Sanguis Astroism/Writings/Desert Scrolls

The so-called Desert Scrolls, written by Rabisu Daycryn, released and copied amongst the Church of Sanguis Astroism after his retirement from Elder office, his lengthy journey, and his return from the desert. In addition to the words written by a single hand, they are decorated in patterns of stars or what seem to be mysterious symbols or indecipherable words in an arcane language. (Below is an unfinished version.)

1. The Nature of Man

Man, as he is born into this world, is asleep. He is in a state of darkness and ignorance. Over time, he gains knowledge about things, and through his experience gains insight. Yet these do not change his state of deep sleep, for he remains unconscious about the truth of his own nature. His eyes may be open, but he does not see.

The nature of man is to be found in the Bloodstars. Ignorant of this fact, he is therefore ignorant of himself, and he will come to wrong conclusions.

When he is angry, he believes his anger has an external cause, and will blame whomever or whatever he believes that cause to be. Or he will believe it has an internal cause, and blame himself for his own lack of self-control. When he is happy, he believes that too has an external cause, and will attribute his happiness to that cause, giving praise to what or who he believes that cause to be. Or he will imagine his joy comes only from within, and dance and sing at his own good nature. He is wrong in all these cases, although there is one part truth to them all as well.

The origins of joy and anger, or any such passions, are to be found in the mysteries of the Maddening Star. Thus, they are an external cause, but they are external not only to himself, but to any person, thing, or condition in his surroundings. However, a greater mystery, yet also absolute truth, is that the Maddening Star is not entirely outside of himself. That is to say, the Maddening Star shines not only above in the heavens, but within man himself, and just as the Stars are within us, so too are we within the Stars. Therefore the origins of passions are both external and internal, but have nothing to do with commonly expected, blamed or praised causes.

Yet man does not know this. Even though a man may be told of this truth, and may believe it on the basis of the authority of those who tell him - priests, Elders of the Church, noble lords, ladies, and kings, etc - it remains still only a possible truth to him. It is but an idea, held perhaps as truth today, but tomorrow he may hold an entirely different truth. He may profess a belief in the Bloodstars - they do, after all, exist, shining in the sky for any idiot to see - yet tomorrow he may also profess a belief in some household deity or pagan superstition. This is because the knowledge or belief he has accepted is only superficial; it has not made him awake.

It is the same as knowledge one might possess while in a dream state - it will exist, and seem real, but only as long as the dream lasts. It is the same as knowledge that a child might possess about warfare: he knows it exists, he might know of knights, swords, horses, and even of historical battles or tactics if he is a particularly well-educated child. Yet until he has himself fought on the battlefield, his knowledge is not of the same worth as the knowledge of warfare that any warrior has. Therefore we might say that a veteran soldier has been awakened to the truth of warfare, while a green boy remains asleep. Similarly, but on a vastly more important scale, a man may know the truth of his nature and of the Bloodstars. Until he himself experiences the reality of the Bloodstars, and therefore of himself, man remains asleep.

While the cause of passions is the Maddening, the cause of thoughts is the Auspicious Star. Yet man is asleep to this fact as well. If he has a thought, he will, as a matter of course, believe he is the origin of it. This tendency is as strong as the tendency to misattribute the cause of passions, and may be even stronger. A man speaks, and voices the product of his thoughts, and every word will be an expression of what he believes is himself. To suggest that this is not so would be a sort of insult to the average man. He believes his thoughts have only an internal cause: himself. Yet how often can the very opposite be observed, in day to day life? A man might believe his wife is faithful, and then discover that she lays with another man. Will he believe that his own thoughts were wrong, that his belief in her fidelity was an error? No, he will blame his wife for causing him to believe wrongly. Suddenly his thoughts have an apparently external cause.

In fact, he is both correct and incorrect, just as he is with the Maddening Star. His thoughts have an external cause, but it is not his wife, or anything else other than the Auspicious Star. And again his thoughts have an internal cause, but it is not his self, but the Auspicious Star within. And even if he were to be told of this, even if he were listening to this unworthy explanation, and even if he accepted and agreed, he would still be unaware of it, until he has experienced the Stars in a direct fashion and thereby come to know the true nature of his thoughts.

