Rosslyn Sanctuary

The Unicursal Hexagram

The Pentagrams Upright and Averse

 

 

        The pentagram is commonly used as an elemental symbol, representing the force of spirit or quintessence rising up out of the elements. In the Book of Lies, chapter 69, I equate this with the Blue Tongue of Prayer, as both are directional symbols of exactly the same thing. The pentagram is obviously a directional symbol because it is the act of spirit transcending the elements and rising upward.

 

            The averse pentagram is also a directional symbol, but descending instead of ascending. It represents the act of spirit being directed downward into the elements and impregnating them, as in the consecration of a talisman. In chapter 69, this symbol is the Red Tongue of Grace. It is also the red triangle formed during the Gnostic Mass when the Priestess places the Book of the Law on her breast with the cover facing outward and her hands arranged in a triangle. (Ever wonder why the Book is always red...?) Anyway, the averse pentagram is NOT upside-down, even though every modern book displaying them makes no distinction between averse and upside-down. Averse simply means to face the opposite direction, while upside-down means that it was once one way and it has now been corrupted, perverted, twisted somehow into a way that is not its own. Upside-down pentagrams (as opposed to averse) address the Gods as if they were demons and vice versa. This is hardly the way to gain the favor of the Gods, or respect from the demons.

 

            To properly formulate the averse pentagram, the elemental attributions should stay the same. Earth and Fire at bottom left and right respectively, and air and water at the upper left and right corners. Spirit, however, is at the very bottom center. This arrangement show that the universe is still at equilibrium, but that the current of spirit is being directed downward to pierce and penetrate the elements. The averse pentagram is NOT upside-down. It is right side up, but facing the other direction. Don't draw them as they are in the books without understanding how they are made.

 

            At this point, the magician has formulated the Tongue of Prayer by calling his God or Goddess, and draws them down by formulating the averse pentagram. Now, what happens when you lay a pentagram over top of an averse pentagram, and line up the points? You get, of all things, not one hexagram, but two. You get a standard bicursal hexagram, with the crossbars (the "spirit lines" of the original pentagrams) of a unicursal hexagram. What the magician does at this point is up to his approach to the working.

 

            By deleting the crossbar lines, the magician is left only with those lines that make up the elemental invocational lines of the original pentagrams, and thus sets the opposites across from each other and balances them, but does not truly unite them in spirit. This is why the bicursal hexagram is used for planetary magic, because the planets represent the mental or intellectual attributes of Man, and are not truly spiritual in themselves, being also below the Abyss.

 

            However, by deleting the obsolete horizontal lines, you get the unicursal hexagram. The elements typically invoke by those lines could still be invoked with the unicursal hexagram anyway (yes, it is an elemental symbol if formulated this way) and you are left with the true union of opposites. The magician has drawn fire down from Heaven and it has consumed him. He has transcended the Ruach or mental plane, and he now stands on the brink of the Abyss.

 

            At this point, the magician has two options, up or down. Note that the elemental attributions of the unicursal hexagram are not mutually exclusive. There are the four elements, spirit ascending and spirit descending, from the original two pentagrams. They may be invoked in ritual by starting at the proper point, and proceeding clockwise to invoke, and counter to banish (banish? Why?) The male magician would invoke BABALON at this point by starting at the top of the unicursal hexagram and proceeding clockwise to invoke the energies of his Anima. By this action, he would propel himself headlong into the Abyss, to be caught in the Lotus of his mother. All that is not God will fall away.

 

            The female magician (keep in mind that "male" and "female" have more to do with attitude than plumbing) would invoke the Beast by starting at the bottom of the unicusal hexagram and proceeding clockwise. The Beast is the lower self, all the legions of demons that represent the personal power of the magician. That is why BABALON rides on it. In the symbolism of the Middle Ages, the magician is represented by a cross, and the gate to Heaven by a circle. This is why the symbol of love (entering Heaven) is a circle with a cross attached to the bottom. This is also why the symbol of power (mastering Hell) is a circle with a cross on top of it. This is the "apple" of the Crown Jewels, and is shown on the Emperor trump. If these symbols were to be combined.....

 

O

+

O

 

Just as a sideline....

 

For further insight please refer to "The Greatest Teachings of all ages" with regards to the Magician.