Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

    One of the two traditional August holidays amongst Thelemites is the "feast of the first night of Prophet and his Bride," as outlined with the "feasts of the times" in chapter two of Liber AL. In honor of the Cairo Working, which Frater Perdurabo conducted with Ouarda the Seer (Rose Edith Kelly; "ouarda" is Arabic for "rose") for the reception of The Book of the Law, this is observed on the anniversary of their marriage in 1903. Crowley's commentary on Liber AL instructs that "there shall be a special feast on the 12th day of August in every year, since it was the marriage of The Beast which made possible the revelation of the New Law." There could be no better way to commemorate this occasion than the celebration planned at the lodge for the night before. (If you're a purist about the date, come help insure that it continues past midnight.) Here's your invitation:

    The Mass of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica provides for the O.T.O. "the central ceremony of its public and private celebration . . . a ritual through which people might enter into ecstasy . . . and . . . celebrate the sublimity of the operation of universal forces" (Crowley, Confessions). Thelema Lodge maintains the Temple of Horus for the regular celebration of the Gnostic Mass, every Sunday evening beginning at nightfall (about 8:30). Our communion ritual is open to all who wish to participate. (As with all our events, those unfamiliar with the lodge are requested to call ahead at 654-3580.) August masses as scheduled will all follow the standard canon of Crowley's Liber XV.
    Bishop T. Suleiman offers a workshop on the Gnostic Mass on Sunday afternoon 4 August at 4:18 in the temple. All attendants at mass are participants in the ritual, and these monthly E.G.C. workshops are intended to promote understanding of the mass amongst congregation and clergy alike.
    Another workshop on the mass is planned this month at Nefertiti Sanctuary in San Francisco, on Thursday evening 22 August at 8:00. Call Rick at 566-0675 to attend.
    Please support your temple by making a donation--whatever you can afford--when the deacon passes the helmet on Sundays. The lodge pays rent on this space, and its a responsibility we all share. Money is only a part of the requirement, and our loving upkeep of the premises is also necessary to maintain the sanctity of Horus Temple. The deacon will always thoroughly sweep out and arrange the sanctuary before mass (and some of our deacons obviously need a hand), but the whole membership of the lodge shares in the work of keeping clean and orderly the other areas we all utilize. Please devote part of your Sunday afternoon once a month to Lodge Clean-Up, scheduled for 25 August, beginning at 1:11.

    Thelema Lodge conducts initiations into Ordo Templi Orientis on Saturday 17 August in the afternoon and evening. All members interested in attending or assisting at these events must arrange beforehand to know the times and locations involved, and the grades to be worked. Candidature is by application, at least forty days in advance. Applications are available from any lodge officer, and candidates are strongly urged to seek the guidance of the lodgemaster as they complete the form, as well as to discuss dues and dates with him--call Jerry at 658-3280.
    It is now Thelema Lodge policy that all applications are to be submitted to the lodgemaster for approval before sponsorship for the candidate is finalized; preferred sponsors may be requested, subject to their willingness to serve as mentors for the candidate, upon arrangement with the lodgemaster. The importance of this system will be readily apparent as the order's standard curriculum for the Man of Earth degrees (as outlined in Liber MCLI) is more systematically instituted at Thelema Lodge.
    Minerval members are encouraged to attend Brother Shaitan's monthly instructional class in the curriculum for the Minerval year, to be held at Thelema Lodge on Wednesday 28 August at 8:00. Early next month, on Tuesday 3 September at 8:00 in Horus Temple, Marlene will conduct a review of "Signs, Grips, and Words" for Minerval through Third Degree members; come review with her any of the secrets of your grade of which you're not absolutely certain.

