The Thelemite Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica.

Some statements and notes.

The Tree of Life:

ToL is the 10 siphered old diagram kept by the Jews (the emigrants of Egypt). It displays the psychology of man and cosmos, and works as a map of the spiritual realms for both initiate and seeker. This diagram is easy understandable and provides the basis for communication among todays spiritually interested. Just learn it. The TEGA uses it too. The ToL is an abstraction of the Egyptians schools of mystery, The ennead, that was composed of 10 Gods, where the 10th was the same as the 1st and therefore they were counted as a group of Nine.

The Trinity:

The Trinity is the blessed abode, the trancendent paradise, the abode of the holy breath, the ruach that inhabites the soul. The soul is a vessel of the true and innermost spark of life, the being untouched by physics, which makes the hosts of todays scientists and genetics busy to find and claim its secret. Yet they can only lose it by looking for it that way, they can only hope to define certain physical conditions which surrounds the ever vital one.

The state of the Trinity is also recognised as the reality of the three supernal sephiroth of the Tree of Life; Kether, Chokhmah and Binah. And the unity of the Trinity is celebrated in Kether, the uppermost sephira.

In Crowleys Vision of the voice we find a description of this reality which makes it very distinctly different from trivial life. From 5th Aethyr :
"for herein all the symbols are
interchangeable, for each one containeth in itself its own opposite.
And this is the great Mystery of the Supernals that are beyond the Abyss.
For below the Abyss, contradiction is division; but above the Abyss,
contradiction is Unity. And there could be nothing true except by virtue
of the contradiction that is contained in itself."

From this we see that this state is exceptional and therefore not very common among men, though the paths to attainment are many, the church have insisted on the resurrection and redemption mystery.

Orion; the star constellation most venerably and eagerly worshipped by the egyptians is the stellar source of the perennial Trinity. That constellation is all about the consciousness free of matter and carnation, (the house of the luckily dead, or unborn) and from that reality, the trinity can be reformulated again and again.

Marriage:

Marriage consists of a concrete contract, a promise which conforms to the nations laws regarding weddings.
The church provides the ritual that is an blessing and confirmation of the couples divine unity. Which happens in the name of the Trinity.
This church will wed same gender couples too. The variance is in the names of the Trinity, as the Male couple receives a blessing and confirmation by sole male names.

Jesus:

If there is supposed to be any sense with Jesus, then the spiritual Jesus is the Christ; the collective name of the personal HGA. The HGA manifests on several levels but has got its initial formulation at level Chokhmah, and that coincides with Jesus as the Logos and The word made flesh. This makes the often used phrase "Our Lord Jesus" understandable, as he then represents the root of individuation for all. And chokmah represents ultimate being (Kether & God ) in the dynamic and active aspect. But at same time it seems very strange that we should have a common name for that which exactly makes us unique, as such a godform will not and can not, be the unique point.
The TEGA therefore recommends it to be subsituted by the personal name achieved by attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy guardian angel. For those who have not received this communication, phrases like Most Mystic Angel, My Angel, Angelos ton Theon or more personal wording is recommended.
The first attainment of the K&C of HGA happens (usually in) Tiphareth. The christian hotpoints are therefore Tiphareth and Chokhmah, the same as in Thelema.
With the abandonment of the name of Jesus, we hope to get rid of the demigod that slurs the highly individualized divinity in man, this form shapen by the collective worship for centuries and which further links his worshippers to very obsolete and old tribal ethics.
But note that this is a replacement, that the HGA must take this place for the rituals to remain in power.
Valentinus was the first christian which teached about these angels.

Christ:
Jean Bricaud: "Christ is the universal manifestation of intelligence, the vibratory movement which expresses the logos and which activates all beings." (From the Esoteric Christian Doctrine 1907)
As long as humans just pay heed to this prinsciple of universal manifestation of intelligence, they forget to formulate and discover the individualized divinity, the genius of man. This personal prinsciple is to discovered if someone wants full attainment and also the understanding of his role in the universe. As Jesu said "There is no way to the father but through me", the same is more correct to say about the HGA, the way to the omnipresent, all-encompassing God, can happen only by getting the key, which is the Higher I of the Holy guardian angel. God contains exclusively divine being.
Summary: Christ is the office of the Logos, which have been regarded as Jesus.

Holy guardian Angel.
The divine spark of man, his divine nature, his identity as a God. The coordinator between the subjective and the objective. The practice of attaining the K & C of the HGA is always a kind of a devotional practice. We refer to Liber Samekh of AC as a standard, but also recommends reading his Liber Astarte and then creating a personal variant which is made more precise after the results show up.

Tau:
This is the title of the Bishop and this cross is placed before his chosen name as Bishop. This title was instituted by Tau Lui Mème (Mattehieu Leon) as the lineage came into thelemite hands.
He explained it in this way; "The Tau have signified the cross of tiphereth, the lamp of illumination which have been the aim in this lineage as in all serious christianity". Of course it has been regarded as the mysteries of Jesus in the Christian period.
This central secret in Tiphareth is this illumination and beginning of all samadhis, that contains the axis of the microcosm and therefore the secret seed to the full attainment of Kether. This mystery is veiled in conditions which rather describes the trinity and therefore is this attainment the natural position for anyone to handle the rituals which comprise the names of the Trinity.

Sophia:
Sophia became the title of the female Bishop, and it refers here to the same. For an understanding of Sophia we refer to the gnostic revelation "Thunder perfect mind."

