Samael Aun Weor

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Samael Aun Weor (March 16, 1917 - December 24, 1977) was a prolific writer, lecturer and teacher of occultism. He founded the non-profit corporation, Gnostic Institute of Anthropology, Inc.^[1]

Contents 1 Life 2 Doctrine of Synthesis 2.1 Praxis 2.2 Psychology 2.3 Physiology & Sexology 2.4 Soteriology 3 Bibliography 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Life

"Samael Aun Weor" was born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez in Bogotá, Colombia. His childhood and family life are not well known, except that he had a brother, and his father remarried after a divorce.

In his autobiographical work The Three Mountains, Samael recounts the ways in which he had already assimilated into his understanding a vast amount of esoteric and occult knowledge before reaching adulthood. He states that because he was born with an awakened consciousness, he recapitulated his practice of meditation and was analyzing previous incarnations before mastering how to walk.^[2]

At the age of seventeen, he was asked to lecture at the local Theosophical Chapter, and a year later was admitted into the occult society Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (F.R.A.). While a student in the F.R.A., Samael methodically studied the entire Rosicrucian library, expanding his intellectual culture and seeking out the secret path of true religion. Allegedly it was here that Samael was secretly taught the "Great Arcanum," or White Sexual Magic, the profoundly veiled sexual key which, according the occult sciences, underpins all of the world's great religions.^[2]

A period of historical obscurity ensues between the mid-1930s and 1950. Admittedly recapitulating some of the bygone events of his former incarnations, he became a spiritual vagabond of sorts, travelling with neither home nor income. While exploring the regions of Central and South America, he encountered a secluded tribe of indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (Northern Colombia). Invited to live with them, he recruited a vast wisdom of ancient indigenous medical practices which would later form the foundation of his medical treatise, Occult Medicine & Practical Magic.^[3] It was also during these years that he claimed to have had his first experience of the Illuminating Void where he first met his "Inner Being", or Atman whose name is "Aun Weor".

In The Revolution of Beelzebub (1950), Samael Aun Weor announced himself the White Rider of the New Testament's Book of Revelation, whose name is the "Word of God." He explained "Aun Weor" in the following way: "The name of my Real Being is hidden within the name "Word of God" because the Bible is highly symbolic. God is represented with the monosyllable "Aun" or "Aum." Word or Verb is within "Weor," which is pronounced Veor, so the W is the V sound. This W together with the remaining three letters (e-r-o) of Verb and Word form "Weor." Thus, we have the name Aun Weor (Aum Weor, Aum Word, God Word) hidden within the phrase "Word of God.""^[4]

Although he was briefly married once before, in the late 1940s he met "Litelantes" (born Arnolda Garro Mora), who, during their thirty five years of marriage together, became his esoteric collaborator and mother to four children.

By 1948 Samael began teaching to a small set of students. In 1950, under the name Aun Weor, he managed to publish The Perfect Matrimony of Kinder, or The Door to Enter into Initiation with the aid of his close disciples. The book, later entitled The Perfect Matrimony, unveiled the secret of sexuality as the cornerstone of the world's great religions. In it he elucidated on topics such as sexual transmutation, tantra, sexual magic, and esoteric initation. Writing in such a candid manner regarding sex was met with disdain upon the majority of the public at the time. Seen as immoral and pornographic, Aun Weor often found himself fleeing angry mobs wishing to silence him by whatever means necessary. He was incarcerated numerous times, at least once for "healing the sick without permission." While in jail, however, he continued to write books. Around this time Aun Weor and his small but growing number of disciples build the Sumum Supremum Sanctuarium, an "underground temple" in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

By the mid-1950s, Aun Weor had become Samael Aun Weor, stating by choosing the "Straight Path" he (Aun Weor) had begun to incarnate his particular Glorian or Logos (Samael). Later, in The Aquarian Message, he stated "the Maitreya Buddha Samael is the Kalki Avatar of the New Age." The Kalkian Avatar and Maitreya Buddha, he claimed, are the same "White Rider" of the book of Revelation.^[5] As Samael has historically been synonymous with both a demonic connotation, such as "blind God," as well as an Angel, he stated that in previous incarnations he was a "fallen Bodhisattva" or a fallen angel, who has since repented. He also notes that although he, the human soul, had fallen in degeneration, the inner Being never falls.

