Working with Daath
and Moon Magic
This is the culminating book and, in practical terms, the culmination of all our work. The mysterious sephirah Daath is the place where our personal lives touch cosmic life, and as we pursue these exercises we will find that we become more aware of the needs of the world and collective life and able to make the mystery tangible as a presence of catalytic transformation.
It is this tangible presence that the alchemists symbolised in the image of the philosopher’s stone.81 The practices of exploration and union we follow in this chapter open the possibility of creating the stone within us that, as we follow and trust its guiding light, extends its influence through our life and environment.
In this series of meditations we will work with the images of Rupert and Lilith, identifying with each in turn as we engage with the three sections of Moon Magic.
In the first section, “A Study in Telepathy,” we will identify with Rupert, and in “The Moon Mistress” with Lilith; and in “The Door without a Key” we will address their union and move beyond them.
In the meditations, the point of view changes frequently; you are often asked almost simultaneously to be, and also be with, the point-of-view character. This reflects the fluid nature of this story and encourages the freedom and flexibility needed to make new connections—vital to the continuing work.
As we began to sense in the earlier books, it is now clear that as we are reaching inwards, so there is movement from the deeper, higher sephiroth, reaching towards us in a two-way flow.
The preparatory meditations remain the same in terms of the relaxation exercises, the middle pillar, and the donning of the body of light, but the bridge meditation is replaced by this:
You find yourself walking along the London Embankment at night, through the mists, feeling the flowing life of the River Thames. As you walk, you become aware of the journey you have made through the paths and the spheres. Across the river you see Cleopatra’s Needle and her sphinxes, and for a moment you feel the power of the obelisk and the presence of the Sphinx. You touch the hem of a great mystery and you find yourself before the bridge, crossing the river—not led, but choosing.
As you find yourself on the eastern bank, you are before the church door of Lilith’s house. The door is open and just inside and to the left is Lilith with her broad-brimmed hat and black cloak; the cloak is drawn back and we see her rich robes beneath. She holds in her hand a cup shaped like a lotus. To your right on the other side of the door stands Rupert, in a black slouch hat and long black coat, open to reveal the white robe of an Egyptian priest. His hand rests on a bronze dagger thrust into a broad leather belt. Between and behind them is a great mirror, and within the mirror we see the form of a vast veiled goddess. Step onto the threshold of the door and commune with Lilith, Rupert, and the goddess.
This should be used as the entrance meditation for this sequence, and as you step across the threshold you will find yourself moving into each suggested exercise. This threshold meditation is carried out in your normal persona, while the continuing meditations require you to step into the forms of Rupert and Lilith.
Stage 1: A Study in Telepathy—
The Journey of Rupert
Before performing the meditation, spend time contemplating the figure of Rupert. Visualise him, get to know him; find the parallels between his life and yours.
Meditation 1: Malkuth
Perform the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation and then, as you step across the threshold, it is as if you are stepping into the persona of Rupert. Feel his power and achievement; feel his frustration and sense of stuckness. Notice parallels in your life. Contemplate his marriage, his lonely room and the relationship he has with his wife; feel the sense of duty that keeps him chained. Feel his trapped, pacing energy and the sickness of his wife and the union that is not a union. Consider the chains in your life and the things, people, and situations that you are fused with. Bring to mind the experiences of Hugh Paston, Wilfred Maxwell, and Ted Murchison you have already worked on. Let it all come together in this figure of Rupert, in the middle of his life, in the midst of his despair. As before, be aware that, simply with your engaged attention, change will begin to occur.
As the images fade, sit in the body of light and feel the energies and images embody within you, before returning fully and grounding yourself.
Perform this meditation for seven days.
