Four Powers of the Sphinx

The four powers to be mastered in order to not only do magic but to be a master of one's self.

  • Knowledge (air), to know, vide
  • Will (Fire), to will, vole
  • Courage (Water), to dare, aude
  • Silence Private or Broken Links
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    (Earth), to remain silent, tace

Seemingly correlates to The Four Primary Elements Private or Broken Links
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. Very likely that anything that comes in fours in western occult tradition will relate somehow to the elements.

To Know

Knowledge is power. In an occult context, this is meant in a very literal sense. To control an element one must have knowledge of the element. There is sometimes a disparaging idea cast about in occult circles that a Wizard is one who Knows how and why a spell works, and a sorcerer is simply one who casts the spells of others. The implication is that having knowledge of the fundamental processes at play allows a wizard to create and change RitualsRituals
Chaos Magic

Steps for creating a hypersigil
Creating an Internal Conscious Being
The Harem Mandala (Succubus School)


Personal Rituals

The Threshold Ritual
Ritual for...
and spells to suit the specific cases. I don't think this usage is common anymore as there is a resurgence in popularity of the term sorcerer.

I also often hear magicians suggesting that incantations and barbarous names work almost by nature of their "vibration" and need not be understood. To Know , being a fundamental power of the magican implies otherwise, and Aleister CrowleyAleister Crowley

directly states in Liber Samekh DCCC Private or Broken Links
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that all the incantations must not only be understood but deeply internalized.

  • In Swami Vivekananda, Raja YogaSwami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga
    #litnote

    Mastering truth gives the aspirant the power of speaking into existence new truth


    36. By the establishment of truthfulness the Yogi gets the power of attaining for himself and others ...
    , it is thought that having knowledge over an element allows the yogi to control it
  • in Rosicrucianism Private or Broken Links
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    it is suggested that deep meditation on an object will give you knowledge of the object

To Will

The WillThe Will
The divine impulse inside. The Will is the our impulse to action that is not in response to external influence

The True Will
The true will, represented by the Holy Guardian Angel is the deepes...
is a fundamental occult concept. In the context of the Four Powers, it implies that the will is meant to be used. That every action should be a conscious and willed choice.

To Dare

This is the second part of To Will. Once we have chosen and decided to act then we must act. This is the Action that follows intention (Action is preceded by desireAction is preceded by desire
This is perhaps a contentious statement to some philosophers, but that contention comes from the fuzzy definition of desire. When I talk about Desires in this case- I am simply stating that bef...
)

To Keep Silent

Silence Private or Broken Links
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Connection to the Elements

These powers can be mapped to The Four Primary Elements Private or Broken Links
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as so:

  • To Know = Air
  • To Will = Earth
  • To Dare = Fire
  • To Keep Silence = Water ___

    References

    Thelmapedia

    The Four Powers of the Sphinx are Knowledge, Will, Courage, and Silence, and are attributed to the four classical elements, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth (respectively).

Eliphas Levi, The Ritual and Dogma of Transcendental Magick

Frater F, Almost everything I know about the Powers of Sphinx