Dr. Charles Artur Musès, picture by the program,

‘New Pathways in Science’ at Thinking Allowed.

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Today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA is the first offering of a planned few dedicated to a rather un-justly forgotten polymath, Charles Arthur Musès, a. k. a. Musaios (1919 – 2000), mathematician, cyberneticist and esoteric philosopher. His first entry into our samplers gallery-honoring and remembering important figures of the past-is in his ‘Boehmian Theosophy’ scholar capacity and founder and then long standing president of the ‘Jacob Boehme Society‘. We will share below 3 excerpt from his ‘Illumination on Jacob Boehme, the work of Dionysius Andreas Freher‘, King Crown Press, 1951.

Charles Musès  was a unique pioneer in the realms of consciousness and human evolutionary potential, which he pursued through a life-long study of higher-dimensional mathematics, sciences and the ancient wisdom of various cultures worldwide. He founded the Lion Path, a shamanistic movement. The Lion Path is the esoteric system and a structured initiatory path aimed at personal and cosmic transformation through a synthesis of ancient wisdom traditions, deep metaphysical principles, and advanced spiritual techniques. Charles Musès was particularly known for integrating Egyptian, Sufi, Tibetan, and Hermetic influences with modern insights into consciousness, time, and multidimensional reality.

Sampler parts will be added from time to time, when we get hold of his other publications from the Lion Path Press, so that we can present you more of his spiritual legacy with a specific focus on practical work.

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I-Introduction

The original Boehmian definition

of the Seven Properties

From Jacob Boehme’s ‘Mysterium Magnum’ extract from Chapter 6

The seven properties and forms are:

First Form: Astringent; Desire.

Second Form: Bitter; Compunctive.

Third Form: Anguish; Perception.

Fourth Form: Fire; Spirit; Reason; Desire.

Fifth Form: Light; Love.

Sixth Form: Sound; Voice; Word.

Seventh Form: Essence; Being; Action.

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21. The Out-Birth or Manifestation is this:

The Seven Spirits of God, or Powers of Nature as they show and manifest themselves in Love and Anger, both in the Heavenly and Hellish Kingdom, and also in the Kingdom of this World.

This was received from the Author [Boehme] in such a form by Abraham von Somerveldt.

22. Courteous Reader, understand the Sense right and well; the Meaning is not to be understood so, as if the seven Properties were divided, and one were near by another, or sooner manifest than another; all seven are but as one; and none is the first, second, or last; for the last is again the first; as the first introduces itself into a Spiritual Essence, so the last into a Corporeal Essence; the last is the Body of the first: We must speak thus apart, to write it down and describe it to the Consideration of the Reader: They are altogether only the Manifestation of God, according to Love and Anger, Eternity and Time.

23. But this we are to observe, that each Property is also essential; and this Essence is jointly as one Essence in the Kingdom of Heaven, and it is a Mysterium, whence heavenly Plants spring forth out of each Power’s Property; as the Earth is a Mysterium of all Trees and Herbs, so also of the Grass and Worms; and the four Elements are a Mysterium of all Animals; and the Astrum a Mysterium of all Operations in Animals and Vegetables.

24. Each Property is to itself essential, and has also in its Essence the Essence of all the other six forms, and makes the Essence of the other six forms also Essential in its Essence; as we see in the Earth and Stones, especially in Metals, where oftentimes in one Compaction all seven Metals are couched together, and only one Property is principal, which coagulates and captivates all the Rest in itself; and always one is more manifest than the rest, according as each Property has its powerful Predominance in a Thing: The like is also to be understood in Vegetables; where often in an Herb or Piece of Wood there is an astringent, sour, harsh, bitter, anxious or sulphureous Property; also a fiery, sweet or luscious, flashy or watery Quality.

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Original German

From Jacob Boehme’s ‘MysteriumMagnum’,

1682 Amsterdam edition, extract from Chapter 6

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II-Charles Musès’ Exegesis: 3 extracts from Chapter V:

‘The Seven Properties, as Key Principle of Explanation’.

From the 1951 edition of ‘Illumination on Jacob Boehme,

the work of Dionysius Andreas Freher’.

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Extract number 1 from chapter V

There is no more vexed or less understood a theme in the discussion of Boehme than his conception of the seven working properties (wirkende Eigenschaften) of all Nature.

Freher, in his explanation of the Boehmian septenary, addresses himself to examining the non-arbitrary nature of the number of Boehme’s natural forms. Seven can be considered as three, one, and again three. Since their transmutation and interaction are the basis for all actively maintained forces, and hence of all form-as well as the grand process underlying all processes-they may be termed the seven forms as well as the seven properties; and so Boehme calls them too (i.e. Gestalten).

