-Revelation, 13.1 and 2, King James.
"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath
understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number
of a man; and his number is Six Hundred Threescore and Six."
-Ibid. 13.18
Thus and further is the Beast described
in the Apocalypse or Revelation of John the Divine. Since then the
nature of the Beast 666 has been ill-perceived, His image perverted by
the politics of the early Christian Church, and today there seems to be
few who truly comprehend the nature of the Beast, also called the Antichrist.
Hollywood has also promoted the misconceptions obscuring the true nature
of the Beast with such films as the OMEN trilogy - a very enjoyable and
well produced fantasy, but far from an accurate interpretation of this
last book of the Judeo-Christian Bible.
Let us first examine the above quotations
from the New Testament.
Very generally: the Beast is rising
out of the Great Sea, i.e., He has Crossed the Abyss, attained to the Grade
of Magister Templi and even higher Grades in the Third Order (of Being)
known to us generally as the Great White Brotherhood, and specifically
as the A.·.A.·.. He is, then, a being of the highest order, known
to us in the once incarnate form of Aleister Crowley (b. 1875 - d. 1947
E.V.).
Interpretation of the 7 heads and the 10
horns as well as the 10 crowns can be legitimately made upon several levels,
and it is not here possible to explore each of these interpretations, but
let us here make note that both the numbers 7 and 10 have always been held
as sacred throughout the world. The 7 heads (upon one level) represent
the 7 Sephiroth below the Abyss, these representing (among other things)
the 7 manifest "forms" of being, 7 very specific levels of consciousness,
or the 2 material aspects of the "soul", Ruach (Sephiroth 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
and 9) and Nephesch (Sephira 10). The 10 horns represent these 7
plus the 3 Sephiroth above the Abyss, the Supernal Triad: 1. Kether,
the Crown, Yechidah; 2. Chokmah, Wisdom, Chiah; 3. Binah, Understanding,
Neschamah. Furthermore, the horn is a symbol of power, a euphemistic
representation of the phallus, the creator. It might be interesting
to note that the "lamb" also mentioned in Revelation is equipped with horns,
although this is not natural, and that the so-called lamb's horns are fewer
in number than the Beast's. Looking at it another way, rather than
implying that the lamb has less power and authority than the Beast in the
New Æon of Horus foreseen by John the Divine, it is very possible that
the "lamb" of Revelation was accidentally confused with another - the ram
- and that the two symbols were combined iinto one only and called the lamb.
The lamb symbolizes the World Teacher of the old æon of Osiris and the
meekness of His Way, whereas the ram symbolizes the World Teacher of the
New Æon of Horus and the strength and boldness of His Way. As for
the 10 crowns, briefly, they represent the Highest (Kether, the Crown,
Yechidah) to be found in all of the Sephiroth, indeed, in all of us and
in all things. Everything is holy. Every man and every woman
is a star.
As to the name of blasphemy, well, what
is and is not blasphemy is a matter of opinion, dependent upon one's point
of view. Certainly all that threatened the established order of things
and the cherished belief systems of the time would have been considered
"evil", and thus that which would have pertained to the fall of the old
æon and the birth of the new would have been considered sinful and blasphemous
by such a man as John, a Christian initiate lacking the higher Grades of
attainment and locked solidly in his particular belief system. John
was apparently unable to see beyond his own cherished beliefs and perceive
that the ending and beginning of aeons is but the natural order of the
universe, its ebb and flow, give and take, flex and reflex; that there
would come a time when his belief system was outdated and that it would
be replaced when the new World Teacher took the place of the old one, just
as, and this too was seen, if not understood, and recorded by John the
Divine, the æon of Horus will eventually come to an end and the æon of
Maat will take its place, presumably with yet another World Teacher.
The leopard is sacred to the sun and its
hide was worn by ancient Egyptian priests as a sign of their sacred nature,
thus the sacred nature of the Beast is shown as well as His affinity to
the Sun, Giver and Sustainer of Life and Light (Wisdom).