Yet more intractably difficult to accept and understand still is the mysteries of the Austere Star. For much of our day to day lives, we are not stricken by rays of pure passion, nor are we governed by the dictates of pure intellect, but rather an ever-shifting combination of both. The example of the man above will blame his wife not simply for exposing the falseness of his own thoughts, but for betraying his heart and wounding his pride. Thoughts and passion both move him. The earlier example of the man either angry of joyful is also not so clear as it first appeared. One part of him may well accept that his wealth does not bring him joy, nor being robbed bring him anger; yet at the moment he is given a coin or one is taken away, he is happy or angry regardless. His thoughts interfere with true knowledge regarding his passions, just as the second man's passions interfere with true knowledge regarding his thoughts.

So too it is with man in general. The nonbelievers, such as the native Dwili, are completely asleep to their own nature. They are moved by passions and thoughts, and have no knowledge nor even hope of knowing what move passions and thoughts. Yet even believers are not, by nature, different. For as we know, a man may believe, not because of his own experience, but because of various reasons it is convenient for him to believe. So even a believer is likely still asleep, for while he believes, he does not possess true knowledge.

Lacking true knowledge, then, how do we gain it? If we are asleep, how do we awaken?

2. The Nature of Enlightenment

Man's knowledge is, at best, like the academic knowledge of a student, and his belief is a kind of superstition. This sleep, this darkness and ignorance, can only be dispelled through a process of awakening. The process of awakening to one's true nature is in fact the primary goal of all the functions of Sanguis Astroism and the teachings of the First Prophet.

The state of being awakened is what is called Enlightenment. The first to achieve this is Mathurin, the Holy Prophet, and it was his awakening which prompted the birth of Sanguis Astroism and the foundation of the Church. But mere knowledge of these facts does not, and cannot, suffice on their own. Even if one were to memorize, word for word, the sermons and writings of the entire Church, this would not itself be true knowledge, only recitation. Just as a green boy cannot have true knowledge of warfare only by reading about it, man cannot be awakened through education. A warrior is made only through battle, and true knowledge is gained only through the journey toward Enlightenment.

Yet if this is true, why do priests give sermons? Why have many Elders written volumes about the Bloodstars? And why, in fact, have a Church at all? If the Prophet achieved Enlightenment without being taught, why does he or anyone else presume to teach?

The answer is that few, if any, of us possess the combination of conditions and qualities which a Prophet does. Teachings are provided to guide us toward a way of life which itself will lead toward Enlightenment. Writings serve as guides, not to educate us with mere facts, but to point the way to truth. Only by living this way of life, and by following toward true knowledge, are we likely ever to achieve this great purpose and escape our condition of sleep.

Enlightenment, then, is not the truth: it is the realization of truth. It is not knowledge itself, but the foundation upon which we must ourselves build the truth for ourselves.

3. The Nature of Prayer

For a man who is asleep, prayer is a petition. Regardless of to whom or what he prays, he is like a peasant coming before his liege lord and asking for a boon.

In the religions of nonbelievers, men pray to gods or spirits - for rain, for wealth, for good health, and so forth. If afterward it rains, or they accumulate some coin, or their broken bones heal, they attribute this to an answer to their prayer. If however, it does not rain, or they gain no money, or their wounds worsen, they believe their gods or spirits have abandoned them. Then, their local priests teach them what to do to appease their unearthly benefactors - perhaps they must sacrifice an animal, or perform a ritual around a ceremonial fire, or even simply to wait and continue to pray. The gods or spirits are mercurial, and may never answer their prayers.

We of Sanguis Astroism may look down on such peoples with disdain, yet we are not so different. For most of us, our prayers are the same, only directed to the Bloodstars instead of to gods or ancestors. For most of us, our ceremonies are the same, differing only in details and extremes. For most of us, a temple is a place of worship - to give honor to heavenly beings, in the hopes that such beings will grant our wishes and act on our behalf. Lacking true knowledge, we can act only in ignorance; lacking true knowledge, our temples are only pretty structures built for the glory of our own hopes.

Yet even though the Bloodstars are not gods, and it is nowhere written that through prayer they will grant us miracles or gifts, we are taught to pray. Why?

