Thelema Lodge Calendar for November 1993 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for November 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.

Copyright © O.T.O. and the Individual Authors, 1993 e.v.

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

November 1993 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

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

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers


New Home for Horus Temple

As we prepare this issue of the Lodge Calendar, we are hoping to finalize leasing arrangements for a new temple and library facility for Thelema Lodge. The location is a grand old house only five minutes walk from the Rockridge BART station in north-east Oakland. A small household of dedicated members will share the residential space, and will be our hosts for temple events, library hours, classes, feasts, and rituals. Until papers have all been signed, we cannot schedule anything at the new address, so the November calendar resembles those for the past couple months, with two celebrations of the Gnostic Mass in alternate temple locations, and classes scattered throughout the Bay Area. We hope that some events toward the end of November may be relocated to the new lodge house as we move in, so as always please keep in touch, phone ahead, and share transportation.

O.T.O. initiations are scheduled in conjunction with Sirius Oasis on Saturday afternoon 6th November, beginning at 1:11 sharp. They will be held at Sirius Oasis in northern Berkeley, and all members attending should communicate ahead of time with either the Oasis Master at (510) 527-2855 or with the Lodge Master at (510) 530-3923. Afterwards we will celebrate through the evening as the Sun attains 15° Scorpio for the feast of Samhain (Sun 15° Scorpio 1:35 AM Sunday 7th November). Please bring dinner contributions. Additional initiations late in November are being contemplated, and may be announced at mid-month.

Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica gathers for Gnostic Mass twice in November on Sunday evenings, 14th November and 28th November, beginning at 7:30. We will probably be at the Milky Way House in Berkeley on the 14th, and all attending should call (510) 644-8335 or (510) 841-4901 to confirm this location. Temple location for the 28th has not been finalized, and will be announced mid-month, depending upon our progress with the new lodge house. During this transition, all are welcome to call the Lodgemaster with calendar questions at (510) 530- 3923. We hope, either in December or in January, to establish a weekly Sunday evening celebration of the Gnostic Mass again.

The Thelema Lodge Meeting will be held once more at Ancient Ways, on Monday evening 8th November, at 7:30. The address is 4075 Telegraph Avenue (at 41st Street) in Oakland; call the store at (510) 653-3244 for directions. Next month the Lodge will meet on Monday evening 6th December, probably at the new facility.

Kathy's Burmese Astrology Group will start a new series of classes and meet once this month, on Wednesday evening 10th November, at Grace's in Berkeley. To be included, call ahead of time at (415) 457-8076; or (510) 843-7828.

The Thelema Lodge Magick in Theory and Practice Series with Bill Heidrick gathers for a third meeting, in San Anselmo on Wednesday evening 17th November at 7:30. The house is at 5 Suffield Avenue, and those new to class will need to call ahead for directions: (415) 454-5176. For best results, read ahead a bit, but at any rate bring your copy of MTP along, for elucidation and explication. This month we will concentrate upon Crowley's magical formulae as models of thought processes, covering chapters 5 through 7.

"Especially for Minervals" is an inquiry into some of the issues raised by one's entry into an occult order: What is initiation? Is there a meaningful distinction between initiates and non-initiates? Are traditional spiritual exercises necessary for development? The evening will be conducted by Br. Michael Sanborn on Tuesday 23rd November, beginning at 7:30. Phone (510) 644- 8335 or (510) 841-4901 for information and directions. Unlike most lodge classes, attendance here is limited to O.T.O. initiates (Minervals and up).

It was while camping together around Algeria toward the end of 1909 e.v. that Perdurabo and his devoted chela Omnia Vincam inspired each other to the serial revelation and audition of the angels of the aires, ascending from BAG to LIL in completion of a project begun years earlier while mountain-climbing in Mexico. This autumn, Caitlin conducts her seventh annual tour through the thirty aethyrs of Liber 418, commemorating the anniversaries of the original workings recorded in "The Vision and the Voice". From 14th November to 20th December, the readings in this series follow the times as well as the dates of the original; for information regarding locations contact Soror Caitlin herself, at (510) 654-3580.

A workshop on the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram will be led by Fran on Saturday evening 13th November at 7:30, at Grace's in Berkeley. A demonstration and commentary on the ritual will be offered, and all fellow- students of ceremonial magick are welcome to participate. Call Fran at (510) 658-9393, or Grace at (510) 843-7827 for details.

The new Thelema Lodge Gnostic Mass Study Group gathers for a planning and survey meeting, on Tuesday evening 30th November at 7:30. We hope to produce a complete "performance edition" of the text of Liber XV (with commentary, explanations, and source notes), and also to research the background of Crowley's gnosticism and the nature of the E.G.C. Organizing with the assistance of Bishop T Dionysus, this group will meet in the East Bay at a location not yet finalized; call the Lodgemaster at (510) 530-3923 for information.

