So I have taken it upon myself to try to get into the habit of doing Resh (at least thats what it gets called by Thelemites). Resh is basically four prayers done a day to different Egyptian gods in adoration of the sun. One is supposed to be at dawn, one at noon, one in the evening, one at midnight.

It comes from Liber Resh vel Helios by Aleister Crowley.

Resh is a hebrew letter.



In the Qabalah Resh corresponds to the path between Hod and Yesod. These concepts are extremely deep.

I should interject at this point that my Thelemite friends would (and probably do) write a treatise on Resh. They would write in depth meditations that would take one beyond the metaverse on all aspects of the path of Resh and Hod and Yesod. About the impact it had on the surgically precise metamorphosis of the initiate in the Abbey of Thelema. If more than one Thelemite sat in a room they would argue about which grade sign to use or elemental symbol for those not fortunate enough to be in the Abbey of Thelema.

My point in writing this is to share my experience of actually trying to practice this stuff. I reserve the right to be a novice.

By novice I don’t mean retarded. I just mean that I am undergoing an organic process of refining my Will, to accomplish the Great Work (which I believe to be a highly individual, personal, and intimate process).

I was interested in Resh because I have always admired the Islamic habit of the 5 daily prayers.

I really am. I have always had a deep psychological connection with this image, and the practice which I engaged during a 4 month or so experiment with contemporary Islam at the Islamic center in my home town.

When I was in my early 20s I experimented with Islam, mostly due to a romanticizing of the religion on the Malcom X book and film. I am also ardently pro-palestine and was engaged in some pro-palestinian political activism and was hanging out regularly with friends from Palestine, Kurdistan, Kuwait, and other middle eastern countries.

Unfortunately, outside of eccentric circles, my conclusions and interpretations of Islamic scripture would meet with more rejection among mainstream American muslims than their Christian counterparts.

Though I have since discovered a wonderful scene of Islamic Based occultists called the Moorish Orthodox Church. At some point I will have to write them their own article. Just think Assasins, Sufis, and middle eastern mysticism and you probably have the vibe right.

Resh is an act of habit. It is a training of the Will. For me it is about becoming intimately aware of the flow of time.

I learned about Resh from David Shoemaker :

But mostly I want to be the mage who finds his mind in lock step with the Sun. Who prays like a muslim to strange egyptian gods.

For an atheist I am a total idolater.

In the dawn I greet Ra. I do it in the sign of Osiris Slain

Ra is the ultimate alpha male bad ass god. One can feel quite fired up on this one.

Ra’s energy for me is primarily sexual. I have found that my practice of morning Resh, at least for me and what my imagination does when I try to have an astral experience (usually on my morning run) after doing Dawn Resh. I like to visualize, it gives me energy, it connects me to the music. I think of Ra, and then all kinds of Sexual fantasies and emotions come into play. I am 100% sex positive so I go with it. And it does seem to do a lot to get me going.

I also may be primed a little in this by my participation in the Gnostic Mass. Since Egyptology is transformed into a performance art act regarding the mystical nature of sex. I always think the Priest looks like a Pharoah, and the wonderful Priestesses at Bubastis Oasis have permanently made me a worshipper of Nuit.

Next is Ahathoor. She is a cow headed goddess, associated with Venus and Aphrodite.

Ahathoor, or as I prefer to call her: Hathor has become one of my favorite Resh deities. She councils me. She guides me in acts of gentle grazing (I am trying to diet). She makes me aware of my ability to connect with others. She is the Mother of Mothers but she is also a sex goddess. She also becomes Sekhmet in her wrath and kills enemies of wisdom.

Next is Tum. Another incarnation of Ra.

Tum is a Solar Deity of the City of Heliopolis. This city was known as a center of wisdom and advancement. Tum is Ra at work in this form. So I think that the proper attitude for this God Form, and this quadrant of Resh is to do your fucking work. I work a 9-5. But all the things that I do that truly matter happen after work. This God is who I need to connect with to do this. Or rather, to manifest. To hail him and his phase of the Solar Song, which transmits the energy all life on earth springs from. Don’t forget your biology, photosynthesis really makes this true.

Finally is Kephra.

He is my favorite with the scarab mask. I adore Kephra. I found him before Resh. Already worshipped him in my strange Chaos Magick breaks from my atheism. I am reading the Song of Fire and Ice the fantasy novels from which was adapted the HBO show The Game of Thrones, all books written by George R. R. Martin. In these books there is a religion with 7 gods. All aspects of one. A very catholic religion, per Martin himself . One of the Seven is the Stranger who is faceless. He reminds me of Kephra. The Stranger is the God of Death.

I believe in Death. I believe Death is coming, much like the Starks in the Game of Thrones say Winter is Coming.

We must have a good Death Story. A good Death Song. We must live a life of Will so we can say we have had our fill for when we step out into what is most likely oblivion for our fragile consciousness.

I believe Death is life affirming.

I ponder this most deeply when I reach towards my HGA. I have a house adorned in honor of Kali, and Santa Muerte. I also worship Nuit, the Whore of Babylon, Sekhmet, and I believe in a dark Venus which all men and women yearn to penetrate in her pandrogynous omnipotence. She is eventually queen of us all.

Midnight and the darkness it brings should return us to the sexual energy, at least thats my spin. I encourage you as the friend of man Aleister Crowley put it: ” Do What Thou Wilt Shall be the Whole of the Law. Love is the Law. Love under Will.”

For me, these interpretations and meditations on Resh allow me to get the most bang for my buck in the Solar Song within my cells.