Meditation 2: The Underworld Way, Part 1
Perform the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation. As you step across the threshold, you are once again with Rupert and the degree ceremony, feeling the weight of the academic robes that symbolise all of the outer achievements and the inner despair. Strip yourself of the robe, drop the identity, and walk out into the night; stand on the embankment and contemplate the river, letting your awareness flow with the river to the sea and surrendering to the deep. As you continue your walk, see the shadowy figure of a woman walking ahead. As you do so, you bring to mind the dreams of the cloaked woman who walks ahead of you through land and seascape and you quicken your steps, but no matter how quickly you walk you cannot catch her up. You return to your lodgings and look out across the river, where you see a small church lit up as if for a service. You sleep and dream. Let the images fade and sit in the body of light; feel the change of identity and the opening up of the inner path, before returning fully, feeling expansive and relaxed. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 2: The Underworld Way, Part 2
After the preparatory meditations and the threshold meditation, find yourself, as Rupert, following the woman along the embankment, able this time to match her fluid speed. This time you follow her across the bridge, seeing, as you are halfway across, the evening star shining in the east. You follow her to the threshold of the church and seek to step inside. She turns and shines her flashlight right into your eyes, asking you why you have come and denying you entrance. Return to your room and contemplate the experience. Let the images fade and sit in the body of light, feeling the challenge of the woman and the sense of threshold. Return feeling strengthened and grounded. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 3: Yesod
The preparatory meditations and the threshold meditation lead you to find yourself sitting in Rupert’s room, making the journey now in vision, walking alongside the plane trees and crossing the bridge. You strongly visualise the door of Lilith’s home, and with an effort of will you step through, seeing for a moment a beautiful room with a great fire burning and the face of a woman with dark hair and brown eyes.
Let yourself be absorbed in the woman: give your attention and energy to her. After a little while you find yourself moving to another place; you are wandering in an Egyptian temple and find the steps that lead to an underground passage … Go to the cave with the altar and the image of a vast woman hewn out of the living rock. Pray to her and be still in her presence. Then let the images fade, sit in the body of light, and feel the developing mastery of the inner ways and the sense of Lilith, the Priestess of the Dark Mother. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 4: The Alchemical Path
After the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation, find yourself in Rupert’s clinic room in the midst of outer affairs; feel the strain and struggle of outer life. See and feel the moment when Lilith walks into the room; feel the shock of the union of worlds and opposites and the journey to Lilith’s home as she takes charge. Feel the ongoing communion between them and the entrance into the temple of Isis. As Rupert, you sit in an easy chair in front of the fire and allow every muscle in your body to slacken and relax in this enchanted place as you surrender in the place of the priestess.
Let the images fade and sit in the body of light, feeling the crossover of opposites and the exploration of the inner temple. Do this for seven days.
Stage 2: The Moon Mistress—
The Journey of Lilith
As you did with Rupert, spend time reading about Lilith and contemplating her. Feel your relationship with her and the parallels in your own life.
Meditation 1: Malkuth
Do the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation, and as you step across the threshold, step into the persona of Lilith: become aware of her wish to create a temple and work with a priest in order to bring balance between the sexes and renew the mysteries of the Goddess. Feel her connection to the Dark Isis and her sense of the damage that has been caused by the denial of this great being. Remember with her the work done with Wilfred Maxwell, and bring to mind Ursula Brangwyn and Mona, seeing them as also linked to this deep work of renewal. With Lilith’s wider awareness, contemplate Egypt and Atlantis and the work of the inner priesthood. Let her sit within your heart and sit within hers, and feel the deep weave of connection start to form. Let the images fade and sit in the body of light, letting the presence of Lilith and all the priestesses of the books be in your embodied experience.
Return as usual, grounding yourself. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 2: The Underworld Way
Do the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation, and as you step into Lilith, find yourself driving east in her small black sports car in the dusk: notice the moment when she nearly collides with Rupert, the crossing of the paths, and accompany her to the finding of the church and Meatyard. Contemplate the creation of the church: be with Lilith and Meatyard as they renew it; involve yourself in the creation of the beauty of the living room, the bathroom, and the sleeping quarters.
Let the images fade, sitting in the body of light as you let the sense of the finding of the place of working resonate within you, before returning to the everyday world and writing your report. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 3: Yesod, Part 1
Do the preparatory meditations and the threshold meditation, crossing the threshold to become Lilith. Here, sit as Lilith, and with her, contemplate her dwelling: feel the sense of possibility, which is not yet becoming active. Walk with her in the evening along the wharf side by the dark, flowing water, and notice across the river the figure of Rupert Malcolm pacing in his room. Feel the connection and ignition that happens in the moment of connection, then return with her to the church and sit in meditation: notice the bowl and lilies, the golden fire in the water, and the mist rising, and relax into the presence of Isis.
