What is the Abyss?
Revised 9612 REF: “What is the Abyss?” __________________________________ [See the alt.magick KabbalahFAQ for introductory information.] Within popular Qabalah models (sometimes quite simplistic) there is presumed to exist a vast expanse between what is called the ‘Upper Triad’ (the first three spheres in the Tree of Life) and the ‘Middle Triad’ (those directly below the Upper). Some magicians find value in the notion, using this as a metaphor for psychic transformation, that one may actually ‘jump’ or somehow move past this great gap called the Abyss, wherein a strange ‘artificial’, ‘false’ or ‘hidden’ sphere resides, and ‘attain to the highest states of consciousness’. Sometimes there is supposed to be a guardian of this Abyss and some have given it the name ‘Choronzon’ (this being a name of unknown origin, related to the workings of Dr. John Dee and his Enochian system). The nature of this guardian, the Abyss in which it resides, and the states of consciousness to which one supposed
The Abyss, as discussed on alt.magick, is the “next big stage” after KCHGA in the Golden Dawn system. KCHGA implies identification with the true self, being a part of the whole. Crossing the Abyss implies identification with the whole itself, or to be more precise, with Nothing. It is a *realization* (rather than a mere logical deduction; human reason is individual and imperfect, and is not capable of comprehending, or identifying with, the whole) that all individual preferences, feelings, emotions, opinions, leanings and attachments are illusions, merely symptoms of the interplay between the parts which make up the whole of the universe. This being the case, one state of the universe is not preferred over any other by the consciousness above the Abyss. Death, destruction, deceit and disease become mere incidents in what is a rather small corner of the universe. This is however a somewhat difficult term to define since understanding of its nature is impossible without direct, personal
