Thelema Lodge Calendar for May 1993 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for May 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

May 1993 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

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

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

NOTICE

Important: As mentioned in last month's calendar Thelema Lodge has moved into a house. The new address is now 328 49th Street, Oakland. All events scheduled on this calendar will be held at the new address unless otherwise noted.

A Lodge Warming Party

Hopefully (the Lodge Master says with a chuckle) by Saturday May 15th the Lodge will be totally settled into its new location, which is important since we will be hosting our official 'Lodge Warming Party' to show off the new place on this date! We know it's going to be difficult to get everything unpacked, on the shelves or up on the walls, but we feel with a little help from the Gods it can be done. If you would like to come see the new place, show up anytime after 5:00pm or call for details (510) 658-3280. Everyone is invited, and (as always) please bring food and drink to help with the feast which is scheduled to begin around 7:00pm. So come with your appetite and good conversation! We are looking forward to seeing everyone and having a great time.

Lodge Business

The Lodge of Perfection meets Sunday, May 2nd at 3:33pm. In the new tradition this Sunday (as every 1st Sunday in any month) is reserved for members of the IVth Degree and above to enjoy the hospitality and congeniality of the Lodge. All Fourth Degrees are welcomed to attend.

The Thelema Lodge Meeting will be held on Monday, May 3rd at 8:00pm. All members are encouraged to attend as we discuss the calendar events and other issues of importance in the Bay area. This month after the "business" is discussed, Jerry will divulge the 'entire' History Heap for the month of May; and all present will be treated with, or at least subjected to, the unexpurgated, unedited all-inclusive complete treatise of occult and other strange events for the month of May. Bring you pencils and write fast for this is surely an unusual collection of trivia. What you have seen in this newsletter is only a small fraction of the factual feast. Anyone knowledgeable about any obscurity that occurred in May is welcome to offer their data for the heap.

The official ritual of the O.T.O., Liber XV 'The Gnostic Mass' is scheduled for three Sundays this month: May 9th, will be the first Mass at the 'New' location! So come and see the new Temple. The next Masses will be on the 23rd and the 30th. We plan to open the doors at 3:33pm with the ritual starting at 4:18pm or soon thereafter. This event is open to the public but newcomers are encouraged to call first.

There are two Initiations scheduled this month: Second Degree on May 8th and Third Degree on May 29th. All members of the respective degrees are encouraged to attend; call first for exact time and details, or you can obtain the info when you attend this month's Lodge Meeting.

Thelemite du Jour

This month explores what has been written about women girt with swords - authors will include Crowley, Parsons & others. Starting at 4:18pm on Sunday, May 16th. Remember to bring your reading voice and thinking cap. Suggestions of pieces to read on this topic for future sessions are greatly appreciated. (There is no Mass scheduled on this date.)

Minerval Ritual Workshop

By popular demand we once again delve into the mysteries and unfoldment of the Minerval Degree. Visual and verbal aids will help to clarify the development of this degree. All members are welcome to attend on Friday May 21st at 7:00pm. This event is for initiates only!

The Magical Link

Jim Graeb hosts this symposium upon the theory behind the Magical Link. This will be held at Thelema Lodge on Saturday, May 22nd beginning at 6:00pm. Come join the discussion upon this basic concept with complicated application.

Beltane

Celebrate Spring in San Francisco with flowers in your hair! Beltane will be observed on Saturday, May 1st, time TBA (but probably during daylight?). Jewel is offering to coordinate this festive event, call (415) 666-3332 for details. Rumor has it that there will be a romp in the park followed by .... ?

Crowley Classics

Here's another letter from Crowley with tantalizing glimpses into the mysteries and a bit for O.T.O. historians. This was written to Grady McMurtry a little over a year and a half before Crowley's Greater Feast. The document mentioned below was an extension of Grady's authority. The allusion to the secret of the IX° means nothing without possession of the secret instruction of the degree and the necessary training through initiation that precedes it.De Arte Magica gives but little more. For those who have the secret, here's a reminder to shun no ancient sources. For the others, here's another damned, irritating hint!

Netherwood,
    The Ridge,
        HASTINGS

10th April, 1946

Dear Grady,

Thanks very much for yours of March 31st.

