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   The tradition of lurid melodrama at the Theatre du Grand Guignol, an infamous salon in late nineteenth century Paris, became synonymous with the dramatic presentation of violence, gore, torture, and perversion. In the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, short plays and tableaux were presented to depict famous murders and outrages, with trick staging and a suggestive prurience intended to shock and thrill the jaded Parisian bourgeoisie. The extreme stylized violence and the casual immorality came from a vulgar French tradition after which this theatrical style was named, the Guignol "theatre" of hand-puppets, which was popular in provincial France, and was the direct precursor to the animated cartoons of our own century. This piece was published at the end of a volume of Crowley's comic poetry, In Residence: the Don's Guide to Cambridge (Cambridge, Elijah Johnson, 1904).

    (Unhappily our contributor returned alive from watching the start of the Paris-Madrid race. He had provided himself with a copy of Mr Henley's "Imperishable Poem," and the meter, in which there is but one rule, viz. "anything scans," seems to have run away with him. Would the motor had done as the meter! He will be printed as prose. - [1904] Ed.)

    Filled with anticipations of the most blood-curdling order, we sought the breezy heights of Montmartre. The Sacré Coeur, looking more than ever like a compromise between an Indian mosque and a Buzsard cake, towered above us in the frosty twilight.
    It is, however, invisible from the theatre itself, so that we were able to give our undivided attention to the system of Doctor Goudron and Professor Plume, and it is our interpretation alone which has any real value. It will be necessary first to call the attention of the reader to our own system, without some account of which he may find himself embarrassed, even bewildered.
    Mr George Macdonald in his masterpiece of Haggardized Rabbinical tradition, Lilith (Off, Lilith!),² has broken the wind of the poor phrase to this effect:
    "To grow and not to grow; to grow larger and to grow smaller at one and the same time; yea, even to grow by the simple process of not growing."
    In these unpretending and innocent words lies hid (for the eye of the wise to discover) the germ of the most stupendous and far-reaching system of philosophy that has ever been presented to the astounded consciousness of mortal men. Quickly overrunning the civilized world, it has penetrated (auspice Teucro) into the very remotest steppes of Central Asia, the wildest savannahs of the American prairie, where dog and oyster burble in plethoric harmony among the verdant shoots of cactus and coyote, where the giant Appomattox rolls in sulky majesty to the red bays of the Pacific. The Society formed to exploit this unheard-of invention is, naturally, of a most secret nature: perhaps I am revealing too much when I say that members are permitted to inscribe after their names the letters L.A.L. By the New Method, therefore, let us continue our interesting studies of the system of Doctor Goudron and Professor Plume. Laure, the first of three curtain (and hair) raisers, is a charming little drama. An ingénue comes by accident into possession of a letter compromising her mother. Discovered by her father, she saves her mother by accusing herself. The mother, secure once more, bullies and ill-treats the heroic child, so that the curtain falls on her despairing shriek of "Misérable!" Here then is truth! Not in a well, as lewd fellows have impotently pretended: but here, here in the stage of the Grand Guignol. It was just what happens every time, when anyone is fool enough to sacrifice themselves. It was magnificent; it was war!
    Curtain-lifter No. 2 was a still wittier scene, yet the element of improbability³ damped, not indeed the enthusiasm of the mob, but our own more sober and judicious pleasure. You ask therefore in vain for detail. "La Mineure" (No. 3) was, on the other hand, even more life-like than No. 1.
    A witness retained by justice to identify a criminal discovers him by chance in the person of the President of the Court himself. She is hauled to the deepest dungeons of Saint Lazare, and everything thus ends happily. For one moment the nerves of the spectator are braced up to meet the sword of Damocles -- and then, with a single blow, the Juge d'Instruction subtly and delicately strikes in, and we can breathe again.
    The Docteur Goudron was now to appear, and it was a spectacle saddening to the serious philosopher to observe everybody pretending, often most elaborately, that they had read Poe's story on which the play was based. Alas! that we should have been among them! Yet so it was. Many years have elapsed since our feet trod civilized MacAdam; many years since we spent hour after happy hour poring over our Poes. Surprising? Ay, but true. Yet some dimmest recollection of Dr Tarr and Professor Feather does hurtle heavenward to us across the mist-kissed abyss of memory: so much, no more.
    The actor who represented Doctor Goudron -- his name is worthy to be graven on tablets of iron: it is consequently not to be printed here. His self- restraint, his command of expression, his elocution were alike wonderful.
    Booth, Irving, could not have done it better: it could have barely been equaled even by Wilson Barrett in his prime.
    Horror holds one from the outset: but when from words we go to deeds, the formulation of the Logos in the plastic, alas! the element of music-hall supervenes -- O Catulle Mendès! didst thou say, forced like Galileo to thy knees by an iniquitous tribunal; Personne ne croit à ces cadavres!"? Yet we do so. The director's murder is done magnificently; better then Macbeth, better than the Cenci; better than the Mother's Tragedy.⁴ No! this praise is too fulsome, too indiscriminate; but any way, better than the other two. He groans like laureled Martial in Burns's poem; yet his assassin does not tickle the ears of the groundlings with a coarse "Crévé, non de D----!" but in supreme self-mastery, the iron control of a lunatic whose sanity is at stake, enters stern and silent, his eyes glittering with fiendish joy -- Bavière, thy poster is superb! -- and develops with calm and scientific precision his system to the raving crowd of madmen and madwomen. Per Gynt! ay! but Peer Gynt with a tang! Peer Gynt vital, real, terrible.
    What is the system? That is fine; but remember, my friends, that our own system comes first! Charity begins at home and ends in the workhouse: so the new method must absorb our space -- ay! and infinite space! -- to the exclusion of our unworthy imitators, Doctor Goudron and Professor Plume. To Montmartre then, reader! to the Grand Guignol! To the Madhouse, ha, ha, ha! Shudder, shiver, shake, shriek, do everything that begins with sh, except hush -- and that is Irish, after all.
    Of one thing only do I warn you: from start to finish there is not a word or a gesture that could shock the most innocent maiden, or bring a gleam to the eye of the least hardened roué, or the most expert member of the Vigilance Society.
    This, in a French theatre, is as rare as it is delightful;⁵ and though it is conditioned, like all phenomena, by space, time, and causality, it is none the less refreshing.⁶
   