"The Astrology of Sagittarius", with Grace, will be meeting in Berkeley next month on Friday evening 3rd December at 7:30. Please call (510) 843-7828 to attend the class, which offers practical insights and mythological lore related to this most philosophical sign of the zodiac. Beginners and experienced astrologers will enjoy sharing in this workshop as we explore the meaning of Sagittarius in all its travels with the sun, as well as in its wagers here on earth.


Crowley Classics

The following essay was written in October 1926 e.v. and abandoned incomplete. Despite the fact that it trails away toward the end into outline form, Crowley had the piece typed, and sent a carbon copy to one of his supporters, the American book collector Montgomery Evans. In an accompanying letter, Crowley explained, "Our position is that Rabelais was a great adept, a sort of prophet of Thelema," and refers to the essay as "rough notes. Excuse the whole thing being so ragged, but I think it may be helpful."

The Antecedents of Thelema

by Aleister Crowley

I

IT has been remarked by some critics of the Law of Thelema that the words "Do what thou wilt" are not original with the Master Therion: or, rather, with Aiwass, who uttered to the scribe Ankh-f-n-khonsu, the priest of the princes, the Book of the Law.

II

This is true enough, in its own way: we have, firstly, the word of St. Augustine: "Love, and do what thou wilt."
This is however, as the context shows, by no means what is meant by the Book of the Law. St. Augustine's thesis is that if the heart be full of Love, one cannot go wrong. It is, so to say, a rider upon the theorem of St. Paul's thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

III

Far more important is the Word of Rabelais, "Fais ce que veulx." The sublime Doctor does indeed intend, so far as he goes, to set forth in essence the Law of Thelema, very much as it is understood by the Master Therion himself.
The implications of the context are significant.
Our Master makes the foundation of the Abbey of Thelema the quite definite climax of his history of Gargantua; he describes his ideal of Society. Thus he was certainly occupied with the idea of a new Aeon, and he saw, albeit perhaps dimly, that "Fais ce que veulx" was the required Magical Formula.
The Cardinal Jean du Bellay, indeed, reported to Francis I that Gargantua was "a new Gospel". It was, in fact, the Book that the Renaissance lacked; and had it been taken as it should have been, the world might have been spared the ignominy of Protestantism.
As the character of his parable demanded, he confines himself to painting a picture of pure Beauty; he does not enter into the questions of political economy (and like subjects) which must be solved in order to realize the ideal of the Law of Liberty. But he says distinctly that the religion of Thelema is to be contrary to all others. True, for Thelema is Magick, and Magick is Science, the antithesis of the religious hypothesis. Also, see the Book of the Law, III, 49-54.
There are to be no walls to the Abbey. To him, as to us, "The word of Sin is Restriction" (AL I,41). He says plainly that constriction merely gives rise to murders and conspiracies. It is impossible to quench the flame of the Holy Spirit of Man; and the attempt to smother it leads infallibly to conflagration of explosive fury.
Even in the matter of the petty restrictions of Time, the conventions with which we all unthinkingly comply, Rabelais sees peril to the freedom of the Soul. In his Abbey of Thelema there are to be no clocks, no fixed routine; what must be done should be done when the need actually rises. The text is fitness.
We should not take this passage too literally. Our time-conventions are devised by experience to secure us the greatest possible margin of freedom.
Rabelais insists on the members of his Abbey being physically fit, so too the Book of the Law: "Wisdom says: be strong!" (II,70) and similar passages.
There is to be no separation of the sexes, and no artificial restrictions upon Love. The Book of the Law is even more explicit upon this most fundamental social principle; see I,12-13; I,41; I,51-53; II,24; II,52.
With all this we find no suggestion of any communistic theories; they are in fact specifically disowned. The ethics of the Aeon of Horus are equally individualistic. "Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels" etc. (I,61). "Ye shall see them at rule, at victorious armies, at all the joy" (II,24). See also: II,18; II,21; II,58, etc.
Members of superstitious religions are not to be allowed to enter the Abbey of Thelema. In the Book of the Law the attitude is not merely thus defensive: the implication is that superstition is to be stamped out, or at least its victims are to be definitely relegated to the slave-class. The Freeman is to war down the serf: "on the low men trample in the fierce lust of your pride, in the day of your wrath" (II,24). There is no place in the Abbey imagined by Rabelais, and to be realized by the Master Therion, for those parasites of society who feed upon the troubles caused by Restriction: officials, lawyers, financiers, and the like. Ill disposed people--that is, those whose failure to understand their own true Will of Freedom leads them to seek to interfere with others--are not to be tolerated.
In the Book of the Law this is implied throughout. The True Will of every Free Man is essentially noble. (It might well be that a man's True Will is to see Justice established: but this is not the normal conception of a lawyer. And so for other cases.)
Thus ends Rabelais his account of the qualifications of admission to his Abbey: that the postulant should be filled with the spirit of Nobility, of Truth, and of Beauty. With this idea the Book of the Law is so penetrated that quotation would overwhelm.
We may then conclude that the masterpiece of Rabelais contains in singular perfection a clear forecast of the Book which was to be revealed by Aiwass to Ankh-f-n-khonsu 370 years later.

