Conversational Reproduction
Let us declare here without bandying about that the great magical agent, the double current of light, the living and astral fire of the earth was symbolized by the serpent with the head of a bull, of a goat, or of a dog in the ancient theogonies. It is the double serpent of the caduceus; it is the ancient serpent of Genesis; but it is also the brazen serpent of Moses, interlaced with the tau, that is to say the generative lingam; it is also the goat of the Sabbath and the Baphomet of the Templars; it is the Hyle of the Gnostics; it is the double tail of the serpent which form the legs of the solar cockerel of Abraxas; finally, it is the devil of M. Eudes de Mirville, and it is actually the blind force that souls must conquer to break free of the chains of the Earth; because, if their will does not detach them from this fatal magnetism, they will be absorbed into the current by the force which produced them and will return to the central and eternal fire.
All magical work thus consists of freeing oneself from the coils of the ancient serpent, then placing one’s foot on his head and driving him where one wishes. I will give you, he says in the evangelical myth, all the kingdoms of the Earth if you kneel down and if you adore me. The initiate must answer him: “I will not kneel down, and you shall crawl at my feet; you shall give me nothing, but I shall make use of you, and I will take what I wish: because I am your lord and master!” An answer which is understood, but veiled, in the answer which the Savior gives him.
We have already said that the devil is not a person. It is a force led astray, as his name indicates incidentally. An odic or magnetic current formed by a chain of wills is what constitutes this evil spirit, which the gospel calls legion, and which drives the swine into the sea: a new allegory for the driving of basely instinctive beings by blind forces which can set into motion evil will and error.
We can compare this symbol to that of the companions of Ulysses who are changed into swine by the magician Circe.
In addition, observe what Ulysses does to protect himself and save his companions: he refuses the cup of the enchantress and commands her with his sword. Circe is nature with all its pleasures and its attractions; to enjoy her one must conquer her: that is the meaning of the Homeric fable, because the poems of Homer, the veritable sacred books of ancient Hellas, contain all the mysteries of the high initiations of the Orient.
The natural medium is therefore the serpent, always active and seducing one to the slothful drives, which must always be resisted and subdued.
Lévi, Eliphas. The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic (pp. 251-252). J.M Greer and M.A. Mikituk, trans. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
It will have been noticed our conversational algorithm, in its schematic form, bears a strong resemblance to the biological process of gestation, here indicated by Eliphas Levi to work against the tendencies toward sloth, sleep and unconsciousness. The reciprocal work between mother and growing fetus can scarcely be a passive matter. Rather, it can only be a more subtle and more patient process than any beast of the field. It can only be a process that coaxes the fullness and reality of consciousness into existence.
Our reproduction cycle, imposed before beginning and by consensus in the names of formality, satisfaction and high sociability, is highly analogous to the period of gestation. How real-world humans see fit to adapt themselves to it will be one thing. It may produce monsters and abortions. But the choice of well-formed growth, of profound transmutation and deep happiness, in part constituted inevitably by pain and suffering, will always exist for them.
This unavoidable inward cycle is nothing but the human condition, nothing but human or real-world self-consciousness, and as our cultures and societies progress it will more and more be disclosed in outward human signs, in material gestures and in signatures copied directly from the cosmos.
