Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
December 1995 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
The Gnostic Mass is featured this month in a unique public exhibition of
photography entitled "Sacred Window: Expressions of Worship in Oakland," which
can be viewed free of charge at the Pro Arts gallery in downtown Oakland. The
work of Christina Koci Hernandez (who is also a staff photographer with one of
the major daily newspapers), this show consists of several dozen large
monochrome photographs, offset by a series of abstract and symbolic polychrome
paintings by Carl Angel. Christina's photos utilize extremely fast film-
speeds, and all are authentic depictions taken in existing light of
spontaneous religious responses. The range is wide, including Jewish,
Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, and several other traditional practices, in
addition to our Thelemic entry. Christina took communion with our lodge at
half a dozen gnostic masses last summer to familiarize herself with the ritual
as celebrated by a variety of officers, and then we organized a private mass
during which she had complete photographic freedom. The view selected for her
exhibit is certainly one of the essential images of our Gnostic Mass; the
Priestess, "bare and rejoicing . . . calling forth the flame of the hearts
of all in her love-chant," is incarnated in our sister Casey (the Vicar of
Thelema Lodge), on the altar of Nu Temple at Oz House.
The "Sacred Window" exhibit by Christina Koci Hernandez and Carl Angel is
open through 23rd December at Pro Arts, 461 Ninth Street in Oakland; telephone
(510) 763-4361. Hours are Wednesday & Thursday from noon until 6:00 PM, and
Friday & Saturday from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
Grace Astrological Services of Berkeley offers the Thelema Lodge Astrological Cycles workshop this month, with a focus on the movements and
patterns of the planet Mars. Join Grace on Friday evening 29th December from
7:00 to 9:00 at her home for an evening of energy and active desire, including
competition and antagonism, but also engagement and accomplishment. Mars, man
and soldier, combining discipline and carelessness, organization and
resistance, the partisan, adventurer, and thug, will be seen in all his
splendor and vulgarity to be much more than just "the planet with a hard-on."
It is particularly requested that all who attend should contact Grace in
advance at (510) 843-STAR. Bring your own natal chart for comparison as we
track the Cycles of Mars.
The John Dee Reading Group with Clay Holden meets at 8:00 on Monday evening
11th December in the Thelema Lodge library. We will be completing our study
of Mysteriorum Liber Primus with this meeting, after last month's exploration
of such topics as Soyga, the Holy Seal and Table, the spirit Lundrumguffa, the
strength and mighty hand of God, the Angelus tuae professionis, and the PELE
seal ring, in Dee's scrying conversations with the angels Uriel and Michael
recorded in March 1582. Next month this group will continue through the
second book of this earliest series of Dee's angelic diaries, in reproductions
of his own manuscript with Clay's scholarly transcription on facing pages for
easy reading.
The first performance of the Enochian Liturgy Project's "Angelmas," still
in preliminary form, will be held at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon 10th December,
at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar Street (one block east of Shattuck Avenue)
in Berkeley. There will be live music, a Renaissance eucharistic ceremony,
and an abundance of Enochian, all rolled into one original and experimental
ritual event! Everyone is welcome to participate, and to join in our planning
for future performances of this rite.
Caitlin leads our "Section Two Reading Group" in an evening with Le Comte de Gabalis on Monday evening 18th December at Oz House, beginning at 8:00.
First published anonymously in Paris in 1670, bearing the subtitle The Extravagant Mysteries of the Cabalists, expounded in Five pleasant Discourses on the Secret Societies, this oddly unbalanced satirical treatise touches upon
elemental sex magic, and was quickly banned in France after selling out
several editions in its first few months. Written by an obscure cleric called
the Abbé Nicholas P. H. de Montfaucon de Villars (born 1635, ordained 1667,
assassinated 1673), who had come to Paris from Toulouse, The Extravagant Mysteries of the Comte de Gabalis became popular again in English translation
early in the following century. Along with several imitations and related
works, it created a popular interest in erotic contacts with elemental
spirits, which continued to raise eyebrows as these ideas were absorbed back
into the folk-tale tradition.
