I will expand upon this more when I have time, but for now this a stub.
The name of this ‘entity’ comes from a catholic prayer which is often recited in the morning with the words “O Holy Guardian Angel, whom God has appointed to be my guardian. Watch over and guide me during this day, Amen” But what the entity is, is far from catholic belief.
The term is used a little bit differently in modern ceremonial magic. Thanks to the popularity of a ritual known as the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage by Abraham von Worms a new practice arose in modern magical practice. This practice was originally to follow the grimoire translated by Samuel Mathers, a 6 month long ritual, which would be performed in an attempt to make contact with one own HGA. The grimoire is Jewish and works from the philosophical belief that everyone had an HGA. The ritual involves daily prayers, sexual abstinence and regularly devotion and studying of the Jewish Law. Interesting enough the ritual does not ask people to convert, but suggests it is best doing in the religion in which you were raised.
A later translation by George Dehn showed this process to be closer to 18 months and went into much more depth.
What is the HGA?
Frankly my answer to this is, I don’t know for sure. Many have attempted rituals to contact their own HGA and they all seem to come back with different definitions for what they contacted. Some say it’s your inner Buddha-nature, your own personal god or just you fully united to your higher-self. Some even just claim it is one of many spirit guides.
In Thelema, it is believed that it is a required experience one must have before attempting to cross the Abyss (the separation between man and supreme deity). This is one of the few things that makes sense to me.
My experience of my own Angel is that it is a creature (whether separate to me or part of me) that is capable of going between our linear existence and transcendent reality. Therefore if we wish to experience some gnosis of that which transcends beyond dual-reality (own existence) then it is a suitable guide, but without we would be lost to the confusion of that reality.
Crowley’s HGA
Crowley believes Aiwass was his HGA. Aiwass appeared to Crowley in April 1904 and dictated the book of Law (Liber Al vel Legis sub figura 220). For more information read the Book of the Law and it’s commentaries.
Is the HGA Subjective or Objective?
Crowley changed his mind about this a number of times and so I believe it is worth taking Crowley’s view from his last comment. As someone who regularly practiced magic for many years, he took a long time in referring and changing people’s views. Finally in one of his last publications, Magick Without Tears he writes as follows:
“He [the HGA] is not, let me say with emphasis, a mere abstraction of yourself; and that is why I have insisted rather heavily that the term ‘Higher Self’ implies a damnable heresy and a dangerous delusion. … Remember they [HGAs] are objective not subjective or I should not waste good magic on them. Let me say in particular, in regards to gods, that the god of Jupiter whom you spoke whom you invoke is not necessarily the same who I invoke. It is clear in any case that the revelation of himself to you is modified in many ways by your own particular sensitiveness; just as in ordinary life.”
Aleister Crowley – Magick Without Tears (The Holy Guardian Angel: An Objective Individual)
This tells us that by the end of his life, with the most practice under his belt Aleister Crowley took his HGA to be an objective and separate entity from himself.