Join in the community at Thelema Lodge when we celebrate Aleister Crowley's
pagan eucharist ritual of the Gnostic Mass each Sunday evening in Horus
Temple, beginning at nightfall. Initiate members and visitors as well as non-
initiate associates and guests begin gathering at 8:00 to be ready when called
to mass not long thereafter. We are the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica,
perpetuating an organized tradition of religious ritual for the aeon of
Thelema which celebrates the wonders of life, joy, liberty, and diversity. We
open the mass to all whose will it is to take communion with us; those who
have not attended before are welcome to call (510) 652-3171 for directions and
information. Members of the lodge (and occasional guests) take turns serving
as officers in the mass, and all are encouraged to study privately its text in
Liber XV to enable them to minister to the community in the temple. The
lodgemaster keeps the temple schedule, and should be consulted in order to set
a date, as members get their mass-teams organized. We are currently
scheduling mass teams about four to six weeks ahead.
Rites of Eleusis
Our eighteenth cycle of the Rites of Eleusis continues this month with the
Rite of Sol on Sunday afternoon 10th August. Jen will be returning from Texas
to produce this event, which will take place in the back yard at Oz House,
beginning at 2:00. Call Oz at (510) 654-3580, or call Thelema Lodge, for
further information. The Rite of Venus on Friday evening 22nd August will be
held at Sirius Oasis in Berkeley, featuring Terri Sal back in town as our
goddess of the evening. Our cycle will be concluded next month, with Mercury
and Luna in September.
When Liber DCCCL, The Rites of Eleusis, was first published in Equinox I:6
(March 1911), Crowley's dedication inscribed the text "to my friend Commander
G. M. Marston" of the Royal Navy, "to whose suggestion these rites are due."
The allusion is to a weekend early in May of 1910 e.v. when Marston, a high-
ranking officer in the Admiralty, had entertained Crowley, Leila Waddell, and
Victor Neuburg at his home in Dorset. A student of occult and primitive
religions, with special skill as a ritual drummer, Marston had signed his
pledge as a Probationer in the A
A three months earlier, and he assisted one
night when the group performed with impressive success a ritual version of the
evocation of Bartzabel, the spirit of Mars, (later published Equinox I:9),
which Crowley had lately been working on. In this traditional goetic working,
the long-suffering Neuburg was put into a charged triangle, and when the
spirit was constrained to speak through him he managed to deliver (in response
to Marston's questions) Bartzabel's predictions of approaching war in the
Balkans and in Germany. Marston was so impressed that he suggested they might
finance the growth of the A A by selling tickets for spectators to attend
similar rituals.
Despite the author's nod to a wealthy host for this expression of
probationary enthusiasm, Crowley himself maintained a strong prejudice against
the idea of charging admission to any spiritual operation, and the Rites which
developed out of the impulse enunciated by Marston turned out to be of a
different and somewhat more formal character. Although more of an
educational, or "revivalist," campaign than a concerted commercial effort, the
performances were nevertheless promoted vigorously during the autumn by
Crowley, with an impresario's eye to the receipts. The form of this dramatic
ritual cycle is not goetic, but modeled upon the basic religious techniques of
classical paganism, utilizing an insight Crowley credited to his study of masonic rituals. "The ancients were accustomed to invoke the gods by a
dramatic presentation or commemoration of their legends," as he puts it in
Confessions (p. 633).
The basic performance technique was what he called the "artistic dialogue"
between several solo performers in an organized recital which including
dances, instrumental music, poetic recitation, and ceremonial ritual. The
concept had been developed out of "casual rituals adopted during the
Anhalonium experiment" of that same summer, when a "Rite of Artemis" (very
similar to the "Rite of Luna" with which our cycle closes) was performed by
Crowley with Waddell and Neuberg. This was an invitational event, performed
to an audience of initiates, friends, and selected reporters and press critics
at the offices of the Equinox, 124 Victoria Street, London S.W., a spacious
suite which also functioned as the A A headquarters and as Crowley's own
residence when in London. On this private occasion, participants were offered
doses of anhalonium, a preparation from the peyote plant which was at that
time experimental and perfectly legal. It was the success of this ritual
which inspired the public cycle of performances mounted that autumn at Caxton
Hall, which were rehearsed and publicized with an intense effort during the
preceding months.
Holidays, Gatherings, and Classes
The festival of Lammas, a traditional pagan celebration of the summer
harvest, is observed by Thelemites at the astrological mid-point of summer,
when Sol achieves 15° of Leo. This year the half-way point occurs shortly
before sunrise on Thursday morning 7th August, and our celebration will be
held at Oz House early that evening, beginning at 7:00. Bring food and drink
to share, and come prepared to take part in the circle; call Oz at (510) 654-
3580 for details.