Sirius Oasis holds its monthly meeting in Berkeley on Wednesday 13th
December at 8:00. Call the Oasis at (510) 525-2855 for directions and
information. Entertainment of a Siriusly Science Fictional variety is planned
for most oasis meetings this season, with a few practical arrangements also to
be discussed as initiation plans and occasional rituals are scheduled.
Thelema Lodge Library Nights are scheduled to facilitate the use of our
extensive reading and reference collections by members and friends of the
lodge. As usual, the proposed library dates this month are tentative, and
must be confirmed with one of the lodge officers in advance; they are subject
to revision according to the needs of our members and the availability of our
librarian and other officers. This month's dates are Monday 4th December and
Wednesday 20th December, from 8:00 until 10:00 in the evening.
Our "Lodge Luncheon" and business meeting will be held early this month,
due to mailing difficulties at the close of the vulgar year which necessitate
an early deadline for all calendar and events descriptions and other
newsletter submissions for next month. Join us at Thelema Lodge for lunch
served by the lodge officers on Sunday afternoon 3rd December at 12:30, with
open discussion to follow. All attending please contact the lodgemaster in
advance so that we can plan the meal efficiently. Bring your ideas for future
classes and events, descriptions of recent activities for publication in the
newsletter, and initiative for further developing our facilities. Last
month's temple improvements have made it much easier for us to organize our
vestments for the mass, and the installation of special friction strips under
the temple carpet has also given our rituals a more firm foundation.
THESE words, "Peace to men of good will," have been mistranslated, "Good will
towards men." Christ said that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword;
that he would divide mother from son and father from daughter, careless of the
effect of such remarks upon the feelings of Dr. Sigmund Freud. There is no
warrant to suppose that Christ was any kind of a Pacifist. On the contrary,
he not only prophesied the most terrible wars and disasters to humanity,
which, by the theory, he had absolute power to stop, but he threatened eternal
damnation to the great mass of men. Billy Sunday's presentation of Christ is
a perfectly scriptural one. Christmas is therefore a season of peace to men
of good will, and to them only. But who are these men of good will? Only
those who happen to agree with us for the moment.
We have the most artistic photographs dating back not so long ago of Mr.
Roosevelt with his arm around the Kaiser's neck. Immediately before the war
Mr. Erbert G. Wells published a book in which he said that Germany was the one
country in the world worth living in. German science, German manners, German
morals, German everything was the only love of Mr. Erbert G. Wells. No sooner
did war break out than he published another book to prove that Germans were
raving maniacs hypnotized by Nietzche. It is evident from these shining
examples that our humanitarianism, like all other forms of thought, is
strictly limited by time and space. The circumstances of the moment must rule
our deepest beliefs. In other words we must be opportunists. The idea of
moral character is outworn and ridiculous. Herbert Spencer has shown that the
animal which adapts himself to his circumstances is going to survive longer
than those who resist their environment. Away then with all considerations of
principle! Good feeling, honor, truthfulness are merely false ideas. They
are liable at any moment to get you into a mess. We must do as Mr. Pickwick
said, "Shout with the largest crowd." One of the most dangerous things that
we can do is to think for ourselves. Archimedes lost his life through being
intent upon a geometrical problem when he ought to have been reading the
newspapers so as to see the proclamation that his life was to be spared. His
business was really to identify himself, and claim the protection of the
conquerors. We hope that no reader of this paper is so foolish as to try to
think for himself. What are papers for, but to save all this trouble? The
only problem that can possibly present itself to us is this, "Which is the
largest crowd?"
The idea of resisting repression is a totally wrong one. Christ submitted
willingly to what is generally admitted to be the greatest crime ever
perpetrated, although, as he himself explained, he had twelve legions of
angels actually mobilized, which would have made as short work of the Romans
as the angels of Mons did of the Germans in the early part of the war.
