Our working of the Points Chaud system is unique among those who are also working in the Congregational Illuminist or Memphis-Misraim systems. Therefore, it has become necessary to give some form and structure to our methods. This document will lay out the basic system that has been agreed upon for the purpose of giving the points in our Lodge. As with everything in the Congregational Illuminist work, nothing is strictly set in stone, and as such innovation and experimentation are encouraged. This framework will simply be a way to organize the work of the Lodge at its most basic level so we can work from a place of unity.
Regular Meetings of the Lodge
The Lodge will meet for regular work on the second Sunday of every month at 4PM, unless there is some unavoidable conflict. In that case the meeting will be rescheduled and the Lodge members will be notified in a timely manner. At the time of this printing all Lodge meetings take place in Jersey City at the home of the Master of the Lodge.
Initiation
Once an aspirant has decided to begin their work with our Lodge they will be invited to a special meeting of the Lodge where they will be received and obligated. They will also be given the First Point at that time. The Second and Third Points are equally important, and special meetings will be scheduled for each of those as well. These first points are very important to the member and are very special events for our Lodge. All members should make every effort to attend. If there is more than one aspirant in a given time period then multiple new members can be initiated at the same meeting. The Lodge may choose, in the future, to set a regular schedule for receiving new members should the demand prove too great to operate on an ad hoc basis, but that can be decided if the need should arise. Won’t it be a happy day for our Lodge when that becomes a problem?
The Regular Work of the Lodge
The work of Sothis Lodge is to administer and explore the Points Chaud deliberately and slowly. If a member wishes to go at the normal pace set by the schedule of the Lodge it would take close to eight years to receive and scry the entire set of 97 points currently known. We view this as a reasonable and responsible pace. The Points Chaud are each powerful initiations in their own rights, and there is a real potential for danger if too many points are given all at once. This does not mean that a prepared and motivated brother or sister can’t move at a more accelerated pace if they are ready. If this is the case it will be discussed on a case-by-case basis between the member and the servant of the Lodge administering the points at the time. Although even if a member chooses to accelerate the pace, we feel it is important that this pace is still fairly slow. Unless there is a very compelling reason we don’t anticipate giving more than three, maybe four points at most at any given time. The absolute minimum time it could conceivably take to receive a full set of the known points in Sothis Lodge would be closer to three years of very dedicated and ambitious work. The reality will probably fall somewhere in between.
The first three points are treated as special and distinct and have been addressed in the “Initiation” section above. The administering and scrying of the other 94 known points will constitute the regular work of the Lodge. We divide the points into three series and seven classes, to reflect the historical Masonic degree system that is at the root of our current points work. These groupings are as follows:
First Series - Historical, Ethical, Symbolic, and Philosophic
Class I: 4-13
Class II: 14-26
Class III: 27-33
Second Series - Natural Sciences, History, Poetical Myths, and Humanitarianism
Class III (continued): 34-36
Class IV: 37-47
Class V: 48-61
Class VI: 62-69
Third Series - Historical, Higher Philosophy, and Myths
Class VI (continued): 70-75
Class VII: 76-97
A servant of the Lodge will administer one point to each member at each regular meeting of the Lodge, unless the member wants to receive one or more additional points. This typically needs to be discussed beforehand, although there is always the possibility of the desire for additional points arising “in the heat of the moment,” as it were, when the appointed point (no pun intended) of the day is being given. It is advised that each member be familiar with the names of all of the degrees in a given class before attending the Lodge meeting, just in case. The Lodge will give one point from each class in succession at each regular meeting of the Lodge. For example, at the January meeting we might give a point from Class I, in February one from Class II, one from Class III in March, and so on. The actual point chosen for each class will be chosen in advance by the Master of the Lodge, but a different point can be given depending on an individual member’s preference or need. For example, a member may already have the point being given and may request an alternate. It is the responsibility of the member to remind the servant of the Lodge giving the points when s/he is making the rounds which additional or alternative points they are receiving that evening. A member may also receive a point more than once. No ill effects have ever been observed from this.
Once a member receives a point from a given class, it opens a gateway to the other points of that class. The member will work that evening with the point given during the Lodge meeting. In addition, they may feel drawn to another point in that class. If so, that point may be requested at the next or any future Lodge meeting. Given the nature of the process that our Lodge has chosen to follow, it is not recommended that a member begins work on a point outside of the classes to which they have already been introduced in open Lodge. The reason for this is to maintain a slow pace of work, and to enable the member to work with a limited number of energies at a time. The feeling is that the energies in the points that share a class will be similar, and that is what we hope to discover though our experimentation, among other things.