Crowley interpreted the "feast for the first night of the Prophet and his
Bride" in the Book of the Law's calendar of Thelemic festivals as an
observation of the anniversary of his own first marriage. The elopement with
Rose Kelly had been solemnized in a Scottish civil ceremony on 12th August
1903. By his own account, they hardly knew each other, and had planned their
wedding "in name only" to free the feisty but rather silly young widow Rose
from the constraints of her family. Only after the familiarity of several
days travelling together did it occur to them to consummate the marriage. Our
local tradition leaves this festival to the private ritual observances of
couples and individuals as they see fit. The gap of several days (Crowley
later could not remember just how many) between the registration and the
actual marriage of the Prophet and his Bride gives us an anniversary not well
suited to the common calendar anyway.
The aces and other "small cards" of Tarot compose the majority of the deck,
although their designs and symbols are much less familiar to most of us than
the "trump" and "court" cards. We will begin a study of the "number cards"
this month in the Thelema Lodge Tarot series with Bill Heidrick, which will
soon be drawing to a close. It's never too late to join the group, and all
are invited to attend on Wednesday evening 20th August in San Anselmo at 7:30
for an illustrated discussion of these cards and their attributions. We may
devote several sessions to this topic. As usual, the evening will close with
a few demonstration Tarot readings, illustrating various interpretive
techniques and styles. For information and directions, call ahead to Bill at
(415) 454-5176.
The Section Two Reading Group, meeting at Oz House with Caitlin on Monday
evening 11th August at 8:00, will be expanding this month upon Crowley's
generalized recommendation of "Roman classics" with an evening devoted to the
appreciation of two of the last great Latin poets of Imperial Rome, Juvenal and Martial. Writing around the end of the first century of the past era,
these two urban poets were probably friends, although Juvinal, who remained
almost unknown during his lifetime, was a generation younger than the very
popular and widely published Martial. Decimus Junius Juvenalis (?60-?130)
published sixteen satires in five books between the years 110 and 130,
expressing a righteous indignation at the degeneracy of Roman life and
culture. The sixth satire (which alone comprises book two of his ouevre, and
at circa 700 lines is his longest single item) concerns sex and marriage,
amounting to one of the most sustained invectives against womenkind ever to
shame the Occident. Marcus Valerius Martialis (c. 40-c. 104) was born and
died in Spain, but spent his entire professional life in Rome, publishing
twelve books of epigrams and various other brief Latin poems in the final
decades of the first century.
Previous Section Two Next Section Two
Socrates did his greatest teaching in the street, at parties, in jail,
anywhere but in school. Stocism began with people talking on the porch. Such
is the inspiration for the College of Hard N.O.X., and though we can hardly
claim to be today's Zenos the discussions have been at times fascinating, and
almost always entertaining, to the assembled students.
To distill such free and full conversation is to do injustice to the
participants, so instead of attempting a summary we merely present some of the
questions: What is gnosis and how does it differ from gnosticism? How does
the infinite differ from the limitless? Is Heidegger's concept of
authenticity related to Crowley's concept of true will? The Book of the Law;
text or experience? Does everyone have their own individual book i.e. life)
of the Law? Is Thelema inherently Fascist? Liberterian? Anarchist?
Bring your questions (and answers -- know-it-alls are especially welcome) to
the next sessions of the College of Hard N.O.X., on the first and last
Wednesday evenings of each month (6th & 27th in August) at Thelema Lodge.
Conversation commences promptly at 8:00.
Previous NOX Next NOX
The Dog-Star rages! Sirius Oasis meets on the final Monday evening of each
month in Berkeley; call the master at (510) 527-2855 to join the circle on
25th August and celebrate the Dawg Daze. After all, you know canine kind must
really be okay, when the entire old Bible, through and through, has never a
single good word to say about dogs. (There is a nice dog in the book of
Tobit, but that's probably why it was relegated to the Apocrypha.) Open your
big book backwards (Hebrew-style) to the final incoherent page of mean,
ranting Revelation, and consult the silly curse linking oi cunes, kai oi pharmakoi, kai oi pornoi (dogs, drug-users, and fuckers) with some extraneous
criminal company, and also oi eidololatrai, kai pas o philon, kai poion pheudos (those who charge talismans, and all those who are loving, and those
who perform plays). We'll be out back, most likely, this time of year, exo de
as the black book says, with the dogs.
The Thelema Lodge Astrology series will be on vacation for the coming few
months due to Grace's travel plans. Beginning in November we plan a series of
workshops on various astrological topics at Grace's Temple of Astrology in
Berkeley. Contact the lodge in the mean time to suggest special areas of
interest for this new and open-ended series, which Grace will begin scheduling
in the autumn.
Crowley Classics
This essay, dating probably from early in 1907 e.v., is concluded here from last month's issue. The text has been taken from Crowley's Works, volume 3, where it was first published in that year. Although in some ways a good index to Crowley's personal sense of mission at that time, the essay shows signs of hasty composition, and the modern reader will easily spot several instances ofthe most shallow and stupid prejudice, as if the pretentious voice of philosophical elitism which he adopts here were only meant to appeal to a readership drawn from his own narrow culture.
Crowley quoted from this essay in a promotional pamphlet for the Rites of
Eleusis, and it is easy to connect the expressions here of the need for a wide-spread spiritual revival with the efforts by the early A A to stimulate such a response with the public performance of the Rites.
