Thelema Lodge Calendar for March 1993 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for March 1993 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

March 1993 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

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

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

EDITORIAL

93 is Our Year!

If the month of January is any indication of the direction that 1993 will be taking, then it looks like we will be facing a extremely hectic year. We are pleased. Although not indicated on last month's calendar, we did the unthinkable by scheduling in initiations on four separate days; and it looks like this month we'll be doing at least two 'listed' dates. Also our work load regarding classes, Masses & meetings kept many of us very busy with few days to ourselves for personal ambitions; but no one seemed to mind. If anyone believes that Lodge/LOP officers deal with only events mentioned in our calendar, it's obvious you don't hang around the Lodge. The advance planning and preparations behind some of the events often occupy many of us for days prior to each date mentioned in our calendar. Further, it can be said that at least a third of all blank spaces on our calendar in January were actually filled with official Lodge functions ... it's a great feeling to see Thelema Lodge so active and busy. I extend my thanks to all those individuals who made the month of January so productive and successful! This month our biggest event ...

The Equinox of the Gods

'A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and
a feast for the Equinox of the Gods.'
Liber AL vel Legis II:40

"The Supreme Ritual is the Invocation of Horus, which brought about the Opening of the New Aeon" ... "The Equinox of the Gods is the term used to describe the Beginning of a New Aeon, or a New Magical Formula", Aleister Crowley.

On Sunday March 21st at 4:18pm Thelema Lodge will be celebrating the Equinox of the Gods and all are welcomed to attend this glorious event. Achad Osher 583 VIII° will be doing excerpts from the Ritual of Beth which was originally performed by Aleister Crowley & his wife Rose while in the Great Pyramid in 1904. This ritual has only recently surfaced. James T.Graeb will follow with the 'Evocations to Horus' which was also performed by Crowley on March 20th 1904. After a brief break everyone will be hosted with a reading of Aleister Crowley's dramatic play 'The God-Eater' and, as if this is not enough, we will be holding a 'Feast for the Equinox of the Gods' around 7:06pm! It's going to be a great day ... the Gods should be pleased!

but ...
Help is always needed for such feasting and preparation in advance is a must, so please volunteer if you'd like to make this event truly as wonderful as last year's. We are asking that everyone who attends should bring something; food, wine or beer etc, etc. Call the Lodge (658-3280) if you have any questions.

The Lola Fund

We wish to thank all those individuals who have poured out their hearts and sent in donations to aid Lola DeWolfe through a rather difficult time. She is doing better but still remains hospitalized. As we wrote in our last issue of the calendar, it's going to be a long road back. Your financial help is still needed and any donation will be greatly appreciated. As of this writing, Thelema Lodge as raised nearly six hundred dollars through your contributions and the total rises by the day. Also, the cards you've sent have brightened her stay in the hospital so if you can not afford to donate please at least send a get well card (Lola DeWolfe care/of Thelema Lodge to the Thelema Lodge Address). Call the Lodge if you have any questions ... and again, I send my thanks to all who have contributed and I'm sure Lola does, too.

March Events & Notes

The Lodge of Perfection

Beginning with this calendar it is the policy of this Lodge to officially close our doors the first Sunday of every month and use the time solely for matters regarding the Fourth Degree and our LOP Council. There will be no Masses, workshops or classes scheduled on this date except those directly related to this Degree. We will be going back to our original time of meeting at 3:33pm. So if you show up at the Lodge and you're not a Fourth Degree be prepared to be turned away! Regrettably of course.

Official OTO Robes & Regalia

The Lodge of Perfection in conjunction with our Grand Master Hymenaeus Beta & Grand Secretary Y.V. have succeeded in establishing appropriate and official Fourth Degree & Prince of Jerusalem robes and regalia for the OTO at Thelema Lodge. The 'entire' LOP Council has these new robes already and in the near future we will be offering these at cost to other Fourth Degrees (in our area only). These robes with regalia are very 'different' than those given out in the past. We have returned to the original designs as visioned by Aleister Crowley. It is the policy of Thelema Lodge that in the future if anyone wishes to aid in the performance of a Fourth Degree or P.I., it will be mandatory for one to have this robe. This will include even those who wish to be 'spectators' without actually having an active role in the initiation itself. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, Frater Achad Osher 583 VIII° OTO at 658-3280 for details. This is for Thelema Lodge only.

Thelemite du Jour

The delving into the mysterious course of Thelema thru the printed word continues on March 4th at 7:30pm. Come and join us for an evening reading and listening to essays, be prepared for a lively discussion regardless of the topic! Topics continue to range form historical and well-known to the obscure as Henry pulls "the dusty ones" out of his archives.