The answer is that through prayer we may somehow become Enlightened, as the Prophet did; through prayer, we may become attuned to the Bloodstars, as the Prophet is. Alone among all the religions of the civilized world and beyond, Sanguis Astroists pray not so that outside forces change the world for us, but so that we change ourselves from within and come to know the world as it truly is.

Yet because of the nature of Enlightenment, many in Sanguis Astroism pray very seldomly, if at all. Many still, also pray for gifts from the skies. Many too pray to become Enlightened, and are inevitably discourged when we receive no Divine revelation. Without the promise or delivery of granted wishes, prayer can feel shallow, or even silly, leading to discouragement, apathy, and even a sense of not belonging within the Church. This perhaps is one of the greater problems with existing Church doctrine - or lack thereof - regarding prayer.

For while the concept of a god, a kind of liege lord in the heavens, is simple and easy for anyone to understand, the concept of the Bloodstars is not. While gods are unseen, this can be dismissed due to them being invisible, or dwelling on a mountain, or behind a cloud. Yet the Bloodstars are not unseen at all - there they are, above us, at all times. And seeing them, one naturally comes, sooner or later, to ask the question: what can a star do for me? If, as Rabisu insists, they are not gods, how can praying to them do any good whatsoever?

The answer is that we do not pray to the Bloodstars; we pray, and that is that. It is not that through prayer, petitions will be granted or denied, or Enlightenment will be given or withheld. Rather, through prayer, we take but one more step on the journey towards Enlightenment. This journey may take thousands upon thousands of steps, and so it may seem to us as if we are merely praying in vain, even though no prayer is a prayer wasted. The function of prayer, then, is that it is one of the steps along the way of truth, and with each prayer, we take one more step away from the depths of sleep.

A primitive may believe that his prayers may sometimes be answered, and therefore the object of his faith and his prayers are the same. Yet for Sanguis Astroism it is different. We do not have faith that the Bloodstars exist - we know this, for is it incontrovertible fact that even nonbelievers recognize. We believe that through prayer, we may approach an Enlightened state, but the object of this faith is the teachings and example set by the Holy Prophet. Yet we are not praying to the Prophet, nor do we worship him - such a thing would be heretical! Therefore the object of our faith is not the same as the object of our prayer. What then is the object of our prayer - to whom are we directing our prayers?

4. The Divinity of the Bloodstars

The Divine Bloodstars are not often called such - for convenience or possibly carelessness, many of us refer to them only as the Bloodstars. Yet to do so is to omit the great mystery of reality which we must awaken to: Divinity.

What are the Bloodstars, that we call them Divine? Even unbelievers know the Bloodstars - no one can deny they exist - yet even amongst many of the faithful, they are but highly intriguing stars, with an interesting lore surrounding them. The Austere, Auspicious, and Maddening each have their properties, corresponding to mental states of people. As Maddening becomes stronger, so too to passions. As Auspicious becomes stronger, so does the clarity of the intellect. Many know the Bloodstars thus, and no further - as the Bloodstars, not the Divine. Yet this correspondance between the Bloodstars and our own state of being is well known, and it is not the essential truth.

Why, then, do we call them the Divine Bloodstars? Does the word Divine refer to a godly nature, even if they are not called gods? Might we then just as easily call them the God of the Maddening, the God of the Auspicious, and the God of the Austere? When we desired to be more passionate, in our prayers we would pray to the Maddening Star-God, and if we desired to be less, to the Auspicious Star-God. But such an interpretation of the Divine Bloodstars is petty and mistaken.

Yet if not gods, many of us in Sanguis Astroism treat them no differently. We pray to them, we look to them for guidance and blessing, and if we call them Bloodstars and not gods, it is a matter of mere semantics. But this is not the Divinity of the Bloodstars.

The Divinity of the Bloodstars is not of the Bloodstars. It is within them. It is also within us - though it is not of us either. It is not their properties, nor their connection to our hearts and minds, nor the brightness of their light, nor their position in the sky. It is not their history, before or after the founding of our Church.

What, then, do we pray to when we pray? We pray to an ineffable spirit which we cannot rightly define by what or where it is, but more easily by what it is not. Divinity transcends time and location, stars and selves, the material and the immaterial both. It is this transcendent, indefinable essence which we call the Divine. This Divinity moves the Bloodstars, and all stars; it moves ourselves, and all mankind. It is the cause of all of our thoughts and all of our passions, and it seems to be the cause of more besides.

