Thelema Lodge Calendar for June 1997 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for June 1997 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

June 1997 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

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

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

Happy Summer Solstice, Anno 93!

Sol enters Cancer early Saturday morning 21st June at 1:20, but most of us will sleep in a few more hours before rising to celebrate the longest day of the year. Thelema Lodge will observe the noontide of the ninety-third year of the aeon with a beach picnic and ritual outing for the Summer Solstice, in honor of the triumph of Horus in the age of the Crowned and Conquering Child. Our pooled transportation will be organizing to leave from Thelema Lodge at 10:00 AM sharp. Bring picnic supplies packed to carry, and dress for possible afternoon winds as well as warm sun and cold water. We plan to stay until Resh to Tum at sunset, and return thereafter. The destination will be a free beach, scouted ahead of time by the ritualists, probably in San Mateo or Santa Cruz County. Parking may be at some distance for better security, and the trails may be un-maintained, so wear good shoes and be prepared to walk with your own food and gear. Call the lodge ahead of time to contribute to our plans for this event.

Gnostic Mass in Horus Temple

Horus Temple at Thelema Lodge offers a weekly celebration of the gnostic mass every Sunday evening beginning at nightfall. Members, friends, and guests of the lodge are welcome to attend and participate in the communion, and should arrive by 8:00 to await the mass. For directions and information, those unfamiliar with the lodge should call ahead at (510) 652-3171 and speak with the officers. Lodge members (and occasional guests) officiate in this celebration by serving us at mass, and all are encouraged to participate in forming teams to work the liturgy. As your mass team comes together, see the lodgemaster for a date on our temple schedule.

The following perspective upon the minor sacraments of baptism and confirmation within the E.G.C. has been provided by Gnostic Bishop T Oecumene (Michael Sanborn).

The Gnostic Catholic Church: A Vision

We Thelemites are enthusiasts of the New Aeon, the vision of a new condition for humanity. One of the virtues of entertaining such a vision is that it enables us to place ongoing events within a perspective of meaning. This sense of meaning gives shape to our lives, and also provides us with a basis for sharing our enthusiasm with like-minded souls, even those from entirely different traditions. The vision, or "current" if you like, spreads one individual at a time, heedless of culture, tribe, or brand name. How does such a vision realize itself within the heart? To some extent, the process must remain forever Mysterious. But in part, we are drawn to greater knowledge through certain influences within our culture, cultivated through the efforts of the sages and sacred orders of the past.

Our Thelemic heritage can serve as a tremendous force for the furtherance of the Aeon. But we should take care to see to it that the presentations of the teachings are adapted to suit the specific needs of our times and cultures. Aleister Crowley, for example, did not address his writings (exclusively) to the void, but rather shaped his message in accordance to the requirements of his day.

Of all the cultural changes since Crowley's time, perhaps none is so important to the development of Thelema as the shifting religious landscape. He would never have imagined how rapidly Organized Religion would lose its grip on the "common man" in the years following his death. By this I mean the sense in which the idea of the religious person became no longer identified with the ordinary citizen, but was rather exiled to the margins of society. This was a radical transformation that we have perhaps not yet fully taken into account.

On the other hand, it is true that we are now in the midst of a general religious revival, as a sort of backlash to the revolution of secular humanism. Some of this, perhaps the most readily apparent portion, is more of the same old nonsense: the continuing momentum of tyranny and superstition. But that is not the whole story. Look at the unprecedented interest in Tibetan Buddhism, for example, or the inclusiveness and adventurous spirit of avant- garde Judeo-Christianity (very different from anything Uncle Al would have known).

Pan is alive. Gnosis is afoot.

Keeping the spirit of the times in mind, I believe that the Gnostic Catholic Church has an indispensable role to play in the propagation of Thelema. We, the people of the present time, are in love with the dance of being. And we celebrate this grace in communion with the most excellent of our ancestors, and mindful of the limitless potential of our progeny.

As a ceremonial observation of our enthusiasm to Be-With-Us, the Gnostic Catholic Church offers the sacraments of baptism and confirmation upon request. Contact the Lodge, or Bishop T Oecumene at (510) 601-9393 for further information.

MMM

Man of Earth initiations in Ordo Templi Orientis are planned at Thelema Lodge for Saturday 14th June. Active initiate members are invited to contact the lodge officers in advance for the times and the degrees scheduled to be worked. Those seeking initiation in O.T.O. should contact the lodge; application forms for candidates may be obtained at most events.

