What do you understand by the Typhonian Tradition ?

[Michael Staley]

Kenneth Grant used this term extensively to describe the tradition that underlay and indeed powered his work. The term appears in the various glossaries to his books from The Magical Revival through to The Ninth Arch, but these are various aspects of the Typhonian Tradition rather than a definition of the term per se. Granr preferred to engage the imagination of his readers to work things out for themselves. The best indication that I have come across occurs in chapter 11 of Beyond the Mauve Zone, the third of three chapters analysing and commenting upon Liber Pennae Praenumbra:

It is at this point that the divergence appears between the Way of Aiwass-Lam and that of N’Aton who prefigures a future embodiment of human consciousness – in other words, ourselves as we shall appear at some future time. As should by this time be evident, we refute this postulate in favour of the notion that consciousness in its human phase is an altogether transient phenomenon, a mere flash in the immensity of Space-Time (Nu-Isis). Transmissions such as the Stanzas of Dzyan, Liber AL, the Necronomicon, and, we maintain, Liber Pennae Praenumbra itself, give no support to the notion of an identifiably human mask to consciousness perpetuating itself indefinitely.

I'd be interested to hear what others make of the term 'Typhonian Tradition'.

[stephen]

Actually, Michael, this is the very subject on which I am attempting to come to grips with at present - and making fairly hard work of it as well.

Firstly: I think that it has to be acknowledged that Kenneth Grant derived his original understanding of the term 'Typhonian Tradition' from the works of Gerald Massey.  I am not well familiar with Massey's writings, nor do I really want to become intimately familiar with them, but it would be good to have a definitive reference for when/where Massey introduces the term and what he means by it.

Secondly: How, and to what extent, should a tradition involving the Greek god/daimon Typhon be considered in the formulation.

Thirdly: And most relevantly, of course, how does Kenneth Grant use and develop the term within the sequence of the Typhonian Trilogies.

These are all themes that I am attempting to synthesise.  You appear to be indicating that the Typhonian Tradition deals with transhuman forces and entities that transcend the usual anthropocentric parameters, or limitations (of consciousness), and I could certainly go along with this - although I am not entirely sure how far, to be perfectly honest, at this stage.

[Gregory Peters]

The quote from Beyond the Mauve Zone is an excellent summation of the nature of consciousness itself, an attempt to give description to that sunyata or void that the great non-dual traditions have attempted to express. The thought that human consciousness is somehow the end all and be all of consciousness just shows the limited perspective of our human point of view. Does consciousness evolve? I'm not so sure it does. Maybe it just expresses itself through different means and times, each expression unique and transitory. I tend to agree that humanity is just a transitory drop in something that is far vaster.

So much as consciousness itself is at the very heart of the Typhonian tradition, this makes sense. But then why Typhonian? Why is it not Dzogchen, or Advaida-Vedanta, or any of the great non-dual traditions. What makes this particular expression of it Typhonian? Is it that the Typhonian expression developed largely out of western minds analysing and interpreting these eastern traditions?

I think with something like the Typhonian tradition, there are multiple layers. There is the semi-historical perspective, and for this the groundbreaking work of Massey seems to have been a huge influence on Grant and in seeding these ideas of an ancient tradition that has weaved its way through countless ages and continues to do so. I am also very fond of an article/talk that you, Michael, gave along with Simon Hinton and which appears here: www.parareligion.ch/sunrise/simon1.htm. There is a lot in that article that resonates well.

For me (and this is an ongoing re-defining), the Typhonian tradition seems to embody the great traditions of the void that found manifestation in eastern philosophies, but expressed in more western terms. It contains all of these previous traditions, including Thelema, but is far more expansive that any one particular expression/philosophy.

Typhon seems to be a mask for Set, and this sets the tradition apart in the sense that these are archetypes of the "opposer" or the individual self, which is both illusory and yet seemingly very real. This constant struggle of ego vs Self seems a large part of the work of consciousness expansion itself.