Stephan's Library is Still in Storage

You may notice that listed on our calendar on Saturday March 20th at 1:00pm (promptly) is 'BOOK REMOVAL'. As this implies, we finally know which books out the thousands that Stephan Alexander donated to the OTO will be staying here at Thelema Lodge. We do not need a lot of help but some assistance would be nice. On this date we will be going over to the storage space to go through each box (over a hundred) and remove those books staying at the Lodge so that they can be added to our Lending Library. If you'd like to help please call Henry Herndon (658-3280) for details.

Back Issues of the T.L.C.

Thelema Lodge has estimated that we have thousands of copies of back issues of our monthly calendar dating back for years. What are we going to do with them? On Thursday night March 25th from 6:30-8:30pm we will attempt to sort through the boxes and compile complete sets month by month for distribution.

Anyone who wishes to come over on this night and 'work' with this project will get one set 'FREE' for their effort. This is an ideal time for those new members who want to get back issues but don't know where to go ... do not just show up on this night, arrangements must be made in advance to attend. It is very important that one calls for details (658-3280) and registers for attendance, we need less than ten people and those calling first get on this 'list'.

Full sets will be offered in the future. Details will follow in a future issue of the Thelema Lodge Calendar.

from the Grady Project:

Her Lovely Hair

I walked the dog in the woods today

And he consecrated the trees

We watched the bounding squirrels at play,

Crunched the snow in the rustling lees,

And echoed his joyous, belling bay

Down the hollow eternities.

     Existential monad swaying

     Star imago, molten attire

     Lepidoptera unfolding

     Metamorphosis, Angel fire

I walked the woods of the world today

The wood of the Ruined Towers

Where night-side trees in their Panic sway

To a lyre of lethal powers

I saw my skull in the disarray

Of Her gorgon-serpent flowers

     Diana Archer, Maid of Light

     Slayer of the Dragon-Tree

     Thy Beauty's Beast, Thy Serpent Priest

     Burst my head, and set me free

Her Arrow coursed the bright sea sands

And found me in my lair:

The universe came apart in my hands

And I pray-said Her lovely hair.

1/12/62

-- Grady L. McMurtry

Previously published in Ecclesia Gnostica I:2 (Winter, 1985e.v. with the author's dedication "for: Julie Weber and her Magick Theater", in McMurtry: Poems (London & Bergen: O.T.O., 1986 e.v.), and in The Grady Project #3, (March 1988 e.v.).

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Crowley Classics

From time to time it is necessary to repeat certain primal dedications. Of the many things that Crowley wrote, a few stand alone upon the highest peaks of immortality. Here is one such, shunned by some, taken for granted by others and distorted to personal ends by many. For a particular view on this liber, see the "Out Basket" column later in this issue. Liber LXXVII, OZ, was first published in 1938 e.v. as part of The Heart of the Master. It was subsequently printed up in 1939 e.v. at Agape Lodge in California with the Atu XV of the Thoth Deck and as a postcard. The ornamental letter "O" on most editions of the Liber forms Crowley's "Mark of the Beast". Many people confuse Crowley's NOX, "X"-in-a-circle, monogram with the Mark of the Beast, owing to an error perpetuated through the writings of Kenneth Grant. For practical purposes, such as tracing in the air, the Mark of the Beast is usually simplified as a circle ( Sun

) and conjoined crescent ( Moon

, called by Crowley the "Secret Sigil of the Beast", in his notes to The Vision and Voice - also discussed in his Greek Qabalah as the compound letter sigmatheta

, assigned the value 31 even though 209 is the sum of the combined separate letters.

Liber LXXVII

                                                                    "the law of
                               the strong:
                               this is our law
                               and the joy
                               of the world."
                                         AL. II. 21

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --- AL. I. 40.

"thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay." --- AL. I. 42-3.

"Every man and every woman is a star." --- AL. I.3.

There is no god but man.

1. Man has the right to live by his own law ---

to live in the way that he wills to do:

to work as he will:

to play as he will:

to rest as he will.

to die when and how he will:

2. Man has the right to eat what he will:

to drink what he will:

to dwell where he will:

to move as he will on the face of the earth.

3. Man has the right to think what he will:

to speak what he will:

to write what he will:

to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build

as he will:

to dress as he will.

4. Man has the right to love as he will: -

"take your fill and will of love as ye will,

when, where and with whom ye will!" --- AL. I. 51.

5. Man has the right to kill those who would

thwart these rights.

"the slaves shall serve." --- AL. II. 58.

"Love is the law, love under will." --- AL. I. 57.

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Ritual

The Secret Door Ritual

by Fr. A.H.N. of Oceania Oasis

This ritual is largely inspired by "The Banishing Ritual of the Secret Door", Fr. Numa, Beastly Vol. 2., No. 1. Fr. A.H.N. is the treasurer of Oceania Oasis in OZ, downunder.

