Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

    This is a summary of the monies handled by myself on behalf of the Lodge. Many thanx to all those individuals who donated so graciously during the month of May -- we could not have kept the house without your enormous assistance.
    On a more somber note, I feel it is my duty to inform the community of the current financial status of the Lodge. At this time both the electricity and the temple phone at 588 63rd St. (downstairs) are still disconnected. To reconnect P G & E will cost $619.38 ($509.38 past due and $110 deposit). Pac Bell says it will take $290.00 to reconnect the phone line. In addition to this, the Landlord claims $4,050.00 in back rent (for entire house).
    Needless to say, we still need MONEY!!!!! All activities are continuing to occur at the Lodge. Please remember to donate to each one you attend. We also will be hosting fun(d)raiser dinners and special events on a monthly basis. Any ideas of how to raise monies will be greatly appreciated!          June 23, 1990 e.v. Marlene Smith

[these poems were first printed in the second Grady Project pamphlet (December 1987 e.v.]

    The worship and the ritual of Ordo Templi Orientis are solar-phallic in nature. This fact can be quite easily seen in the Man of Earth series of degrees. The life of the sun, the life of man, and the life of the spirit, are all three described in one set of mythic enactments proceeding from Minerval through Perfect Initiate.
    First, the primeval solar dustcloud condenses, sperm and egg converge embryonically, the goal is glimpsed and the possibility of a path to it perceived. But just as many of the galaxy's dustclouds are below the critical mass for thermonuclear ignition, and many fertilized ova never attain infancy, and many mystics never find bliss, so also many Minervals never take I° (the percentage has probably increased since the removal of the nine month waiting period, but a more relevant statistic in judging that change in policy would be in whether the percentage of I°'s who remain active members has increased or declined. Perhaps our illustrious G.T.G. will compile the relevant stats someday!) --- I did. They declined. Short Minerval to I° tend to leave or stay at about the rate of normal Minerval attrition. This is from two to three times normal attrition for I° taken nine or more months after Minerval --- GTG.
    The next stage of initiation represents the ignition of the sun, its first dawning over the proto-Earth, and hence each new dawning ever since. It also represents the physical birth of a child, as well as the dedication of oneself to recommence travel upon the path which leads to one's goal.
    The II° may be likened to the sun in its full force and vigor during that 95%+ of its existence which is spent in the main sequence; it is the sun which we experience on the Equator at noon of the Equinox. In human life it symbolizes that era when offspring are produced, both actual children and mental, moral, and social constructs. For the magician it represents the complete theoretical basis of magick with, however, little in the way of practical instruction. As Crowley says in Magick Without Tears, "All subsequent [to P.I.] Degrees of the O.T.O. are accordingly elaborations of the II°, since in a single ceremony it is hardly possible to sketch, even in the briefest outline, the Teaching of Initiates with regard to Life. The Rituals V°-IX° are then instructions to the Candidate how he should conduct himself; and they confer upon him, gradually, the Magical Secrets which make him Master of Life."
    In Liber CXCIV Baphomet describes the three Triads as three distinct degrees of O.T.O., and he further illustrates this principle by showing that the Third Triad, the Man of Earth series, is itself three distinct degrees. This triune pattern is further reduplicated by the third Man of Earth "degree" which is made up of III°, IV°, and Prince of Jerusalem. Here the analogy to stellar, human, and spiritual life becomes more complicated. Stars of different masses and compositions may have diverse ways of ending their existences. In general, once the vast hydrogen fusion fuel is nearing its depletion the fusion of the resulting helium into yet heavier elements begins. A star's balance of forces changes and it begins to expand rapidly. In systems with habitable planets the oceans boil, atmospheres are stripped, and all life is extinguished. In the case of smaller stars, like our sun, the expansion is followed by contraction to white dwarf status. Seen from the frozen surface of dead Earth, the Sun will just be a bright star that eventually fades to a burnt-out cinder. Here the black mass of the Solar system represents the III°, which finds its eventual resurrection when the dust and gases lost during the contraction join the cosmic swirl to condense into a new generation of suns.