Masks over masks over masks.. Keep peeling away at the layers. Maybe this is the Typhonian tradition, unveiling every last thing

[marq88]

As regards the above (creative) tension in Grant's work, in what sense is his version of the Typhonian Tradition 'Left Hand Path'?

And by LHP, I'm referring to two criterion in particular -

1) Self-deification; and
2) Antinomian practices, signifying systems.

The latter seems clear enough, but the former less so?

Michael, aside from the essays gathered in 'At The Feet of The Guru', does Grant explicitly revisit Advaita in his later work?

[marq88]

www.starfirepublishing.co.uk/Nightside_review.htm

This in regard to my question to Michael above, and ... wow.

Anyone interested in convening a reading group in London for Nightside of Eden and related material?

[Michael Staley]

marq88, advaita runs all the way through Grant's work, though more ofen than not it is not named as such. See for instance the chapter 'The Madhyamaka and Crowley' in Outer Gateways.

"Left Hand Path" is a label that many use to mean different things. Some use it to indicate Satanism, others to refer to the glorification of the individual, which is where I suppose that your criterion of "self-deification" comes in.

[marq88]

Thanks Michael, I will look up said chapter.

I'm referring to the explicit ideas around self-deification and immortality as reflected across the vamachara > divya > chakravartin ("world sovereign"), etc.

Vimalananda, as portrayed in Svorboda's Aghora I-III, described many iterations of this.

Was this of interest to Grant et al? Did he express any views on this?

Setians for example (post-Satanists, so a radically different frame of reference to Lavey's Church of Satan with it's Judeo-Christian get-up), refer to the Principle of Isolate Intelligence > The God against the Gods, etc.

Going out on a limb, the (Nightside) Tree as model / map may speak to this insofar as one elects to remain in Da'ath ... ?

[marq88]

Grant on Crowley -

'He was an Adavitan at heart; and, despite all his protestations, the Way of the Tau brought him inevitably to the Way of the Tao'.

The Magical Revival, Strayed Gods, p180.

[kylefite]

"does Grant explicitly revisit Advaita in his later work?"

It is, in my opinion, the Key to ALL of his Work...and it certainly glows in Outer Gateways.

[kylefite]

There is a definite contrast between LHP as defined by Stephen Flowers (and the Temple of Set) and Kenneth Grant.

[kylefite]

"You appear to be indicating that the Typhonian Tradition deals with transhuman forces and entities that transcend the usual anthropocentric parameters"

Stephen-I would agree that this is a hallmark of the Typhonian Tradition. I would also add that these "forces and entities" are indicative of an Initiation whereby we come into Truth. In the Golden Dawn Tradition (wherein Crowley was raised), it is called Becoming More than Human. In the poetic works of William Blake, it is called Putting Off the Not Human. These expressions are not-IMO-contradictory. They herald the Potential which may be made Manifest. At this stage in our Human History, the so-called "Occult" may occlude more than it makes clear. And yet...the Typhonian Tradition is poised to slam through. It won't come through the masses being persuaded of Grant's Gematria as an alternative to mass media. It will come through those of us who get the Spirit by which Grant punched his typewriter, those who can catch the Holy Flame and manifest it after our own Hearts. There IS a very esoteric world but it always flows into the simple proclamation: The Law is for All.

[N0T 2]

Nov 24, 2015 18:54:52 GMT marq88 said:

As regards the above (creative) tension in Grant's work, in what sense is his version of the Typhonian Tradition 'Left Hand Path'?

And by LHP, I'm referring to two criterion in particular -

1) Self-deification; and
2) Antinomian practices, signifying systems.

The latter seems clear enough, but the former less so?

Michael, aside from the essays gathered in 'At The Feet of The Guru', does Grant explicitly revisit Advaita in his later work?