As we resume the text in this installment, we seem to have interrupted the philosopher in mid-stream; the discussion was turning upon a submerged philosophical tradition, encrypting "the whole Mystery of Godliness" for a future renaissance of spiritual freedom which could again put the secrets to use.
ELEUSIS
by Aleister Crowley
[concluded]
Such writings are those of the neo-Platonists, and in modern times the God-
illumined Adept Berkeley, Christian though the called himself, is perhaps the
most distinguished of those who have understood this truth.1
But the orthodox Christian, confronted with this fact, is annoyed; just as
the American, knowing himself to be of the filthiest dregs of mankind,
pretends that there is no such thing as natural aristocracy, though to be sure
he gives himself away badly enough when confronted with either a nigger or a
gentleman, since to ape dominance is the complement of his natural
slavishness. So the blind groveler, Mr. Conformity, and his twin, Mr.
Nonconformity, agree to pretend that initiates are always either dupes or
impostors; they deny that man can see God and live. Look! There goes John
Compromise to church, speculating, like Lot's wife, on the probable slump in
sulphur and the gloomy outlook for the Insurance Companies. It will never do
for his Christ to be a man of like passions with himself, else people might
expect him to aim at a life like Christ's. He wants to wallow and swill, and
hope for an impossible heaven.
So that it will be imprudent of you (if you want to be asked out to dinner)
to point out that if you tell the story of the life of Christ, without
mentioning names, to a Musulman, he will ask, "What was the name of that great
sheikh?" to a Hindu, "Who was this venerable Yogi?" to a Buddhist, "Haven't
you made a mistake to two? I wasn't a dove, but an elephant with six tusks:
and He died of dysentery."
The fact being that it is within the personal experience of all these
persons that men yet live and walk this earth who live in all essentials the
life that Christ lived, to whom all His miracles are commonplace, who die His
death daily, and partake daily in the Mysteries of His resurrection and
ascension.
Whether this is scientifically so or not is of no importance to the
argument. I am not addressing the man of science, but the man of
intelligence: and the scientist himself will back me when I say that the
evidence for the one is just as strong and as weak as for the others. God
forbid that I should rest this paper on a historical basis! I am talking
about the certain results of human psychology: and science can neither help
nor hinder me.
True, when Huxley and Tyndall were alive, their miserable intelligences
were always feeding us up with the idea that science might one day be able to
answer some of the simpler questions which one can put: but that was because
of their mystical leanings; they are dead, and have left no successors. Today
we have the certitude, "Science never can tell," of the laborious Ray Lankester
"Whose zeal for knowledge mocks the curfew's call,
And after midnight, to make Lodge look silly,
Studies anatomy -- in Piccadilly."
Really, we almost echo his despair. When, only too many years ago, I was
learning chemistry, the text-books were content with some three pages on
Camphor: today, a mere abstract of what is known occupies 400 closely printed
pages: but the Knowledge is in no wise advanced. It is no doubt more
difficult to learn Paradise Lost by heart than "We are Seven"; but when you
have done it, you are no better at figure-skating.
I am not denying that the vast storehouses of fact do help us to a certain
distillation (as it were) of their grain: but I may be allowed to complain
with Maudsley that there is nobody competent to do it. Even when a genius
does come along, his results will likely be as empirical as the facts they
cover. Evolution is no better than creation to explain things, as Spencer
showed.
The truth of the matter appears to be that as reason is incompetent to
solve the problems of philosophy and religion, à fortiori science is
incompetent. All that science can do is to present reason with new facts. To
such good purpose has it done this, that no modern scientist can hope to do
more than know a little about one bud on his pet twig of the particular branch
he has chosen to study, as it hangs temptingly from one bough of the Tree of
Knowledge.
One of the most brilliant of the younger school of chemists remarks in the
course of a stirring discourse upon malt analysis: "Of extremely complex
organic bodies the constitution of some 250,000 is known with certainty, and
the number grows daily. No one chemist pretends to an intimate acquaintance
with more than a few of these . . ." Why not leave it alone, and try to be
God?
But even had we Maudsley's committee of geniuses, should we be in any real
sense the better? Not while the reason is, as at present, the best guide
known to men, not until humanity has developed a mental power of an entirely
different kind. For to the philosopher it soon becomes apparent that reason
is a weapon inadequate to the task. Hume saw it, and became a sceptic in the
widest sense of the term. Mansel saw it, and counsels us to try Faith, as if
it was not the very fact that Faith was futile that bade us appeal to reason.
Huxley saw it, and, no remedy presenting itself but a vague faith in the
possibilities of human evolution, called himself an agnostic: Kant saw it for
a moment, but it soon hid itself behind his terminology; Spencer saw it, and
tried to gloss it over by smooth talk, and to bury it beneath the ponderous
tomes of his unwieldy erudition.
I see it, too, and the way out to Life.
But the labyrinth, if you please, before the clue: the Minotaur before the
maiden!
