space-marks

[triveni93]

I've wondered from time to time what the "space-marks" are that are mentioned in Liber AL I, 52. As I read through Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, I noticed a somewhat passing reference to this on page 37, in the chapter on the Fire Snake. Grant writes: "Lovecraft stressed the spaces in between. The concept formulated itself in the Voodoo Mysteries with their emphasis on the off-beat rhythm peculiar to the Petro rites. AL (I, 52) warns the magician to beware of these "space-marks.'" Voodoo drum beats were mentioned in a previous place in this same chapter, on page 31, with reference to "in-betweenness concepts" and the Sri Yantra.

Can someone elaborate upon these "space-marks"? What is the relationship between these in the context of Lovecraft and in the context of the Sri Yantra? Why does the Book of the Law warn us to beware them?

It seems from the reading that these are only worthy of warning if one has the a similar psychological reaction to that of Lovecraft (can't help be reminded of the discussion elsewhere on these forums of love and fear in the White and Black Lodges on Twin Peaks). Am I completely misunderstanding this (no pun intended).

[artilect]

Space-marks is another ritual/banishing idea linked to the 4 cardinal points and the spaces in between them (for a total of 8 zones or 'stations').  In other words, North/North-East/East/South-East/South/South-West/West/North-West are the space-marks.

Here is Liber AL I 51 and 52 for reference in this thread:

51. There are four gates to one palace; the floor of that palace is of silver and gold; lapis lazuli & jasper are there; and all rare scents; jasmine & rose, and the emblems of death. Let him enter in turn or at once the four gates; let him stand on the floor of the palace. Will he not sink? Amn. Ho! warrior, if thy servant sink? But there are means and means. Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me.

52. If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying: They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit!

It seems that comprehensive 8-point banishing (in place of the traditional 4) may be a development brought about by Nema and/or Grant, but perhaps someone else can confirm this.  I know that the LAM working (step 6 of the 'Magical Procedure') involves 8-point banishing.

You will find more about the Petro rites, ecstatic drumming etc. in both Cults of the Shadow and especially Snakewand and the Darker Strain, where the Voodoo drums have a looming and even unsettling role in the narrative.  Drumming, particularly oddly timed or off-beat rhythms that utilize (as Grant states in Cults of the Shadow) 'the intervals between beats', can of course have an effect on consciousness.

Other than the fact that Lovecraft deals with Voodoo and that the Sri Yantra design emphasizes the 4 cardinal points, I'm not exactly sure of how space-marks relate in any more detail.

[artilect]

Jul 13, 2015 19:02:28 GMT triveni93 said:

Can someone elaborate upon these "space-marks"? What is the relationship between these in the context of Lovecraft...?

I had a look through my notes and found a connection that Grant makes between the Lovecraft mythos and space-marks.  It can be found in the 'Tutulu' chapter of Outer Gateways, page 12 of the Skoob edition:

Yog-Sothoth is the zenith of which Tutulu is the nadir. As solstitial points they are balanced by their equinoctial counterparts East and West, represented in the Necronomicon cycle by Hastur and Shub Niggurath.  The complex formulates the Great Cross which typifies the crossing over from matter to spirit.  This is represented on the Tree of Life by Daath, and by Death in the Voodoo imagery of Baron Samedhi.

                        Yog-Sothoth
                          

Shub Niggurath                         Hastur

                    
                           Cthulhu

[artilect]

Jul 13, 2015 19:02:28 GMT triveni93 said:

Grant writes: "Lovecraft stressed the spaces in between. The concept formulated itself in the Voodoo Mysteries with their emphasis on the off-beat rhythm peculiar to the Petro rites. AL (I, 52) warns the magician to beware of these "space-marks.'" Voodoo drum beats were mentioned in a previous place in this same chapter, on page 31, with reference to "in-betweenness concepts" and the Sri Yantra.

Another point of interest may be found in the chapter 'The Forgotten Ones' from Outside the Circles of Time, page 231 of the Muller edition:

The manner of opening the Gate of Yog-Sothoth is revealed only to those that have reached the Gate, and who have recognized the Gate. Drums are a useful adjunct in any such Operation, as [Allan] Holub notes:

The throbbing of drums causes the fabric of space to pulse and twist. If one establishes a highly repetitive rhythm and then introduces a stray beat or pattern out of synchronization, or a pause between beats, one can tear space, thus opening the Portal.

I guess, as always, when opening gates and portals we all must beware and be wary!

[triveni93]

Thank you so much for the responses! They were all very helpful. Of course now that I continue reading through the Typhonian Trilogies, I see references to them again and again.