    VLADIMIR SVAREFF, P.L.A.L.

Notes:
1. A review on "the Soothing System" in its original French dress.
2. The Qabalah. 3. A debutante with her mother finds herself by inadvertence as a "gros numero."
    But we betray our correspondent's reticence. Enough. -- [1904] Ed.
4. We have discovered too late that this is a despicable effort of our correspondent's jejune
    graphomania. Had we suspected that he was a poetaster as well as a degenerate and
    imbecile, we should not have printed this rubbish. -- [1904] Ed.
5. The MS. is almost illegible; the word might be "disappointing." [1904 Ed.]
6. Ditto. ditto. ditto. "refrigerating."

Our other item is an early dramatic sketch by Crowley, unpublished until it circulated during the 1970s in the early journals of Thelemic studies from "a typescript attributed to Aleister Crowley in the University of Texas collection." This comically sinister stage piece is found on five sheets of secretarial typescript among the J. F. C. Fuller papers in the Humanities Research Center at Austin. The attribution to "Aleister Crowley" has been penciled in, possibly by the author himself. The piece is a sort of theatrical pantomime; a dumb-show or silent dramatic skit, with the succession of emotional responses to be displayed by the leading lady blatantly indicated in each scene by the typist's underscoring (here rendered in italic type). Reminiscent of an early silent film scenario, the directions seem to indicate that it was conceived instead for a small stage, perhaps very much on the order of the Grand Guignol. It might almost be the outline for a cheap Roger Corman horror film from the 1950s, or a sleazy Wes Craven shocker from the 1980s.
    The editors thank Frater H. B. at O.T.O. International for assistance with this text from the archives of the Order.

    Never mind the excuses for the presentation.