    True to our Rosicrucian tradition, Thelema Lodge functions as a Collegium Fraternitatis for the instruction of its members and the community at large. Lectures, seminars, and study groups are being offered in an increasing variety of subjects. Donations from those attending are very valuable to the lodge, but these events are free and open to the public. (Always call ahead for confirmation before setting forth to attend.)
    Our central offering in August will be a special illustrated lecture by Brother Bill Heidrick--the Order's Grand Treasurer General, and a founding member of Thelema Lodge--on "O.T.O. History: The Early Years," Wednesday evening 14 August at 8:00 in Horus Temple. Come explore the initial growth of our order from an obscure Masonic yoga group in Germany a century ago, to become "the first of the great orders of antiquity to accept the Law of the New Age."
    Enochian students and practitioners gather on Tuesday evening 13 August at 8:00 at the lodge for an evening with Frater Majnun. Subjects this month will be the hierarchy of the Watchtowers and the Ritual of the Emerald Throne.
    Magick, one of our central concepts, is a notoriously difficult term to define. In vulgar parlance it covers a great range of activities and attitudes, from prestidigitation and half-baked fantasies of ego-fulfillment to la haute magie and the intense spiritual discipline of Dee or Crowley. There will be a discussion on Tuesday evening 20 August at the lodge, led by Frater Kamuret, of the idea and definition of the term magick. A selection of definitions by various writers has been assembled in this issue of the Calendar, and participants are requested to attempt a careful and coherent statement of their own understanding of the word.
    The Thelema Lodge Magick in Theory and Practice Study Circle meets twice monthly on Thursday evenings, 8 August and 22 August, in Horus Temple at 8:00. Marlene is the facilitator for this group reading and open discussion of Crowley's great magical textbook, Book 4, part 3.
    Caitlin's "Beastly Prose" is a series of readings from the books of the Beast, held in the Thelema Lodge kitchen at 8:00 on the first evening of each month. Come by on Thursday 1 August to hear Soror Phoenix, rising from the ashes of her perch on the lodge stove, read selections from the order's beautiful new edition of Liber Aleph: The Book of Wisdom or Folly. Request your favorite chapters in Latin or English.
    The Master of Thelema Lodge holds forth twice a month on Saturday afternoons 10 August and 31 August at 6:30. "Jerry's Logorrhea" is a torrent, so save your arguments for some other time and come prepared to listen. Subjects are selected according to the needs and interests of the moment, and the venue for these events is also subject to change, so all interested in attending must call the lodge beforehand for information.
    The Magick Theater offers this month a forgotten Irish play which was a particular favorite of Crowley's, The Gods of the Mountain, by the great fantasy writer Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany. This dramatic reading will be held on Tuesday evening 27 August, beginning at 7:30, with texts provided for all. For location, call the Theater at 530-3923, or watch for posting at the lodge the week before.
    Thelema Lodge belly-dancing instruction is offered most Monday afternoons, from 5:30 to 7:30, organized by Faye and Terri. Always call ahead, as this is a flexibly scheduled event.

    Thelema Lodge meeting this month is Monday evening 19 August at 8:00 in Horus Temple. This is an open forum for lodge business and events, at which the calendar is determined and Gnostic Mass teams are proposed. It's also an opportunity to hear about innovations and experiments in lodge policy as we continue to develop the potential of our Thelemic community.
    The Lodge of Perfection meets privately on Thursday evening 15 August.
    Our birthday party for those born under the sign of Virgo will be given in the scrubbed and spotless lodge immediately following Lodge Clean-Up on Sunday afternoon 25 August at 4:18.

    Next month brings us the Autumnal Equinox as Sol enters Libra on Monday 23 September at 5:48 AM. There are also a number of innovative new class offerings, and projected dates for other regular events, provided on the September advance calendar page in this issue.

    How well do you know about the life of Aleister Crowley? Do you consider yourself a scholar, or mere dabbler into occasional conversation? Here is a simple quiz just for you. There are only twenty questions which range in difficulty that hopefully everyone should be able to answer with little, or no problems. Let's see just how much you do know, good luck!

1. The Abbey of Thelema was located on this island.

2. Aleister Crowley obtained the first two Enochian visions while in this country.

3. Soror Virakam contacted this entity in Nov. 1911

4. What is Aleister Crowley's middle name?

5. Crowley is said to have turned this man into a camel.

6. Crowley wrote his famous poem, The Hymn to Pan while visiting this country.

7. The poem written by Crowley called 'the Twins' was written about this famous occult painter.

8. Frederick Leigh Gardner evoked this demon upon Crowley in June 1925 in hopes to destroy him!

9. She told Crowley in March of 1904 "they're waiting for you!"

10. How many times is the word BABALON mentioned in Liber AL vel Legis?

11. He died in Hastings.

12. Crowley's Liber 31 was written in this country.

13. Aleister Crowley appeared on the cover of this rock band's album in 1967.

14. Crowley's ashes lay at the base of a tree in which state in the U.S.?

15. Aleister Crowley went to this country to tour with a dance troupe which was named 'The Ragged Rag Time Girls.'

16. Aleister Crowley was how old when he died?

17. In November 1905 Crowley assumes the Grade of Adeptus Minor, 5=6 in the AA taking this motto!

18. Crowley wrote for this German newspaper.

19. Aleister Crowley & Regardie were expelled from this country over a 'coffee grinder'.

20. Crowley performed these rituals at Caxton Hall.

How well do you think you did? The answers are found later in this newsletter.