IV

Was the mighty spirit of Alcofribas Nasier aware of the prophetic fire of his immortal book?
He has fortunately left us in no doubt upon this point; for he did not content himself with having created in parable that Abbey of Thelema which his eager gaze foresaw from the black abyss of those Ages not yet thrilled by the Morning Star of the Renaissance, and dimly heralded by the Wolf's Tail of the Reformation.
He proceeded to envelop himself in the mist of oracular speech, to fulminate his light through dark sayings, to clothe the naked beauty of his Time-piercing thought in the pontifical vestments of prophecy.
The reader of today plunged from the limped waters of his allegory into the glooming gulfs of sibylline and subterranean song, is startled indeed when, after repeated efforts to penetrate the mystery of his versicles, he perceives the adumbration of dim forms--and recognizes them, with something of terror, for the images of the events of this very generation of mankind!
Writing at a period when the Divine Right of Kings under the Supreme Governance of Almighty God was yet unchallenged, Rabelais describes the rise of Democracy. Idle people, he writes, will stir up social strife, so as eventually to destroy all proper relations between classes and individuals. The ignorant will have as much political power as the instructed. The dullest and the most stupid people will be entrusted with government.
Just as we see it today! For genuine knaves are rare enough in governments; real capacity, even for dishonesty, is baffled by our political machinery. A clever man must at least pretend to be stupid to attain, and act with consistently dense imbecility to maintain, his place among the rulers of the world. No sooner is he suspected of possessing even one spark of intelligence than the herd distrust him, butt him from his pedestal, and trample him to death beneath their hooves!
The style of the oracle at this point becomes unfathomably obscure; it is hard to discover what exact process Rabelais describes as the means of the terrestrial catastrophe which culminates in universal revolution. But, the horror at its height, the Master becomes admirably lucid in his description of the avenging lightning which Destiny has prepared for the salvation of the race.
A great flame will spring up, he says, and put an end to this flood. What clearer reference could be desired to the Aeon of Horus? Is not Horus "Force and Fire", the victorious foe of the dark waters of the Nile? Is not GR:Tau-Omicron Mu-Epsilon-Gamma-Alpha Theta-Eta-Epsilon-Rho-Iota-Omicron-Nu, the Great Wild Beast, the Lion of the Sun, the destined conqueror of GR:Iota-Eta-Sigma-Omicron-Upsilon-Sigma, the Fish?
And so at last the elect, the sons self-chosen of Freedom, come to their own, and the false slaves of Restriction stripped of their knavish spoils, their hoarded dross of stupidity, and put in their proper place as slaves of the true Men of the race. Nor does the great Magician of Touraine stop with any mere symbolic identification; he indicates the Master Therion by name! The very last verse of his oracle runs thus:
O qu'est a reverer
Cil qui en fin pourra perseverer!
He who is able to endure unto the end, he insists, is to be blessed with worship. And what is this I will endure unto the end but PERDURABO, the magical motto at his first initiation of the Master Therion?

V

Superb as is this adumbration of the Law of Thelema by Rabelais with his Word "Fais ce que veulx", the Book of the Law gives us more--it gives us "all in the clear light".
Although "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", we have a deeper truth for the strong student, a more detailed and accurate technique for the Aspirant to practice: "The word of the Law is GR:Theta-epsilon-lambda-eta-mu-alpha" In the analysis of this Word is to be found the master-key to every theorem and to every problem of the day. There lies concealed from the profane yet open to the consecrated, the proof of the nature of Aiwass Himself, of his superiority in intelligence to any merely human being. The whole doctrine of the Universe, the solution of every equation of Ontology, is given thereby? So also it reveals full many a mystery of Science. I suppose that my research has yet revealed not one tithe of its marvels; but the time has come to disclose what truths I have discovered therein. They shall serve both as the warrant of my work, and as the earnest (to the stern seeker after wisdom) of further rewards--that shall surpass my holiest imagination!

VI

The Universe = 0 (or it would not be complete).
But 0 = 1 + (-1).

(0 = 2) = Magick = the Will to Live.

(2 = 0) = Mysticism = the Will to Die.

"Every man and every woman is a star." (A star is an individual identity; it radiates energy, it goes, it is a point of view. Its object is to become the whole by establishing relations with other stars. Each such relation is an Event: it is an act of Love under Will.)