Let the images fade, sit in the body of light, and feel the presence of Isis before returning fully. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 3: Yesod, Part 2
Do the preparatory meditations and the threshold meditation, crossing the threshold to become Lilith. As Lilith, find and create the eight-sided temple in the belfry. Contemplate the altar, the couch, the black pillar, the silver pillar, and the mirror. Pass through the mirror into the inner temple.
See the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, and pass through the pylon into the temenos, the sacred enclosure, alongside the lotus pool and into the great hall, with its pillars and veiled Holy of Holies. Be aware of the eternal light hanging from the ceiling and the sarcophagus of Isis in the midst of the hall. Notice the small stairway to the underground temple, and follow it down into the deeps of the earth, coming into the small cave temple with the basalt image of the Dark Isis and the sacrificial altar. Contemplate the Dark Isis and dedicate yourself to her. From time to time you are aware of the astral presence of Rupert in the temple and the cave of the Dark Isis.
Let the images fade; sit in the body of light and feel the establishment of the inner temple and the beginning of the work of Rupert and Lilith. Do this for seven days.
Meditation 4: The Alchemical Path
Be aware of Lilith and accompany her as she travels to Rupert’s clinic and confronts him; feel her steely determination and compassion, and notice the effect on both as they meet, after all their previous experiences. Travel with them back to Lilith’s home and contemplate the unfolding relationship. Feel her sitting enthroned in the temple, reaching out to him. Be with her as she embraces the form of the lion-headed Sekhmet and creates the circle of fire around them both. Feel him projecting into the house and the inner temple and cave. Contemplate their connection. Consider in turn his presence in the temple, and her conscious projection into his world. Let the images fade; sit in the body of light and feel the process of alchemical fusion, wherein the energy is held safely and the work can continue.
Return to your grounded, everyday state and journal in the usual way.
Stage 3: The Door without a Key—
The Joint Journey
Meditation: Tiphareth
Do the usual preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation, but as you step across the threshold, you will be aware of both Rupert and Lilith and this time your point of view will move between them.
In this process you are bringing together the archetypal masculine and feminine in your nature. Thus, find yourself in the upper temple with Rupert and Lilith; he lies on the altar-couch and she is behind him. They both face the mirror. Be aware of the central altar, the twin pillars, and the mirror. Be with Rupert as he sees Lilith in the mirror; be with Lilith as she holds his head. Move flexibly, lightly, and easily between the perspectives until you get a sense of their mutual gaze. As you look, the mirror clouds and the form of a veiled woman is seen in it: she steps through the mirror and gathers them both in her hands, blessing the work that is to come, and responds to the work they both bring before her. As the inner temple opens, we move through it, passing into the Holy of Holies. Old memory of desecration arises and is forgiven by the veiled goddess as Rupert is acknowledged as a servant of Isis. Feel the parallel in your own life, of any old sense of unworthiness falling away, as you pass through the curtain.
Let the images fade; sit in the body of light and let the feelings of the ritual embody within you. Do this for seven days.
Meditation: The Desert Way
Perform the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation. Find yourself with Rupert and Lilith as they stand on either side of the altar. Feel the sense of the Goddess building up behind Lilith, and see her through Rupert’s eyes. Feel and see the temple changing into a vast cave and hear the words of the Goddess: “I am the Veiled Isis of the shadows of the sanctuary. I am she that moveth as a shadow behind the tides of death and birth. I am she that cometh forth by night, and no man seeth my face. I am older than time and forgotten of the gods. No man may look upon my face and live, for in the hour he parteth my veil, he dieth.”82
Kneel with Rupert and offer your life to the Goddess; sink down and down into the root of life, returning to the Mother, becoming her child. Enter into the stillness that is underneath all sound and motion: give all, receive all. Let the images fade and sit with the stillness and act of offering, before returning, renewed, in the usual gentle stages. Do this for seven days.
Meditation: Daath
Perform the preparatory exercises and the threshold meditation, as before, aligning with both of them and their deep connection with each other.
Find yourself in the temple with Rupert and Lilith, both robed in black: Rupert has a silver nemyss on his head and Lilith is crowned with the moon. Be with them as they stand side by side at the altar, looking between the pillars into the mirror. Feel the energy rise in Rupert as he raises his hands and invokes the Goddess. See the inner temple open in the mirror, and beyond the temple, the ancient cave.
