Why nove is the Law—a Primer
Phaedron
From The Practia Arcanum
Love is the magician's most important tool. Without it he
is impotent. Those who intend harmful acts can only loose
because they have not this prime ingredient. They need not be feared.
The word "love" itself has much import in gematria
(numerical assignment) but that is too lengthy a topic to cover here. The
aspirant must not confuse this term with the ordinary social term. Loving
your neighbor is important to the aspirants work and to the
development of mankind, however Love goes beyond that. The true
action of Love is a very unusual concept.
Love is the execution of the perfected Will...
in motion (i.e., in action, not latent). The universe is
a complete system which works perfectly. Each element and body
is busy expressing its own individual character, direction,
velocity, antagonism, etc. Each is doing its Will. Every act each performs is
an act of its Will ("purpose"). This Will has been determined by
a greater force; therefore it is also part of the greater Will.
The expression of this Will, when uncorrupted by individual will,
is Love.
The distortion of Man's Will is The Fall. It causes him to be
born less perfect than "intended" by God, who assigned him a
near perfect state. There is a particular sensation that tells an initiate
when he is doing his Will. It is beyond definition but can be thought of
as ecstasy. It is this sweet taste that mankind once knew that drives
him to evolve back to Eden.
Love is the fuel of the universe. It is an awesome
experience for the individual to combine with the power that runs
the universe. This is the magician's purpose. As he succeeds,
he acquires powers which appear to the profane as "miraculous." It
is not the magician's goal to obtain powers, they come naturally in
the pursuit of unity with God (the name we give this pervasive
energy of Love).
Like all creations and energies, Love has a place on the
Tree of Life: Chesed, which represents expansion and form. It's
mystical number is 10, the number of completion perfection; a
perfect union forming wholeness.
Chesed's virtue is obedience. It represents powerful
sublime force which does not require action as Geburah does. It can
rule without "force." It does require
the one tool of Love to rule. With Love the flail of Geburah is not
necessary—it is even a hindrance.
Chesed's vice is bigotry, hypocrisy and gluttony. Lack
of Love causes these things. Size becomes a handicap instead of
an asset. The ruler becomes the bigot.
Chesed is mercy because no matter how powerful this force,
it still allows all creations of any size to follow their own True
Wills without interference. Love is the cause of the execution of
their Wills.
Love is everywhere in the universe. It is the one
universal common denominator. It is the performance of True Will in
action; it is perfection. Like the Sephira Chesed, it is the gateway from
form to spirit; from the moral triangle to the supernal triangle.
Phaedron is the Hierophant of the Holy Order of The
Winged Disk, and Director of its International Academy of
hermetic Knowledge. This article is an excerpt from his book `The
Practica Arcanum.
| 
