Path: shell.portal.com!shell.portal.com!not-for-mail
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (Hsi Wang Mu)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick
Subject: Re: A.A. and O.H.O.
Date: 9 Mar 1995 11:00:18 -0800
Organization: Portal Communications (shell)
Lines: 58
Sender: tyagi@shell.portal.com
Message-ID: <3jnj82$9n2@jobe.shell.portal.com>
References: <3iq6s0$4ju@qns1.qns.com>
Reply-To: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (Hsi Wang Mu)
NNTP-Posting-Host: jobe.shell.portal.com
Xref: shell.portal.com alt.magick.tyagi:2504 alt.magick:39582

49950302

Do what you please, for that is my Law.


Quentin (rakestrw@qns.com) writes:

|What do the initials "A.A." and "O.H.O." stand for?

I have most often heard the following:

OHO - Outer Head of the Order
This is a sort of visible representative on the most gross plane to which
the Order may manifest.  Sometimes this OHO is accorded very important
powers and abilities, sometimes she is totally a servant of the organization
which she represents.  Sometimes she shares administrative power with an
administrative assembly or body.  The OHO corresponds to the ego in many
psychological models, an identity or personality which may be associated
with the whole or the central principles of the Order.

AA - Argenteum Astrum (Lat., 'Silver Star') (There are similar others.)
The AA manifests in exoteric and esoteric forms of varying degress of
substance as an Order of sometimes purely tutelary and human construction
and sometimes purely nonphysical or astral dimensions.  To my knowledge
the name 'AA' (often written "A.'.A.'." along masonic conventions) derives
from Crowley's understanding and interpretation of the concepts surrounding
this social body.  It is usually associated with spiritual instruction and
edification, often designated as influencing the course of magical and/or
religious organizations, currents and movements, and is sometimes said to
be made up of a combination of human and spiritual entities.  Very often
this is associated with the Rosicrucian notions of the Great White 
Brotherhood, and sometimes with other entities such as the Body of Christ
(in Christian Mysticism) and the Celestial Masters (in Taoist religion and
elsewhere).

AA - Angel and Abyss
These are said by many to be the two significant events in the life of a
mage, especially within the Hermetic tradition as popularized by those such
as S.L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley.  The angel, often spefi-
cally the Holy Guardian Angel, is usually associated with the 'High' or
'True' self, perhaps comparable to the Brahmanic 'atman' or the Christian
'soul'.  It is the personal expression of our most perfect and refined
characteristics -- an aspect of ourselves often connected to a perspective
beyond our finite lives.  The Abyss is an ineffable movement through or
into another level of being, usually beyond the realm of dual-natured
and limited experiences, sometimes involving the shedding of the ego and
the facing of our Shadow or Beast, Choronzon, sometimes fully connecting 
the deepest aspects of ourself with the most tangible and real aspects of 
the divine (these being in essence identical from the beginning and 
separated through our ignorance and error).  For Qabalists, these two
events are associated with the sphere Tiphareth and the pseudo-sphere of
Da'ath, respectively.


Free love, right now!

Hsi Wang Mu
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com