Before 1960, he had published twenty more books with topics ranging from Endocrinology and Criminology to Kundalini Yoga. Gnostic centers in Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, and Costa Rica were also established, and the Gnostic Association for Anthropological, Cultural, and Scientific Studies (AGEAC) was founded. A "triangle" relationship formed between the World Gnostic Movement founded by Samael Aun Weor, the South American Liberation Action (AGLA) headed by Francisco Propato in Argentina, and the Sivananda Aryabarta Ashram directed by Swami Sivananda in India.^[5] Nevertheless, the development of the Gnostic Movement was not without dramatic setbacks. At the time of the publishing of the revised edition of The Perfect Matrimony (1961), the movement had fallen apart. He wrote that "those who did not leave the Gnostic Movement can be counted on the fingers of one hand."^[6] However by the time of his death, Samael Aun Weor had completely re-established the broad international reaches the movement previously held.

Into the 1960s, he continued to write many books on esoteric topics, such as Hermetic Astrology, Flying Saucers, the Kabbalah, etc. However, he also wrote sociopolitical works such as Platform of POSCLA (Latin-American Christian Socialist Party), which attacks Marxism-Leninism and any other aspect of "Materialistic Atheism".

In what was to be the last decade of his life, he penned works such as Parsifal Unveiled, which details the esoteric symbolism of the Wagner opera, and Gnostic Anthropology in which he heavily criticizes the theories of Darwin, Haeckel, "and their henchmen." The books The Great Rebellion, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology, and The Revolution of the Dialectic provide a ground work for the vast knowledge of esoteric psychology found rooted in every religion.

Although he never actually received any income from his books, at the 1976 "Gnostic Congress" Samael Aun Weor publicly renounced all his copyrights in an effort to help the books he wrote become more widely available (copyright was later given to Litelantes to prevent poor translation). During this time he was preparing the highest vehicle of his doctrine, "The Pistis Sophia Unveiled," in which he meditated, verse by verse, upon the extremely esoteric Gnostic text The Pistis Sophia. By August 1977 he had developed stomach cancer (apparently due to karma of previous lives), but he continued to inspire not only his students but the general public with uncanny oration, giving radio and television interviews throughout tours of Mexico. Eventually he was forced to stop due to the debilitating stomach pain he encountered, and his condition steadily worsened until his death on December 24, 1977. He was survived by his wife and children.

[edit] Doctrine of Synthesis

Samael Aun Weor’s stated that he was dilvering the The Doctrine of Synthesis because he provided a clear and precise doctrine which fuses an extensive variety of subjects that study the human condition.^[7]

Religions themselves are viewed as idiosyncratic expressions of immutable and eternal values. Religions are said to be born and die within time, yet the values themselves always remain. When a religious form has already begun to degenerate and die, then a new messenger appears and delivers a doctrine appropriate for that culture. Different cultures require different doctrines for their development and this results in the vast differences in religious doctrine, yet if one comprehends the core values all religions naturally support each other.^[8]

He states many times that schools, religions, sects, ideas, theories, and any doctrine can become cages of the mind which impede the reception of truth,^[9] yet he also delivered a massive doctrine and states that every religion and sect is necessary, that “all religions are pearls strung on the golden thread of divinity.”^[10] A possible resolution is found when one understands that just as a cage can protect one who is bewildered by the unknown, it at the same time it can become an obstacle for the acquisition of truth.^[11] Ultimately the teachings call for the student to acquire one’s own gnosis, or self-knowledge, and that the teachings themselves are only a method to do so.^[12]

