THE SECOND VEIL: THE ABYSS

DA'ATH — KNOWLEDGE

The Abyss (Da'ath)

Between Second and Third Orders

Between Chesed (4) and Binah (3)

Between Human and Divine

What is the Abyss?

The Abyss is the gulf between the human and the divine, between the personal and the universal, between the created and the uncreated.

Da'ath (דעת) means "Knowledge" — but this is not intellectual knowledge. This is the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the knowledge that shatters innocence, the knowledge that destroys the knower.

Da'ath is sometimes called the "non-sephirah" or the "invisible sephirah" — it is the void, the gap, the place where the Abyss yawns.

The Abyss is:

• The annihilation of the personal self
• The death of the ego (total, not symbolic)
• The gulf that must be crossed to attain Mastery
• The place of Choronzon, the demon of dispersion
• The ultimate ordeal
• The Second Great Veil

The Nature of the Crossing

There is no grade assigned to the Abyss.

It is not a stage you work through systematically. It is an ordeal, a crisis, a death.

Some adepts experience it as:

• A sudden, catastrophic collapse (like the Tower, but total)
• A gradual dissolution over months or years
• A dark night that seems endless
• A terrifying confrontation with nothingness
• The feeling of ceasing to exist

It can take years or moments. There is no way to predict or control it.

Choronzon: The Demon of Dispersion

In the Abyss dwells Choronzon (also spelled Chronzon) — the demon who guards the threshold.

Choronzon represents:

• Dispersion, scattering, dissolution
• The ego's final defense (total confusion, madness)
• The liar, the deceiver, the one who offers false shortcuts
• The sum of all delusion

Encounter with Choronzon:

When you attempt to cross the Abyss, Choronzon confronts you. The demon will:

• Offer you godhood without death (a lie)
• Try to convince you that you are already enlightened (a lie)
• Scatter your attention, disperse your will
• Drive you to madness or despair
• Show you the meaninglessness of all your attainments

How to pass Choronzon:

You cannot fight Choronzon. You cannot argue or negotiate.

You can only surrender.

You must let go of:

• All attainments (you are not an Adept, you are nothing)
• All identity (you are not a self, you are nothing)
• All hope (there is no salvation, there is nothing)
• All knowledge (everything you know is false)
• Everything

When you have let go of everything, including the one who is letting go, you cross.

The Experience of Crossing

Those who have crossed describe it variously:

• "I ceased to exist. There was no 'I' anymore."
• "Everything I thought I was dissolved. I was annihilated."
• "There was only the void, infinite darkness, nothingness."
• "I died. Not symbolically. I actually died."
• "I lost my mind. I went insane. And then there was nothing, and then... something new."

Common elements:

1. Total ego death — not just insight into egolessness, but actual cessation of self-sense
2. Ontological crisis — questioning whether you exist at all
3. Loss of all reference points — nothing to hold onto, no ground
4. Confrontation with nothingness/void — the abyss is not symbolic; it is experienced
5. Death — you die. The person you were does not survive.

The Abyss in ACIM Terms

From the perspective of A Course in Miracles:

The Abyss is the final relinquishment of the ego.

• "I am not a body. I am not a person. I am not anything."
• Total forgiveness — there is no world, there is no self to be hurt, there is nothing to forgive
• The last barrier to God is removed
• The separation (which never truly existed) is fully undone

The Abyss is the place where you finally choose God completely, which means letting go of the separate self completely.

The Abyss in Alchemical Terms

The Abyss is the final Nigredo (blackening, putrefaction, death) before the final Rubedo (reddening, resurrection, completion).

• Solve et Coagula (dissolve and coagulate) — the Abyss is the final dissolution
• After complete dissolution, coagulation can occur (the Stone is born)
• The alchemist must be willing to throw himself into the furnace

What Happens After Crossing?

If you survive the crossing (not all do — some go mad, some are destroyed), you are reborn on the other side.

You emerge as a Magister Templi (Master of the Temple).

