Everybody is a Star

[Joan Marie]

Every Man and Every Woman is a Star. - Aleister Crowley

We are made of Star Stuff - Carl Sagan


Carl Sagan was speaking scientifically when he made that statement, noting that the same elements that comprise our very bodies were originally created billions of years ago in stars. But as was often the case with him, he made the scientific feel spiritual and vice-versa.

We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. -Carl Sagan

I thought of that quote this morning as I was reading about Crowley's idea that "Every man and every woman is a star."

We live in a new era where we determine our own trajectory and are not the helpless satellites of social structures.
We are all here to become ourselves, independent and shining.
We are not cold planets revolving around a sun that determines our path for us. But the world teaches us the opposite. It teaches us that we are led by, revolve around ideas of family, race, nationality, gender roles, tribal roles, and religion. We look to others for the wisdom to live and clumsily try to follow the directives of others. These allegiances discourage us from exploring our own true will, which is naturally in harmony with divine will.

This is the age of the quest to discover your own way. And despite the current pop-culture idea of what it means to "be a star" I find Crowley's very humbling and comforting.

This is one of the most important concepts Aleister Crowley attempted to get across in the Book of Thoth. It's worthy of exploration.

How does being told you are a Star make you feel? What does it make you think of?

The remains of a once-explosive supernova illuminate part of a nearby galaxy in this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA/ESA/HEIC/Hubble Heritage Team

[katrinka]

Good stuff.
I think it's important to remember this, though - if I'm a star, so is everything else. Great historical luminaries, and winos and bums. Dogs and lions and rats and insects. Trees. Rocks. Etc.
Anything less is solipsism - which is pretty much the opposite of what Crowley and Sagan were saying, IMHO.

[Charlie Brown]

Everyone knows that Charlie Brown has always been full of hot air.

[Joan Marie]

Good stuff.
I think it's important to remember this, though - if I'm a star, so is everything else. Great historical luminaries, and winos and bums. Dogs and lions and rats and insects. Trees. Rocks. Etc.
Anything less is solipsism - which is pretty much the opposite of what Crowley and Sagan were saying, IMHO.

I think part of the process of this realisation is to realise it applies to everyone. And extending it to all living things.

I think Crowley's intention was to lift human consciousness from the doldrums it had fallen into through the Aeons of Isis and Osiris. The Aeon of Horus ushered in the possibility to be free from the intellectual and spiritual limitations of the previous Aeons.

And I agree it applies to all living things. But I think (and you may find this solipsistic) that the responsibility is ours to recognise and allow all living things to flourish. It isn't elephants and dolphins and redwood trees that are threatening our existence. It is we who threaten theirs with our big brains that we haven't quite mastered how to operate yet.

Recognising and working toward protection of the environment is an evolved stance, one that understands not just the value the environment has for us but because it is divine will to protect and preserve it. We are a long way from the paradise this level of consciousness would eventually lead too. We don't even take proper care of other humans yet.

I think the message Crowley was trying to share is to first understand our own purpose as individuals is independent of all the various artificial tribes that have been created for us to be ruled by (i.e. nationality, race, family, class, religion, etc. ad naseum.)
If we can arrive there as individuals, all else would naturally follow because every man's and every woman's true will is in harmony. And that harmony extends to everyone and everything else in the universe.

"Every man and every woman is a star" just like "Do what thou wilt" are powerful words to live by. If they are misunderstood, as they so often are thru lack of examination, the results can be chaotic. They can be interpreted to encourage selfishness, arrogance and cruelty.

To seek to truly understand them as they were intended and to live by them is a lifelong spiritual quest.

And to think that all this is what is behind the Thoth Tarot, with it's myriad understanding of the human condition, our greatest potentials and most base tendencies are all represented in an effort to help us examine exactly how we are existing in this world and to find the harmony, the connection to the divine will of the universe. First as individuals, and ultimately, naturally, to all of creation.

[katrinka]

Good stuff.
I think it's important to remember this, though - if I'm a star, so is everything else. Great historical luminaries, and winos and bums. Dogs and lions and rats and insects. Trees. Rocks. Etc.
Anything less is solipsism - which is pretty much the opposite of what Crowley and Sagan were saying, IMHO.

I think part of the process of this realisation is to realise it applies to everyone. And extending it to all living things.

I think Crowley's intention was to lift human consciousness from the doldrums it had fallen into through the Aeons of Isis and Osiris. The Aeon of Horus ushered in the possibility to be free from the intellectual and spiritual limitations of the previous Aeons.

Yes. The self-flagellation that can be part and parcel of Christianity (Crowley loathed it), seeing everything as corrupt and "fallen", in need of a Savior. Sometimes you have to save yourself.

And I agree it applies to all living things. But I think (and you may find this solipsistic) that the responsibility is ours to recognise and allow all living things to flourish. It isn't elephants and dolphins and redwood trees that are threatening our existence. It is we who threaten theirs with our big brains that we haven't quite mastered how to operate yet.

Yes. And our technology and machines and chemicals that we implement full-bore without collectively thinking about the consequences. The "anything for a buck" mindset. DDT. Pipelines. Bad TV. 4 chan.