Love = 1 + (-1) = (GR:alpha) 0 and (GR:beta) 2.

This is expressed by--

Mother      Father
Hay          Yod

Son (=2)
Vau

Daughter (=0)
Hay with Mapique

This process repeats itself perpetually. An Event is the ultimate thing in the Universe: it is the conjunction of an Individual with a Possibility. Each (I + P) is unique and infinite; so is each Event.1 The Individual is measured by the number and importance of the Events belonging to his growth; i.e. to the number of Possibilities he has fulfilled.

I + P always = 0, such being a term in a series = Aleph-phi. They are indistinguishable, Ialpha from Ibeta et cetera, as the series is homogeneous: there are no coordinate axes. But Events are theoretically distinguishable: Ealpha = Ialpha Pbeta, Ebeta = Ibeta Palpha et cetera, so that as soon as we can define an Individual of the Second Order I', one to whom belong Events Ealpha Ebeta et cetera, we can have a practical distinction between Events; this gives us the idea, "Events of the Second Order" E'. Thus E'alpha is not E'beta, though both are composed of identical elements--at least of indistinguishable ones. All relations are meaningless in themselves; but one relation may be contrasted with another. The Ego grows by establishing relations with other points of view, and absorbing them: hence, the bigger the Ego, the less the sense of Egoity. The Universe is a set of Events; they do not exist, they occur.2 It is a dynamic, not a static phenomenon. Any stasis is a mere temporary resolution. Logic describes the process of Thought, which is the essence of Action. Mathematics is the language of Logic. A man must think of himself as a GR:Lambda-Omicron-Gamma-Omicron-Sigma, as going, not as a fixed idea. "Do what thou wilt" is thus necessarily his formula. He only becomes Himself when he attains the loss of Egoity, of the sense of separateness. He becomes All-- GR:Pi-Alpha-Nu" --when he becomes Zero. Note that Events may be considered for convenience in any or all of three modes of projection: (alpha) as extended in space, (beta) as extended in time, (gamma) as causally connected. These are forms of (alpha) sensation, (beta) consciousness of going, and (gamma) reason.

The Universe is an Act of Faith.

Its Reality is an Act of Love.

Men resent Happiness, knowing that it cannot last: but the other animals--and wise men--accept things as they are.

Marriage is the straight-waistcoat of Love.

Art and Science consist in selecting, arranging, and presenting facts so as to illustrate some aspect of Truth.

Law is the corpse of Justice.

Morality is the corpse of Conduct.

Religion is the carcass of Fear.

Happiness is the state of mind resulting from the free fulfillment of a function.

A holy man is one who is not bound by normal desires.

A prostitute is one who is obliged to treat individuals as members of a class, ob pecuniam.

All proofs turn out on examination to be definitions. All definitions are circular. (For A = BC, B = DE . . . W = XY, and Y = ZA.)

Consider the proposition: Thought is possible.

Realism = Romanticism, to one strong enough to worship things as they are.

The true Artist loves all his characters equally.

Punishment: increase of sensibility at the expense of control.

Reduce the A logical proposition to two: thus A and E are extreme cases of 1 and 0, and the circle is of the ellipse:

Notes:
1. Berashith on value of 0*.
2. Cf. the electron, which has no mass, but is an electric charge.

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from the Grady Project:

Renewal

I must go down
In Earth's dark crown
I must go down the slope
And sink my roots
In sandy boots
My arms a leather rope
I must be drowned
In rolling ground
Enclayed in silent hope

I must decend
The curtain rend
I must go down the Cave
In bones be traced
And, venous laced,
Possess the poisoned slave
Nor sing on high
For Kings who die:
This is the cycled grave

To be at home
In graveled loam
By Our Goddess planted
Humidity
Rigidity
Pebbled eye enchanted
Redundant soil
Be where I spoil
Spiritus decanted

I must lie still
Beneath the hill
A star-born Dragon seed
And then course up
Renewed in Goddess mead
And blossom proud,
A starry cloud,
Thrust on; such is Her need

Fair Goddess of the Windward Sky
Diana of the Groves
Divine Thy trees, Thy woodland frieze
Divine Thy treasure troves
In silence meet, in darkness greet
To share Thy Fish and Loaves

5/4/62                               

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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Qabalah

Here is a different sort of look at the Tree of Life, using a bit of imagery. This presentation will run over several issues of the TLC. It is adapted from the unpublished MS Thirty-Two Emanations -- Revised Copyright © by Bill Heidrick.