The Story
    A girl is dragged on to the stage, half unwillingly, by a page. We understand that she is the captive in one set of circumstances or another, of a Chinese Bonze. She expresses abandonment.
    The page tries to reassure her.
    She sinks into deeper apathy, but gradually becomes interested enough to express timidity. She is told that Bonze will visit her in a moment or two.
    Presently she shows impatience, while the page disappears.

Scene 2
    The Bonze comes in, and soothes her in a kind of fatherly way, until she registers resignation.
    He tells her of all the beautiful things he will give her, and she shows anticipation.
    He then goes off, and she shows contentment and tranquility.

Scene 3
    The page comes back, and proceeds to undress her. She has very beautiful clothes and lingerie. This undressing is carried until almost the last point, but the final act is concealed from the audience by manipulation of the Chinese robes which are put on her. The page makes her move around to display her new costume, and get accustomed to it, so that she registers vanity.
    The page runs off to tell her master.

Scene 4
    The Bonze comes in, and starts to woo her. She expresses coquetry, and other suitable feminine imbecilities, eluding him with great skill, but she gradually flutters down to the lure; and there is a certain contest which develops to a high point.
    She is quite satisfied with her situation, and abandons herself to his embraces.
    At this moment the page rushes in in disorder.

Scene 5
    The page explains that the head wife is at hand, on the war path.
    The girl does not understand what is wrong, but judges from the behaviour of the others that some danger is at hand, and registers alarm.
    The Bonze tries to quiet her, telling her that by his wizardry he will remain master of the situation; but tells her to conceal herself.
    She does a fade-away behind the second set of curtains, which conceal the cage. The cage terrifies her, but ultimately she opens the door and goes in.
    The Bonze assumes an attitude of indifference.

Scene 6
    The head wife comes in, and makes a violent scene. The Bonze tries to reassure her in vain. She will not be pacified. He loses his temper, and after ill-treating her savagely, finally stabs her.
    During this time the girl has been peeping through the curtain, her white face lit by a shaft of moonlight against the blackness of the background. She expresses horror.
    The page comes in to remove the body, and the Bonze manifests triumphant satisfaction.
    When this is done he calls the girl from the cage. She resists, and registers abhorrence.
    He drags her into the room, she wrenches herself free, and exhibits denunciation and defiance.
    He chases her, finally becoming angry, and threatens her. She becomes cowed and shivers, crouching in a corner of the divan. He tears off her outer robe.

Scene 7
    He now threatens her with various tortures, and proceeds to apply them. She resists them, rising from height to height of rage.
    Finally, he threatens to imprison her in the Cage of Thunder. After a violent struggle, in which all her clothes are torn off, he thrusts her in, pulls back the curtain, and turns on the lightening.
    This has the effect of driving her insane, and she leaps and shrieks furiously.
    The Bonze is amazed that she is not killed, and attributes this to the magic of her race.
    He in his turn begins to be afraid, and withdraws to the front of the stage; whereat she bursts open her cage, and rushes forward.
    Grappling with him, she throws him to the ground, and strangles him.

