The Wholly Discordian Pentagonanonymous |
Newsgroups: alt.discordia
From: an127548@anon.penet.fi
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 06:46:11 UTC
Subject: ANeris invades my Chao
The really annoying thing about IUPUI.. is that they block the alt.hierarchy.. so I have to use this anonymous server..
I made the horrible mistake of reading the Appendices of Illuminatus! and found my brain taken over.. and spewed this.. It seems the local Pagan guild is trying to also relate the Pentagon to the five power rangers.. until they added a sixth.. Unh!
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* The Wholly Discordian *
* P E N T A G O N *
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* (inscribe sacred chao here) *
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Alright, I hope you've read Lord Falgan's "Principles of Discordian Magick" (1) because it's a good rambling read and (2) because half of me theories build off of his, another half are strictly his, and the third half utterly contradict his. Sri Syadasti!
Their are two primary differences between the way Falgan and I treat the pentagon. I insist power radiate from points, instead of faces (very bad Pagan habit), and I run the cycle counter-clockwise. Most will argue that this it out of sheer contrariness, but I must point out: if I spin the Sacred Chao, and watch the Apple chase the Pentagon's tail, the Chao is rotating widdershins. Besides, what better way to create quick Discord than to put two trains on a track going in circles opposite directions. Sui filique, ite, Gomez Adams!
For ritual work, and meditation included, I suggest you make your pentagon out of wood, particularly wood from an apple tree. Barring this, I suggest something edible, so that you may easily dispose of evidence in the case of untimely interruptions by law-enforcement members. Now, very carefully, inscribe a circle within the pentagon and draw the Sacred Chao in it. For a real good trip, draw a pentagon on your ceiling above the ceiling fan, and attach a carboard circle to the fan with the Chao inscribed on it. Inhale the fumes from your favorite leaf, lay back, stare into the fan, and introspect.
-Discord-
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* The Wholly Discordian *
-Confusion- * P E N T A G O N * -Chaos-
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* (inscribe sacred chao here) *
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-Beaucracy- -Aftermath-
That's right kiddies, we've got your Sacred Symbols right here. Like most standard magickal symbols (i.e. the hexagram, the pentagram, the Tree of Life), the Discordian Pentagon has a variety of concepts and symbols associated with its points and crossings. These associations may become useful when working Discordian Rites, or they may just interfere with the Gestalt concept. Feel free to ignore them, deny them, and write your own. After all, all things are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense... As a quick refresher, let's redefine the cycle.
CHAOS: Chaos is the pre-existence state of the unmanifest. In Chaos, we find the energy that we Ritually conduct into our reality. Chaos is pure potential, an abstract spaghetti of standing waves. It is our power plant and battery, and the fetal harmony from which all things come. Chaos comes into existence through deliberate and accidental acts of invocation, and is transmitted through That Which Is along paths knows as Chaos Vectors. These paths tend to be twisty, convoluted, and better represented by concepts than formulae.
DISCORD: Discord is an abstract term we use to define a state of conflict. Hagbard Celine noted that Discord naturally manifests in the presence of a minimum of three (3) Chaos Vectors. The reason we perceive Discord after three such Vectors, is because the human mind is only capable of reasoning in fives, and three chaos vectors takes us over that limit to six combinations, i.e. if we have three vectors labeled A,B, and C, there are six possible combinations : A, B, C, A&B, A&C, and A&B&C. If you doubt this, graph three unrelated cyclic functions. Add any two of them, and you can still note the patterns. Add all three and you will find, if they are truly unrelated, that the pattern is too vast for you to grasp. This is how we perceive Discord.
CONFUSION: Confusion is the suspended state of balance after Discord. When Chaos, the original Podge-force, meets the natural strike of Discord, the Hodge-reaction, the two are momentarily in counterbalance. At this point, their effects are temporarily negated, and the spin of the Chao appears to have stopped. This apparent cessitation of established strife, much like those few moments of a total solar eclipse, leaves the mortal mind lost in a strange wilder-land of uncertainty. We must not forget that the Hodge force is still on the rise, and the earlier-launched Podge force falls away, the Hodge triumphantly straitjackets the preceedings.