In the sign of silence imagine yourself to be standing on the Equator and facing East.

Part One

Stretch arms outward and upward then bring down both hands to touch the forehead with the fingertips and visualise the Ajna chakra saying "Unity uttermost showed,". Then more both hands downward to touch the throat with the fingertips, visualise the Vishuddi chakra and say "I adore the might of thy breath," and so on, visualising Anahata and saying "Supreme and terrible god," Manipura "That makest the gods and death," Svadisthana "To tremble before thee," Muladhara "I, I adore thee." Thus is formed the vertical arm of the cross of light.

To form the horizontal arm draw both hands upward from the Muladhara and stop at the Anahata, touching the chest with the fingertips of both hands and say "Appear on the throne of Ra." Now the hands separate for the first time -- tracing a line along the chest, each finger to its respective nipple say "Open the ways of the Kha." Tracing the line back to the centre say "Lighten the ways of the Kha." Now stretch the arms out fully so the body resembles a T or a cross and say "The ways of the Khabs run through me, to stir me or to still me." Then drop the hands to the side of the body and say "Aum. Let it fill me."

Part Two

Do an anticlockwise spiral to the left imagining yourself to be well into the Northern Hemisphere and stop when you are facing East again. With your right hand trace a pentagram of yellow and vibrate THERION. Turning to the right and following the course of the sun with your hand trace a pentagram of red where the noonday sun would be/is and vibrate HADIT. Still turning and following the sun trace a pentagram of blue in the west and vibrate BABALON. Continuing, trace a pentagram of black where the midnight sun would be/is and vibrate NUIT. Turn once more so you are facing the East and a circle is drawn. Retrace your spiral by walking backward until you are facing East and back on the Equator.

Part Three

Do a clockwise spiral into the Southern Hemisphere and stop when you are facing East. With your left hand trace a pentagram of yellow on the eastern Horizon and vibrate THERION. Following the course of the sun as before, turn to the left and at the midcourse of the sun trace a pentagram of red and vibrate HADIT. In the west trace a pentagram of blue and vibrate BABALON, and facing south trace a pentagram of black at the midnight of the sun and vibrate NUIT. Complete the circle by turning left once more. Now retrace this spiral until you are back at the equator and facing East.

Part Four

With your hands by your sides say "The light is mine, its rays consume me, I have made a secret door, into the house of Ra and Tum, of Kephra and of Ahathoor."

Extending the arms and legs so the body resembles a pentagram say "My number is eleven as all their numbers who are of us. The five pointed star with the circle in the middle and the circle is red."

Part Five

Repeat Part One.

Archivist Anecdotes

Friends & Acquaintances
of Aleister Crowley

Part III

Malcolm Lowry

This author whose chaotic life gave him the experience to write what some have regarded as some of the best literary masterpieces of the twentieth century. His life of alcoholism is both hilarious and extremely heartbreaking. Most of his adult life he wandered around America and Europe in a constant struggle to find himself and to write. He is best known for his book entitled Under the Volcano published in 1947. This is a long version of a short story by the same name which he wrote ten years earlier. He was born in 1909 and died at the age of 47, the headlines of the morning paper simply read "She Broke Gin Bottle, Found Husband Dead', a fitting epitaph.

When Malcolm Lowry met the woman who was to become his second wife in 1939 they moved north and would finally settle in a small squatter settlement called 'Dollarton' just north, of Vancouver, Canada. Although he never personally knew Aleister Crowley it was at "Dollarton Lowry fell under the influence of Charles Stansfeld-Jones, a former member of Aleister Crowley's 'Hermetic Students of the Golden Dawn'."¹

It appears that one day " ... they received a visit from a tall stranger: a tall, cadaverous Welshman who introduced himself as Charles Stansfeld-Jones. He had come, he announced, as a census-taker for voter registration. Lowry invited him in for tea, during which Stansfeld-Jones remarked that census-taking was not his real vocation. He was really Frater Achad, an adept in the Cabbala, a former member of the Hermetic Students of the Golden Dawn, the mystical child of the infamous Aleister Crowley, with whom he had for a time edited Equinox magazine, founder of a group of Chicagoans who called themselves the Colegium ad Spiritum Sanctum, and author of two privately printed Cabalistic texts, The Bride's Reception and The Anatomy of the Body of God. Lowry was dazzled: here was precisely the person he needed, just when he was needed most."² What an intro!

The two became good friends with Frater Achad taking Lowry on as his student and teaching him everything he knew about the Qabalah. "Soon Lowry had become fascinated by black magic and the occult"³ Although after a while he became plagued by unfortunate disasters of fire, with his own house burning to the ground and later his neighbors, Lowry "began to believe that his playing about with the occult in Stansfeld-Jones house had put him in bad repute with certain demonic forces; and that it was his destiny to be pursued by the element of fire"⁴, but they remained friends.

