© Fra Wyrmfang 2012
Two characteristics in the working of the Aspect of the Eye represent the aspect most distinctly:
1) An attempt towards honest and holistic use of intelligence as primary tool in working in the brotherhood.
2) A strong emphasis on dealing with negative psychic energy called the Shadow in oneself and in the surrounding world.
The first characteristic represents the masculine side of the Aspect of the Eye (which contains a feminine core) while the second characteristic represents its feminine side (which contains a masculine core).
The ideal of the masculine element of the Aspect of the Eye is Satan´s eye with its neutral, objective, penetrating and merciless stare. We are not talking about the all-encompassing eye, which looks at itself but a gaze directed to the physico-psychic-social phenomenal world as a whole, which in case of a limited perceiver like us, is directed only to certain things with a certain perspective at once, and therefore necessarily expresses itself through dichotomies. This kind of penetrating intellectual way of viewing the world is usually considered masculine, but as an ideal of honest and humble human striving it has in a certain way a feminine point of departure. Intelligence becomes easily captivating in a violent way if it is subordinated to willing which is (secretly or openly) selfish to any extent. But if there is no presupposed doctrine or goal which one is justifying or reaching by his use of intelligence, then intelligence in itself does not appear violently captivating but as neutral understanding. Aspect of the Eye emphasizes this submissive point of departure which reaches and asks for nothing – not even for the truth, if it becomes the result of honest contemplation that there is no neutral and objective truth – but tries only to understand the nature of the world and especially the nature of oneself in the “truth loving” spirit of the philosophy of ancient Greece. To this truth loving spirit belongs especially a living consciousness that this ideal can never be perfectly actualized in human mind; most likely one can never get even very close to it.
On the other hand, neutral understanding is not the only honest way of looking at the world. If the eye of Satan on the other hand appears as an all-penetrating cold intelligence, it appears also – closely related to the previously mentioned viewpoint – as a nameless dread, the source of all evil like Sauron´s eye in Tolkien´s “Lord of the rings”. This experience of dread is easy to conceive as primarily feminine; it is passively felt and not actively inflicted, and something under which one can completely lose oneself if there is not even a superficial exit. But when this pre-categorical dread is conceptualized it becomes the well known “problem of evil”, the merciless question, how after perceiving all the evil there is in the world can the world be conceived meaningful. However, when looked deeper, we don´t want that much an actual explanation for why is there so much evil in the world, but instead of that, what we want is an absolute mental control of the world. But following any limited consciousness there is always a Shadow behind it; the source of evil is not only somewhere outside us, but inside us, created by ourselves, as well. The experience of intolerable weight of the world, which in its pure form has its roots in the feminine empathy for all suffering, turns easily into overall hatred against the world, which derives its energy from masculine pride, which further roots in the inevitable experience of one´s own limitedness against the whole of the world.
Aspect of the Eye can be recommended primarily to people who find intellectual contemplation and/or intense processing of the Shadow natural ways of processing reality, or to those, who experience a need to develop these aspects in their selves. Already because of the individualistic nature of the Aspect of the Eye, there will be no intense supervising, and group working will not be a central theme. Instead of external activity the main focus is in creating such independent, balanced and lasting attempt to evolve which does not shake too much – but learns – from difficulties and does not get wild from succeeding. If group practices are arranged, they will consist mainly in oral and written reflection like reading or talking circuits. Participating is never obligatory. Nevertheless, also external activity, when possible, especially concerning written works, is appreciated. It is extremely dangerous to think that one can develop spiritually to right direction only by means of lone abstract intellectual contemplation without concretizing the thoughts to the paper, subjecting them to the critic of others and testing the thoughts in practice. In the Aspect of the Eye it is very recommendable to create links outside the brotherhood to people who have different worldviews and experiences. It is to be mentioned that the services of universities can often be made use for this purpose.
In the working of Aspect of the Eye, as in all occult working, it is especially important to be seriously conscious of the most probable dangers that lurk on the way. Emphasizing intellectual understanding and the depth of personal experience instead of external results will easily turn into laziness or intellectual hubris (which is also essentially a certain kind of laziness). Strong emphasis on the Shadow can lead to despair, which in most extreme case can result for example in suicide. The same impulse leads perhaps more often into a certain kind of spiritual injury in which also the ascending elements in negative emotions turn, in a way unique to every individual, into a vicious circle that feeds itself. Because of these dangers it is extremely important despite of the cultivation of intellectual understanding to concentrate also on love and the will to right action – in a form which is most suitable for oneself (=not necessarily the way which one finds easy and which pleases the ego most). However, if one begins to feel that intellectual honesty demands the rejection of some of the central elements of Star of Azazel (for example that of love), or thinks that the Star of Azazel practices its ideals so badly, that one´s energy is better directed elsewhere, working in the Aspect of the Eye can still offer such exit from the brotherhood, which both the leaving individual and the brotherhood can find evolving.
The Eye aspect belongs to the outer circle of the Star of Azazel. It is open for all members.