Astrology Seminar with Grace

A seven-week astrology seminar will begin Monday evening 2nd June, meeting in Berkeley. Those who attend will receive an excellent astrology workbook (worth $21 but donated for this course). Both beginners and intermediate levels will benefit from these meetings. This is an excellent opportunity to get a grounding in astrology, one of the cornerstones of the Hermetic science. What is Astrology? Astrology is actually a language of evocative symbols which has the power to reveal the essence of any moment in time and space. Any particular moment can mark the birth of a human life, the beginning of a business, the start of a horse race, the signing of legal papers, or the solemnizing of a marriage contract. Learning to read the symbols of a birth chart gives us amazing insights about its subject. The major factors of signs, planets, houses, and aspects will be studied, with examples taken from the lives of public figures and events, in addition to the use of our own charts as a major learning tool throughout the seminar. If you can manage two hours on seven consecutive Monday evenings in June and July, join us for an intense mystical exploration of your own psyche. The seminar will be held in Berkeley at Grace's Temple of Astrology, beginning at 7:00. Call Grace ahead of time to participate, and for directions, at (510) 843-7827.

College of Hard N.O.X.

The glories of ancient Greek philosophy arose from dialogues and group discussions, informal and semi-formal, of the poets, pedants, penseurs, patrons, philistines, and partyers, in short, of that philosophizing portion of the populace which in all ages and all climes has luxuriated in those questions which seem of least moment to practical people. Nowadays most of this process is formalized into a welter of continually metastasizing cultural and educational institutions and career paths.

The College of Hard N.O.X. is an attempt to reintroduce the qualities of informality and spontaneity to the education of the members of our community as magicians and as Thelemites. Think of our meetings as classes where everyone is both teacher and student. The rules of discussion are simple: anything goes, unless it doesn't. People who are excessively abusive, or domineering, or in love with the sound of their own voices, should expect to have their faults openly discussed; however, interruptions, jokes, colorful language, even a certain amount of heatedness will all be tolerated if they originate from earnest inquiry. If you like to engage in intelligent conversations, either as a participant or just as a listener, you are encouraged to enroll in the College of Hard N.O.X.

The meetings will open with the Dean's presentation of the evening's topic. This will be immediately followed by a discussion of whether or not to accept that topic or to choose another (or dispense with a topic altogether). Topics may be anything of interest to the group of students present, especially academic questions, political and social controversies, O.T.O. and/or local lodge issues, and Thelemic arcana. Wandering off the topic is allowed, but the Dean will, if necessary, remind people of the agreed topic.

Meetings will be held at Thelema Lodge, twice a month in successive weeks, the last and first Wednesdays of every month. The first class will begin at 8:00 on the evening of 25th June. Arrive as promptly as you can because the conversation will commence without delay. Mordecai's proposed topic for the initial class is, "What, if any, are the political implications of Thelema"?

Next NOX

Tarot Series in San Anselmo

The magick of prognostication takes many forms, but among the more evocative and versatile of the traditional methods is Tarot divination. Work with the cards involves the occult student with the entire range of Western spiritual symbolism, and teaches the intricate web of correspondences from which the formulas of ritual, meditation, and initiation are constructed. Bill Heidrick's Tarot series, meeting on Wednesday evening 18th June in San Anselmo, offers a wide-ranging investigation of the cards, and our survey of the Major Trumps concludes this month with illustrated presentations on the Aeon XX or Angel of Judgment card, and the Universe XXI or World card. There will also be a demonstration reading or two afterwards, with special instructional commentary. Contact Bill at (415) 454-5176 for directions or additional information.

The Rites of Summer

The eighteenth Bay Area cycle of Aleister Crowley's Rites of Eleusis is scheduled to get underway early in July, and there will be a coordinating meeting for the god-forms and production managers who are organizing the Rites, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening 11th June at Thelema Lodge. Those who have already been cast, or who would like to be, should contact the lodge ahead to confirm this meeting. The Rites will be given at twelve-day intervals again this year, with Saturn in the dark of the moon on Saturday evening 5th July (probably at Andy and April's house in Oakland, but call ahead to confirm the venue), Jupiter on Thursday 17th July, and Mars on Tuesday 29th. Two more Rites follow in August, and two in September, concluding at full moon for the Rite of Luna on Monday evening 15th September.

The Law is For All

Our Sunday evening study group continues in the lodge "den" before mass each week, reading through the depths of the Beast's commentary on perhaps a verse or two from the Book of the Law in an hour of discussion over the pages of The Law is for All, beginning at 7:00. Philosophers, Thelemites, magicians, and quibblers welcome.