The bear is sacred to Mars, denoting the
strength of the Beast, while the feet of the bear represents the Beast's
solid nature, His firm stand upon the earth (reality), which is the magician's
and mystic's greatest strength. As a tree, the aspirant should gain
strength from sun, air and rain while ever reaching upward, but to continue
growing and reaching for the ideal, the aspirant must also "keep his feet
planted firmly on the ground" so that he may also gain the necessary nourishment
to be found in the earth. If the aspirant refuses to deal with the
realities of the three dimensional universe and too much so has his "head
in the clouds", like an uprooted tree he will soon find himself quite without
life.
The lion is the typical solar beast, with
his tawny colouration and his sun burst mane. The Beast has the mouth
of a lion, i.e. He speaks as a lion, bold and brave, when He roars all
hear Him and are shaken and awestruck. Yet it means much more.
"The lion in medieval bestiaries and iconography is commonly a figure of
Christ; the equation doubtless takes its origin from Revelations 5, 5:
'behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah.'" (From the Notes in THE QUEST
OF THE HOLY GRAIL, translated by P. M. Matarasso, Penguin Books.)
In reality, the symbol of the lion is far older than the writing of the
books collected into that tome commonly called the Bible. The "king
of the beasts" represents the sun, which in turn represents He Who Gives
Light to Humankind, that is to say, a World Teacher, such as Jesus, before
him Osiris and others, as well as Therion in the New Æon.
At this point I imagine some outrage and
dismay in the Christian reader, because I have just identified the Beast
with the Christ. The occultist, I am sure, is equally angered...in
reverse. Do not be so easily upset. And you, my dear aspirant,
do not allow yourself to be infected with the narrow-mindedness of your
Christian brothers and sisters. The Christ Principle is not exclusively
Christian. That Principle existed long before the man-made religion
of Christianity. It is independent of such organizations. It
is truly "catholic", and by that I mean "universal". Jesus was an
initiate who made himself one with that Principle, the Logos of the old
æon, becoming the mediator between That which is Above the Abyss and that
which is below. At that point in time Jesus became a World Teacher,
a guide to attainment proper for the level of human consciousness at that
time. That Jesus that is worshipped today in modern Christianity
is naught but a gross caricature, composed of little history and a great
deal of myth borrowed from older sources as well as pure fantasy.
Christianity itself is not the creation of Jesus; he was not the founder.
The religious institution was created long after the initiate's passing
and has little today to do with his original teachings.
The Christ is a title, not a surname as
some seem to imagine, and like Messiah it only means "anointed" or the
"Anointed One", and in this reference implies the World Teacher or Logos
of the Æon. Essentially the Christ and the Beast spring from the
same Source, the same Principle, to perform the same basic Work, although
different according to their respective eras or æons, and the needs of
humanity during that period of time. And oddly enough, I have noticed,
when I suggest that essentially "there is no difference" between the Christ
and the Beast, those who protest the most are the very same individuals
who, with a sly smile upon their faces and a hopefully knowing look in
the eye, point to the fact that the Messiah (MShICh) and Nechesh (NChSh),
the Serpent that tempted/initiated Eve, are shown to be one by the numeration,
358, that they share. But we shall return to this later.
The dragon which gives the Beast authority
can be explained adequately only in a book devoted to this one subject,
but generally the dragon (synonymous with the serpent in many early works)
represents Nuit, the No-Thing beyond even Kether/Yechidah, about which
we can say nothing of a truthful nature as this is beyond all conceptualization.
The dragon has gained a sinister reputation through the politics and narrow-mindedness
mostly of the Roman Catholic Church. Originally both the dragon and
the serpent were symbols for eternity and wisdom, strength and phallic
power. In the East (where not everyone is infected by the perverted,
narrow teachings of modern Christianity) the dragon is still highly regarded
as a "celestial" beast, a symbol of great wisdom and good fortune.