    We'll have a look now at the Supernals, the three Sephirot above the Abyss. Since the main topic of the moment is human faculties and problem solving, we will just touch on matters related to that for now. Unless one studies Merkabah, which we will take up later in this series, most of the discussion of the higher Sephirot has to be simple or we will quickly become lost in abstractions. In this sense, Binah may be considered as the ability of the mind to be quick, to be able to form ideas and interrelate them easily to one another. This is the same approach that considers Geburah to be the place of making judgments and Hod to be the work table where details are assembled. These are all functions that can quickly lead to frustration when things don't go as smoothly as they aught. There is a tendency to take these manipulations personally, to shift out of the Pillar of Severity toward Tipheret and other Middle Pillar Sephirot. Does arithmetic and algebra sometimes drive you up the wall? Mathematics, being abstract by nature, is often associated with Binah. If you get to the point where you just don't want to add two more numbers together and your mind stops like an over-heated motor, you have a problem with Binah. This is a resistance to something that should be done with trivial ease. Even though a problem of this sort is a matter of Binah per-say, it is more likely to come from the lower part of the Tree -- a problem appearing in Binah but not a problem originating in Binah. The cause may be physical tiredness in Malkut starving the brain. This takes the form of Saturnian feelings: dark anger against the self, depression and melancholy.
    Chokmah is energy, the full energy of life. A problem here may take the form of enervation, lassitude and failure to continue an effort. This is not the same as the form taken in Binah. There is no anger or even anguish. It's more like trying to use a flashlight with run-down batteries. Again, this is an effect seen in a Supernal, Chokmah, which actually has its origin in Malkut. Other Sephirot may also be involved. Chesed may not be active enough, giving insufficient joy in doing things. Perhaps there was insufficient persistence near the conclusion of some other task, a problem of Netzach. In most instances, the Supernal or highest three Sephirot are not the seat of these problems; rather they offer a way of determining which Pillar on the Tree, left or right, contains the weakness that ultimately anchors in Malkut. Problems of the middle pillar may be seen in Keter, rarely; but problems are more often seen as faults in Sephirot of the side pillars, spilling through to Tipheret or Yesod.
    Yesod formulates the work of the Sephirot above it like a rehearsal on a stage. Tipheret coordinates all this like a director. Malkut is the fusion of the play in both players and audience, the thing complete. When Yesod is poorly served by either Hod or Netzach, it's as though a prop door that won't open or an actor going "up" in his lines. If one or more of the other Sephirot dominates Tipheret, it's like the director has a favorite and the whole play goes lopsided to feature one actor. As soon as details begin to emerge in this way, you have descended down below the Abyss in the analysis. A mental limitation is properly associated with Binah only until it can be pinned down in a lower part of the Tree. An energy lack or emotional limitation is likewise associated with Chokmah until it can be traced on the lower Tree. This sounds rather simple, but there's a bit more to it. If you just plain don't have energy enough for thinking, that is a problem in Chokmah. When you eventually find out why you don't possess the energy, you have managed to clean up the basic problem in Chokmah and you are focusing on getting settled down into reality on a lower level. The state of consciousness of the mind is the important thing. If you look at something and don't see detail, you are fairly far up the Tree. If you see detail, you are fairly far down the Tree. It's abstract near the top and detailed or concrete, near the bottom. This is the nature of the thing.

   On letterhead with OTO Lamen and Mark of the Beast, written in pen with an italic nib:

Abbey of Thelema Torquay An Ixv in     93,     We, {eleven-fold cross} Baphomet O.H.O. hereby appoint the T.I., T.I., and T.I. Fr Karl J. Germer X (Grand Master General of the Free German-Speaking Peoples) as {word omitted here and obscure in original - not found in the other version typed and sealed by Crowley} Legate in the United States of America to take precidence of all previously constituted Authorities with special power to revive the dormant Mount Sinai and Rose of Sharon.          93 93/93     Given under my Hand and Seal     {eleven-fold cross} Baphomet O.H.O. {Ankh-f-n-Khonsu ring impression on wax seal}

   On letterhead with OTO Lamen only, written in pen with ordinary nib:

   There are more than half a dozen of these letters, varying in the details from this simplest one:

through the kind shown above, mostly typed rather than handwritten and mostly relating to legal power of attorney, down to the next, also hand written. This is not the most recent, but a little more elaborate than the 1942 e.v. one above. Dashes were present in the original, apparently intended to square to the right margin to avoid any alteration, like lines added to the written amount in a bank check:

On efficacy of consecration of the triangle:

    Doubt weakens the effect more than the character of the consecration.

On placement of incense:

    Incense on the altar for general ambiance is ok, but the circle is the most important material part of the ritual protection. If incense is used to attract the spirit or to give it something to use for manifestation, the triangle is the right place for it.

On not having a hexagram of Solomon for protection:

    Good thing. Solomon used a pentagram, not a hexagram.

On strange after effects, mainly half-seen things or feelings that something is misplaced:

    The leakage from such a working uses one's overactive imagination to manifest. Such problems are usually not serious and will likely fade in time if moderate banishing is done at intervals.

