‘News From The Pews’
A voice from the pews of St Stephen’s Cathedral, Issue 22, 18
February 2000
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Check
the ‘News From The Pews’ web site: www.ozemail.com.au/~trps
‘News From The Pews’
A voice from the pews of St Stephen’s Cathedral, Issue 22, 18
February 2000
|
|
Check
the ‘News From The Pews’ web site: www.ozemail.com.au/~trps
The immediate
concern of News From The Pews is the
removal from St Stephen’s Cathedral of the satanic shrine by the artist Fiona
Foley. The Human Search For God shrine has been comprehensively exposed as
a shrine to Lucifer, mockingly packaged as an Aboriginal tribute. The shrine contains many layers of hidden
meaning which mock traditional Aboriginal and Christian spirituality. We have seen how the key to reading the
messages in the shrine’s seven panels lies in the published codes of the
occultist Aleister Crowley, specifically his codebook and cult classic, 777.
In recent issues, we examined the shrine’s references to alchemy, the ‘black art’ of achieving union with the devil. We also examined a number of Ms Foley’s hidden messages, including the ‘betrayal from within’ of St Stephen’s Cathedral. As News From The Pews enters its third year of publication, in this issue we examine how Cathedral artist Ms Fiona Foley has presented in the shrine the entire grade structure of Crowley’s cult. Ms Foley’s presentation is based upon numbers and the unique ways Crowley used them. Crowley used numbers as codes and as a kind of shorthand for conveying the contents of his occult religion. This is the way the numbers work in the shrine. News From The Pews invites the reader to take a copy of this issue into the shrine and to examine the claims on site. Look at the imagery in the shrine, read News From The Pews & judge for yourself…
Crowley’s Grades of
‘Spirituality’
In Crowley’s satanic religion,
there are eleven levels of spirituality through which believers can progress –
from probationer level to the peak level, called Ipissimus.
Crowley has a system of shorthand
using numbers to refer to each level, e.g., a reference to ‘0=0’ means
probationer level. This operates in
much the same way as any other coded message, where the meaning is intended to
be disguised. The full list of
Crowley’s grades of spiritual progress is:
10=1 Ipissimus
9=2 Magus
8=3 Magister
Templi
7=4 Adeptus Exemptus
6=5 Adeptus Major
5=6 Adeptus Minor
4=7 Philosophus
3=8 Practicus
2=9 Zelator
1=10 Neophyte
0=0 Probationer
What follows below is an outline
of how, using Crowley’s own methods, Ms Foley has coded references to all of
these levels of spiritual attainment into the shrine.
4=7 and 7=4
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1 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
7 |
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4 |
5 |
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We have in previous issues noted
the number and configuration of the panels in the shrine - 7 panels in all,
with 4 square panels forming a square.
We noted how these four/square panels, 3/4/5/6 form a
Crowley-style ‘function of four’. We
also noted how, taking this ‘function of four’ as one unit, the 7 panels
function as another ‘function of four’ – 1, 2, 3/4/5/6,
& 7. In this sense, the 7
panels are 4 and the 4 are 7: 4=7 and
7=4.
As listed above, 4=7 and 7=4 are references to two of the grades
of spiritual attainment in Crowley’s cult.
Below is how the shrine’s five leaf images are presented in panel 3 and, immediately beneath, in panel 4. As we will see, the leaf images – and their number and placement – serve as the basis of the shrine’s references to yet more of Crowley’s grades of spiritual attainment.
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(Panel 3) L L |
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(Panel 4)L L L |
5=6
and 6=5
In an earlier issue, we noted that the shrine contains 5
leaf images, (2+3). We also noted that
the leaves, when multiplied instead of simply summed, amounted to 6,
(3x2). For Ms Foley, this simple
addition and multiplication were a way of presenting Crowley’s notions, 5=6 and
6=5. Note also that 5=6 and 6=5 are references to two more of Crowley’s grades of spiritual
attainment.
Note that the same 3 leaves (panel 4) and the 2 leaves
(panel 3) also yield more of Crowley’s grades, this time using functions of 2 and 3 to derive the
numbers 8 and 9. In Crowley’s terms,
the 3 (leaves) to the power of 2, or 3², or 3x3 = 9 and the 2 (leaves)
to the power of 3, or 2³ or 2x2x2 = 8.
To most people this means very little, but to the Crowley
fans who can read Ms Foley’s art, this is a direct reference to Crowley’s work What Is A ‘Number’? Or A ‘Symbol’? in
his codebook 777, where he talks about “transforming a three-dimensional
expansion of two into a two-dimensional expansion of three”, or in his terms,
how 8 (2³) and 9 (3²) can somehow correspond.
Using Crowley’s unique logic, if 8 and 9 can be equated, one
can say that the 3 (leaves), when squared, are transformed via the number 9
into the number 8. Similarly, the 2
(leaves), when cubed, are transformed via the number 8 into the number 9. Such is the ‘alchemy’ (or transformation into something else) of numbers in Ms
Foley’s shrine.
In this sense then, the 3 (leaves) in panel four become 8
and the 2 (leaves) in panel three become 9.
This is of particular interest to Ms Foley because 3=8, 8=3, 2=9 and 9=2 are references to four more of the levels of spiritual
progression in Crowley’s cult.
1=10
and 10=1
The figures ‘1’ and ‘10’ are drawn from panel 6. The figure ‘1’ is clearly outlined against
the dark background by the white bones along the left edge of the panel. The round, darkish moon on the right of the
panel serves as ‘0’. Here the notion is
that, depending upon whether the darkish moon is included, the panel portrays either
1 or 10. This particular ‘alchemy’ yields yet two more of
Crowley’s grades: 1=10 and 10=1.
0=0
The two round ‘0’ figures are in
panels 3 and 6: the black sun and darkish moon, identified from Ms Foley’s 1988
painting, Maningrida. They are
of equal size and in corresponding positions.
Crowley himself refers to the sun and moon as ‘alchemical symbolism’ and
as representing the occult notion of ‘balance’. Here, the two round ‘0’ images appear in balance, in a kind of
equilibrium: 0=0.
What Does All This
Mean?
Codes are used to hide meanings
from some whilst at the same time conveying a message to others. In this case, using Crowley’s published
codes, we can see that Ms Foley has coded into her shrine the entire grade
structure of Crowley’s cult. What we
have here is nothing less than a celebration of Crowley’s satanic religion in
St Stephen’s. It is impossible for all
this to have been merely coincidental. So, what is all this doing in a Catholic
cathedral? And why is nothing being
done about it?
Over to you, Your Grace … ?
Tim
Pemble-Smith
3 – 111
Central Avenue, Indooroopilly Q 4068
after hours:
(07) 3871 2047
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know at: trps@ozemail.com.au
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