Through prayer, we hope that we are coming to know this Divinity, and thereby to know our own nature, and thereby to eventually achieve Enlightenment. Yet this would seem to be an impossible task. If prayers are not answered the way a liege lord answers a petition, and if true knowledge is nothing that can be given or even expressed, how can prayer give us knowledge?

The answer is that the path of Enlightenment is long, and prayer alone is indeed insufficient to walk it. A follower of the Stars must not merely do one thing or a second thing in his goals to become Enlightened, and in all other things serve other goals - he must strive to live a certain way of life. To become awake requires more than a mere impulse to awaken; if it were simple, quick, or easy, the First Prophet would be the first of many. The nature of a man's spirit must itself become known, before one can come to know the Divinity of the Bloodstars.

5. The Nature of the Spirit

What is a man, that he is noble? He is wealthier than the common man, only in that he possesses a greater number of gold coins. He inhabits a more elegant dwelling-place, filled with treasures and luxuries. He dresses richly, with warm furs and plush velvets. He has titles, which convey to the world that he has authority over other men. He has a family name, telling of the status of his father and the fathers before him. All this is what makes a man noble in the world.

Is he greater, in sum, than all others? No, this is untrue - even amongst those most rigidly held by this world, it is allowed that he is only greater than some, and there are those who are greater than he. Wealth, title, and heritage are weighed against each other, and weighed against those of other men, placing him on a certain level. He is only esteemed as great as these factors, none of which are of his own making, and rarely under his capability to control.

But let us suppose that two men are of equal title, wealth, and fame. What is it that makes one man more noble than the second? It can only be that which exists when status and treasures are stripped away.

Perhaps it is strength of arms. Yet this is dependent upon his wealth and authority, as well as military qualities of the men and equipment he happens to marshal. And if might makes nobility, than the basest, most depraved, least honorable of tyrants would be considered more noble than a king whose armies are the lesser. So it cannot be strength of arms.

Perhaps, then, it is his own personal strength. That, at least, a man may call his own. Yet if such strength was what makes a noble man more noble than others, then a blacksmith or common laborer could be considered more noble than even an ambassador, or a younger knight more noble than an aged lord. So it cannot be personal strength.

So it must be something which the most noble of men has, that the less noble of men do not have, or must always possess in lesser amount. It must be something stripped of not only title, wealth, and family, but of strength of arms and personal strength, and many other such easily comparable qualities.

A man must be stripped to his very essence before a true evaluation of his nobility can be made. And what is a man's essence? It is his spirit. It is a man's spirit which makes him noble, or makes him ignoble. A man possesses a common spirit, or a kingly spirit.

Yet because it is our nature in the world of men to judge a man based on the outer shell of his person, it is very difficult to esteem his spirit. Indeed, spirit itself cannot be seen. Only the manifestation of spirit can be seen, and while spirit manifests often in such outer details as title, authority, etc., these outer details may be misleading or even in some cases accidental.

True nobility - nobility of the spirit - can only, therefore, be determined when all other things are taken out of consideration. The spirit itself can only be known when all things that are not spirit are removed. To accomplish this, a man must himself take them out of his own consideration, and face the truth of his own nature, undistracted by the world. He must strip off his titles and his rich furs, leave the luxury of his manor and the responsibilities of his worldly life, and walk into a desert in which there is none but himself.

6. The Desert of the Spirit

As we are like children, who may be educated about the world yet have little direct knowledge of the world, we must go forth into the world in order to become born.

All children must, if they are to grow, eventually leave the comforts of their swaddling clothes, rise up out of the rocking-cradle, and leave the protection of their parents. A man must, if he is to awaken, leave the warmth of his blanket and place his feet upon the ground.

If a man is to awaken, he must leave the comforts of his normal attire, rise up out of the routines of his daily life, and leave the protection of his family and peers. If he does not, he will remain with an unknown and immature spirit. He may, like a child who never leaves home, prosper in all measurable means - he may gather wealth, eat well, dress well. Yet his spirit will be unknown, and he will remain asleep, regardless of how much he prays.