For those who wonder just how much of Frater Achad's teachings filtered through into Lowry's works you should read, The Private Labyrinth of Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano and the Cabbala by Perle Epstein⁵ ... you'll be amazed what the actually underlying theme is behind this novel! -Frater Archivist

Notes
1. Malcolm Lowry by Ronald Binns, Methuen, NY 1984 pg. 29.
           The Archives of HA File No. 2359
2. Malcolm Lowry, A Biography by Douglas Day, Oxford University Press, NY 1984 pg. 294.
           The Archives of HA File No. 2072.
3. Malcolm Lowry by Ronald Binns cont. pg. 29.
4. Malcolm Lowry By Douglas Day cont. pg. 303.
5. The Private Labyrinth of Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano and the Cabbala
           by Perle Epstein, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. NY 1969.
           The Archives of HA File No. 2118.

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Qabalah
Sepher Yetzirah

(3rd Installment)

[Adapted to conform to the Golden Dawn correspondences in 1976 e.v. with parenthetic notes by Bill Heidrick from the Kalisch and Stenring translations. This rendering of the S.Y. is made in the public domain as a way of paying dues of another kind. The notes are in curly brackets: {}, and are not part of the original text. The Sepher Yetzirah is the ultimate basis of the Golden Dawn system of correspondences embodied in Crowley's Liber 777.]

(Chap. Four cont.)

Section Six.

The seven double consonants, fundamentally, having been designed and established, combined, weighed, and changed by God, He formed by them: seven planets in the world, seven days in the year, seven gates, openings of the senses, in man male and female.

Section Seven.

The seven planets in the world are: Saturn {}, Jupiter {}, Mars {}, Sun {}, Venus {}, Mercury {}, Moon {}. Seven days in the year are the seven days of the week {Sunday, ; Monday ; Tuesday, ; Wednesday, ; Thursday, ; Friday, ; and Saturday, }; seven gates in man, male and female are: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth {These applications of the planets to the double letters are the most highly corrupted matter in existing manuscripts of the Sepher Yetzirah, as is noted further below. No definitive text exists in this matter. The attribution to the seven gates in man, male and female might be as follows: right eye, ; left eye, ; right nostril, ; left nostril, ; right ear, ; left ear, ; mouth, . Although this seems reasonable, no certainty is claimed; the allocation suggested here to the human gates is merely plausible. The allocation to the planets is that used by the G D and by the older Thelemic Orders. This allocation to the gates is offered as one alternative to that below.}

Section Eight.

First Division. He let the letter Bet

predominate in Life, crowned it, combined one with the other and formed by them: Mercury in the world, the Fourth day in the year, and the right eye in man, male and female {Contrary to the G D interpretation used here, the more reliable texts say: Moon, First Day and right eye}.

Section Nine.

Second Division. He let the letter Gimel

predominate in Peace, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: the Moon in the world, the Second day in the year and right ear in man, male and female. {There are various associations of the seven gates of the senses to different things. The whole matter is the subject of a tract in the Sepher Zohar "The Book of Concealed Mystery" - this tract may be found in Mather's Kabbalah Unveiled and in Luzzatto's General Principles of the Kabbalah. Neither of these two books provide an exact solution to the allocation of the seven double letters, but they provide material from which the problem may be attacked. The more reliable texts here assign: Mars, Second day and right ear.}

Section Ten.

Third Division. He let the letter Dalet, Dalet

predominate in Wisdom, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Venus in the world, the sixth day in the year, the right nostril in man, male and female. {The word translated there as "Man" is actually "Nepesh", the name of the "animal soul" or that which animates the body during life. This word is used in all statements like this one throughout the Yetzirah in the Hebrew text. Later mystical traditions ascribe the Nepesh soul to be the ghostly spirit that lingers after death in some cases while higher souls are said to ascend to better places. The more reliable texts here assign: Sun, Third day and right nostril.}

Section Eleven.

Fourth Division. He let the letter Kaf

predominate in Wealth, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Jupiter in the world, the Fifth day in the year, and the left eye in man, male and female {The more reliable texts here assign: Venus, Fourth day, left eye}.

Section Twelve.

Fifth Division. He let the letter Peh

predominate in Beauty, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Mars in the world, the Third day in the year, and the left ear in man, male and female. {The more reliable texts say: Mercury, Fifth day, left ear}.

Section Thirteen.

Sixth Division. He let the letter Resh

predominate in Fruitfulness, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: The Sun in the world, the First day in the year, and the left nostril in man, male and female. {The more reliable texts say: Saturn, Sixth day and left nostril.}

Section Fourteen.