Recognising and working toward protection of the environment is an evolved stance, one that understands not just the value the environment has for us but because it is divine will to protect and preserve it. We are a long way from the paradise this level of consciousness would eventually lead too. We don't even take proper care of other humans yet.

I'd just like to add that it's not collectively linear. The Native Americans had it down pat. Nobody seems to listen to them though. Then, or now.

It isn't solipsistic if you think about how animals, birds, and insects hold things in balance. The wolves look out for each other and keep the prey animals from overpopulating. The prey animals are beneficial to plant life, if they don't overrun. Etc. When you think about how well they do their part, compared to what we've done, it's actually pretty humbling.

I think the message Crowley was trying to share is to first understand our own purpose as individuals is independent of all the various artificial tribes that have been created for us to be ruled by (i.e. nationality, race, family, class, religion, etc. ad naseum.)

Yes. Those things are all constructs.
How many people have gotten their DNA done/traced their family history and found out they aren't who they thought they were?
An identity is a fine thing, and a psychological necessity. Animals have packs and herds, too. It's OK to be part of a sub-group. It just shouldn't be used to beat others over the head.

If we can arrive there as individuals, all else would naturally follow because every man's and every woman's true will is in harmony. And that harmony extends to everyone and everything else in the universe.

"Every man and every woman is a star" just like "Do what thou wilt" are powerful words to live by. If they are misunderstood, as they so often are thru lack of examination, the results can be chaotic. They can be interpreted to encourage selfishness, arrogance and cruelty.

To seek to truly understand them as they were intended and to live by them is a lifelong spiritual quest.

And to think that all this is what is behind the Thoth Tarot, with it's myriad understanding of the human condition, our greatest potentials and most base tendencies are all represented in an effort to help us examine exactly how we are existing in this world and to find the harmony, the connection to the divine will of the universe. First as individuals, and ultimately, naturally, to all of creation.

Well said. Very much so.

[BlueStar]

I think the message Crowley was trying to share is to first understand our own purpose as individuals is independent of all the various artificial tribes that have been created for us to be ruled by (i.e. nationality, race, family, class, religion, etc. ad naseum.)
If we can arrive there as individuals, all else would naturally follow because every man's and every woman's true will is in harmony. And that harmony extends to everyone and everything else in the universe.

"Every man and every woman is a star" just like "Do what thou wilt" are powerful words to live by. If they are misunderstood, as they so often are thru lack of examination, the results can be chaotic. They can be interpreted to encourage selfishness, arrogance and cruelty.

To seek to truly understand them as they were intended and to live by them is a lifelong spiritual quest.

Yes I think you could spend your life exploring them and trying to understand and learn from them. There is so much in those cards. I haven't even scratched the surface!

[inomminate]

I have always felt that Crowley was also refering to the idea that spirit has descended into matter and is trapped there.

[katrinka]

I have to politely disagree. Stars are mainly composed of hydrogen and helium - in other words, matter. This was already known in Crowley's time. And Crowley was into science. https://ac2012.com/2012/03/31/science-and-religion/

I'm not saying it's impossible that spirit descends into matter, just that the concept of living beings being made up of matter that originated with stars doesn't match that idea. Crowley was very precise in his writing, he wouldn't have used a broken metaphor like that.

[inomminate]

Disagreement is the spice of life. However I am not sure that we do disagree. I am not saying this is an either or situation.

Crowley and science is a complex and interesting topic.
The card he called science is the six of swords. Now he thought that the sixes were the high point of their suites. It is the high point of a very dangerous suit. In the Book of Thoth he says of the six:

“The perfect balance of all mental and moral faculties, hardly won, and almost impossible to hold..”

Much of what passes for science is out of balance.

He respected science he did not worship it. We cannot say it is science therefore Crowley would have liked it.

Crowley was also aware of the platonic idea that the spirit descended from the realm of fixed stars entered its incarnation and eventually returned to the fix stars until it could break free of the cycle.

[katrinka]

He respected science he did not worship it. We cannot say it is science therefore Crowley would have liked it

No, what I was saying is that Crowley would have been aware that the stars are composed of matter. He wouldn't have disputed that. "Worshipping" or "liking" science (or not) is irrelevant here. Facts are not subject to personal preference.

Crowley was also aware of the platonic idea that the spirit descended from the realm of fixed stars entered its incarnation and eventually returned to the fix stars until it could break free of the cycle.

Yes, and I'm sure that he was also aware of the ancient belief that stars are holes in some dark outermost solid celestial sphere, allowing the light of God and angels to shine through. (He'd have certainly snarked at that one.)

So I have to infer that he knew literal stars are matter, not holes. The "every man and woman" quote is a metaphor, of course, but as I already mentioned, Crowley was very meticulous with his writing. He wouldn't have gotten sloppy with the metaphor.

[inomminate]

Yes, and I'm sure that he was also aware of the ancient belief that stars are holes in some dark outermost solid celestial sphere, allowing the light of God and angels to shine through. (He'd have certainly snarked at that one.)