[These undated poems, probably written in late 1942 or early 1943 e.v., have been previously unpublished.]

Some Definitions of the Term Magick

MAGIC, from Old French magique, from late Latin magica (Pliny has magice, from Greek ), substantive use, by ellipsis of "ars" ["the art"], of the feminine of magicus--cognates in Romance languages: French "magie", Italian/Spanish/Portugese "magia"--from medieval Latin magia, from Greek , from ["magus, sorcerer"], of Iranian origin. Compare Old Persian magush ["sorcerer"]. The word is present in English from about the 14th century.
    (paraphrased from The Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary)

'ghar-toom-meem (masc. plural); Old Testament Hebrew and Aramaic "hartoom", one of the class of sacred scribes.
    --H. S. Gehman, ed., The New Westminister Dictionary of the Bible (1970).

Magick is the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will.
    --Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, p. xxi.

Every intentional act is a Magical act.
    --Aleister Crowley, op. cit., p. xiii.

Magic is the art of causing changes in consciousness at will.
    --Dion Fortune (source untraced).

Magic is control over meaning.
    --Frater Leoviridis, 1986 e.v.

Magic is a technique grounded in a belief in powers located in the human soul and in the universe outside ourselves, a technique that aims at imposing the human will on nature or on human beings by using supernatural powers. Ultimately, it may be a belief in the unlimited powers of the soul.
    --George Luck, Arcana Mundi (Johns Hopkins, 1985), p. 3.

The fundamental aim of all magic is to impose the human will on nature, on man, or on the supersensual world, in order to master them . . . . Magic is used in the service of the Will and is therefore akin to applied Science; whereas pure science and art are concerned with the disinterested contemplation of nature and life.
    --E. M. Butler, Ritual Magic (1949), p. 3.

Magic is an art acceptable to the immortal gods, an art which includes the knowledge of how to worship them and pay them homage. It is a religious tradition dealing with things divine, and it has been distinguished ever since it was founded by Zoroaster and Ormazd, the high priests of divinities. In fact, it is considered one of the chief elements of royal instruction, and in Persia no one is allowed lightly to be a "magus" any more than they would let him be a king.
    --Apuleius, Apology [On Magic], ch. 25.

In classical antiquity, the word "magic" applied first of all to the arts of the magi, those Zoroastrian priests of Persia who were well known to the Greeks at least by the fifth century B.C.
    --Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1989), p. 11.

Magic is the Highest, most Absolute, and most divine Knowledge of Natural Philosophy, advanced in its works and wonderful operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult virtue of things.
    --The Lemegeton, ed. MacGregor Mathers

The true magic is "the love" and its opposite, "the hatred", in the universe.
    --Empedocles (circa fifth century B.C.E.)

The magic of most early nations aimed at causing the transference of power from a supernatural being to man, whereby he was to be enabled to obtain superhuman results and to become for a time as mighty as the original possessor of the power.
    --E. A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian Magic (1901), p. ix.

A magical rite is any rite which does not play a part in organized cults--it is private, secret, mysterious, and approaches the limit of a prohibited rite. . . . We do not define magic in terms of the structure of its rites, but by the circumstances in which these rites occur, which in turn determine the place they occupy in the totality of social customs.
    --Marcel Mauss, A General Theory of Magic (1902, trans. 1972), p. 24.

The magician is able ultimately to unify the whole of his knowledge--to transmute, even on the Intellectual Plane, the Many into the One.
    --Aleister Crowley, op. cxit., p. 5.

Magic is for growing up with as Children of Light.
    --William G. Gray, Inner Traditions of Magic (1970), p. x.

Magick is the Mom and Pop you never had.
    --Genesis P-Orridge, viva voce, San Francisco, 1 March 1990 e.v.

To obtain magical power, one must strengthen the will. Let there be no confusion between will and desire. You cannot will too strongly, so do not attempt to will two things at once, and while willing one thing do not desire others.
    --G. H. Frater Non Omnis Moriar [William Wynn Westcott], Golden Dawn Flying Roll no. 1, part II.

To obtain Magical Power, learn to control thought; admit only those ideas that are in harmony
    with the end desired, and not every stray and contradictory Idea that presents itself.
    --Aleister Crowley, Liber Librae, sub figura XXX, verse 16.

Magic--That science which, apparently of a subjective character, is actually objective and governs the world. It is the practical art of communicating with supernal, supramundane, and infernal or lower beings.
    --Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia (1877), pp. 463-4.

