The Obsidian Tablet of Azag:

• Azag
  
• (-) negative 
  
• (0) zero
  
• Katu
  
• Disjunctive

• Other Power
  
• Circumference
  
• Existence
  
• The Savage Darkness
  
• The Outer Dreaming (collective unconscious)
  
  .O O
  
• The writ of Azag who knew the Me of Katu (disjunction)
  
  . O
  
• This is what Azag knew: One must go forward as a minion of the Savage Darkness; for all things have an opposite that will oppose them.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Opposition keeps them disjuct.
  
  .O O
  . O
  
• Opposites feed one upon another.
  
  
  . O
  .O O
  
• Opposites seek to unmake one another
  
  . O
  . O
  
• Opposites hinder one another,
  
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Opposites hunger for one another
  
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• Each half of a set of opposites is alone because its mate is it's opposite.
  
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Where opposites meet, there is an edge of tension.
  
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
  
• In the edge of tension lies the greatest potential to abort, too weaken, too defeat, too feed. 
  
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• In the edge of tension, the children of struggle are spawned and consumed. 
  
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• In the edge of tension is the Savage Darkness, In the Savage Darkness is the unknown 
  
  
  
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• To fear the unknown is common to all beings, and to flee the unknown is to stand before the gate of fear
  
  . O
  . O
  . O
  
• When standing before the gate of fear: one enters even when walking away.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Behind the gate of fear is the land of fear.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• The gatekeepers of the gate of fear are named, "Powerlessness" and "Judgment (verdict)".
  
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• When entering the gate of fear, one speaks the password: 'I am not'.
  
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
  
• 'I am not' is the power and pass key to the Gate of Fear,
  
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Speak saying: 'I am not', and one will find the gate of fear.
  
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• Desire to leave behind that which one cannot abide, must be unified in body, mind and spirit,
  
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Then one may walk through the gate of fear speaking, 'I am not', and be free of it.
  
  
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O 
   . O
  
• To fear the darkness is common to all beings, but do not fear the darkness, 
  
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• The darkness is were one may face fear and overcome it. 
  
   . O
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• The circumference is strong because it binds the center 
  
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Bound around the center is the Savage darkness 
  
   . O
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
  
• It is hard and cunning, for it can vail the light in illusion 
  
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• The seal of existence closes the awareness and is a wall obcuring that place beyond light and dark 
  
   . O 
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• No light will pass the door of darkness into the unknown, save in rashness. 
  
   . O 
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Fear and doubt will bar the door to the unknown, for fear and doubt are the darkness.
  
  . O
  . O
  . O
  . O
  
• Katu is the power of the land of Fear.
  
  THE FIRST INITIATION: TRIAL BY DARKNESS
  

The first ritual act:  The space is cleansed of the old and new; the temple is dark; all are silent.

When the Neophyte first arrives, there is a good chance that they are in the midst of Trial by Darkness. In trial by Darkness they have come to a point in their life when they have chosen a negative path of life. They feel alien or off, some feel stillborn as if they have never had a chance to live. They are utterly obedient to their fears, prejudices, and illusions. They are ill with agression, guilt, loneliness, depression and frustration. Many have followed the same autodestructive patterns over and over for years, yet still have survived some how. They have severed themselves off from everyone or they have meshed into a genre of society in an effort to escape reality. Usually if they have a method of becomeing real, they have pushed it off till tommorow by promising that tommorrow they'll become 'thin', or 'educated', or 'stronger' and thus are able to backslide today. In short, they have learned what Azag knew.

In order to understand what Azag knew, let us break down katu and the Writ of Azag, line by line. Let us begin with the correspondences given in the chapter heading. As already stated, the dual dots represent the concept of Disjunction; the dots are disjunct or separate from one another and the space between them is the zero or boundary. The neophyte who is in the midst of trial by darkness has learned the ME of disjunction. They have learned that disconnecting themselves is the surest way to be safe. This saves them from all emotional traumas except their own.

The letter 'A' has the numerical value of 1; this reflects the notion that zero becomes one--because all things birth their opposites. In the flame script the letter 'A' has the shape of an arrow. In the introduction we compared the interaction of tebu and katu to the interaction of a bow and a bowstring; at the end of this statement we noted that it is the cycle of tension/resolution that throws the arrow. In the same fashion, it was the tension (separation) and resolution (reuniting) of AbBa that created Azag (cast the arrow of change). In just this same manner, it is tension and resolution between the neophyte and their existence that has birthed who they are now. In the course of their life, they have developed patterns of behavior to suit their survival needs. These patterns were set in place when they were children, by those people that were responsible for their care. Children are ignorant and need guidence; this guidence shapes the patterns of behavior that help to keep the child safe and obeidient.  Later, when we reach adulthood, we keep these patterns (modified by our life experiences) firmly in place. Usualy we develope a stimulus / response system, in which a given stimulus evokes a certain response, automaticly and thoughtlessly. The Neophyte loses their childlike wonder and spontainity, and begins to stagnate. They become dead men walking about.