Seventh Division. He let the letter Taw

predominate in Dominion, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them Saturn in the world, the Seventh day in the year, and the mouth of man, male and female. {The more reliable texts say: Jupiter, Seventh day and mouth.}

Section Fifteen.

By the seven double consonants, Taw

were also designed seven worlds {The lower seven Sephiroth}, seven Heavens {Not the same as the lower seven Sephiroth. The seven Heavens combine certain Sephiroth. They are: Malkut- Yesod, Tipheret; Hod; Netzach; Geburah; Chesed; Da'at-Binah; Chokmah; Keter, -- These are also not to be confused with the seven body centers or Chakras which are variously made to combine to the Sephiroth, most especially in this order: Malkut; Yesod; Hod-Netzach; Tipheret; Geburah-Chesed; Binah- Chokmah; Keter. This latter correspondence is an artificial one, for it breaks down at the Vishuddah, where a complex interaction involves several groups of Sephiroth, including Da'ath, in succession.} seven lands, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days in a week, seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost, there is a cycle, of seven years {widely used in Astrology under various names; e.g. the Saturn Return or Lunation Cycle about 28 years from birth. This country (U.S.A.) has laws based on the seven-fold cycle: legal age at 21, the President must be 35 or older}, the seventh is the release year {In the U.S.A. legal records and statuary limits on some crimes are retained for seven years}, and after seven release years is Jubilee {Fiftieth anniversary is still considered significant in our traditions}. Hence, God loves the number seven under the whole heaven. {The theory of seven rays that is popular with Theosophists is based on this seven business. M. Blavatsky probably was greatly influenced by this source, as she was by the Zohar in her forgery of the Seven Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan.}

Section Sixteen.

Two stones build two houses {There are only two ways to combine two different letters}, three stones build six houses {the "six rings" of three different letters exhaust the possibilities for three different objects taken three at a time}, four build 24 houses, five build 120 houses, six build 720 houses and seven build 5,040. From thence further go and reckon what the mouth cannot express and the ear cannot hear. {This section outlines the power of combinations of magical powers of the letters and generally spaces out. The manuscripts here prove their corruption through various different errors in the numbers cited. The lost original probably had the combinatorial values correctly stated, as they are given in this edition).

Previous Part of the Sepher Yetzirah To be continued.

Primary Sources

Grady Louis McMurtry
Crowley to California.:
Grady Louis McMurtry, Hymenaeus Alpha, Past Caliph and Grand Master of O.T.O. - a Chronology of last visits with A.C. and first visits with O.T.O. members on the return to the 'States. Grady made various notes in and out of diaries from his later childhood until the last year of his life. Here are some excerpts from his late 1944 to mid 1952 diary. These entries were made in a small blank book given to Grady by Aleister Crowley in England. The book is bound in red Morocco leather, with Egyptian decorated end papers and gilt edges. It was made from the left-over materials used to bind the Book of Thoth deluxe edition. Crowley started it off by writing on the fly- leaf: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. To my very dear Friend and Brother Hymenaeus Alpha from 666. An Ixviii Sun

In the excerpts dealing with Crowley and O.T.O. which follow, some difficulty was encountered reading the handwriting. Uncertainties are indicated in curly brackets and ellipsis indicates skip-over. Of course, this isn't the first of Grady's diaries which discuss his visits with Crowley or his adventures and speculations with O.T.O. and Thelema. We may see some of the other entries in future issues of the TLC. This selection has been limited to Grady's last visits with Crowley and his first interactions with US O.T.O. members following the end of WWII. The omissions within the period, late 1944 to early 1946, deal mainly with military assignments, economic theory and civilian travel. Grady's mystical experiences and speculations have been omitted from this limited presentation, even though they are occasionally mentioned in Crowley's own diaries. Eventually Grady's diaries will be available on diskette, but not for quite a few years yet. The principal obstacle to this project is his handwriting, but privacy of living persons is also an important consideration. Nearly all of Grady McMurtry's diaries and notes have survived.

1944

11 Dec. Received info re 93 from A.C.
25 Dec. Christmas Dinner at Bell Inn, Aston Clinton, with Crowley. Chess & discussion of degrees. Said goodbye. Had to hitchhike back to London because of strike by subway workers.
20 Dec. Met Louis Wilkinson (Marlowe), author, while visiting A.C.
26 Dec. Visited lady Frieda Harris this morning. Met her husband, Sir Percy Harris, at lunch. Invited to the House of Commons to meet {?}everidge.
27 Dec. Visited Tower of London. Foggy to freezing cold. ...
28 Dec. Trip postponed again until Sat. Things are looking up on the Western Front. The Germans seem to be stopped - for the present. For all time if the weather holds.
31 Dec. New Years Eve with Cau{?} out at Kensington.