Yes, Frederic came to see me over a weekend, and I am hoping that he will be able to manage something like a month here a bit later in the year when he gets some leave. He was tremendously useful while he was here, sorting out letters and things which had got into the most infernal mess. Everything is now so tidy that I am afraid to look for anything I want!
I shall enclose with this letter the authorisation which you require. I think it is best to leave as much in your hands as possible, as you are more or less on the spot and appear to be full of youth and energy as ever. I will write the document required with my own fair hand.
The quotations is: "You should act as if you had omnipotence at your command and eternity at your disposal," and the author Eliaphaz Levi. I do not know where in his writing to look for it; I think you will find it in one of the books mistranslated by Waite.
Interesting about the Bees.
I cannot be sure whether you refer to the 9th Degree story in the Book of Judges where Samson killed a lion with the jaw bone of an ass (the ass of course being sacred to Priapus). He returns the next day and find himself hungry; going to the carcass of the lion, he finds that bees have swarmed in it, and gets their honey. This is only one of several stories in the Old Testament where the 9th Degree is definitely advertised.
I am very glad you are practising regularly; that is the only thing that counts. The longer I live the more I get bored by the people who boast of their theoretical knowledge which leads absolutely nowhere, if you take it as an end in itself.
The gods that you quote are not at all those given in Liber Resh and I do not see why you should depart from the text, but if for some reason you find them more suited to your peculiar style of beauty, go ahead and heaven prosper you! As long as you do not get into a state of imagining that it matters such a devil of a lot if you have got some detail wrong. It is this state of doubt which damages people's practices. You drift more and more vaguely into the uncharted archipelago of theory; and presently arrive at a state of jitters in which none of your practises work any more at all.
"Uncharted archipelago" reminds me that I went completely crackers yesterday and wrote two poems. In fact during the whole day I found myself thinking in rime; a most curious business. I cannot imagine what started me. However the poems are written and will shortly be copied; I will send you copies.
I refuse to dive into the morass of Budge's books. He was a very dull scholar; and, while accurate in a pedantic way, had no real idea what the Egyptians meant by any of it; so beware.
I have not heard of this book on Alchemy. You are not going to side-track me in any such crude manner. I am completely tired (for this whole incarnation) of reading.
I am not yet through with the dentist, but last week he started the constructive part of the job, and I think that it will all be finished pretty soon after Easter. I hope this will improve my health and temper.
Curse Frederic for sending other people copies of photographs of me without my approval, especially that he did not send me any at all.
Love is the law, love under will,
                     Yours ever,
                            {signed} ALEISTER
Lieut. Grady L. McMurtry
1661 Sacramento St., Apt. 3
         San Francisco 9. California
{handwritten postscript}
I'm sending you Louis Marlow's "Forth Beast!" which has bits about me in it, & a note on its use to the Worker
I can't write more, or properly, till I get my new reading glasses. Sorry! A.C.

Previous Crowley Classics Next Crowley Classics

Archivist Anecdotes

Friends & Acquaintances
of Aleister Crowley

Part V

C.J. 'Hopey' Hope-Johnstone

This gentleman was hired as a private tutor for the children of the artist, Augustus John, who did numerous drawings of Aleister Crowley. He was also the Editor of the Burlington Magazine for a short time and personally knew Crowley. He apparently enjoyed his company very much and saw him quite often.

Not much has been written about their relationship but one interesting story is worth repeating. Apparently, Crowley once "... remarked, 'Hope-J, I'd very much like you to greet me with a phrase from the Book of the Law whenever we meet.' Hope-Johnstone, examining this curious compilation of Crowley's, came on the sentence: 'Curse them, Curse them, Curse them!', which henceforward he always made a point of using at future encounters."¹

One can picture Aleister Crowley saying, 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law' but its hard to imagine what expression would have been on his face when he first heard the reply come back 'Curse them, Curse them, Curse them!'.

--- Frater Archivist

Further Reading

Augustus John, A Biography by Michael Holroyd, Penguin Books England, 1976.

Note:
1. Messenger of Day, The Memoirs of Anthony Powell, Vol.II, Holt, Rinehart & Winston,

NY, 1978, pg.82. The Archives of HA, File No.674.

Previous Archivist Anecdotes Next Archivist Anecdotes

from the Grady Project:

Dea

The leeching vacuum of hard space

Has sucked my tissues dry

And left a little pile of dust

Beneath the Gothic sky.

    Mother Goddess, Queen of Space

    Virgin of the Caverned Deep

    Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright

    Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap

Thy longing pulls all worlds to Thee

Upon the dark Space Sea.

Intoxicated on our Blood

Thy Soul sings fittingly.

    Mother Goddess, Queen of Space

    Virgin of the Caverned Deep

    Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright

    Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap

Thy spirit of stability

Moves on the altered Dark;

The blood Thy Saints have bled for Thee

Spills from Thy grail-fire Ark.

    Mother Goddess, Queen of Space

    Virgin of the Caverned Deep

    Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright

    Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap

Thy crescent priestess, Lunar Star,

Has met me on Thy path

To guide my driving, homeward thrust

And shield Thy Gorgon wrath.

    Mother Goddess, Queen of Space

    Virgin of the Caverned Deep

    Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright

    Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap

Thy Beauty, drunken on our Blood

And pregnant with our Death,

Casts forth our soul-fire, born again

As Stars before thy breath.

    Mother Goddess, Queen of Space

    Virgin of the Caverned Deep

    Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright

    Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap

4/4/62

-- Grady L. McMurtry

Published 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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Book Review:

Hecate's Fountain by Kenneth Grant, Skoob Books, London, 1992. Distributed in the USA by New Leaf Distributing Co., Atlanta, GA.