The word Katu implies 'that which falls,' or that which separates itself from it's partner. It is representative of the tendency of entropy to disrupt systems that are not actively maintained. The Neophyte that has entered the Trial by Darkness has fallen from their true path, the path of life. They dont realize that it is their maintainence of the destructive patterns that keeps the patterns from falling into entropy.

The word AZAG means a 'taboo' or boundary. Taboos are established boundaries that limit freedom of action. Taboos are designed to evoke a disjunctive response in the individual that encounters them. While many taboos are formed in the effort to protect ourselves, most taboos are developed in an attempt to exercise control over others when they interact within a given environment. The Neophyte will have a huge number of taboos firmly wedged in place and will use them like a fortress. In the cases where the Neophyte has few taboos, they will flaunt and assault the taboos of others in an attempt to prove their freedom. In this second case, this dedication to disobedience is an illusion. Disobedience is still a form of obedience; the dedicated rebel is as obedient to his disobedience as any other slave or fanatic. His efforts are designed to allow him to be disjunct from authority, but he ends up under the full authority of his rebelliousness.

The polarity of disjunction is the most manifested responce of the neophyte in the midst of trial by Darkness. When we manifest a disjunctive state, we are separating our self from something that is perceived as a form of threat. Disjunction is not a bad or 'evil' thing in and of its self, indeed disjunction is part of our survival instincts. If we have burned our hand in a fire, we have a tendency to remain disjunct from fire in order to insure that we do not burn our hand again. We divide our self from fear inspiring concepts and a boundary is set in place to keep away those patterns that birth the fear inspiring concept. A disjunctive state will bring an end to the interaction of any interactive patterns.

'Other power' is any power that is relied upon in lieu of 'self power'. Reliance on other power is based on the inability or refusal to take command of our own lives and responsibility. Many people become obedient to other power, because they find it easier to 'follow' orders than to be free. This choice allows them to shift blame to others and thus escape being a responsible adult.

Our existence is the circumference, while our awareness in the center. Dependency or fascination with the circumference has a tendency to lead to disjunction from our center and reliance on other powers over self power.

Azag is the Savage Darkness. To understand the concept of the savageness of darkness, one need only snuff a lamp, and note how savagely the darkness leaps into the place that the light has left. The Neophyte will usualy have spent many years building up to the Trial by Darkness, and most of them will be able to recall the moment that their light went out and the Darkness leaped in.

The first ten lines of the writ express the attitude of those that have entered the Trial by darkness. It expresses the loneliness and bitterness of those that have become fearful and agressive in response to the trials and tribulations of existence. It is believed that after the information givin directly above, that these ten lines will be self explanitory. The tenth line reflects the false pride that many neophytes feel in their survival up to this point. The tenth line is also a reference to the children of Lamashtu in the creation myth. In the Myth it was only the strongest and most vicious of Lamastu's offspring that escaped the hunger of Azag. Many Neophytes feel that they too are amongst the most vicious of the children of struggle and take pride in this concept.

The remaining lines introduce the concept of 'The Gate of Fear.'
When the Neophyte is in the midst of the Trial by Darkness, they will follow the pattern layed out in lines 11 through 20. First they will come up against an unknown. The neophyte, having no idea how to deal with this unknown, will feel uncertainty. The uncertainty will bring a sence of powerlessness and they will judge themselves insufficiant to stand up to the unknown. The result of this is a fear of the unknown.

Their desire to flee this unknown, and their sense of powerlessness puts them squarely in front of the gate of fear. ( 0 0 ) At that moment, the Neophyte says, "Everyone gets scared, I am not (afraid, weak, brave, strong, ect.)."  The Neophyte surrenders to their fear and tries to walk away from the unknown, and walks right into the center of the land of fear.

Fear engages the fight or flight syndrome. As a result there is agression or disjunction. It is the power of denial and rebellion (I am not) that keeps one trapped in fear amidst powerlessness and judgement.

