[This was written in early 2011 in reference to the “Arab Spring” movement, and updated in 2015, and again in January 2025.]
“The Soviets seem to make a habit out of exploring coincidences.”
– Ostrander & Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain
As a practicing student of life’s mysteries I do not believe in coincidence, but rather that strange Arabic word, kismet, to explain some of the more unusual things that happen. On the outer level, coincidence and kismet appear the same, as it is an event or series of events that have occurred. It is however on the inner, or subjective level wherein the difference is seen. Coincidence is explained as a random and disconnected series of events that come together at some point but have no meaning behind them. Kismet on the other hand suggests ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ at work. Is it a ‘coincidence’ that I found this essay on my computer on a Wednesday in the Hour of Saturn and posted it here? Is it a coincidence that you are reading it?
Several weeks ago I was sent several books on Enochian magic by one publisher and promised several more by another. In addition, several people contacted me regarding Enochian as well as a close friend and occult conspirator who previously had expressed serious concerns over the subject but wanted to explore it more deeply. Now my friend who expressed concerns regarding Enochian asked me out of the blue during this time if I had read Donald Tyson’s book, Tetragrammaton – The Secret to Invoking Angelic Powers and the Key to the Apocalypse (2002). I told her that I had, but that it had been sometime since I last looked at it, and while Tetragrammaton has received scathing reviews because of its statement that the purpose of Enochian Magic is to bring about the Apocalypse in our world there is always the chance that Tyson was on to something others had missed. (Little wonder he has moved on to writing about the Necromonicon and related Lovecraftian mythos, although Colin Wilson in The Mind Parasites offers some interesting insight into the Lovecraft phenomena, as does Peter Levenda in his Sinister Forces trilogy. Coincidentally, Levenda’s three volume set is a fascinating look at the ‘C’ word – coincidence.)
I say this only because as I sat on my favorite meditation chair earlier today, leafing through some reading matter on Enochian, Enochian Vision Magick by Lon Milo DuQuette to be exact, sent to me by my friend, I found the following with sticky note pointing towards it (p. 156-157), “Ave was particularly concerned that Dee and Kelley locate the name Paraoan on the Great Table. The significance of this great angel has not (at least to my satisfaction) been adequately explored or explained. The name Paraoan first appeared among the ninety-one parts of the earth as one of the three divine names (number 65) in the twenty-second Aire. Paraoan is the divine name of the part of the earth designated as Marmarica. According to Enochian scholar Robin Cousins, in Dee and Kelley’s day, Marmarica was a North African coastal region straddling the Egyptian and Libyan coasts, bounded on the East by the River Nile.” DuQuette further goes on to quotes Dee’s diaries, and the angel Ave saying, “As far as that N[ame] stretcheth in the Character, so far shall that Country be consumed with fire, and swallowed into Hell, as Sodom was for wickedness. The end of all things is even at hand: and the earth must be purified, and delivered unto another.”
Now given that the current state of affairs [2011] in that part of the world – Libya and Egypt in particular – it was hard not to take notice of this statement. As such, I was faced with the question, was Tyson, a fellow who has always been kind to me in my few email exchanges with him, a shameless opportunist spouting whatever he thought would sell more paper? Or, had he hit on something that others had missed or simply refused to see?
Hungarian born Arthur Koestler, one of the Twentieth Century’s more intriguing witnesses to the failures of Communism and National Socialism, making him an ardent writer of anti-totalitarian books and essays, was also fascinated by the study parapsychology. In his essay, The Roots of Coincidence, he postulated that physics could provide us with the answers we seek in understanding the seemingly ‘unconnected’.
“Coincidence may be described as the chance encounter of two unrelated causal chains which – miraculously it seems – merge into a significant event. It provides the neatest paradigm of the bisociation of previously separate contexts, engineered by fate. Coincidences are puns of destiny.”
Well, simply put I was left with the question and no suitable answer.
You see, the only way any of us will know is to either ask Ave or Paraoan ourselves, and that assumes a lot, or to witness the Second Coming. I doubt CNN, the BBC, or any news service will be of much use to us here, and possibly even the opposite. Regardless of that, the current events in North Africa and the Middle East (as well as France, Ukraine, and other places unknown) are of global importance and will change dramatically the way many of us live, think, and act. You see, in many ways the World As We Know It is always being destroyed and reborn – rarely do we see it. It is like in one scene from the final episode of the television series “Angel” [Yes, that Angel.] the facts are pointed out to us and it is as if we are waiting for some kind of cosmic memo to alert us to what is in front of us. I cannot tell you that the Anti-Christ is about to begin his reign, that Jesus Christ is returning, the Kali Avatar is astride his white horse, or that any of a dozen other saviors are on their way.
What I can say with certainty is that the period ahead of us is most likely going to be a rough ride as economies, nations, communities, and individuals seek to adjust to the various events unfolding around the world. As such, let each of us affirm to be sincere in our practices, kind to ourselves and others, and to be genuinely helpful, while we can, – for the grave is the only certainty for each of us. This way, not matter what the future brings, we will know that we have listened to the ‘Angel of our better nature,’ be the best we can be, and answering for our deeds will be something to look forward to rather than fear.
In short, there are but four aims we must have in this life if we are to experience lasting wisdom, peace, and joy, and they are: 1. learn the nature of your own mind; 2. help others as best you can by fulfilling your four duties (1) to self and family, 2) employer and clients, 3) community, 4) and the divine); 3. escape the suffering of duality (the pull of the Archons) through your own Illumination the fruits of your spiritual practice; and. 4. from these three, realize that you are free, and then act accordingly.
For more information that can assist you in realizing your four aims in life see:
Four Fifteen: Foundations of Personal Success
https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/p/four-fifteen-foundations-of-personal-mastery
Pluto in Aquarius: 2025 and Beyond
https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/p/pluto-in-aquarius-2025-and-beyond
Four Aims: Jupiter in Daily Life
https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/p/the-four-aims-jupiter-in-daily-life
