ANALYSIS OF AZRAEL'S MESSAGE

by
Donald Tyson

You'll notice that the text of Azrael's message is divided into three

parts by two dashed lines.   The top section represents a going out

from the present life condition, and the bottom section, a return

to the starting place once again.   The middle section between the

dashed lines is the process by which this transition, or "journey"

as Azrael calls it, is effected.

The process appears to involve the annihilation of opposites to

produce transcendence.   We perceive a dualistic world.   Every

thing we see or conceive has its opposite.   Only by merging

these opposites into unity can we raise our consciousness above

the usual state.   We can't transcend opposites by mere thinking,

because the process of understanding itself relies on dualism.

The progress toward transcendent awareness has four levels,

based on the nature of the human organism:   "Body" or

sensory perceptions; "Emotion" or feelings of the heart; "Will"

or intellectual activity; and "Soul" - that spiritual part of our

individual human nature that is above knowing, the part that

knows yet is not known.

Let's run through the riddle, shall we?

Take a journey to a place where time is still and you can fly.

A journey indicates a transition from one environment to another,

and an environment is what we perceive and conceive - a physical

journey in the usual sense is not intended, but rather what might

be called an "inner" journey (except there is no inside or outside

really).   When you think about it, if our environment changes, we

assume that we are in a different place, and we are, even if our

body has not physically moved.   We are in a different place when

we dream.   We are even in a different place when our emotions

change, and we see the world in a new light.

A "place where time is still" is a condition that has no past,

present, or future.   There is no movement through time, or in the

stream of time, because the fiction we usually accept that time

is moving, or is a sort of river, is washed away, so to speak, and

we perceive time as a unity, with past and future existing along

side the present, and the present moment encompassing all

eternity.

"And you can fly" indicates a state of bodilessness, where our

soul is released from its case of flesh.   The place we journey to

is not limited by the limitations of the body.   In this place, we

can transcend distance and time as though we were flying

through it.   A similar condition exists for those who travel

astrally, but in astral travel the perception of time and space

are usually similar to those we experience while in the body

(they do not need to be, but these conventions are comforting

to those who astrally project -- they keep astral travelers

from becoming confused or frightened).

If you follow I will promise you will never die.......

"If you follow" signifies that the decision lies with us, it is

not imposed upon us by Azrael.   It also implies that he is our

guide.   "I will promise" is in the future tense - the promise

has not yet been made.   It will be made only if we follow his

directions.   "You will never die" is presumably intended in

a spiritual sense - we will never suffer soul death if we follow

these directions.   This is the promise that will, in the future,

be made provided we follow the instructions we have been

given by Azrael.

Notice that there are 7 dots at the end of this section of the

message.   Seven is the number of the traditional spheres of

the planets, which lie between the earthly realm and the

realm of the fixed stars, which were believed in Gnostic and

Hermetic doctrine to be the homes of enlightened souls.   A

soul that attained gnosis ascended to the stars.   They are

said to be fixed because they do not appear to move against

the backdrop of space (they do move, but very slowly).   It is

the sphere of the zodiac that measures time on Earth, by the

Earth's turning.   With each rotation of the Earth the entire

zodiac passes across the heavens once.   The same cannot be

said of the wandering bodies, or planets, because they move

against the backdrop of the stars, and so are unreliable

time keepers.

We move to the central section of Azrael's message.   The

division of four corresponds with the division of reality into

four worlds: Atziluth, the world or archetypes, or pure deity;

Briah, the world of creation, the archangelic world; Yetzirah,

the world of formation, the angelic realm; and Assiah, the

world of action or manifestation, in which are found matter,

human beings, and lower spirits such as demons.   It is in the

world of Assiah that our ordinary consciousness usually

resides.   Demons are sometimes placed below Assiah, in a

kind of lower realm, but as this division of worlds is usually

presented, we share Assiah with lower spirits.   We are one

with hell, you might say.   This division of reality into four

worlds is found in the teachings of the Kabbalah, and also

in the teachings of modern Western high magic in the Golden

Dawn tradition.