I have never been able to understand, by the way, why the angels contented
themselves with a single victory. It would have been much nicer for everybody
if they had marched straight on to Berlin. I have, therefore, the highest
authority for submission to any kind of tyranny. Christ said once again,
"Agree with thy adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest he
deliver thee to the officer and the officer deliver thee to the judge, and the
judge deliver thee to the jailor, verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come
out till thou hast paid the very last mite," or words to that effect.
It is sometimes a little awkward to draw one's morals exclusively from the
teachings of Christ. They sometimes lead apparently to contradictory
conclusions; and, being equally bound by both, contentions arise in ourselves which are only too likely to lead to a neurosis; and that, as you know, leads
to a kind gentleman asking us about what happened when we were three years
old. The Australians have a better way of explaining these things. They say
truthfully, "Oh, you are all right," and then as a sort of after thought,
sadly, "It is a pity the tree fell on you."
Religion is in some respects a difficult if not a fallacious guide. Quot homines tot sententiae;1 or, as the Indians say, "A new language every eight
miles." Our true guide is certainly the biological indication. Now, as
explained above, biology counsels adaptation to circumstance. We shall save
ourselves knocks if we do what the other man tells us without any grumbling.
We may go so far perhaps as to say "brute" or "pig" when he is not within an
ear shot, but even that is a little dangerous, tending rather to the calamity
of thinking for ourselves. However, there are certain animals whose idea of
biological adaptation is not quite so simple. There is the tiger, who adjusts
his environment, or himself to his environment, by means of tooth and claw.
The question is whether man is a savage brute like a tiger, or a dear little
caterpillar whose highest aim in life is to look like a dead twig. It depends
very largely as far as I can make out whether one happens to be a vegetarian
or otherwise. It is a remarkable fact that this article appears to lead
absolutely no where. The biological test of conduct breaks down in very much
the same way as the religious test. What are we to do?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law!
Now perhaps we shall get somewhere. If we conceive of each individual
(with his heredity and environment complete) as a machine constructed to serve
one definite purpose and one only, we relieve ourselves at once from all
difficulty about moral judgment. We can justify the existence of President
Wilson in keeping us out of war, making the world safe for democracy, and all
these nice things which he does so splendidly; and we can also justify the
existence of the monster, tyrant, assassin and religions maniac invented by
the New York papers and labeled William. The economy of nature provides for
all types. You cannot feed a horse on rabbits or a snake on grass, in spite
of Mr. Swinburne's remarks about "the chewing of some perfumed deadly grass."
At the same time, we have a perfect right to take sides with either the horse
or the snake. If I were a machine made in Germany, I have no doubt that I
should shout, "Hoch der Kaiser" whenever there was a slight lull in the
conversation. Even so, if I had been born in a cannibal island, I should have
been constantly agitating for a regular supply of missionaries, and cursed my
local Hoover if the distribution was insufficient or the price prohibitive.
So long, then, as we are true to ourselves, it is as with William Schwenck
Gilbert, "You are right and I am right and everyone of us is right." At the
present juncture my righteousness consists of being an animal of such a nature
as to wish the power to pass into the hands of those people who are
reasonable. I do not quarrel with any one for being insane. I think he is
perfectly right to maintain that he is a poached egg; but I also think that it
would be more generally convenient if he airs that belief in seclusion. He
will probably disagree with me; and we shall then proceed to submit the issue
to various methods of arbitrament, ending with that of arms. But let there be
no mistake about it, both sides are absolutely in the right. Even if I prove
that the other man is dishonest in his belief in the righteousness of
submarine warfare of whatever it may be, the situation is not changed at all.
He has a perfect right to be dishonest if he wants to. I may dislike this
quality in him so much that I am willing to kill him as the only cure; and he
is equally right to kill me if he dislikes the color of my necktie. How many
people were killed because they wanted to spell "Homoousios," "Homoiousios"
with the iota? But one thing seems evident to me: that unless we get rid of
our hypocritical Anglo-Saxon plague of Pharisaism, we shall never be fit to
live with.
