12

An Australian-Original Magical Cosmology

Nevill Drury

231-254

"In the late 1850s spiritualism had been introduced to Australia ... -- taking hold first in the regional town of Ballarat, Victoria, where there was goldrush exploration, and soon afterwards in the city of Melbourne itself ... . A group associated with American astrologer W. H. Chainey, known as the Gnostic Theosophical Society, came into being after Chainey toured Australia in 1886.

Meanwhile, the co-founder of the New York and later Adyar (India)- based Theosophical Society, Colonel Henry Olcott, visited Australia in 1891. By 1985 there were lodges of the Australasian Section of the Theosophical Society ... in Melbourne, Hobart [, Tasmania] and Wellington, New Zealand." (vide Drury & Tillett 1980, pp. 15, 20)

"There was also a small branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in Sydney, led by Vyvyan Deacon and active in the 1920s, but its principal activities were ... Masonic rituals, Rosicrucianism and the exploration of aphrodisiacs and "astral projection"" (vide Drury & Tillett 1980, pp. 29-30).

"Norton was also a natural trance artist ..., and as a result of her visionary explorations of trance states portrayed a wide range of supernatural beings in her paintings and drawings. A selection of these extraordinary artworks was published in 1952, in a ... limited-edition publication, The Art of Rosaleen Norton. Norton depicted naked women wrestling with reptilean elementals or plying on the backs of winged griffins, gods who were both male and female, and demonic forms with menacing claw-tipped wings."

"Rosaleen Miriam Norton was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1917, the third of three sisters. ... The Nortons migrated to Australia from New Zealand in 1925 and settled in the Sydney suburb of Lindfield on the city's north shore. ...

In 1940 Norton began to experiment with self-hypnosis as a means of inducing automatic drawing. She was already familiar with the trance methods of the Surrealists and especially admired the work of Salvador Dali (1904-89) and Yves Tanguy (1900-1955) who, like other artists in their movement, had explored techniques of encouraging the subconscious {read "supraconscious"} mind to manifest its visionary {viz., divine} contents {viz., perception of supernatural worlds}. Sometimes the Surrealists ... experimented with drugs or documented their dream experiences with great detail in order to develop a greater knowledge of the "alternative {viz., praeternatural} reality" of the subconscious {read "supraconscious"} mind."

p. 233

[quoted from 1949 interview at the University of Melbourne, published in Drury 2009a] "These experiments ["with self-hypnosis"] ... culminated in a period of

extra-sensory perception,

{sic : correct to "subtle-body-mediated-sensory perception", not "extra-sensory perception"}

together with a prolonged series of symbolic visions."

p. 234

"She also conducted magical ceremonies dressed in a tiger-skin robe ..., and would often experience ... a living reality when she entered a trance state. Meanwhile, her art continued to to reflect the entities she encountered in her visions, including a variety of devilish creatures {read "creators", not "creatures"}, half animal / half human pagan deities ... . Norton lived in a world populated by magical and astral entities ... the ancient gods and goddesses ..., and

one could deny their call only at great personal cost."

{implying that if anyone were to deny pagan deities in favor of Christ, the pagan deities would inflict on the Christian some sort of terrible poinalty, a fact well-known in shamanry}

"For her, divinity could be "divided" into a number of gods and goddesses

{Many religions teach the multipiicity of deities, such as the numerous Pan-es, etc.

and these ruling deities ... were able to exist and function in more that one

dimension of reality."

{"Plane of existence" is a better (and more appropriate) expression than "dimension of reality".}

p. 236

"Hecate ... is also especially associated with ghosts; Hecate could also cause nightmares. Accompanied by barking dogs (von Rudloff 1999:121) and hordes of

spirits of the "restless dead" -- those people unable to find their way to Hades (ibid.:123) --

{preta-s}

Hecate was sometimes called kleidophoros ("key-bearer") and as gate-keeper of Hades she was able to let spirits in and out of the Underworld (ibid.:95-6). Hecate was worshipped only at night; dogs and black lambs were offered to her".

p. 250, n. 13

"other offerings to Hecate included ... eels and mullet. See Rabinowitz (1998:62)."

{Alike to Hekate's bitch Hekabe (who "threw herself into the Hellespont" ("H&QuH"), "Hina ... throws herself into the sea and ... has an encounter with Tuna ["Eel"] ... . ... When Tuna comes ..., Maui chops him to pieces." (MM&L, s.v. "Hina", p. 53b)}

p. 250, n. 12

"Marquardt also notes that Hecate may have become identified ... with the Thessalian goddess Einoda, who was similarly associated with witchcraft. See Marquardt (1981:252)."