As Lilith moves to stand with her back to the mirror, the Goddess steps into her. As Rupert, you speak for the division between the deep masculine and deep feminine in ourselves and in the world, and receive the blessing of the Goddess. Let the blessing flow through Lilith and Rupert to the whole world. Let the images fade; sit in the body of light as the sense of the blessing sinks into your body and, through your body, into your world. Do this for seven days.
Meditation: Crowning Experience
Perform the preparatory exercises and the threshold exercise. Find yourself in the temple with Lilith and Rupert both robed in black and silver, facing each other across the altar. Be with Rupert as he raises his hands and calls up the power from below: descend with him into the deep earth and stand before the vast statue of the Black Isis. Offer yourself as a living sacrifice through which the deep life of the earth may rise. Let the earth-fire rise with you as you return to the temple, feeling rooted in earth and fire.
You raise your hand towards Lilith and project the earth-fire to her. There is a sound of bells and the surging of the sea, and it is as if the blackness of space and the silver fire of the stars flow to meet it. Rupert and Lilith clasp each other’s hands, and with them you feel the pulsing of the pillars of the universe, becoming vast—both rooted in the deep sea and earth; both with heads in the stars becoming one, coeval, equal in the living flow of life, making the sacred marriage. They descend then back into the body, letting the power move through human levels, disentangling old distortion as the combined fire flows through the world and through all beings. The work sets in motion a new creation.
Let the images fade; sit in the body of light and feel Rupert and Lilith integrally within you. Feel the divine masculine and feminine finding a new balance within you. Feel the connection to all the priests and priestesses of this work all held within the field of the dark priest and priestess. Receive them into the deepest part of your heart and body and celebrate the marriage in all of your worlds. Feel the richness of understanding permeating your being.
Return slowly and gently, through the body of light and into the everyday world, to note your experiences.
The Ritual of Daath—
The Sacred Marriage
“There is a life behind the personality that uses personalities as masks. There are times when life puts off the mask and deep answers unto deep.” 83
Once again, and this time mediated through this most mysterious portal, you have the opportunity to sink into an appreciation of the sacred marriage within yourself. Allow the magical relationship of story and imagination to gently complete this cycle. As always, ensure that you will be free of interruptions, and allow time to prepare and to wind down afterwards, to make notes and gently return to the everyday world.
You Will Need:
• Space that you have cleared in preparation and with awareness
• Comfortable seating
• A silver candle
• Low light in the room—sufficient to read easily
• A copy of Moon Magic
• Lunar incense
Make yourself comfortable in a clear, clean space in front of the candle: light it and the lunar incense with intent and sit with your spine straight. As you focus on the candle, you become aware of a silver mist that gradually fills the room.
Rest in the mystery for a while, then pick up the book; see it as a repository of subtle energy, as are you. Through it runs the current of an esoteric teaching … Put it down gently and allow yourself to slip into a deeper meditative state.
Behind you, sense the door of the church temple. Lilith and Rupert step forward and place their hands upon you in blessing and support; behind them, sense the mirror, the inner temple, the cave temple, and the Dark Isis.
Slowly and meditatively read the final two chapters of Moon Magic, pausing to feel the images and let them pass through you into the world.
Feel deeply the words of the penultimate paragraph, when Lilith and Rupert stand hand in hand, looking into the mirror …
As you slowly read to the end, be the living threshold, the link between the worlds. Think of the current of Dion Fortune’s work alive in the world; its connection to the best of the evolutionary impulse, still about its work of regeneration for society.
Feel all the priests and priestesses you have worked with, and, in a subtle sense, you have joined them, by right of your shared dedication and the work you have done. Feel them being joined by many more about the same work, in a convocation of light that sparks through the supporting silver web of mysterious connection as you hold up the silver candle and bless the world.
Sit with the energies for a timeless moment, and rest in the presence of the company.
Slowly you respond to the pull to return to the everyday, respecting the end of this process that has brought you so far. Give yourself time for reflection, for reviewing all your course notes if you wish. Allow space for the mystery to settle within before you ground yourself thoroughly, with movement, journaling, and walking in nature.
This concludes the course, remembering always …
No enunciation of the Truth will ever be complete, no method of training will ever be suitable for all temperaments, no one can do more than mark out the little plot of Infinity which he intends to cultivate, and thrust in the spade, trusting that the soil may eventually be fruitful and free from weeds so far as the bounds he has set himself extend. 84
A blessing on the work.