It is in the desert of the spirit that we grow. Under the harsh heat of the sun, our skin burns and then hardens. On the rocks and sand of the desert ground, our feet bleed and then grow callused. In the desert of the spirit, we are tested continuously. Do we turn back, and return to the comforts of our estate? Do we surrender to the pain and the confusion, beaten by our own inability to push forward? Or do we rise like men, uplifted by our own nobility of spirit?

The form of the desert is not one, but many. For many it may be the Holy Crusade. For many it may be a pilgrimage. For some it may be a process of intensive meditation. For some it may be an actual desert, into which one travels with nothing but some water and food, a plain robe, and sandals. It is more likely, however, to be the combination of these things.

In all cases however the desert must be a place of difficulty and challenge, a place where one does not wish to go for any ordinary reasons. It is a place of fear and the unknown. It is a place of bare essentials, where one's essence may be bared. A man must take such a journey for his spirit to become known.

The non-spiritual must be separated from the spiritual, that we may realize the spiritual. For, as I have already described, one may intellectually accept the existence of the spirit, but this mere mental recognition is useless. Instead we must become intimately familiar with our own spirit.

This process is also one of purification. The external shell of our identity must be cleansed and discarded. The impure must be purged from our minds, just as a sick man must be purged of the unclean in order to heal. The pain of purging is the cost of good health, and the pain of the desert is the cost of awakening.

Whether literal or figurative, anyone can enter the desert, but to successfully navigate and endure the desert of the spirit one must encounter - and overcome - certain obstacles. Those obstacles are further described below.

7. Misleading Passion

Man is constantly mislead by his passions, which is to say that man can be mislead by the Maddening Star. This is not, however, to suggest that the Maddening star, or even basic desires, are inherently evil or wrong! Rather, it is the lack of moderation which is misleading; and this of course translates to a lack of balance with the Divine Bloodstars.

Men may be more naturally attuned to the Maddening Star, which is to say they tend to be more passionate persons. Or a man may be more naturally attuned - that is to say resonant - to the Auspicious Star, which is to say he is more like to be a thoughtful fellow. Yet regardless of a man's personal tendencies or natural resonance with any star, any man may become mislead by his passions at one time or another.

One man may, for example, have a passion for much food. This can lead him astray into gluttony, in which his belly is his master, and he will serve his master even at the cost of his own good health.

Or he might have a passion for the ways of women, which might lead him to stray from the bed of his lawfully wedded wife, or may lead an unmarried man to consort with whores and cutthroats.

He may have a strong desire to do nothing, or to rest and sleep. If given into, this may make the man lazy, and his work and therefore his life suffers.

Another man may have a tendency to give in to anger, and the more he does this, the more often he will become angry. He may advocate violence and war when it is inappropriate. He may get into brawls at the local tavern, disputes with his neighbor, or beat his wife. In this way, his passions lead him astray, and not only does he suffer, so too do others.

A man may have a desire for wealth and rare goods, but if he lets this desire rule his behaviors, he may be tempted to steal, to set upon travelers, rob graves, or to make unsound purchases. Thus, he suffers, due to his unbalanced desires.

A man may be proud of his accomplishments or his status, and if he becomes overly proud, he may make loud boasts, give insult to those he considers beneath him, or overestimate his own abilities. Unwise in battle, unliked by his neighbors, and overly eager to prove himself, he may well come to harm.

It is of course natural to desire to eat food, to make love, to rest, to become angry, to gain wealth, and to be proud of oneself. When however these natural desires become unduly emphasized, in thought and deed, a man is unbalanced. He may be attuned to the Maddening Star, but the Auspicious is far from him.

The reason for this is that it is the nature of passion to crave; and when one has an unbalanced craving, that desire is difficult - perhaps impossible - to satisfy. It becomes a pit without a bottom, a monstrous appetite that can never be satiated. And this is evil.

Many evils of this world can be attributed to this unbalanced aspect, to misleading passions. Murder, rape, theft, adultery, insubordination, disloyalty and rebellion, lawlessness, riot, bitter disputes or feuds, even wars of rapacious conquest. Even monsters and the undead, with their endless need to consume and terrorize mortal man, are affected by the Bloodstars.