Kenneth Grant was Aleister Crowley's personal secretary from 1944 to 1945 e.v. Grant became a member of O.T.O. and was given a charter to open an O.T.O. Camp in London in 1951 e.v. by Frater Saturnus, Karl Germer, then Outer Head of the O.T.O. and Crowley's immediate successor. Grant interpreted this charter to signify that he had full right to establish a complete Lodge of O.T.O. and to issue a manifesto. The Manifesto of New Isis Lodge recognized Germer's as World-Head of O.T.O.; but there were so many errors, misconstrued titles and presumptions of authority in the document that Germer expelled Grant in July of 1955 e.v. Grant choose to ignore the expulsion, and Hecate's Fountain gives a fantasy account of the doings of "New Isis Lodge". Whether or not any of the described goings-on actually took place is not clear from the book, but it is evident that many anachronisms have crept in. See the "Primary Sources" column in the Thelema Lodge Calendar of September 1992 e.v. for a summary documentation of Grant's involvement with Crowley, O.T.O. and Germer.

Folks who like Grant's theories, believe TV commercials and recognize Bela Lugosi as the greatest cinematic talent of the 20th century should not read this review. If those are your interests, simply rent a copy of Plan Nine from Outer Space, stick it in the VCR and curl up on the couch for your intellectual challenge of the day.

Hecate's Fountain alternates specious speculations on Thelema with spates of garbled gematria and narrations of nauseous gamboling. The usurpation rate is somewhat abated, with only a few scattered claims of Grant being the head of O.T.O. (e.g. p. 236). There are remarks about people being in the O.T.O. who never heard more than the name (p. 243). Grant claims that the "Typhonian Order of the Outer" is O.T.O. (pp. 250-251) and also falsely asserts that his various productions came out of the O.T.O. Sovereign Sanctuary (p.89). New Isis "Lodge" is described as existing from 1955 e.v. until 1962 e.v., even though it could have had no connection to O.T.O. after mid 1955 e.v. (p. 257).

At one time it appeared that Grant was a sort of stagnant back-water of the stream of Thelema. He experimented with two of Crowley's more difficult works, Liber Arcanorum Atu Tahuti Quas Vidit Asar in Amennti sub figura CCXXXI and Liber Carcerorum Qliphoth cum Suis Geniis. Together with sigils, these form one compound treatise, very short and mainly dealing with the illusions cast by "Choronzon" to destroy the "Babe of the Abyss". Grant inverted the usual rule; and, defying 3,000 years of mystical tradition, dove head-first into the Abyss by embracing all obstacles and illusions as truth. He reversed Crowley's stern warning that Astral travel was useless and obsessive if unduly indulged without proper tests. Hecate's Fountain abounds with absurd twittery. To judge by the excited descriptions of staging and astral mass hysteria it would appear that Grant has managed to confuse mammalian sex with fish spawning! The dramatic rituals recounted have one element in common; all failed drastically. Grant alleges that monsters emerged from aquaria to have sex with his priestesses and that people went mad or died in these goings on. Nothing daunted, Grant coins a new term for these flops: "Tangential tantrum", a catastrophic interruption in dramatic ritual. In this he endorses failure as success. Such breaks, however amusing as anecdotes, are fatal to the working. An ape disappears after a dangerous fire-works trick. Amphibians, mollusks, reptiles and bugs go into heat for human beings. There is no end of glory in this stuff - as if a magician had nothing better to do than ramp about, chittering in the Miasma! Grant's general method denies the absolute necessity to pass the Abyss, and insists that the worker should leap into it via Da'at (The "Mauve Zone"). This appears to be a deliberate attempt to be one with the classic "Black Brotherhood" - perhaps even as Crowley would define it, though not as a true monster like Hitler would manifest it.

Grant continues his ridiculous ideas about deities, Qabalah and O.T.O. Please note that, contrary to Grant's assertion, Hoor-pa Kraat is not Set or the darkside of Horus (Set-Horus is quite another critter). Grant's ideas of Nuit and Hadit are grossly off. The term usually translated from Hebrew as "paths" actually does mean "channels", "conduits" or "tunnels"; and nothing is accomplished by Grant calling the negative of these paths "Tunnels of Set". The "back-side of the Tree of Life" is a way of describing the equivalent of sanitary plumbing, not the lower or Qlipothic forms of the Tree in Malkut. Gematria addicts always feel a leap of delight when they encounter a page or so of compressed word and number association. Sad the case of the fellow who gets out his index card box to add this material to his number dictionary. One minute it's interesting stuff about the Sephiroth with a tantalizing admixture of Eastern terminology and Voodoo. Then suddenly Yuggoth is Keter and the whole thing poops out like a shaken souffle. Grant considers the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft as revealed sacred scripture. There are distorted terms from otherwise legitimate traditions. As for the rest, neologism is not a valid alternative to literacy.

Even Grant's interpretation of the letters "O.T.O." is abysmal. To be sure, these Roman letters can resemble male genitalia, but there is no sign in this work that Grant knows the secret Anagram.