The Path of Initiation

This approach to self-realization through Qabalah takes inspiration from the lodge initiation system of the Order of the Golden Dawn and the schema of Crowley's A A. A Kircher Tree of Life is used as a trellis for the growth of consciousness from the most physical states to the most spiritual. Each of the ten Sephiroth is treated as a type of consciousness that can be attained through orderly passage over twenty-two connecting paths.

The Sephira Malkut
10
Malkut is the Kingdom of the physical.
Consciousness at this level is limited to physical existence and physical sensation. Little occurs that could be called self aware thought. Reflex, instinct and undigested memory of physical events are the highest qualities of Malkut consciousness. This is the mental state of one who thinks only of living from moment to moment. There is no true emotion here and no true reason, only the mechanics of existence on earth. A purposeless life is lived by nearly unconscious beings. The Hades of Greek and Roman legend is the lowest level of existence, the level of spiritless, soulless shells. Malkut is Hades unless it is joined to higher states of consciousness.

The Path of Taw
32
Malkut to Yesod
Motion in the physical world of Malkut has a way of continuing. Insects make rhythmic sounds. Babies cry until their needs are met. Yet sometimes the insects seem to sing without need. Sounds made by a baby are often made for their own sake. Even the growling of frightened beasts tends to mimic language. Such sounds and actions are music and dance to natural rhythms. Efforts to attract a mate or parent or to repel an enemy gradually develop into primitive art, religion and law.

The Sephira Yesod
9
Yesod is the Foundation of imagination.
When a peacock spreads his rainbow, he sees an astral peahen of great beauty. Children feel angels bending down to love them. Fear summons nightmares of devils and gape-jawed horror. From experiences of the physical, dreams, visions and legends are woven. These form a consciousness once removed from the earth, a lunar dream of lands unseen by mortal eye and filled with music that never came from lips or instruments.
Yesod is beginning self awareness. Boundaries between self and other become dim. Harsh physical edges of Malkut soften into mental pressures. Yesod does not know the fiery wall between ideas that produces Hod or the touch and flow that blends and separates in Netzach.

The Path of Shin
31
Malkut to Hod
From the pain and necessity of Malkut a harsh power grows. In the physical world there are teeth that cut and claws that rend. The farmer wounds earth that life may rise from red clay. A rose pricks with thorns to guard her bloom. Among the hungry, "stranger" and "enemy" are one word. From the rule of tooth and claw, fiery judgment rises. This is the fence about a mind that keeps away harm and confusion. This is the dark magick of the word "NO".
The path of shin is an exercise of merciless will upon the perceptions of the physical senses. Only what seems to be human and helpful is allowed to rise from the graveyard of earth.

The Path of Resh
30
Yesod to Hod
Yesod is a twilight world of many veils and soft uncertainty. Night belongs to it, and night is a lurking place of frightful shadows. There is no sharp edge to wound in Yesod, but neither is there healing sunlight. Mind searches for heads to top the dreams and visions of this place. Each story must have a meaning. Each Astral journey must have one purpose.
The path of Resh quests for rational value in the many mansions of the mysterious moon. Only simple and clear ideas are allowed to reach the light of day.

The Sephira Hod
8
Hod is the Glory of the rationally awake.
In a burning desert one cool oasis is paradise. Alone in such a place, anyone can be lord or lady. Within is a pool of clear water. Outside is a wall of fire to keep away danger. Stones are gathered from the desert in twilight to build a palace by the pool. Trees provide fruit. Small animals hide in burrows and beneath fragrant shrubs. The master or the mistress of this place works solitary magick by turnings of the mind. From the path called "Shin" bedouin riders bring flocks of analysis and synthesis to the oasis of reason. Caravans follow the track of Resh with precious loads of allegory and metaphor. The mercurial monarch of mind sets all in self- consistent order, for that is the chief function of Hod.

The Path of Qof
29
Malkut to Netzach
There are soft things in the physical world. Not all is pain and violence. Mother's milk quickens. Flowers glorify. On fruitful islands in warm seas, stranger is friend and friends work strange magick by the moon. The night of the earth is filled with things that cannot be seen. Some are deadly. Others are wonderful in their happy mysteries. The wise learn slowly how to tune nature's harp with soothing sounds for lovers and harsh pain for the hated. This art draws up wisdom from the earth.

The Path of Tzaddi
28
Yesod to Netzach
In Yesod Alice wanders through Wonderland. She follows Diana through the doors of twenty-eight mansions. Behind each door is a mystery. As she travels round the circuit she waxes and wanes with the moon. This child is near earning a woman's girdle. By following the course of dream and legend, mind identifies with great forces. In time identification is close enough to insure a harmony between inner self and outer life. The Righteous ones turn with the tendency of spirit. Fighters against the grain tire and are drawn up upon a ghostly hook of half dream't dreams.

