Groups of Four

Remember that scene in the Wild Bunch, when the four outlaws grab their guns and walk down the street, ready to face off against an entire army to save their cohort. Or how about the scene in the Angel episode Darla when Angel, Darla, Spike and Dru all walk in a group out of the ruins of a Chinese town. We see this image, four warriors walking together, fearless, again and again throughout film and television. Hell, even the bible talks of the four horseman of the apocalypse. There’s something about four warriors, grouped together, moving together as a unit, fearlessly, that awakens some very primal memory within us all, regardless of how they’re shown. It doesn’t work with three, it doesn’t work with five (which just adds a guy), it doesn’t even work with a whole army of mighty warriors, and you’d think that would be a lot more inspirational than just four.

Every time we see this image we see it as something powerful, as something noble and righteous, and it inspires within us hope. Even in Angel, when it’s villainous vampires that are feeding, it still inspires these emotions.

There are four archangels at the very top. There are always four. Upon every world, in every dimension, from the highest planes down to the lowest each has four archangels on the very top. In our world they are Micheal, Gabreal, Raphael, and Uriel. On other worlds they have other angels with other names. But there are always four. Together, as four, they compromise what is supposed to be the most powerful being of their world. Together, at least in theory, there should be nothing stronger than they are. They are warriors and guardians who know not of fear. They typically act separately. But when called upon, all four at once, they are something strong and powerful, something that should be able to defeat even the most powerful of threats.

Each of us has this memory buried within us. This idea. Most will never quite grasp it, never quite get it, never know what exactly it means. But when we see a similar image, four warriors, together, fearless, we’re reminded of the power and the hope they bring.

Sphinxes

Sphinxes, sometimes given a proper name as a Phix, are horrid and powerful creatures. Similar creatures appear in many mythologies through out Europe, the Middle-East, and Asia, although it was named by the Greeks, whose myth seems a proper depiction, although the thing is not a god nor is it a single being, but like fae and dragons and djinn is a type. The lion headed depictions of the Egyptians may not have been depictions of the Sphinx at all, but rather depictions of their ruling class being associative with Sehkmet.

A Sphinx would often times be used as a guardian. The creatures are naturally guardians, tend to stay in one place, and are strong enough to make good guardians of things, especially tombs and other places where folks and animals don’t normally go. They also may be associative with power in the Greek magickal traditions. Mastery of a Sphinx, as per the feat of Oedipus, would be something only a very powerful magician would be capable of, and as such Sphinxes could be seen as guardians of the sacred mysteries, only allowing access to those of such great power as to tame them.

For the most part, Sphinxes are no longer allowed into this world. Fortunately the current laws and rules surrounding this plane of existence bar them from coming here. They can’t even reach the realm of dreams, for the most part, without great effort on their part, and it’s very difficult for them to sustain a presence there for long.

Sphinxes come from the depths of the hell planes. They are a lower realm equivalent to a realm guardian, essentially a type of angel to that place, however they would exceed even an archangel’s power, at least in their realm of origin, and would be somewhat equivelent to the angelic energy bodies of the heavenly planes.

I would assume that, when encountered in higher planes, a good deal of their energy and power is devoted to just sustaining their presence, and within their own realm of origin they would be far more powerful, although it is also possible that the ones able to still reach higher realms like the dreaming are also the more powerful of their ilk, and that most in their natural realm of origin are much weaker (I’ve never seen one in its realm of origin, and I don’t think I want to either).

A Sphinx constantly masturbates, sort of. It doesn’t really play with itself, it just sort of orgasms and ejaculates again and again on a constant (granted I’ve only seen males, females, if they exist, may be a bit different). When it orgasms, very strong sexually predatory energy flows out of it and into the nearby area in waves. Anything that is not able to quickly produce a very strong psychic shield (which even among practitioners, many can’t) will be raped by it. And the rape will happen repeatedly until the creature becomes so worn out from it that it kills them. Small creatures tend to last seconds. Larger creatures like cats and dogs may get a minute or two, a human maybe a few minutes. Even with a strong shield the energy is so intense, and on a constant, that it will tear down the shield very quickly.