1945

1 Jan. London to Paris
2 Jan. Paris to Brussels by night sleeper

. . .
10 Feb. Letter from Kenneth Grant - brilliant young Englishman, doing good work also AC.; Louis.
14 Feb. Letters from Jack, A.C., Kenneth Grant, etc in the last few days. Getting rid of books to pack. Sent off the last of Germer's paper, sent A. C. "The Lonely Ones" by S....
. . .
9 June From R42 to Y92 at Frankfurt by truck for purpose of going to the U.K. on leave.
10 June Sweating it out.
11 June '45 Sweating it out.
12 June Y91 to ... London, in 2 1/2 hours. Had to wait at airport for 3 hours for transportation and then knocked a double decker streetcar off the track going into town. As a consequence missed seeing the reception for Gen Ike. Couldn't get a'hold of Frieda so went to the {?} Club on Prince St., near Oxford Circus.
13 June Had a long talk with Frieda, met a Mr. William Holt, writer, took a trip to {Gretna?} Green and went around with a young woman who was canvassing for Sir Percy. Shook hands with same as we met and parted.
14 June Met Sir Percy in the lobby of the House of Commons, had lunch with him in the guest hall, had a lively discussion of petitions and economics, said he had used some of my ideas in his campaign speeches, showed me his "whip room" and other parts of Parliament - left me in lobby to wait for Lord Pomeroy - or somename - to get tickets for a seat in the House - waited around for 1 1/2 hours and then took off. ...
. . .
16 June 45 By bus to the Ridge to see Aleister. Looking about as good as usual. Found that he had received a 2 hexagram on the 11th and a 1 hexagram for the 12th the day I arrived in the U.K. -- and the day Gen. Ike was celebrated in London. Went down to the chess club in Hastings -- played a game -- back to Netherwood for talks on Economics -- I explained the "S" shaped biological growth curve -- lost wallet on way home.
17th June Had to take a taxi out to Netherwood -- was surprised when a Mr. Harris showed up with my wallet -- intact -- before lunch. Seems his daughter had found it on the bus -- gave him a pound and many thanks. Beat Aleister one game of chess (2nd time to date) on a sort of modified Danish gambit. Sutton's place filled up with relatives is moved to Netherwood for the night, studying "De Nuptiis Secretis." Aleister gave me a railing about using too many words to say some thing -- we went round and round.
18th June Had a few games and lunch. Our argument last night seemed to clear the air a great deal. We find this morning that, as usual, we were both saying the same thing only in different ways. He went in with me to the station. Hastings to London. Tried my luck.
19th June Saw {?} this morning at the Savoy. Buying books on Charing Cross Road this afternoon ... Aleister's "Moon Child" ... Met Ja{?} Aitkins this afternoon. I had seen her once at Aleister's place on Jermyn street with Frieda. ...
20 June 1945 Leave over so reported in ...
. . .

Grady was mustered directly back to the US after the end of the War, and his diary recounts his first meetings with Stateside O.T.O. members after his visits with Crowley:

17 Nov {1945} ... AWOL to see Karl & Sascha. ...
18 Nov. Karl & Sascha picked me up at Gate #1, ... back to NY via 23rd St. Ferry. Mama Marussa's Italian Restaurant. Beat Karl at chess. Picked up Liber 132 & Liber A. Horoscope Mars ruling, Sagittarius rising.
20 Nov. Took off from Newark ...

. . .
17 Dec. San Francisco to L.A. on Daylight. Put up at Ada's.
18 Dec. Down to Jack at 1003. Met Roy Leffingwell - with him to see Max Schneider in Beverly Hills. Long talk with him & Jack - separately. Slept at Jack's. Same story.
19 Dec. Checking books in Jack's library ... Betty & Gary{?} at Jacks.
. . .

The foregoing has mainly been of chronological interest; and our readers will find it most informative by comparison with the accounts given in the TLC for 1992 e.v., especially August through October of that year. We will conclude with an excerpt of a more speculative character.

25 Dec. {'45} The integration of the mind. -- mental integrity --- the mind must be integrated before it can achieve coherence. One method of integration is the discipline of daily practice in the Magick arts. Magick, by definition, is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will.

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From the Outbasket

The following response has been substantially edited for publication from recent correspondence with Grand Lodge.

From time to time one of the correspondents of Grand Lodge expresses difficulty with Liber OZ. Without going into matters of secrecy in O.T.O., here is a typical discussion of the subject.