Not answering for Michael, but to answer the question, as Kyle mentioned above, Outer Gateways, specifically Chapter Five where the Mystery of advaita as it relates to magic is made explicit, is the place to go, but really Grant doesn't "revisit" it, advaita was his primary interest before he met Crowley and he simply points it out where discerned in the Western material, including Crowley, in all of his works, without exception. All of Grant is within the context of advaita, layers varying, because it's real. Or not. Or elsewise.

The term Left Hand Path has been so widely abused, after every authors' prejudice, by both Spooky and Goody Two Shoes writers, that it is necessary to point out that Grant refers to the term within its Tantric original context, which is to do with matters pertaining to the Goddess and formal ritual procedures, and lacks the medieval Roman Catholic moralistic implications given to it by these writers (Satanists/White Lighters etc.). That said, there are taboos involved and an element of transgression is always present. This is its connection to Typhon.

As far as self-deification goes, it's implicit in all writings on magic, and Grant is one of the best for this - particularly, again, Outer Gateways, where his exploration of the Mithraic ritual is a study in the earliest explicit record of the process. I suppose the doctrines of S'lba could be seen as a type of self-deification, as could those of Spare (and Crowley), except the self is not the ego, nor is it an identity, nor is it an object of any kind, so the term "self deification" self-destructs upon realisation, or its transcendence is a condition of fulfilment, and so does not apply. But this isn't really so different from the gnosis behind the "Right Hand Path" schools like the G.D., in fact it permeates their entire "mythodology", so to speak, whether they knew it or not. This is one of Grant's main points.

[marq88]

Interesting, thank you.

It brings this to mind, from Robert Anton Wilson's Cosmic Trigger 1 -

From the ancient Babylonian:
It was the sad time after the death of the fair young god of spring, Tammuz. The beautiful goddess, Ishtar, who loved Tammuz dearly, followed him to the halls of Eternity, defy- ing the demons who guard the Gates of Time.
But at the first Gate, the guardian demon forced Ishtar to surrender her sandals, which the wise men say symbolizes giving up the Will. And at the second Gate, Ishtar had to sur- render her jeweled anklets, which the wise say means giving up Ego. And at the third Gate, she surrendered her robe, which is the hardest of all because it is giving up Mind itself. And at the fourth Gate, she surrendered her golden breast- cups, which is giving up Sex Role. And at the fifth Gate, she surrendered her necklace, which is giving up the rapture of Illumination. And at the sixth Gate, she surrendered her ear- rings, which is giving up Magick. And finally, at the seventh Gate, Ishtar surrendered her thousand-petaled crown, which is giving up Godhood.
It was only thus, naked, that Ishtar could enter Eternity.

[Gregory Peters]

From Outside the Circles of Time:

“The twin aspects of genius, the passive and the active, are possessed by the fully realized artist; they also form the necessary equipment of the Adept. Yet in very few people are these twin aspects manifested. Nearly everyone has a capacity for the passive aspect, which involves some sort of appreciation of aesthetic values. There are few people totally unresponsive to the beauties of nature, and none at all that is not responsive to its ferocious manifestations.Fewer are able to respond profoundly to the beauty of natural phenomena, and fewer still to so-called works of art. It takes a degree of genius to respond to such manifestations the whole time. Artists in this category are among the saints, some of whom thrilled with rapture at the constant awareness of the total unity, harmony, and beauty of things.

Such were Boehme, Ramakrishna, etc. Some yogis are immersed in an unsullied and vibrant bliss derived from the incessant contemplation of this 'world-bewitching maya'-the breath-taking wonder of the great and glamorous illusion which surrounds us.
On the other side of the fence, on the side of active or creative genius, there are yet fewer. Active or creative genius means nothing less than the ability to translate the wonder or the terror of the great lfla (the great play of life) in terms of visual, tactile, audible, olfactory, or some other sensual presentation of phenomena.

