Thelema Lodge Calendar for October 1987 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for October 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

October 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

Lake Lagunitas Trek on the 10th meets at Gopher Hole in San Anselmo at 11AM. Potluck-Picnic on Mt. Tamalpais running all afternoon until exhaustion. There is parking at the Picnic grounds and a nominal entry fee per car at the gate. Bill Heidrick will chat on the history of Thelema Lodge and walk around in a circle. "Wear your Reeboks!" -- Lodge Mistress. More details, directions and possible carpool info at (415) 465-9389, (415) 655-4942. Bring food and drink.

Crowleymas on the 12th. All day Party at the Lodge. We think the entire "Columbus Day" weekend will be a continuous celebration, and it's "Thelema Lodge's 10th Anniversary" to boot! BYO Potluck Feast.

Magick Theatre Dramatic Reading, The Ship on the 15th at Thelema Lodge, 8PM. Readers and listeners welcome. Scripts will be available. Call Lodge for more info.

Grady's Lesser Feast, 18th, at Lodge, beginning 2:22 PM. Also Wade's birthday with large cake. Poetry reading from "The Grady Project." Bring Feastfood and Apple Juice. Mass 8PM.

Thelema Lodge meeting, 20th, 8PM. Your chance to get things on the Calendar.

Thelema Lodge Gnostic Mass every Sunday at 8PM. Mass Classes most Sundays.

The Qabalah series with Bill Heidrick continues on the 14th and 21st. Qabalah appropriate to Tipheret will be offered on the 14th: "The Growing Tree"; centering, projecting and multiplying the Tree of life. On the 21st, Qabalah will be approached from the standpoint of Geborah: Tiqqun, analysis and an intro to dangerous workings. 8PM.

Lola does Gnostic Mass Classes at 4:18PM on October 4th, 18th, November 1st and after Doug's class on 10/11/87 e.v. No Mass class on Gradymas.

Candlemaking at 2:22 PM on the 24th (donations for materials requested).

Ebony does Eqyptiana on the 28th at 8PM. This month the focus is on the Pyramid Texts. Hear the Priest Magicians of Egypt.

Dave runs Enochian Classes on the 6th and 27th. Sigillum Dei AEMETH on the 6th at 7:30PM and the Four Seniors on the 27th at 8:30PM.

Doug teaches Voice Class at 3PM on the 11th. "How to prevent Raspy Vocal Cords for those who Invoke (or whatever) and sound Good too! Lola's Mass Class immediately following.

The Nu-Babalon Wiccans have Full and New Moon Rituals: Full Moon on the 6th, after Dave's Class, about 9:30PM. New Moon, 22nd about 8PM, when we will tie white cords for those who haven't one yet. Call the Lodge.

Erotology Study Group meets at 8PM on the 23rd. The Subject this time is the "Choronzon Club." Further deponent sayeth not.

Thelema Lodge calling Musicians ... Do you play it? Bring it to our events! Amplification is subject to Judgment call by Lodge Mistress, but we'd like to see a Fraternal Jam.

from the Grady Project:

In honor of Hymenaeus Alpha's Lesser Feast on the 18th, we will read eleven selections from The Grady Project, mostly unpublished poetry! Our project is transcribing Fr. 777's poetry from Archives West (thanks Bill!) for publication. We'll have some of Grady's less familiar works for your enjoyment. Contact the Lodge if you'd like to read one. Here's a sample:

Now I know.

I read the lines of Prophecy

And spoke the runic writ,

The red Goetia gave to me

The number of the Pit;

So on the brazen door I knocked

Before I could discern,

"I go to Put my horns in hock,

Please wait 'till I return."

Now me, I am a Patient lad,

Nor do I mind to wait

And so I sit me on a Pad

Before the Postern gate,

But cramped asana causes thought

And soon I had reflected

A tiger skin's more cheaply bought

Than devil hide collected.

So thinking thus I took to wing

And lit upon a rafter

Which would have been just dandy but

He sent somebody after --------

Grady McMurtry

12-7-41 e.v.