Thank you, madam; would you care to look at our new line in Minotaurs at
2s. 3d.? This way, please.
I have taken a good deal of trouble lately to prove the proposition "All
arguments are arguments in a circle." Without wearying my readers with the
formal proof, which I hope to advance one day in an essay on the syllogism, I
will take (as sketchily as you please!) the obvious and important case of the
consciousness.
A. The consciousness is made up exclusively of impressions. (The tendency
to certain impressions is itself a result of impressions on the ancestors of
the conscious being.) Locke, Hume, &c.
B. Without a consciousness no impression can exist. Berkeley, Fichte, &c.
Both A. and B. have been proved times without number, and quite irrefutably. Yet they are mutually exclusive. The "progress" of
philosophy has consisted almost entirely of advances in accuracy of language
by rival schools who emphasised A. and B. alternately.
It is easy to see that all propositions can, with a little ingenuity, be
reduced to one form or the other.2
Thus, if I say that grass is green, I mean that an external thing is an
internal thing: for the grass is certainly not in my eye, and the green
certainly is in it. As all will admit.
So, if you throw a material brick at your wife, and hit her (as may happen
to all of us), there is a most serious difficulty in the question, "At what
point did your (spiritual) affection for her transform into the (material)
brick, and that again into her (spiritual) reformation?"
Similarly, we have Kant's clear proof that in studying the laws of nature
we only study the laws of our own minds: since, for one thing, the language in
which we announce a law is entirely the product of our mental conceptions.
While, on the other hand, it is clear enough that our minds depend upon the
laws of nature, since, for one thing, the apprehension that six savages will
rob and murder you is immediately allayed by the passage of a leaden bullet
weighting 230 grains, and moving at the rate of 1200 feet per second, through
the bodies of two of the ringleaders.
It would of course be simple to go on and show that after all we attach no
meaning to weight and motion, lead and bullet, but a purely spiritual one:
that they are mere phases of our thought, as interpreted by our senses: and on
the other that apprehension is only a name for a certain group of chemical
changes in certain of the contents of our very material skulls: but enough!
the whole controversy is verbal, and no more.
Since therefore philosophy and à fortiori science are bankrupt, and the
official receiver is highly unlikely to grant either a discharge; since the
only aid we get from the Bishops is a friendly counsel to drink Beer -- in
place of the spiritual wine of Omar Khayyam and Abdullah el Haji (on whom be
peace!) -- we are compelled to fend for ourselves.
We have heard a good deal of late years about Oriental religions. I am
myself the chief of sinners. Still, we may all freely confess that they are
in many ways picturesque: and they do lead one to the Vision of God face to
face, as one who hath so been led doth here solemnly lift up his voice and
testify; but their method is incredibly tedious, and unsuited to most, if not
all, Europeans. Let us never forget that no poetry of the higher sort, no art
of the higher sort, has ever been produced by any Asiatic race. We are the
poets! we are the children of wood and stream, of mist and mountain, of sun
and wind! We adore the moon and the stars, and go into the London streets at
midnight seeking Their kisses as our birthright. We are the Greeks -- and God
grant ye all, my brothers, to be as happy in your loves! -- and to us the rites
of Eleusis should open the doors of Heaven, and we shall enter in and see God
face to face! Alas!
"None can read the text, not even I;
And none can read the comment but myself."3
The comment is the Qabalah, and that I have indeed read as deeply as my poor
powers allow: but the text is decipherable only under the stars by one who
hath drunken of the dew of the moon.
Under the stars will I go forth, my brothers, and drink of that lustral dew: I
will return, my brothers, when I have seen God face to face, and read within
those eternal eyes the secret that shall make you free.
Then will I choose you and test you and instruct you in the Mysteries of
Eleusis, oh ye brave hearts, and cool eyes, and trembling lips! I will put a
live coal upon your lips, and flowers upon your eyes, and a sword in your
hearts, and ye also shall see God face to face.
Thus shall we give back its youth to the world, for like tongues of triple
flame we shall brood upon the Great Deep -- Hail unto the Lords of the Groves
of Eleusis!
Appendix
EXTRACTS FROM BERKELEY'S
LIFE:
| | EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOK OF THE SACRED MAGIC OF ABRAMELIN THE MAGE:
|
| (1) "There is a mystery about this visit to Dublin. 'I propose to set out
for Dublin about a month hence,' he writes to 'dear Tom,' 'but of this you
must not give the least intimation to any one. It is of all things my earnest
desire (and for very good reasons) not to have it known I am in Dublin. Speak
not, therefore, one syllable of it to any mortal whatsoever. When I formerly
desired you to take a place for me near the town, you gave out that you were
looking for a retired lodging for a friend of yours; upon which everybody
surmised me to be the person. I must beg you not to act in the like manner
now -- but to take for me an entire house in your own name, and as for
yourself; for, all things considered, I am determined upon a whole house, with
no mortal in it but a maid of your own getting, who is to look on herself as
your servant. Let there be two bedrooms, one for you, another for me, and as
you like you may ever and anon lie there.
