On the Syncretic System I've Created Between Thelema and Asatru. Part Two: Comparing the Godforms.
In part one of this essay, I wrote about my spiritual journey leading up to being a Thelemite. In part two of this essay, I’m going to explore my relationship with the godforms of Thelema and their correspondences with the godforms in the Nordic-Germanic Tradition of Asàtru. My spiritual practice deviates from the standard dogma of the O.T.O. and its members. I am in line with the philosophy of Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian O.T.O. which allows for a more freeform and experimental approach to Magickal Initiation.
Early on in my magickal work, I utilized godforms and rituals from different Traditions, influenced by Chaos Magick. Doing this, I was able to having a deeper understanding of the various godforms from different religions and mystical systems of attainment. Having read and studied most world religious texts, and having taken a keen interest in the religions of the ancient Egyptian and classical world, I was able to make correspondences between the godforms of Thelema and the Nordic-Germanic Mysteries. This enhanced my magickal work, eventually culminating in the transmissions of “The Holy Books of the Aeon of Zain”.
In these transmissions, which read very much like “Liber AL Vel Legis”; Aiwass, Lam, and Babalon along with the Qlippoth of the Tree of Life introduce the godforms of the Aeon of Ma’at and occasionally make correspondences to the gods of the Nordic-Germanic pantheon along with new interpretations of gods such as Frej and Baldr. As written of in the previous essay, all of the Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Avestan, Nordic-Germanic, and Hindu godforms correspond across cultures. Utilizing a Perennial view of these gods, it also is clear that they emerged from a primordial source.
The three main godforms of Thelema are Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Nuit is the goddess of the Sky. As Infinite Stars and Infinite Space (Isis,) she represents all the possibilities in the Universe on the Initiate’s path in finding his True Will. Hadit is the winged-globe, also associated with the Egyptian god of darkness, Set. He represents all of the possibilities of the Universe concentrated into a single point of Will. Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the active warrior Horus is the hawk-headed god of vengeance. He is also symbolized by the Lion-Serpent. Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the Khabs or eternal star burning in the Khu or Astral Body of the Adept. This Holy Trinity symbolizes the metaphysics of True Will.
Other godforms of Thelema include Hoor-Paar-Kraat or Harpocrates, the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence. He is the deformed child Horus, symbolized by a youth seated upon a lotus with his right index finger over his lips. Harpocrates is the godform of silence in meditation. Ma’At is the goddess of justice and truth associated with the sun. She is a correspondence to both Babalon and Nuit. Mu’At the Vulture Goddess of the Sex and Death Mysteries is another correspondence. These are some of the godforms of Thelema that we will compare to others in various pantheons.
The Egyptian godform of Horus was associated with Apollo in the Hellenic world. Apollo was a god of the North and symbolizes Solar Regality. He was also associated with the mystical oracle and is the aegis of prophecy. Greek Myth indicates that he came from Hyperborea. This was associated with the North Pole in some interpretations. Some attribute Hyperborea to the geographical area now known as Serbia as there is a mountain in this region named “Bora” which harkens back to the name of this ancient region. There is evidence that Apollo was associated with the Nordic-Germanic god Baldr. Jane Harrison writes that “mistletoe in Greek is ixos, and, in one of the towns of Rhodes, Apollo was worshipped under the title of Ixios-Apollo--Mistletoe-Apollo. Is it not possible that, in Apollo, fairest and goodliest of the Olympians, Apollo the northerner, Apollo of the mistletoe, we have but the counterpart of the young Baltic divinity, Balder the Beautiful?” (“Myths of Greece and Rome”. Jane Harrison, pg. 39.)
It is my view that the godforms of Southern Europe came from the North. They also have their correspondences in the Egyptian and Hindu pantheons, again indicating a primordial source. As written in part one, the Romans had a form of “comparative religion” called Interpretatio Romana, with which they matched up the gods from the various pantheons. We are going to compare the gods of Thelema and Asàtru using this method.
First, we will start with Nuit. She corresponds with Babalon as the “Continuous One.” Freyja is also another correspondence as a goddess of magick. The Giantess Nott is another correspondence as she is associated with the night sky. Audhaumla the Cosmic Cow also corresponds to Nuit as she is born from the Void Ginnungagap, which symbolizes the essence of Nuit. The Cosmic Cow represents fertility and abundance, and in this regard corresponds with Nuit. Audhaumla can be interpreted as offering all the possibilities of action on the Path of True Will.
Hadit corresponds with Wotan/Odin. In Typhonian Thelema, Kenneth Grant assigns Hadit to Set. In one of the shorter books of “Liber 69”, entitled “The Book of the Breath of the Feather”, Aiwass identifies Set (Hoor-Paar-Kraat/LAM) with “Od’Hinn.” Here are the applicable verses:
15. The breath sustains all action, the pure power of HADIT. O Prince-Priest, the Hidden God, the power of HOOR-PAAR-KRAAT. O thou knowest him, Prince-Priest! SET-APOPHIS, Amer, the name, the name thou knowest as OD’HINN.
16. This is the depth of the Old, the genesis of all, IAO.
Hadit also corresponds with Hermes-Thoth as the “Amer” or “Amorite,” who is the scribe. Hadit/Thoth/Wotan is the “Hand that Writes and Speaks.” Thoth and Wotan are both godforms of magick and communication. Hadit is also a war god as Horus-Behutit, who flies in a “winged disk,” a symbol of the UFO and Wotan is a god of war and initiation. Wotan provides the True Will of the Godhi.
Ra-Hoor-Khuit corresponds with both Baldr and Frej. He is the god of manifested and perfected True Will and power. Ra-Hoor Khuit is symbolized by the Khabs or Star and is the force of sexual magick and Kundalini. He also represents the spermatozoa, which with the menses symbolized by the Vulture Goddess Maut, becomes the Holy Elixir of Initiation. Ra-Hoor-Khuit is associated with Solar Power. Baldr is also a sun god, as he is associated with light and purity. This is applicable to the concept of True Will as we purify ourselves of anything that is impeding our Will in the material plane. Frej corresponds with Ra-Hoor-Khuit as a god of fertility and sexual magick.
The Egyptian sun goddess Ma’At corresponds with the Nordic-Germanic goddess Sol or Sunna. Both goddesses are symbols of light and cosmic order. Like Ma’At who helms Ra’s sun barge, Sunna drives her sun chariot and symbolizes hope and balance. Both of these goddesses correspond to Babalon.
Mu’At the Vulture Goddess was considered the “Great Mother” of the Egyptian gods. She symbolizes the Sex and Death Mysteries and is associated with the Dark Side of the Moon and the Night of Pan. She is attributed to the Sephirah Binah and Pathway 23, Mem, as a speaker of oracles. In the Nordic-Germanic pantheon she is associated with the daughter of Loki, Hella, and also with Freyja as the guardian of sexual magick. Mu’At, like Hella, is associated with the Underworld.
There are other examples of correspondences between the godforms of the Egyptian and Nordic-Germanic Traditions. I consider Thelema and Asàtru to be the two main currents of the Pagan revival in the West. It is my view that Thelemites should not give themselves over to the dogma of the main O.T.O. lodges and rather should explore the godforms of different Traditions. This is important in the cultural revival of the West, as Thelema holds the key to the Universal Qabalah and provides the Adept with the ability to make correspondences between myth and godform. Utilizing these methods, we can revive the ancient European Traditions that were nearly wiped out by Christianity.