But there is a third aspect of genius which is yet more rare. It is the ability to open the door of the theatre and admit the influences from outside, from the swarming gulfs beyond the grasp of the mind, and accessible only to the magical entity whose fantastic feelers can snare the most fugitive impulses as they flash through the holes in space, the kinks in time, to be reflected in the magic mirror of the artist's mind.”

I think this hints at some of the core aspects of the Typhonian Tradition

[PW PV 113]

Consider the following simplistic sketch :

Humanity itself is the initiate. Purification by water was the deluge (destroying the former awareness, with which the Typhonian Tradition resonates). Thus the ending of this civilization by fire is (as it currently appears), inevitable. These are Purification by Water and Consecration by Fire.


Then the issue of significance becomes what can we create in the next civilization (ie the coming awareness). Fire and Water are the pair of opposites; Advaita is the non-dual awareness beyond them.
 Advaita gives expression to the ultimate formless reality. The values of the next civilization are not dependent on relative symbols or belief systems; it's not just Kenneth, Nietzsche and Ramesh Balsekar, the cue can also be taken from the School of Complete Reality Taoism. In essence, the whole of Unity consciousness is waiting for us, I believe, anyway - and this is reflected both in the healing of divisions human-to-human, ie in religious wars etc, and in the cessation of this business about psychological types and levels within the Self (inner conflict). Kenneth elsewhere reiterated that the 3 states of consciousness are one; waking consciousness, dreaming and dreamless sleep - which is an Eastern parallel on another level; the Typhonian tradition in Massey harks back to darkest Africa before Egypt; it was here we collectively forgot; the attempt is to build the future in terms of consciousness by preserving the thread from the past.  

[Gregory Peters]

Another quote from Grant, this from Outer Gateways, that gives some reflections on just what the nature of the Typhonian Tradition is:

"From the standpoint of metagnosis, or true metaphysic, science is no less a superstition than religion. Both have led man to the morass of which he now flounders. Science has augmented fear of and for this world, while religion has deluded with vague hopes for the next. The secret of everything lies in consciousness. Until investigations are stripped of inessentials, scientific and/or religious, Reality will remain obscured. The only fact of which we have direct, immediate and continuous experience, is awareness of consciousness. So-called unconsciousness is non-existent. Outside consciousness nothing whatever exists for us.

The three vehicles of Awareness (as they appear from the waking state) are identified as body, mind and consciousness. When awareness is identified with the body, then the consciousness of ‘things’ is experienced. But when the stand is in total Awareness, consciousness is no longer experienced individually but cosmically, universally; not personalized but impersonalized. It is then as it always was and will be — the True Self.

… That which is usually considered to be a blank, a hiatus, is in truth all that we are, Consciousness Pure, sometimes called the Self…

1. If one looks through the sense organs, gross objects appear. This is the waking state.

2. If one looks through the mind, subtle objects (thoughts) appear. This is the dream state.

3. If one sees from Mind Quiescent, only the seer remains, and THAT is Consciousness. To the unenlightened, this state appears as sleep; to the enlightened is appears as Reality.”

This again brings it all back to consciousness, to awareness. Not limited to human in any way. In a way, isn't this what the image of Lam is showing us? In once sense, Lam is a witness to consciousness, to the play of manifesation as it unfolds. As always, there is that which remains underneath all the lila or play of consciousness. Lam is a mask, a reflection, a gateway or portal, that shows us the Way.

[stephen]

And grant me the favour, O Mother, that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching maya, that I may never be attached to the world, to ‘woman’ and ‘gold’, conjured up by Thy inscrutable maya! O Mother. There is no one but Thee whom I may call my own.

from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

22. I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.

23. I am alone: there is no God where I am.

Liber AL, Chapter II.