{The name /Hekate/ 'Hundred' is cognate with /S`ata-rupa/ 'Hundred-Forms', the name of the wife of (EDP, s.v. "Daks.ina") Svayambhuva Manu, whose name 'Self-Transfiguration' is a reference to the shape-shifting methods of witchcraft.}

p. 236

"Lilith ... uttered the magical name of God, rose into the air, and flew off to the Red Sea, a place ... full of lascivious demons. There she indulged herself in unbridled promiscuity giving rise to more than a hundred demonic offspring each day ([Patai 1990]:223)."

p. 237

[quoted from Jung 1919, pp. 153-4 :] "Lilith raised herself into the air through the magic of the name of God and hid herself in the sea. Adam forced her back with the help of three angels. Lilith became a nightmare, a Lamia".

"For Norton, however, Lilith was "Queen of Air and ... of Night"".

{Sumerian /LIL/ 'wind'; and <ibri^ /LayIL/ 'night'}

"In ... The Art of Rosaleen Norton there are references to a number of magical beings from various cultural traditions ... . They include

Bucentauro {Bou-kentauro- 'Ox[headed]-kentaur'}, whom Norton describes as a "type of eidolon {idol}" ...;

{"Bucintoro, Bucentoro or Bucentaur (Bucentauro in Latin) was the maesta nave (state galley or ducal barge) of the doges of Venice which was used on ceremonial and sacramental events, such as the Festa della Sensa (on Ascension Day)" ("BSGDV") -- its "42 oars" ("FS") were perhaps intended (as "oars" are -- BD, p. 64 -- WDL-t completed eyen, similar to the eyen painted on the prows of Hellenic ships) to symbolize the 125th chapter's 42 ethical principles (BD, pp. clxvi-clxviii).}

Eloi {(Strong's 433) >lowahh-i^ 'My god [, my god, why hast Thou forsaken me?' (Matthaios 27:46; Markos 15:34)]}, the "phantasy spirit of Jupiter" [p. 250, n. 19 : "The Secret Doctrine ([1897]...:ii:301 and iv:108) ... ascribes this reference to the planetary spirit of Jupiter to ... Origen" {"(Origen, Contra Celsum, Bk VI, XXIV-XXXVIII)" ("PS")}];

{"ST. ELOI" "a goldsmith" (HB, p. 111, fn. *), however, would better match Aztec XIPE Totec, and thus perhaps S`IPI-vis.t.a.}

Makalath , the Laugher, described as "an archangel ... that manifests ... as humour";

{This is the S^amaritan textual variant for queen /Bas`mat/ in B-Re>s^it 36:17 (BHS:G, p. 270). The meaning (of /bos`em/) is 'perfume '(MHED), which may refer, in Lurianic qabbalah (and relating to gnostic cosmogony), to the primordial breaking of the divine perfume-vessels. /Makalat/ is Strong's 4361 /makkolet/ 'nourishment' : goddess Gandha-rvi nourisheth by aroma.}

Fohat, "the dynamic energy of cosmic ideation" ... {Chinese [p. 251, n. 20 : cited in The Secret Doctrine 81 & 170-1]};

{Strong's 6355 PaH.AT-Mo^>ab 'Snare from Bottling (>o^b)', with allusion to jnun (genies) who survive being bottled-up; cf. the armored "bottle-fish" who survive being stranded ("G&KM-F&B-F").}

Erzulie [p. 251, n. 21 : "goddess of ... beauty"], a "voodoo priestess of Mamaloi" ; and

{cf. /MeMbLiaros/, a name of the isle Anaphe, close to the isle ('Most Beautiful') Kalliste (DCM, s.v. "Membliarus")}

The Dubouros, ... "... the detached, enigmatic Recorder"."

{cf. the recording function, in the after-death realm, of god Citra-gupta}. {/DUBBO^n/ 'bear-cub' (MHED) + >O^Rah 'luminosity' (Strong's 219). This bear-cub of luminosity could be constellation Ursa Minor, to wit, bear-goddess Kallistoi's cub Arkad-. Because Arkad- pursued his own mother "into the temple of 'Lycian' Zeus" (DCM, s.v. "Arcas"), therefore after- and near-death experiences, such as that (according to PP) in Lukia of Er the son of Armenios , may be pertinent.}

"Norton lists

Val,

{VALi Loki's son in the Prose Edda, which can in Vo,luspa` 34 be taken as referring to "guts" used by werewolf Vali, eviscerated (according to Snorri) from his brother No,rvi}

Kephena,

{/kephen/ the drone (male bee), either as a figure-of speech for an impoverished prodigal (Politeia 552 -- SDD, p. 187), or else referring to the drone's willing loss of guts (and therewith of life) during mating : thus to No,rvi, whose name is cognate with Latin /nerva/ 'gut-string of musical string-instrument' (LD, p. 1203b)}