[Gregory Peters]

It occurs to me (and yes, I'm a bit slow on the uptake so this has most likely been discussed elsewhere before) that a comprehensive topical index covering all of the Typhonian Trilogies and related Grant material would be an incredibly useful resource! One could use it not only for the established practice of looking up all the cross references, but also as a rather deep dive tool for such things as bibliomancy, synchronistic passages and references, and a sort of portal in its own rite. Anytime I open a Grant book it opens a new Gateway. I imagine such a vast index would be a veritable Stargate to all many otherwise hidden doors in the multiverse

[artilect]

Aug 14, 2015 16:22:26 GMT Gregory Peters said:

It occurs to me (and yes, I'm a bit slow on the uptake so this has most likely been discussed elsewhere before) that a comprehensive topical index covering all of the Typhonian Trilogies and related Grant material would be an incredibly useful resource! One could use it not only for the established practice of looking up all the cross references, but also as a rather deep dive tool for such things as bibliomancy, synchronistic passages and references, and a sort of portal in its own rite. Anytime I open a Grant book it opens a new Gateway. I imagine such a vast index would be a veritable Stargate to all many otherwise hidden doors in the multiverse

We're of the same mind Gregory!  I posted something similar here on the back of a comment Michael had made a few years ago on Lashtal.  I would gladly pay for a book that collected all of the glossaries or was comprised of some sort of comprehensive index, gematria listing, etc.:

Michael, over at Lashtal at one point you had mentioned work on an index of Grant's gematria. I think this would be an excellent resource to have.

Another consideration would be to collect and concatenate the Glossaries from each of the Trilogies books into one large consolidated listing. Grant himself suggests at the end of the Glossary in BtMZ that the reader refer to glossaries in the preceding books to get a 'whole picture'.

I guess something like this gematria and glossary collection could potentially fall into another book, a Reader's Guide to Kenneth Grant's Typhonian Trilogies? A KG chronology would also fit in here as would other helpful listings, connections, cheat sheets, etc. I'm sure. As an introduction, a good survey of the entire thing - even your 'Scintillations in Mauve' or something like it - would be useful here too.

Read more: theprimalgrimoire.proboards.com/thread/73/typhonian-trilogies-study-group?page=2#ixzz3ioZL2oTK

[Gregory Peters]

Aug 14, 2015 18:19:44 GMT artilect said:

Another consideration would be to collect and concatenate the Glossaries from each of the Trilogies books into one large consolidated listing. Grant himself suggests at the end of the Glossary in BtMZ that the reader refer to glossaries in the preceding books to get a 'whole picture'.

I guess something like this gematria and glossary collection could potentially fall into another book, a Reader's Guide to Kenneth Grant's Typhonian Trilogies? A KG chronology would also fit in here as would other helpful listings, connections, cheat sheets, etc. I'm sure. As an introduction, a good survey of the entire thing - even your 'Scintillations in Mauve' or something like it - would be useful here too.

Read more: theprimalgrimoire.proboards.com/thread/73/typhonian-trilogies-study-group?page=2#ixzz3ioZL2oTK

This is a great suggestion, and the inference by KG of going back through all the glossaries is encouraging! Agreed as well on Scintillations in Mauve for an excellent introduction/overview of the series. 

[artilect]

Noticed that page 53 of the 2015 KG Bibliography references an article Kenneth Grant and Margaret Ingalls published in 1981 entitled 'Space Marks Banishing', originally found in vol III of Mandragore: The Magazine of the Grove of the Star and the Snake.

[JMH]

Jul 16, 2015 16:36:03 GMT artilect said:

''You will find more about the Petro rites, ecstatic drumming etc. in both Cults of the Shadow and especially Snakewand and the Darker Strain, where the Voodoo drums have a looming and even unsettling role in the narrative.  Drumming, particularly oddly timed or off-beat rhythms that utilize (as Grant states in Cults of the Shadow) 'the intervals between beats', can of course have an effect on consciousness.

Other than the fact that Lovecraft deals with Voodoo and that the Sri Yantra design emphasizes the 4 cardinal points, I'm not exactly sure of how space-marks relate in any more detail."

Polyrythmie is a big part of ''excitatory'' Gnostic trances.Following It triggers ''alogos'' brain functions very close to those available in the no-mind state,repetitively sparking it's mechanisms.


''The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them. They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen.”

― H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror and Others


Inspiring thread! I started recently experimenting with Polyrythmie in Magick ( youtu.be/ot16V90E4gk?t=904 )

[stephen]

Apr 13, 2019 17:31:19 GMT artilect said:

Noticed that page 53 of the 2015 KG Bibliography references an article Kenneth Grant and Margaret Ingalls published in 1981 entitled 'Space Marks Banishing', originally found in vol III of Mandragore: The Magazine of the Grove of the Star and the Snake.