"'I would have the house with necessary furniture taken by the month (or
otherwise as you can), for I propose staying not beyond that time, and yet
perhaps I may.
"'Take it as soon as possible. . . . Let me entreat you to say nothing of
this to anybody, but to do the thing directly. . . . I would of all things
have a proper place in a retired situation, where I may have access to fields,
and sweet air, provided against the moment I arrive. I am inclined to think
one may be better concealed in the outermost skirt of the suburbs, than in the
country or within the town. A house quite detached in the country I should
have no objections to, provided you judge I shall not be liable to discovery
in it. The place called Bermuda I am utterly against. Dear Tom, do this
matter cleanly and cleverly, without waiting for further advice. . . . To the
person from whom you hire it (whom alone I would have you speak to of it) it
will not be strange at this time of year to be desirous for your own
convenience, or health, to have a place in a free and open air!'
"This mysterious letter was written in April. From April till September
Berkeley again disappears. There is in all this a curious secretiveness of
which one has repeated examples in his life.4 Whether he went to Dublin on
that occasion, or why he wanted to go, does not appear."
(2) "I abhor business, and especially to have to do with great persons and
great affairs."
(3) "Suddenly, and without the least previous notice of pain, he was
removed to the enjoyment of eternal rewards, and although all possible means
were instantly used, no symptoms of life ever appeared after; nor could the
physicians assign any cause for his death.
| | I resolved to absent myself suddenly and go away . . . and lead a
solitary life.
I am about here to set down in writing the difficulties, temptations, and
hindrances which will be caused him by his own relations . . . beforehand thou
shouldst arrange thine affairs in such wise that they can in no way hinder
thee, nor bring thee any disquietude.
I took another house at rent . . . and I gave over unto one of my uncles
the care of providing the necessaries of life.
"Should you perform this Operation in a town, you should take a house which
is not at all overlooked by any one, seeing that in this present day curiosity
is so strong that you ought to be upon your guard; and there ought to be a
garden (adjoining the house) wherein you can take exercise."
"Consider then the safety of your person, commencing this operation in a
place of safety, whence neither enemies nor any disgrace can drive you out
before the end."
"the season of Easter. . . . Then first on the following day . . . I
commenced his Holy Operation . . . the period of the Six Moons being expired,
the Lord granted unto me His grace . . ."
"a solitary life, which is the source of all good . . . once thou shalt
have obtained the sacred science and magic the love for retirement will come
to thee of its own accord, and thou wilt voluntarily shun the commerce and
conversation of men, &c."
"a good death in His holy Kingdom."
|
It is surely beyond doubt that Berkeley contemplated some operation of a
similar character to that of Abramelin. Note the extreme anxiety which he
displays. What lesser matter could so have stirred the placid and angelic
soul of Berkeley? On what less urgent grounds would he have agreed to the
deceptions (harmless enough though they are) that he urges upon his brother?
That he at one time or another achieved success is certain from the
universal report of his holiness and from the nature of his writings. The
repeated phrase in the Optics, "God is the Father of Lights,"5 suggests an
actual phrase perhaps used as an exclamation at the moment of a Vision to
express, however feebly, its nature, rather than the phrase of a reasoner
exercising his reason.
This mysterious letter which so puzzles his biographer is in fact the key
to his whole character, life, and opinions.
This is no place to labour the point; I have at hand none of the necessary
documents; but it might be worth the research of a scholar to trace Berkeley's
progress through the grades of the Great Order. -- A. C.
Notes
1. See appendix -- ED [1997].
2. Compare the problems suggested to the logician by the various readings of
propositions in connotation, denotation, and comprehension respectively; and
the whole question of existential import. -- A. C.
3. Tennyson must have stolen these lines; they are simple and expressive.
4. The Italics are ours. --ED. [1907].
5. It occurs in James i, 17.
Previous Crowley Classic -- Part I Next Crowley Classic
from the Grady Project:
Written as he neared his twenty-second birthday in California, this is
among the earliest of his poems which Grady preserved, only one or two of
which seem to antedate the month in which these lines were written. Newly
returned as an upperclassman to Pasadena City College, he would in just a few
more months be meeting Jack Parsons and begin attending the Gnostic mass,
shortly thereafter joining the O.T.O. at Agape Lodge. This poem is unusual
for Grady in its appeal to conventional theological rhetoric of the old aeon,
as if intended for vulgar publication (as in a newspaper). Although there are
tones of satire and cynicism present, its statement does seem to be formulated
from not very far outside of this perspective. The poem was originally
published in the third issue of The Grady Project (Oakland: Thelema Lodge,
March 1988), but having been mis-catalogued in that project's list of the
McMurtry poems, it had been previously omitted from the newsletter.