There is truth in the idea that whereas
the lion represents one thing, call it "good" if you will, or "positive",
the dragon represents the exact opposite, "evil" or "negative" if it pleases
you to use such inadequate and relative terms. These, however, do
not represent "good" and "evil" in any absolute and moral sense.
Again we have the politics and narrow-mindedness of the past, lapsing over
into the present, to thank for such limited thinking. The lion and
the dragon merely represent the two natural and apparent opposites in life,
no more "good" or "evil" than day and night, man and woman, and so forth.
They are but the necessary polarities that bring about material existence
and form.
Wisdom is, of course, a reference to Chokmah,
the second Sephira of the Tree of Life, and this refers to that which pertains
to the nature of the Logos, in this case, the Beast 666.
He that hath Understanding is a reference
to one who has attained to the third Sephira, Binah, Crossed the Abyss
and attained the Grade of Magister Templi 8°=3°. That is to say, it
is up to such an one to correctly interpret these things for those who
are yet below the Abyss, those who have not as yet attained the higher
Grades of our Order and reached the higher levels of consciousness.
As for the number of the Beast, 666, note
well that even the worst English translation agrees that it is "the number
of a man" (or alternatively and legitimately, "the number of man").
Nowhere in the last book of the Bible does it say that 666 is the number
of the Christian Devil, the son of the Devil, or anything of the like.
666 is simply the number of a specific man and/or mankind in general.
Six Hundred Threescore and Six has gained
an entirely unwarranted infamous reputation over the centuries. Note
well that 6 is a solar number, it is attributed to Tiphareth on the Tree,
the 6th Sephira, to which is also attributed Sol, and thus is relates to
the Christ Principle as the mediator - recall that Jesus is called (although
he himself never calls himself) the Son (or Sun) of God. Furthermore,
not only is 6 a solar number, a symbol of generation and creation (note
well its form, similar to that of the sperm cell), but in 666 the number
is a Trinity. The Trinity, or Three in One, has always been held
as sacred. For Christianity the Trinity is the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost or Spirit, and it is worth pointing out that the Third Person of
the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is actually a "female" potency (the "Son"
actually being Androgynous or Hermaphroditic). The Hindus have the
Trinity of Bramah, Vishnu and Shiva, Creator, Preserver and Destroyer,
or perhaps more accurately, Transformer. While the followers of Wicca
have a blessed Trinity in the Moon Goddess, being the Mother (full), the
Maiden (waxing) and the Crone (waning). There is not and never has
been anything "absolutely evil" about the number 666 until the medieval
politics of the Roman Catholic Church decided to impose its greedy will
upon the world, by propaganda, out and out brainwashing, as well as the
sword and fire. Then and only then did the number 666 assume an infmaous
reputation by those who suffered from paranoiac insecurity, believing that
if you were not with them 100% you were against them.
But we have spent enough time on the Book
of Revelation in this place. Let us take up two far older references
to the nature of the Beast.
The following is from THE GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS
by E. A. Wallis Budge, Dover Publications:
"...the old god Bes, who here symbolizes
the Sun-god at eventide."
"Bes, (a god form borrowed) from Nubia,
or the country still further to the south of Egypt."
"At some period under the New Empire the
original attributes of Bes were modified, and he assumed the character
of a solar god and became identified with Horus the Child, or Harpocrates;
little by little he was merged in other forms of the Sun-god, until at
length he absorbed the characteristics of Horus, Ra, and Temu. As
Horus, or Harpocrates, he wore the lock of hair, which is symbolic of youth,
on the right side of his head, and as Ra-Temu he was given the withered
cheeks and attributes of an old man. On the Metternich Stele we see
the head of the 'Old Man who renews his youth, and the Aged one 'who
maketh himself once again a boy,' placed above that of Horus, the god of
renewed life and of the rising sun, to show that the two heads represent,
after all, only phases of one and the same god.
