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What are your thoughts on the HGA or "Higher Guardian Angel"?

The term Holy Guardian Angel was possibly coined either by Abraham of Würzburg, a French Cabalist who wrote a book on ceremonial magick during the 15th century or Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, the founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who later translated this manuscript and elaborated on this earlier work, giving it extensive magical notes.

Nowadays you can find derivative ideology regarding the HGA in *most* branches of western esoteric tradition, and even in some new age circles. But ideas about the HGA seem to vary greatly, even within any particular order. There is a hint of the ineffable involved it seems, making it a hard topic to nail down succinctly.

So what are your thoughts on the HGA?
a. what exactly is an HGA?
b. how do you interact with an HGA?
c. why do you interact with an HGA?

Please bear in mind before answering that this thread is intended to be about the HGA specifically, and/or related ideas like "higher self", etc. Not 'guardian angels' as the term is used in our current culture.

HGA is something i've been studying for awhile. Personally I have yet to complete an operation that would let me be in contact with mine(I did however derive my name via Agrippa style).
a. what exactly is an HGA?
It seems to be "God" within you or you within "God", that is what I get from rituals like Bornless and the whole idea of 6 months isolation/severe internalization
b. how do you interact with an HGA?
I can't fill this out yet as I have yet to achieve Knowledge and Conversation.
c. why do you interact with an HGA?
The common reasons tend to be- It puts you on track with the universe, it makes magick easier, it makes ones life easier, you know what your purpose for existence is, spiritual evolution.

93,

" THE AUGOEIDES.
Lytton calls him Adonai in 'Zanoni,' and I often use this name in the note-books.
Abramelin calls him Holy Guardian Angel. I adopt this:

1. Because Abramelin's system is so simple and effective.
2. Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the metaphysical man.
3. Because a child can understand it.

Theosophists call him the Higher Self, Silent Watcher, or Great Master.
The Golden Dawn calls him the Genius.
Gnostics say the Logos.
Zoroaster talks about uniting all these symbols into the form of a Lion (see Chaldean Oracles.)
Anna Kingsford calls him Adonai (Clothed with the Sun).
Buddhists call him Adi-Buddha - (says H. P. B.)
The Bhagavad-Gita calls him Vishnu (chapter xi.).
The Yi King calls him "The Great Person."
The Qabalah calls him Jechidah.

We also get metaphysical analysis of His nature, deeper and deeper according to the subtlety of the writer; for this vision - it is all one same phenomenon, variously coloured by our varying Ruachs [ Ruach: the third form, the Mind, the Reasoning Power, that which possesses the Knowledge of Good and Evil.] - is, I believe, the first and the last of all Spiritual Experience. For though He is attributed to Malkuth [ Malkuth: the tenth Sephira.], and the Door of the Path of His overshadowing, He is also in Kether (Kether is in Malkuth and Malkuth in Kether - "as above, so beneath"), and the End of the "Path of the Wise" is identity with Him.

So that while he is the Holy Guardian Angel, He is also Hua [The supreme and secret title of Kether.] and the Tao. [The great extreme of the Yi King.]

For since Intra Nobis Regnum deI [I.N.R.I.] all things are in Ourself, and all Spiritual Experience is a more of less complete Revelation of Him.

Yet it is only in the Middle Pillar is in any way perfect.

The Augoedes invocation is the whole thing. Only it is so difficult; one goes along through all the fifty gates of Binah [Binah: the third Sephira, the Understanding. She is the Supernal Mother, as distinguished from Malkuth, the Inferior Mother. (Nun) is attributed to the Understanding; its value is 50. ] at once, more or less illuminated, more or less deluded. But the First and the Last is this Augoeides Invocation."
-"The Temple of Solomon the King," Equinox I(01)

* * * * * *

"This Silence or Equilibrium is described in the 'Shiva Sanhita' as Samadhi: 'When the mind of the Yogi is absorbed in the Great God [ Atman, Pan, Harpocrates, whose sign is silence, etc., etc.], then the fulness of Samadhi is attained, then the Yogi gets steadfastness. [ The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel - Adonai.]"
-"The Big Stick," Equinox I(04)

* * * * * *

"If we in any way shadow forth the Ineffable, it must be by a degradation. Every symbol is a blasphemy agains the Truth that it indicates. A painter to remind us of the sunset has no better material than dull ochre. So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which is Samadhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the God which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and his Holy Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness treanscending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as above, so below. " -Ibid

* * * * * *

"True, it is, of course, that the soul must not unite herself to every symbol, but only to the God which every symbol veils... The 'counterpart' is often impersonated, with the deadliest results. But if the Aspirant be wise and favoured, he will reject all but the true. And I really fail to see much difference between this doctrine and our own of attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, or the Hindu doctrine of becoming one with God." -Ibid