The art of magic is the art of employing invisible or so-called spiritual agencies to obtain certain visible results. Such agencies are not necessarily invisible entities, flitting about in vacant space, ready to come at the command of anyone who has learned certain incantations and ceremonies; but they consist principally in the unseen but nevertheless powerful influences of the Emotions and the Will, or desires and passions, thought and imagination, love and hate, fear and hope, faith and doubt, &c., &c. They are the powers of what is called the Soul.
    --Franz Hartmann, Magic: White and Black, p. 26.

The persistent confusion of magic with the performances of conjurers, the hallucinations of the diseased, and the malpractices of a few abnormal criminals, has endured too long. There are many persons, moreover, who would frankly define magic as the art of producing effects without causes, and, following this definition, it is immediately inferred by the crowd, with the common sense that characterizes it even when it is most unjust, that magic is an absurdity. . . . It is the exact and absolute science of nature and her laws. Magic is the traditional knowledge of natural secrets handed down to us from the Magi. . . . And what then is magic? Is there a secret science which is truly a power . . . a science rich in prodigies that may be compared with the miracles of authorized religions? . . . Yes, there has existed, and there still is, a potent and true magic; all that legends have related of it is fact . . .
    --Eliphas Levi, The Mysteries of Magic, pp. 42-46.

Broadly speaking, intellectuals in medieval Europe recognized two forms of magic: natural and demonic. Natural magic was not distinct from science, but rather a branch of science. It was the science that dealt with "occult virtues" (or hidden powers) within nature. Demonic magic was not distinct from religion, but rather a perversion of religion. It was religion that turned away from God and toward demons for their help in human affairs.
    --Richard Kieckhefer, op. cit., p. 9.

Magic is the science of teaching the practical application of the lowest laws of nature up to the highest law of the spirit. . . . [One] may, to get a better survey, separate magical science in three groups; that is, in lowest magical science, which comprehends the laws of nature and their workings, functioning and controlling, and may, if you please, be called natural magical science. Furthermore, in the intermediate stage of magic comprehending the operating and functioning and controlling of the universal laws within man, that is the microcosm, the small world; and finally in the high magical science comprehending the operating, functioning, and controlling of the laws of the macrocosm, i.e., of the whole universe.
    --Franz Bardon, The Practice of Magical Evocation (1956; trans. 1967), pp. 16-17.

Magic means the unnatural interference with nature, and is a contradiction in terms, when we estimate "nature" as all that is.
    --Hargrave Jennings, Phallicism, Celestial and Terrestrial (1894), p. 8.

Magic is a spurious system of natural law as well as a fallacious guide of conduct; it is a false science as well as an abortive art. Regarded as a system of natural law, that is, as a statement of the rules which determine the sequence of events throughout the world, it may be called Theoretical Magic; regarded as a set of precepts which human beings observe in order to compass their ends, it may be called Practical Magic.
    --Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough (1922 abridgement), p. 12.

Magic is the pretended art of influencing the course of events and of producing marvelous physical phenomena, by processes supposed to owe their efficacy to their power of compelling some occult controlling principle in nature; sorcery; witchcraft.
    --Oxford English Dictionary.

Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast on nature.
    --Jacob Bronowski, Science and Human Values (1956).

Magic is simply the use of some abnormal faculty . . . . Certain people were born with clairvoyant powers. They discovered that certain rites and processes increased these powers, thus they became useful to society.
    --Gerald B. Gardner, Witchcraft Today (1964), pp. 19-20.

Magic is the art of applying natural causes to produce surprising results.
    --W. E. Butler, Magic: Its Ritual, Power, and Purpose (1952).

There is an element of exhibitionism in all magicians; after all, the desire to perform magic is fundamentally a desire to impress other people.
    --Colin Wilson, The Occult (1971), p. 349.

If anyone asks what is the use of Magic in the twentieth century, the proper reply is that it has the same use as in any other era, for intentional and intelligent work with metaphysical energies on Inner causative levels of consciousness. The outer formalities of Rites and customs alter like any other fashions that change with time, but their principles are as sound now as they ever were--or will be.
    --William G. Gray, op. cit., p. 260.

All Art is Magick.
    --Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, p. 83.

We are supposed to be communicating. What we do, what we express, are simply that; they are produced for result, not praise; to touch, not impress. They should aim to be how people are, how they respond to where they live, when they live, how they live, and their aspirations in all these respects. Minus thee demands ov World, Market, Career, it becoums--Magick. Magick requires hesitancy and uncertainty in its special relationship with reality and person. Magick is a search for definitions. A series ov statements, observations and actions blended through intuitive rituals (real or imagined) to fix in more concrete terms thee eternal non-extant paradox ov Time.
    --Genesis P-Orridge, "Notes from a Magickal Diary, 1967-87"

Magick is the yoga of belief.
    --Frater Archimago, 1990 e.v.