Vacation Reading

Caitlin is off to the Io Pan Jam with the entire crowd from Scarlet Woman Oasis in Austin, Texas, so the Thelema Lodge Section Two reading group will take a break this month. Read ahead in Edgar Jepson's supernatural novel No. 19 (1910) for the July meeting. Our future projections include readings from the Roman poets Martial and Juvenal in August, Lytton's alchemical novel A Strange Story in September, and Shakespeare's Macbeth in October. Rather than closing this project as we near the end of the original A

bibliography (which was assembled over eighty years ago), we hope to extend the list with selections from Crowley's later recommendations in Liber Artemis Iota, and also with more modern works, and additional writings from the authors on whom Crowley focused. Suggestions of additional titles for this project will be most welcome.

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Crowley Classics

A spoof in the style of travel-writing and ethnography, this unfinished piece seems likely to reflect some of Crowley's own feelings upon his arrival in America late in 1914 e.v. It was published a few years later in The International 11:10 (New York: October 1917), pp. 305-6, in an issue where Crowley himself was responsible for most of the items included. Although credited in the masthead only as the "contributing editor," Crowley found himself in the autumn of 1917 e.v., as the United States at last entered the Great War, with his own monthly magazine to produce. In the same October issue with this fragment Crowley also included texts he had written over the preceding years, attributed to Edward Kelly, The Master Therion (two items and a letter), and Mark Wells, as well as three items bearing his own name, and an editorial signed "A.C." There are also several unattributed pieces, some of which are obviously written in Crowley's own voice, including the sonnet to Hilarion and the editor's introductory "boost". The present piece is one of the unattributed texts, and its style and language are perfectly consistent with Crowley's authorship, but there are no conclusive references that would remove all doubt from the attribution. In the context of this magazine issue, however, the very lack of a by-line for the fragment seems sufficient to attribute it to Crowley, who would have been very unlikely under the circumstances to run another's work in competing anonymity. In Confessions (although this piece is not mentioned) Crowley betrays a relevant tendency to refer to Americans as "natives" and reflects upon his own departure for New York that "I had a feeling that my country, the richest in the world, would shortly be going, cap in hand, to the savages for cowries" (1969 e.d., p. 745).

This fragment is known to have been reprinted in one or two college textbooks anthologizing ethnographic perspectives (circa 1970s e.v.), without attribution to Crowley. It was also reprinted in the June 1978 e.v. issue In the Continuum.

The Discovery of Gneugh-Ioughrck
A Fragment

[by Aleister Crowley]

. . . As I approached the landing-place, continued the explorer, the savagery of the natives manifested itself in a thousand extravagances.

In one canoe was to be seen a medicine man, wearing a saffron rag, who parleyed in some inscrutable jargon; the tenant of another, a gorilla-like creature, boarded my boat, and plied me with idiotic questions as to whether I had been there before, where I was born, who was my father, was I a native of the country (!!!), what were my political opinions and my moral character, in short, everything that an imbecile curiosity could conjure up. He paid not the least attention to my answers. I learnt afterwards that this was part of a religious ritual of these astonishing half-men.

The great point is that the stranger must be made to swear some oath, no matter what, and no matter whether true or false. The fact of attestation guaranteed the favor of their gods. So again on landing I was confronted by another creature with a head resembling that of a sheep, but with the expression of a vulture, who exacted another oath to the effect that I was not intending to trade with the natives. I swore as requested, and he was immediately satisfied; but on subsequent examination I found that he had taken advantage of my distraction to rifle my loads, and sequestrate several articles that took his fancy. When I complained of this through an interpreter, I was told that the articles in question were of necessity "either displeasing to the gods, or pleasing to them, since the gods were never indifferent. In the first case, they must be destroyed; in the second they must be offered to the gods. In neither case have you any right in the matter." They added that I might flatter my fortune that she had brought me off so easily, for had I been a native, all my possessions must infallibly have been seized.

But no sooner had I quitted the landing-stage with my porters than an innumerable company of sordid persons began to jostle me. These were all ragged and dirty; they stank horribly of stale liquor of some kind unfamiliar to me, and also of some filthy aromatic. They began at once to ply me with questions which made those of my former tormentor seem almost reasonable.

For those other questions were at least such as I could answer; the new infliction was absurd. They asked me whether I had ever been in their country before; and on my replying "no," inquired how I liked their country, what I thought of its institutions and customs, which they assured me were the best in the world. They asked if I admired their women, who were the most beautiful in the world, and none of whom, as they well knew, I had yet seen. They wished even to know things which God alone could have known, concerning the future; how long I was going to stay, what I would do, and other matters even more ridiculous. They then became extremely insolent, commenting on my personal appearance and costume, catching at my clothes and asking their price, seeking information as to my most private affairs, and in every way conducting themselves as the sodden and mannerless mongrels that they were.

