3 August (Fire) Liber LXV, 4:52-53

[Jim Eshelman]

52. I have a little son like a wanton goat; my daughter is like an unfledged eaglet; they shall get them fins, that they may swim.
53. That they may swim, O my beloved, swim far in the warm honey of Thy being, O blessed one, O boy of beatitude!

[mojorisin44]

Within the scribe, or Master, there is a part of being that is “wanton”, without care or motive and possibly promiscuous. Also, an eagle without wings mature enough for flight. In short, there are parts of the self that are undeveloped and unfocused. The commentary states the boy is likely the Ruach and the daughter is likely the Nephesch. These both are given a means to move through the ocean of honey (the sweet part of the Angel?) via fins.

We start from an undeveloped and unfocused state of being. In our aspirations and evolution we can grow and transform into something we didn’t see before or know was possible. The transformation here seems to conclude in a joyous gliding movement through the sweet honey of the Angel.

“They” shall get them fins (the boy and girl?) – which means they have the ability to obtain a means for the transformation or at least starting the process it seems. I could understand and take the concepts of focus and transformation from this today – the gliding in the sweetness of the Angel will have to be an aspiration only for now!

[RobertAllen]

52. I have a little son like a wanton goat; my daughter is like an unfledged eaglet; they shall get them fins, that they may swim.

For a chapter about fire it sure has a lot of water in it. Of course, it's fire, but more significantly Netzach, qualifying that fire...

I know there is a very profound notion about the relationship of water to fire here, I can feel it, but like a dream that is not recoded immediately on waking I cannot say exactly what it is.

Beyond this I am struck by the notion of adaptation: the goat, a creature of earth, and a fledgling eagle, an animal fitted to fly in the air are presented as evolving other organs that will allow them to function in another environment. The simplest association I have is that the body is the goat, and the eagle is the mind. And water, by definition, is reflective.

53. That they may swim, O my beloved, swim far in the warm honey of Thy being, O blessed one, O boy of beatitude!

So the sentiment may be that the lower vehicles will be able to reflect the higher experience, not so much to show it forth, but to participate, swim, inside of it. These lower parts of the soul do not dissolve, they just live inside of it and are benefited by it? In any event it is a good and pleasurable thing to do, possibly even salutary.

The whole takes the form of a prophecy, not unlike those from other religions concerning the renewal of the earth—the descent of the new Jerusalem, the assumption of the physical body in its reconstructed perfection into heaven...

Love and Will

[Frater 639]

Could the goat and eaglet be references to the Paths - The Devil (Capricorn) and Death (Scorpio) leading to Tiphareth (Beatific Vision)?

[Jim Eshelman]

Yes, I'm certain those are the streams that he equilibrates here.

[Avshalom Binyamin]

In which case the "fins" could be like the fletches on an arrow (Sagittarius)

[gmugmble]

Could the goat and eaglet be references to the Paths - The Devil (Capricorn) and Death (Scorpio) leading to Tiphareth (Beatific Vision)?

Or the last signs of the zodiac: goat = Capricorn, eaglet = Aquarius, fins = Pisces. What significance this should have, I don't know, but these are the associations that popped out at me.

[Jim Eshelman]

(On a "day off" for these, I'm catching up posting diary entries that I didn't get added to these threads over the summer.)

53. That they may swim, O my beloved, swim far in the warm honey of Thy being, O blessed one, O boy of beatitude!

This passage seems the best actual visualization, the most practical part for the particular practice summarized above: Visualize yourself swimming serenely through warm honey - golden-amber, translucent light, a slight thickness, essence of sweetness, nurturing and nutritious - all of these ideas - serene in the embrace of the essence of the heart (Tiphereth) of the Holy Guardian Angel, the "boy of beatitude."

The task of the Adeptus Minor is to attain to the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and then to abide therein. The task of the other Adept Grades (whatever their seeming outer divergence)boil down to deepening and strengthening that union. This verse speaks of that actuality.

52. I have a little son like a wanton goat; my daughter is like an unfledged eaglet; they shall get them fins, that they may swim.

The first verse of the two is more intellectual-dogmatic, but inspection of it helps a bit to set the expectations of one's progress. The son and daughter are Vav and Heh-final, the lower aspects of the psyche. As goat and eaglet, they represent A'ayin and Nun, thus showing the extension of these down from Tiphereth. They have various marks of immaturity, under-development, short-comings. Yet the Adept, speaking from the place in Tiphereth, declares that these faculties shall grow what they need in order to join the rest of the psyche in the sea described in v. 53.