Therefore, for a man to successfully pass through the Desert of the Spirit, he must reign in his own passions, particularly if they are strong ones. He must aim to be moderate in all things, not extreme. He must be content with what he has to eat and what he owns, satisfied yet not boastful of his accomplishments, faithful to his wife, thoughtful when he is lead to anger, and he must not spend too long idly or in bed. He must recognize his passions, without indulging them too much. He must in other words become balanced.

8. Misleading Thought

Just as passions can lead one astray, so too can thoughts. And, just as a man may become unbalanced in alignment with the Maddening, a man may become unbalanced in alignment with the Auspicious Star. However, this tends to be less common, for whatever reason.

still, unsound, illogical or unreasonable thoughts can be just as harmful as misleading passions. How many needless wars have been fought due to mistakes in communication, or mistaken assumptions about one or both parties? The uneducated, in particular, are prone to such errors of thinking. This is one reason why the nobility are more fit to govern, for they have a greater capacity to use reason, compromise, and of course the written word. However, the nobility are by no means immune to mis-use of these tools, for all can become lead astray by their thoughts.

One particular type of misleading thoughts is characterized by false beliefs, false notions, and false apprehensions about the world and others. In the desert lands, if a man is too long without water, he may see an oasis or even a wooded river where no oasis or river exists. Similarly, men may come to hold illusions, to think a thing is (or is not) when it is not (or is). Such illusory thoughts are called delusion.

Delusions are harmful because, for example, a believer in the Stars may come to mistake the Prophet for a god. This may lead him to the practice of worshiping the Prophet. Another believer may come to cease believing in Sanguis Astroism, and become an apostate. Or another believer may become deluded enough to commit heresy of some kind.

Or a man may mistakenly believe his neighbor is secretly his enemy, and if he acts accordingly, much harm may come about between them. In war, one army may be mislead into thinking the enemy weaker than they are, or that an enemy army is somewhere it is not, thus leading to defeat. Indeed, in war much effort is made toward causing and exploiting delusion in the enemy, for the simple reason that to be mislead by thoughts is harmful.

Therefore, to get through the Desert of the Spirit, a man must not only sharpen his intellect and gain knowledge, he must be assured that his knowledge is true. He must not be afraid to correct a belief if it is shown to be incorrect. He must be also open to new ideas, for they may possess saving truths within. And lastly he must be balanced, not cold and calculating at all times; he must not sacrifice his heart for his mind.

9. Imbalance

True balance is not a matter of being attuned both to Auspicious and Maddening, but to all three Bloodstars. The Austere Star is the hardest to comprehend for this reason; it is not simply a mixture of the aspects of Auspicious and Maddening. It is, above all, a correct balance, and an understanding of the patterns of passion and thought in other people as well.

For it is possible to be moderate in one's passions, and true in one's thoughts, yet remain unbalanced and thus come to harm. Even a moderate or meager desire can, when paired with a correct but incomplete thought, lead a man astray.

For example, a priest may, if he is presented by a vocal dissenter within a Church discussion, naturally desire to bring peace and harmony to his brothers. Furthermore, he may perceive certain flaws in an argument made by that dissenter, which he can logically disprove. Yet he may find that presenting a well-reasoned, moderately passionate argument does not end the conflict - quite the opposite, he may find it makes matters worse.

The reason for this may be that his opponent has great pride, which means that being corrected in public discussion is perceived as insult. His opponent may be overly angry, meaning that the logic of argument is wasted. His opponent may not possess the intellect to even comprehend higher reasoning. Or even if none of these things are the case, the responding argument the priest makes may inflame the passions or misleading thoughts of third parties.

Many lengthy and ceaseless conflicts have been brought about through these reasons. For men may tend to answer problems of thought, with solutions of thought; and to answer problems of passions with mirroring passions. In many cases, a problem of logic is best answered by a passionate response, and a problem of passions is best answered by reason. And yet, in other situations, the exact opposite is true.

The nature of such conflicts is subtle and dynamic. The Austere Star, in many ways, not only reflects the other two stars, but transcends their aspects. While one man may solve a problem with a passionate outburst, reflective of the Maddening Star, and a second man may solve a problem with cool reason, reflective of the Auspicious Star. A third man, aligned with the Austere Star, may solve a problem in such a manner that is difficult to predict, surprising and intuitive.

This transcendent nature of the Austere Star means that balance with it, and with all three stars, is often found unexpectedly. One man may swing from the extreme of passion to the extreme of thought, only to return after a period of meditation and prayer with a perfect mixture of each.