However, being at last for the first time well rid of these scurvy knaves, I was able to rest to some extent, and to listen while I ate my food to the babble around me. On my journey from the landing-place I had already remarked that no man was able to fix his mind upon his affairs. Every pebble by the roadside on which the sun's rays chanced to fall at the proper angle would catch his eye, and crying "Cowrie! Cowrie!" he would leave his occupation and rush after it. This frequently led to free fights between savages who had observed the pebble at the same moment, and they would continue to fight even after they found it to be only a pebble. Some seemed altogether hypnotized by their desire for cowries, and, picking up pebbles, would maintain angrily that they were cowries, or were better than cowries, or would be cowries one day!

Their conversation was exclusively on this one subject. It was unlucky or irreligious -- I was never able to determine the root-idea in this superstition -- to complete a sentence without mention of cowries, or to refer to any object without giving its equivalent in cowries. It was also usual to prefix to every sentence a brief invocation of the "official" god; and this I found to be the only trace remaining of his worship. The real god is a fabulous bird -- the Aquila Duplex of Mungo Park may be a congener. Fabulous, I say, though the natives assert positively that it exists. Yet some such bird is to be found in the western part of the country. The possession of a specimen is said to confer the highest happiness.

In default of such specimens they have dirty and crumpled oblongs of some substance resembling paper. These are covered with hieroglyphic signs and pictures, and the Big Medicine-Man, a mysterious being in the interior of the country, consecrates them and issues them. Their possession ensures good luck. Some are more sacred than others; this depends on the signs written by the makers. For even one of these every native is ready to perform any service, however degrading; or to steal, rob, and murder.

There is, however, a difference in degree; it is pretended that such crimes are only honorable or even (among the stricter sort of men) excusable when the number or value of the oblongs is great. But each man knows in his heart that even one of the least desirable of these is worth the loss of his soul; for this is their religion.

The food of the country is very varied and delicious. but the cooks are by no means skilful in their art. It is possible, however, after some experience, to avoid actual poisoning; and this the natives themselves are not able to do. For instead of using their noses, tongues, and eyes, they judge wholly by ear, which, a good principle in musical criticism, is unsuited to ripe gastronomy. Their method is as follows: Certain persons are chosen for the loudness of their tones, and appointed to declare the benefits or the reverse of devouring certain substances. One class cries that such a food is poison; his opponent that it is the only true nourishment of life. This shouting goes on continuously, and the other natives catch the enthusiasm of the shouters and join in their sacred war-dances, which often develop into fights. The shouters claim the direct inspiration of the god of truth, or of the god of freedom, or of the god of the people; but in reality they are faithful to the true but unofficial god of this strange people, as is every one. Those who most loudly blaspheme him are in truth often his best servants. The shouters are employed by the merchants, in effect, and their oracles depend upon the commercial interests of their masters. I remarked upon this fact to one of their greatest philosophers, and he replied that it was the greatest proof possible of their bona fides, that the spiritual side of the prophets should be in such perfection of harmony with their material welfare. "What in the Abyss could be better?" (It is the custom to affirm belief in the existence of a place of eternal punishment by introducing its name into every question, since certain heretics doubted it of yore.)

"Should one prophesy against himself, it would show disunion of his being, which is no other than madness."

The test of truth is therefore exclusively its utility. The fact is of wide bearing, and applies directly to their theory of law.

This is as simple in this country as it is complex in others. The first principle is that everything is forbidden. For example, said my interpreter, no man may carry arms. I pointed out that (on the contrary) every man was armed to the teeth. True, said he, therefore if any man displease the ruling power, it is easy to destroy him. If he pay not ample tribute, or if he lend not his wives to the right people, of if he err in thought upon political or social questions, there is no trouble in condemning him. There is always some crime, which all alike commit, of which he may be conveniently accused.

This rule holds good of all laws. None are in force, unless it be to satisfy the greed or spite of one of the ruling class. To this there is however one important exception. There are certain classes of Shouters whose duty it is to call attention constantly to the evil-doer. These wisely concentrate their energies on some one trivial matter -- it is not pleasing to the gods to mention serious affairs at all, in any connection -- and they enforce the laws most drastically for the moment, while the attention of the people can be held. Thus, on my arrival, they had just condemned a medicine man to Ten Years of Imprisonment for "conscientious-advice-giving."

Other points were also most strange, even to me, an old explorer of many of the dark places of the earth. One essential point of law is that a forbidden thing is no longer forbidden, if it be called by another name. Thus, it is the custom of the country to drink arrack from a calabash, coffee from a coconut; and it is forbidden to drink arrack upon holy days. Those therefore who wish to do so drink it from a coconut, and it becomes technically coffee. Similarly, in calling for the arrack, one must say: bring bamboo-shoots. Thus is the law satisfied.