Borzorygmus

{BORZOi ('wolfhound (including greyhound)' in Russian) : a name cognate with that of mt /El-BuRZ/ ('Tall Birch') in Vehr-kana ('Wolf Country')/Hurkania; and assimilated with Hellenic /orugmat-/ 'trench, ditch, moat, tunnel' (perhaps in allusion to the mountain-piercing tunnel in Bon cosmography) : with 'tunnel' cf. also the "subterraneous" path to ("TE") the land of horses "of the size of greyhounds."}

and Mwystingel

{Cymry /mwys/ 'ambiguous, aequivocal' + Tin[ta]gel (the paenisular castle, in Cornwall, of Uther Pendragon). The Cornish form of the name is /Dintagel/, shewing that the contracted form /Tingel/ is intended aequivocally to imply "Dingle paeninsula" in county Kerry, Eire.}

" ... beings of Twizzari,"

{In Tacitus's Germania god /TUISTo/, /TjaZZI/ in the Edda, /TWaS.T.R./ in the Veda.}

the latter her name for the "Dreamworld ... an aspect of the Astral Plane" ... (Norton [1952] ...:78)."

"Norton refers to ... her "Familiar Spirit-in-Chief" ... by many names, including the Monk, Frater Asmodeus and

Brother Hilarian.

{Cf. /Hilaria/ the joyous festival in honor of goddess Kubele (Makrobios : Saturnalia I:21:10 -- 1852, p. 193).} {As implying hilarity, cf. infra p. 249 "Life laughs in the thing that is 'I'."}

This particular magical servitor ... -- Norton gives his name as Jannicot ... .}

{perhaps as a reminiscence of IANNes-&-Iambres and the injunction to "take up serpents"}

p. 238

"Norton says that Janicot "manages most of my occult activities, supervises trances, escorts me into

p. 239

other planes of Being, and sometimes assists the Sphynx in selecting visions for me.""

{Because the father of the Sphinx is named (DCM) OUKALegon, and because the latter name may be from />UKKAL/, a name mentioned (in Mas^ale^ 30:1) with />ITI->el/, therefore the Rarotongan god Tonga-ITI ("SS"), who flang the moon into the sky, may be pertinent to the moon-phase cups of Twas.t.r. ("Twizzari" of supra p. 238).} {The Sphinx herself may be the woman "above panin" (in Mas^ale^ 31:10), for Strong's 6443 panin (related to 6434 pen 'angle, corner') must be an angular crystal, so that the Bon quartz vehicle of the Sun-god would relate to Rarotongan god Vatea, who flang the sun into the sky.}

"The Basque ... of France and northern Spain traditionally paid homage to Janicot

in graveyards, dancing around

{>ukkal and >iti->el were disciples of />agur/, whose name 'Gathered' (Strong's 94) would be a hypocoristic form of 'Gathered-unto-the-Fathers', i.e., dead-and-entombed.}

an altar of rock on which a goat's skull had been placed with a glowing candle positioned between the horns."

{This rite have been imported from the Levant, judging from the fact that Baphomet's distinguishing feature, the candle atop the head (in >iyob 29:3 ) is associated with (in >iyob 29:6) the Coptic and Armenian Orthodox Church rite of anointing feet with butter.}

p. 239

"the {Qlippo^t} ... refer to "the shadowy world of shells ... [that] form the Tree of Death" (Grant 1977:275-6).

p. 240

It is within the magical domain of the {Qlippo^t} that Norton ... encountered the ... magical entity she calls Werplon, a ... humanoid insect-creature {-creator} ... (Norton [1952] ...:44)."

[quoted from Norton 1952 :] "I realised that my consciousness was united with that of a totally different Order of Being. Temporarily I was experiencing the ... Werplons ... . ... Deep purple predominated with overtones of black, lit by splashes of vari-coloured light at certain of the power points".

[quoted from Drury 2009a:227-38] ""thought" in those realms is very different from that which is normally understood by the word. ...

I had been told, earlier, that "entities in the Plane assumed form at will". This is literally true ... . ...

This sense ... covers a vastly wider field than ... human life; for in addition to becoming the essence of male, female, or ... beings of other orders of Existence,

one can "become" a living embodiment of abstract Ideas of a descriptions."

{There may be sensations of so becoming.}

p. 242

"Norton maintained that

the actual gods or "intelligences" themselves could not be constrained

{Mortals (both individually and in groups) are constrained by the collectivity of deities; deities (who in in universal accord mutually, and with all other intelligences) are not constrained by mere mortals, whose knowledge and understanding of the totality of the universes is always quite restricted.}

by the cultural forms imposed by mythological or religious traditions because

p. 243

these were only human constructs;

{Though religions are constructed on the basis of personal experiences of mortal seers (shamans, etc.) in connection with divine beings, they may contain inaccuracies due to imperfections in understandings by those mortal seers and sages, and are in need of constant improvement.}

that is to say, the gods were "greater" than the "god-forms" through which they manifested.