These four worlds are placed on the Tree of the Sephiroth in

three groups of three, with a single sphere left over to

correspond with the lowest world.   The highest world, Atziluth,

is linked with the three highest spheres on the Tree, Kether,

Chokmah and Binah.   The second world, Briah, is associated

with the next triangle of spheres, Chesed, Geburah and

Tiphareth.   The third world, Yetzirah, corresponds with the

next three spheres, Netzach, Hod and Yesod. The lowest world,

Assiah, is linked only with the lowermost sphere on the Tree,

Malkuth, the sphere of the four elements.

Assiah, the lowest world of the macrocosm or universe,

corresponds in the microcosm of man with the human body.

Azrael has presented the duality of the three lower worlds in

terms of order versus chaos -- the highest world is unity, and

so no duality is given for it. The duality of the body is:

Order:   Sexuality, Dance.

Chaos:   Pain, Endurance.

Sexual orgasm is the physical pleasure against which all other

pleasures are measured.   It is the height of physical ecstasy,

albeit, very brief.

I see a progression in the double terms for each world.   The

ultimate physical pleasure, orgasm, progresses to dance, the

physical expression of sensual joy, the ecstasy of the body.

Pain, on the other hand, is the opposite of orgasm - a kind of

of anti-orgasm that is so close to the pleasure of climax,

though in an opposite sense, that it is possible for the human

soul to invert the two, and substitute pain for pleasure.   This

happens in the case of masochism and in certain types of

insanity.

Pain leads to endurance.   When we hurt, we seek to avoid or

alleviate that pain, but when the pain cannot be suppressed

or escaped, we must endure it.   This is the essential meaning

of the Nyd or Nauthiz rune - "need or necessity, that which

must be endured." It is one of the fundamental realities of

existence.

The physical expression of sexuality, not only sexual pleasure

but the whole range of sexual attraction and interaction, is

dance.   This progress is creative.   Dance focuses erotic

feelings, urges and impulses in specific physical actions.

Dance is a socially acceptable substitute for love-making.

The most basic imperative of the body is procreation through

sexual union, the bringing together of male and female.   By

contrast, pain causes individuals to be drawn into themselves

and separated from others.   Nobody can really share their

pain.   It must be endured in solitude, even when surrounded

by friends and well-wishers.

Whatever way you choose, is the door to use, for this to be.

This line is perhaps the most difficult in the entire message

of Azrael.   It indicates that a choice of methods is possible.

But is it a choice between order and chaos?   Can the path

of enlightenment be walked through pain as well as through

sexual union?   The practices of hermits and ascetics in

various religions would seem to indicate yes.   They

transcend the dictates of the body through denial of it's

urges and pleasures.

It is interesting that Azrael places the practices of abstinence

from sexual union and pleasure in the category of chaos.   This

is just the opposite of what most monks and nuns would like to

believe.   By denying the pleasures of the flesh, religious

ascetics would like to think they are following a higher law

by imposing order on their unruly, chaotic flesh.   Azrael seems

to indicate just the opposite.

Another traditional path to enlightenment through physical

sensation is the way of Tantra, which is the way of loving union

and physical ecstasy.   The coupling by Azrael of sexuality and

dance suggests that the sects that seek ecstasy through dance,

such as the famous whirling dervishes, are walking the path of

order and of sensual delight.   There are many esoteric groups

that use rhythmic movements of the body to transcend the

physical world.   For example, Jews rhythmically bow their

upper bodies while reading the Torah.   The cults of Voudoun

(Voodoo) rely on dance to enter a trance state in which they

are possessed or "ridden" by spiritual beings.   Snake-

handling sects also rely on music and dance to change their

state of consciousness.   Dance is used in rituals of modern

Wicca.

But are these two paths to be walked separately?   Are we to

find transcendence by sexuality and dance, or on the contrary

by pain and endurance?   Or are we to somehow merge the two

and annihilate these opposites by union - to pursue sexual

pleasure to the point of pain, and to dance to the limit of

physical endurance?   The latter view is close to that held by

Aleister Crowley, who in his ritual practices followed sexual

pleasure to exhaustion and pain.   So far as I know, Crowley

did not advocate the practice of dancing to physical

exhaustion and collapse, but this technique would not be out

of keeping with his general methods.   He did advocate the

practice of sexuality until pleasure itself was transcended.

