Discussion on the 8th Book of Moses:

PGM XIII 1-343==>crocodile with the face of Horace (falcon)

-"popping" noises=a way to say the god's name

-seven vowels written in a variety of languages

l->birdglyphic, hieroglyphic, baboonic, falconic, hieratic

--Hieratic represents the laughter of the god

--talking to the god in the languages of all the animals the god created

--a story of the creation of the world is inserted into the spell

l->the world is created through the laughter of the god

*The story is a mixture of Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman

l->creates light, earth, water, etc., as well as the creation of other gods

l->also creates soul, mind, and body

--the primary god thinks of the ideal world, and it comes into being

l->in the gnostic study, this primary god is completely detatched

*In the spell, the magician wishes to question this primary god for 2 reasons:

i) Wants to know about his destiny, his fate

ii) Wishes to obtain the secret name, by which he can accomplish anything

--before this, he must undergo a period of purification

--in order to obtain an "appointment" with the primary god-->plead your

case with the current god "in charge"

l->the one who is in charge of the celestial pole at that time

--magician is constantly eating, throughout the spell-->paste, wax

l->incorporation of the information into the magician's self

Parallel=Seven-Zoned==>The planetary spheres

l->all these planets turn about a celestial pole

l->this is the god to be worshipped on a particular day

(e.g. On Sunday, worship Selene)

*If the magician does not like his fate, he asks the god to change it

l->great incentive to perform this spell

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Discussion about PGM XIII

1. God "laughs" the universe into exsistence (different from almost all

other creation myths)

2. magician is told to make unusual popping noise which is supposed to be

similar to the popping noise made by crocodiles (holy creatures?) as they

rise up from the nile river.

3. Magician says the holy names of the god in many different languages,

and inparticular, in various animal languages (bird, baboon, etc.) to

encompass all of god's creatures

4. the story of creation here is a sort of cross between Greco-Roman and

Judeo-Christian stories. I.e., there are many different gods as in

Greco-Roman, but everything (like light, earth, etc.) is created by the

god. For example, from J-C, "and god created light", from G-R, "there is

the goddess of Light", and from this story, "and god created the goddess of

Light"

5. One difference between this story and J-C story is that rather than

haveing animals and things created, the god laughed 7 times and created

more abstract things such as Mind, Soul, Fear, etc.

6. Magician is told to write down sacred words and eat them, thus making

them part of himself.

7. On pg 178, the two columns trasnlate to days of the week starting on

monday on the left side, and the order of the celestial bodies on the right

side (order determined by length of time it took the bodies to "go arround"

the earth).

8. Purpose of this spell is to find out this main/head/top god's name and

once you have it you can do lots of thingss, e.g - find out your fate, and

if you don't like it, ask the main/head/top god to change it.

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Thursday 3-4

Sounds and noises are used to create (xa xa xa, hissing, popismos)

-mimicing sounds of creation

Hieroglyphic representations of gods in the text, such as Horus as a falcn-faced crocodile, appear in this text at a time when most people could not read hieroglyphs

Vowel sequence, voces mysticae and laughter also bring creations into being

All that is done in the Eigth Book of Moses is done in order for "the name" to be revealed to the magician

-possession of the name endows the magician with special abilities, such as invisibility, resurrection of the dead and healing powers

-through the use of the name the magician claims and possesses the powers of that being

Process

-preliminary purification of self and house timed with the new moon at time of Aires

-sacrifices are performed

-"the key" is consulted in order to interpret the two charts

-one chart is the order of the days of the week, the second (The Seven-Zoned) represents the order of the celestial spheres in which it was believed the Earth occupied the center

-once the day of the week is determined, one must use the key to determine which god is in charge of the celestial pole and the hour at this time

-one must then initiate oneself to these gods by "eating" them (p. 178)

Why are there three different versions of the Book of Moses?

Perhaps these magicians were trying to get the spell right by bringing the versions in circulation together

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"8th Book of Moses"

- everytime God laughed, something was created

- God can create by also pop pop sounds, haha sounds, and hissing sounds

- the crocodiles also maked popping sounds...the falcon face is a referenceto a god

- God also used a sequence of vowels: A E I H O (upside down U) Y

- there is a lot of use of vocas magica

- able to express god's name in human and animal languages; by making the sounds of creation, you have the power of the god that you are calling

- the person must have completed the preliminary purification process tospeak to the gods and call their attention

- must call the gods upon a purified house; no one could have died in the house

- must perform the ceremony at a specific time of day, time, and year

- it is important to know who is in charge of the zodiac signs planets

Helios Selene

Selene Hermes

Ares Aphrodite

Hermes Helios

Zeus Ares

Aphrodite Zeus

Kronos Kronos

The first column is the order of the days of the week. The second column are the gods in charge of the poles during that day of the week. You must consult "the key" to find out who is in charge of the specific day.

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Friday 3-4

Discussion Notes for the Magician's Craft

I.  Stories within the text of spells

  A.  Creation of the universe to explain the mystic symbols--9 from god creating the universe

    B. Parallels--Graf's voces magicae reveal special knowledge about the God; not a story everyone would know about the creation of the world

              -- god laughs to create world --- CHA (k-ha).  Very similar to genesis, god creates light, water, earth

        --significance of the number 7: days, laughter, vowels, incense.  7 laughs = 14 god, plus one extra pair.  Similar to Nordic and Egyptian accounts.

             --emphasis on creation of thought forms, ie lesser gods, before the creation of matter.

        --vocal production of creation; god must be invoked in the language of all animals.  NO SPEAKING!  only sounds--falcon, baboon, crocodile, Egyptian, Hebrew.  Heiroglyphs thought to represent the forgotten animal languages.

  C.  Goal of spell:  Get almighty creator god to reveal name in order to gain power to perform fantastic feats.

          --riding crocodile by passing oneself off as the ultimate god.

II.  Structure of spell

   A.  lots of purification--major power wanted, so big sacrifices must be made in return.

B.  Must be timed with the star and moon cycles, which can be found within the Key, now lost.  Caster must know the god of the hour, day, week, month, year--in order to get to the high honcho, must go through bureaucratic red tape first, ie all the lesser gods.

   C.  Two lists:

          --Greek list=planets according to the days of the week

          --7 zoned=planets according to celestial positioning (notes: sun is in the middle since the earth was thought to be in the center of the universe at that time)

D.  Ingest knowledge in forms of dough balls, similar to osmosis.

III.  Part of rites of passage

A.  Separation=purification in our spell.  Can be as simple as a change of clothes, or as complicated as an entire change in a way of life from thought pattern to dietary restrictions.

        B.  Liminality=time in the tent, talking to the god; transient; topsy turvey.

   C.  Reaggregation=rejoin society, but with new powers from the god's name

IV.  What does the god give you?

       A.  Find out your destiny, and if you don't like it, change it.

        --with advent of astronomy, people become more and more concerned that their destiny will be unchangeable. just like the patterns of the starts and planets.--