Thelema Lodge Calendar for September 1987 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for September 1987 e.v.

The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its officers.

Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA

September 1987 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

This Month at Thelema Lodge

The Qabalah series with Bill Heidrick continues on the 9th and 16th this month. Qabalah appropriate to Hod will be offered on the 9th: technical methods, rational description of the Tree of Life, clear definitions. On the 16th, Qabalah will be approached from the standpoint of Netzach: emotional states, the traditional qlipot (pitfalls or "shells") and perfection of the sensoria.

A special meeting and practice for those who wish to participate in doing initiations will be held on the 7th. Minerval through IInd Degree rituals.Call ahead; limited to those who have already taken these initiations.

The Magick Theatre Encampment will host a dramatic reading of Crowley's play: The Scorpion on the 17th.

The Astronomical Association will make a trip to better viewing conditions for a telescopic campout on Mt. Diablo. Call for more information, cost and departure time (leaves from the Lodge on Friday evening of the 18th).

A Feast and celebration for the Autumnal Equinox will be held at Thelema Lodge beginning at 7:00 PM on the 23rd. Bring offerings of food and drink. A rare Crowley ritual will be performed at 9:30 PM.

Brother David will teach an introductory class in Enochian Magick on the 29th, covering basic aspects of its use and execution. An overview of the history of Enochian Magick will also be presented.

Don't miss our other fine events and classes: Gnostic Masses, Egyptiana, Swordsmanship, Meditation and much more. (Teachers and presenters please note: If you send copy to the Thelema Lodge Calendar in time for publication, you don't get jammed down here with "other"! --- editor)

Grand Lodge needs Donations
for Legal Defense.

They're back. Readers of The Thelema Lodge Calendar will be familiar with some published challenges to the good name of OTO in recent reviews in these pages. Grand Lodge has launched a drive for Legal Fund donations to help clear the name of the Order. Two Lodges have raised over $2,400 already from $50 and $100 donations. Advance payment of dues is also solicited. Attorney's time is expensive, but the issue is very serious. OTO is being used to provide a focus for anti-pagan and anti-thelemic attacks in the media. If we don't go on record now in the legal arena, we will be buried in so much egregious falsehood that people will be burning our houses!

The latest sources of misinformation seem to be feeding off each other, with absolute indifference to the facts. It is merely annoying to read descriptions of OTO philosophy that are written without knowledge of even the word "Thelema", and it is laughable to hear that someone is lecturing police agencies that "Aleister Crowley is a well known fugitive from justice" forty years after his death. What isn't so funny is mention in medical licensing seminars and reckless stories linking OTO with criminal violence in times and places where no OTO members ever were. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, and the "Big Lie" is one of its most deadly foul blows. There are some very big lies being told about OTO these days, and they will be believed if we don't act now! If this works on us, it can work on every other nonChristian group. We have a court action in the planning stages which will be long, hard and painful. If we don't do it, OTO will become an endangered species with no Conservation Society to bring us back from near extinction.

Philip of France is on the march, and the shade of Jacques du Bourg-Molay rises like Hamlet's ghost. Just as Templar Guilt was created by the glitter of Templar gold in a king's eye, freedom has brought a starvling's hunger for revenge in the eyes of the lords of the last Aeon. The Templars had too little guilt, so "guilt" was generously provided 675 years ago. We have done no evil, so those who have an excess offer it on our heads. That final battle for freedom signaled in Minerval days is upon us. The battlefield is the civil courts. The armor is truth, and that we have. The weapon is a knowledge of the law of the land, and for that we must pay. If we delay, a battle will be lost; and future battles will drain the years away. Hamlet complained and pitied himself until an end was made to dreams. If we do nothing but laugh and cry we deserve to be downtrodden. Today the need is for money to pay entrance to the courts of equal justice. Tomorrow it might be a change of name and a membership in a fundamentalist church. Please send your tax-deductible donations to:

Ordo Templi Orientis
JAF Box 7666
New York, NY 10116

If OTO members would like to pay advance dues instead, that's fine. Otherwise, please ask that your donations go to the "OTO Legal Fund". Any amount is welcome, no matter how little. $50 and $100 donations are needed from those who can afford them. The money donated to the Legal Fund will only be used for legal defense against libel, slander and overt actions. We don't intend to bother people who don't like us or have negative opinions. We challenge deadly falsehood.

From the Outbasket

Service or Slavery?

Here's our correspondence question of the month:

Q. "Sometimes I wonder if I want to be a slave.

What does this mean?" -- from IL.

(I bit my lip, and answered with this.)