I am not certain as to the degree in which Sri Ramakrishna is regarded as an exponent of Advaita, but I noted this reference to "world-bewitching Maya" on page 129 of BTMZ, near the beginning of the chapter on "The Fire Snake and Parasexual Orgasm".  Eastern Mysticism and Advaita in particular, I acknowledge, has always been central to Kenneth Grant's work, but at the same time as he was writing those lucid and somewhat devout essays on these topics in the 1950s, he was equally busy restructuring the ethos and rituals of a Magical Order, i.e. the O.T.O. The quotations that I have included above are intended as a reflection of this situation. I would suggest that if the realisation of Advaita is intended as the ultimate goal of the Typhonian Trilogies, then they incorporate a good deal of "world-bewitching maya" along the way, but then again I have always favoured taking the meandering and scenic route.

Good to see your presence on the Forums, Kyle.  Perhaps I'm just being overly sensitive, but I thought I detected a touch of admonishment in your posting of December 9th.  You go on to say:

"And yet...the Typhonian Tradition is poised to slam through. It won't come through the masses being persuaded of Grant's Gematria as an alternative to mass media. It will come through those of us who get the Spirit by which Grant punched his typewriter, those who can catch the Holy Flame and manifest it after our own Hearts. There IS a very esoteric world but it always flows into the simple proclamation: The Law is for All."

The Law is for All, but I doubt that the All will ever be aware of that, let alone ever accept the actuality/reality of it.

While Grant does produce some elucidating insights with his qabbalahs, his gematria is not always the most persuasive element of his writings.  However, in the next chapter of BTMZ, "The Metaphysics of Transmission" (something of the flip-side to the preceding chapter) we find the following: "Far from its being a subject of idle curiosity, gematria is one of the most effective aspects of the Qabalah, and the "mystic characters, alphabets and numerals... are the most prompt to produce effects and results, and this with or without the experimenter's will, even without his knowledge"."  Page 165; Grant is quoting Blavatsky here.  My own approach to the Typhonian Trilogies is from a Thelemic and Qabbalistic basis, and in the face of all this emphasis on Advaita, I would just wish to redress the balance a little.

My appreciation and regards to all contributors to this thread.
 

</p>

[Gregory Peters]

Dec 18, 2015 16:14:08 GMT stephen said:

And grant me the favour, O Mother, that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching maya, that I may never be attached to the world, to ‘woman’ and ‘gold’, conjured up by Thy inscrutable maya! O Mother. There is no one but Thee whom I may call my own.

from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

22. I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.

23. I am alone: there is no God where I am.

Liber AL, Chapter II.

I am not certain as to the degree in which Sri Ramakrishna is regarded as an exponent of Advaita, but I noted this reference to "world-bewitching Maya" on page 129 of BTMZ, near the beginning of the chapter on "The Fire Snake and Parasexual Orgasm".  Eastern Mysticism and Advaita in particular, I acknowledge, has always been central to Kenneth Grant's work, but at the same time as he was writing those lucid and somewhat devout essays on these topics in the 1950s, he was equally busy restructuring the ethos and rituals of a Magical Order, i.e. the O.T.O. The quotations that I have included above are intended as a reflection of this situation. I would suggest that if the realisation of Advaita is intended as the ultimate goal of the Typhonian Trilogies, then they incorporate a good deal of "world-bewitching maya" along the way, but then again I have always favoured taking the meandering and scenic route.

Grant mentions in a few places that Liber AL is effectively a "tantra of the West", continuing and evolving the long stream of doctrine that presents itself in advaida, prajnaparamita, Hindu and Buddhist tantras, et al. The tantrik element is paramount in Thelema in my eyes, with the non-dual (advaida/sunyata) core that is the heart of all these traditions. World bewitching maya is part of the experience and the joy of Nuit's blessings. Rather than cower from the world, Thelema embraces it and actively plays with all sensory experience, without losing touch with that radiant core of non-duality. Dive in and rejoice in the play, but don't lose sight of Who you are, or mistake the transitory/illusory play for what is real. I think this is the core message throughout the Book of the Law, and throughout the Typhonian trilogies.

[stephen]

Cheers Gregory, I am sure that I can go along with that.