The object of enforcing laws in this sporadic manner is obvious. Suppose a merchant spend years of labor in the building up of a big trade in silk. The Shouters then say: "Behold this villain, the greatest rogue that walketh upon the earth! Lo, he conduceth to luxury and to vanity; and the morals of our women, the purest albeit the fairest that be in all the world, are by him corrupt." The indignation of the people is thus aroused, and they bethink them of the law against silk. The merchant must then pay all that he hath to the Shouters, so that they may not see him.

This is a most salutary custom of this people. The merchant hath for ever the fear of the Law before his eyes. He is taught constantly the instability of human affairs, and so from a merchant he becometh a philosopher.

The greater merchants, however, have found higher truths. They themselves employ armies of Shouters, and none dare offend them. In their hands they have gathered all the images of God of the country, without which none may do aught without blasphemy, and blasphemy is the one crime that is always and in all places punished, usually by death.

It is they that have destroyed or sequestered all the specimens of Aquila Duplex, which is not fabulous at all, and may still be found in the western districts of the country. But it has been to their interest to persuade the ignorant that the bird is but a fable, and that the oblong squares are the true God.

The evening being now come, I went forth into the market-place to take the air; but no sooner had I come into their main way, which they call broad (though it is narrow enough if one compare it with the main street of any civilized town), and white, although it has hardly a white building in all its length, than I was assailed by the fearsome beast which is justly the dread of the whole country, the terrible man-eating chicken. . .

(The remainder of this account has been deleted by the Censor.)

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from the Grady Project:

This is the final poem of Grady's sequence entitled The Angel and the Abyss, written over the course of 1961 e.v. while he worked as a government analyst in Sacramento. Although this poem has not previously been published alone, the entire series was first printed in the London/Bergen volume of 1986 e.v., then in Berkeley in the Grady Project two years later, and more recently in the Red Flame.

The Ark of the Covenant

Lion lust

Queen of Spheres

Monad windowless divining

Arrow thrust

Deathless years

Star alembic role defining

   Neptune's trident

   Sea storm strident

   Waves combining

   Forms intwining

   Sea salt teeming

   Pledge redeeming

   Bivalve plenum

   Star-spate venom

   Screwing physis

   Starry Isis

   Ophidian

   Meridian

Grail task

Night sky manic

Fierce love of Heaven, pull of soul

Lampshade mask

Love joy panic

Diana Zagreus, take your toll!

   Sailor drowning

   Hound dog clowning

   Meaning hidden

   Knowledge midden

   Salt shape sigil

   Star spray vigil

   Name reviling

   Goddess smiling

   Snake vibration

   Sharp elation

   Crustacea

   Acacia

               -- Grady L. McMurtry

                              12/5/61

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An Introduction to Qabalah

Part XXVIII - Let's try it..

Derived from a lecture series in 1977 e.v. by Bill Heidrick
Copyright © Bill Heidrick

Here's a light run-through of the notion of analyzing day-to-day affairs by the Trees-within-Trees approach. This will only touch on the method, since each individual will tend to use this technique in a personal way.

To try this, start by taking something moderately complex, but not so elaborate that it will become confusing. If you have a project or something that you are doing, that might be the simplest. Start by writing a topic on a sheet of paper with a simple tree diagram. For example, it might be: "My difficulty with transportation". Next, determine the Keter and the Malkut. What is the essence of the thing in its simplest sense? What is the essence of the thing in its developed sense? Transportation: The need for transportation, the success of transportation. Those can be taken as the opposites, the things pulling apart that you want to bring together. Always try to make it a simple set of opposites. This gives a "black and white" picture. How can that two dimensional thing develop color? The colors are those of the Sephirot of the Tree of Life, symbolically; the shades, the primary colors, their mixtures and the final earthly results. For traveling, and most things, the energy is in Chokmah. The over-all, but not precise, conception is in Binah. Next, pause and review: You know you have a need to travel. You have the energy necessary, and you are not sick or blocked in some other obvious way. You have the general idea of what traveling is about. You are ready, you have decided, and you are sitting down to figure it out. Above the Abyss, Keter through Binah, is thinking idly about it. The approach to actual travel begins below the Abyss. Do you feel good about it; is it an over-all good thing, traveling, going back and forth (Chesed)? How can you make yourself do these things when you need to (Geburah)? Carefully consider if there is enough over-all desire to accomplish these things. That doesn't amount to simple tricks to get yourself to do it, but should be an over-all satisfaction and determination, a union of Chesed and Geburah. How will traveling effect in a general way your whole life (Tipheret)? Perhaps won't utterly alter your life, but you might have to be serious about changes and scheduling. This is still not a detailed level; details come in with the lower four Sephirot. Netzach is where you decide whether you can really do it or not. Hod is the place of the functional plans; bus schedules, how long it takes to go from one place to another, bridge tolls, and all other practical details. Yesod is the actual attempt. Malkut is the point of success in the journey. That's one Tree, and it may be enough if all goes well. If there are problems doing this, or regrets after, that's where additional Trees come into play.