Hi Artilect, I have that issue of Mandragore and recollect the article, which I think was fairly concise. I will check it out and report back in some fashion.

[Gregory Peters]

I came across a space marks ritual at Horus Maat Lodge archives: horusmaatlodge.com/rites/ritual.html

[parsifal]

Apr 15, 2019 18:26:58 GMT Gregory Peters said:

I came across a space marks ritual at Horus Maat Lodge archives: horusmaatlodge.com/rites/ritual.html

This ritual is nice in that the cardinal points themselves are depicted as the void, or "Nothing; an apparition, image" (Lam 71), or to use the Lovecraft quote provided by JMH in this thread, ''The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them."

I threw the I-Ching coins on the question "Who is Lam?" I got hex 8 with all three lines of the lower trigram K'un (Holding Together, Union) as moving lines. I still have to delve into the texts (am using the Bollingen edition by Wilhelm), but strong imagery of water upon the earth and storm clouds that deliver nourishment (rain) from above. In fact, the second hex, Hsu (Waiting, Nourishment) combines trigrams K'an and Ch'ien: above is "the abysmal, water" while below is "the creative, heaven." The reference to "abysmal" is kind of striking in the context of a discussion of space-marks and the spaces in between.

[Gregory Peters]

Apr 16, 2019 12:22:06 GMT parsifal said:

Apr 15, 2019 18:26:58 GMT Gregory Peters said:

I came across a space marks ritual at Horus Maat Lodge archives: horusmaatlodge.com/rites/ritual.html

This ritual is nice in that the cardinal points themselves are depicted as the void, or "Nothing; an apparition, image" (Lam 71), or to use the Lovecraft quote provided by JMH in this thread, ''The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them."

I threw the I-Ching coins on the question "Who is Lam?" I got hex 8 with all three lines of the lower trigram K'un (Holding Together, Union) as moving lines. I still have to delve into the texts (am using the Bollingen edition by Wilhelm), but strong imagery of water upon the earth and storm clouds that deliver nourishment (rain) from above. In fact, the second hex, Hsu (Waiting, Nourishment) combines trigrams K'an and Ch'ien: above is "the abysmal, water" while below is "the creative, heaven." The reference to "abysmal" is kind of striking in the context of a discussion of space-marks and the spaces in between.

Oddly enough your I Ching reading on this matches with some other work I am currently doing with the Goddess Kali (KALI = 61, another way of looking at the Void or AIN). One phrase in particular from the Bengali poet  Ramprasad Sen strikes out:

“Radiant black storm clouds

expand across the sky of pure awareness.

The peacock of my mind reveals its brilliant colors,

dancing in the bliss of holy expectation.

Kali’s wisdom thunder rumbles

with her power that can level mountains.

The fiery tracery of lightning flashes

forms her wonderful smile of ecstasy.”

[parsifal]

I am intrigued by your work with Kali, Gregory. As it happens, I have a photo of her right here beside me as I write this. This incarnation of the Goddess carries especially potent imagery, and I love how Ramprasad Sen makes her very image into the personification of storm clouds that roll across our awareness and bring lightening flashes of ecstasy.

PS: For what it's worth, I think the image I'm using as my avatar on this site is of Smashan Tara, Goddess of the Cremation Grounds.

[stephen]

Yes, the Space-Marks Banishing on the website gives the essence of the brief article in MANDRAGORE Vol.III, No.4 (1981).

Also in that issue, there is an account of the founding of the Horus/Maat Lodge and its activities to date, of which the following are of some historical interest:

"On October 11, 1979, Nodens (Khreb ent Ptah) & Selene (Noctua) initiated Aossic Aiwass 718 into the Horus/Maat Lodge.

During one point in this ritual, 718 turned & invoked LAM, connecting this entity with the Current of Horus/Maat (93/696).

"October 22, 1979, Nodens and Selene initiate Frater Gaalaahad 47 into HML.

"Both these two initiations (718 & 47) were done in London, England."

[Gregory Peters]

Apr 17, 2019 21:07:18 GMT parsifal said:

I am intrigued by your work with Kali, Gregory. As it happens, I have a photo of her right here beside me as I write this. This incarnation of the Goddess carries especially potent imagery, and I love how Ramprasad Sen makes her very image into the personification of storm clouds that roll across our awareness and bring lightening flashes of ecstasy.

PS: For what it's worth, I think the image I'm using as my avatar on this site is of Smashan Tara, Goddess of the Cremation Grounds.

Yes that looks like the tantrik Tara of the cremation grounds in your profile, beautiful image. Oddly (or perhaps not so, to anyone on these boards) I owe my deep connection to Kali directly to first hearing about her in the Typhonian Trilogies. Following up on some threads there, I became deeply involved with tantra, as well as its intersection with the Typhonian work.