The Alabaster tablet of Babilani:

• Babilani
  
• (+) Positive
• (1) One
  
• Tebu
  
• Conjunctive
  
• Self Power
  
• Center
  
• Awareness
  
• The Healing Light
  
• The Inner Dreaming (personal reality)
  
  .O O
• The writ of Babilani, who knew the Me of Tebu (conjunction)
  
  . O
  
• This is what Babilani knew: One must go forward as a scion of the light; for all things have reflective opposites.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Attraction keeps them bound in the dance.
  
  .O O 
   . O
  
• All things are impregnated by the seed of their opposites. 
  
   . O
  .O O
  
• Opposites birth one another.
  
  . O
  . O
  
• Opposites feed one another.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Opposites interact with one another,
  
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• Each half of a set opposites is mated and cannot exist without it's mate
  
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Where opposites meet, there is an edge of tension.
  
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
• In the edge of tension lies the greatest potential for birth, growth, consummation, repose and completion. 
  
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• In the edge of tension, the children of growth are birthed and suckled. 
  
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• Observe the edge of tension always; the edge of tension will always show the way to the healing light of courage. Courage is the strength to walk into the unknown. 
  
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• To fear the unknown is common to all beings; to face an Unknown is too stand before the gate of fear.
  
  . O
  . O
  . O
  
• When standing before the gate of fear, one enters even when walking away.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Behind the gate of fear is the land of fear; behind the gate of fear is also the land of courage.
  
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O 
  
• The guardians of the gate to the land of courage are called, "Will" and "Resolve (determination)."
  
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• When entering the gate of fear, one must speak the password: 'I am'.
  
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O 
  
• 'I am' is the power and pass key to the gate keepers of the land of courage.
  
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Say 'I am... I am... I am!' Or one will find only the land of fear.
  
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• Desire to go forward must be unified in body, mind and spirit.
  
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Then one may walk through the gate of fear speaking: ' I am... I am... I am!' And enter the land of courage.
  
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O 
   . O
  
• To fear the darkness is common to all beings, but do not fear the shadows. 
  
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• Darkness and Shadow differ. Darkness is the absence of light; while if there is shadow, then there must be light. 
  
   . O
  .O O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• The center is strong because it is surrouned by the circumference 
  
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Bound in the center is the healing light 
  
   . O
  .O O 
   . O 
   . O
  
• It is prudent and wise because it can see beyond the illusion 
  
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  .O O
  
• The opened awareness can see beyond the wall of existence into the place beyond 
  
   . O 
   . O
  .O O 
   . O
  
• It is rashness that sends us throught the door into the darkness; but it is a calm courage that carries the light into darkness and into the unknown 
  
   . O 
   . O 
   . O
  .O O
  
• Courage is the strength to walk in to the Darkness; for courage is the light, and hope the lamp.

. O
. O
. O
. O

• Tebu is the power of the land of courage.
  
  THE SECOND INITIATION : TRIAL BY LIGHT:

The second ritual act: The birth of the temple; the purified initiate; and lighting of the lamp.

The reason that the Neophye approaches the temple, is that they have found the darkness to no longer fullfill their needs. They realize that the pain and fear of growing no longer out weighs the pain and fear of remaining the same. The ME of disjunction cannot solve their inner problems. They wish to grow, change, to be free; and by the very act of deciding this, the Neophtye begins the second Trial. The Neophytes must embrace the ME of conjunction.

Trial by light demands courage and resolve. It is often much easier to fall back into an old pattern of auto-destruction and stagnation, rather than face the effort of new growth. Trial by light begins when the Neophyte realizes that the risks of remaining the same no longer outweigh the risks of blossoming. They become willing to bring the light (self examination) to bear on their old patterns and face who they really are (authenticity).

This kind of frank examination can arouse great discomfort at first. It is not easy and only a strong understanding of the light will allow the Neophyte to Balance the Darkness.

It will be noted, that the desire is not to banish the darkness. This would be like cutting off your left leg because you had decided you prefered the right leg! Instead we must understand, that the lesson of the polarities is the lesson of balance, not a lesson of light stamping out darkness.

The Neophyte has approached the temple because the darkness has taken lead of their existence and awareness. They are in a state in which they are preparing to cut off a leg (some the left, some the right). The message of the heavens, is choose to follow the new birth; stand with the right foot forward, but STAND ON BOTH FEET!

If you have made this choice, then you will be anxious to begin. Let's begin an examination of the figure Tebu.

The single dot is representative of conjunctive energy. In truth, the single dot is two dots joined as one.