"After the XXVIth Dynasty and during the
Ptolemaic period we find...that Bes was merged wholly in Horus, and that
the Egyptians bestowed upon him the body and wings of a hawk united to
the body of a vigorous young man, who, however, had the head of a very
aged man surmounted by the group of heads with which we are familiar from
the Cippi of Horus."
Recall the 7 heads of the Beast 666.
We could go on quoting from this excellent
work, indeed, Bes even appears in LIBER AL VEL LEGIS SUB FIGURA CCXX, Chapter
III, Verse 38, but space is limited here.
Bes was an unusual god form, probably originating
in Africa and older than the purely Egyptian gods. Unlike the tall,
slender, graceful god forms of Egypt, usually seen in profile only, Bes
was a dwarf, squat and ugly, often with a protruding tongue, and always
depicted full face. This god with the "bestial" appearance, however,
was never considered an "evil god", but rather as a most beneficial deity.
From the quotations alone, the connection
to Horus and Harpocrates, his many headed form and his outwardly less than
attractive visage, and so forth, it should be obvious that, at least in
essence, BES and the BEAST are one and the same concept, merely interpreted
in slightly different ways, from slightly different points of view.
You might also like to note that both names begin with "B" (or the B-sound),
which is attributed to the 12th Path of the Tree which unites Kether, the
Crown, to Binah, Understanding, the Great Sea.
Again we see no "absolute evil" in the
ignorantly dreaded Beast 666. Likewise, we see no connection between
the Beast and the Christian Devil.
Not so very long ago we were gifted with
a wonderful and very obtainable book called THE NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY (James
M. Robinson, general editor; Harper & Row). It is a collection
of translated Gnostic texts of very early times and until now available
only in the original Greek or Coptic languages to very earnest scholars.
"On The Origin of the World" is the modern title of one tractate in this
book that was originally transmitted without a title. The original
Greek text was probably composed in Alexandria around the end of the third
century era vulgari. In it we find the following:
"An androgynous man was begotten, one whom
the Greeks call 'Hermaphrodites.' But the Hebrews call his mother
'Eve of Life,' i.e. 'the instructor of life.' But her son is the
begotten one who is lord--afterwards authorities called him 'the beast'--in
order to lead their molded bodies astray. The interpretation of the
'beast' is 'the instructor.' For he was found to be wiser than all
of them."
"Moreover the first Adam of the light is
spiritual. He appeared on the first day. The second Adam is
soul-endowed. He appeared on the [sixth] day, and is called
'[Herm]aphrodite[s].'"
"Then the one who is wiser than all of
them, this one who was called 'the beast,' came. And when he saw
the likeness of their mother Eve, he said to her, 'What is it that god
said to you? "Don't eat from the tree of knowledge"?' She said, 'He not
only said "Don't eat from it," but "Don't touch it lest [you] die."'
He said to her, 'Don't be afraid! You certainly shall [not die].
For [he knows] that when you eat from it your mind will be sobered and
you will become like god, knowing the distinctions which exist between
evil and good men. For he said this to you, lest you eat from it,
since he is jealous.'"
The Beast, male and female like the Elohim,
and perhaps one of Them, appeared on the sixth day. He is obviously
one with the dragon or serpent of Genesis, the tempter, initiator and
instructor of humankind, confused with the Christian Devil during medieval
times by the politics of "Holy Rome". And it is here worth noting
that not only is the Beast represented as a very beneficial being, but
it is shown that the god, called Jehovah in the Bible, is a petty and jealous
god, one that delights in keeping humanity ignorant and suffering so that
it will not realize its own divine nature. This god is not The Creator,
he is not The Supreme Being, but he would have us believe that he is, and
to this end he has, through his earthly vehicles and minions, perverted
knowledge, the gnosis, so that the true nature of the Beast is dreadfully
obscured.