    1. Sicily, 2. Mexico, 3. Abuldiz, 4. Alexander, 5. V. Neuburg, 6. Russia, 7. A.O.Spare, 8. Typhon-Set, 9. Rose Kelly, 10. None, 11. Crowley, 12. Egypt, 13. The Beatles, 14. New Jersey, 15. Russia, 16. 72, 17. Christeos Lucifias, 18. THE FATHER-LAND, 19. France, 20. Eleusis.

Your score:

0 - 4 right You're probably a Christian trying to infiltrate an occult order.

5 - 8 right If you've been into Aleister Crowley for more than a year and scored this low, give it up and become a Theosophist!

9 - 15 right If you've gotten this many right you've obviously been smitten or obsessed and need a doctor.

16 - 20 right You've obtained the glorious title of being known as a true Crowley scholar; now it's time you got a real life!

August 1, 1555	The most prolific of John Dee's skryers and one of Aleister Crowley's earlier incarnations, Edward Kelly is born on this date in Worchester, England.
August 1, 1912	Ione de Forrest, the girl friend of Victor Neuburg, commits suicide on this date by shooting herself. Neuburg was convinced that Aleister Crowley put a spell upon her, as a 'Circe' and actually murdered her. Their friendship ended because of this episode, and both went separate ways.
August 2, 1939	It was on a Wednesday at 3:15pm that Dr. H. Spencer Lewis of AMORC fame gave up his earthly vehicle and died.
August 8, 1887	Woodford sends the infamous 'cypher mss' to Westcott after obtaining it from the papers of Fred Hockley who recently died. Westcott would give the papers to MacGregor Mathers ... this is the beginning of the Golden Dawn.
August 8, 1923	Frater ACHAD sends Aleister Crowley a copy of his latest book, The Egyptian Revival.
August 8, 1939	P.E.S., Soror Meral, takes Minerval & First Degree initiation, joining the Ordo Templi Orientis in California.
August 10, 1930	Fakir Musafar is born on this date in South Dakota. A lot can be said about him, but only photographs can tell it best.
August 12th	THE FEAST OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE BEAST WITH HIS BRIDE.
August 12, 1831	Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Priestess of the Occult, was born on this date. She was the founder of Theosophy.
August 12, 1903	Aleister Crowley marries Rose Kelly at Dingwall, Scotland.
August 13, 1875	Vintras & Abbe Boullan meet for the first time in Brussels; the later would succeed him upon death and continue his work in France. Some would claim it was the creation of early Satanism.
August 13, 1959	Dion Fortune's ex-husband, Thomas Penry Evans, dies.
August 13, 1952	People Today magazine carries an article on 'LA's lust cult' about Jack Parson's death & The Church of Thelema. Headlines state "Weird Black Magic rites flourish in wealthy Pasadena".
August 16, 1929	Aleister Crowley marries Maria Teresa de Miramar in Germany. His new Scarlet Woman was also called 'The High Priestess of Voodo'. It has been said that "Crowley had only married Maria in the first place for the same reason he had married Rose, as a joke." The marriage would not last, and Maria would return to Nicaragua and die in a seedy hotel room of an overdose of heroin.
August 17, 1987	The Aztec prophecies predicted that this date would be the 'dawning' of a new heaven on earth. It has been said that we have been in Hell since the date of April 22nd, 1519, when Cortez landed as predicted!
August 19, 1692	Five women are hanged in Salem, Mass., accused of witchcraft.
August 20, 1890	Howard Phillips Lovecraft is born on this date in Providence, Rode Island, the only child of Winfield & Sarah Lovecraft. His fans should best remember that if the great god Cthulhu calls, he'll call collect!
August 22, 1692	Eight more women are taken out and hanged in Salem, Mass., guilty of witchcraft.
August 22, 1905	Aleister Crowley & others begin their attempt at climbing Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas. Crowley has stated that "the Himalayas had cured me of the habit of going to the Alps. I could not play any longer with dolls after wooing such grown-up girls as Chogo Ri and Kangchenjunga."
August 28, 1987	The international head of the Society Ordo Templi Orientis, SOTO, Mr. Marcelo Ramos Motta dies of 'myocardial infarction and pulmonary edema ... although we'd like to say he died on this date, the official statement says that "sometime between the morning of August 26 and the morning of August 28, 1987 ev" he died; and even in the end this Brazilian has a way of obscuring the facts, even his own death!
August 29, 1555	John Dee is cleared of treason on this date and released without any penalty.

Thelema Lodge Events Calendar for August 1991 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.