The Beast 666:
The beast as a god form has been suppressed for far too long now. In hindi cults we find Pashupatinath which is the title of someone initiated into the animal drive and primal powers. And thats what The beast is all about, its the foundation of human powers, its the instinctual behaviour, the reptile brain, and of course the muladhara chakra.
The Beast in man must be raffined, not suppressed, tamed to aim to the highest, for by that way, the human will gain power to save himself, and to realize himself.
In this age there is no command to Man on how to behave when someone hit your chin, there is no Law beyond Do what wilt; but there exists advices and Liberty together with responsibilities and "Success is your proof".

Satan:
Satan is no problem for Thelemites as he is a fire God and therefore, his sense for pride, force and fire will will be sooner or later join in to back up the powers of life. Still he is much tainted by the christian aeon, and The TEGA lets him and his name to himself and own destiny. Our enemy is sin; restriction (of will) and therefore ill-will and false will.
The forces of duality does also form their own Trinity and this is aimed to be incorporated in the sacraments of TEGA.. This to strengthen the link to the Cathars, Manicheans, Zoroastrism and todays Enochia.

Holy Water and Fire:
Consecrating and blessing water have become an artform as there exists multiple methods. We are not here to proclaim the one and only method but rather to emphasize the use of Water and Fire in the gnostic tradition. When its spoken about these two in gnostic churches it is not the simple element which is refered to but rather the more elevated states of these two. They refer to the two bars of the cross, Fire for the vertical and water for the horizontal. And they signify the upright flashing flame of illumination and the eternally extended watermirror of silence and perception.
Our Blessings and consecrations aims to elevate these elements to these heights for thereby using it in the mystery of the Cross.

Faith:
Belief and doubt are the two main tools of man to handle information. TEGA recommends a balanced use of these to avoid respectively superstition and ignorance.
Faith is the word one can use for those beliefs which readily cannot be affirmed or opposite, like reincarnation.
Faith have also been used as the main tool of religious activity in the latest of christianity, TEGA opposes this passiveness as religious activity shall lead to experience, which can be used to confirm or deny the belief. Religious activity is supposed to produce personal knowledge; gnosis, Certainty. TEGA recommends all kinds of religious practices, all which can lead to experience and attainment. TEGA does not oppose the use of the power of faith either, just its exclusiveness.

Hell:
Whether there is a hell on earth, man can decide for himself. That there is a spiritual place of consuming fire is sure and it exists on several levels, ready to consume what belongs to them. What fire consumes is of matter and to the spiritual man such fire is of help to untangle the soul from earth. The TEGA do therefore uphold tradition and recommend pentinence and purgatorium as a sacrament on the path. The consuming fire does also balance the more traditional fire and makes the way open for the invisible or black fire.
The notion of eternal Hell is a vilififaction begotten by the obsessed of matter that will not pass this fire. Man is free in his purified spirit.

Holy Matter and Earth?
The TEGA is clearly opposed to the rule of matter, only by the spirits control of matter can there be hope for sanctification of matter.

Some notes on basic consciousness types

There is no self. There is the I which reflects itself by memory, what it sees, thinks and feels of its own actions and being and thereby sees and creates identity between I and self and then the ego construct is present.
Instead of higher and lower self, which I found accellerating vague and empty as the years go, I would rather talk about higher and casual I. Every one knows their casual I, but the higher is the I of the trancendent, it ispositionless and mystic and is found by the Trinity. And its rare.

Astrology offers also insights on consciousness.
The Moon corresponds to instinctive action, being without awareness of itself. This state is probably often called Lower self.
The Sun corresponds to conscious being, awareness about own I. The casual I and ego.
Chiron (asteroid between Saturn and Uranus) correspond to a kind of Non-ego. The teacher and parent are typical archetypes of this consciousness. Chiron is also chameleonic as it chooses its manifestation as it wishes, but without any particular need it will be grey, dull and neuter. Its a position that can handle altruism, but those powers are not seated in Chiron.
Pluto: this planet deals with a mix of forces as its an antenna taking up much powers from outer space, but it has rightly been associated with the higher self and the Royal I. Its corresponds to a detached view, the solitary view of the soul, and from there the time scope is very extended. In opposition to Chiron it has got a distinctly feel of being.

I said the self doesnt exist, but its a construction of intelligence still as its empowered by not-being. And various functions of the self can be found as the initiate progresses.

Mercy :
Mercy be Off.
We will not continue any system of atonement which in the slightest may signal that crimes are to be forgiven and forgot just because somebody say they repent.
We will instead work to create a blessing out of the tradition of Absolution, a blessing which may distribute the fires of purgation, that may burn away hindrances to the individuals true path, self and true will. Our word of Mercy is death, and those that experiences the purifying lethal fires uncover the divine impulse, will still be thankful to the divine.

Ressurection and Redemption in Thelemite times:
The EGA has always preached that the mystery is not about the ressurection of the flesh, and we continue the tradition. Its all about the development of consciousness, and this happens in stages. The casual ego exists a specific levels and the Higher I at another. The transgression of levels appear as death to the consciousness bound to that level which is passed. The pains of the deathprocess is proportionate to the degree of obsession that keeps consciousness bound at that level.
The ressurection mystery refers of course here to the awakening of the higher I. A consciousnesstype that allows the full participation in the Trinity.

Tau To Logos.