The Slaughter
| Father, why have I died today? |
| Life to me was so very sweet. |
| Please tell me why I must lay |
| Mixed with the mud, no more complete. |
| Is it a sin that I should be |
| So virile, cocksure, full of fun, |
| That youth's tidal spirit we |
| Find adventure in the gun? |
| There's tropism in the flashing sword, |
| Though I'm not taking you to task, |
| Yet why is this our doom, Lord? |
| Do you mind if I ask?
|
| God, my thoughts are in such a daze, |
| This whole thing seems so out of place. |
| Please sweep away the gray haze |
| That blanks out your mighty face. |
| You give us bodies that are strong |
| With which to please our many whims; |
| To enjoy must be a wrong |
| The smooth power of our limbs. |
| You sculptured from Creation's hod |
| And then you gave First Man his breath, |
| You give us all of this, God, |
| And then you give us death!
|
| I haven't had the time, as yet, |
| To see the justice of my loss, |
| But if your plan requires it |
| Why, I guess you're the boss. |
| It isn't that I mind to die |
| I know that that's for you to say. |
| What I want to know is why |
| Must you take your gifts away? |
| I'll come when you give me the nod, |
| My life was by your grace, I know. |
| But if we are your image, God, |
| Why can't you keep us so!
|
| -- Grady L. McMurtry |
| 9/20/40 |
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An Introduction to Qabalah
Part XXX -Of Trees and Stones, One Thing.Derived from a lecture series in 1977 e.v. by Bill Heidrick
Copyright © Bill Heidrick
The illustration at left is of Fr. Achad's "Prismatic Tree", from his The Anatomy of the Body of God, a three dimensional Tree of Life. This looks a
little like it was made out of tinker-toy. In any one of three directions, it
looks like a flat Tree of Life. One common center pillar has Malkut, Yesod,
Tipheret and Keter. Three corner pillars provide three Sephirot each. The
Sephirot of those corner pillars appear differently, depending on how the
object is viewed. Instead of one pillar of Mercy, one of Severity and the
Middle Pillar, other points of view see the pillars of Mercy and Severity as
aspects of these. From one point of view, the Pillar of Mercy may either be
the Pillar of Severity of a different angle of view or hidden behind the
Middle Pillar. Don't try to understand this in depth, just get a beginning
grip on it for now. On this level of a Tipheret approach to Qabalah, we are
surveying some of the ways of using the Tree of Life. This particular Tree
shows how three different points of view may interlock, even though apparent
contradictions seem to be involved.
The next illustration, also from Achad's book, is a compound structure 
composed of these "Prismatic Trees of Life. The Trees are represented by
plains, not showing the Sephirot. There's a Keter in the tip of each
component Tree, and way down in the middle is a Malkut that is common to all
of them. Hods and Netzachs on these Trees are points of junction, differently
perceived from multiple perspectives. All together, this is a solid grab of
reality, a crystalline three-dimensional awareness called by Achad, "The
Garden of Eden". It can be seen as more complexly formed still, with little
crystalline trees inside the larger ones, a sort of multiplication we have
observed earlier with flat, two dimensional Trees. This form can be contained
in a regular solid. There are several ways to do that, with five sided outer
faces formed by lines between the points as a dodecahedron and otherwise with
three sided outer faces as an icosahedron. A dodecahedron has twelve regular
pentagonal sides, while an icosahedron has twenty regular triangular sides.
The pentagon, like the pentagram, is a symbol of the human form. The regular
triangle is a symbol of the divine nature. From this three-dimensional
representation of thoughts and perspectives, little shadow images of the human
mind are formed, personalities if you will. Beyond them, the divine emerges.
Plato said that the duodecahedron is the symbol of the Universe, a solid of
twelve faces, each face having five edges. There are five "Platonic solids",
the only five things that can be formed in three dimensions with exactly the
same measurements on all edges and identical faces on each example. Those
faces can be squares, triangles or a pentagons. The cube has squares, this
duodecahedron has pentagons and the remaining three are made up of triangles
(tetrahedron-four triangles, octahedron-eight and icosahedron-twenty). Only
those three geometrical equal edged flat shapes that can be made into solid
figures with identical sides in three dimensions, although with higher
dimensions there are more. There is no other way to get a simple flat object
to make a three dimensional solid without mixing different shapes or changing
the sizes of the faces.
Plato looked at these things and thought: "We have four here that we can
make the elements; obviously the cube is Earth." He decided that the most
pointy looking one should be Fire, having eight sides and points up and down.
That left Water and Air, attributed to the twenty and four sided solids by
character of their shapes. The fifth figure, the twelve sided one, he
attributed to the fifth Element, as it unites the four others to form the
Universe.
In the Near East of the ancient world of 2,000 years ago there were many
communities. Some spoke Greek and some spoke Aramaic or used Hebrew. Many of
the people in those communities were half Greek and half Jewish. The Greeks had come either as willing colonists or as displaced populations from times of
war. The Jews were there already, but both were from advanced cultures with
complex systems of learning and world view. Although the religions of these
two cultures seem very different, on a deeper level there was much in common.