It's no good to argue that the Liber came late; its germ is in Levi's Key to the Mysteries and was strongly impressed on Crowley long before he even heard of O.T.O. The posting of such a document, different in detail of course, descends to us from our 19th century Masonic forebears. Liber OZ should be signed with the real name of the person posting it, with the genuine address of that person subscribed. It is acceptable to put it up at an O.T.O. temple to show one's personal commitment, but the extremes have run to nailing it to the door at #10 Downing Street in London and sticking a copy under the cushion on the throne of the Pope during a Papal visit to Canada some years ago. I posted it on the bulletin board of the law building at University of California in Berkeley Campus and the bulletin board of a theological student union off campus.

To secretly subvert by clandestine activity and anonymous placarding is not the way of Thelema. It is not possible to proceed far in that dishonorable way, nor is it acceptable. The secret progress of Thelema is in the hearts of Thelemites and in the invisible nature of the Kings. It is not in devious deeds under shadow of night. Storming the barricades is not necessary either. Tacit agreement with injustice and tyranny will not do.

Although changes in Liber OZ are equally as unacceptable as using a Magical name instead of a full name, there is nothing to stop you from writing a qualifying note in addition to your signature and physical address. OTO posting of the Liber is an alternative. There is less danger from strangers, but posting Liber OZ at an O.T.O. Lodge is equally valorous in another sense. By posting copies at the religious and secular locations of the Lodge (or "edifice") you would be stating that your membership is not less important than your adherence to Thelemic principles. That is an honorable act, and should have no more risk than posting in a more public place. They also are worthy who choose to defend freedom at home.

In O.T.O., no detailed interpretation is made for the initiate of Liber OZ. Individuals are granted the understanding of this in their own way, save only that we would certainly expel anyone who showed signs of exercising an imagined personal right to kill out of simple frustration. The key to Liber OZ is in the word "Man". It is not "each man", "any man", "I", "any person", etc. It is the term "Man", meaning "Human Kind". The oath affirms what history has proven down through the ages. Life is not more precious than freedom. Life is given and taken in the conflict of nations in the passage toward the universal brotherhood of Mankind. That is done in war. That is done by the State in instances when the State is so morally weak or materially starved as to have no other recourse. That is done by martyrs to causes upon their own persons (the only sense in which I can see an individual "man" in this). The only life which I consider that I have the absolute right to end is my own. There are cases where self- defense of one's own life could be challenged without injury to the spirit of Liber OZ, but I do not pretend to such a degree of sanctity. To assent that "Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights", is to recognize that a People may rise against a tyrant, spending their own lives and those of the actively lethal enemy in extremis when there is no alternative. It is to recognize that Nations go to war and that States have the right to take any steps necessary against a criminal so pernicious and vile as to steal the life and lives of the populous. No man has the right to kill me, save I commence to kill another. I have no right to kill another man save perhaps in self-defense or in the defense of my people, in accord with just laws of the State. A well ordered State has no death penalty, and no need of such. What State is well ordered? Only where there is no State would the right of Mankind default to the duty of a man in so dire a matter.

If you do your true will, no one shall prohibit you. If you have that clearly in mind, you know the higher aspect of Liber OZ; that it is but a statement of the nature of things. How "kill" in this sense? Is it not to simply know that the True Will brooks no interference of this magnitude? That a very mountain would move and fall in upon itself to create a meadow for your garden, if that's the thing your Will has rendered Law. Men die. Men are born. Man lives. We age and pass away so that life may be refreshed of our opinions and the Child come eternally. If a man dies in an accident, is it not because he reached his end and could continue only in the defiance of true Will, a thing that cannot be? If a man is murdered, it is the same for him and for his murderer. True oaths, like all true things, must become one with their opposites beyond the Abyss. In Liber OZ, the sense of tension is so resolved when the swearer comes to see the oath as a statement of Truth, not a prohibition and a right.

On the hazard of security, this is an illusion. If the outside is so threatening, post it in the smaller community of religion and secular authority that is your own Lodge. Do not think that such words make a difference to the outer world. Lack of reasonable caution can lead to regrettable consequences, therefore be reasonably cautious. Post it where it will be a "Scarlet" letter, ignored because of the hurry of the place. Post it where it will be seen as "Nutso" instead of "Maniacal". Safety is an illusion. This secret is not kept by the nature of the world. We keep faith with each other, and do not harm our brothers and sisters. We keep duty with ourselves, and do not shirk the risk at need. The police will have their fantasies, as do we. Let us not assume that the police don't have files because we have comforting fantasies! If that file contains a conviction for murder, that is a serious matter. If that file contains an undirected declaration, it contains far less than the false rumors already spread about us.

Liber OZ, the "Book of the Goat and Tree", is not obsolete. It is to teach. It is to bring the initiate to self-realization of these things. It is to induce a crisis of conscience. Dramatic ritual is not in a box or on the boards alone. The Drama of initiation fails if there are no questions raised to life after. I will concede that Crowley lived with his foot precariously perched before his mouth, but I don't find Liber OZ a prime example of that penchant.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

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Last Month's
Mystery Illustration

Our February Mystery Illustration showed the dim and dark interior of the birthplace of Joan of Arc. Those of our readers who protested that the picture was too dim and dark to make out clearly missed an obvious clue! This engraving was taken from The Comprehensive History of England... by Charles MacFarlane and Thomas Thomson, Blackie & Son, London, 1867 e.v., Vol. I., p. 588.