Procedure for Scrying During Lodge Meetings
After the appropriate lwa have been called and you have received the point for the degree of the evening you should sit down on the floor, place your notebook and pen in front of you, and observe the energy activated by that point. After some time spent in observation, a servant of the Lodge will come to each member individually and perform bibliomancy on your behalf. The servant will tap you on the shoulder, at which point you will assume the prophetic asana, and the servant write down the verse for you in your notebook. The servant will whisper your verse into your ear and your scrying can begin.
No matter how many points you received in this open Lodge session your bibliomancy verse and your scrying will always be for the point in the particular class that is being worked that evening. If the class of the evening is Class IV some members may receive Point 37, others may be receiving Point 42, and so on, and in addition you may have requested to also receive a point from Class III. You should always scry the point from Class IV, in this example.
Using the bibliomancy verse as your starting point, your goal in scrying will be to obtain a word or pass for the degree associated with the point. Do not reject anything you experience while scrying, but keep your “ears” open for the word. After you feel you have finished scrying, quietly return to a sitting position and write down everything you can remember in your notebook. Scrying isn’t an exact science. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t obtain a word. You can always try some more on your own at home. There is no rush.
Once everyone has finished scrying, one of the servants of the Lodge will read a description of the degree in question aloud to the group. Each member will then have an opportunity to share the results of their scrying with the rest of the group. One of the servants of the Lodge should act as a secretary and take notes of the results. After everyone has shared the results of that evening’s scrying the members will have an opportunity to share the results of any work they have done on their own between meetings.
Scrying Outside the Lodge
If you received more than one point at a Lodge meeting, or if you didn’t obtain the word or pass while in Lodge, you should do some homework on your own. There is no set procedure for this, although working in a similar mode as the one we use in Lodge is a good place to start. However, as this is an experimental method, innovation and experimentation, properly documented, can be a great benefit to the work as a whole. Make sure you take good notes, and when you share the results at our next Lodge meeting be sure to talk about the method you used as well. Whatever method you should choose to use, your aim should always be to obtain the word or pass of the degree. If a particular method isn’t able to give you a word then don’t use it.
Attaining to a Degree
After the word or pass has been obtained for a degree you can begin to evaluate it. The basic procedure for doing that is as follows:
- Evaluate the word using some kind of gematria, in our case New Aeon English Qabalah is appropriate since we are working in English.
- Compare the resulting number with other words or phrases from the key text that have the same numeric value.
- Evaluate those words to see if they relate to the degree in question
For our Lodge work the key text is the King James Bible. There are several tools available to help you with this process. For step 1 we recommend this website: http://mysticalinternet.com/gemx/lookup.php?system=naeq and for step 2 you can see lists of words in the KJV Bible sorted by NAEQ numerical value here: http://anthony.silvia.cc/kjv/. Step 3 involves knowing a little something about the degree in question. This collection of documents can help you with that: http://www.scribd.com/my_document_collections/3318385
This process can get complicated, and it is possible to fall down the rabbit hole of gematria never to be seen again. Avoid this temptation. Once you have a sense of the degree from the historical Masonic sources it should be a simple matter to read the list of words for a given number and see if they match up with the essence of the degree. In some cases the list of words for a number can be quite long. One or two words out of a list of a hundred that sound like they might fit with the degree is probably a miss. It is possible that your word won’t work, it happens. Don’t be discouraged, simple scry again. It could be possible that your inner contacts could be trying to tell you something else altogether, and you should always keep that in mind if you obtain a strong word or phrase while scrying that turns out to be completely ill-fitting for the degree you’re trying for.
Also remember the imagery that you received while scrying. That can also be very informative when thinking about the degree. The images you receive might not seem relevant at first, but associations may become obvious once you see the list of words with the proper gematria value.
Once you think your scrying has produced the proper word or pass, and your evaluation has lead you to the essence of the degree then it’s time to have your work checked. Write up a brief report to share at the next Lodge meeting. You will also need to share this report with someone who has already attained to that degree. That person will let you know if you have, indeed, gotten to the essence of the degree. If they agree that you have, then the energies for the point associated with that degree will become fixed into your astral body, ready to be used in your spiritual and magical work to great effect! This is the aim of our Lodge and of Congregational Illuminism as a whole.
If you have questions or suggestions about the working method of our Lodge you should always feel free to communicate them to your brothers and sisters in the Lodge. There is no hierarchy in this system, and each opinion is valuable. The good of the Lodge is always the top priority.
