The Mass of the Phœnix

"This mass should be performed daily at sunset by every magician." - Liber ABA, part III, XX, I

"Neglect not the daily Miracle of the Mass, either by the Rite of the Gnostic Catholic Church, or that of the Phœnix." - Liber CXI, ο

דָם [dahm blood] = 44

"This is the special number of Horus; it is the Hebrew blood, and the multiplication of the 4 by the 11, the number of Magick, explains 4 in its finest sense. [...]
The word 'Phœnix' may be taken as including the idea of 'Pelican', the bird, which is fabled to feeds its young from the blood of its own breast. Yet the two ideas, though cognate, are not identical, and 'Phœnix' is the more accurate symbol." - Commentary to Κεφαλη Μδ [44], The Book of Lies

Contents

• Liber XLIV
• The Book of Lies
• Abrahadabra
• Works Cited

The Magician, his breast bare, stands before an altar on which are his Burin, Bell, Thurible, and two of the Cakes of Light. In the Sign of the Enterer he reaches West across the Altar, and cries:

Hail Ra, that goest in thy bark / Into the caverns of the Dark!

He gives the sign of Silence, and takes the Bell, and Fire, in his hands.

East of the Altar see me stand / With light and musick in my hand!

He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell 333 - 55555 - 333 and places the Fire in the Thurible.

I strike the Bell: I light the Flame; / I utter the mysterious Name.
Abrahadabra

He strikes eleven times upon the Bell.

Now I begin to pray: Thou Child, / Holy Thy name and undefiled!
Thy reign is come; Thy will is done. / Here is the Bread; here is the Blood.
Bring me through midnight to the Sun! / Save me from Evil and from Good!
That Thy one crown of all the Ten / Even now and here be mine. Amen.

He puts the first Cake on the Fire of the Thurible.

I burn the Incense-cake, proclaim / These adorations of Thy name.

He makes them as in Liber Legis, and strikes again Eleven times upon the Bell. With the Burin he then makes upon his breast the proper sign.

Behold this bleeding breast of mine / Gashed with the sacramental sign!

He puts the second Cake to the wound.

I stanch the Blood; the wafer soaks / It up, and the high priest invokes!

He eats the second Cake.

This Bread I eat. This Oath I swear / As I enflame myself with prayer:
"There is no grace: there is no guilt: / This is the Law: Do What Thou Wilt!"

He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell, and cries

Abrahadabra.

I entered in with woe; with mirth / I now go forth, and with thanksgiving,
To do my pleasure on the earth / Among the legions of the living.

He goeth forth.

Commentary Μδ [44]

This is the special number of Horus; it is the Hebrew blood, and the multiplication of the 4 by the 11, the number of Magick, explains 4 in its finest sense. But see in particular the accounts in Equinox I, vii of the circumstances of the Equinox of the Gods.

The word "Phoenix" may be taken as including the idea of "Pelican", the bird, which is fabled to feeds its young from the blood of its own breast. Yet the two ideas, though cognate, are not identical, and "Phoenix" is the more accurate symbol. This chapter is explained in Chapter 62. It would be improper to comment further upon a ritual which has been accepted as official by the A∴A∴

Κεφαλη Ξβ [Chapter 62]

Twig?^{(dost thou understand? Also the Phoenix takes twigs to kindle the fire in which it burns itself.)}

The Phoenix hath a Bell for Sound; Fire for Sight; a Knife for Touch; two cakes, one for taste, the other for smell.

He standeth before the Altar of the Universe at Sunset, when Earth-life fades. He summons the Universe, and crowns it with Magick Light to replace the sun of natural light.

He prays unto, and give homage to, Ra-Hoor-Khuit; to Him he then sacrifices.

The first cake, burnt, illustrates the profit drawn from the scheme of incarnation.

The second, mixt with his life's blood and eaten, illustrates the use of the lower life to feed the higher life.

He then takes the Oath and becomes free-un conditioned-the Absolute.

Burning up in the Flame of his Prayer, and born again-the Phoenix!

Commentary Ξβ

This chapter is itself a comment on Chapter 44.

Section Two in chapter Seven, Part Three of Liber ABA

Abrahadabra is a word to be studied in Equinox I, V., "The Temple of Solomon the King". It represents the Great Work complete, and it is therefore an archetype of all lesser magical operations. It is in a way too perfect to be applied in advance to any of them. But an example of such an operation may be studied in Equinox I, VII, "The Temple of Solomon the King", where an invocation of Horus on this formula is given in full. Note the reverberation of the ideas one against another. The formula of Horus has not yet been so fully worked out in details as to justify a treatise upon its exoteric theory and practice; but one may say that it is, to the formula of Osiris, what the turbine is to the reciprocating engine.