[edit] Praxis

Samael Aun Weor emphasizes that his doctrine is experimental, practical and must become experimental for it to be of any value to the student.^[10][13] Likewise throughout his works there are hundreds of techniques and exercises that supposedly aid in the development of siddhis, such as leaving the dense body willfully (astral projection) in order to be taught in the schools of the "superior worlds."^[14] It should be noted that the techniques are always combined with meditation and sexual transmutation, and attaining the perfection of powers may take one's entire life.^[15]

It is stated that if a student is successful in awakening the consciousness he or she will eventually experience contiguous state of vigilance not only during the day but also while the physical body is sleeping, and most importantly after death. This is significant because Samael Aun Weor states that those who have a sleeping consciousness are not aware of their postmortem condition just as they are not aware when they are physically sleeping. Awakening consciousness allows a student to continue working regardless of their physical state.^[16]

[edit] Psychology

The basis of Samael Aun Weor practical work is of a psychological nature. It is stated in many books that the purpose of his doctrine is psychological change. The terms Gnostic, esoteric, or revolutionary psychology is used to describe the psychological methods taught, and is said to be synonymous with the psychological teachings of religion.^[17]

A fundamental axiom presented is that the common human being is not really human at all, but rather an intellectual animal with a sleeping consciousness.^[17] According to Samael Aun Weor a true human is someone who has no psychological imperfection, in image of God in the way Jesus states, "Become perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect."^[18][19] Samael Aun Weor describes the awakening of consciousness very similar to the way traditionally understood in Buddhism, a word which itself is derived from the root bodhi ("awaken"), however throughout his works he describes the analogous processes as they are spoken of in a variety of other religions.

It is taught that one’s psychology – the ego – is really egos, or a multitude of independent, contradictory desires. Likewise each person ego is said to actually contain many "I’s," many "egos," many "aggregates." Each desire is an "I" and each "I" has its own specific causes and conditions that lead to personification within a particular moment. It is taught that this is the mechanism behind what is commonly called "changing one’s mind," because when one "I" exchanges place for another a literal exchange of personified psychological aggregates have taken place.^[17]

The consciousness is described as the state of being, very closely related to God itself. The consciousness within the normal person is said to be 97% asleep. Sleeping consciousness is consciousness that is subconscious, unconscious, or infraconscious, which are various levels of psychological sleep. Psychological sleep is a way to describe the lack of self-awareness, meaning that the common and ordinary person is not aware of 97% of what constitutes their state of being. Sleeping consciousness is formed through what Samael Aun Weor terms identification, fascination, or the incorrect transformation of impressions (all three are essentially the same thing). It is taught that to awaken consciousness one must comprehend their sleeping consciousness, which implies that one must begin to understand every impulse, action, thought and movement one makes, a feat which is said to be accomplished through meditation and self-observation. Many times it is asserted that awakening consciousness is the only way to achieve true and radical change, to remove suffering, and to acquire gnosis.^[17][20]

The purpose of the psychological work is to dissolve all the psychological aggregates one has accumulated. The term psychological death, or mystical death is often used to describe the process one must undergo in order to reach liberation.^[20] Psychological aggregates are commonly known simply as aggregates in Buddhism, yet it is taught that other religions used a more veiled or less sophisticated method to describe them, such as: the Legion of Satan that Jesus is described as removing from a man in Mark 5 in one of the alleged Miracles of Jesus;^[21] the killing of the "unbelievers" in Islam; Moses escaping the tyranny of the Egyptians;^[22] Arjuna fighting against his own blood (the ego);^[23] the demons of Seth that attack Osiris;^[24] Jesus throwing the merchants out of the temple;^[25] the archetypical death and resurrection of the "Solar Hero" exemplified in the stories of Jesus and Osiris; the descent into the Inferno (representing our unconsciousness) in order to accomplish a great task, such as those performed by Hercules or Orpheus; the archetypical Dragon (ego) that must be slayed by the Knight, etc.^[2] Samael Aun Weor states that this specific paradigm is called "The Doctrine of the Many" and has been taught in the esoteric schools and religions since the beginning of time.^[26]

