Thank you, as ever, for hosting these Magic Mondays. This week I have three questions for you regarding the FHR.
1. I am currently working on the opening/closing of the Temple and I was wondering if there were any specific visualizations involved in the purification of the Temple by the four Elements.
I am asking because I had some spontaneous mental imagery while clearing and cleansing the Temple according to the ancient ways.
After walking with the fan around the Temple, in my imagination a faint yellow(ish) glow lingered around the fan when I took it back to the altar. When I took the fan from the altar again to clear and cleanse the Temple a second time during the Closing, I sensed the yellow glow was still there. So after walking around the Temple with the fan it seemed to make sense to raise the fan again to the east to send the energy back to its abode, and I saw the glow vanish. (This applied to all four elements, btw, not only to Air.)
To put it differently, I felt that in the Opening the energies of the elements were invoked into each symbol prior to walking around the temple, while in the Closing the same energies were banished from the symbols subsequent to walking around the temple.
My question: is such a mental imagery appropriate? I’m still at the beginning of my practice of the opening/closing ceremony, so I’d like to know if this makes sense before giving it a chance to stick around, i.e. to become a "stable" part of my experience with the ceremony. (And if you think this is but nitpicking, by all means let me know and I’ll make sure I don’t bother you again with petty details.)
2. Speaking of Opening and Closing, I don’t recall seeing a Temple form of that ceremony, i.e. with all Temple officers, in the four FHR volumes. In other words, I now know the ritual procedure to open and close a Temple of the FHR on my own, but I’m not sure how exactly this should be done if I were together with other officers.
This said, I realize I’m not anywhere near needing such a ceremony, as I am a Candidate working on my own, but I thought I should ask, for the sake of completeness.
3. In your discussion of numerology last year you noted that many readers of the commentariat with birth number 8 found that the description did not fit them, which led you to conclude that the description might need some updating. Did you have a chance to gather sufficient information to revise your description of birth number 8?
Thank you for your time, and sorry if I'm asking too much after the intense weekend you just had!
Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose
Thank you, as ever, for hosting these Magic Mondays. This week I have three questions for you regarding the FHR.
1. I am currently working on the opening/closing of the Temple and I was wondering if there were any specific visualizations involved in the purification of the Temple by the four Elements.
I am asking because I had some spontaneous mental imagery while clearing and cleansing the Temple according to the ancient ways.
After walking with the fan around the Temple, in my imagination a faint yellow(ish) glow lingered around the fan when I took it back to the altar. When I took the fan from the altar again to clear and cleanse the Temple a second time during the Closing, I sensed the yellow glow was still there. So after walking around the Temple with the fan it seemed to make sense to raise the fan again to the east to send the energy back to its abode, and I saw the glow vanish. (This applied to all four elements, btw, not only to Air.)
To put it differently, I felt that in the Opening the energies of the elements were invoked into each symbol prior to walking around the temple, while in the Closing the same energies were banished from the symbols subsequent to walking around the temple.
My question: is such a mental imagery appropriate? I’m still at the beginning of my practice of the opening/closing ceremony, so I’d like to know if this makes sense before giving it a chance to stick around, i.e. to become a "stable" part of my experience with the ceremony. (And if you think this is but nitpicking, by all means let me know and I’ll make sure I don’t bother you again with petty details.)
2. Speaking of Opening and Closing, I don’t recall seeing a Temple form of that ceremony, i.e. with all Temple officers, in the four FHR volumes. In other words, I now know the ritual procedure to open and close a Temple of the FHR on my own, but I’m not sure how exactly this should be done if I were together with other officers.
This said, I realize I’m not anywhere near needing such a ceremony, as I am a Candidate working on my own, but I thought I should ask, for the sake of completeness.
3. In your discussion of numerology last year you noted that many readers of the commentariat with birth number 8 found that the description did not fit them, which led you to conclude that the description might need some updating. Did you have a chance to gather sufficient information to revise your description of birth number 8?
Thank you for your time, and sorry if I'm asking too much after the intense weekend you just had!
R.