The Beast 666 is quite different than modern
Christianity (and Hollywood) would have us believe. An examination
of ancient, pre-christian, documents leads to a truer perception of the
nature of the Beast, the Logos of the present Æon of Horus, the Crowned
and Conquering Child. But is this our only avenue of investigation?
No. There is, of course, another, perhaps several, but limited space
prevents the examination of them all. The next avenue of research
will be that of Gematria, the art and science upon which the "game" of
numerology is based. In specific, the Gematria of the Greek Qabalah.
In Revelation 11.7; 13.1, 2, 11, 12; 14.9,
11; 17.3, 16; 19.19, 20; 20.4, 10 and the works of Our Father Aleister
Crowley, "Beast" is spelled in Greek Therion (Theta, Eta, Rho, Iota, Omicron,
Nu; please see Key for English letters used to represent Greek).
Each of these letters is also a number, respectively: 9, 8, 100,
10, 70 and 50, and the total of these is 247, which, incidentally, if added
together, i.e. 2+4+7, equals 13, the numeration of Achad (AChD), Hebrew,
meaning "Unity" and "One".
Now 247 is not only the numeration of Therion,
the Beast, but also of other words which may thus have a special affinity
with the Beast and so further reveal the nature of the Beast 666.
Some of these words that come to the numeration of 247 are:
pammelan: "all black", possibly being
a reference to the Sphere of Saturn, the third Sephira of Binah, the Great
Sea from which the Beast emerges.
eirgazomai: "perform temple duties",
which, in a manner of speaking, the Beast does.
elaias: "olive tree, olive", being
a tree and its fruit that have always been held sacred by the early Christians
as well as the earlier Greeks, thus, here, showing the sacred and hallowed
nature of the Beast, Therion.
adamas: "unconquerable; the diamond",
and interestingly enough this word is also a name, Adamas or Adam, and
in this connection please refer back to the Gnostic reference of the Beast
as "The second Adam".
eikasia: "a likeness, image", of
the Highest we presume, but we will allow you to judge just what the Beast,
or Logos, is the image of.
Aesma: "Aeshma", the basis for Asmodeus.
Aeshma is one of the 7 archangels (or amesha spentas) in Persian myth and
the name, some claim, is from the Zend Aeshmo daeva or the demon Aeshma.
Perhaps Asmodeus originally meant "a measurable (modo or modus) unit (as)
of God (deus)", as-modo-deus or as-modus-deus, in the Latin tongue.
Eblis: "Eblis" or "Iblis", being
a character in Arabic and Persian myth roughly equivalent to Satan (and
here it should be noted that Satan merely means "Adversary" and was originally
conceived of, not as the enemy of God, but as an "employee" of God, apparently
antagonistic so as to test humanity and thus initiate those who passed
the test).
Perkefal: "Perceval", the French
spelling of Parsifal or Parzival, the title character of several medieval
legends, earlier Celtic myths, and Richard Wagner's opera, "Parsifal".
In this connection it is advised that the sincere student obtain a copy
of Liber CMXXII sub figura MCXXX, being Parsifal: A Brief Initiated Interpretation
and Explanation.
Perhaps most interesting to Thelemites,
by way of the Hebrew Qabalah, the Hebrew and the Greek being so expertly
united in LIBER AL VEL LEGIS SUB FIGURA CCXX:
QVPh NIA: "Coph Nia", one of the
few plausible spellings and explanations of this obscure reference to be
found in CCXX III.72. Note that Coph or Qoph (QVPh) comes to the
numeration of 186 (one is advised to obtain the Newaeon Yule 1983 E.V.
Encyclical for more information regarding 186 which originally appeared
in this place with that title, "186"), and 186 is 93+93, Thelema/Will and
Agape/Love, or if you will, Keallach/KHLLCh and Aiwaz/OIVZ, united.