The letter 'B' has the value 2. The letter B is seen as representing the shape of a bow; and it reminds us, that life is not enough in and of it self. The bow by itself is just a stick: TO BE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH! The bow has potential, but without the dicipline of the string, the bow is unable to reach it's potential. Even Babilani could not bring forth her children with out Azag's help.

The word "Tebu" implies that which rises or is conjunctive with it's partner. It represents the tendency of living beings to seek states that are Biophilic or 'life promoting'. Life promoting systems have a tendency to take advantage of the environment around them and to strive to be conjunctive and co-operative to those patterns that promote survival and reproduction.

The name Babilani implies: 'the gate of the gods.' It is the basis of the name of the city of Babylon. Babilani represents the biophilic-conjunctive power of life. In the tales of Babilani she creates life even when she destroys life.

In the creation myth, Babilani slays Azag. When Azag was slain his blood (the power of randomness or chaos to bring change) is scattered all about. Without the power of randomness to bring change, life would not have the opportunity to make new Biophilic changes.

Katu puts forward the concept that the strong survive and the weak perish. NO! NO! NO! The cooporative survive (though better yet, the strong in cooporation). From the beginning, one of the most successful survival strategies has been co-oporation. Current research on the origins of life suggest that life started as a kind of open-faced sandwich. It is believed that chemical reactions affixed themselves to flat crystal structures in the boiling salty baths around volcanic vents. The chemicals, being practically two dimentional, were held in place by the crystal structures. In this stable state of residence, the chemicals were able to interact and cooporate with each other.

First came SELF_PROMOTING chemicals that followed a self catalyzing reaction cycle. A cycle of reaction lead, at some point, to the developement of nuclaic acids. The acids performed a complex cooporative union that lead to the earliest genetic material, the chromosomes.

The chromosone is used to store all the information needed to run a cell. These chromosomes and their attendant chemical reactions gave off fatty by products that formed protective layers around the chromosomes.
These were released in globules to spread around the oceans. Within these little havens, proteins were free to safely develope. At some point the substance called "Chlorophyl" developed within the primitive cells, and they were able to utilize water, carbon dioxide and sunlight for food.

The blue-green algaes were the result, and it was the oxegen that they gave off that oxedized metal and changed ammonia and methane to nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The result was the ozone layer that blocked out harmful radiation allowing the primitive cells to evolve into the first single cell animals. The animals ate the algae, breathed the oxegen and thrived.

The various single celled plants and animals began to gather in colonies; and these colonies were better suited to survival. Soon compatable colonies of different types began to merge in a cooporative fashion. This cooporative living eventually led to the cells of different types taking up 'residence' where they were most useful. Vulnerable cells began to move towards the core of the colony, and the more resistent cells were pushed to the outside. Cells with the power of locomotion, became usefull to the colony when they ended up where they could move the colony to new food sources like light or other more vulnerable organisms (food). Eventualy specialization of cells led to the developement of the first worms.

The opposite of death is life, and life is biophylic. Life seeks to reiterate, to reproduce. The earliest cells reproduced by devision. A 'ripe' cell split in two, to become two cells. These offspring were an immortal line. Each cell that matured and split, was producing a clone of itself. Except for mutation, all the cells were the same; and so the individual cells could die an unatural death, but the first cell of that type was still carried on in the collective clones. It was immortality. Natural death, death that is due to the end of a life cycle developed as a result sexual reproduction.

Sexual reproduction promotes individuality. The intermixture of genetic material leads to variety, and variety improves the chances of survival. Sexual reproduction was simple for the cells. Two cells would 'Bump' together, they would open their outer membrane and exchange genetic information. Some cells could eat other cells. They would digest the membranes and fluids of the cell, but the victim's genetic matierial was pirated by the agressor, and this information was passed along when it reproduced.

Eventualy, some cells would 'learn' to develope all the components to divide and reproduce, but instead of dividing in two whole cells, it would divide into four half cells called gametes. The gametes possessed only half a set of genes, and so they were drawn to the Gamete with the other half. In this way the cell shuffled its genetic matter in the act of reproducing it.

Variety...the basis of individuality was insured. This became the root of our method of reproduction. The union of egg and sperm, is the cooperative conjunction of gametes. The variety that developed out of sexual (conjuctive) reproduction led to the evolutionary process.

The Neophyte must eventualy realize that only the highly sucessful, co-oporative approach to life will be consistently beneficial and thus evolutionary.

