kaos

the Abyss being crossed, and all its horror faced and mastered, the words of the Key
suddenly thrilled with a meaning that I had never suspected. Each curse concealed a
blessing.
This accords with my own experience of Babalon, a woman of the Apocalypse of whom
there is nothing good said in The Revelation of St John the Divine. St John “Confoundeth
Her understanding with darkness”. In fact, Crowley in his synopsis of the contents of
The Vision and the Voice is even more specific about the nature of one particular blessing.
He spells it out clearly in his synopsis of the 2 nd Æthyr: “The Marriage of the Seer with
babalon: The understanding of the Curse, that is become a blessing. The final reward
of the Magister Templi, his marriage even with Babalon Herself. The pæon thereof.” In
the 2 nd Æthyr Crowley reports from his vision what I consider to be one of the most
illuminating statements ever made concerning the nature of the Apocalypse:
All I get is that the Apocalypse was the recension of a dozen or so totally disconnected
allegories, that were pieced together, and ruthlessly planed down to make them into a
connected account; and that recension was re-written and edited in the interests of
Christianity, because people were complaining that Christianity could show no true
spiritual knowledge, or any food for the best minds: nothing but miracles, which only
deceived the most ignorant, and Theology, which only suited pedants.
Given that the kaos-babalon 156 current can be traced back to The Vision and the
Voice, and beyond that to the Enochian operations of Dee and Kelly, it is also interesting
to note that 156 is the number of letters in each of the four 12 by 13 Enochian
Watchtowers of the Angelic or Great Table (Turner, p 56; James, p 117).
JOEL BIROCO
Impromptu review of Donald Tyson
Hi Joel—You asked me about Tyson, I assume you are referring to Enochian Magic for
Beginners. I bought this book with great excitement, and found it rather disappointing.
I really didn’t care for his speculations and interpretations, though too much time has
passed for me to recall the particulars as to why, nor at this date am I in a position to
comment on the accuracy of the information it contains. It may be significant that
thumbing through my copy I find no notes of correction.
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