The Path of Peh
27
Hod to Netzach
From a towering palace of isolated mind, a youth gazes. Hod is angry post puberty, know it all, and boredom. Bitterness grows in lonely places. A great mind waits for recognition only to find that others have no time. Far off the waxing light of Venus beckons. The dweller in the rational tower cries in anguish, still alone. A journey is attempted, but Venus remains un- impressed. Luna sometimes graces the brass parapet of Mercury's domain, but Venus wants the Sun or even Mars. Only when the dweller in the tower casts down the crown of obstinate pride can the journey to higher consciousness be resumed.
When a mind is ready to sacrifice its bachelorhood or spinsterhood and set aside some of its personal theories of how things work, that mind has set forth on the path of Peh. This is a clumsy time, often accompanied by falling in love with a more experienced person. It takes a lot to lure a self crowned queen or king from an ivory tower.

The Sephira Netzach
7
Netzach is Victory of the wisdom of experience.
A woman with brilliant red hair rides a giant shell upon green waves. She is living fire surrounded by loving water. This is one who has blessed the world and in turn been blessed. The harshness of earth labors on her behalf. Dreams spin secrets to delight her. The mighty invent new treasures to woo her. She fears not. She is not confused. She is free of bonds of her own making.
This is the consciousness of one who learns the lessons of the physical through turning to that turns to her or him. This consciousness delights in the half real worlds called dreams. Reason serves this mind as a book serves a scholar or a throne a king. The consciousness of Netzach is a ship of emotional wealth upon an obedient sea of reason, imagination, and sensation.

The Path of Ayin
26
Hod to Tipheret
In dusty halls an earth bound spirit walks. It cries aloud in anguish for the past. Ancient chains hinder its movements. This creature shudders at thoughts of lost love. Fear of hurt that did not happen, but could have been, binds this spirit. A mirror reflects the comic opera. Past webs of needless guilt and mold of wrong advice a spark of sunlight penetrates. The hero laughs and steps toward the sun.
This is the path of letting go enough to grow. Old rules must be set aside in time. Such rules are scaffolding to be turn down after the building of the Temple. Old fears are short safety lines that must be cut for further climbing.

The Path of Samekh
25
Yesod to Tipheret
Some people live a hundred lives but never live one. They have a job with its hours and ethics. They have a home with separate hours and ethics. Religion has its own place. Dreams belong to the night. Physics is one thing but Magick something else. Neighbors are humans, but foreigners are wogs. Such people have a vocabulary but no grammar. They know thousands of definitions and fantasies, but they don't know how to weave one tapestry of all the threads they label. "They" is never "You". "Them" is never "Us".
This is simple confusion. Be patient (that hardest and most valuable of virtues). A theme rises in the soul to unite all separate things. Sunlight is a new verb among old nouns. The path of Samekh is undertaken when dreams and ideas begin to harmonize consciously.

The Path of Nun
24
Netzach to Tipheret
In time a ship of Venus reaches shore. The soul steps out and leaves its shell behind. This craft is not abandoned. It will remain in port until the captain returns with better cargo. The soul of the ship glides past fields and gardens. In these gardens seeds are buried in tiny graves. They rise as shoots to great the sun. When sound plants become golden, they are cut and carried off. Only the best return to earth to rise again.
This soul goes beyond its earthly place to find better seed. The strongest life grows from a seed that's hybridized between growths of heaven and earth. The best garden grows in the place of the sun.

The Sephira Tipheret
6
Tipheret is the beauty of the best place.
A great gathering of happy people in a happy place. Long parted friends are reunited in the light of the sun. Enemies forget their enmity in the season of life. Merchants bring necklaces of stars and cloth of colors never seen before. The children laugh, and no one frowns. The old cast off their age but keep their wisdom. Warriors play and women sing. It's Fair, Althing, and Jubilee. All the scattered bits of life have come home. The burning desert is a beach beneath a tanning sun. The waters of the ocean cleanse all cares. Dreams spill from storytellers' lips as history, laughter, and advice. The soul is shining with a golden light. It sees the course of life and knows purpose. All questions have a time for answers. All deeds have their place. Confusion is a spray of bubbles to tickle between knowing. Along the path of Ayin come builders of the house. From Samekh the house holder comes. Nun provides skilled gardeners. Order serves mind with freedom.

To be continued


Primary Sources

KARL GERMER:
Last month we presented a letter from Karl Germer about a year after Crowley's death. This month we have another Letter from Karl to Grady McMurtry, about a year and a half before Crowley's Greater Feast. The present letter discusses a visit by Germer, G.T.G. of the O.T.O. and goes over various matters with Grady, the S.G.I.G. for California at the time. Most of it deals with Jack Parsons' difficulties and changes at Agape Lodge in consequence. The references to events and individuals below can be best understood by reviewing past issues of the TLC.