On the use of a mirror:

    A mirror can be hazardous if not properly placed. By seeing his own reflection, the magician tends to identify with the spirit. If the mirror is angled so that you cannot see your own reflection in it, that is not a problem. If you look into the mirror and see yourself as the spirit, evocation can shade over into invocation and possession. Flickering lights seen in a mirror on an angle can be an indication that scrying is starting to work.

On acquiring a skill from a Goetic spirit or directing a task:

    There's always a little more risk acquiring a skill from one of the 72 than getting a specific thing done. The risk is in doing two things at once:
    1. The swearing by the spirit must be on a physical talisman with the sigil of the spirit. This is a routine part of the ritual, but it is typically one of the most difficult parts.
    2. Acquiring an ability in yourself through the agency of a spirit requires a continued presence of the spirit. A talisman is used to take the impress of the spirit for this purpose. On the one hand, you risk becoming dependent on a material object for a mental skill -- the talisman. On the other hand, you risk the spirit gaining a further influence over you when you relax caution around the talisman at some future time. Finally, this is not a specific task once commanded, once done and then ended. Since a typical ability like rhetoric, a talent for persuasion that sometimes depends on deception, is a living skill, you in effect marry the spirit to an extent in its own "house of deception".

On use of a mixture of Frankincense and Myrrh:

    Myrrh would work for a Saturnian, but Assafoetida would be better. Frankincense isn't a good match. For summoning to visible appearance, Dittany of Crete is best.

On the composition and quality of the circle:

    If your sense of visualization is strong and persistent, it would be better to trace a triple circle in the air with the sword (deosil, then widdersins and finally deosil) than to depend on a visibly deficient circle. The purpose of the circle is to contain a minutum mundum for the worker inside in such fashion as to exclude the spirit. If the circle can be seen as broken or faded, that acts as a weakening of the banishment. Normally such a circle is painted on canvass or traced on the floor with a powder like flower or sulfur. In the case of a painted circle, the sword is used to re-consecrate it from inside and to break it later by passes over the tracing. In the case of a powder traced circle, the circle is consecrated by the sprinkling of the powder through a funnel or tube and physically cut by the sword after the final banishment. A cord or string can also be used as the circle, with the ends twisted together in such fashion that they can be separated with the tip of the sword at the end of the ritual.
    The LBRP and Hexagram rituals can suffice to clear a circle, but the circle should be traced between the two rituals. Liber Samekh is an invocation of power, not a casting of the circle but a good preparation for working once one is inside the charged circle.

On strange sounds:

    Such sounds should be noted as to time and direction in the course of the ritual. It is typical for a totem animal or other creature of the particular spirit to manifest in that way at the coming of the spirit. If the source of the sound can be seen, it is probably not from the spirit. If it is out of sight, even if of a known animal, it is probably a sign of the imminent approach of the spirit.

On disastrous consequences:

    A rough experience now and then can be educational toward the Great Work. The problem with being possessed is that one becomes sure of things, but those particular sureties and things do not go toward the attainment of the Great Work.

On the character of the spirits:

    The Goetic spirits are stupid but crafty. They play tricks but otherwise should be considered like violent children, strong beyond their appearance. These are mostly disparaged or lesser malific aspects of deities; e.g., Asteroth is described as male with bad breath but is derived through Christian slander and ignorance from Astarte and Asherah, two aspects of the middle- eastern goddess also associated with Ishtar, Aisha and ultimately by confusion of centuries with the Virgin Mary! The use of Goetia for betterment of self involves working through one's own faults, problems and weaknesses by seeing and controlling these deficient qualities in the spirits. In controlling the Goetic spirits, some narrow task is always necessary. In dominating and understanding them, more examination into their qualities is the proper approach. Thus, when such a spirit is said to teach something, it's always some particular applications of that thing, one at a time, not an entire discipline at once. To try for a general skill is to put yourself at the mercy of one of these "hell's angels".

On epilogue:

    One of my favorite things to do was to sit in a Chinese restaurant with friends and discuss ritual magick whilst watching the other patrons out of the corner of my eye.

Events Calendar for October 1998 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.

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