Grant obtained the portrait of "LAM" (see Equinox III, 1) from Crowley as a sort of gift for services rendered. This drawing shows a pinched, bald head emerging from a vulva at birth. Grant notes on page 149 that Crowley considered LAM to represent "the 'soul' of a dead lama". Now, LAM is being made out as some sort of flying saucer deity and an emissary from the Great Old Ones beyond the Stars (p. 251). Bother and nonsense! Can't an Exempt Adept do a simple hypostasis without some fellow starting up a punker religion on it? It's enough to make a soul consider an incarnation on Aldebaran, and we all know what it smells like there in late 4th Spring!

It is to be deeply regretted that Grant saw fit to blacken the reputations of Cameron Parsons (text around page 30) and J. F. C. Fuller (p. 98). Mrs. Parsons is presented to be a psychic basket case, whereas she is one of the performing lights of avant-garde cinema. Fuller is described as having abandoned Crowley to become a follower of Hitler. Admittedly, Fuller was invited to Hitler's 50th birthday party before the outbreak of WWII, but he didn't see fit to go. It is not within reason that the British government would promote a follower of Hitler to the rank of Brigadier General.

If you like playing with fresh feces and miss being a slug in bygone incarnations, this is your book. The occasional distortions of The Magical Revival have passed through transformation into bowling pins dipped in tar with shoe-button eyes in Nightside of Eden to become your Cup of Sludge in Hecate's Fountain. I pass mention of Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, an embarrassment where Grant missed the fact that "The Hidden God" was simply Crowley's sobriquet for W.T.Smith.
-- Bill Heidrick

Qabalah
Sepher Yetzirah

(5th 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.]

Chapter Five. (cont.)

Section Four.

The twelve constellations in the world are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius and Pisces. The twelve {Hebrew} months of the year are: Nisan {the seventh month}, Ivar, Sivan, Tamus, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Mavcheshvan {also called Chesvan} Kislev, Tebet, Shebat and Adar. The twelve organs of the human body are: two hands two feet, two kidneys, gall, small intestines, liver, esophagus, stomach and milt {either the spleen or reproductive organs. Both systems have been often confused in Theosophical writings and ancient sources. The degree of absurdity involved in this relationship is incredible. This presumes a "rape" ethos in the culture, owing to the association of violence to the spleen and sex to the genitals.}

Section Five.

First Division. God let the letter Hay

predominate in Sight {K.T. is Speech}, crowned it, combined one with the other and formed by them: Aries in the world, the month Nisan in the Year, and the right foot of the human body, male and female.

Section Six.

Second Division. He let the letter Vau

predominate in Hearing {K.T. is Thinking}, crowned it combined one with the other, and formed by them: Taurus in the world, the month Iyar in the year and the right kidney of the human body, male and female.

Section Seven.

Third Division. He let the letter Zain

predominate in Smell {K.T. is Walking}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Gemini in the world, the month Sivan in the year, and the left foot of the human body, male and female.

Section Eight.

First Division. He let the letter Chet

predominate in Speech {K.T. gives Seeing}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Cancer in the world, the month Tamus in the year, and the right hand of the human body, male and female.

Section Nine.

Second Division. He let the letter Tet

predominate in Digestion or Swallowing {K.T. gives Hearing}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Leo in the world, the month Ab in the year, and the left kidney of the human body, male and female.

Section Ten.

Third Division. He let the letter Yod

predominate in Touch or Coition {K.T. gives Working}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them Virgo in the world, the month Elul in the year, and the left hand of the human body, male and female.

Section Eleven.

First Division. He let the letter Lamed

predominate in Work {K.T. says Coition}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Libra in the world, the month Tishri in the year, and the gall of the human body, male and female.

Section Twelve.

Second Division. He let the letter Nun

predominate in Motion or Walking {K.T. says Smelling}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Scorpio in the world, the month Marcheshvan in the year, and the small intestines of the human body, male and female.

Section Thirteen.

Third Division. He let the letter Samekh

predominate in Anger {K.T. says Sleep}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Sagittarius in the world, the month Kislev in the year, and the stomach of the human body, male and female.

Section Fourteen.

First Division. He let the letter Ayin

predominate in Laughter {K.T. assigns Anger}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Capricorn in the world, the month Tebes in the year, and the liver in the human body, male and female.

Section Fifteen.

Second Division. He let the letter Tzaddi

predominate in Meditation or Thinking {K.T. assigns Swallowing}, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Aquarius in the world, the month Schwat in the year, and the esophagus of the human body, male and female.

Previous Part of the Sepher Yetzirah Chapter Five to be continued.

Primary Sources

A.C. in the Press:
Crowley frequently was the object of gross attacks in the press, but not always. Here are two excerpts from contemporary newspaper accounts that are more fair than some. It will be seen that Crowley often managed to set himself up for eventual problems in various novel ways, even when no one else did it for him.

From The Star, 22nd June, 1929, New Zealand:

BLACK MAGIC DENIED

Former Spy's exploits.

Ordered to quit Paris.

An Englishman, against whom there are accusations of having practised black magic and of offences against decency, has been ordered to quit Paris. He is Edward Alexander Crowley, and caused some stir in London years ago.