K. J. G E R M E R
260 WEST 72ND STREET
NEW YORK 23, N.Y.
----
ENDICOTT 2-6799


May 24, 1946.

Dear Grady,
93,
           I still have to answer yours of May 15th, I'll deal with it point by point.

I'll hold the copy of the Drug Fiend and Liber Aleph and take both on my trip, and will give both to you personally.

No, Aleister is almost positively not coming over this year. Of course, he would have liked to have you with him, if it would have been possible. But with this surprise that you sprang on us, I mean "Foxie" and the expected baby, I realize that you could not go. So we'll have to forget about this.

Re. Jack: this is quite a story. Meanwhile I've had the more or less full story from Bro. Culling, and as I cannot make a copy, which I've sent to A.C. ... (his cable reply: SUSPECT RON PLAYING CONFIDENCE TRICK JACK EVIDENTLY WEAK FOOL OBVIOUS VICTIM PROWLING SWINDLERS. OLLA PROCEEDING RAPIDLY.) Please return the letter at your earliest. Culling wrote me after that (on May 21) that he had shown my reply to Roy and Max, so that they too are fully informed. He adds: "In the past Bro. John has stated that - 'I guess Karl & Crowley are off on me' and later changed that 'he was withdrawing and going it alone'. I took his statement as speculative but it appears that he now speaks more definite that 'he is going it alone'.-- To do him credit I think he qualifies it in his own mind that later he will have the money -- and that also his magick will bring him credit with the O.T.O. -- i.e. he possibly hopes his quitting is temporary."

Some opinions on Culling that I've heard were not too trustful. It was suspected that he was the intermediate who kept W. T. Smith constantly informed. I don't think you met him?

I want you to be fully informed, as 666 holds you in charge of the Californian activities, with any steps you decide to be taken with my approval. He may not realise that you can't jump up and down the west coast, and you will hardly be able to keep your fingers on the pulse any better than I from here. However, you know all the people personally, while I known only Max and Jane. Let us cooperate fully. Roy is now in charge of Agape Lodge and cooperates in harmony with Max' group. The first thing Roy is doing is to list all the property of the lodge, furniture, paraphernalia, and the library. The latter will now be run by a librarian in a proper business way. He has at once changed the money policy. But why should I tell you all these details: here is Roy's letter to me which please return.

In another two months I expect to be in Los. Angeles, so I keep any details on abeyance until then.

Who says that there are no thelemic children? Ray and Mildred Burlingame have produced a magnificent girl -- Laylah; and Frederic has a splendid boy, 13 months old. Do you likewise!

Jane made a remark in a recent letter that 'Jack took a beating when you were there'. Jack seems to have an oversensitive pride, boosted inordinately by his receiving the IX°, his appointment as head of Agape Lodge, considering himself a Grand Master. It went to his head apparently, and when you turned up as a special emissary from Grand Lodge and questioned him as everyone else -- he may have felt this as a blow and a slight. This is the way I construct it with no facts to support it. I don't know how you stand personally with Jack. If you feel like handling him directly, do so by all means. My spontaneous reaction to the treatment I have received and the facts given by Culling, were expressed in my reply to him, and for your information I enclose the carbon. Be sure to return it after you've read it -- with the other letters.

I would consider it perfectly legitimate if your view on Jack and your opinion on the way how to deal with him would differ from mine. Meanwhile a letter may be on the way from 666, both to you and to me. Use your own considered judgment if you think you should take any action in this matter.

Write soon. Sascha and I are looking forward to meeting 'Foxie' (is she red- haired?). We'll be in San Francisco about July 22. You might better write me your phone number, in case we arrive at an inconvenient hour.

93 93/93
           Fraternally yours.
               {signed} Karl,

1 cc - letter to Culling.
3 letters from Roy
1 letter from Culling.

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Pathways

      I
Purple chalice
Silver grail
What is this journey
To entail?

      II
The lance shines bright
The crystal sword
Of the Lady and the Lord.

      III
The Morrigan shrieks
The cold wind blows,
Gleaming armor, swirling snows.

      IV
Through the path
The Pilgrim goes
Into the topaz heart
Where the Lion glows.

-- Firebird
(part of verse IV arranged by Aleph-Yod-Nunfinal)

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From the Outbasket

Here are responses to questions asked of Agape Grand Lodge recently. Edited for publication.