These techniques of transcendence, whether we are to employ

them separately or in combination, are said by Azrael to be

doorways through which we must pass in order to fulfill this

stage of his teaching, to make it actual - "for this to be."

Emotion:

Order:   Desire, Love (Singing, Mantras).

Chaos:   Despair, Rage (War Cries, Humiliation).

In the macrocosm, the world of Yetzirah is the world of

formation.   This should be understood as the level at which

our creative impulses receive their forms in our minds, and

take on significant meaning for us, but are not yet expressed

in the physical world.   This world may be associated with

Yesod, the sphere of the moon that rules over dreams,

fantasies, illusions, visions, hallucinations and the astral

realm.   More broadly speaking, the world of Yetzirah is

placed in the triangle of Sephiroth formed by Netzach, Hod,

and Yesod together.

Remember, we are working our way backwards from the

lowest world to the highest world, and are climbing the

Tree of the Sephiroth, as we follow the formula of Azrael.

We are tracing backwards the process by which a divine

spark becomes a physical being, for the purpose of

regaining temporarily the transcendent awareness of the

highest unified reality, Atziluth, the God View.

The opposite paths that Azrael presents on the level of

Yetzirah, the formative level, are desire leading to love,

and despair leading to rage.   Azrael has been kind

enough to offer use practical suggestions about how the

transcendence of this level is to be achieved.   The

orderly path of desire and love can be walked with the aid

of singing and mantras - that is, chanting.   Song on the

level of the emotions corresponds with dance on the level

of the body.

Dance uses music, whether explicit or implicit - even when

someone dances in silence, there is musical rhythm in the

motions of their body.   Song combines music with words.

Mantras are chants that use words and possess a musical

rhythm.   In my opinion, this path of order in Yetzirah

requires that words formed on the living breath be

employed in combination with rhythm or music - it is not

enough to play instrumental music.   However, when

walking the first or lowest path of order in Assiah, the

music that accompanies the dance should be only

instrumental music - voice should not be used at this

level, not even in the inarticulate form of humming or

crooning.

The music of the drum, and string instruments strummed or

hammered, is best in Assiah, but when singing or chanting

in Yetzirah, the music of wind instruments that require the

breath should be emphasized. As a practical matter, if the

person singing or chanting is making the music, stringed

instruments playing melody lines are best, such as the violin

or cello - these instruments emulate the sound of the human

voice.

Since the path of order in Yetzirah is "Desire, Love" the songs

must be hymns, odes and songs of love that express an

admiration and a desire for union.   They should be directed

at the Creative Source.   Religious songs and chants fall into

this category.

The path of chaos in this world is "Despair, Rage."   This

seems at first consideration difficult to understand.   But there

is a form of ancient worship that relied upon creating mental

and emotional fury.   The Bacchantes of ancient Greece

celebrated in their Mysteries the death and dismemberment of

the god Dionysus (Roman: Bacchus) by working themselves

into a state of frenzy and tearing a man apart limb from limb.

The despair on this path is probably the despair, ritually

enacted, over the death of an enlightened or divine teacher

and leader.   The wild cries of the Bacchantes were said to

freeze the blood of anybody who chanced to hear them.   These

would be the "War Cries" mentioned for this stage in the

process.   Similarly, the Berserkers of Northern Europe were a

secret sect devoted to Odin, a god who died on the Tree

Yggdrasill in sacrifice to his followers, and then came back to

life.   The Berserkers would work themselves up into a

murderous frenzy of rage and emit blood-curdling war cries.

They were not only feared by their enemies in battle, but by

their unfortunate neighbors, who never knew what would set

off their blood-lust.