A Jewish community or a Greek community would be aware of the other's
philosophical ideas, sharing discussion and insights. Jewish graves from that
period were sometimes made by Greek stone masons and vice versa. Many of the
Jewish graves have Gnostic inscriptions and artifacts. Greek graves from that
place and time often contain little menorahs and similar things. Often it's
only possible to tell the ethnic heritage of the person whose bones were
interred by the name alone. If it was in Greek, it was probably a Greek. If
it was in Hebrew, it was probably a Jew.
Like these Trees of Fr. Achad, points of view interlock and emerge as a
greater whole. That's the nature of Qabalah, a gathering and merging of many
perceptions into a greater whole. It is enduring and reemergent. More than
2,000 years ago, these notions were taught in a variety of ways in the schools
of the mysteries. This little thing was rediscovered by Charles Stansfield
Jones, Fr. Achad, in the last century of the millennium now approaching its
close.
Previous, Part XXIX Next: Some suggestions for acquiring facility
Poetry
The Night Before
| A strange chaos, my dreams |
| lingering between doubt and joy . . .
|
| Phantom lips against my own, |
| A singularly tender kiss in this dark madness. |
| Pounding waves of energy dancing in the night |
| together, |
| the universe convulsing in long red waves of fire.
|
| I am somewhere between the night and the dawn.
|
| Some goddess in purple beckons and She calls herself |
| by my name . . . I forget the name She used now,
|
| She said Love as you Will |
| whom, when and why you Will
|
| I asked her why she takes such long vacations.
|
| She smiled a long poignant smile and said, |
| Me, come to Me . . . COME to Me, |
| Come TO me, come to ME . . . |
| I am always right there, where ever you are . . ."
|
| I suddenly know |
| It is I who must go . . .
|
| I dream. I can not recall it exactly, |
| but it was so lovely at the time . . .
|
| 7/13/97 e.v. |
| -- Ruthanne |
Primary Sources
Traces of the Lost:
This is a table of content, made out by Karl Germer from a mixed TS, MS and clipping book in the OTO archives of the 1950's. The original is no longer in OTO hands, possibly lost during the time after Karl's Greater Feast and before the recovery of the remnant of the archives by Grady McMurtry and OTO from Sascha Germer's estate -- alternatively, it may have been sent off to Gerald Yorke for safekeeping. Still, many if not all of the component works are extant. Although the archive volume may have been nothing more than a convenient storage book, the title suggests that Crowley contemplated someday going to print. The text dates from Crowley's writing in the US around WWI, mostly from the pro-German periodical, The Fatherland. The volume was catalogued just before issues of The International, another pro-German periodical of the period to which Crowley contributed.
VOLUME CALLED "YAHOO UBER ALLES".
| Humanity First (Introduction) Preface. | | Ts. 6 pp |
| Through August 1914. | | 7 pp |
| No. 2. The Whole Duty of Woman | | 8 pp
|
| Honesty is the Best Policy. | | |
| The FATHERLAND Clipping | | I-IX pp. 11-15 |
| Continuation | | 5-6
|
| The Vindication of Nietzsche | | Ts. 13 pp |
| The Attitude of America to the War. | | |
| Galley proofs | | 4 pp |
from the "Magazine Sixty-Seven"
| | |
| The Future of the Submarine. | | |
| The Fatherland, clipping | | |
| from The Fatherland | | pp. 152-154 |
| The End of England, clipping, | | |
| The International | | pp. 167-172 |
| The Blunders of Edward VII. And How to Repair Them, clipping. The International | |
pp. 212-218 |
| England on the Brink of Revolution, clipping,
from The Fatherland, N.Y., July 21, 1915 | |
pp. 3-5
|
| Perhaps Germany Should Keep Poland? | | Ts. 9 pp
|
| Appel Au Bon Sens Francais Par A.C.
essay in French
clipping from The International | |
pp. 301-302
|
The New Parsifal, essay by A.C. printed,
Reprint from ? ? with annotations by A.C.
| |
4 pp. |
| Sweet Reasonableness, clipping,
from The International | |
pp. 358-361
|
| Culture versus Kultur. | | Ts. 15 pp |
| The Irish Republic
(with annotations by A.C.) | |
Ts. 1 p |
| Declaration of Independence of Ireland | | Ts. 6 pp |
| The Occult Brotherhoods and The War | | Ts. 4 pp |
| The Norman Conquest 1066 (new title) | | Ts. 20 pp.
|
| Three Great Hoaxes of The War, Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed)
"Vanity Fair", January 1916,
clipping, damaged, | |
2 pp
|
| Leaves from a lost Portfolio | | Ts. 13 pp |
The same as an article in The Fatherland
Vol. Iv. No. 5
March 8, 1916.