Their psychological application may perhaps be more easily understood, though there are no essential differences of appropriateness predicated as belonging to different levels of application. Thus, blue is a cold, calm color; red, an exciting, hot color. Ice naturally appears blue-white, and fire is reddish. But this is not why blue is ‘cold’ and res ‘warm’; rather, red is psychologically warm and fire physically reddish for a similar underlying reason; and likewise with blue and ice. That reason in the example given would be that the members of each pair-fire, red & ice–blue-represent an expression on two variants levels of experience of a similar combination of properties or powers in operation-color and substance are appropriate. We can resume description of the seven:

The ‘first form‘ termed interchangeably ‘Saturn‘ is called harsh and hardening because it is astringent, and it is astringent because centripetal. It is the first in an onto-graphic sense, because it is the very impulse to substantiation and formation, by indrawing and compacting about its chosen center. In man this is the sense of selfhood, which in its best expression means creative individuality and character, and in its worst, selfishness and fearful self-preservation.

For by its inevitable centripetal action, Saturn draws to us and fixes that which we set up and will as our center, endowing us with the attributes of that god whom we most actively worship in will and deed. This ‘we’, this will and choice, is the power of the mysteriously resplendent fourth property (Sol), in which actually beats the heart of the septenary process and power-the power of the free will itself, choosing a likeliness of whatever stage the spirit of Man has attained through the evolution of desire.

The ‘second form‘, Mercurius, is a direct result of the desire of freedom against the restraints imposed by Saturn, and manifests as an egressive (A Via-Hygeia note: ‘egressive’ suggests a movement away from a central point, something that is not static but rather pushing outward or breaking away) and hence separative, centrifugal tendency-an eternal flight from fixity. The second form is shown in the thinking mind in its role of constantly divisive analyses, and in its continual engagement in observation, reflection, and the endless avenues of possible associations.

The ‘third form‘, Mars, results from the opposition of the first two and may be likened to a turning wheel, which itself represent a fusion of centripetal and centrifugal impulses. It is the turning wheel of desire and the will to realize it-ever outgoing toward some objective discriminated through the second form and made to conform to the forces of self-centeredness and self-reference (the first property) at the same time.

Now that desire is generated, it bursts out in decision, in action, as reconstituted in the ‘fourth property‘, Sol, which expresses the power of the will-spirit itself, the central point of the fire of consciousness in the individual which can burn in either love or selfishness. This crucial bursting-out point in the entire process of the seven is likened by Boehme to a cracking flash, to an explosion. It is the explosion of the free spirit into time, in terms of choice.

Sol, too, as all the rest, has its natural reaction. The attainment of desire, even momentary, brings a certain joy and harmony:  ‘the fifth form‘, Venus. This fifth property is active in any type of harmony-production, from the true resolution of conflicts to the mirage-paradise of misplaced hopes. However, the even momentary or fleeting appearance of the desired end leads through the produced harmony to a song of joy in the sixth property, to a state of self-expression, the nature and depth of which, of course, are commensurate with the scope of the original aim. This expression, fuller self-perception and consequent understanding, is the characteristics activity of the ‘sixth form‘, Jupiter.

The ‘seventh form‘, Luna, is in a sense anti-climatic, as the one to afford embodiment to all the rest, just as the fourth was their animating spirit. Relative to its immediate place in the septenary process, the seventh form is associated with final production of concrete realization, thus properly following upon the sixth. But there is a pervasive application possible, for the general function of Luna is potentially as that of Sol is prime activation, both being fundamentally required for actualization. It is instructive too to consider Luna as preceding Saturn, the latter being a reaction to it, remembering that Boehme repeatedly tell us that the seven are a functional band or ring. Thus, Luna is the quality of utter usability, while Saturn qualifies in segregating and putting to use. Luna relinquishes and rests; Saturn works. Luna rests; Saturn resists. Signifying as it does the paradoxically passive power of utter potentiality in all context, Luna can be regarded as the most profound of all seven forms in its psychological nuances.

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Extract number 2 from chapter V

Boehme’s concept of the seven properties reveal to us a universe of resonance-at present, though not originally, in both discord and concord, yet each calling and hearkening to its own in a living kaleidoscope of changing typological manifestations. The ultimate source and channel of change, of course, is through the power of the fourth property, Sol, to which Freher devotes more attention; that is, the free-will-spirit, principally working through the intrinsic necessity of restrictions of form and action imposed by the demiurgic first property, Saturn, the representative of self-determination and formation, in which the very process of becoming particular imposes its own inevitable limitations and consequences-all absorbed and reflected by the substantial malleability of Luna, the seventh property, whose office is not to do, but to be done to.

The relation between Luna and Saturn discloses another facet of the philosophical interpretation of the seven which might be termed their teleological structure. To begin with, the seventh and first properties stand not only in logical (or psychological) sequence, but they are complementary polar opposites particularly tending toward combined expression (e.g. Saturn as form and Luna as  substance). The pairs of properties 2-6 and 3-5 mutually bear a similar complementariness; for, referring to but one phase of each, understanding (Jupiter, the Sixth) completes reasoning (Mercury, the second); and a finding joy (Venus, the fifth) completes a seeking desire (Mars, the third). In the center of this energic symmetry stands Sol (fourth) at the focus of the forces, Thus:

where 7, 6 and 5 are the fulfillment of 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

It must be noted, however, and it is one of Freher’s most important emphases-that the teleology of these pairs yields an ethically intransitive relation. Thus, Mercury-to-Jupiter is a beneficent development, as to be gathered from the previous  description of those properties. But the reverse is true of the perversion of Jupiter to the ends of Mercury, trying to make Mercury the end in itself, which it is not. The relation between 2 and 6 is by no means ethically indifferent as to its direction; and so with the others.