Joan or Jeanne D'arc was born in 1412 e.v. at the village of Domremy, in Lorraine. She followed the knowledge and conversation of angels to achieve military liberation of France. She met death by burning at the stake in 1431 e.v. Her life affords a prime example of the struggle to attainment of the Great Work. Crowley took an interest in Joan's horoscope in the process of writing his works on Astrology with E.Adams. Crowley also wrote The Banned Lecture, a defense of Gilles de Rais, Joan's general and the Marshal of France who was executed under the Blood Libel in 1440 e.v.

Mystery Illustration

In 1970-71 e.v. several books were bought by your Editor from a liquidated library sale in Oakland, California. This book mark was in some of them. Let's see if our readers recognize the mark. Here's a clue: This Order was founded before the Golden Dawn in the 'States by followers of B.P.Randolph. It's still around in several forms. Some of the books bearing this mark were first editions by Crowley, Steiner and Westcott.

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FROM THE HISTORY HEAP
MARCH

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law -- Liber AL vel Legis I:40

March 1, 1888
The Isis-Urania Temple of The Golden Dawn is officially 'Chartered'. Later A.E.Waite would unexpectedly take charge of the temple and refuse to have any "truck" with the Secret Chiefs whether in or out of the body.

March 5, 1887
The local doctor advised an immediate operation for cancer of the tongue. Plymouth Brethren from near and far were summoned to help discover the Lord's will in this matter, the operation was declined. Thus Edward Crowley, Plymouth Brethren preacher and father of Aleister Crowley died on this date.

March 9, 1929
Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie are told they must go and are expelled from France, after an inspector called on them and argued that their coffee-brewing machine was an infernal device for distilling drugs.

March 10, 1582
John Dee meets Edward Kelly for the first time.

March 10, 1985
Israel Regardie dies in Arizona on this date.

March 13, 1911
Lafayette Ron Hubbard is born, founder of Scientology. His son upon leaving the 'church' would say, "What a lot of people don't realize is that Scientology is black magic that is just spread over a long period of time. Black magic is the inner core of Scientology - and it is probably the only part of Scientology that really works."

March 13, 1926
Mrs.Marian Dockerill, the sister of Leah Hirsig publishes her expose on Aleister Crowley's cult in a series of articles which began running on this date in the New York Journal entitled 'My Life in a Love Cult'.

March 14, 1904
Aleister Crowley rents a flat in Cairo.

March 15, 1937
Howard Phillip Lovecraft dies at the age of 46.

March 16, 1244
200 Cathar 'Perfects' are burned at the stake after they surrender their castle fortress at Montesegur in France rather than 'giving up their faith'.

March 16, 1904
Aleister Crowley recited an invocation in order to enable his wife, Rose to see the Sylphs, the elemental spirits of water. Rose saw nothing, but got into a curious dream state in which she kept repeating "They are waiting for you!".

March 18, 1313
James de Molay the Grand Master of the Templars is burned at the stake.

March 19, 1933
The first public performance of The Gnostic Mass is held in California at the Agape Lodge.

March 21, 1875
Jane Wolfe is born.

March 21, 1904
Aleister Crowley takes the Oath of a Probationer in the A Ataking the motto 'Perdurabo'.

March 22, 1920
Aleister Crowley and Ninette leave Cefalu with the 'brats' for Marseilles, Leah Hirsig goes off to London.

March 23, 1904
Aleister Crowley's wife, Rose identifies the 'god' waiting for Crowley as that found upon the stele No.666 at the Boulak museum.

March 27, 1920
Aleister Crowley arrives in Cefalu.

March 30, 1925
Rudolf Steiner dies.

Love is the law, love under will. -- Liber AL vel Legis I:57

A.O.583 VIII°

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Events Calendar for March 1993 e.v.

3/4/93	Thelemite Du Jour 7:30 PM	Thelema Ldg.
3/7/93	LOP & Adviser Council 3:33 PM	Thelema Ldg.
3/13/93	Initiations, Call to attend (Minerval Degree)	Thelema Ldg.
3/14/93	Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.
3/20/93	Book Removal 1PM (see text)	Thelema Ldg.
3/21/93	Equinox of the Gods Feast 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.
3/25/93	TLC Back Issue sort (call to attend)	Thelema Ldg.
3/27/93	Initiations, Call to attend (First Degree)	Thelema Ldg.
3/28/93	Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.