The other day I came into a fortune, and went to buy a necktie. The young
man (or should I say gentleman) who accommodated me in this matter was
English, and remembered me in those days of glory when I wandered in Bond street, and bought as many as three neckties on the same day. Having
purchased my tie and wept together about Bond street, we began to talk about
the war. I said to him: "If I had come into this shop (or should I say store)
with the firm conviction that you were a dangerous maniac, thirsting for my
blood, that you were insensible to every feeling of humanity, that the
fiercest and most malignant wild beasts had nothing on you (I believe that is
the correct phrase) in the matter of atrocity, I do not think we should have
settled this matter of the tie (or should I say neckwear) with the philosophic
calm which has characterized our interview up to this point." I regret to say
that this person was so lost to all sense of patriotism as to agree with me.
It is necessary in many circumstances to fight; and, in order to fight
well, one needs certain quite definite qualities. In olden days I did a good
deal of fencing, by which I do not mean receiving stolen goods. I mean the
play of rapier and small-sword. I learned that I must be entirely
concentrated on the business on hand, and that elaborate arguments purporting
to prove that my opponent was a Chinaman or a heretic, were out of place. I
learned also that my best chance of defeating him was to know what he was
going to do before he did it; to read his mind in his eye and his wrist. I
think it will be clear that in order to read the man's mind, you must put away
from you anything like emotion. You are there to kill him efficiently, and
you should practice the detachment of the surgeon, who does not wring his
hands and wail when he sees the patient on the operating table.
Whether we want to fight Germany or come to an amicable understanding with
her does not matter. In either case, we are handicapping ourselves by hating
her. We are failing to see her point of view. The Germans are under the
monstrous delusion that God is with them; that they are fighting for their
hearths and altars. It is none of our business to cure that delusion. We
must accept it in estimating their minds. We can tell what they will do as
soon as we can tell what they are thinking; if we make any mistake as to what
they are thinking, we can no longer tell what they will do. Just so long as
we hate them, we blind our eyes and confuse our minds. Now, with regard to
German atrocities, they may be perhaps a little more systematic than
atrocities on the other side; but that is evidence of more system, not of more
ferocity. I think, therefore, that we do wrong in blaming either side for any
atrocity that they may have committed, whether it is the murder of an English
nurse or a Javanese dancer.
And surely the rape and murder of a single Frenchwoman by one of the heroes
who are saving France may outweigh a thousand such crimes committed by avowed
enemies.
The mildest of animals, if it feels itself cornered, will resort to every
means of defense. Queensberry rules were not invented for men who are
scrapping in a life and death combat. How is it that the sentimental stay-at-
home, domestic German becomes Giant Blunderbore? It is not a miracle. It is
not an outbreak of collective sadism. It is simply the feeling that he is
cornered. All Germans feel this. It may be a delusion on their part; but
they have it; and we have to act on the assumption that they have it. Now
what is the proper way to deal with people in this situation? There is only
one sensible thing to do. We must remove the cause of their belief. Until we
do this they are assuredly right in continuing to believe it. We should,
therefore, say, "My dear friends, you are quite wrong in supposing that you
are cornered. We do not wish to hurt you. We wish to come to an agreement
with you on the points in dispute." This may be a little difficult, as we
have all forgotten what those points were; but at least we can try to come to
some arrangement as to what is best to be done. In other words, let us quit
fighting for a few weeks or months, and have a conference. If nothing
happens, we can go on fighting again with renewed zest. Speaking as an
Irishman, I might go further and suggest talking and fighting at the same time
-- an ideal state of affairs! Now one cannot help saying that the Germans have
shown their good faith in this matter very clearly. They are always proposing
"peace conferences," thereby indicating that we are not, as some of their publicists maintain, "a gang of enraged millionaires bent upon destroying
German liberties as American liberties have already been destroyed," but a set
of sensible people who want to settle down and live happily ever after. We
reply, "Certainly not, you are monsters. On with the revel!" In such
circumstances the German can hardly be blamed for thinking that we are set
upon their utter destruction, and this thought is bound to destroy in them all
considerations of mercy and kindness, or even ordinary reasonableness. They
must argue that we who will not even discuss the question of peace can be none
other than Huns. (Now I've said it!) I am told that the German officer is
not sincere. Then call the bluff by agreeing to the principle of conference.
