The Pageless Book

Above Photo by Joi Ito. Image Below by Chris Gladis. Hebrew Script Photo by Jurek Durczak. Last Photo Below by Jeff Kubina.

In my previous article, Three Serpents, I discussed the symbolism behind the entities Metatron, Sandalphon, and Apollion, as the holy trinity of The Gated Emptiness. They are not the only trinity present in this text, however; we are also presented with a trinity that represents all of humanity. The Gated Emptiness reads:

“The mother is the past, but she shall be ever present. The father is present, but he ever thrusts forward. The child unites both past and future. The child opens the gates of hell, of heaven, of the palaces, and of the worlds. These three enter all gates, and close all.”

The trinity of humanity - man, woman, and child - represents past, present, and future in various stages. They also represent the movement of time. Woman symbolizes the movement from the past to the present while man symbolizes the movement from the present to the future. Yet it is the child, who unities both past and future, that opens the all gates - all of our possibilities. What is meant by these passages and what does it say regarding humanity?

Before we can get to answer that question, we have to understand the language that The Gated Emptiness is using. It is no coincidence that we are introduced to both a holy trinity and a human trinity within the confines of the same chapter. This points to the frame work within which we can better understand what the text is telling us. Not only can this be interpreted as a reference to the biblical account of the Divine making mankind in its likeness, but simultaneously introduces the concept of the infinite cycle of history. In my mind, there is no mistaking this passage for anything but a reference to the Gnostic credo, “As Above, So Below.”

So “Gnostic” is like being agnostic, right? Er, No. Gnosticism was a religious movement which blended Christianity with the popular Greek, Egyptian, and Roman religions or philosophies. This movement was considered highly heretical by the early Christian church which attempted to suppress Gnosticism and was largely successful due to the shear diversity within that movement. Gnostic beliefs later became highly influential in the formation of Qabalah (a Jewish form of mysticism) and medieval occultism.

And what of the gates of hell, heaven, the palaces, and the worlds? Is this, too, a Gnostic reference? Actually, it is a Qabalistic reference, as is the following passage:

“Twelve hands grab hold of the sides of sky and pull the starry hosts towards the center into the eye of God. Six hands go forth and move the fabric of night and day. Eight hands usher the wise towards enlightenment, holding upright the Tree of Life. So are formed the altar and keystone, the foundation of the earth.”

Twelve? Six? Eight? What?! This is going to take some explaining. Pay attention, as there will be a quiz later on… The twelve hands represents the twelve astrological signs, six hands represents the six ancient planets (minus the sun), and the eight hands represent the seven lower Sephiroth of the Tree of Life along with Da’ath. The Tree of Life is a graphical representation of creation, as understood by Qabalists, which has ten Sephiroth or stages of creation along with one Pseudo-Sephiroth named Da’ath. The “altar and keystone” are symbolized by these hands; a cube has six faces, twelve edges (where two faces meet), and eight points (where three faces meet).

If this all sounds like one long convoluted riddle, that is because… it is a long convoluted riddle! Both Gnosticism and Qabalah are extremely symbolic in their language and artwork. These religious movements formed during a time of persecution, so secrecy was an important consideration, but more important was that both of these movements understood that the Divine is beyond our comprehension. Much like a Zen Koan, hiding their meaning underneath layers of symbols ensured that a person had to dismantle their preconceptions before coming to understand its meaning.

Why does The Gated Emptiness include something so arcane that its meaning has to be spelled out? I could give you some pretentious bovine manure, that in order to understand and appreciate the depth of The Gated Emptiness you would need to be versed in several mystic traditions; the truth, however, is not this glamourous. During the period which I wrote this text, I was heavily into occultism, which influenced my subconscious. Whether you believe that The Gated Emptiness is a divinely inspired text or not, it still had to run through the filter of my subconsciousness. If it had not been for this fact, the two above passages probably would have read very differently:

Humanity exists as a cumulation of our choices as a species to date and the possibilities we will have in the future. It is we who choose our own suffering or pleasure, poverty or abundance. The very universe in which we live is there to support us and challenge us. It is in this way that we are in the image of God.

Yes, it is easier to understand, but not nearly as poetic.

Photo above by Sarah Cartwright. Pentagram Photo by Epimetheus. Witch Photo by Helena.

Back when Christianity was first forming, most cultures had their own religions or Gods, and no single religion was considered “universal.” Although the Romans attempted to equate the Gods of other cultures with their religion and enforced a state sponsored religion, these efforts were far from being uniform in application or success. For the most part, folks worshiped the Gods their parents worshiped, and gave the religions of conquering cultures as little attention as they could get away with. The alternative was to join a mystery religion - cults whose membership remained secret and whose worship was not always acceptable by the rest of society.

Christianity was lumped together with the mystery religions, as an off-shoot of Judaism. However, this religion, was different than the other mystery religions. The fledgling religion was forced into secrecy instead of choosing it, did not allow their adherents to worship other Gods as most mystery religions did, and appealed to all people, regardless of race or culture. With it’s message of salvation regardless of heritage, Christianity represented the first truly universal religion. As the religion grew and became more centralized, the spiritual leaders emphasized the universal appeal of Christianity by calling their church “Catholic” - which means “universal” in Latin.

Two thousand years after the birth of Jesus Christ, one could hardly call the Catholic Church universal anymore. Not only have the several schisms with Christendom given rise to the Protestant religions, but Christianity as a whole is shrinking as a result of religious freedom in Western culture. While it is still the most popular religion in the world, Islam is quickly closing the gap between itself and Christianity. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but does tend to give rise to the question of whether Christianity was as universal as it purported to be in the first place.

The loss of the universal appeal of Christianity could only be attributed to one important truth of the modern world: the desire for creativity. Modern conveniences and ample leisure time has given rise to a greater focus on individual creativity. Traditional forms of worship and social structure within Christianity seems stifling in comparison to the new egalitarian social structure and mutual artistic evolution of the internet. The only religion that I know of which shares these egalitarian and creative elements in Wicca.

Only having emerged in the last fifty years, Wicca is the newest of the world religions. It is a particular blend of European folk lore which focuses on the rhythms of nature and cycles of life instead of theology. Drawing heavily from the ancient Pagan beliefs, Wicca takes the Roman attempt to consolidate deities of different cultures to a new extreme by reducing all Gods into one God with two aspects (God of Darkness and of Light), and all Goddesses into one Goddess with three aspects (Maiden, Mother, and Crone). They also practice ritual, which they call witchcraft, with the intent of influencing reality in a manner that mirrors modern occultism.

Wicca’s greatest strength; however, is in its structure and liturgy. Wiccans usually worship in small groups of 3-13 individuals, called a coven. Even though one man or woman serves as the head priest, all of the individuals in a coven are considered priests in their own right. This puts each individual on equal footing - there are no “followers,” only leaders who allow someone else to lead for a time. The social structure is more akin to family than in Christianity; no one person is more important than another.

This is reflected in the way in which Wiccans worship. Although one member of a coven serves as the lead, the actual rituals, prayers, and practices need the input of each member. Even those rites which are considered “tradition” are up for reinterpretation by an individual coven. Theology, preaching, and passive participation are absent from Wiccan worship. For those looking for worship to be a creative outlet, this religion seems custom made.

These qualities, found in Wicca, make this religion potentially more “Catholic” than Catholicism. Everyone can identify with family, with nature, and with the cycles of life. Any individual can look at the God or Goddess and see a deity that looks like themselves and represents humanity as a whole. More importantly, there is no authority to appease or to declare you heretical simply because you choose to do things a different way. Is it truly any wonder this is the fastest growing religion in the world?