So I have to infer that he knew literal stars are matter, not holes. The "every man and woman" quote is a metaphor, of course, but as I already mentioned, Crowley was very meticulous with his writing. He wouldn't have gotten sloppy with the metaphor.

Crowley was a member of the golden dawn which believed in reincarnation as do the connected masonic orders. This metaphor of rebirith would have been a firm belief not an idea he would have mocked or rejected.

[Joan Marie]

Crowley was a member of the golden dawn which believed in reincarnation as do the connected masonic orders. This metaphor of rebirith would have been a firm belief not an idea he would have mocked or rejected.

To be honest I think that saying the rebirth would have been a "firm belief" of Crowley's because he was a member of GD is entirely antithetical to the meaning of his "Every man and every woman is a star."

From my original post in this thread:

I think the message Crowley was trying to share is to first understand our own purpose as individuals is independent of all the various artificial tribes that have been created for us to be ruled by (i.e. nationality, race, family, class, religion, etc. ad naseum.)
If we can arrive there as individuals, all else would naturally follow because every man's and every woman's true will is in harmony. And that harmony extends to everyone and everything else in the universe.

Being a member of the GD or anything else would not have precluded him from distancing himself when needed. He was nothing if not his own man. The GD was formed in the Aeon of Osiris, an utterly different level of spiritual understanding than the one ushered in on March 20th 1904, the Aeon of Horus from where came this saying.

The Aeon of Osiris encouraged the heliocentric views of spiritual life, where we, like cold little planets revolve around a bright sun that gives us our purpose and our direction and trajectory. The Aeon of Horus says, no, not any more. I am a "Star" I have a will and that will is in harmony with all.

But I think what is happening here in this discussion is that some Crowley topics (and some Kaballah ones as well) are becoming conflated in an unproductive way which is clouding the intention of the original topic.

The Kaballah, and ultimately the Thoth deck, deal with many concepts including the decent into the material world. And maybe what you are getting at inomminate, is that descent is part of the journey to ultimately find oneself in the state of being a true individual, not needing tribes or religions or Golden Dawns to orbit around in order to know how to live or what to believe.

I am planning a post I hope to make later today specifically about the Aeon Card and how is represents the 3 Aeons and what they mean for us living today.

[katrinka]

Crowley was a member of the golden dawn which believed in reincarnation as do the connected masonic orders. This metaphor of rebirith would have been a firm belief not an idea he would have mocked or rejected.

To be honest I think that saying the rebirth would have been a "firm belief" of Crowley's because he was a member of GD is entirely antithetical to the meaning of his "Every man and every woman is a star."

From my original post in this thread:

I think the message Crowley was trying to share is to first understand our own purpose as individuals is independent of all the various artificial tribes that have been created for us to be ruled by (i.e. nationality, race, family, class, religion, etc. ad naseum.)
If we can arrive there as individuals, all else would naturally follow because every man's and every woman's true will is in harmony. And that harmony extends to everyone and everything else in the universe.

Yes. Well said! The sun is a star. Stars are suns. We can group them into constellations, etc., but that's our construct - not theirs. They don't require any of that.

Being a member of the GD or anything else would not have precluded him from distancing himself when needed. He was nothing if not his own man. The GD was formed in the Aeon of Osiris, an utterly different level of spiritual understanding than the one ushered in on March 20th 1904, the Aeon of Horus from where came this saying.

The Aeon of Osiris encouraged the heliocentric views of spiritual life, where we, like cold little planets revolve around a bright sun that gives us our purpose and our direction and trajectory. The Aeon of Horus says, no, not any more. I am a "Star" I have a will and that will is in harmony with all.

YES.
You can believe in rebirth and still have a view like that (Shivoham, anyone?) but it doesn't require a belief in rebirth. Crowley wasn't pushing reincarnation. He was pretty ambivalent about it. He claimed past lives as Eliphas Levi, Edward Kelly (John Dee's scryer), Cagliostro, and others, but that may well have been self-promotion and/or his way of giving a shoutout to influential occultists of the past. Again, metaphor. (With Crowley one has to take care not to eat the menu!)

Other times he stated that he didn't believe in it. At all.

When you're talking Crowley, rebirth is beside the point.

But I think what is happening here in this discussion is that some Crowley topics (and some Kaballah ones as well) are becoming conflated in an unproductive way which is clouding the intention of the original topic.

The Kaballah, and ultimately the Thoth deck, deal with many concepts including the decent into the material world. And maybe what you are getting at inomminate, is that descent is part of the journey to ultimately find oneself in the state of being a true individual, not needing tribes or religions or Golden Dawns to orbit around in order to know how to live or what to believe.

Yes, and to avoid another potential conflation (and I'm not trying to be a spelling pedant, apologies!) I think using the "Qabalah" spelling for Hermetic Qabalah would be good idea. It's the spelling Crowley used, and it differentiates it from Jewish Kabbalah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Qabalah

I am planning a post I hope to make later today specifically about the Aeon Card and how is represents the 3 Aeons and what they mean for us living today.

Looking forward to that.