The function of Saturn, Mercury and Mars cannot be dispensed with; but if they dominate instead of consummate in their respective complementariness, a disruption of rightful harmony results and a divided will instead of a love-will eventuates. It becomes ever more clear that Boehme’s ternary of light (5-6-7) should crown the ternary of fire (1-2-3) in any nature, and not be be subjugated thereto in a dark void of bleak or raging selfishness, which in a profound sense is unnatural.

These relations are instructively pursued with the aid of Freher’s concise notation. We have already seen that the seven are never in and to themselves alone. As Freher brilliantly figures them-and this is the key to the understanding of Boehme’s scheme-they are actually

depending on whether selfishness or love predominantly guides the motives and actions.

In the first set, the second trine has been swallowed by the first; or more expressly, the first has bent and quelled the properties of the second for the purpose of making itself paramount. But in the latter set of representation the first trine (1-2-3) is rather helping to express, and is implicitly operative in the second (5-6-7). The transition from the first state of affairs to the second, from self-full will to love-will, is denoted by Freher in this 100th figure of the ‘Paradoxa Emblemata‘ as a shift from a blasting to a radiant Sol.

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It is interesting to note that his figure, as well as figure 128 (which we shall now presently discuss) and those similar, find an earlier manuscript source in the main diagrammatic illustration of the explanation to the first of the ‘3 Tables‘ (f.7, BMS 5786). The eye surrounded by the triangle in the midst of figure 100, representing as it does an ultimate central tri-phase awareness comprising will, love, and wisdom, become more meaningful when figure 128 is analyzed.

From Freher’s ‘Serial Elucidations:

‘Their unity or oneness is looking backwards, or towards their only first original, which is but one; but their diversity, and distinction, is to look forwards into multiplicity, which to bring forth out of their original oneness, they were brought forth, themselves….They all three spring up out of one root or center, but notwithstanding that they are but one thing in their center, they are also three in their outgoing.’ (BMS 5767, f.116, 37).

That is, the first three properties move, in their operational direction, from unity to multiplicity. The formative self-concentration of Saturn leads through Mercury and Mars to the separation of many differentiated centers of activity, which become endlessly striving and warring unless the activity of the last three properties is ascendant in them.

Applying the implications of Freher’s principle to the rest of the septenary, it is just as clear by the nature of the qualities involved that the last three properties must lead from multiplicity to unification. We are thus presented with a simple paradigm for the further understanding of the seven which is easily remembered as being curiously reminiscent of the internal pattern of a cell during the process of mitosis:

The unity of the two halves is indicated by the fact that the same directional power can activate them both, as the arrowhead denote. This directing power is Sol, explained by Freher, as being endued with the united power of the two ternaries of fire and light. As the previous diagram indicates and on the fourth property further demonstrate, Sol is the one in the midst of many, and the connecting link or gate between the two ternaries. But the gate may be barred as well as open; for we recall, the fourth property may implement either a destructive will or one vitalizing and imbuing with a new and fuller life.

We can now see more easily, with the aid of Freher’s generalization of the complementariness within the properties, how for every power of differentiation there is a power of integration. The two are but one power in their cooperation. Mercury leads from the undiscriminated to the distinguished; Jupiter, from such separate distinctions to unified understanding. Mars exfoliates in desires and strivings; Venus blossoms in fulfillment and harmony. Saturn isolates and concentrates; Luna releases, distributing tension or nullifying conflicts through an amalgamation of forces.

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Extract number 3 from chapter V

In Freher’s figure 139 of the ‘Paradoxa Emblemata’, a monogram is shown consisting of the intertwined symbols of the seven forms, the caption reading: ‘It is finished when Seven are One‘. Appropriate is the fact that Boehme stressed a short method of achieving the universal process, namely, ‘to tincture Venus and Mars, which is the shortest and most ready way‘. (‘Signatura Rerum‘, 9:29), and ‘the tincture of fire and light must come into one.’ (‘Signatura Rerum‘, 11:43)-Boehme just previously in the text having related these to mars and Venus respectively. We can render the essence of his method, using Freher’s concise notation, as

Now, Mars and Venus of all the members of the septenary are the two most specifically and repeatedly designated by Boehme to be the dark and light fire in that order, or simply ‘fire’ and ‘light’. Venus’ property in this context expresses itself as the drawing power of the affectionate and appealing; Mars’ property, as the motive power of wanting. Together they represent the well spring of human action. To tincture them, or to unite their activities constructively, is thus a potent step in the evolution of the seven properties in Man, leading directly to the regenerative harmony.

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Source

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Coming soon

A Charles Musès Little Sampler – Part 2

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