This masturbation is not an attack, it lacks any direction or purpose, it is just a side-effect of the Sphinx existing in a place. It only represents a fraction of the Sphinxes power. The Sphinx overflows with power, it drips off it, so much so it can be clearly seen as a beacon amidst it’s sexual waves, and is many times stronger than it’s masturbation, even when the Sphinx is calm and at ease.

The energy of the Sphinx is such that most will find it offensive and gross, and also completely horrifying. Not just the nature of it’s evil, but also the power and intensity behind it. Among angelics and those with an angelic connection it will most likely awaken a primal need to combat and expel it, although most angelics even will approach such a beast with caution.

The Sphinx originates in the Qlippothic version of the middle triad, and as such is a further physical complication from this plane, and so he has a physicality that is evolved beyond what is typically allowed into this world. He also has a realm guardian status, so we can presume that, like the realm guardians of this world, he may be atypical of his plane of existence in his manifestation of physicality and the laws that apply to him.

Also, like any realm guardian, he guards, ferociously and viciously, and is a natural warrior. I’m not sure the actual intelligence of such a beast, as I’ve never attempted to talk to one. Their energy does seem very violent and animalistic, but this is not rare among realm guardian types. It would be odd, even among a realm as low as his, for something to be of such vast power and lack intelligence.

Perseus and Medusa

Perseus has always been one of my favorite myths. The rescue of Andromeda by Perseus depicted on the Lovers card in some tarot decks is a reference to the realization of the divine nature of man. But then I met Medusa.

I had been sent to Medusa to find answers for some questions I had. I really didn’t know what to expect her to be like.

When I spoke with Medusa, she was extraordinarily beautiful. And it was a beauty born out of pain. It was compassion, and yet to a degree befitting a deity, along with the burden that must be carried to feel compassion at that degree.

I became depressed for some time after talking with Medusa. She had told me that I was only seeing a part of her, that to see all of her would ruin me.

But Medusa did help me, and she was so beautiful in such a selfless way. And after that the idea of Perseus holding up her severed head seemed profane.

But I’ve since been told the truth about the beheading of Medusa and what it fully represents. The connection between mortals and the divine is fully achieved at the point where Perseus beheads Medusa. For a mortal has become a god, and a goddess has found mortality.

Medusa’s energy is filled with compassion, and part of compassion is understanding. In order to fully understand mortality, Medusa would have to become mortal. Being mortal means eventually dying, and when she was beheaded her mortality ended, and she again took her place as an immortal goddess. Perseus did not profane Medusa, he did what she needed done, and afterwords a goddess knew fully what it was to be mortal.

But at the same time when Perseus defeats Medusa he becomes god, for he has killed a goddess. And his next act is to best Poseidon, another god, and save Andromeda from his wrath.

With the myth of Herakles, Herakles becomes a God, but no god becomes mortal to complete this act. In the same way with the crucifixion, God has become mortal and dies, but man does not become God, and man is left as God’s inferior, unable to do what He has done, and saved not by their own acts, but through his love.

But with Perseus beheading Medusa the act moves both way, and the divisions between mortality and the divine become blurred. A mortal has gained an understanding of being divine, and a goddess now understands humanity. Also it is proven that man can aspire to be a Deity and succeed, and in the same way a god may aspire to become mortal and achieve this goal.

Also here neither party is the greater or the lesser. Medusa did not give anything to Perseus that he did not give back to her. Each party was equally dependent on the other.

The idea here, the gods are not above mankind or greater than mankind. And mankind is not greater than or above the gods. Each has their purpose and their part in the universe, and each is of equal importance.

Eris’ Enlightenment

 

A friend directed me to the Principia Discordia the other day, and it’s the funniest holy book I’ve ever read. While reading through the book, I could feel the energy of Eris coming off of it, and it differed a lot from what I had read about Eris. The general idea I had seen was that Eris was not a pleasant deity and was instead someone that should be feared and shunned. I understand how chaos is necessary and good in the universe, and how sometimes things of that ilk get labeled as evil by those who are not mature enough to understand why they are needed. Even so, the energy I felt compared to the descriptions I’d seen were way off. Eris’s energy was fun and enjoyable, and her followers seemed more like members of Harvard Lampoon than left-hand pathers. I went and researched Eris some more, and came up with pretty much the same results. Outside of Discordians, I couldn’t find one person in all of history who had written something nice about Eris.

