A Place Where a Precious Thing is Concealed

Kenneth Grant notes in Nightside of Eden (page 71):

The Scarlet Woman – 393 – is less 666, “the Beast whereon she rideth”, by 273, which is the number of AVR GNVZ, ‘the Hidden Light’, and ABN MASU HBVNIM, ‘the Stone which the builders rejected’. 273 is also the number of ARBO, meaning ‘four’, the sign of the cross or crossing, and of the four directions of space.

The reference is to a passage from Psalm 118:22: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”

In Hebrew, the phrase “the Stone which the Builders refused” is Ehben Masu Ha-Bonaim (ABN MASV H BVNIM).

The root of the Hebrew masu means “to despise, reject, refuse.”

Other Hebrew words which have this same numerical value of 273:

ChVRM ABIV, Khurum Abiv – “Hiram Abiff”

AVR GNVZ, Aur Ganuz, — “hidden light”

In Greek there are two words of particular relevance that also enumerate to 273:

Anthanasia, “immortality.”

Heh Kleis, “the key.”

It should be noted that the Cross is also the Tau, a cornerstone of the Temple of which Baphomet, the idol of the Templars was enshrined. This is also the Muladhara or basal chakra, the Baptism of Wisdom.

I have been immersing myself in a project that requires a dive back through all of Kenneth Grant’s  Typhonian Trilogies, and in the process keep coming across incredibly good quotes and reminders. The recent series of quotes are some of the inspirations coming out of this.

No doubt over the years these have been seeds planted into my unconscious and, like sigils or runes, have been nurtured in the darkness over time and their fruit – strange and beautiful – slowly takes form.

Here is this mornings reminder…

Unless occultism becomes creative in the sense of opening up new approaches, modifying and developing traditional concepts and generally revealing a little more of that Supreme Goddess whose identity is hidden behind the veil of Isis, Kali, Nuit, or Sothis, there will be stagnation in the swamp of beliefs rendered inert by the recent swift acceleration of humanity’s consciousness, which is little short of miraculous. If the science of the unmanifest is not to remain grounded at a pre-pubescent stage, while the manifested sciences soar into space, the mature occultist must put aside the toys of superstition and face fearlessly the Trees of Eternity whose trunks and branches glow with solar fire, but whose roots are nourished in the dark.

— Kenneth Grant, Nightside of Eden

There is a resurgence in many esoteric circles, with creativity coming to the front and driving innovation and experimentation.  These patterns cycle through time.  In some cases, like light reflecting off a dew covered branch, what appears to be one thing may in fact be something else entirely.

“My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity.” AL I:59

“Let the woman be girt with a sword before me.” This indicates the dominance of the martian element. Woman will lead the initiatory system of the New Aeon; her priests are veiled and out of sight, even as Hadit is not perceptible at the centre of the Circle, or the bindu in the Shri Chakra. “With my force shall she see & strike at the worship of Nu; she shall achieve Hadit” (III, 45). – Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, Kenneth Grant

“Qabalistically considered, the supreme formula of Nuit (Nought), is Kali=61=Ain=Nothing (Nuit or Not). This is the highest, most transcendental equation which it is possible to project into the realm of mind by mathematico-qabalistic symbolism. It is evident that the Shaivite conception functions altogether at a different level. The child, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, projects or bodies-forth the Limitless Light (ain soph aur) of Kali/Nuit as blackness which, by its seeming opacity, appears as Set, the Absorber of Light. Set takes the form of the shadows cast by the magical vortex created by the interplay of Hadit and Nuit (or Shiva and Shakti), whose explosive union is so blinding in its brilliance that it appears as “thick darkness” and “sudden death”. The darkness of Set is the womb of the Goddess from which appears to emanate a glamorous web in the form of the World-All; none other than that “world-bewitching Maya” that revealed itself as the Supreme Mother, Kali, in Shri Ramakrishna’s ecstasies of inward contemplation.”

– Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, Kenneth Grant

“Here we are confronted with an issue that concerns matters more urgent than doctrinal preferences. I refer to the age-long antagonism which has existed between Shaivas and Shakteyas, between worshippers of the God and devotees of the Goddess; more bluntly, the conflict between the Lingacaras and the Yonicaras. AL solves this problem by exalting the Child, the product of both.” – Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, Kenneth Grant.