Born in Leamington 53 years ago and educated at Malvern and Trinity College, Cambridge, his profession was that of a poet and a writer on Buddhism. He had, he said, published books for over thirty years, and lived by authorship and on invested money.

A strange, wandering life he led. He travelled through China on foot, and almost succeeded in ascending the Himalayas, and was received at Thibet by the sacred lamas.

During the war he went to America and participated in German counter- espionage, but he declares that he lent himself to this role in agreement with the British Naval Intelligence Service, and that by the influence he exercised he succeeded in counter-balancing the formidable German organisation which existed in the United States.

"I had no difficulty in ingratiating myself with the New York Irishmen," he said, "for my name, which was that of many of them, served as a passport. I discussed with Bernsdorff, the German Ambassador, the possibility of an Irish revolution, and to further this idea I wrote violent articles in the German paper in New York, 'Das Vaterland,' and suggested that England should become a German colony.

"But I did these things in order to win the confidence of the Germans. The object I had in view was to make the German submarines sink American ships, and so compel America to enter the war. I was well in with the chief of the American Naval Intelligence Service, and I have sent him a telegram begging him to send me a letter, which I shall forward to the French Government."

When he was pressed to give the reasons why the police had ordered him to leave France, Crowley said that he knew of none. There have been allegations that he had organised parties in his flat, that black magic was practised there, and that he was guilty of offences against morality.

He admits that he has written a great deal about magic.

"There is no accusation against me," he declared. "My sweetheart was expelled. She was told that a service was being rendered to her by separating her from me. When she demanded what it was the French authorities had against me they suggested that I was a trafficker in cocaine. This is ridiculous. Afterwards they said: 'It is not that. Perhaps that is not true. It is something else. The real reason is too terrible.'

"I have lived in Paris for seven years. I have led a peaceable life, writing during the day, and playing chess at my club in the evenings. I was notified on March 9 that I would have to leave. ..."

The article continues with the famous coffee machine story.

-oOo-

From the The Times, August 19th, 1929.

ALEISTER CROWLEY

MARRIED

-----

Ceremony in Leipzig After Being Banned from France.

Mr. Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley, the English mystic writer, has been married at Leipzig to Mlle. Maria Teresa Ferrari de Miramar, who is a native of Nicaragua.

The marriage ceremony, according to an announcement, was performed in the presence of the British Consul...

Mr. Aleister Crowley was recently refused the right to stay in France. He stated that his fiancee had also been forced to leave France.

Mr. Crowley was born at Leamington 53 years ago and was educated in Malvern and Trinity College, Cambridge. He had been through China on foot, has been received by the sacred lamas in Thibet, and has reached other remote places, such as the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

He came into prominence in London in 1911 when his picture was painted by Augustus John.

During the war he went to America and participated in German counter-espionage, declaring that he did this at the request of the British Naval Intelligence Department.

Well, at least Crowley isn't advocating sinking of American shipping this time; but let it be remembered that Maria later capped her career by breaking into Buckingham Palace and demanding that the Prince of Wales recognize her has his natural daughter!

Want to read more press clippings? Check out the Archives of H.A. at the new Thelema Lodge location.

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Last Month's
Mystery Illustration

Apologies to those who went half blind trying to read last month's Mystery Illustration. It seemed like a good joke at the time ... A more legible map of the way to the new Thelema Lodge location will be found in this issue. Now, if your Editor can find his way back from "Amsterdam", we will resume with the next:

Mystery Illustration

Clue: It's not Bilbo Baggins.

Previous Mystery Illustration Answer and Next Mystery Illustration

From the Outbasket

The following is one of my old columns from the O.T.O. Newsletter, March 1978 e.v., issue #4. The O.T.O. Newsletter was published between 1977 e.v. and 1980 e.v. and immediately preceded the Magic(k)al Link as the chief Grand Lodge publication. Recently the first six issues were proof read and converted to IBM ASCII for 5 1/4 diskettes. Works by Crowley, Hymenaeus Alpha and many more, including yours truly, appeared there for the first time. Folks with compatible computers might like to write for the diskette text catalog at: O.T.O.; P.O.Box 430, Fairfax, CA 94978 USA. The catalogue lists all of Equinox Vol. I and many works by Crowley and others, in excess of the equivalent of 5,000 single space pages.{Note to Web edition: this offer is no longer available for diskette, but email attachment of text files can be obtained. The texts are also available on several Web sites and online services}

Please remember that this selection is 15 years old. The Caliph mentioned is Grady McMurtry, Hymenaeus Alpha. The present Grand Master/Caliph is Hymenaeus Beta.

Doing Liber AL

by Bill Heidrick

In the past three issues of the O.T.O. Newsletter, several aspects of Liber AL, The Book of the Law, have been taken up. One thing that seems to have been left out, however is DOING LIBER AL... that is, practices that relate to the book but do not involve mental study as the primary activity. This brief article will mention a few ideas that may be of interest.