* * * * * *

*"The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego—or what not."
-Magick Without Tears, Letter C

* * * * * *

*"I must insert a short note on the word Samadhi, source of infinite misunderstanding. Etymologically it is composed of Sam (Greek sun), together with, and Adhi (Heb. Adonai), the Lord, especially the Personal Lord, or Holy Guardian Angel. The Hindus accordingly use it to name that state of mind in which subject and object, becoming One, have disappeared. Just as H combines with Cl, and HCl results, so the Yogi combines with the object of his meditation (perhaps his own heart) and these disappearing, Vishnu appears. It is not that the Yogi perceives Vishnu. The Yogi is gone, just as the Hydrogen is gone. It is not that the Heart has become Vishnu, or that Vishnu has filled the heart. The heart is gone, just as the Chlorine is gone. There is the tube, and it is full of HCl out of all relation to its elements, through the result of their union. (I purposely take the "elementary chemistry" view of the matter.) Samadhi is therefore with the Hindu a result, the result of results indeed. "
-The Psychology of Hashish, Equinox 1(02)

IAO131

I cant say what the HGA is or how to interact since I havent had contact with mine yet. the closest ive come is while doing rituals one night I saw this face as clear as day stairing back at me. I knew who it was and it only lasted a few seconds. it was one of those things where when you blink your eyes its gone when you open them back up lol anyways, seeing this and knowing in my gut it was my HGA I have to wonder if the HGA is a separate being or part of my own consciousness? maybe both? i just dont know yet

Fr VP

Kath wrote:My beliefs are thus:
a. what exactly is an HGA?
b. how do you interact with an HGA?
c. why do you interact with an HGA?

a. Our highest consciousness that exists in the Spiritual Plane

b. One of the clearest methods is through music another even clearer method is through love, but it never direct it through the soul. The Physical interacts by way of the soul to the HGA

c. Spiritual and physical progress along with proper decisions within our lives

Em hotep Kath
Ankhhape

Frater_VP wrote:I have to wonder if the HGA is a separate being or part of my own consciousness? maybe both? i just dont know yet

"I don't know" is honesty
and is the beginning of real knowledge

is the HGA a separate being or part of my own consciousness? I really like the 'both' idea
or put another way, "I'm a part of it's consciousness"... the smaller bit is a part of the larger bit, not the other way around (despite the egocentric urge to view everything in relation to ourselves)

I personally view the HGA like a tree, on which I'm a leaf ...aspiring to grow into a twig, so as to be in greater unity, and end the seasonal death/rebirth gig.

OR... maybe that's oversimplifying.

"Neter Neteru" is kemetic for "gods' god" its very analogous to the indian "Aum". In both cultures, gods are trimmed down faces of the infinite all, and so all gods are in effect 'one' at the most primordial level. By this token, we could view our reaching towards the HGA (or vice versa) as our desire as "little beings" to touch the fabric of "all-ness", insomuch as we too are tiny faces of the infinite. So we reach towards a self which is not finite, boundless, universal. reach towards our own divinity.

or something like that,

I, a virtual beginner (in ceremonial magic) have been recently graced by a clear HGA apparition. Coming from shamanism and Wicca, and heavily based on Jung,I assumed that there are two GA-s in animal form for several years of my life - (but they also appeared in dreams as a couple in 84 already). This past year, however, I dug som stuff out with Buddhist ceremonies (I am a Western Reiki master) from my ancestrors, one of whom was a Christian mystic heavily into Egyptology. As soon as his power was restored in the temple of ancestors, my normal GA that helps me with astrology said to me during a quiet night walk that "one even higher is approaching". It was after that that I dreamed of a young man teachnig a class in ancient Middle Eastern tongues. and heard a person calling himself Ra speak. I was dubious about that, still a Buddhist in my heart. Then through an interesting pathway I got into using some Qabalistic phrases and some basic GD techniques for protection, and tried to do my first invocation via Gabriel. I put Ra on hold for a while but I agred that he would come back in a transformed form. Little did I know that he was not only going to come out as a peaceful Vairocana archetype. The angel that appeared a few months later in my kitchen late at night after working with tattwas was not the one I summoned by name, although s/he is connected to that element and direction. Ever since I see her/him (she said most people know her in a male form but I am more comfortable with his/her female form and proceeded to help me with advice on Hebrew-sounding mantras... I try to talk with her every day. Sometimes she is clearly there as a person standing in semi-darkness, wearing som kind of an Egyptian headgear, sometimes it is a more diffuse vision. Sound is there, though.