As a sidenote, it’s also very hard to find any imagery of Eris. There are very few surviving Greek depictions of her. There are some later secular paintings, but there’s not much that is both recent and non-secular. The few recent depictions I found of her were actually incorrect.

As I read through the Principia Discordia I started to feel Eris tug upon me and call me to her. I was pretty sure I was going to talk with Eris shortly, and talking to Eris was the only way I could find out for sure the truth about Eris.
When I spoke to Eris, she responded to me almost immediately. Her energy was very happy and fun. There is a specific type of joy to her energy that is difficult to exactly describe. The energy also made me crave sugar. There was another aspect to her energy energy as well, and it’s in agreement with what is taught in the Principia Discordia. It’s a complete removal of boundaries and rules and formalities and other such things. It’s almost an emotion of being able to do whatever it is you feel like doing without restriction or judgment. All of it is very pleasant though.
I had sought out Eris mainly to rectify the discrepancy between the various accounts of her, and after I had felt her and knew what she was I asked her why other accounts had described her in the way in which they did. And she explained it to me:

What a person sees in Eris is a reflection of what they truly are. Eris doesn’t corrupt or destroy a person. She just removes rules, and laws, and formalities, and ethics, and honor, and punishments, and rewards, and consequences. She strips away everything else and leaves a person as they truly are.

Those who are truly good see her as good, because she incites no evil in them. Those who are good will continue to hold their actions to the same standards even when there are no punishments or rewards for those actions, and they will not need a structure to tell them right from wrong.

But then there are those who act good, but are truly evil. They are people who are full of malice and selfishness who would do so much more to better pleasure themselves without due regard for others if not restrained by fears of punishment and rewards for good behavior. When they look on Eris, they see evil, because they see what evil would be unleashed if they were ever allowed to act without consequences.

The only thing Eris does is she gives a person freedom to be themselves, their true self. She’ll expose the great and the beautiful and the innocent as she exposes the petty and the selfish and the malicious.

She also told me that the fact that man knows of heaven and knows of hell proves that neither exists. No man can be labeled as good and deserving of heaven and not hell when his good acts were performed for the sole purpose of escaping punishments in hell and receiving rewards in heaven. At the same time a man’s true nature cannot be discerned until he is able to act freely without fear of consequences.

And she explained the Trojan War to me, and how that wasn’t her fault. She had done nothing, except allow everyone to be as they truly were.

Three deities had been reduced to fighting over something that had little value for any of them.
Paris had been swayed by the bribery of goddesses, and had judged the contest unfairly. Then after receiving the hospitality of Menelaus decided to use Aphrodite to steal away his wife. He then became more concerned with keeping Helen than doing what was necessary for the welfare of the nation that he was prince of. And when given the opportunity to end the affair instead decided to dishonorably attack Agamemnon.

Then there’s the petty bickering of both Agamemnon and Achilles, both more concerned with their pride and their little prizes and renown than actually leading their armies into battle. And Odysseus, favored by Athena, who could not help but boast about every feat he accomplished, which in turn brought the death of his crew, the loss of his riches, and left him lost at sea for ten years.

The Epic Cycle is full of characters, many of which were considered the finest specimens of humanity, that were vain and petty and selfish. And they were exposed, and allowed to be as they really were, and because of it many soldiers perished, great heroes died, nations and cities were destroyed, and tragedy struck all but a handful of the participants. No tragedy that befell within the Epic Cycle was undeserved.

Eris also told me that all of this may be useful to some other people, and so I should tell it to whomever I felt like telling it to if I wanted to. All of this was told to me in a different order however. And in writing this, I’ve noticed some subtleties in what was told to me, and some questions I’ve been wondering about have actually been answered.