Cooporation is the real opposite of obedience. Cooporation means that each component of a system is applying it's unique gifts to benefit the whole system. The cooporative maintains the system and thus the system does not fall prey to entropy.

Obedience is one component of a system manipulating other components in order to benefit itself. The controling point has become the other power that is serving it's own agenda. The mind that serves an other power is not a free mind, because it is obedient to manipulative patterns rather than the cooperative patterns. Free minds manipulate objects and circumstances, not other people. Freeminds are self reliant and have a inner balance based on self power . Self power is the root of self reliance and choice. We take responsibility for our own state of being and we do not make the claim that any power like emotions 'made' us do anything.

Emotions are not 'things' with a free will of their own. They cannot make us do anything . We make the choice of whether we act. We are completely responsible for our own actions. Other powers may feed or guide us, but they ultimately are designed to benefit the other power. Other powers may reward us for obedience, but they allow us to set aside our own responsibility, and shift blame on others for our own actions.

No adult has the right to be obedient. When we are children and we are ignorant. We are dependant on other power to guide us and keep us safe. We develope the stimulus-response patterns that please our guiding forces. The guiding force pushes obedience at the child and backs this demand with it's own customary set of threats, fears and insistence that the child is helpless without the adult. This often leads to a 'learned helplessness' that keeps the child from taking on the intimidating role of an independant self reliant adult. It becomes easier to accept subservience to another power than to try and fail. Often a person will take on a challenge and then sabotage themselves in order prove to themself that they are a helpless failure.

Appropriate guidence fosters individuality, creativity, and cooperation. It presents age appropriate responcibilities to the child, that support and encourage self reliant, responsible behavior.

Other powers tend to seduce us. The seduction process may be positive or negative. A positive seduction is based on a system of reward. The other power rewards desired behaviors. Often the other power is highly desirable and worshiped by it's new servant. The other power provides direction and purpose, while promoting dependancy in the slave. Some of the things that act as positive seducers are sex, drugs, cult religions and anything that one willingly submits to because of it's desirability.
Negative seduction is the process by which a subject is incited to rebell against all attempts at seduction. They develope a repugnence towards the other power and cultivate rebellious behavior. Any manifestation of the other power brings on an obedient response of rebellion. Some examples of negative seduction are rebellion, juvenile delinquency, and anyone who willfully rebells against or serves something or someone without choice.

In both types of seduction, the enslaved mind has developed a stimulus response pattern that is obedient to the other power. They throw down the traditional response with knee jerk velocity with no fore thought what so ever.

The neophyte must learn that a free mind is in a state of constant discovery. It is innovative and creative, it looks at here and now.

One of the common crutches of other power is 'becoming'. The other power will often claim to be providing the input that will help the slave 'become' something superior to who or what they are now. The other power will claim to be neccesary to the safety and education of the slave until that slave 'becomes' an adult, expert, teacher, ect. Even the juvenil delinquent lives under the illusion that by living his rebellion he will eventualy 'become' free from the yoke of authority.

The concept of 'becoming' is pushed by the other power, because it discourages free action and free thought. Becoming is the opposite of 'being'. Being is living and living takes place right here & right now. Being is the actualization of the self; while 'becoming' is an illusion that we 'become' later. The person that is under the influence of other power is being encouraged to focus on their own short comings and the supposed dangers of their existence. The slave is convinced that their center is weak and that their circumference is too strong.

The creation myth presents the idea that center is awareness and the circumference is existence. Our existence reflects and propagates our awareness and our awareness facilitates our existence. If ones circumference is to much to cope with, then the neophyte must remember that the circumference is a reflection of the center, and that it is the center that is the source of the trouble, not the centers reflection.

It is obvious, that the writ of Babilani is the opposite of the writ of Azag. Simply compare them line by line. When we reach the section about the gate of fear, we are introduced to the concepts of will and resolve. Will is not an application of mental focus, rather, will is the unification of desire. If all parts of the self are unified in their desire, there is 'oneness of motion', and thus we act. Resolve is the willingness to face suffering or deprivation in order to see a desire fullfilled. There must be determination in conjuction with will, in order to be courageous. Courage is not the lack of fear, rather it is ability to function DESPITE the fear.

The neophyte cannot expect to enter the gate of fear and find the way to the land of courage, unless they can aquire and maintain a balance between tebu and katu, conjunction and disjunction, inner dreaming and outer dreaming, center and circuference. In order to create this unification of katu and tebu, the neophyte must learn how the two polarities interact to create four currents. In the process we will face four more trials and gain four more Me (gifts).