Imagine that you have just come to a class on Qabalah, perhaps like the one from which this series of articles derived. You've gotten through going from where you live to here, or you wouldn't be here. You've been successful at this Tree. Suppose next that this was a little difficult and has disrupted your schedule, the way you relate to things during the day. That sort of difficulty with common patterns of the day means trouble in Tipheret. Take another sheet of paper and examine the Tree inside Tipheret. The Keter of that Tree comes from the Geburah of the original Tree, while the Malkut of that second Tree comes from the Netzach of the original. Somewhere in the middle there was a problem. If it's in Netzach of the Tree within Tipheret, that isn't too bad. Often this will be a sort of energy drain, a lack of enough stamina to make it easily through the day. Examine that. Open up another, third Tree within that Netzach of the second Tree within the Tipheret of the original Tree. Perhaps you were strong enough in the beginning and knew what you were going to do otherwise during that day. If that was the case, everything was ok down to Da'at and the Abyss between conception and the beginning of action. Check further. If the strength and vitality was still good through the beginning of travel and you felt basically good about doing things, that works down a little further inside this third, nested Tree. Perhaps you didn't get all the things done that you wanted to do. Afterwards, you may have felt poorly about this, but at the time of traveling nothing seemed to be going wrong. That shows no major problem with this innermost Tree in going down through Tipheret and Netzach. Perhaps you simply didn't have enough time to tend to usual things and had to replan other activities normally done in any given day. That would be the point of the flaw, not taking those changes fully into consideration, an issue of Hod on the innermost of these three Trees. The Tree of getting from your home to the class had some trouble with its Tipheret, the day was a little disorganized. A study of the Trees inside that Tipheret disclosed that it was the routine schedule of the day that was messed up a bit. You could take a fourth Tree and begin to analyze inside Hod, within Netzach, within Tipheret of the Tree of Traveling to Class. Here's getting up in the morning, Keter. Here's going to bed at night, Malkut. Now concentrate on where the sequence of daily routine needs to be analyzed. Find out just what needs to be changed to make adjustments for traveling. Theoretically this can go on forever. Stop when it suits you. If this does not give a solution, presume that there's trouble with at least one other Sephira in the original Tree. If looking at daily routine does not clarify the matter, go back up that original Tree of getting from your home to the class and see if there is something else giving trouble. Perhaps there was a misjudgment as to how much you could do. Perhaps something unusual, just for the day, was overlooked. There may have been a mistake in travel directions. Those matters impact on other Sephirot, both of the larger and of the intermediate Trees.

Don't become discouraged. This approach does work, but requires some practice as well as familiarity with the basic Tree of Life diagram. There are variations which may make it easier.

Previous, Part XXVII Next: A five-fold Tree division

Primary Sources

Prisoner:
This is the outline prepared by Karl Germer to interest publishers in his account of time in Nazi Concentration camps. The complete book typescript is believed to be extant but not accessible.

PROTECTIVE PRISONER No. 303.

by KARL GERMER

The record of the author's seven months imprisonment in Nazi Concentration Camps, "COLUMBIA HOUSE", and "ESTERWEGEN" (the latter in the "Moor" at the Dutch frontier.)

This book is the first to be written by a man who not only is a genuine "Nordic" in the Nazi sense, but who never had anything to do with politics. If anything, the author was inclined to favor Hitler's ascendancy to power as a salvation from the stagnation of internal German politics. The book forms a scathing indictment of the Nazi, and particularly Hitler's mentality and its danger to civilization.

Personality of author: 51 years old; good education; University studies at

Grenoble and Sorbonne. Has lived and traveled for 20 years in most

European countries, North America, North Africa. 4 years' war

record as adjutant and machine gun officer: Belgium, France, Russia,

Serbia. Highest war decorations.

Introduction: General political situation in Germany.

Police Prisons: After return from England, author was arrested Feb. 2, 1935

in Leipzig while visiting relative without any reason given.

Handcuffed and transferred to station. For 10 days in Berlin pol

prison in same cell with lowest criminals. Conditions there,

experiences with, and stories of, criminals.

Gestapa (Secret State Police) Feb. 11 first hearing. 5 hours' cross

questioning, yet no definite charge made. Reason for arrest given

Feb. 18 at last: for being in touch with high grade Freemasons

abroad. Gestapa methods. Brutalities. Thence taken to:

"Columbia House" the Berlin Concentration Camp. Atmosphere of terror.

