfortable. There is always more to be said regarding what to look for and how to pace things correctly and thousands of peripheral matters corresponding to this sort of visualization practise. For the time being I think it has run long enough and it would be better to address some of these things at a later time. The goal of this immediate article was to lay out the meditation itself so that anyone interested in working with it has some reliable guide to follow.
Perseverance Furthers,
m1thr0s