Regardless of whether we are aware of the danger coming from the “virtual spaces” of the Interworld, on the Magical Path a purely practical need often arises for “verification” of certain visions received in Rituals, scrying, or by other methods. In other words, a criterion is needed for the “reliability” of what has been perceived — an instrument that makes it possible to distinguish distorted perception from a truly valuable insight.
To determine whether the perceived images come from the changeable, fluctuating environment of the Interval, whether they are merely a “play” of light and shadow in it, or are linked to stable informational structures, Magi developed such checks in ancient times.
H.K. Agrippa mentions some of these methods in the second book of his “Occult Philosophy”, and the “Order of the Golden Dawn” developed and refined them.
Most often, two techniques for verifying visions are used — those employing so-called “telesmatic figures” and “telesmatic emblems”. The first is based on searching for and identifying in visions the signs of the corresponding logoi, while the second is based on evaluating the “completeness” and “finishedness” of these visions.
The identifier of “telesmatic figures” is based on searching in visions for signs of the presence of the corresponding Hebrew letters, and then reading the name formed by them. In his article, S.L. MacGregor Mathers gives the telesmatic images of letters accepted in the “Golden Dawn”:
«Telesmatic correspondences of the letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet: ALEPH. Spiritual. Usually winged. Androgynous, but more male than female. The face is narrow, the body slender. BETH. Active and graceful. Male. GIMEL. Grey. Beautiful, but changeable. Feminine. The face is rounded, the body rather full. DALETH. Extremely beautiful and attractive. Feminine. The face is rounded, the body rather full. HE. Passionate, powerful, quite hot, fiery; feminine. VAV. Stable and powerful. Quite heavy and clumsy, masculine. ZAYIN. Slender, intellectual, masculine. CHETH. Full, not too expressive face. Feminine. TETH. Rather strong and hot. Feminine. YUD. White and rather refined. Feminine. KAPH. Large and strong, masculine. LAMED. Well-built, feminine. MEM. Thoughtful, dreamy. Androgynous, but more female than male. NUN. Square, resolute face. Masculine. Rather dark. SAMECH. Narrow, rather expressive face. Masculine. AYIN. To some extent “mechanical”. Masculine. PE. Passionate, strong, resolute, feminine. TZADDI. Thoughtful, intellectual, feminine. KOPH. Rather full face. Masculine. RESH. Proud and imperious, masculine. SHIN. Passionate, active. Androgynous, but more male than female. TAV. Dark, grey. Androgynous, but more male than female. (Indications of gender are given here only for convenience of work. They should not be understood literally.) *** There is also another way of assigning the letters to one gender or the other, based on the brevity and length of the sounds they denote. Long sounds are male, short ones are female. Long sounds (male) Aleph — open A Beth — B Vav — U, V Zayin — Z Kaph — K Nun — N Samech — S Ayin — O, A Koph — K Resh — R Shin — SH, S Short sounds (female) Gimel — G Daleth — D He — H Cheth — H (guttural) Teth — T Yud — I, Y Lamed — L Mem — M Pe — P, F Tzaddi — TS-T Tav — T»
In other words, by analyzing the appearance of a vision, and correlating the elements of its appearance with letters, one can compose a Name, the analysis of which leads to a conclusion about the source of the vision.
« the first letter of that Name will become the head of the Image or Form, and the last letter — its feet. The remaining letters will, accordingly, be its torso and the members of its body.»
It is clear that using this identifier requires developed intuition and deep knowledge of Kabbalah, allowing one to correctly interpret the vision and translate it from an imagistic language into a semantic one.
The identifier of “telesmatic emblems” is based on the idea that the space of Dreaming is inherently limited, and therefore none of the images originating from virtual worlds can contain signs of the presence of all four primordial elements.
To determine such “compositional completeness”, special symbols were developed — “telesmatic emblems”, formed from geomantic figures by connecting their points with lines. Quite a few such symbols are known, and they correlate with the elements, planets, and zodiac signs:
If at least one of these symbols is present in the vision, and it corresponds correctly (that is, in a vision bearing signs of the corresponding element, planet, or zodiac sign, a telesmatic emblem from its group should be present), the vision is considered “true”. In the case of visions of beings and/or spirits, they must display one of the “emblems”. It is believed that no ‘virtual’ being that is elementally incomplete is capable of this.
In practice, most often both approaches are combined: a Magus with sufficient experience can discern in the manifested figure the signs of certain logoi, and test the vision with a telesmatic emblem.
However, the very practice of verifying visions — while not an absolute guarantee of their value — significantly reduces the risks of deception and self-deception, and therefore it should not be neglected.
Hello, dear Enmerkar! Suppose I identified the vision as true (the criteria, so to speak, seemed incomplete; perhaps something was intentionally omitted). But how to act further (and is action necessary at all), I do not yet see. With a high probability, the letter א was present, that is, the creature corresponding to it, along with some other signs. I would be grateful for your help.
