DEGREE III: THE SECRET ORDER (THIRD ORDER)

AUREDO → BEYOND

Grade 10=1: Ipsissimus

THE CROWN

Sephirah: Kether (Crown)

Element: Pure Spirit (beyond elements)

Tarot Path: 11 (Aleph/א - The Fool)

Beyond: Ain Soph Aur (Limitless Light) → Ain Soph (Limitless) → Ain (Nothing)

Fourfold Path: King of Kings

Alchemical Stage: Auredo (complete) → Translation

Body: Beyond body (or all bodies)

Magical Level: Beyond magic

Overview

The Ipsissimus is the rarest of the rare.

This grade may not be attained in a given era. It is beyond description, beyond comprehension, beyond attainment (because there is no one left to attain it).

The Ipsissimus dwells in Kether (Crown) — the first Sephirah, the point, the source, the crown of creation.

But Kether is also a veil. Beyond Kether lies:

• Ain Soph Aur (Limitless Light)
• Ain Soph (Limitless, Infinite)
• Ain (Nothing, the Absolute)

The Ipsissimus has dissolved into the Absolute, yet paradoxically remains functional in the world (if they choose).

Ipsissimus means "His own self" or "The self itself."

There is no other. Only the One.

The Tarot Path

Path 11 (Aleph/א) - The Fool

Connection: Kether → Chokmah (or Kether to Ain)

Experience:

• Return to zero
• Completion of the circle
• The Fool steps off the cliff into the abyss — but now there is no abyss, no Fool, only God
• The beginning and the end are one

Symbolism:

• The Fool, walking joyfully toward the precipice, dog at his heels, sun above, carrying only a small bundle
• Zero (the cipher, the empty circle, the womb of potential)
• Aleph (א) — the first letter, the ox, the breath of God
• Air (the element of Aleph, the breath, the spirit)

Work:

• There is no work
• Or: the work is complete, and now only play remains
• The Fool is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end

What Is the Ipsissimus?

Union with God (Complete)

The Magister Templi knows there is no separation.

The Magus speaks the Word of God.

The Ipsissimus IS God.

Not in the egoic sense ("I am God, worship me"), but in the mystical sense: there is only God, and I am That.

Tat Tvam Asi ("Thou art That") — the Vedantic formula

Aham Brahmasmi ("I am Brahman") — not ego, but Atman=Brahman

Ana al-Haqq ("I am the Truth/Reality") — the statement of Mansur al-Hallaj, the Sufi mystic (for which he was executed)

"I and the Father are One" — Christ's declaration (John 10:30)

The Ipsissimus knows this absolutely, totally, permanently.

Individual Dissolved Into Universal

There is no "person" anymore.

The body may appear to walk, talk, eat, sleep. But there is no one inside it. It is an empty shell through which God moves.

Or more accurately: there was never anyone inside it. The illusion has been completely dispelled.

Cannot Be Described

The Ipsissimus cannot be described in words because:

• Words require duality (subject/object)
• The Ipsissimus is non-dual
• Any description is inherently false

Lao Tzu: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name."

The Upanishads: "Neti neti" ("Not this, not that")

Dionysius the Areopagite: The via negativa — God can only be described by what He is not

The Ipsissimus is beyond all categories, all descriptions, all names.

The Work of the Ipsissimus (If Any)

There Is No Work

The Great Work is complete. There is nothing to do, nothing to attain, nowhere to go.

Or:

The Ipsissimus may:

• Appear to teach (but there is no teacher, no student, no teaching)
• Appear to act (but there is no doer, no action)
• Appear to live (but there is no liver, no life separate from Life itself)

Perfect Spontaneity

The Ipsissimus acts (if they act) with perfect spontaneity — wu wei (non-action, effortless action).

There is no planning, no willing, no choosing. There is only the Tao flowing through.

Transmission by Presence

The Ipsissimus transmits by being, not by doing.

Their presence alone awakens, heals, transforms.

No words needed. No rituals needed. Just being.

Kether and Beyond

Kether (Crown)

Kether — the first Sephirah, the Crown, the point, the source, pure existence.

Kether is:

• The first stirring in the Absolute
• The first "I AM"
• The monad, the unity
• The white brilliance (all colors unified)
• The crown of the Tree of Life

But Kether is still within creation (albeit at the threshold).

Beyond Kether: The Three Veils

Ain Soph Aur (אין סוף אור) — Limitless Light

• The radiance before form
• Pure light without limit
• The source of Kether

Ain Soph (אין סוף) — The Limitless

• Infinite, boundless
• Beyond light and dark
• Beyond existence and non-existence

Ain (אין) — Nothing

• The Absolute
• The void
• The eternal silence
• God before God

The Ipsissimus has crossed all veils. They rest in Ain (Nothing), which is also Everything.

Historical Examples (Claimed or Attributed)

Very few (if any) have openly claimed this grade.

Those who have been attributed with it (by others or by legend):

• The Buddha (after enlightenment under the Bodhi tree)
• Jesus Christ (the Son of God, one with the Father)
• Lao Tzu (author of the Tao Te Ching, disappeared into the west)
• Krishna (God incarnate, according to Hindu tradition)
• Ramana Maharshi (modern sage, lived in constant Self-realization)
• Nisargadatta Maharaj (modern sage, no-self realized)
• Various unnamed Taoist immortals, Buddhist arhats, Hindu jivanmuktas

In Western occultism:

No one has credibly claimed this grade in the modern era. Even Crowley, who claimed Magus (9=2), did not claim Ipsissimus (though some have speculated).

Why?

Because to claim it is to disprove it. The one who claims "I am Ipsissimus" has an "I" — and thus is not.

The Four Paths

Chivalric: Disappeared (beyond the quest)

Magical: Disappeared (beyond magic)

Mystical: Disappeared (beyond union — only One remains)

Royal: King of Kings (the emperor of emperors, but with no empire)

The Ipsissimus is beyond all paths. Or rather, they are all paths, because they are everything.

Advancement

There is no advancement beyond Ipsissimus.

This is the end of the journey.

Or rather: it is the realization that there was never a journey, never a seeker, never a goal.

There is only This.

What Happens Next?

Auredo Complete

The Auredo (Goldening) is complete. The Glorified Body is perfected. The soul is translucent to the divine.

Translation

Some Ipsissimi are said to undergo translation — they do not die, but are taken up, transfigured, dissolved into light.

Biblical examples:

• Enoch ("walked with God, and he was not, for God took him" — Genesis 5:24)
• Elijah (taken up in a chariot of fire — 2 Kings 2:11)
• Jesus (Ascension — Acts 1:9)

Taoist examples:

• Immortals who "mount the dragon" and ascend to heaven

Or:

The Ipsissimus may remain in the body, appearing as an ordinary human, until the body dies naturally.

Then, there is no death — only the dropping of a mask that was never needed.

Silence

The highest teaching of the Ipsissimus is silence.

They may speak (or not).

They may act (or not).

But their truest teaching is the silence that precedes and follows all words.

Ramana Maharshi taught primarily through silence. Visitors would sit with him, and awakening would occur without a word.

The Buddha held up a flower. Mahakashyapa smiled. The teaching was transmitted.

This is the transmission of the Ipsissimus:

Wordless.

Effortless.

Complete.

Recommended Reading

Silence.

There is nothing to read.

Or: everything is scripture.

The Ipsissimus reads the Book of Life, which is written in every moment, every breath, every blade of grass.

Conclusion

The Ipsissimus is the end of seeking.

There is no one left to seek.

There is nothing left to find.

There is only This.

What is This?

Silence.