We need not be afraid of an armistice; time is on our side, not theirs.
Where such ideas are pushed to the limit the results are utterly
abominable. We need only refer to the destruction of one of the finest races
of the world, the American Indian, which was due to nothing but the conviction
that he was a remorseless and treacherous savage. The American Civil War
would have resulted in the utter ruin of the whole country had it not been
that Grant, in the moment of victory, forgot all about Simon Legree, dismissed
the whole howling of the wolves of the press as nonsense, and observed
succinctly: Let us have peace.
The passions of my youth have burned me dry | |
And unrequited dreams stand in my eyes. | |
They were my hopes, and now they ill disguise | |
My futile gesturings. They pass me by. | |
I would admit no mystery so high | |
As to be sacred from my questing pries, | |
Nor would I seek defeat in compromise | |
But stood athwart the sky-winds; such was I. | |
The bright-eyed dreams of youth are dead and gone, | |
My destiny is done, my die is cast. | |
Perhaps there will be surcease with the dawn; | |
Perhaps, but I have thought that in the past. | |
The wheeling universe grinds on and on | |
Insensible, insatiate, and vast. | |
Originally published in The Grady Project 1 (Berkeley, CA: Thelema Lodge, O.T.O., October 1987). This poem, written at Chartres in France after the Normandy invasion, was what Grady himself later described as "sort of a real downer trip," although when he sent it to Crowley a few months later it was singled out to his surprise for special praise.
The most widely disseminated of the ancient worships were those of Isis,
Orpheus, Dionusos, Ceres, and Mithras. Many barbarous nations received the
knowledge of the Mysteries in honor of these divinities from the Egyptians,
before they arrived in Greece; and even in the British Isles the Druids
celebrated those of Dionusos, learned by them from the Egyptians.
The mysteries of Eleusis, celebrated at Athens in honor of Ceres, swallowed
up, as it were, all the others. All the neighboring nations neglected their
own, to celebrate those of Eleusis; and in a little while all Greece and Asia
Minor were filled with Initiates. They spread into the Roman Empire, and even
beyond its limits, "those holy and august Eleusinian Mysteries," said Cicero,
"in which the people of the remotest lands are initiated." Zosimus says that
they embraced the whole human race; and Aristides termed them the common
temple of the whole world.
-- General Albert Pike 33° A.A. Scottish Rite, Morals and Dogma (new and revised edition, 1950), 352-3. |
Tons Brunes, who dedicated his The Secret of Ancient Geometry to the
Fraternity of Free Masons, shows that the Great Pyramid, like most of the
great temples of antiquity, was designed on a basis of advanced but Hermetic
geometry known only to initiates . . . Brunes shows how the ancient Egyptians
used the basic design of a circle inscribed in a square to divide both circle
and square geometrically into equal parts from 2 to 10, and all their possible
multiples, without recourse to measuring or arithmetical calculations, with
the aid of nothing but a straightedge and compass . . . common emblems, along
with the Pyramid, of Masonic orders of yesterday and today.
In Brunes' reconstruction of secret geometry, the cross emerges as the
first geometric addition to the circle and square, and is the key not only to
the solution of geometric problems but to the development of numerals and
alphabet . . . . [He] demonstrates how the circle inscribed in a square and
quartered by a cross enabled the ancient Egyptian geometer to inscribe in a
circle the basic figures of pentagon, hexagon, octagon, and decagon. Of these
the pentagon with its five-pointed star is perhaps the most important: it
automatically produces the Golden Section and the Phi proportion in the
simplest geometric manner. Furthermore, the side of a pentagon inscribed in a
circle whose circumference is equal to the perimeter of the Pyramid will be
equal to the apothem, or slant height of the Pyramid, which will be the value
of Phi.
