Night of Pan

Mystical state in Thelema

Within the system of Thelema, the Night of Pan, or N. O. X., is a mystical state that represents the stage of ego death in the process of spiritual attainment. The playful and lecherous Pan is the Greek god of nature, lust, and the masculine generative power. The Greek word Pan also translates as All, and so he is “a symbol of the Universal, a personification of Nature; both Pangenetor, "all begetter," and Panphage, "all devourer" (Sabazius, 1995). Therefore, Pan is both the giver and the taker of life, and his Night is that time of symbolic death where the adept experiences unification with the All through the ecstatic destruction of the ego self. In a more general sense, it is the state where one transcends all limitations and experiences oneness with the universe.

In the A∴A∴ system of attainment, after the adept has achieved the Knowledge and Conversation with their Holy Guardian Angel, they then must cross the great Abyss, where they meet Choronzon, who will tempt them to hold on to their subjective self and become trapped in their realm of illusion. To escape the Abyss, the adept gives up their deepest sense of earthly identity, in the symbolic gesture of pouring out their blood into the Cup of Babalon. The adept then becomes as a Babe in the Womb of Babalon—impregnated by Pan—and their lifeless Self becomes as a pile of dust, taking rest in the City of the Pyramids, which lies under the Night of Pan. This is why it is called Night—it represents the lightless Womb, and also the time before the dawning of the new Sun (or rather, the new Self). They then wait in this sublime state until they are ready to move on to the next stage, and become “born” again from the Great Mother of Babalon, begotten by Pan.

Crowley, Aleister. (1995). The Book of Lies. York Beach: S. Weiser.

Thelemapedia. (2004). Night of Pan. Retrieved April 16, 2006.