The use of the word "humiliation" is interesting for this path

of chaos in Yetzirah.   It probably refers to the practice of

ritual and public self-abuse by the worshippers of certain

deities in the ancient world.   The male followers of the

goddess Cybele were known to castrate themselves, and

walked in sacred procession lashing themselves with whips

and scourges until their blood flowed freely.   By this self-

inflicted humiliation of their own bodies, and by the pain of

their self-flagellation, they achieved intense physical pleasure

and a state of ecstasy.   We see a similar form of self-humiliation

today among Catholic worshippers in the Philippines, and

among Islamics during the holy festivals of Islam.   Islamics

sometimes publicly whip themselves in procession until the

blood flows, and Catholic worshippers in the Philippines have

themselves publicly crucified and inflict public abuse on their

bodies in other ways.   In a much milder form, this "humiliation"

mentioned by Azrael shows itself in the actions of the Hare

Krishnas who stand around in public places wearing strange

costumes and chanting, thereby deliberately attracting derision

from passers-by.

Almost there, soon you'll see, the reason why you came to me.

We are "almost there" in the sense that we have now passed up

through two of the three lower worlds where duality exists.   The

words "soon you'll see" refer to the self-realization that will be

achieved once the level of the soul, the world of Atziluth, is

reached.   What we will see is "the reason why you came to me".

This is very interesting, because it indicates that none of us know

know why we seek enlightenment while we are in the process of

seeking it.   We are driven by dissatisfaction with our present

condition, but we cannot say exactly what we expect to accomplish

by rising through the levels of the Tree because we can only know

know the highest state once we experience it.   We may have heard

descriptions of nirvana, or gnosis, or samadhi, but we cannot know

these states until we attain them ourselves.

Azrael says we are coming to him, implying that he and the state of

unity that exists at the level of the soul are one.   Azrael is in

harmony with the All. Azrael and the All are One. He is only the

"help of God" when he expresses himself on the lower levels - in the

highest level, he is "in the presence of the first" and cannot be

distinguished from God because there is only One Thing in this level,

and it is without division.

Will:

Order:   Knowledge, Wisdom.

Chaos:   Power, Possession.

Here we have the third level, when moving up the Tree of the

Sephiroth from bottom to top, the world of Briah, the creative world

of the archangels, located in the triangle of the three Sephiroth,

Tiphareth-Geburah-Chokmah.   In the microcosm of man, this level

expresses itself through the will, which is a function of the mind,

since will must express itself in some explicit conception - it is the

will to accomplish, the will to achieve, the will to change or make

or destroy.

The path of order on the level of the will, the creative world of Briah,

is knowledge leading to wisdom.   This is the level of the mental

powers of humanity, just as the first level referred to the sensations

and the second to the emotions.   The acquisition of knowledge leads

to wisdom. It is the will that drives the desire to acquire knowledge.

Just as on the level of the body, the imperative is physical sex, and on

the level of the emotions the imperative is emotional love, on the

level of the mind the imperative is the achievement of wisdom.

The opposite but equal path of chaos on this level of will is power

leading to possession.   Will can be applied inwardly to control the

self, or it can be applied outwardly to control others and the greater

universe.   When will is applied outwardly, it expresses itself, not by

the acquisition of self-knowledge, but by the acquisition of power,

which is a form of knowledge over others - knowledge by which they

may be controlled.   When we gain control over another person, we

tend to fall into the error that we have made that person an extension

of ourselves, a kind of possession.   We can cause a person we

control by our will to do what we want, just as we can cause our own

hand to do what we want by an act of will.   This sense of possession

is an illusion, ultimately, since every human being is free in an absolute

sense, but it can be a powerful seduction that leads us away from efforts

to gain control over our selves, to "know ourselves" in the Pythagorean

sense.

Again, does Azrael intend us to understand that the path of order should

be followed and the path of chaos should be avoided?   Or does he mean

that either path will lead to transcendence if followed to its fulfillment?

Or does he mean that we must combine the two paths to annihilate these

opposites, and in this way transcend this level of the microcosm?

Sensations and Emotions lock, Now let's have our little talk.

Name what it is you ask?