BEAURACRACY: While the Podge held its sway under the auspices of Chaos, the Hodge takes full exhaltion. A period under this fifth of the cycle is marked by logic-over-intuition and science-over-art. Rules and regulations are the order of the day, swiftly implemented to prevent the masses from falling back into Confusion. I must interject that the Age of Reason still sends us Beauracratic energy in the form of Newtonian Mechanics. With time, Hodge reaches its peak and begins to decline. That which has been restrained by law surges to break free, and quickly saps away the Beauracracy. With Podge long gone, Hodge strains for one last minute to be the dying light of evening.
AFTERMATH: Then, there is silence. Aftermath is the absence of both Hodge and Podge waves, the down time before the cycle can begin anew with Chaos. It is the Long Winter and the Desert Plain. In time, Podge will achieve enough potential to fire a few Chaos Vectors into reality, in the absence of Hodge, and the Chao will continue spinning.
-Spirit-
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* Dsc *
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-Air- * Cfn Chs * -Water-
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* Bcy Afm *
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-Earth- -Fire-
Okay, by now any Pagans, GD'rs, or miscellaneous persons with familiarity with the standard pentacle will be scratching their head and saying, "Gee, Deacon, the order of those elements looks a little suspicious. That's the way our Order arranges them." What's your point? Either by synchronicity, or a convenient trans-reality web, the Tricycle and Bicycle seem to correspond quite nicely. Lucky us.
I) Chaos corresponds to the element water. Water is the concealer of things unseen, and a never ending reserve of waves, whirlpools, and other expressions of Chaos. It sends Chaos vectors to us in the form of currents, storms, and tsunami. It gives us life, and it wipes out our homes. It is the essential mother-element from which we came, as Chaos is the mother-energy from which all things manifest. This is why we know that Water is the Chaos Element.
II) Discord corresponds to the element of spirit. Spirit, by tradition, is the point associated with one's deity, and the conscious manipulator of the world. Discordia, our Lady's name, resides at this point at the top of the Tricycle, yea, at the very top of the pentagon, as the controlling Goddess and the Mistress of Mayhem. From here, she drops her Apple onto the point of Spirit, and lets it fall to the left, to add spin to the cycle. This is part of why Spirit is at the point of Discord.
III) Confusion corresponds to the point of air. Chew on the phrases "lightheaded with confusion" and "lost in the clouds." Air is the perpetrator of the whirlwind downward spiral that sinks one's senses into a deep fog. In this fog, we wander about blind, in Confusion's grip. Once we "clear the air", the Confusion is gone. Can you see now, why Confusion rules the air?
IV) Beaucracy rests at the point of earth. Earth, as students of the Tarot know, controls regulations, lawyers, science, and all things grounded and sound. Earth is the foundation from which we build our conformity-based civilization, and the ground in which we bury those concepts we consider to be dead parts of the machine. Earth is land, and land is what is carved, and that on which we draw invisible lines of property, State, and Nation. For this, we regelate Earth to Beaucracy.
Aftermath is the end, the gateway to fire. Aftermath is the final coming, in which the Christian God threatens to destroy "His" world by flame. Aftermath is their end, Hell, an eternal blazing inferno. Aftermath is the wrath of the executioner, who is like a "refiner's fire." Aftermath is reduction of the material to ashes, that the Phoenix might rise again in Primal Chaos. For these, and similar reasons, we link Aftermath to the burning element of Fire.
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-The Hanged Man-
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-The Fool- * Cfn Chs * -High Priestess-
11 * * 2
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* Bcy Afm *
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-The Tower- -The Lovers-
8 5
Describing the Cycle via Tarot is always best done by progressive imagery, in much the same way a Tarot reading is done. All cycles start everywhere, but let's pick our common reference point of Chaos. At Chaos, we are greeted by the Image of the High Priestess.