In earlier years, throughout my life, the HGA appeared in dreams as an old wise man who had five eyes and was radiantly energetic. He dictated a literary short story to me once... Now recently, relying on the book of Alexandros, I can physically see her and am graced by speech sometimes.
Various other spirits tried to come between time to time to distort important messages.
I think all of us have such a connection but it takes special individual approaches to get in contact and have a "darshan".

Any questions?

Hungariandabbler

The Hindu OM is the Egyptian Amon, the Primordial God that created itself from the Waters of Nun. It is vibration, it is the Divine Utterance, it is the Word manifest onto this Physical Plane in order for us to understand it.

...and/or related ideas like "higher self", etc. Not 'guardian angels' as the term is used in our current culture.

My main problem with the subject is this confusion... Some sources say that the HGA is your Higher Self... Some say it's not your Higher Self, but a separate guide...

Clarification would be appreciated...

Zhydanzyel wrote:

...and/or related ideas like "higher self", etc. Not 'guardian angels' as the term is used in our current culture.

My main problem with the subject is this confusion... Some sources say that the HGA is your Higher Self... Some say it's not your Higher Self, but a separate guide...

Clarification would be appreciated...

ahh, yeah, that was perhaps a little vague. I'm still trying to think of a way to explain what I meant by that in more explicit terms.

What I meant there was simply that I just wanted the thread to stay on the topic of "HGA's" specifically, and not to get sidetracked by conversation about 'guardian angels' in a more general sense. For example, someone who's never heard of HGAs specifically might read the topic and comment about guardian angels in the sense of a sort of modern mystic belief in a being which goes around and keeps you alive even though you drove wrecklessly or stuck a fork in a toaster, etc. Whereas the HGA, as defined in the golden dawn, crowley, and others, is regarded more as a form of a source of guidance. Some would view the HGA as a spirit guide, others would say its your higher self, others would say its a sort of personal deity, others would say that it is literally an angel which can offer guidance, there are different ways of looking at it. Some would even say that it may be all of the above.

But all of these concepts overlap in terms of what they're describing, not to be confused with a somewhat more catholic idea of a cherub who keeps you safe in spite of yourself. A 'guardian angel' in the modern vernacular is a somewhat different notion than the HGA as defined in various magical paths, I was just trying to differentiate. To keep the topic from wandering in the direction of relating stories of times when people almost got hurt but they got lucky instead. Since that really would be kinda off topic. So the thread is about HGA's in the western esoteric tradition sense, not guardian angels in the modern superstitious catholic sense.

Although, I will grant that there could possibly be some conceptual overlap even between modern quasi-religious superstition 'guardian angels', and the western esoteric concept of an HGA. It's not inconceivable. It's just drifting to the very fringe edge of the thread's topic range.

I've not read very much at all regarding HGAs yet, but here are my ideas about them anyway...
(note: I hesitate to call them 'beliefs' because it is way too early for me to form beliefs about this sort of thing yet. These are my ideas and theories, subject to change, not my beliefs which are typically more firmly set.)

Kath wrote:a. what exactly is an HGA?

A spiritual entity entirely separate from us, who has already reached enlightenment, and who's task it is now to guide us non-enlightened to enlightenment. Once our souls reach such a level of vibration and once we've absorbed a significant amount of knowledge from the universe, reincarnation no longer becomes necessary. Each person is then tasked with bringing other people to enlightenment.

b. how do you interact with an HGA?

Through working with the natural divine energies around us and within us, and igniting that divine spark.

c. why do you interact with an HGA?

To reach enlightenment.

I feel your problem with the modern concept of the guardian angel Kath, but I personally think that even the HGA is not just "only" here to guide you, but also to protect you. Of course, not for "don't touch that, it's hot!", but e.g. for some life threating events, or when you are going waaay off life. So in a way, it is a "protecting guardian"...

Kath wrote:Whereas the HGA, as defined in the golden dawn, crowley, and others, is regarded more as a form of a source of guidance.

As far as I know, even Crowley changed his HGA view in his life from "higher self" to "separate guide". This nicely shows the cloudiness of the subject...

Good point. Perhaps the HGA and the guardian angel we commonly think of are one in the same, it's just a matter of our different points of view.

I'd say it has to be looked at on a case by case basis. Everyone is different, so you can't always expect to get the same results with every person.

Zelos wrote:I'd say it has to be looked at on a case by case basis. Everyone is different, so you can't always expect to get the same results with every person.

You mean case by case, that
- everyone has different views on HGA
or
- everyone has different "guardians" connected to him?...

Yes, I think that's what Zelos is saying, and I would agree.