Memorization and diary: Consider writing one verse of Liber AL per page of your diary, or per entry. The verse could be memorized through mental repetition throughout the day.

Thoth working: Copy the entire text out by hand. This is a very good practice to perform before one's meditation.

Bibliomancy: When in need of divination, simply open Liber AL at random and take an omen from whatever verse strikes your eye. Crowley cast aspersions on bibliomancy in general, but he often advised the use of Liber AL in this manner. The operative principle behind this method rests on the esteem in which the book is held.

Agreements between Thelemites: When engaging in business, parting, meeting or otherwise holding gentle commerce between Thelemites, an appropriate act would be the reading or recitation of the first chapter of Liber AL together. This practice is similar to the manner of Moslems with the first chapter of the Koran.

In times of confusion and loneliness: Try reading or reciting the second chapter of Liber AL. This practice is also advised as a preliminary to study or the making of a difficult decision.

In times of physical and Magical danger: The third chapter is a proper device. Read it or recite it together before entering military combat, going to a dangerous place, or in times of fear. A letter or other document that is loaded with bad vibes may be neutralized through placement in the third chapter of Liber AL - kindly do not over-stuff the book with old bills.

Mantra: This is a particular favorite of the Caliph. Some of the passages in Liber AL lend themselves very well to mantric chant. This is particularly true of the poetic variations on The Stele of the Revealing that are present in Liber AL. Many of these lines are a bit far removed from literal translation of the lines of the Stele, but poetry transcends precision in the strictly literal manner. Suggested sections for mantra include: I: 14, II: 17. III: 37 and 38. The last mentioned is of particular value in circle chants with many people: "Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit! Bid me within thine House to dwell, O winged snake of light, Hadit! Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!"

Artistry: Draw, model or paint the images of the deities in Liber AL. Make the devices described. Illustrate the images.

Astral Travel: Journey to the temples and places mentioned.

Invocation of the deities: This is particularly important for Order work. Such invocation can be active on many levels. It can be a simple practice to lessen the problems of the day, or it can become a key to the inner workings of Thelema. If you are oppressed with anger or frustration, your Hadit nature is too contracted. It is correct to invoke Nuit. If you are without aim or focus, your Nuit nature is too diffuse. It is then correct to invoke Hadit. For the two forms of Horus, study the two parts of the third chapter to obtain a subtle understanding.

Consider the two basic forms of souls. Crowley said that a man's soul is concentrated in a core, while a woman's soul is empty - its essence is on the outside. This classification is not strictly one of physical gender; more it is a way of speaking about a primary mystery. The same mystery is voiced when it is said that: "The aspirants to A

are men. The brothers of A

are women." This mystery cannot be explained fully outside of initiation; but it is closely related to the invocation of the deities of Liber AL, and to the differences between a "male" or Outer Order like O.T.O. and a "female" or Inner Order like A

As an aid to these things, try this. Meditate on all that surrounds you as a single thing apart from you. Continue this mental focus until all about you is like a vast and crowded shell of alien matter. This is the concentration in the outer of Hadit. Turn your concentration inward to the essential point of self. This is the concentration in the inner of Hadit. Then let the point quest toward the shell outside. Let a great yearning grow toward the ending of the separation. Now, let your mind extend itself to objects near you. Feel the calendar on the wall, the wall itself, the earth outside, the sky - all as parts of your essential self. When this identification becomes so complete that you are able to see through solid objects with Astral vision, you have come to Nuit in the outer. To discover the inner of Nuit, you must learn to sacrifice a part of the grip you hold to your physical body.

Literal Practices: At times, especially in the third chapter of Liber AL, practices are suggested that are only valid in a crude manner in the most extreme of circumstances. Be cautious in listening to the voice of the Ape of Thoth. Many of the things that can be literally done according to Liber AL are not so limited by circumstance. Physical love between two people of any physical gender is a thing of beauty. Let circumstance and good sense determine these workings. With regard to strange drugs - reckon by the whole of the Law.

Other ways of doing: These are many. Establishment of feasts, design of ritual, passing out copies of Liber AL ... the list is endless.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

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FROM THE HISTORY HEAP
MAY

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

May 1, 1776
Adam Weishaupt founds the Illuminati on this date.

May 1, 1923
Crowley is expelled from Italy by Mussolini.

May 1 (?)
Crowley's wife, Maria Teresa de Miramar is born.

May 2, 1937
Aleister Crowley's son Attaturk is born.

May 3, 1587
John Dee and Edward Kelly swap wives.

May 6, 1678
Catherine Deshayes, known as La Voisin is condemned to die. After being tortured for many hours she was burnt alive in the 'iron chair' for her crimes in France.

May 6, 1883
Victor Benjamin Neuburg born.

May 7, 1988
Robert A. Heinlein dies in California.

May 8, 1891
Blavatsky dies in London at the age of sixty.

May 9, 1910
Aleister Crowley evokes 'Bartzabel' the Spirit of Mars into the body of Victor Neuburg.

May 9, 1945
Rudolf von Sebottendorff the founder of the German Thule Society commits suicide by jumping off a bridge into the river Bosporus.