Nia (NIA) is the reverse of Ain (AIN), "The Negative, non-existent; not",
which is the name of one of the Three so-called Veils of Negativity beyond
Kether, and if these letters are again shifted about they spell Ani (ANI),
"I, myself", all of which equal 61, the numeration of such things as: ADVN,
"Adon, Master, Lord"; ALIK, "Towards, to thee"; and BTN, "The belly, womb,
bowels", which should bring to the Thelemite's mind yet another verse to
be found in THE BOOK OF THE LAW (CCXX). Various interpretations of
Coph Nia seem possible here, e.g., "By the Union of Will and Love I am
Not", rather like 2=0, or even "Keallach and Aiwaz united are Master for
I am Not, being the child of thy bowels, the Lord of the Double Wand of
Power."
If we look at the Beast 666 another way
we come up with the numeration of 913, which, incidentally, if added together,
i.e. 9+1+3, equals 13, the numeration of Achad again--are you beginning
to see the UNITY of the whole?--that is to say Therion 666 = 247+666 =
913. Some of those words which also come to the numeration of 913
are:
egero: "to awaken, rouse, stir, to
raise from the dead; be excited by passion", and so forth, that is, to
do exactly what an initiator and instructor should do, and especially such
an one that teaches "Love Under Will"!
theoi chthonioi: "the gods of the
nether or underworld".
ten dynamin: "the power", as mentioned
in Revelation 4.11, and see also, in relation to Coph Nia, CCXX III.72
regarding the power.
Hloiein: "Eloiein", one of the seven
archons or celestrial powers, an aeon, in the Gnostic cosmology.
elegchos: "verification, certainty",
see CCXX I.58.
melonomeys: "a shepherd, herdsman",
and we could certainly have a lot of fun with this one!
logistikos: "skilled in calculating,
in reasoning and arguing", attributes of both the Beast of Revelation and
Our Father Aleister Crowley.
abraoth: "Abraoth", one of the "Barbarous
Names of Evocation" to be found in the original Bornless Ritual later reworked
into Liber Samekh.
And if "st" be taken as Stau, equal to
Digamma, and thus equal, as a single letter, to 6:
anexichniaston: "untraceable, i.e.,
impossible of understanding by human minds (below the Abyss), fathomless",
to be found in Eph. 3.8; and note that Nia is to be found in the midst
of the fathomless.
And when did the Beast 666 come into existence:
BRAShITh: "Berashith; in the Beginning",
see Genesis and the works of Our Father Aleister Crowley, the Master Therion,
the Beast 666.
What then of the infamous 666? What
is the nature of 666? Well, my friends, the Greek Qabalah reveals
to us the nature of 666, the Beast, by way of other words which also come
to the numeration of Six Hundred Threescore and Six, to wit:
ThRIVN: "Therion", being a Hebraic
spelling of the Greek Therion.
Teitan as well as Titane: "Titan"--the
Titans were the children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), and one of
these was called...
Iapetos: "Iapetus", who was the husband
of Themis and the father of Atlas, Menoetius, Epimetheus (Afterthought)
and Prometheus (Forethought). Note that Prometheus was a prototype
of the Dying God who brought Light/Fire (Wisdom/Passion) to humankind and
was thence chained to a rock where an eagle (or vulture) ate his liver
by day, which grew back by night, only to be eaten again during the following
day. Eventually Prometheus was rescued, resurrected as it were.