Next Grady Project

More OTO Events

Ankh-af-na-Khonsu Lodge will have a combination Halloween Costume and Laylah's Birthday party on the 30th. Begins at 9:30PM. Call (415) 549-9102

The infamous Dii Alenii Camp Halloween Bash with be on the 31st, starting at 8PM. Call (415) 652-3848.

Gnostic Mass at Dii Alieni on the 9th, 8PM. Call (415) 652-3848.

Gnostic Mass for the 16th at 8PM, call (415) 759-6247. Nefretiti hosts.

Selene Camp meets some Fridays. Call (415) 338-2915.

The Harmonic Convergence
from Nuit Urania Oasis

In August the Aztec calendar expired, this gave people throughout the US an excuse to be "pagan". We, on the other hand, maintained our cool and casually strolled atop Mr. Diablo for the evening. Lola had secured an entire wing of the beautiful summit campground, and an O.T.O. banner was hung high and proudly. After a wonderful evening of conversation with the spirits, and ourselves, an early trek to the top for a few meditations was climaxed with Liber Resh (Hail RA!). Needless to say, our group's presence & organization made us the hottest "working" bunch up there. No flying saucers, no earthquakes, etc. It all passed quietly. The special moment, though, came when all hiked to the "Devil's Pulpit" (where the witchdoctor of the tribe that inhabited the mountain resided). A moment of divine silence was awoken by the Thelemic cords of Brother Clifton's voice as he read passages from a copy of Liber AL he'd brought. The scene was adamantly intense and very real. There was something in the air during this "Harmonic Convergence" after all.

Chandria and I checked out the witch community's "Merrymeet" festival, in the Santa Cruz mountains, for something to mention on September's activities. It was nice weather-wise, etc. The real surprise was a set of antique brass and enamel cobra candlesticks we were magically drawn to in town, to be used in the new Temple. We'll keep everyone informed about that.

Brother Michael.

From the Outbasket

Here's our question of the month:

Q. "What Crowley work is Liber MCLI?" -- from A.C. of NY

Liber MCLI is not a Crowley writing; but rather it is the study curriculum put together by OTO under the former Caliph, Hymenaeus Alpha. It was written from 1977 to 1979 as the Man of Earth Degrees opened up. Originally, this curriculum was advisory, but it became required for the latter part of the Caliphate of Hymenaeus Alpha after we noticed that some of the "big talkers" among us couldn't even do a Pentagram Banishment! Under the present Caliph, Hymenaeus Beta, MCLI is optional in most locations. A few places still require MCLI for passage through the first few degrees. It was intended to be minimum attainment good report for Minerval through IIIrd, considered the "Man of Earth" degrees at the time it was written. Later, IVth and Prince of Jerusalem were considered to be "Man of Earth" degrees as well. IVth Degree initiation symbolically brings the candidate through the mysteries of the Temple of Jerusalem, while the PI initiation uses a hyperbole of the shock of finding the Temple destroyed in the Holy City. IVth and PI concentrate on teaching the Man of Earth to survive loss of system and ideals. Minerval through IIIrd are devoted to bringing the candidate from conception to puberty and the beginning of adult life.

The number of the Liber, MCLI or 1151, was derived in traditional fashion. This was the "Man of Earth" curriculum. "Man of Earth" in Hebrew is "Adam Ha- Aretz", Aleph-Dalet-Mem Hay-Aleph-Resh-Tzaddi

. When these Hebrew letters are converted to number, there are four possibilities, depending on the use of final letters. The root number is obtained without finals:
1+4+40+5+1+200+90= 341.
This value is useful, but not good for the primary value of this Liber for three reasons. First, it was felt that numbers below 1000 should be reserved for general things; and this was to be an OTO limited work. Second, the gematria is too strong on 341. This is the numeration of the three Mother Letters: Aleph, Mem and Shin (