    Some of the more massive stars than our sun will experience the phase of contraction so violently that they implode and the resulting explosion is a supernova which leaves behind a nebula of glowing gases with a neutron star of incredibly dense matter somewhere in the middle. Here the magnificent explosion represents the exaltation of the IV°, which has resurrected itself by its massive ejection of dust and gas, and which leaves behind a tiny X-ray beacon that perhaps will burn until its eventual annihilation in the galactic black hole.
    Those stars which are yet even more massive will experience the ultimate fate. First they will contract, shedding some spermlike gas and dust to be resurrected in new stars. But when these massive stars reach the stage of implosion the forces of gravity are too great to be overcome, and the unshed matter continues to contract, past the point of the neutron star left by a IV° supernova, into the perfect annihilation of a black hole. Of course the final outcome for every star in the galaxy may be annihilation in the galaxy's eventual collapse, so that ultimately there may be no difference between III°-, IV°-, and Prince of Jerusalem-type stars.
    In human life this trinity of degrees describes the duality of mortality and immortality as a unity, which is actually nullity. The bodies of III° human beings die and decay, but yet they live on in generations of new people or, at least, worms. The IV° individuals find immortality by heroic achievement. They impress the shapes of their wills upon their circumstances, thus shaping the future itself. Newton needs no biological descendants to be called a father of the world we live in. This would seem to support the view that the indefeasible right to be initiated extends only up to III° itself. Certainly not all of humanity is engaged in heroic achievement. The P.I.'s immortality lies beyond even the exalted glory of Tiphereth, for it lives in the Abyss which annihilates all duality. Here the life of man and the life of the spirit completely coincide. As a stage of spiritual development, the III° represented magical mastery of the astral environment, while the IV° created by this mastery an indestructible body of light. The Prince of Jerusalem uses this body for samadhi until he achieves complete identification with nonexistence, from which time he wears the appearance of a Master of the Temple. These make up the Secret Chiefs, the geniuses who are the one genius that shapes all human history, bursting forth with Maguses whenever simple silence will not suffice.
    We are all indeed immortal, but the vast majority of us only achieve the III°- type of immortality. Does that mean that IV° and P.I. initiations are wasted on most of us? that they are intended to produce "instant" Adepts and Mages? It certainly does not. This unit of three degrees is yet one more recapitulation of a formula which is continued with subtle variety throughout the entire Order. To learn this formula that leads across the Abyss may require lifetimes of repetition, much less be learned from one small series of initiations. The Three Triads themselves declare the manly Iacchus, lovely Asi, and silent Orus. All of the following sequences, and more, display the formula on a degree level: 0°/I°/II°; III°/IV°/P.I.; 0-I°/II°/III-IV°-P.I.; V°/K.R.E./VI°; G.I.C./P.R.S./VII°; V°-K.R.E./VI°-G.I.C./P.R.S.-VII°; VIII°(P.P.I.)/VIII°(P.E.I.)/IX°; X°/XI°/O.H.O.; VIII°/IX-X-XI°/O.H.O.
    Thus the one Order exists as three degrees or Triads, and each Triad contains three sets of three degree sequences. Top it off with the sequence 0°/K.E.W./O.H.O. and you'll still find that each degree, at least as far as Knight of the Red Eagle (I probably shouldn't comment on initiations I haven't yet and may never undergo), contains further recapitulations of the same formula of IAO. This would be quite exciting in itself, but the truly remarkable fact is that the O.T.O.'s system may accommodate any formula whatsoever. The following is offered by way of illustration:

A-0°
B-I/II/III°                    Man of Earth Triad
R-IVo
A-P.I.

H-V°/K.R.E.
A-VI°/G.I.C.               Lover Triad
D-P.R.S./VII°

A-VIII°
B-IX/XI°
R-X°                           Hermit Triad
A-O.H.O.

Or in other words:   Wisdom at play is shrouded by the holy spirit,
                           and the mother of the holy spirit is its wife;
                           wisdom at play is shrouded by the holy spirit.