What has changed:

• You are no longer the person who entered
• There is no "you" in the old sense
• The personal self is gone; only the Universal Self remains
• You are no longer human in the ordinary way
• You operate from a completely different ground
• The Angel (HGA) is no longer separate — you and the Angel are one
• Or more accurately: there is no "you" separate from God

The Third Wedding (Red Wedding) occurs after crossing:

After the death in the Abyss, the Resurrection happens.

This is the Red Wedding — the sacred marriage of the King and Queen, Sol and Luna, the final union.

Can the Abyss Be Avoided?

No.

All who would attain Mastery (Magister Templi and beyond) must cross the Abyss.

There is no other way.

You can delay it. You can resist it. You can spend years at the edge, unwilling to jump.

But eventually, if you are sincere in the Work, you must cross.

Preparation for Crossing

How does one prepare for total annihilation?

You can't, really. But you can:

1. Cultivate absolute surrender (daily practice of letting go)
2. Trust (even when there is no reason to trust, trust)
3. Study the deaths of others (Christ's crucifixion, the Buddha's great renunciation, mystics' accounts)
4. Practice dying (meditation on death, symbolic deaths in ritual)
5. Let go of attainments (even spiritual attainments become attachments)
6. Invoke grace (you cannot cross alone; grace must carry you)

But ultimately:

When the time comes, you simply let go.

You step into the Abyss.

You fall.

You die.

And if grace allows, something new is born.

The Black Brothers (Those Who Refuse to Cross)

Some adepts reach the edge of the Abyss and refuse to cross.

They cannot bear to let go of attainment, of selfhood, of power.

These are called the Black Brothers (or Black Sisters) in occult terminology.

What happens to them:

• They retain their powers but are cut off from higher consciousness
• They become "Lords of the Qliphoth" (masters of shadow)
• They build empires of illusion
• They may appear as great teachers, gurus, magicians — but they are hollow
• Eventually they are destroyed (the ego cannot survive forever)

How to avoid this fate:

Humility. Total, absolute humility.

Recognize that you are nothing. All attainments are dust. Only God is real.

Then cross.

Signs You Are Approaching the Abyss

• Everything you've built (spiritually) begins to crumble
• Your magical powers may fail or become unreliable
• You feel profound emptiness, meaninglessness
• You question everything, including the path itself
• You may experience "dark night" symptoms intensifying
• You feel you are going insane
• You experience the presence of vast, impersonal forces
• You are terrified

If you experience these:

This may be the approach to the Abyss.

Surrender. Do not fight it. Let it happen.

The Red Wedding (After Crossing)

After the death comes the Resurrection.

The Third Wedding — the Red Wedding — is the Hieros Gamos, the Sacred Marriage.

What is wed:

• King and Queen (Red King and White Queen)
• Sol and Luna (Sun and Moon)
• Sulfur and Mercury (fixed and volatile)
• Christ and Sophia (Logos and Wisdom)
• Self and God (the illusion of separation ends)
• Or more accurately: it is realized there was never separation

When: Autumn Equinox (Rubedo) or Samhain (death/rebirth threshold)

Symbolism:

• Resurrection of Christ (third day)
• Phoenix rising from ashes
• The alchemical Stone complete and perfected
• The Red Stone (Philosopher's Stone)
• The Immortal Body (Solar Body, Glorified Body)

Ritual Elements:

• Descent into tomb (three days in darkness, if possible)
• Death (symbolic or in deep trance/retreat)
• Resurrection
• Donning the Red Robe (the robe of mastery, of blood, of fire)
• Anointing as King/Queen
• Recognition: "I and the Father are One"

Result:

• The Stone is complete
• Solar/Golden body attained
• Immortality (in the mystical sense)
• Mastery

You have become a Magister Templi (Master of the Temple).

Crossing the Abyss: Summary

Before: You are an Adeptus Exemptus, at the peak of human attainment, master of all the lower realms.

The Crossing: You let go of everything. You die. You cease to exist.

After: You are reborn as a Magister Templi. You are no longer the person who began the journey. The separate self is gone. Only God remains.

This is the Second Great Veil.

And beyond it lies the Third Order.