To Know…

To know all, it is necessary to know very little; but to know that very little, one must first know pretty much.

– G. I. Gurdjieff

Gnosis… and the Left Hand Path

The material world we live in is full of sorrow and pain, joy and pleasure, and many other states and experiences that often compel mortal man to hold onto life at all costs, or bind to the living world after death, and return again and again from their journeys to Morrígan’s Cauldron. Can this cycle be broken? Should it be broken? What does it mean to attain divinity through gnosis? So many questions… and so many answers depending on where we look.

As told in the Creation Myth, Cernunnos provided the Third Children of Danu with an amazing gift. The sorcerous flame he ignited and bestowed upon mortal man was pure potential, the potential to overcome fate. The Great Mother Danu stood by, content to allow circumstance unfold and grow, all powerful, all knowing… a gnostic Monad in all sense of the word. She smiled and caressed his shoulder with affection as he left the garden because she knew at that moment in time her new creations had been given the ability to break the cycle of birth and death and become divine creators and destroyers in their own right. No longer bound within a system and equipped to be the architects and engineers of their own realities, masters and travelers along all branches and roots of The Great Oak, great Aeons of light and darkness. With each ascension the Great Mother becomes more than she was before. This is the meaning of divinity. It presses the limits of comprehension when you truly sit and meditate over the concept for any length of time.

The decision to break the cycle of death and renewal is a personal one. Some feel content and fulfilled to live life after life for ages upon ages, even many practitioners of the Left Hand Path. There is nothing inherently right or wrong with this choice. I tend to think of this along the lines of a big fish in a small pond. As we gain knowledge and experience, portions carry over after each re-birth. We have flashes of insight and moments of satori that can create conscious jumps in our self-development and make walking the arcane paths easier and more fruitful. We become more powerful, sometimes for good, and sometimes for evil… and it is a well-known fact that power is intoxicating and addictive, more so than the finest opiate. I firmly believe though that it will get to the point for all mortals where they will make a choice of their own free will… Some will transcend into something more and leave our mortal world behind, and for others fate will become too much to bear and they will wander off of The Low Road to be consumed and utterly destroyed, or to roam lost and forlorn for eternity… no longer bound to the cycle. For them the end is often truly the end. Their divine spark snuffed out, never to be re-ignited. A form of final suicide. Either way they will find emancipation from the cycle. Some of us are old souls and are closer to making this decision, others are newer sparks birthed from the great cauldron and will not be faced with this decision for ages to come. Some are driven and consciously seeking this outcome and will reach the portal much sooner. The variables are many and it would be an impossible task to exhaust all possibilities in this post, or any other text.

Although we have the potential to attain divinity through gnosis, the knowledge required to do so must be obtained through hard work, an open mind, and dedication to our craft. We must actively acquire it, often times over the course of many lifetimes. In this, the Great Goat God of the Witches continues to assist us. He whispers and teaches arts and lore to those willing to listen, and this is the basis for gnosis. It is the cumulative knowledge gleaned and retained until the moment to act is reached. Gnosis is nothing more than knowledge… and it can be found everywhere.

And he shall separate them one from another,

as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

And he shall set the sheep on his right,

but the goats on his left.

— Matthew 25: 32-33

Do not allow yourselves to be herded to the right brothers and sisters. You are not docile sheep. Seek the path of The Goat, and the gnosis that will set you free.