). They can be assembled to spell words: Shin-Aleph-Mem

contains the mystery of the conventional Tree of Life; and it is a Qabalistic spelling of "Shem", the archetypical divine name. Aleph-Mem-Shin

, as a word with the letters in that order, signifies "to pass away" and "night". Aleph-Shin-Mem

signifies "fallow", "guilt" and "trespass". Finally, Crowley had already used CCCXLI for Liber HHH. We next tried the number with Tzaddi taking final value (900), and that yielded 1151. The check of gematria was right: "Aish-Kanaazen", Aleph-Yod-Shin Kaph-Nun-Ayin-Nun(final)

, means "A Canaanite", which also can be taken to signify "Man of Earth", and is a term used for the Jewish people of Eastern Europe. Not only does that match the subject of the curriculum, but the Hasidic movement started among the Ashkenazi. Hasidism brought knowledge of Qabalah into Masonry -- see Jacob Katz, Jews and Freemasons in Europe, 1723-1939, Harvard University Press, 1970. Besides, "Etenan", Aleph-Taw-Nun-Nun(final)

, also totals 1151 and signifies "harlot's hire", "gift", "fruit" and figuratively, a gift to or from an idol. That's the number of the Man of Earth curriculum alright! Besides, if you try to pronounce the Roman numerals, the sound suggests "Mickey" as in "Mickey Mouse", American slang for something easy to learn.

The Minerval part of Liber MCLI came from Crowley's oral tradition and the construction of the Minerval Ritual. There were seven parts to compose a "Eucharist": 1. Study "Liber AL". 2. Keep a Magical Diary. 3. Do the ritual Liber Resh daily. 4. Lesser Pentagram Banishment. 5. Will at the main meal. 6. Study Magick in Theory and Practice. 7. Keep in touch. Of these seven components, #1 and #5 are part of the Minerval ritual directly. #2 was always a recommendation of Crowley's. #6 served as a beginning to the studies mentioned in the Minerval ritual. #3, #4 and #5 were the three rituals that Crowley said every Thelemite should do daily --- according to private instruction received by Hymenaeus Alpha when he studied with Crowley in the 1940s e.v. #7 was necessary to maintain membership. Grady McMurtry provided the ideas for this section. We prepared instructional materials and taught classes on this portion of the curriculum.

The Ist Degree curriculum was less traditional, and Bill Heidrick wrote it. The First requirement was simply to keep up the Minerval curriculum. The Second requirement offered the Ist Degree a choice of four rituals to learn: The Star Ruby -- Crowley's alternate to the Lesser Pentagram Ritual; The Mass of the Pheonix --- Crowley wrote that Magicians do it daily; Liber V vel Reguli -- Crowley's kundalini ritual; or Liber Samekh -- Crowley recommended this for Knowledge and Conversation of the HGA. All of these rituals are in Magick in Theory and Practice, and they provide a reasonable variety of ways to go in OTO. The Third requirement was study in either Qabalah, Divination, Yoga, Astral Working or something similar. Part Four enjoined doing some work that "will endure beyond your own physical lifetime" as a preparation for the middle degrees of OTO. Part Five was volunteer service. Part Six was to join a group of OTO members. Part Seven was to make a "point of view" study of the Magical Diary started in the Minerval curriculum. James Graeb and others reviewed and accepted the Ist Degree portion with no significant changes.

The IInd Degree curriculum in Liber MCLI was more of a joint effort, with Heidrick writing four of the requirements and Graeb adding suggestions on the remaining three. Part One was to continue the previous work. Part Two dealt with ritual: Learn Liber Reguli (it summarizes the full initiation range of OTO Chakra development); do group ritual; write original ritual; record ritual workings in the Magical Diary. Part Three was a list of essential columns to learn in Crowley's Liber 777. These columns comprise an absolute minimum without which understanding of Crowley's system is impossible: I-the Key scale to the Tree of Life. II-the names of the parts of the Tree of Life and Hebrew Alphabet in Hebrew spelling. III-English translation of II. VII- Astrological correspondences. XIV-Tarot correspondences. XV & XVI-principal color correspondences. LIV & LV-correspondences to the pentagram (some copies had a typo here that directed people up the Rivers of Paradise). CLXXIX-The Tarot Trump number system. Part Four was a requirement to learn the signs, words, grips and to perform the obligations of the OTO degrees. Part Five was a general study of Alchemy, Astrology, Qabalah, Tarot, Yoga and an elective. One of these was to be a major field of study. Part Six was a requirement to take supportive or sustaining responsibilities toward OTO. Part Seven was a direct reference to the Chakra correspondence of IInd Degree initiation.