-- Peter Tomkins, Secrets of the Great Pyramid (New York: Harper and Row, 1971), 261-2, with reference to The Secret of Ancient Geometry by Tons Brunes (Copenhagen: Chronos Press, 1967). |
Editorial references: "this circle squared in its failure is a key also," Liber AL, ch. III; compare the hand written circle-cross glyph on manuscript "grid-work" page, where all the writing "squared." The circle containing a cross is the Egyptian hieroglyph that represents a walled city, the circle being the wall surrounding cross-roads, thus this glyph translates as "community, communion, common purpose." Also, the Circle containing a five- pointed star is the Egyptian hieroglyph for "Heaven," and the most traditional design for circles used in ceremonial ritual.
In wings of spirit I take flight | |
And shift my shape throughout the night. | |
The breath of wind is ever still | |
Felt throughout this holy hill. | |
I fall three times to rise anew | |
Serpents' poison healed by dew. | |
Phoenix rising on this path | |
I feel the strength of storms and wrath. | |
Enflamed by fires of true will, | |
O holy angel, my heart is still, | |
For I have fallen and died in flight | |
Almost blinded by thy sight. | |
I rise and stand before the veil | |
Of mystery and silence on this trail | |
A gift of breath and visions bright | |
Floods the pyramid with holy light. | |
Inspired by Crowley's HHH, MMM I, with poetic license.
Derived from a lecture series in 1977 e.v. by Bill Heidrick
Copyright © Bill Heidrick
Colors are useful in that they have a system to them. One might think
perhaps that a study of colors might be more appropriate for Netzach or even
for Tipheret, but in this approach colors are rationally obtained to teach
particular relations between Hebrew letters and Sephirot. Such a method is
appropriate to Hod. The device shown here is the Golden Dawn rose of letters,
the center part of the elaborate Rose-Cross intended to be the back design of
the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot deck. That device was developed by the G D
as an emblem for use in their work. It is derived in part from a crucifix
illustrated in a collection of early Rosicruciana variously titled Cosmology or Universal Science. Cabala. Alchemy. containing the Mysteries of the Universe, regarding God Nature Man, the Macrocosm ad Microcosm, Eternity and Time explained according to the Religion of Christ, by means of The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Franz
Hartmann, Occult publishing Co., Boston, 1888 (reprinted by Health Research of
Mokelumne Hill, CA in 1969 e.v.) or, more simply and less colorfully, Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16th and 17th Centuries, AMORC popular
edition, 1967. The Rose itself is apparently an addition by the G
D
.
Recall that in the rainbow there is a color sequence: Red at the top going
down into violet at the bottom of the arc. This is the essence behind
assigning color to the Hebrew letters in the King Scale, the one that is most
often used for the paths on the Tree of Life. This arrangement does not make
much sense there, because it is based on this diagram rather than the Tree of
Life itself. In the Sepher Yetzirah the Hebrew letters are divided into three
types: Three Mother letters, seven Double letters and twelve Singles. This
is the way the colors are obtained. In the middle of this diagram are Aleph,
Mem and Shin. Aleph is yellow, Mem is blue, and Shin is red. Those are the
three primary colors. From them all other colors can be derived by mixing.
Aleph has the property of air in the Sepher Yetzirah. Mem is Blue and
corresponds to water in the Sepher Yetzirah, and Shin corresponds to fire.
The sounds of the Mother letters mimic these elements: Aleph is a breath of
air with hardly a sound to it. Mem is a hum like water coursing or rolling.
Shin is the hiss of fire. These things are chosen by signature, mimicry of
nature and given corresponding colors. That borrows a little from Netzach,
where the natural element comes in, but the choice and structure goes to Hod
thinking. The ring just outside the inner ring has the seven double letters,
colored with the seven colors of the spectrum and corresponding to the seven
ancient planets. Their order is not systematic, but the colors are in
sequence. The outermost ring is for the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the
twelve Simple letters or single letters that match them. An extended rainbow
of primary, secondary and tertiary colors runs around it in order, with
crimson or violet-red closing the gap for Qoph and Pisces to complete the
circuit.