The level of sensation and the level of emotion, by being transcended,

become one, and unite or "lock."  The level of will is the level of the

intellect, and the vehicle of the intellect is human speech, both words

uttered mentally and words expressed physically on the breath.   Only

when the will is rightly directed and focused can the correct, meaningful

question be asked.   At this level we become aware of what we could not

understand in the previous level of the emotions - the reason for striving

to transcend dualities in the first place, or as Azrael puts it, "why you

came to me."

The "little talk" we have with Azrael is the inner conversation with the

holy guardian angel - the dialogue between the lower self and the

higher self that has the potential to occur in any life, but which seldom

happens due to the layers of ignorance and distraction that obscure it.

Once we obtain wisdom at the level of will, the world of Briah, we are

finally able to ask the right question.   And we cannot ask it before we

successfully transcend this level.

The question involves the act of naming:   "Name what it is you ask."

To name a thing is to draw a magic circle around its essential identity,

to encapsulate and embody its fundamental being.   We hold things

in our minds with names, just as we hold things physically with our

hands.   To name something is to make it your own, and to gain power

over it.   By expressing the most meaningful question in our mind, we

identify and gain power over the subject that is most important to us.

Soul:

Sensation, Emotion and Will prevailed, Your Soul through this becomes

unveiled.   Take what it is you seek.

Finally we reach the highest world of Atziluth, which in the microcosm

is equivalent to the level of soul. This has its place on the Tree of the

Sephiroth in the triangle formed by Binah-Chokmah-Kether.   These

spheres are known as the Supernals.   Notice that there is no set of

opposites on this level in Azrael's text.   At the level of soul, all is one.

We can only attain this highest level when we have passed through and

transcended the three lower levels.   By the words "Sensation, Emotion

and Will prevailed," Azrael is making a pun.   In coming to the world

of Atziluth, we must pre-veil the lower worlds of duality.   First these

worlds must be obscured or covered up, for as long as we continue to

experience their natures, we can never escape them.   By veiling the

three lower worlds, we unveil the world of the soul, the highest world

of Atziluth that always exists, but is obscured by the distractions of the

lower levels of our human nature.   The highest world does not need to

be created.   It is inescapable and undeniable, if only the lower worlds

that constantly clamor for out attention are temporarily silenced or

stilled by annihilating their dualities.

By the final words of this level, "   Take what it is you seek," Azrael

implies two things: that we will finally know what is important in our

lives when we attain this level of consciousness; and that once knowing

it, we will be able to obtain it easily.   This is what Aleister Crowley

intended when he wrote about the doctrine of True Will.   The True Will

of any person is the fulfillment of that individual's life purpose.   True

Will can only be obtained after it is recognized.   If we do not know what

our True Will is, it may be right beside us within easy reach, but we will

not possess the wit to take it.   We are like the shipwrecked sailor who

wandered over a beach of diamonds, and might have been wealthy if

only he had reached down to scoop up a handful of pebbles, but did not

recognize the riches beneath his feet.

In my own writings, I refer to this final goal of life as destiny.   Any

person's destiny is the perfect fulfillment of that person's life within the

context of his or her nature and circumstances.   The perfect fulfillment

of destiny must result in perfect happiness, because it is the ultimate state

of harmony.   But we do not know what our destiny may be, and for this

reason are unable to obtain it and remain miserable to varying degrees.

Azrael is saying that by transcending the duality of the three lower levels

of our human nature, we automatically become aware of our destiny, and

once we know what it is, we have no trouble achieving it.   When we

attain the level of the soul, which is the spiritual level of the individual

organism, we become one with Azrael - or more accurately, we recognize

that we are one with Azrael, just as Azrael, residing in that level, is one

with the highest Source of creation.

The end of Azrael's little nursery rhyme describes the coming back from

the world of Atziluth to the world of Assiah, where our usual consciousness

functions and has its home during our incarnate existence.   It also

describes the process of creation, both the divine creation of the world

world, and the creation of works of art.

But wait?   Aren't you forgetting the way back?