Atrocious treatment. Methods. Solitary confinement. Life in cell.

No reading permit for 4 1/2 months! S.S. guards and their

mentality. Once for six weeks not let out into the open air.

Routine.

The "Seven Breslauers". Description of case of seven Nazi S.A. officers from

Breslau, adjutants etc. of the staff of the former Governor of

Silesia, Bruckner, who, after the Rohm Putsch was arrested for

sodomy. The "7 Breslauers" had been merely held as witnesses.

Bruckner was released in February and given high post by Goring,

while the poor witnesses were held in Conc. Camp. Story of dramatic

flight of two of them to Czechoslovakia.

Murders by Nazi Guards. Stories of several cold-blooded murders. Several

suicides.

Flogging in Public. Flogging method. Detailed descriptions of the case of

public flogging of 5 protective prisoners.

Food. Absolutely insufficient: one slice of bread in morning and evening; one

plate of soup at noon. Some were privileged to buy additional food

in canteen, run by S.S. guards, who made immense profits by charging

50 - 100% higher prices.

"Sport", the S.S. "disciplinary" method of torture.

I meet Salomon (Berthold Jacob) who was drugged and kidnapped at the Swiss

border. True story of his arrest as told by himself. His special

treatment. His cell was opposite mine.

Work in Architect's office. For 6 weeks I had permit to work there; this gave

me exceptional freedom and chance to see the run of the prison, get

into personal contact with all the prisoners and S.S. guards and

officers. Permitted me to get deeper insight. Contact with many

prominent people who were imprisoned. Amongst them high S.S. and

S.A. officers. Story of high S.S. officer, 4 1/2 months in Conc.

Camp. Reason: for having an affair with his secretary, though he

was married! Real reason: to supplant him.

In Strict Solitary Confinement. From April 10 to July 7. Cruelty of the

treatment. Punishment, because my wife had sent me a cable from New

York with reply prepaid, and I had filled out the blank and sent it

to Gestapa for censure. (I was forbidden to attempt to communicate

with anybody outside Germany.)

Rigorous Arrest. 8 days on water and bread on hard boards, because I had

dared to complain about S.S. guard.

April 30; I am accused of having secret net of agents all over Germany. To

have factory for false passports. Etc. etc. Sodomites and Transvestites at

Columbia House, arrested wholesale after the Rohm Putsch. Story of Frankfurt

boy, arrested for sodomy, who had to be told what the crime meant.

JULY 7th, INTERVENTION OF AMERICAN CONSUL, thereafter transferred to

Esterwegen Camp in the "Moor", the bogs near the Dutch frontier. One of the

worst of the worst Camps in Nazi Germany. Transportation there in

prison vans. Handcuffed; three days' journey. Reception at

Esterwagen. Unbelievable terror. 1200 prisoners there.

"Shack 5" Description of life, routine, etc.

"The Training Ground". Horrible slave work. Cold inhumanity of S.S. guards

as slave drivers and torturers!

The "Scheiss-Kuhle," work there the worst in the whole Camp. I am detailed

to it with a gang of 5 (amongst them Dr. Leber, the Socialist member

of the Reichstag, a wealthy "race pollutor", and a "witness of

Jehovah". I was included for "obstinately refusing to tell the

truth, i.e. for denying that I was a Mason (which I am not!).

Perfectly incredible conditions of work. Details. "Special Sport".

Men had to roll through the manure; case when Dr. Leber on such an

occasion tried to lift his face during "rolling" in order to prevent

it being soiled, and S.S. guard dug pole into manure and smeared it

over his face and through his mouth.

Medieval torture. Arrest House: prisoners were put in irons and closed in

circle, sometimes for 24 hours. Horrible condition of men coming

out. One man's nerves of hand and fingers had been killed, thus

invaliding use of this hand. Many details of cases and personal

experiences.

Several cases of "Shot while attempting to escape:, provoked as

entertainment for S.S. guards.

Treatment of Jews, Race polluters, "Witnesses of Jehovah", of Catholic and Protestant priests and other religious sects. Nazi attitude towards them.

Week-End Entertainment. Story of particular piece of mass torture of

practically the whole of the 1200 prisoners, on a Saturday

afternoon.

The "Wheel-Barrow", the scourge of Esterwegen.

Free. Discharge. I meet peasants of vicinity of Esterwegen. Their attitude

towards Esterwegen, whose condition is unknown to them.

Impossibility for me to speak as I had to sign a pledge never to

reveal a word of my experience to anyone.

Epilogue. I see the American Consul in Berlin. His side of the story. Proof

that Mr. Himmler, the head of the S.S. and all Concentration Camps,

does not shrink from deliberately lying to the official

representative of a foreign power.