May 10, 1922
R.Swinburne Clymer succeeds as Grand Master of the Rosicrucians after the death of Brown.

May 10, 1929
Israel Regardie arrives in Paris to meet Crowley.

May 10, 1941
Karl Germer is arrested by the Nazis and held for ten months in a concentration camp.

May 11, 1923
Aleister Crowley arrives in Tunis after being expelled from Italy by Mussolini.

May 12, 1954
Wilhelm Reich contacts a UFO hovering over his laboratory in Rangeley, Maine.

May 13, 1915
Spencer Lewis holds the first 'official' AMORC-Rosicrucian convocation in the United States.

May 15, 1956
Austin Osman Spare dies.

May 16, 1934
Norman Mudd dies.

May 16, 1945
Aleister Crowley writes in his diary about Kenneth Grant with concern "what shall I do about him? ... he must go on Wednesday, cunt of course ... he makes Neuburg stand out like the Shewe Dagon above a Jackal's turd!".

May 19, 1923
Crowley's child by Ninette Shumway, or Isabella Fraux is born on this date at Cefalu.

May 19, 1942
At 11:30pm Arthur Edward Waite died.

May 23, 1921
Aleister Crowley assumes the Oath of Ipsissimus in the AA, or 10 = 1

May 23, 1924
Kenneth Grant is born in London.

May 23, 1945
The Nazi Himmler commits suicide. Aleister Crowley writes in his diary on this date, "Himmler, the Schweinhund & worse, who put Karl Germer in Concentration Camp -- chiefly because he was my friend! -- killed himself after capture."

May 25, 1948
A UFO crashes in Aztec, New Mexico leaving sixteen alien bodies scattered across the area.

May 31, 1875
Eliphas Levi dies.

May 31, 1940
Victor Neuburg dies of tuberculosis.

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

A.O.583 VIII°

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Map of the new Location of Thelema Lodge
at 328 49th Street in Oakland.

{Note to Web edition: The Lodge has moved since this map was created back in 1993 e.v.}

Events Calendar for May 1993 e.v.

5/1/93	Beltane (Call for location)	Independant
5/2/93	LOP & Adviser Council 3:33 PM	Thelema Ldg.
5/3/93	Thelema Lodge meeting 8:00 PM & The History Heap, long form	Thelema Ldg.
5/8/93	Initiations, Call to attend (Second Degree)	Thelema Ldg.
5/9/93	Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.
5/15/93	House Warming Party (new Location)	Thelema Ldg.
5/16/93	Thelemite du Jure 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.
5/21/93	Minerval Ritual Workshop 7:00 PM (Minerval and higher, members only)	Thelema Ldg.
5/22/93	Symposium on the Magical Link 6 PM	Thelema Ldg.
5/23/93	Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.
5/29/93	Initiations, Call to attend (Third Degree)	Thelema Ldg.
5/30/93	Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM	Thelema Ldg.

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

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

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

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

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

		Netherwood, The Ridge, HASTINGS 10th April, 1946
	Dear Grady, Thanks very much for yours of March 31st. Yes, Frederic came to see me over a weekend, and I am hoping that he will be able to manage something like a month here a bit later in the year when he gets some leave. He was tremendously useful while he was here, sorting out letters and things which had got into the most infernal mess. Everything is now so tidy that I am afraid to look for anything I want! I shall enclose with this letter the authorisation which you require. I think it is best to leave as much in your hands as possible, as you are more or less on the spot and appear to be full of youth and energy as ever. I will write the document required with my own fair hand. The quotations is: "You should act as if you had omnipotence at your command and eternity at your disposal," and the author Eliaphaz Levi. I do not know where in his writing to look for it; I think you will find it in one of the books mistranslated by Waite. Interesting about the Bees. I cannot be sure whether you refer to the 9th Degree story in the Book of Judges where Samson killed a lion with the jaw bone of an ass (the ass of course being sacred to Priapus). He returns the next day and find himself hungry; going to the carcass of the lion, he finds that bees have swarmed in it, and gets their honey. This is only one of several stories in the Old Testament where the 9th Degree is definitely advertised. I am very glad you are practising regularly; that is the only thing that counts. The longer I live the more I get bored by the people who boast of their theoretical knowledge which leads absolutely nowhere, if you take it as an end in itself. The gods that you quote are not at all those given in Liber Resh and I do not see why you should depart from the text, but if for some reason you find them more suited to your peculiar style of beauty, go ahead and heaven prosper you! As long as you do not get into a state of imagining that it matters such a devil of a lot if you have got some detail wrong. It is this state of doubt which damages people's practices. You drift more and more vaguely into the uncharted archipelago of theory; and presently arrive at a state of jitters in which none of your practises work any more at all. "Uncharted archipelago" reminds me that I went completely crackers yesterday and wrote two poems. In fact during the whole day I found myself thinking in rime; a most curious business. I cannot imagine what started me. However the poems are written and will shortly be copied; I will send you copies. I refuse to dive into the morass of Budge's books. He was a very dull scholar; and, while accurate in a pedantic way, had no real idea what the Egyptians meant by any of it; so beware. I have not heard of this book on Alchemy. You are not going to side-track me in any such crude manner. I am completely tired (for this whole incarnation) of reading. I am not yet through with the dentist, but last week he started the constructive part of the job, and I think that it will all be finished pretty soon after Easter. I hope this will improve my health and temper. Curse Frederic for sending other people copies of photographs of me without my approval, especially that he did not send me any at all. Love is the law, love under will, Yours ever, {signed} ALEISTER Lieut. Grady L. McMurtry 1661 Sacramento St., Apt. 3 San Francisco 9. California {handwritten postscript} I'm sending you Louis Marlow's "Forth Beast!" which has bits about me in it, & a note on its use to the Worker I can't write more, or properly, till I get my new reading glasses. Sorry! A.C.