Iapetus was looked upon as the father of all humankind by the Greeks.
e phren: "the mind, reason,
understanding".
to peirar: "the end", but this is
not "bad" in itself for it should be remembered that each end is a new
beginning.
to agoraomai: "the speaker, orator."
e emisy: "the half", see CCXX
I.56.
e ieroprepes: "the reverent".
e aeidinetos: "the ever
revolving".
to egatheos: "the most holy, the
hallowed".
ta paidos: "of the child", the child
referring to Horus/Harpocrates.
ta meson: "of the middle", referring
to the Beast as the mediator between "God" and "Man", so to speak.
to ibidos: "the ibis", the bird sacred
to Thoth, the Logos.
lampetis: "the lustrous one", being
a name of the Antichrist according to Iranaeus.
ta menos: "of the force", see CCXX
II.20.
ta Neilos: "of the Nile", a reference
to Ankh-af-na-khonsu, and so forth.
ta nikeios: "of the victorious".
to nikaeis: "the victorious, the
conquering".
o niketes: "the conqueror".
omiletes: "a scholar, hearer."
dynasai: "can do, able to do, be
capable of".
terasin: "wonders, miracles", from
2 Th. 2.9.
o perasis: "the going beyond, the
passing."
paradosis: "a tradition of teachings,
doctrines, traditions, that which is handed down, transmission of legends
and so forth."
amphadon: "publicly, openly, without
disguise; public, notorious".
andicha: "asunder, in twain."
apodasmos: "a division, part of the
whole."
And much much more. Obviously we
cannot in this place carefully explain each and every reference above listed,
so it is left up to each student for him- or herself to study the references
and learn just how each relates to the Beast 666 and his nature.
Before we leave this subject it seems necessary
to note that the Beast 666 and the Antichrist are one and the same, as
should be obvious from a reading of Revelation, and further, that the nature
of the Antichrist is completely misunderstood by nearly everyone, Christian
and occultist. alike.
Please note that in the original text of
the New Testament the word Antitheos is translated into English as "Godlike"
or "equal to God", as it is so translated in LIDDELL AND SCOTT'S GREEK-ENGLISH
LEXICON and elsewhere. However, the word Antichristos, or Antichrist,
is always translated as "opposed to Christ" (except in the few versions
of the Judeo-Christian Bible that I have seen wherein it is erroneously
translated as "enemy of Christ"). What is the mysterious power of
this Greek word which prefixes both words, this Anti, which can mean two
completely different things, and who determines just what it means where?
Let us look to Liddell and Scott's lexicon again wherein they define "anti"
as meaning "over against, opposite, before; in return for, for the sake
of; instead of, for; in opposition to; equal to, like; corresponding",
and so forth. A very versatile word, is it not! So who has
decided, very arbitrarily I can assure you, that Antitheos means "equal
to God, Godlike", while Antichristos means "opposed to Christ"? Why
the very same people whose politics have always sought to obscure truth
and hide the true nature of the Beast from humanity. Today their
descendants are either continuing their political program or, and probably
more often than not, are merely following, blindly, like sheep, the lead
of their ancestors and predecessors.
Why cannot Antitheos mean "opposed to God"
while Antichristos mean "Equal to Christ, Christlike"? All of the
evidence we bring to bear on the subject of the Beast 666, the Antichrist,
tends to confirm the fact that this being is indeed equal to Christ, that
the Beast is Christlike, that is to say, that both the Christ and the Beast
spring from the same Source, for basically the same purpose, the awakening,
instruction and initiation of humankind. The title and word "Christ"
is NOT exclusive to Christianity and it is far older than the religion
that assumed exclusive rights to it. Oddly enough, I have often found,
it is usually the least Christlike members of society that most loudly
proclaims themselves Christians.
Does Antichrist mean "opposed to Christ"?
Possible, but probable only if by "Christ" one is referring to the false
deity, the idol, set up by medieval Christianity and ignorantly worshipped
today under the guise of Jesus, or rather the gross caricature of the man
and initiate.
Does Antichrist mean "for the sake of Christ"?
If that word "Christ" is meant to identify a universal and eternal Principle,
not restricted to any one religion, then why not! The Christ came
to awaken humankind from the deep sleep of ignorance and initiate, to "save"
humanity from the "sin" of ignorance and to prepare humanity for the Next
Step. It is for this reason that the Beast came into the world.
