The Regalia of Ezekiel's Chariot - Part II

But that's all vary vague, which rather matches my thoughts on the subject I'm sure, and doesn't get to the heart of the matter, though it perhaps hints at its spirit. I have been thinking of magical tools of late, because I've been designing my own.

Again.

The regalia are somewhat similar to what most might expect, at least outwardly: Chalice, Rod, Sword and Ring. Yeah, not your father's elemental weapons, because, you know, they are not elemental weapons. They are aligned sefirotically to mirror the vision of Ezekiel, which is a formula of the soul, which is made fairly clear in the Zohar. So, the Chalice of Shefa, the Gevuric Rod, the Sword of Justice and the Ring of the Kingdom.

I would have gone with the Sword of Truth, but that's too Terry Goodkind.

All of this is kind of related to the previous post, but also related to the first and the idea of sympathy. If one were to sit down and read through the Junior Doorstop . . . er, Regardie's Golden Dawn paperback, first, one is kind of insane, as its like reading stereo instructions written in bastardized Latin, and second one might wonder just why the hell do you have to make the elemental weapons. From my own experience in a GD temple that is further compounded when you realize that no one ever seems to actually use them once they have been made and consecrated.

The answer is sympathy. One is not simply "charging" these impliments, one is consecrating them to a purpose, giving them life and in order to do this successfully one must have sympathy with what they are being consecrated to. So, it is a test or perhaps an ordeal. Crowley's version of these implemants really suggests this, as you had to actually design your own tools, not used a rote version. This mean you had to both demonstrate your understanding of the principle being symolically represented and then consecrate it to that idea, to the best of your ability. You had to become your understanding and any failure to consecrate your tools correctly would suggest a corresponding lack of sympathy and lack of real understanding (da'at, real experiential knowledge, just like the sexual metaphor suggests).

In this light the GD tools are really quite important, as they represent, and thus become, fundamental building blocks of creation: the playground of the magician. The Regalia, as symbolic of the four modes of the soul, are the life of the theurgos.