It is nevertheless a paradox that to become Enlightened - to achieve balance and harmony with all three of the Divine Bloodstars - one must first become balanced and harmonious with each of them. This paradox or riddle can only be solved by the Divine.

10. Balance

It is well-established that the Divine Bloodstars affect man: when the Maddening Star is superior or bright, passions are inflamed within us, and when the Auspicious Star is strong above us, thoughts within us flow more easily and quickly. It is also well-established that certain persons are generally more attuned, that is to say resonant, with one or another Bloodstar.

However, it is also the case that for one man, there are times and situations in which his Maddening, Auspicious or Austere aspects are stronger. These times and situations may be apparently unconnected with the positions and brightness of the Divine Bloodstars in the sky, and apparently unrelated to his own resonance or lack thereof.

It is as if within each of us, the Maddening, Auspicious, and Austere Stars wax and wane throughout our lives, along their own paths and cycles.

When these inner cycles align with the outer cycles above, the effect of the ascendant aspect is amplified greatly. Yet is it desirable to become overly passionate and emotional at one point, and to become overly intellectual at another? Some may say that it is, for such could be considered alignment with the Stars. Yet it is no accident that our Prophet's nature seems balanced; he does not swing from one extreme to the other, as many of us do. This is because of the balancing nature of the Austere Star, which suffices to remove the potentially dangerous extremes of character, and the instability of recurring intervals of Maddening and Auspicious within us.

If the Maddening is a sword, then Austere may be likened to the leather grip of the handle. If the Auspicious is an open hand, then Austere may be likened to the bones of the arm which holds it out. To achieve balance, then, one must become aligned not only above, but within. And this can only be accomplished through the practices of the spirit.

11. Contemplation of the Divine

Meditation is uninterrupted, silent concentration. This may be accomplished simply by closing one's eyes and focusing, with one's inner sight, on the appearance of a Divine Bloodstar; or by focusing on qualities connected with an aspect of a Divine Bloodstar. This deceptively simple practice is essential if one is to achieve balance.

By meditating on the Maddening Star, one may strengthen one's own passions; which is to say one strengthens the Maddening Star within us. By meditating on the Auspicious Star, one may strengthen one's own powers of reason and thought, which is to say one strengthens the Auspicious Star within us. Through meditation on the Maddening Star, the aspect of Auspicious within is weakened. Through meditation on the Auspicious Star, the aspect of Maddening within is weakened.

Yet the Austere Star is different. When the aspect of Maddening within us is strong, meditation on the Austere Star may weaken it; and when the aspect of Auspicious within us is strong, meditation on the Austere Star may weaken it. Yet if the aspect of Maddening within us is weakened, meditation on the Austere Star may strengthen it. If the aspect of Auspicious within us is weakened, meditation on the Austere Star may strengthen it. Thus meditation on the Austere Star helps to achieve balance between the aspects of Auspicious and Maddening within us; however it is more efficient to increase Maddening or Auspicious within us through meditation on Maddening or Auspicious. The primary effect of meditation on the Austere Star is to increase the aspect of Austere within us; something which cannot be done by meditating on either (or even both) Auspicious or Maddening.

Therefore, an unbalanced state of strength of Maddening may be answered by meditation on Auspicious, or Austere; an unbalanced state of weakness of Maddening may be answered by meditation on Maddening, or Austere. An unbalanced state of strength of Auspicious may be answered by meditation on Maddening, or Austere; an unblanaced state of weakness of Auspicious may be answered by meditation on Auspicious, or Austere.

However an unbalanced state of weakness of Austere can only be answered through meditation on Austere. How then can an unbalanced state of strength of Austere be answered?

Through meditation on Austere! Auspicious and Maddening answer Maddening and Auspicious, Austere answers Maddening and Auspicious, and Austere also answers Austere. Thus, Austere transcends all three Stars.

Thus, one should meditate on all Three Bloodstars. One begins by meditating on Maddening, and then answering Maddening by Auspicious. Then one answers Auspicious by Maddening, and then answers Maddening and Auspicious by Austere. Then one answers Austere by Austere, until all three Bloodstars are transcended, leaving no aspect, and all aspects.