The High Priestess is the Spiritual Mother Symbol, in contrast to the Emperess who represents Physical Motherhood. The High Priestess is card two, as is indicative of the naturally balanced state of Chaos. She sits before the two pillars of Light and Darkness, directing them in vectors into our reality, with equal facility. She is adorned by the solar cross. Two is usually assigned to female, some would say indicative of the breasts, and to indicate that she is further along the spiritual line than the Man, who resides at the phallic number (note the erect shape) 1 (one). It is from the High Priestess of the Unmanifest that opposites are given relative interpretation in this reality, since light cannot exist without dark as a reference. As the Priestess emits her waves into the world, they are received by a receptive person, who is a Yang force, represented by the Hanged Man.
The Hanged Man is humanity awaiting transformation. Recall that this point of Discord is given to the element of Spirit, and Goddess herself. Here he hangs, awaiting Her inspiration, at the highest peak of the Pentagon - mountain to facilitate receiving her messages. When she calls to him to become an active force of Hodge/Yang, he will answer, leading the world forward into Holy Confusion. His number here is three, as three is the number of the Tricycle, of which he is the peak, and the number of the all male "trinity". He is the first force through which divinity, which is traditionally the all-male trinity of three, will manifest with anthropomorphic intent. As he becomes the focus of Discord, He twists the Chaos Vectors about into a temporary absence of conflict, and passes this flux of enligthenment onto the Fool.
The Fool, whose number is eleven, stands in Confusion, unsure where to walk. He may jump over the abyss back into Discord, or he may take the narrow trail into Beauracracy and the Aneristic Bicycle. The Fool's number is eleven, which in older times meant that-which-has-yet-to-be- purified, as it was one shy of the divinity of twelve. It may also be considered as ten + one, the number of man plus the number of divinity, and man's madness at the infinity of the divine. If you look carefully, you will find an eleven-pointed star on the bottles of some mind-altering prescription drugs. The Fool, in his Confusion, opts for the ways of Beauracracy and begins the task of building a society.
This society can be symbolized by the Tower of Beauracracy, a stylized version of the Tower of Babel. It has the number of eight. The tower is built upon solid earth, and "rational" laws of architecture by which man elevates himself to the status of the above. The number eight is the four of elemental earth mirrored into our culture, and the octagonal stop sign on the corner. Eight is also two cubed, i.e. a triangle of twos, a receptive force boxing us in on all three sides. As Holy Chaos inspires the civilization that has become boxed in by Beauracracy, the Tower is struck by lightning and falls. The Tower is in ruins, and only those who have not put themselves under its protection survive the catastrophe into Aftermath.
Aftermath is represented by the Lovers, whose number is five. The Lovers are those naturally harmonious opposites who have skirted society, living and learning between themselves. Their number is five because five is the number of man, and the number of completion of our cycle. It is the four of earth plus the one of divinity, the incarnation of holy knowledge on earth. The Lovers notice the Tower has risen and fallen, and spend the rest of their lives awaiting the end of the cycle.
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-The Hanged Man-
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* Dsc *
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-The Fool- * Cfn Chs * -High Priestess-
11 * * 2
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* Bcy Afm *
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-The Tower- -The Lovers-
8 5
Numerology on the Pentacle, Points to Note
The Tricycle is unified by Trinary computation. It's numbers are 3, 2 and 11. In Trinary, base three, 3+2=11. In decimal consideration, 3 + 2 + 11 = 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 7, which is a standard number of divinity.
The Bicycle is unified by the Law of Fives. It is comprised of 8 and 5. Note that 8=2^3, and 2+3=5. Note also if we add 8 and 5, we get the traditionally unlucky 13.
Recall that Falgar warns us that Discord, Beauracracy, and Aftermath magic are the most -dangerous- (fnord) vibes. Link them as a triangle and note the numbers 3, 5, and 8. 3+5=8.
Divide the Pentagon in half down the middle. Note that on the left you have the numbers 3, 8, and 11. 3+8=11. On the right you have the numbers 2, 3, and 5. 2+3=5
The harder you look, the more relations you will find to help engrave the image of the Pentagon into your subconscious.
CORRELATIONS? ANYONE? GIMME!
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