AS of MA wanted to know about the "Oath of the Abyss" as a means of resolving problems:

The Oath of the Abyss is intended to be taken at the end of an extensive period of spiritual and psychological development. It does not aid in any material concern. It makes any unresolved problems blow up to the point of total catastrophe.
Put simply, too simply perhaps, the Oath of the Abyss is an affirmation to take everything that happens or is perceived by the senses as a direct communication between the deity and yourself. The direct application of the Oath is to prevent distracting interpretation of visions and thoughts at the point of "Crossing the Abyss", a spiritual event whereby an Adept seeks direct communion with the deity. Many people try to take this oath in form only at a stage in their development where it means little or nothing. Some people make the same misguided attempt at a time in their life when they are pre-disposed to paranoia, with disastrous consequences.
Sources for further information include: Crowley's Magick in Theory and Practice, especially chapter XVI(part one) --- this also discusses several other types of oaths which may be more helpful. Crowley's Confessions --- for an account of the experience of using oaths and affirmations throughout a prolonged period. Vision and Voice --- for an account of the sort of work in one particular manner that culminates in the "Oath of the Abyss". Liber Thisharb sub Figura CMXIII --- also printed in Magick in Theory and Practice toward the back of the book --- a concise discussion of the "Oath of the Abyss".

JB of MN wrote to tell us that he had crossed the Abyss and expressed a sequence of requests, withdrawals of the same requests, statements, denigrations of the same statements and similar dichotomies.

Mundane life is difficult after the Abyss. What can a person say? You've got your Word. Now all you can do is manifest it. At every juncture, you are qualifying your requests with "it doesn't really matter" and you feel that you must avow that you "know all secrets". This too shall pass. It's like college and high school. The Sophomores know everything. What all this really boils down to is a simple situation. You have attained. Having attained, you must now figure out how to act as your own avatar in the mundane world. You have to re-train your lower self to make sense while acting as the mundane vehicle of your all too awake higher consciousness. Having discovered the key, you must now find the lock(s) it fits. Did you ever see or read The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy? In that series, the great minds of the galaxy finally got the ultimate answer to everything. It turned out to be "42". The rest of the duration of the universe was insufficient time to formulate the exact question for which this was the ultimate answer.
This level of manifestation takes years and can never be completely accomplished in the frame of time. That's why we need more than one Magus. Bang-slap, it's over! No such luck. Every Word is a refinement or extension of every Word gone before. It's not unusual to take six years to find out what your Word requires and then be the rest of your life supporting something already begun by others as the fulfillment of that Word. Give yourself some time. Between canvassing the mundane levels for loose tools and resolving antimonies to get the Magus' Words of the past to harmonize with your Word, you have a lot of ground work to do. If we can help, let me know. Recognition is not part of the help; you don't need anybody to tell you that you have attained what you have attained -- to even seek such recognition would be a self-affront to your own attainment.
As to knowing the secret of the O.T.O., who doesn't? It's like the philosopher's stone, common and despised. The trick is to know 1) that it is the secret and 2) how to use it. The art of the alchemist does not consist in possession of the prima materia, rather in the processes of discovery of its true character, its projection and its multiplication.
As to being Aleister Crowley reincarnated, no rarity there either. To reincarnate a dead author, study his works. Crowley got so deeply into Eliphas Levi that he discovered himself to be Levi reincarnated. Reading is the ultimate form of invocative necromancy. Every Thelemite secretly suspects or publicly proclaims him/herself to be A.C. back from the dead. Every one of them is right. Every one of them is wrong. You, at least, have a sensible way of relating to this manifestation of Choronzon. Is there one particular reincarnation of A.C.? Who cares! That's a true secret, a matter under the law of "minding one's own business." If he remembers his own advice from the last incarnation, Crowley-re-born is quietly laying low and enjoying the world he helped to make as it is.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

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Events Calendar for November 1993 e.v.

1/11/93All Hallows (Xian time for Samhain)Aeon Osiris
11/6/93O.T.O. Initiations and Samhain feast
at Sirius Oasis		Sirius O.
Thelema Ldg.
11/7/93Samhain 1:35 AM
(True pre-Christian date/time)		Gens Celtc
11/8/93Thelema Lodge meeting 7:30 PM
at Ancient Ways store, Oakland		Thelema Ldg.
11/10/93Burmese Astrology with Kathy 7:30PM
at Grace's in Berkeley		Thelema Ldg.
11/13/93Workshop on the Greater Ritual of
the Pentagram with Fran. 7:30 PM
at Grace's in Berkeley		Thelema Ldg.
11/14/93Gnostic Mass 7:30PM
call for location in Berkeley.		Thelema Ldg.
11/17/93Magick in Theory and Practice 7:30PM
with Bill: 5 Suffield Av. San Anselmo
(in Marin County)		Thelema Ldg.
11/20/93Possible date for Initiations
Call to confirm or attend		Thelema Ldg.
11/23/93"Especially for Minervals". Class
with Mike Sanborn. Call for locat.		Thelema Ldg.
11/28/93Gnostic Mass 7:30PM
call for location.		Thelema Ldg.
11/29/93Gnostic Mass Seminar w/Bp.DionysysThelema 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.

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

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