Might as well add as a point of information, that I will probably not have internet access again until 4 January.

My absence will be entirely due to the library being closed and not to excessive, seasonal indulgence.....

[Gregory Peters]

Dec 24, 2015 10:58:00 GMT stephen said:

Cheers Gregory, I am sure that I can go along with that.

Might as well add as a point of information, that I will probably not have internet access again until 4 January.

My absence will be entirely due to the library being closed and not to excessive, seasonal indulgence.....

Have a great season of Silence then, and look forward to continuing in the (common) new year. Some more to bite on, this from Aleister Crowley & the Hidden God:

"The Tantras, in particular, achieve their full flowering in Thelema, with its accent on vital energy, spontanaity and cosmic creative rapture intuited through the exercise of natural functions freed from unnatural restrictions. [...]"

"AL may well be described as a Western Tantra, but unlike the Tantras that have preceded it, it is of cosmic scope and valid for all mankind, for it contains the universal keys to power. [...]"
 
Tantra is the magicians conscious control with the elastic light of maya, while at the same time remaining firmly established in the Void. From Outside the Circles of Time:

"Refinement, Subtlety, and Silence. These are the three keys to inner peace, as they are also the three keys to 'occult' power. Not political power, not the power desired by the ignorant, but power to control the forces of the worlds that are hidden within the manifest world, the world of appearances.
    The phenomenal world has no real existence apart from its noumenal source. The world is not searching for anyone, the world knows nothing of anyone; but people are searching for the world and are failing to find it, because they are the world and they are really searching for themselves. But because they are not refined, are not subtle, are not silent; because they are gross and full of noise, the world appears to them also gross and full of noise. They are identified with these qualities, they are them, and therefore they cannot conrol them."

"It is therefore necessary to become habituated to the idea, to live perpetually with the idea, that the whole of an individuals life -- all that can be remembered of it -- has been composed by the individual as a play is composed by a playwrite. Is is a fabrication, a lila, a masque or dance in which the individual is the sole actor; and even this actor is but a figure in the play. He is not real; no object can be real, for there is absolutely no thing at all. No thing is Nuit, and she is no thing precisely in this particular sense of play of power (shakti), evolving an endless drama of light and shadow that appears to entify as subject and object. But objectivity is a dream, for there is no subject, no dreamer; there is but dreaming. It is only when this truth is profoundly apperceived that the dreaming is resolved into its source, which is the bindu known as Hadit, at the heart of Nuit. The whole purpose of one of the celebrated Buddhist Tantras is the ultimate resolution, by the sadhaka, of the infinitely ramifying chakra, or mandala, projected by the shaktis (energies) of thought and dreams, and the reversion of these energies to their source."

The difference between the magician - really the Adept that has achieved the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel - and the sleeping masses is that the Adept is awake and aware of both this radiant void that is All and the play of manifestation, and consciousley chooses to engage with it.

[kylefite]

"Good to see your presence on the Forums, Kyle. Perhaps I'm just being overly sensitive, but I thought I detected a touch of admonishment in your posting of December 9th."

No admonishment intended at all. Rather a comment on how the larger populous is poised to integrate what we call "The Current." Crowley, I think, vacillated on this point. On one hand, he wanted to offer the World his Message. On the other, there was that "Inner Circle" in which he worked, a Space incomprehensible to the general public. I don't feel that our stance, as "Typhonians," is one of "pick and choose." We all live our human lives in the World-and we know that very few will give any sort of credence to pursuits in the Realm(s) of Gematria. I don't feel that this evokes some line of demarcation between those who may Do Their Will and those who Do Not. However, there is an issue of "translation." Crowley attempted this more than Grant. Grant, in my opinion, took the 93 Current beyond "Crowleyism" but did so without this "translation." This was the point I was attempting (perhaps failing) to make. But I feel it is an important as the Typhonian Current continues its Path into our Present Lives-and those about us.