Slavery and Service are two different things. A free person offers Service. A slave offers nothing, but simply obeys without choice. Service is noble; slavery is usually considered ignoble. If you choose to cooperate with, serve under or aid someone, you are offering Service. If someone makes you do those things, you are in a state of at least limited slavery. In fact, the deeds and setting of a well-treated slave may actually appear to be more free than the deeds and setting of a person offering repetitive or difficult service. The whole question is one of volition. The Slave obeys the purpose of another, without choice. The giver of Service has knowledge, trust and self motivation. Service is offered in accord with inner purpose. Altruism and duty are the most common marks of Service. Altruism means that good works are their own reward ("Lashtal" is the Hebrew word for this attitude in religious actions); and a Thelemite might say that sharing work is the purest form of "enlightened self interest". Duty is a direct expression of the inner sense of Thelemic Will in harmony with previous commitments. Management and leadership are relatively rare forms of service. Thus it is possible to mistake free service for involuntarily action. The key concept is volition. Service gives honor. Slavery is without personal honor. Brain-washing and habit can convert service into slavery, but vacations and retreats or "magical retirements" help restore perspective and freedom. Service may appear involuntary when the sense of duty is strong, but that is often simply a sign of commitment. Service is marked by happiness at accomplishment. Slavery offers happiness at the end of a day's labor, whether completed or not. Slavery also exhibits happiness at easy labor, whether the goal is known or not. Service can be stressful when no goal is clearly understood. Service is much more demanding than Slavery. Service is accompanied by respect for the self and for others. Slavery is mostly concerned with payment and perquisites, while Service takes a reasonable interest in necessities and providence for the future.

In Thelema, any "slave" may be free by simply declaring for freedom and living under it. Both conditions are necessary. A person who demands freedom, but depends too much on the living wages of others, may loose freedom. Some families provide a positive situation for service and a common pool of assets. Some societies are too poor to enable many people to live as independent individuals -- in that case, work to aid the society.

A Thelemite will often feel a duty to help others attain freedom. A Thelemite should also strive to understand the real needs of those who are not free, and wish to stay in bondage.

A Slave wishes to enslave all free people, and to gain "protection" from the risks of responsibility.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

Previous Outbasket Next Outbasket

In the Continuum

What did Crowley think about the O.T.O.? What should be the emphasis in its teachings and future direction? What did he think about sex and love? These matters are expounded in his letters to Jane Wolfe during a very trying time for Agape Lodge of O.T.O. in Pasadena, California during 1943. Crowley's letters to Jane reveal a lot of his thinking and become historically important as they give us a glimpse of his life in his last years. "In the Continuum" has been featuring the letters of Crowley, which have never before been published, for some time now.

We are also publishing a long serial on "The Trumps of Thoth and Psychology". There are many other interesting features in this publication now finishing up its 14th year of continuous appearance on the Equinoxes. There are articles by Crowley which are difficult to find or which aid the student and aspirant to understand Crowley. There are articles on Astrology, Psychology, Qabalah, Tarot, poetry, the meanings of Rituals and much else.

Vol. IV, No. 2 is now published this Autumnal Equinox, 1987. There are 10 issues in Vol. I, 12 issues in Vol. II, 10 issues in Vol. III. Any of these can be purchased at any time as all are now available. Each issue is $4.00, payment with order. The cost of postage is included in the price. Please make checks payable to Phyllis Seckler and write to P.O. Box 415, Oroville, CA 95965

Events Calendar for September 1987 e.v.

9/4/87	Selene Camp meeting 7:30 PM	Selene Camp
	(Ritual Workshop)
9/6/87	Gnostic Mass at Sunset (8:00 PM)	Thelema Ldg
9/7/87	Initiations planning meeting 7 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/8/87	Class: Metafutures, Part II	Thelema Ldg
	7:00 PM. With Drax
9/9/87	Class #3: Qabalah Series	Thelema Ldg
	Hod (rational) 8 PM. With Bill.
9/10/87	Meditation with Lola 8:00 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/12/87	Ist Degree initiations	Thelema Ldg
	(Call for time and location)
9/13/87	Class on use of Dramatic Voice	Thelema Ldg
	in Magical ritual (Doug) 3:00 PM
	and
	Gnostic Mass at Sunset (8:00 PM)
9/15/87	Class on Swordsmanship 6:00 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/16/87	Class #4: Qabalah Series	Thelema Ldg
	Netzach (emotions) 8 PM. With Bill.
9/17/87	Dramatic Reading: Crowley's Play	Magick Theat
	"The Scorpion" 8:00 PM
9/18/87	Astronomical Association field trip	Thelema Ldg
	to Mt. Diablo (Call ahead for info)
9/18/87	Selene Camp meeting 7:30 PM	Selene Camp
	(Ritual Workshop)
9/18/87	Gnostic Mass at 8:00 PM	Dii Alieni
9/19/87	Minerval initiations 9:30 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/19/87	Selene Camp meeting 7:30 PM	Selene Camp
9/20/87	Gnostic Mass at Sunset (8:00 PM)	Thelema Ldg
9/22/87	Thelema Lodge meeting 7:30 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/23/87	Autumnal Equinox Party at 7:00 PM	Thelema Ldg
	Ritual begins at 9:30 PM
9/24/87	Swordsmanship with Drax. 6:00 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/26/87	IIIrd Degree initiations	Thelema Ldg
	(Call for time and location)
9/27/87	Gnostic Mass at Sunset (8:00 PM)	Thelema Ldg
9/29/87	Introduction to Enochian Magick 9 PM	Thelema Ldg
9/30/87	Egyptiana with Ebony 8:00 PM	Thelema Ldg

The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its officers.

Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O. Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA

Phone: (510) 652-3171 (for events info and contact to Lodge)

Production and Circulation:
OTO-TLC
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94978 USA

Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and circulation only)