{The deities are always far greater than any particular subtle bodies wherein they may manifest themselves to humans.}

In this regard Norton emphasized that many metaphysical entities perceived in the trance realm were projections from intelliegences whose origins {sources} lay far beyond the sphere of human awareness :

[quoted from Drury 2009a:227-38 :] In the other {subtle-planes} Realm, ... Intelligences are not confined to one form as here {material world}; also ... each type of form ... can and does alter its form to any image {guise} appropriate to circumstances. ... So, in this {the subtle-planes} Realm also "form follows function" ... . ... I do not mean that these {divine} intelligences are either confined to any one these forms, or that they are the product of human thought, conscious or otherwise.

The vehicles, or God-forms, yes, largely so,

{When appearing to mortals, the deities in their usual politeness customarily assume forms and subtle-body shapes of types expected by, recognizable to, and meaningful for, those particular mortals.}

but not the intelligences themselves.

These vehicles, however, form a useful medium of communication, but naturally their visual form is, to a certain extent, anthropomorphic."

"According to Norton,

the fluid, "plasmic" nature

{structured at will by common consent of divinities}

of the astral plane ensured that metaphysical entities and intelligences from higher planes of existence could manifest themselves, or "incarnate" {in subtle bodies}, at lower levels of the astral plane and at this time they would appear in anthropomorphic god-forms culturally appropriate to the consciousness of the beholder.

Norton believed that the god-forms themselves provided a mediating link between different levels of reality -- the metaphysical {subtle} and the human {viz., the material} -- and that

human beings could approach the gods by "rising" through the astral planes towards the manifested god-forms while in a state of trance.

Conversely, the gods could "incarnate" or "descend" into the astral realms by manifesting an appropriate form."

p. 243

"Norton came to regard the astral plane -- {which is witnessed while one be in} the altered state of consciousness accessed through trance -- as a type of "mediating domain" between the

p. 244

gods and goddesses on the one hand, and human consciousness (functioning through the vehicle of the plasmic {suks.ma 'subtle'} body) on the other.

She also formed the view -- on the basis of her trance experiences in the plasmic {subtle} body -- that a number of inner-plane "intelligences" pervaded all aspects of the known universe. These intelligences in turn confirmed the nature of their existence through ... manifesting as gods and goddesses, demons and archangels".

p. 244

"Norton ... emphasized that the archetypal gods and cosmic beings she had contacted in trance existed in their own right. In their own particular magical realms they held the upper hand -- not she.

To this extent Norton differed from ... Carl Jung, who regarded the sacred archetypes as universal forces deep within the collective human psyche, and not as entities with their own separate existence beyond the mind.

{At the place where and time when Jung wrote, if anyone were to write that the deities exist in and of themselves, that writer would be arrested, declared insane, and confined within an insane asylum. So, Jung was compelled, by political forces beyond his control, to write as he wrote.}

... for Jung, the archetypes -- the ancient gods and goddesses of religion and mythology -- were ultimately sacred personifications of the self.

{To some extent, this is a Veda-anta theology, with atman ('self') able (during samadhi) to attain to aequivalency with the cosmic brahman.}

On the basis of what she experienced during her trance explorations, [for] Norton ... magical deities such as Pan, Hecate, Lilith and Lucifer, as well as other magical entities like Werplon, were not projections or extensions of her own spiritual consciousness but powerful (and occasionally terrifying) entities who would grace her with their presence only if it pleased them, and not as a consequence of her own personal will or intent.

Norton believed she could

p. 245

only depict in her paintings and drawings those qualities and attributes that the god or goddess in question chose to reveal".

"But towards the end of 1978 she suddenly became sick ... . ... Late in November Norton was taken to the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Hospice for the Dying at Sydney's St Vincents Hospital, ... unfazed by all the crucifixes surrounding her in the hospice, and a pagan to the end, she departed this life on 5 December 1979."

p. 247

"Black Magic, one of several controversial artworks exhibited at the University of Melbourne in

{p. 252, n. 51 : Later, she did "a graphic reworking of the painting ... under the title Witches' Sabbath."}

p. 248

1949, and against which charges of obscenity were subsequently brought, could easily cause offence to any practicing Christian, with its imagery of bestial lust, a winking nun, and a bare-breasted woman mounted on a crucifix."

"In the dance of atoms weaving the planes of matter is Life."

{Not so! Life is of the nature of the soul; whereas material atoms (not separately, and not in aggregation) cannot themselves be alive, any more than they could in and of themselves be conscious. There is a mode of life associated with matter itself, namely the elemental spirits, but even these are consciousnesses distinct from matter.} {But if in her very idiosyncratic jargon, the term "matter" be intended to include "consciousness", and the term "planes of matter" be intended to include the immaterial subtle planes-of-existence, then her assertions could conceivably apply.}