In the same issue {text left x'd out} an essay:
-- In The Fatherland: --
Behind the Front. Impressions of a tourist in
Western Europe. By Aleister Crowley
Part I.
ditto. Part II.ditto. Part III.
| |
pp. 67-69
p. 365
p. 383-384
p. 85-86
|
| Degenerate England essay | | Ts. 8 pp.
|
Delenda Est Britannia, Being a prologue and
epilogue to "The Vampire of the Continent"
by A.C. "The Fatherland" N.Y. January 3,
1917, Vol. V. No. 22
England's Blind Spot, The Fatherland,
clipping,
| |
pp. 355-356
2 pp.
|
| America's New Danger | | Ms. 15 pp.
|
| England or Germany? Mr. Harris. Short essay by
A.C. The Fatherland (evidently) | |
p. 566
|
Skeletons In the Cabinet by an Englishman,
clipping (? from the Fatherland (evidently
| | |
A Great Irish Poet's Endorsement of The
Fatherland
The Fatherland. Contribution by A.C.
| | |
Ireland as Peace Arbiter clipping
| | |
| Letters from the People -- somewhere in America,
Letter signed by A.C. | | |
Previous Primary Sources Next Primary Sources
From the Outbasket
Here are some edited selections from recent correspondence:
L.A. asked: "Is Thelema the only spiritual system today that teaches the merging with one's Holy Guardian Angel as being the ultimate path?"
Actually, Thelema does not teach this. In A A, the attainment of the
Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is one of the most
important middle goals of the work of that Order. There are steps beyond it,
as indicated in Crowley's note to Karl Germer in the July '97 e.v. Thelema Lodge Calendar. OTO uses another method, similar in a general way perhaps,
but different in most details. Liber AL appears not to mention it directly,
although Crowley at times considered that Aiwass might be his personal HGA.
Earlier versions of Thelema usually do not mention the idea at all.
That said, many modern groups use a notion of attaining K&C of the HGA.
The Order of the Golden Dawn popularized this approach in the last century,
but it is much older. The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova described something
similar, not so much in the method of attainment as in the relationship and
guidance to be expected of such a spirit. The classic is The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage, which apparently not only set forth the
method in great clarity for the first time but also appears to have originated
the terms for it. Crowley's Holy Books contain frequent illustrations of his
own efforts in this approach, and his Vision and Voice concludes with several
levels beyond it. Taken more widely, the notion of a familiar spirit or even a marriage between a mortal and a spirit is similar in many respects. Numa,
the founder of the ancient Roman religion, had a sacred marriage with a
woodland spirit, apparently the basis of his work in creating the rites,
theology and canons of Pagan Rome.
A.R. asked for the meaning of the term "initiation."
"Initiation" = start of something. The same word can be used to describe
the action of starting a business, turning over the first shovel of dirt
before constructing a building, beginning a new period of development with a
ritual drama, getting married or any other start of something. It signifies
"initial or beginning action". In OTO and similar organizations, an
Initiation is usually a ritual drama intended to start a new course of study,
growth or attainment. For OTO, an Initiation carries a new "degree" of
membership with it -- Minerval, Ist, IInd and so on. For A A, an Initiation
marks attainment of a Grade and the beginning of work on the next grade.
G.E. asked about what parts of rituals should be vibrated, also what work should follow the Lesser (Earth) Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
All divine names should be vibrated. All particular words of "power"
should be vibrated. Angelic and other names are usually vibrated, but that is
not done every time. A lesser vibration (actually a chant) may be used for
the general text of the rituals. A rule of thumb, if it is in all CAPS, Bold
Text, Greek or Hebrew, vibrate it.
The Greater Pentagram Ritual and the Lesser and Greater Hexagram Rituals
are optional, but may be undertaken after working with the Lesser Pentagram
Earth Banishment regularly for six months or a year. The idea is to "set" the
symbolism and pattern of the Earth Banishment Pentagram in your unconscious
mind to act as an orientation for more elaborate uses. The other 23
pentagrams for the Lesser Pentagram ritual are also best undertaken after some
time with the Earth Banishment. Crowley's Star Ruby, Star Sapphire and Liber Reguli rituals are variations based on the Lesser Pentagram Ritual.
-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)
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Thelema Lodge Events Calendar for August 1997 e.v.
| 8/3/97 | | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/6/97 | College of Hard NOX 8 PM
with Mordecai | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/7/97 | Festival of Lammas at OZ House 7 PM | |
| 8/10/97 | The Rite of Sol 2PM at Oz House | |
| 8/10/97 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/11/97 | Section II reading group with
Caitlin: Roman Poets, Juvinal &
Martial at Oz house, 8 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/12/97 | The Feast of the Beast and his Bride | |
| 8/13/97 | Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM
(call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/17/97 | Lodge Luncheon meeting 12:30 | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/17/97 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/20/97 | Tarot with Bill Heidrick, 7:30 PM
in San Anselmo at 5 Suffield Ave. | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/22/97 | The Rite of Venus 8PM at Sirius Oasis | Sirius Oasis |
| 8/24/97 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/25/97 | Sirius Oasis meeting 8:00 PM
in Berkeley | Sirius Oasis |
| 8/27/97 | College of Hard NOX 8 PM
with Mordecai | Thelema Ldg. |
| 8/31/97 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM 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.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O. Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
Phone: (510) 652-3171 (for events info and contact to Lodge)
Production and Circulation:
OTO-TLC
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94978 USA
Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and circulation only)
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