What of "instead of", or as some Greek-English
dictionaries have it, "in place of"? Is it not possible that the
Antichrist, or the Beast 666, the Logos of this New Æon, originates from
the same Source as the Christ and all previous World Teachers, that He
has manifested in a new initiate who taught a new law, the Law of Thelema,
geared towards the generally higher consciousness of humankind during this
period of time, replacing the old outdated law and teachings of the former
World Teacher only because now we are beyond those and need more, or less
as the case may be; that the new Teacher is not opposed to that former
Teacher, but opposed instead to the false idol, the caricature that has
been accepted as Jesus the Christ and which could not be further from the
truth--opposed to the perverted teachings of the false religion, and replacing
the old ways that are no longer valid for humankind to attain the Next
Step.
The nature of the Beast 666 is herein revealed.
You have but to look, read, and think.
And what of the Greek word Antichristos?
What does it reveal by way of Gematria? Let us look at the three
basic spellings of it. (And remember, within the New Testament there
is a distinction made between Antichristos, and pseudochrist. Both
are used in the Bible--the former as a name of the Beast 666, the latter
to refer to certain charlatans who call themselves Christians and pretend,
at least publically, to be christlike. The exact meaning of the former
may be in doubt, but the meaning of the latter is certain: pseudo-
or false christ. Obviously there was a reason for using two such
distinct words in the Bible.)
(1) Antichristos = 1841, which is
also the numeration of:
Ierophanteo: "Hierophant, an initiating
priest; one who expounds sacred things."
epimartyreo: "testify, declare."
psephon leyken: "a white stone",
in RE. 2.17--the Philosopher's Stone?
Lacheseos: "Lachesis", one of the
three Fates, the disposer of lots, the word literally meaning "lot, destiny,
fate" and so on.
(2) Antichriston = 1691:
misotyrannoy: "tyrant-hating."
amyntor: "a helper; an avenger",
see the meanings of both Alexander and Aleister (Alastor) in relation to
Aleister (Edward Alexander) Crowley. K.t.l.
(3) Antixhristoy = 2041:
oi antilegontes anastasin me einai:
"those who say there is no resurrection", from Lk. 20.27, and there is
no resurrection because there is no death--death is a crass illusion, life
is eternal, see CCXX II.21. Etc.
What then is the nature of the Beast?
The Beast is the Logos of the present Æon
of Horus, the World Teacher and Supreme Hierophant for roughly the next
several thousand years, until the advent of the Æon of Maat when a new
World Teacher will take His place. He has appeared to us in physical
form in the persona of Aleister Crowley and he is a wonder worker and an
orator, a lusterous being come down to the material plane to awaken those
sleeping in ignorance and to prepare and lead them to the Next Step in
spiritual evolution. There is in the Beast no more "evil" than there
is in each and every one of us, in the ideas of Christ and God. What
is perceived as "evil" is the Beast's opposition to the caricature of the
previous World Teacher, used by the false prophets and false christs to
enslave human society with rules and regulations that are without sound
purpose. His opposition is to the false idol, the tyrant Slave God.
What is the nature of the Beast?
His is Human Nature as well as Divine,
for the two are inseparable, and He came to us in human form to show to
us our own Divine Nature, to show that every man and every woman is a star.
The nature of the Beast is both Human and
Divine. Is not His number the number of Man? And yet by the
very nature of that number is it not also the number of God?
This is the nature of the Beast and we
all partake of His nature.
The "evil" that the ignorant and the lying
speak of is not in the Beast, no more than it is in all that is Human and
Divine. The "evil" is in the supreme ignorance, bigotry and prejudice,
spurred on by insecurity and megalomania, of those who are lost in darkness,
calling it the Light, and since misery loves company they naturally wish
that all were lost in that self-same darkness.
Let us not be lost in their darkness.
Let us instead look to the Lusterous One
and see the Light.
"Evil" is not absolute in any one thing.
All things are holy.
But more often than not, ignorance is a
most foul "evil" indeed.