Once we have attained Atziluth, we lose awareness of duality, along with

any interest or desire for the dualistic levels of existence.   But a living

human being cannot exist solely at the level of Atziluth.   Unless we return

back down the Tree of the Sephiroth, we will cease to exist in the flesh,

because we will lose interest in protecting and maintaining our bodies.

Since we have forgotten the process by which we ascended to the level

of soul, Azrael reminds us by describing the process in reverse.

All things are realized by the soul, interpreted into your world by the

mind, driven by the heart, and created by the hand.

Any creative act -- which is to say, any act that manifests an impulse of

the higher self in the world - begins with a spark at the level of Atziluth,

a sort of blind urge to become.   This spark is akin to an unarticulated and

unexpressed flash of intuition.   It is given a name, which is to say, an

identity, at the level of Briah.   It is energized or infused with the desire to

exist at the level of Yetzirah.   Finally, it is shaped into a physical form at

the level of Assiah.

Having attained the world of Atziluth, the microcosm becomes the

macrocosm.   We are described by Azrael in the role of creator gods.

From the highest level of our being we can extend down the creative

impulse to the lowest world of action successively through our soul, our

mind, our heart, and our hand.

After climbing through the four worlds of the Tree of the Sephiroth, we

must return again to Malkuth in Assiah, but we do not return empty-

handed.   We bear forth our own rebirth in our hand like a precious

jewel picked up on the shore of Atziluth.

Love & Lust,

Azrael

The angel Azrael closes his nursery rhyme with another duality, "Love

and Lust."   This is both voluntary surrender and violent rape; both a

gentle giving forth and a passionate taking.   We have once again

returned to the world of Assiah, and so can only understand in terms

of opposites.   Love and lust always exist together, but in our veiled

ignorance, we focus on first one, then the other, just as when we read

this final salutation of Azrael, we read first the word "Love" and only

afterwards the word "Lust."   If you examine your own thought

processes, you will discover that you cannot think of two things at

once, no matter how cluttered and chaotic your thought process may

seem to be.   At any given instant we have in mind one thing.   This is

an inevitable function of existing below the level of Briah, the level of

the mind in the microcosm.   Only when we transcend, for a time, the

level of mind, can we perceive love and lust together at one and the

same instant.

This little message from Azrael may aptly be called a nursery rhyme,

because it is addressed from a parent to his child; from a being at a

higher level of awareness to beings at a lower and more limited level

of awareness.   The somewhat simplistic rhymes and language it uses

reflect this need Azrael has to simplify his message before we can hope

to understand it, even in an imperfect sense, which is the only sense

available to us below the level of soul.

Azrael's formula of transcendence contains a great deal of information

in a highly compressed format.   I've done my best in this cursory

analysis to lay out the points that are the most obvious to me.   How we

are to transcend each level, whether through the path of order alone,

the path of chaos alone, or by combining both into one path, is not

clear, but I am inclined to favor the latter interpretation.

On the first level of the body, sexuality is pursued to the point of pain,

and dance to the point of exhaustion.

On the second level of the emotions, desire is pursued to heart-

wrenching despair, and love to ecstatic frenzy.

On the third level of the mind, knowledge of the self is merged with

power over the world, and awareness of our inner reality becomes one

with an awareness of what we usually look upon as the outer reality.

It must be understood that all these levels exist together simultaneously.

We merely are aware of one or the other, because as I explained above,

we can only think of one thing at any given moment.   When we are

momentarily aware of a world, we inhabit that world.   Our awareness

usually bounces around like an India rubber ball between the three

lower worlds, with most of its time spent in the lowest world of Assiah,

the sensory world of the flesh.   As a rough rule of thumb, we might say

we spend half as much time in Yetzirah, the world of emotion, as we

spend in Assiah, the world of sensation; and half as much time in Briah,

the world of will, as we spend in Yetzirah.   But above Briah there is a

sort of barrier or Abyss that is difficult to cross.   This is the transition

transition between duality and oneness.

How to cross this barrier in our awareness, if only temporarily, is the

message Azrael intends to convey with his nursery rhyme.   It is a

deceptively simple text.   But important documents often appear

simplistic at first glance.

Song Of Azrael - Donald Tyson