The Pillar of Babalon unites the spheres of the mind, physicality, and consciousness through desire. Through desire the energy of chaos is drawn down to bring total presence to the moment. The self is engaged and entangled in that moment and overcome by consciousness, which is neither ego self nor object of the moment. Consciousness claims sense, action, understanding of the world, and the ego self.
The Ritual
Stand balanced and centered. Breathe deeply. Bring your attention to your environment, where you are and what is around you.
Now visualize above you a shining form of your perfect desire. The nature of this should be personal. This is the desire that ties you to the world. Reach up with both hands, touching or penetrating the object of your desire above you. With a full breath begin vibrating “I-A-O”.
As you intone “I”, feel the fluid of brilliant desire upon your hand and bring it down and anoint your forehead.
Continue bringing your hands down to your chest as you begin to intone “A”. Shift your awareness to feeling yourself here in this moment. Realize this moment is brought into being by your experience of it. The objective world is an illusion of the mind. Only this moment of experience is real. Make a gesture of first bringing your hands together over your heart and rending it apart. Continue the motion as if rending a veil until your arms are straight out to your sides.
As you begin intoning “O”, bring your hands down to cover your genitals. Feel the mystery of being. You do make this moment be in your presence in it but you are not your conception of yourself. The “you” that you think you are is no more real than the objective world.
Spend a moment in silence.
Repeat the gesture of reaching upwards into your desire. Hold this gesture and intone “BABALON”.
Repeat the gesture of bringing down the fluid light of love to your heart and say, “May the blood of your passion split the world.”
Repeat the gesture of splitting and bring your hands again down to your genitals and say, “May I be consumed in your fire and reborn.”
Reaching up with your right hand say “In Sense”.
Reaching up with your left hand say “In Thought”.
Reaching out to your side with your right hand say “In Understanding”.
Reaching out to your side with your left hand say “In Being”.
Then clasping your hands over your heart say “and In Wonder”.
Repeat once more the gestures and intonation of “I-A-O”.
A Brief Explanation
This ritual is represented on the 12 tree by the 41 sum sigil. In Desire we bring ourself into the 9th sphere, Desire. Desire is the foundation of being, it is that which anchors us to the world. We focus and amplify this desire to overwhelm the objective by presence.
We position ourself below and reaching up through the sphere of Desire to connect with our true self which is and is beyond thought and experience.
This transitions to the 11 tree, splitting the world of object into Subject and Object. As we shift awareness to the nature of experience we step beyond the ego self into consciousness. The true self that is beyond being
The gestures and words mark the spheres of Sense, Thought, Object, and Subject in the moment of consciousness.
