I’ve been fascinated with finding better ways to celebrate the 107, Sun-Venus conjunction, ever since I was first introduced to this astrological event, in my Wiccan coven, 4 years ago. Coincidentally, my first 107 ritual was under the sign of Gemini, as the conjunction will happen again under Gemini in early June 2012.
On 6 June 2012, Venus, which is currently in close and spectacular alignment with Jupiter in the night sky, will make its passage across the Sun’s disc on 6 June.
David Crisp, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said,”This transit is special because it is the last time in our lifetimes that we will have an opportunity to collect data for a planet as well characterised as Venus.” ”We will have to make the most of it.”
This is a thinly veiled hint to us magickal practitioners that ‘observe the signs and omens in the heavens and on earth’ to get our mojo on, on June 6th.
Unfortunately, it seems that apart from bits of information gleaned from a handful of Thelemic websites and the Book of the Law, or Liber al vel Legis, (by Aleister Crowley) there are few complete sources on the significance of the 107 in magickal practice.
One of the best I’ve found is found here.
First off, for those who are unfamiliar with numerology and its cousin, gematria, 107 is a combination of numbers associated with the Sun and Venus.
From Horus-Maat.com/Silverstar:
Sun + Venus = (36 + 71) = 107. Being (1) and non-being (0) are
expressed in the Goddess (7).
The formula expressed here is that when the Sun conjuncts Venus, the
Supreme (131) Universal (Universe=131) rite is to be performed and
the Feast of the Equinox (of the Gods = 131) partaken in.
Several verses in Liber al vel Legis, Chapter 1, verses 57 – 66 allegedly reference the mystery of the 107. (I have heard that it is a sacrament among Thelemites to read the Liber al vel Legis in its entirety at various of times of the year…I’d venture a guess that now would be a good time!)
Here, in these verses, is the neter-t, Nuit (or Nut), that speaks. However the references to the Five-Pointed Star and all finery as sacraments evoke Venus.
1:57. Invoke me under my stars! Love is the Law, Love under Will.
Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well!
He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the Fortress, and the great Mystery of the House of God.
All these old letters of my Book are aright; but (tzaddik) is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the Wise.
1:58. I give unimaginable joys on earth – certainty, not faith, while in life. Upon death – peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
1:59. My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein; because of my hair, the Trees of Eternity.
1:60. My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five-Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.
1:61. But to love me is better than all things: if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom.
For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and stores of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy.
I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress.
I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you. Come unto me!
1:62. At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say – and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple – To me! To me! Calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant.
1:63. Sing the rapturous love-song unto me.! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me Jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you!
1:64. I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night sky.
1:65. To me! To me!
1:66. The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.
The union of masculine Sun and feminine Venus is the Sacred Marriage, or Hieros Gamos. The perfect Kemetic analogy is the Marriage of Het-Heru and Heru (Hathor and Horus). It is said that their marriage is depicted on the northern wall of the court, at the the Temple of Edfu. Their Beautiful Feast of Reunion, or Hab Nefer en Sekhen, was celebrated twice a year – once at Het-Heru’s Dendera Temple and the second time at Heru’s Edfu Temple.
The festival took place in the third month of the Shomu season, which would be around late May or early June by our calendar. For the Reunion Feast the statue of Het-Heru would be taken onto a ship to sail upriver from Denderah ( Iunet) to Edfu (Utjeset-Hor). Het-Heru’s ship would be escorted along the voyage by priests and dignitaries of the Denderah temple. Other citizens may have joined in the fleet, celebrating the joyous occasion in pilgrimage.
The oracular statue of Het-Heru, carried in a barque shrine, would dock at Edfu and be carried amid much rejoicing into a part of the Edfu temple built specifically for the occasion. There would be a love trist” between Het-Heru and Heru, renewing their sacred marriage – heralding a continuation of the natural cycle of birth, life, and rebirth from death. Following her visit to Horus at Edfu, Het-Heru”s statue and retinue would return to Denderah, where the birth of their son, Ihy, would eventually be celebrated.
The young god Ihy is depicted naked with the traditional Kemetic sidelock of hair. Ihy carries a sistrum and wears a menat, thus sharing his mother’s passion for love, music and celebration.
So, how are sacred marriages typically celebrated? With great sex, of course! Modern representations of ritualized sex have made their way onto the Hollywood screen, “Eyes Wide Shut” and “The DaVinci Code” being among the most popular. I think the whole group sex thing seen in the movies is to titillate audiences. Otherwise, there isn’t a magical advantage to have more people involved in your sex magic, so breathe easy!
My former coven ritualized this union by plunging an athame (ritual dagger) into the chalice and blessing the wine. Later on, a coven-sister fortuitously found this heart-shaped silver goblet to serve as the 107 chalice, which separates into two smaller goblets, intended for the bride and groom at weddings.
Psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung, studied the hieros gamos through the Rosarium Philosophorum, a series of twenty woodcuts, printed in Frankfurt in 1550. The images have a clear sexual and royal nature: a king and queen depicted with the sun and the moon, performing sexual acts.
The dual powers of the “King” and “Queen” are shown to undergo a number of phases of their own mystico-erotic relationship and eventually unite in a new, androgynous being, called in the text “the noble Empress”.
Jung’s resulting essay, “The Psychology of the Transference“, is said to be one of the most fascinating explorations of the psychological analogies of Alchemy in our time.
“Transference” is used by Jung as a synonym for Love, which, through interpersonal relations, serves as ”The Great Healer of the Sorrows and Injuries of the Living”.
In tarot, the mystery of Alchemy and transmutation is demonstrated in the Temperance, or more succinctly in the Art card in the Thoth deck by Lady Frieda Harris and Aleister Crowley.
The card’s ‘instinct’ is solve et coagula (dissolve and bind), which is the reunification of that which has been dissolved happening at a new, higher level. Its goal is that of the Philosopher’s Stone, which was reputed to transform base metal into pure gold.
This sentiment – to dissolve only to coagulate once more – is most beautifully expressed, once again, in the Liber al vel Legis, verses 1:29 and 30.
For I am divided for Love’s sake,
For the chance of union.
This is the creation of the world,
That the pain of division is as nothing,
and the joy of dissolution, all.
Another beautiful offering to Love’s longing and its satiety is presented, by the English poet, Algernon Charles Swinburne.
For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remember’d is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
I’m afraid that I’ve been just as obscure about the ‘proper’ way of celebrating the 107 but hopefully this blog post has piqued your interest and inspired you to succumb to Love’s Sweet Abandon in your own especially magickal way this June.
I leave you with this song, “Sweet Abandon” by Maeve. Em Khut em Mer!
Tags: 107, alchemy, Aleister Crowley, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Art, Carl Jung, Gemini, Hathor, Hieros Gamos, Horus, Ihy, Liber al vel Legis, Love, Nuit, Philosopher's Stone, sacred sexuality, sex magic, solve et coagula, Sun Venus conjunction, Thelema, transformation, Venus transit, Wicca, Will