In order to achieve psychological transformation, extensive methods of meditation, self-observation, and sexual transmutation are taught and advocated to be practiced daily.^[20] The impetus for psychological work is the awakening of consciousness and ultimately to accomplish the state of Paramarthasatya or reunion with Adi-Buddha.^[11]

[edit] Physiology & Sexology

Basic physiology is studied, mostly endocrinology and the hormonal influence of primary and secondary sexual characteristics.^[27][28] It is taught that there are three fundamental nervous systems: cerebrospinal nervous system, grand sympathetic nervous system, and the Parasympathetic nervous system. These nervous systems are referred to as the "Three Brains" or three centers of the intellectual animal, and are named Intellectual Center, the Emotional Center, and the Motor-Instinctual-Sexual Center. Each center is studied in relation with the types of energies or "occult hydrogens" that animate them, the frequency at which each center operates (sexual center being the fastest, then emotional, then intellectual), and how aggregates form and act within each center: aggregates that express themselves through intellect in one manner, through the emotion in a different manner, etc.^[17]

The three centers are directly related with the Trinity, Trimurti, or threefold-ness of creation, the intellect being related with the Father (Kether, Affirmation, Positive), the emotion related with the Son, (Chokmah, Denial, Negation), and the sexual center related with the Holy Spirit (Binah, Reconcile, Neutral). The primary energy of the intellect brain (Father) is the air, which is then placed in the bloodstream which is related with the emotion brain (Son), and lastly the final condensation of blood is found within the semen or sexual hormones, which is directly related with the Holy Spirit: that which impregnates or manifests creation, Shakti, etc.^[29][30]

Samael Aun Weor teaches that psychological aggregates form in one of these three centers, therefore it is said that there are three fundamental defects: the demon of the mind related with the intellectual center, the demon of the desire related with the emotional center, and the demon of the evil will related with the motor-instinctual-sexual center. They are collectively referred to as the "Three Traitors", and many references to religion are found that are held to symbolize them, for example: Judas (desire), Pilate (intellect), and Caiaphas (will) who crucify Jesus; Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum who murder Hiram Abiff; Apopi, Hai, and Nebt who murder Osiris; the three furies who attack Orestes; the three daughters of Mara who attack Buddha and who are conquered through Upright Thought (Intellectual Center), Upright Feeling (Emotional Center), and Upright Action (Motor-Instinctual-Sexual Center) (see Noble Eightfold Path).^[31]

Occult or esoteric physiology is also studied, which refers to the study of the supra-sensible bodies of minerals, plants, animals (rational and irrational), and human beings. It is stated that everyone contains seven bodies, closely related to the Theosophical septenary, which Samael Aun Weor calls: physical, vital, emotional (astral), mental, casual, buddhic and atmic.^[32] Samael differentiates an intellectual animal from an authentic human being through difference in the vehicles of emotion (astral body), mind (mental body) and will (casual body). Intellectual animals (common man and woman) are said to contain the Lunar Astral Body, the Lunar Mental Body, and the Lunar Casual Body, each referred to as many names throughout different schools of occultism. It is stated that these lunar bodies are the result of mechanical evolution through the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms and therefore they are of an infrahuman or animal quality.^[33] The only true difference between the rational animal and irrational animals is the intellect, which gives the latter the ability to become humans, or as Samael Aun Weor states, the intellectual animal has the "seed" of a human latently existing within its sexual organs.^[34]

What are called authentic human beings, although physically appearing identical have crystallized the Solar Bodies: Solar Astral Body, Solar Mental Body, and Solar Casual Body. Lunar bodies are vehicles that receive the energy of creation (i.e. God) at the level of an animal, while the solar bodies permit the reception of a much greater voltage allowing greater levels of wisdom and superior emotion to be incarnated. Samael Aun Weor states that the solar bodies are collectively referred to as "soul" throughout many different religions, and cites that according to Jesus in the New Testament, the common person does not actually possess a soul (Luke 21:12 "In patience you will possess your souls.").^[35]