Thank you for the response; to be honest, I didn’t expect it. But I’m afraid I won’t live long enough to see that bright time.) Here is the original version that I wanted to place in the Comments:”
Very beautiful winged creature, soaring under the arches of what seemed a gothic dark semi-cathedral, gently descended next to me, lying very calmly and with incomprehensible paws? limbs? pressing on my chest, began to extract-suck Life out of me. When about half of my Life was left in me, an unknown Power, having thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, yanked me from sleep, screaming and gasping for lack of Life, and for lack of air. I have two (only two) questions, and both are rhetorical: 1. Is it worth worrying about anything? and 2. If we entered into such close contact with this very beautiful creature, and I did not resist the extraction of Energy, then perhaps this creature is also Me?”
These are quotes from your publications.
“…Nothing that happens to us has any other causes apart from those lying in our consciousness, and nothing that will happen to its flow in the future will arise from other sources.”
“…We said that from the perspective of Magic, two systems that interacted once maintain a connection forever, and the carrier of this ‘connection’ is the ‘resolvable.'”
“…However, despite the ‘non-intersecting of parallels,’ such sub-worlds are still connected by a common consciousness, and changes in its manifestations are thus possible, ‘intersections’ and ‘crossroads’ of personalities.”
I apologize for the length.
I regard this as a terminal stage (for me, this sounds very encouraging) of conglomeration (this is the most suitable term) of My being in this, and perhaps in other worlds. In which I see practical benefit. Hallelujah, so to speak.)
Yes, it seems this applies to any vision, including the vision of phenomena, events, energies… to see, to experience everything differently, until the complete exhaustion of ‘charges’ of intertwists… thank you.
Yet when we announce the letters of the name of a genius, for example, through the tetragram, the vortex is additionally strengthened… it’s interesting how.
Hello. As I have noted more than once, Crowley was undoubtedly a great Mage, but the didactic and methodological value of his works is debatable. In Crowley’s works, more than anywhere else, one can feel the spirit of Magic and the life of Tradition, but to a much lesser extent – its letter. Sometimes he treated Tradition as a poet, interpreting it in a figurative and metaphorical manner; at other times, he intentionally misled the reader (one of his works – “The Book of Lies” describes the ideology of this approach). So I think that relying on Crowley’s works in a methodological sense can only be done with a great amount of personal experience, which will help navigate his style and manner and reach the true spirit and facts.
Hello! The question is a bit off-topic. Why do texts often become blurry or turn into nonsensical gibberish when focused on them?
Hello, dear Enmerkar! Suppose I identified the vision as true (the criteria, so to speak, seemed incomplete; perhaps something was intentionally omitted). But how to act further (and is action necessary at all), I do not yet see. With a high probability, the letter א was present, that is, the creature corresponding to it, along with some other signs. I would be grateful for your help.
Hello.
A valuable and noteworthy vision will keep repeating, even to the point of obsession, until a correct response to it is found and realized.
Thank you for the response; to be honest, I didn’t expect it. But I’m afraid I won’t live long enough to see that bright time.) Here is the original version that I wanted to place in the Comments:”
Very beautiful winged creature, soaring under the arches of what seemed a gothic dark semi-cathedral, gently descended next to me, lying very calmly and with incomprehensible paws? limbs? pressing on my chest, began to extract-suck Life out of me. When about half of my Life was left in me, an unknown Power, having thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, yanked me from sleep, screaming and gasping for lack of Life, and for lack of air. I have two (only two) questions, and both are rhetorical: 1. Is it worth worrying about anything? and 2. If we entered into such close contact with this very beautiful creature, and I did not resist the extraction of Energy, then perhaps this creature is also Me?”
These are quotes from your publications.
“…Nothing that happens to us has any other causes apart from those lying in our consciousness, and nothing that will happen to its flow in the future will arise from other sources.”
“…We said that from the perspective of Magic, two systems that interacted once maintain a connection forever, and the carrier of this ‘connection’ is the ‘resolvable.'”
“…However, despite the ‘non-intersecting of parallels,’ such sub-worlds are still connected by a common consciousness, and changes in its manifestations are thus possible, ‘intersections’ and ‘crossroads’ of personalities.”
I apologize for the length.
I regard this as a terminal stage (for me, this sounds very encouraging) of conglomeration (this is the most suitable term) of My being in this, and perhaps in other worlds. In which I see practical benefit. Hallelujah, so to speak.)
Yes, it seems this applies to any vision, including the vision of phenomena, events, energies… to see, to experience everything differently, until the complete exhaustion of ‘charges’ of intertwists… thank you.
By the way, while waiting for your response, I learned a lot of useful things from new sources for me, for which I express my special gratitude.
Yet when we announce the letters of the name of a genius, for example, through the tetragram, the vortex is additionally strengthened… it’s interesting how.
Hello! Can the color scales of the King, Queen, Emperor, and Empress from 777 A. Crowley also be used for “verification” of visions?
Hello. As I have noted more than once, Crowley was undoubtedly a great Mage, but the didactic and methodological value of his works is debatable. In Crowley’s works, more than anywhere else, one can feel the spirit of Magic and the life of Tradition, but to a much lesser extent – its letter. Sometimes he treated Tradition as a poet, interpreting it in a figurative and metaphorical manner; at other times, he intentionally misled the reader (one of his works – “The Book of Lies” describes the ideology of this approach). So I think that relying on Crowley’s works in a methodological sense can only be done with a great amount of personal experience, which will help navigate his style and manner and reach the true spirit and facts.