The origin of the Golden Dawn color scales varies from old to new source
material. The King scale for the letters comes from color theory and 19th
century color wheels like this one. That's a fairly recent innovation. There
was some knowledge of it in the distant past, but it's only in the last 150
years or so that people have been working with this kind of device. Oddly
enough, without too much jiggling a lot in it matches very old systems. The
seven prismatic colors do match many of the old ways of referring to the 7
planets. The red of Mars is there, but some of the others are a little less
obvious. Yellow for Mercury is not that common; orange is a little more
common. Orange for the Sun is acceptable and Green for Venus is quite old.
Blue for Jupiter is known from old tradition and Violet for the Moon can be
seen in chloride of silver. There is a pattern here that is almost the same as a common ancient pattern of coloring these planets, a good compromise.
That's probably why the Golden Dawn insisted upon this system being used for
the colors of the paths. It seemed a powerful device, an impressive
discovery. The Queen scale lists a collection of alternate colors that have
been used: Air -- like the blue of the sky, so Aleph is sky-blue in the Queen
scale. The vapor of mercury is purple or violet in color, so Beth, which
corresponds to Mercury, can be assigned to purple. The second-string opinions
were put in the Queen scale. The Emperor scale is a simple mixture of the
colors in the King and Queen scales. There are one or two exceptions, but
that is the basic method. For example, Bright Pale Yellow and Sky Blue mix to
give a form of Green. Some of the names for these colors are a bit odd; e.g.
blue-emerald-green and new yellow leather. Those names come from a color set
available in the 1890's and made by Winsor-Newton Ltd. Many of them are still
sold as opaque water colors (WN Designers Gouche) in tubes. Some of the
members of the Order of the Golden Dawn apparently insisted that certain
colors were still being left out. The Empress scale is the funk section but
also has a system. This system reflects back to the rose diagram. The three
mother letters that are in the middle of that diagram and, in the King scale
as yellow, blue, and red, are flecked in the Empress scale. Aleph in the
Empress scale is emerald flecked with gold. Mem is white flecked purple.
Shin is vermilion flecked crimson and emerald. The 7 double letters are
rayed. The 12 single or simple letters are plain, just one pure color, with
an unusual instance. This was the letter Qoph, attributed stone color in this
scale, but light translucent pinkish brown in the King scale and buff flecked
silver white in the Queen scale. Ordinarily flecked colors are not in that
scale at all. They are over in the Empress scale normally for the mother
letters. So why is this done? Look at the zodiacal sign attributed to Qoph:
Pisces. This flecking was the Golden Dawn's way of calling attention to the
fact that they were in the Age of Pisces. In the Aquarian Age this color
should now be changed, if we are to be consistent with the system underlying
the G
D
attributions. It's a question of what to do with Aquarius and
Tzaddi as well. A flecking is probably appropriate for that instead of Pisces
and Qoph in the Queen scale. Crowley did some manipulations with the Tarot
cards, moving the Emperor and the Star around to reflect the astrological
world age. These kinds of things, although they are not primarily Qabalistic,
involve thinking and do flow into the use of Qabalah. Astrology and other
disciplines do play a part in Qabalah, as the Sepher Yetzirah shows by mentioning them.
Note: The Sepher Yetzirah was serialized in the Thelema Lodge Calendar in the January through July 1993 e.v. issues. A separate ASCII file is also available on 93 Net BBS's and at some Internet FTP sites.
Netherwood, The Ridge, Hastings, England {14 March '46} | ||
Dear Grady, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Yours fraternally,
Capt. Grady L. McMurtrie{sic} |
M on AOL asked about racism in the Order and in Crowley.