The Third degree curriculum was to be made up by the initiate. It was to have seven parts, beginning with study of all that had gone before and ending with meditation on the Chakras.

Copies of Liber MCLI should be available from all OTO initiators, but since it was made optional that seems to have lapsed. You can get one by sending an SAE to: Ordo Templi Orientis; P.O.Box 430; Fairfax, CA 94978 USA. Don't forget to include a note stating that you wish Liber MCLI. You will get back in the mail one sheet of paper, printed on both sides. There is nothing much there that isn't here, and some of the information about phone numbers and requirements is out of date. It really needs to be revised to reflect the current addresses and rules.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

Previous Outbasket Next Outbasket

Events Calendar for October 1987 e.v.

10/4/87	Gnostic Mass 8PM	Thelema Ldg
10/6/87	Enochiana with Dave 8PM	Thelema Ldg
	Full Moon Ritual after
10/9/87	Gnostic Mass 8PM	Dii Alieni Cmp
10/10/87	10th Aniversary picnic in Marin	Thelema Ldg
	11AM departure at San Anselmo
10/11/87	Voice Class 3pm	Thelema ldg
10/11/87	Gnostic Mass at 8PM	Thelema ldg
10/11/87	10th Aniversary continues	Thelema ldg
10/12/87	10th Aniversary continues all day	Thelema Ldg
	with Crowleymas & Lodge Charter
	commemoration all day
10/14/87	Qabalah Class with Bill 8PM	Thelema Ldg
	"Tiphereth"
10/15/87	Dramatic reading The Ship Crowley	Magick Theatre
	play 8PM (Nietzsche Birthday)
10/17/87	Initiations to Ist and IIIrd Deg.	Thelema Ldg
10/18/87	Gradymas party w. poetry and	Thelema Ldg
	potluck 2:22PM
10/18/87	Gnostic Mass 8PM	Thelema Ldg
10/20/87	Thelema Lodge meeting 8PM	Thelema Ldg
10/21/87	Qabalah Class with Bill 8PM	Thelema Ldg
	"Geburah"
10/22/87	New Moon ritual
10/23/87	Erotology S.G. "Chronzon CLB" 7PM	Thelema Ldg
10/24/87	Class with Lola "Candlemaking"	Thelema Ldg
	(donation for materials) 2:22PM
10/25/87	Gnostic Mass 8PM	Thelema Ldg
10/27/87	Class with Dave Enochiana 8:30PM	Thelema Ldg
10/28/87	Class w. Ebony Egyptiana 8PM	Thelema Ldg
	"Pyramid Texts"
10/30/87	Costume Party & Laylah's Birthday 8PM	Ankh F N K. Ldg.
11/31/87	Halloween Party 8PM	Dii Aleini Cmp

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)

	I read the lines of Prophecy
	And spoke the runic writ,
	The red Goetia gave to me
	The number of the Pit;
	So on the brazen door I knocked
	Before I could discern,
	"I go to Put my horns in hock,
	Please wait 'till I return."
	Now me, I am a Patient lad,
	Nor do I mind to wait
	And so I sit me on a Pad
	Before the Postern gate,
	But cramped asana causes thought
	And soon I had reflected
	A tiger skin's more cheaply bought
	Than devil hide collected.
	So thinking thus I took to wing
	And lit upon a rafter
	Which would have been just dandy but
	He sent somebody after --------
	Grady McMurtry
	12-7-41 e.v.