Materials Pertaining to the Study of
TEX
THE THIRTIETH AETHYR
IN THE ENOCHIAN SYSTEM
OF JOHN DEE AND EDWARD KELLEY
AS RELATED BY ALEISTER CROWLEY IN
THE VISION AND THE VOICE.

This edition of "The Cry of the thirtieth Aethyr" (the first chapter of The Vision and the Voice includes the original text, all of Crowley's commentary, and additional material tracing and deciphering references in both the vision and the commentary.

Send $4.50 per copy plus $1.50 postage for one and $.50 for each additional copy to

MAKHASHANAH PUBLISHING
536 41st Street, No. 22
Oakland, CA 94609

All profits to benefit Thelema Lodge.

Note to Web edition: This offer is no longer available -- included here for historic record only.

    On your July calendar you will notice in the 27's square something called "An Introduction To Trance" probably with my name attached. This is not a class in which you will be taught the wisdom of Qabalah, or the art of Magick, or the beauty of Truth. Fortunately for Thelema Lodge there are plenty of folks around here more qualified than the current Lodge Master to teach these things. In fact, until becoming Lodge Master I was able to avoid teaching a class because there was always someone better able to do it than I. That fact hasn't changed, but as Lodge Master I do feel a certain responsibility to pad out the calendar! So instead of a class I shall put on a "neoclass"; I refuse to acknowledge the possibility of being anyone's teacher, except in the most accidental sense. However, power being the kind of fun it can be, I will certainly take my seat along with you as the most domineering and tyrannical of all the students present.
    Aleister Crowley wrote a book called Little Essays Toward Truth which might teach you far more about trance than you can learn anywhere else. What I propose to do is explore a multitude of techniques to induce trance, mantras, breathing, relaxation, music, dance, even friendly chatter! Because the nature of trance is such that it may sometimes produce disorienting, confusing, even so-called "bad" experiences, we must create some special conditions for this "neoclass". First of all, people have to come with certain expectations. They have to expect everything in general, and nothing in particular. They must not expect to achieve anything on their list of personal ambitions beyond this one: expect to accept that whatever happens, happens. That is an expectation which challenges all of us; dare we accept the challenge? Secondly, on the practical level of protecting both the group and the individual wills at the same time, no one will be allowed to enter after the session begins; however, everyone who is already inside (including me) is free to leave at whatever moment they will. The original meaning of the word 'trance' was the transition (or passage) from life to death. In this sense it was applied to "a state of extreme apprehension or dread" [O.E.D.], and thence to the cataleptic state of extreme "attention" or "inattention" which we all lapse in and out of all the time, but which when produced intentionally for specific purposes has been the basis of all so-called "spiritual phenomena". So if we start a new religion, nobody should be surprised!

    Thelemites of today, mark this document closely. It is the paper of arrest and commitment of our Brother Karl Germer to a Nazi Concentration Camp on Feb. 13, 1935 e.v. on the Grounds (Grunde) of having continued communication with Aleister Crowley (Identified as a Highgrade Freemason --- Hochgradfreimaurer) and for seeking students for his teachings!
    Brother Germer was transferred to Esterwegen, another concentration camp, somewhat later. Through the efforts of his wife and the American Council, he was released and allowed to flee to Belgium.
    In the months ahead you may perhaps learn some negative things about our former Frater Superior, how he forced the Order to near death by not initiating and by hiding every open reference to the Order in the public eye.
    Whatever you hear or have heard, remember that Karl Germer, Frater Saturnus, was a martyr to Thelema. He suffered greatly for his stand in Thelema. If this arrest had come two years later; he would have died in the terrible immolation of the haters of freedom and Gnosis.
    Know that this can happen anywhere.
    Knowing that, take heart. Brother Karl survived the terrible persecution of our Order, and if the worst happens, others can survive as well. Unlike Brother Karl, you live in a time of many Thelemites. If you find yourself in captivity or subject to persecution for your beliefs, you will not be abandoned.

Events Calendar for July 1990 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.

   Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.