To some extent that would depend on which "order" you are discussing. Most
groups drawing on Crowley's work or leadership are not as racist as the
general public, in my opinion. There are a great many such orders, most of them modern. I can speak for O.T.O., but others would have to tell you about
the other groups.
In O.T.O., race and gender does not matter. However, Crowley's sense of
humor can be a problem. He lived in the last part of the 19th century and
down to the mid 20th. Although he was radically tolerant by the standards of
his time, his time was 50 years ago; and "tolerance" is not the same as
"relaxed acceptance". "Insensitive" would be a good word to qualify Crowley's
usage regarding race and gender. He made jokes about Jews, Christians,
Hindus, Chinese, Afro-Americans, Arabs, English, Irish and practically every
other ethnic group, focusing the most negativity on his own family
connections. One of his chapters in a larger work would be an instant turn-off by title alone: "Niggers and other Monsters" -- however, when one reads a
little way past that inflammatory heading, it turns out that Crowley is
denouncing racism as sick delusion, the "Monsters" part being a reference to
social hallucination and the racist term being treated as an insane label.
Perhaps Crowley's occasional crudeness accounts for it, but there are fewer
members of African descent in O.T.O. than are represented in the general
population. We have had and continue to have O.T.O. groups led by Afro-Americans here in the US, as well as marriages between different races.
Malicious racial prejudice in action is grounds for expulsion from O.T.O.
membership. The deities of Liber AL are north African, for that matter.
If you have ever seen the old Benny Hill Show on television, you have an
idea of the sort of attitude Crowley had toward races. It is
characteristically British and derived from Music Hall comedy. It can be a
turn off.
To put it another way, AC was not PC (politically correct). Thelema and
O.T.O. are not racist by nature, but many of the members need exposure to
other races to get their heads straight. The more variety we have in O.T.O.,
the better for everybody. Exposure to other races means persons of every race
and culture are benefited by encounters with persons of every other race and
culture -- no matter which is which. Some are insensitive to the impact of
their casual words. Some are oversensitive to idiotic remarks made without
forethought or understanding. The only way to work those problems out is to
get together and relax about it.
Q on AOL stated: "Sex has to be the basis of Thelemic Magick."
Only in the sense that sex can be considered the basis of all religion,
psychology &c. -- in other words, it's possible to think from this point of
view, but it's not necessary. I agree that contemporary sexual views need a
lot of work, if one is to be able to accomplish much.
O.T.O. does use kundalini yoga elements, hence also sex to an extent. A
A
uses sexual imagery in some of the Class A libers, but it's much less
intrinsic than in the O.T.O. approach. Thelema itself uses sexual roles in
Liber AL, but does not mandate anything about sex magick per say.
S.B. described an inscription in a copy of Liber AL:
"To Fra. Scire P.I. from ... Baphomet X° O.T.O. on his affiliation"
The details of the inscription are strong evidence that Gardner entered OTO
via affiliation from co-masonry or regular masonry and that the copy was
presented in May of 1947 e.v.
12/3/95 | Lodge Luncheon Meeting 12:30 | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/3/95 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/4/95 | Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM (call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/9/95 | Class: Yoga for Yahoos w/Ann 1PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/10/95 | "Angelmas" Grace North Church 3PM | |||
12/10/95 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/11/95 | John Dee reading group 8:00PM with Clay in the Library | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/13/95 | Sirius Oasis meeting 8:PM Berkeley | Sirius Oasis | ||
12/16/95 | O.T.O. Initiations Noon (call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/17/95 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/18/95 | Section 2 reading group, 8PM at OZ Comte de Gabalis. | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/20/95 | Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM (call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/22/95 | Winter Solstice Ritual at Oz House 7:30PM (Sol ent. Capricorn 0:17AM) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/23/95 | Class: Yoga for Yahoos w/Ann 1PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/24/95 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/25/95 | Lesser Feast of the Aeon of Osiris | |||
12/29/95 | Astrological Cycles workship 7PM with Grace in Berkeley | Thelema Ldg. | ||
12/31/95 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | 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.
Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.