Samael Aun Weor asseverates that the solar bodies are formed in the same manner that physical bodies are formed: through use of the sexual function. In order to form the solar bodies, sexual transmutation via sexual magic is taught.^[36] Sexual magic is the arousal of sexual energies through the act of coitus but instead of expelling those energies through orgasm they are transmuted into higher octaves of energy.^[37] Each successive Solar Body is the result of the saturation of transmuted sexual energy at its respective octave: firstly the "Christ Astral" is formed through "socking" the energy into a second octave, second the "Christ Mind" is formed by saturating, condensing or crystallizing the sexual energy into a third octave, and the casual body or "Christ Will" is formed through shocking the sexual energy, also called the "Sexual Hydrogen TI-12", into a fourth octave.^[38] The "birth" of the solar bodies is what Samael Aun Weor states is the true meaning of being "born again." It is taught that the solar bodies are referred to in the Bible as the three sons of Moses or the three Christians in the (alchemical) furnace of Nebuchadrezzar.^[39]

The topic of sexuality is approached from a very stern point of view, and it is indeed the crux of Samael Aun Weor’s entire message. He states that there are three fundamental types of sexuality: suprasexuality, which is the sexual functioning of someone like Buddha or Jesus, who naturally transmutes all their energy perfectly; normal sexuality, which is defined as those who have no sexual conflict; finally infrasexuality, which is contains homosexuality, adultery, prostitution, masturbation, abortion, bestiality and any other "abuse" of the sexual energy.^[40]

According to Samael Aun Weor, as with everything that one is born with, such as one’s psychology, family, physical body, geographical location, etc., homosexuality is the outcome of karma. Homosexuality is said to be a modification of one’s nervous system due to karma related with the misuse of sexual energy in a previous life. Thus according to this notion, the fact that more people are being born as homosexuals is a sign of society’s furthering sexual degeneration. Samael Aun Weor does not deny that homosexuals have a modified nervous system and authentically desire the same sex, but states that because homosexuals cannot create, not even physically, that they also cannot create spiritually, and for this reason they have degenerated, or literally "lost the ability to generate." Likewise, Samael Aun Weor calls homosexuals "rotten seeds" in his work Yes there is Hell, a Devil, and Karma because unlike heterosexuals they do not have the ability to fecundate the Solar Bodies. This does not damn the soul-essence of a homosexual, as it is implied that if a homosexual works on him or herself and deeply yearns to change after death he or she can be granted a heterosexual body in the next life, but it is also stated that this is something very rare.^[41]

In general all sexual desire is held as degenerate, whether it be heterosexual or homosexual, the only difference being that enacting the latter produces much greater karma.^[28]

[edit] Soteriology

Salvation is presented in the light of every notable religion yet usually with special differences not held by orthodox interpretations. There are many degrees of salvation, in general accomplished by paying one’s karma and removing their psychological imperfections and finally by creating the solar bodies. The idea held by many religions that belief in God alone achieves salvation is categorically rejected.^[11]

Many different levels of salvation are explained, each depending upon the willpower of the individual accomplishing it. For those who do not remove their psychological imperfection (ego) – which is the cause of karma and the suffering of humanity – after approximately 108 rebirths they will have their ego removed forcefully through mechanical devolution within the infradimensions (Hell). Here it is said that "Mother Nature" mechanically pays out one’s accumulated karma through a great deal of suffering over thousands of years until one is returned to the state of an innocent elemental, or Essence. This is said to be a state of being that is total happiness, yet not cognizant happiness and therefore not complete happiness. It should be noted that Hell is not taught as a place of eternal damnation, just a place to pay one’s karma, and in fact it is seen as a part of Gods grace because if the ego is not removed forcefully these souls would continue to suffer indefinitely. It is held that after Hell, the elemental is reinserted into the mechanics of evolution in order to once again attempt to gain conscious happiness: They are first inserted at the basic level of existence (minerals), and through millions of years, transmigrate through increasingly complex organisms until the state of intellectual animal is reached again.^[42]

