The entrance to the tunnel of Characith is the Graal, the yoni, the
soft pink flesh of the Mother who herein distills her hell-broth of ecstasy and magickal
immortality. Shadowed within is a symbol of the God Set, evidence of the identity of the
phallus with kteis, of corpora cavernosa/clitoris with prostatic glands/prostate (cf.
"Eve's Secrets: A New Theory of Female Sexuality"). The Ophidian Serpent curls
upon the sigil, extending forked tongue to a shimmering drop of the elixir of immortality
which has been distilled into the Cup.
Vampires are created of those who linger here to drink, for they too easily become
addicted to the pleasures of the pursuance of their dark desires. Draining life to sustain
their energy and life beyond its ordinary span, they acquire the power of bewitchment,
casting strange enchantments to lure fresh victims to their astral touch. The vampire's
fangs have thus become dread dentata embedded in the luscious touch of pink.
The two red suns represent "the two suns of the upper and lower horizon,@ even as they appear to be the
puncture wounds inflicted by the vampire's abominable nightly habits. Symbolic of the
reddened moon, Moon of Blood, Black Sun of Tiphareth drinking the blood of the Goddess,
they too are linked with the Magick of the XIo. Subliminal reminders, they
engender nostalgia for a long lost planet far beyond our world where there are two moons.
In the south swims the turtle upon whose back rests the manifest Universe, flanked by
crab and whale, blissful denizens of the watery realm which is the foundation of all
astro-magickal workings. The wheeling bat, a creature vilely reputed to live on human
blood evokes repugnance, yet dark desire and delight, while leprous nocturnal hands hold
back the veil, proffer the cup, inviting us to drink.
MEDITATION:
The need to work with the energies of Characith is signaled by the experience of
feelings of abhorrence at the basic formula of this planet— that life must feed upon
life. This may manifest as intolerance, and refusal to take responsibility for our base
animal instincts and their inevitable outcomes, as well as unrepressed horror at alien
life forms and their "noxious" feeding habits, and displeasure at sea-tastes and
the smells of vital sexual fluids, with implied disregard for the feminine element in
nature, and in oneself.
Powers associated with working this tunnel are the abilities to take what one wants, to
satisfy one's needs, to ensure survival at any and all costs. Here may be found boundless
energy, creativity, and eternal youth. Working here bestows personal magnetism; there is a
fatal sexual attraction which may be turned on as one will choose. Here is the enviable
ability to live in the moment, to accept all manifestations of existence as bliss, and
lose oneself in mindful ecstasy.
The dangers are entrapment on the astral, where all one's desires are instantly met in
a world of one's own creation. There may be physical exhaustion from too avid pursuit of
its pleasures, and death at the tongues of vampires more powerful than oneself. Yet one
may fall prey to wantonly taking other life/ energy/ resources for one's own satisfaction,
refusing to "give up the ghost," to bow to the inevitable, and make way for fresh forms of life.