Part II of "The Temple of Solomon the King" from Equinox I, V:

Abrahadabra, the great Word, the "Word of Double Power in the voice of the Master" which unites the 5 and the 6, the Rose and the Cross, the Circle and the Square.

further down...

418. CHITh, Cheth. Abrahadabra, the great Magic Word, the Word of the Aeon. Note the 11 letters, 5 A identical, and 6 diverse. Thus it interlocks Pentagram and Hexagram. BITh HA, the House of H‚ the Pentagram; see Idra Zuta Gadisha, 694. "For H formeth K, but Ch formeth IVD." Both equal 20.

Note 4 + 1 + 8 = 13, the 4 reduced to 1 through 8, the redeeming force; and 418 = Ch = 8.

By Aiq Bkr Abrahadabra = 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 22. Also 418 = 22 x 19 Manifestation. Hence the word manifests the 22 Keys of Rota.

It means by translation Abraha Deber, the Voice of the Chief Seer.

It resolves into Pentagram and Hexagram as follows:--

(1) A
  /         [This is by taking the 5 middle letters.]
 R-----B
    A        The pentagram is 12, HVA, Macroprosopus.
  /   
 H     D     The hexagram is 406, AThH, Microprosopus.
      /
   A-A
  B---R      Thus it connotes the Great Work.
     /
    A        Note ABR, initials of the Supernals, Ab, Ben, Ruach.

(2) A              [This is by separating the One (Aleph) from
  /        /           the Many (diverse letters).]
 A     A  R     H                          
      /   |     |  BRH = 207, Aur, Light
   A-A    B     D  DBR = 206, Deber, Voice
               /
             R

"The Vision and the Voice," a phrase which meant much to me at the moment of discovering this Word.

(3) A        A
  /        /   
 A     A  B     A
      /   |     |  [By taking each alternate letter.]
   R-B    H     D
              /
             R

205 = GBR, mighty.

213 = ABIR, mighty.

This shows Abrahadabra as the Word of Double Power, another phrase that meant much to me at the time.

AAB at the top of the Hexagram gives AB, AIMA, BN, Father, Mother, Child.

HDR by Yetzirah gives Horus, Isis, Osiris, again Father, Mother , Child. This Hexagram is again the human Triad.

Dividing into 3 and 8 we get the Triangle of Horus dominating the Stooping Dragon of 8 Heads, the Supernals bursting the Head of Daath.

Also    A
       /           The Supernals are supported upon two squares ---
      R---B
A--B        A--H       ABAD = DD, Love, 8.
|  |        |  |
A--D        R--A       AHRA = AVR, Light, 207.

Now 8 x 207 = 1656 = ChI, Living, and 207 = 9 x 23, ChIH, Life. At this time "Licht, Liebe, Leben" was the mystic name of the Mother-Temple of the G.'. D.'.

The five letters used in the word are A, the Crown; B, the Wand; D, the Cup; H, the Sword; R, the Rosy Cross; and refer further to Amoun the Father, Thoth His messenger, and Isis, Horus, Osiris, the divine-human triad.

Also 418 = ATh IAV, the Essence of IAO, q.v.

This short analysis might be indefinitely expanded; but always the symbol will remain the Expression of the Goal and the Exposition of the Path.

Section Three of the continued "The Temple of Soloman the King" from Equinox One, Seven

1. Abrahadabra--the Reward of Ra-HoorKhuit. We have already seen that Abrahadabra is the glyph of the blending of the 5 and the 6, the Rose and the Cross. So also the Great Work, the equilibration of the 5 and the 6, is shown in this God; fivefold as a Warrior Horus, sixfold as the solar Ra. Khuit is a name of Khem the Ram-Phallus-two-plume god Amon; so that the whole god represents in qabalistic symbolism the Second Triad ("whom all nations of men call the first").

It is the Red descending Triangle--the sole thing visible. For Hadit and Nuit are far beyond.

Note that Ra-Hoor HB:RAHVVR = 418.

Liber ABA, Magick
Liber 333, The Book of Lies
Friedrich Justin Bertuch, Bilderbuch für Kinder, 1790-1830 (Eigenbesitz), Fabelwesen.