	The leeching vacuum of hard space
	Has sucked my tissues dry
	And left a little pile of dust
	Beneath the Gothic sky.
	Mother Goddess, Queen of Space
	Virgin of the Caverned Deep
	Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright
	Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap
	Thy longing pulls all worlds to Thee
	Upon the dark Space Sea.
	Intoxicated on our Blood
	Thy Soul sings fittingly.
	Mother Goddess, Queen of Space
	Virgin of the Caverned Deep
	Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright
	Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap
	Thy spirit of stability
	Moves on the altered Dark;
	The blood Thy Saints have bled for Thee
	Spills from Thy grail-fire Ark.
	Mother Goddess, Queen of Space
	Virgin of the Caverned Deep
	Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright
	Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap
	Thy crescent priestess, Lunar Star,
	Has met me on Thy path
	To guide my driving, homeward thrust
	And shield Thy Gorgon wrath.
	Mother Goddess, Queen of Space
	Virgin of the Caverned Deep
	Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright
	Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap
	Thy Beauty, drunken on our Blood
	And pregnant with our Death,
	Casts forth our soul-fire, born again
	As Stars before thy breath.
	Mother Goddess, Queen of Space
	Virgin of the Caverned Deep
	Crone of Dark Death, Maiden bright
	Magnet of Thy Star-son's leap
	4/4/62
	-- Grady L. McMurtry

May 1, 1776	Adam Weishaupt founds the Illuminati on this date.
May 1, 1923	Crowley is expelled from Italy by Mussolini.
May 1 (?)	Crowley's wife, Maria Teresa de Miramar is born.
May 2, 1937	Aleister Crowley's son Attaturk is born.
May 3, 1587	John Dee and Edward Kelly swap wives.
May 6, 1678	Catherine Deshayes, known as La Voisin is condemned to die. After being tortured for many hours she was burnt alive in the 'iron chair' for her crimes in France.
May 6, 1883	Victor Benjamin Neuburg born.
May 7, 1988	Robert A. Heinlein dies in California.
May 8, 1891	Blavatsky dies in London at the age of sixty.
May 9, 1910	Aleister Crowley evokes 'Bartzabel' the Spirit of Mars into the body of Victor Neuburg.
May 9, 1945	Rudolf von Sebottendorff the founder of the German Thule Society commits suicide by jumping off a bridge into the river Bosporus.
May 10, 1922	R.Swinburne Clymer succeeds as Grand Master of the Rosicrucians after the death of Brown.
May 10, 1929	Israel Regardie arrives in Paris to meet Crowley.
May 10, 1941	Karl Germer is arrested by the Nazis and held for ten months in a concentration camp.
May 11, 1923	Aleister Crowley arrives in Tunis after being expelled from Italy by Mussolini.
May 12, 1954	Wilhelm Reich contacts a UFO hovering over his laboratory in Rangeley, Maine.
May 13, 1915	Spencer Lewis holds the first 'official' AMORC-Rosicrucian convocation in the United States.
May 15, 1956	Austin Osman Spare dies.
May 16, 1934	Norman Mudd dies.
May 16, 1945	Aleister Crowley writes in his diary about Kenneth Grant with concern "what shall I do about him? ... he must go on Wednesday, cunt of course ... he makes Neuburg stand out like the Shewe Dagon above a Jackal's turd!".
May 19, 1923	Crowley's child by Ninette Shumway, or Isabella Fraux is born on this date at Cefalu.
May 19, 1942	At 11:30pm Arthur Edward Waite died.
May 23, 1921	Aleister Crowley assumes the Oath of Ipsissimus in the AA, or 10 = 1
May 23, 1924	Kenneth Grant is born in London.
May 23, 1945	The Nazi Himmler commits suicide. Aleister Crowley writes in his diary on this date, "Himmler, the Schweinhund & worse, who put Karl Germer in Concentration Camp -- chiefly because he was my friend! -- killed himself after capture."
May 25, 1948	A UFO crashes in Aztec, New Mexico leaving sixteen alien bodies scattered across the area.
May 31, 1875	Eliphas Levi dies.
May 31, 1940	Victor Neuburg dies of tuberculosis.