Kerubic Confusion

93

The Four Evangelists

This is the first time that I am posting for a really long time, and I'm sorry about that.  From now on, I'm going to attempt to post every other week.  Just so I can get back into the swing of things, I've decided to post about something simple: the four kerubic (cherubic) animals.

"And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north... Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man... As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle."-Ezekiel 1:4, 5, &10.

These slightly unusual verses speak of four animals that any occultist has seen multiple times throughout their studies; a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man.  This can be seen on many pieces of religious artwork from the middle ages, often surrounding a vesica pisces with Christ in the center. In Christian iconography, these animals represent the "Four Evangelists," Matthew, Mark,  Luke, and John.  However, the depiction of the four animals can also be seen in a very different set of images; the Tarot cards.  in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, as well as many others, the cards "The Wheel of Fortune" and "The World" are also surrounded by the bird, the lion, the ox, and the man, in a fashion quite similar to that of the depictions of the "Four Evangelists".

The  Wheel of Fortune

Now these four animals can be seen in other places than the tarot and Christian art.  One very relevant place for thelemites to look is in the "Liber Resh vel Helios".  In Resh, four gods are names, and these are Ra the falcon god (representing the eagle), Hathor the cow goddess (representing the ox), Tum the man-god, and Khepri the beetle-headed god (who in this case represents the lion).  Perhaps the most interesting part of this comparison is that Crowley did not pick these gods to match up with the biblical cherubs, but that they were already the Egyptian solar deities.

This next example of the kerubs will both make things more clear, but at the same time it will pose a problem. The fixed zodiacs, being Taurus the ox, Aquarius the water-bearing man, Leo the lion, and Scorpio the scorpion, seem to match up very well.  The odd one out is Scorpio, but the Golden Dawn seems to like to replace Scorpio with an eagle head glyph, conveniently enough matching up all of the animals. Now this is the part that all makes sense. Only when you start involving elements and directions does it start to get confusing.

Royal Arch Banners

In Ezekiel, it says that the cherubim came out of the north, therefore putting the man in the south, the lion in the east, the Eagle in the west, and the ox in the north.  This system matches up with the banners in a Royal Arch lodge room an a freemasonic chapter.  In Resh, the eagle (air) is in the north, the ox (fire) is in the south, the man (water) is in the west, and the lion/beetle (earth) is in the north.  Now these elements match up with the Golden Dawn elements, but not the animals, which are man for the east (Aquarius), lion for the south (Leo), eagle for the west (Scorpio?), and ox for the north (Taurus).

I've been referring to the zodiacal elements in this post as "Golden Dawn method", but this is also wrong, as in LBRH (note the H), the elements are different.  The elements given are from the Watchtower ritual and LBRP, which are slightly more common.  I still have no idea why the elements in LBRH are how they are; if someone knows, please tell me.

Khepra

Perhaps the meaning for this confusion is that it could be a blind, a purposeful mistake  meant to confuse the uninitiated.  Or perhaps it is something similar to the "four quabbalistic worlds", although if it were, I would expect the "rotations" of the elements to be much more constant as opposed to random switches.  If anyone has any Ideas, I'd love to hear them.  please comment below.
93/93, and in LVX,
Frater R.I.M.R.

Just a little side note on the topic of Kerubs, there is a new occult book publishing company called "Kerubim press" which I strongly reccomend anyone to check out.  Here's the website: http://kerubimpress.com/ .  I have not been able to buy any books from here due to the fact that I'm currently unable to make on-line purchases, but judging by some of the authors' other writing, I'm positive that these books are great!

Tea: the elemental eucharist

The idea of an elemental Eucharist has been in many ways in the world of the occult.  In the golden dawn, the "mystic repast of the four elements", being a rose for air, a candle for fire,  a glass of wine for water, and bread and salt for earth searves as a type of eucharist.  In Thelema,  The gnostic mass takes the cakes of light and wine straight from the host and wine in catholic mass.  In the book "The Magicians Workbook" by Steve Savedow, a consecrated  egg is used (the book says that this is from crowley, but I have not read this any where else).  Personally, I think all of these are great, but perhaps something a bit more familiar  would also work?

A great tea mug I found on the interwebs

Tea is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of all of the elements combined in one consumable item. At first,  tea may appear to be completely of the element water.  Water is the first step of brewing tea.  Of course, this makes up most of the tea physically, but it is not at all the entirety of it esoterically. After water is collected, the next step is to boil it.  This is where the element of fire is incorporated.  Not only is the water being put on fire, but the fires heat stays with the water for a long time.  The third step in making tea is to add the boiling water to the tea leaves, which are the element of earth.  This is what makes it tea and not hot water.  The air portion it the vapor and sent which come from the tea.  Good tea should be aromatic and pleasant smelling.

In addition to it corresponding to the foul traditional elements, by choosing the correct tea leaves it can also represent the three Alchemical properties of Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury.  The best way to do this would be to buy pure black, pure green, and pure white tealeaves.  Black tealeaves are harvested when the leaves are old, Green when they are not too old and not too young, and White just after they have sprouted.  I am not sure which alchemical elements they each correspond to,  but if you have an Idea, please leave a comment.

Everything is somehow related to at least one of the elements, but tea seems to be a part of all.  This is a great eucharist for general magical workings.  Different types of teas cam be used for different rituals; a tea made with herbs corresponding to a certain sephera can be consumed as preparation for a specific planetary invocation.  I intend on writing some sort of ritual of consecration and consumption for tea.

93 93/93 and In LVX , Frater Rota in medio rotæ

Side note:  I have discovered the great use of reddit in studying the occult.  I suggest that you go on r/occult, r/thelema, r/magick, r/goldendawn, and r/esoterica if you already go on reddit.  Its really great, you should try it.  Also, I'm on facebook and would like to find more pages/friends in relation to the occult.  My facebook name is Rota-in Medio-rotae.  I'm sort of desperate now, because I only have one friend currently, and would truly appreciate more. But don't friend me if you don't want to.