My Escape from Germany into Belgium.

Conclusions. Summing up of judgment, based on observation of S.S. officers

and guards, experiences and conversations with other prominent

prisoners and especially with higher Nazi officers who were fellow

prisoners with me. Some of them are free again and have been re-

instated in their rank.

The book has 60-65,000 words and is written in English.

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From the Outbasket

Here are some edited bits from responses to recent email:

G. and D. remarked of a view they had heard, to the effect that the Secret Chiefs are beyond Keter and Ipsissimus.

This seems impossible by definition, to me. Nothing plural can exist at Keter, let alone beyond it. The Secret Chiefs of the G

were beings, real or imaginary, who fulfilled the roles of sponsors in Mathers' claims. When questioned, all he had to do was refer to the directives of these critters, whom nobody else could find. For all apparent purposes, they were characterized as ordinary living people, directing and authorizing an organization formed with their distant oversight and approval. They were said to occasionally communicate by astral means, sometimes in the flesh. There was speculation as to whether all or some of them were incarnated human beings, but nothing definite was said one way or the other.

There are elements of Theosophical "Masters" and similar qualities about these "Secret Chiefs", but nothing out of the ordinary for readers of Bulwar Lytton's Zanoni. Brother Monty, who joined OTO just after Crowley's Greater Feast, once remarked that only Blavatsky and Perdurabo ever had contact with the "true" Secret Chiefs.

Striking parallels can be found in the Hassidic movement, with the Tzadikim or Lamed-Vavniks -- human but like the angels, never known for certain and never fully understandable by ordinary mortals. Thirty six of them were said to wander the world incognito, working like shepherds of all living things.

R. Asked how anyone would know if the Beast arose ?

It is a question of belief, since there are different religious notions concerning "The Beast". Many people think they are that Beast or know what it may be in material fact. The common use of the term is mostly Christian, and Thelema has an entirely different perspective on this word. In Thelema, the "Beast" is usually a metaphor for the intelligence of the physical world, sometimes personified in a human being like Crowley. Even with that, there are many different views. Some people think they are Crowley re-born and call themselves "Beast". Some think that they are the "next one", to carry on Crowley's work. Some people don't have a clear idea about this and use the word anyway. I think it is not very important. One can use the "Beast" as a "god form", something to personify in ritual or meditation. One can use it as an allegory in various ways, some historical and some mystical.

M.K. Expressed interest in the problem of fitting the Chakras on the Tree of Life.

The allocation of the Chakras to the Tree in Liber 777 is early, mostly derived from Theosophy and highly questionable. One popular alternative is to assign them to horizontals on the Tree, since there are exactly seven of those. By that method, the Manipura corresponds to Hod and Netzach. Almost all attempts to place the seven major Chakras on the Tree either assign the Anahata to Tipheret or include Tipheret in the correspondence to the Anahata. This necessarily follows from the fact of the 200 odd chakras, including six of the seven major ones, being physiological in nature. The Anahata is the system that includes the heart in the physical body. Tipheret is strongly associated with the heart in Qabalah.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

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Thelema Lodge Events Calendar for June 1997 e.v.

6/1/97	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	Thelema Ldg.
6/2/97	Astrology Seminar with Grace in Berkeley, 7:00 PM	Thelema Ldg.
6/8/97	Lodge Luncheon Meeting 12:30	Thelema Ldg.
6/8/97	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	Thelema Ldg.
6/9/97	Astrology Seminar with Grace in Berkeley, 7:00 PM	Thelema Ldg.
6/11/97	Rites of Eleusis coordinating meeting 8:00 PM in the library	Thelema Ldg.
6/12/97	Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM (call to attend)	Thelema Ldg.
6/14/97	Thelema Lodge OTO initiations (call to attend)	Thelema Ldg.
6/15/97	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	Thelema Ldg.
6/16/97	Astrology Seminar with Grace in Berkeley, 7:00 PM	Thelema Ldg.
6/18/97	Tarot with Bill Heidrick, 7:30 PM in San Anselmo at 5 Suffield Ave.	Thelema Ldg.
6/21/97	Summer Solstice beach picnic and ritual, leaving at 10 AM	Thelema Ldg.
6/22/97	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	Thelema Ldg.
6/23/97	Astrology Seminar with Grace in Berkeley, 7:00 PM	Thelema Ldg.
6/25/97	"College of Hard NOX" with Mordecai 8:00 PM in the library	Thelema Ldg.
6/26/97	Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM (call to attend)	Thelema Ldg.
6/29/97	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	Thelema Ldg.
6/30/97	Sirius Oasis meeting 8:00 PM in Berkeley	Sirius Oasis