For those who perform "the work" upon themselves, depending upon which degree of perfection, happiness and wisdom they wish to attain, two distinct paths emerge: the Straight Path and the Spiral Path. The Spiral Path involves reaching a relative state of enlightenment and choosing to enjoy the superior worlds (Heaven or Nirvana), and occasionally returning to a physical body in order to pay out a little more karma and help humanity.^[42] Samael Aun Weor refers to these as the Pratyeka Buddhas and Sravakas, and that the vast majority who reach this state choose the spiral path because it is very easy and enjoyable. The Straight Path is the Path of the Bodhisattva who renounces the happiness of the superior worlds (Nirvana) in order to help humanity. In the doctrine of Samael Aun Weor, the Bodhisattva has a very specific definition, as it is not merely someone who has taken the Bodhisattva vows. It is the physical (Malkuth), vital (Yesod), astral (Hod), mental (Netzach) and causal (Tiphereth) vehicles – in other words the human soul – of a self-realized spirit, (Geburah-Chesed) who has chosen the Straight Path in order to incarnate the Christ (Kether-Binah-Chokmah). In other words, the Bodhisattva is the "Son" of a self realized God which is attempting to return to the Absolute or 13th Aeon. ^[43]

Christ is viewed as the savior yet not as traditionally understood by contemporary Christianity. Instead, Christ is an impersonal force or intelligence that emanates from the Absolute and is also referred to as the Cosmic Christ. Christ is said to be anterior to Jesus, and represented in other various traditions with names such as Ormuz, Ahura Mazda, Krishna, Osiris, Zeus, Jupiter, Quetzalcoatl, Okidanokh, Kulkulcan, Chrestos, Baldur, and Avalokitesvara. It is held that Christ enters into and exalts any individual who is properly prepared, which denotes the complete annihilation of the ego, the exhaustion of all karma and the birth of the solar vehicles, the latter which is necessary to handle the super high voltage of Christ. Samael Aun Weor writes that only those who choose the previously mentioned Straight Path therefore can incarnate the Christ because the Spiral Path is not a path of total sacrifice. Likewise, any true Bodhisattva has incarnated the Christ or is in process of doing so. It is said that in history Christ has incarnated in Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, Moses, Padmasambhava, John the Baptist, Milarepa, Joan of Arc, Fu-Ji, as well as many forgotten by time.^[44][45][46]

It is important to notice that some of these individuals are also listed as representing Christ as an impersonal force (see above), such as Jesus, meaning that although he was an individual Christ, he taught about the doctrine of the Cosmic Christ, intentionally molding his physical life after the psychological processes that one undergoes to incarnate Christ. As in Buddhism, Jesus is seen as a Bodhisattva who came to help humanity. Jesus is viewed as the savior of the world because he is a Paramarthasatya (an inhabitant of the Absolute) that physically incarnated specifically for this suffering humanity, which is said to be a very rare occurrence. According to Samael Aun Weor, Jesus purposefully played out physically the internal or psychological struggle one must undergo in the path of self realization; thus the Gospels are a mixture of reality and kabbalistic, initiatic symbolism. ^[47][48]

[edit] Bibliography

He wrote over sixty books, covering a broad range of esoteric, philosophical, and anthropological subjects. The following is taken from the Thelema Press website.

[edit] See also

• Kabbalah
• Alchemy
• Theosophy
• Anthroposophy
• Rosicrucianism
• Fourth Way
• Gnosticism
• Occultism
• Western Mystery Tradition
• Tantra
• Gnosis
• Astral projection
• Samael

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Zoccatelli, PierLuigi (2005). G.I. Gurdjieff and His Grandson in Kurliyun. Center for Studies on New Religions.

[edit] External links

• Gnostic Institute of Anthropology, Inc. website
• Thelema Press: Gnostic Teachings Books, lectures, videos, and discussion forum.
• American Gnostic Association