Thelema Lodge Calendar for April 2003 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for April 2003 e.v.

The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its officers.

Copyright © O.T.O. and the Individual Authors, 2003 e.v.

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

April 2003 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

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

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

Unto Us the Law!

Thelemites celebrate Liber AL, our "threefold book of Law," with a three day feast of readings on the Holy Days each April. This month's ninety-ninth "feast for the three days of the writing of the Book of the Law" will find us gathered for readings of the three chapters at familiar locations in the area of north Oakland and Berkeley, beginning at 8:00 each evening. Thelema Lodge invites members, friends, and visitors to listen to chapter one, the manifestation of Nuit, on Tuesday 8th April in Horus Temple. Call well ahead at (510) 652-3171 if you need directions. The second chapter, the hiding of Hadit, will be presented by Sirius Encampment on Wednesday 9th April at Ancient Ways in Oakland. The store's address is 4075 Telegraph Avenue (at 41st Street) and the telephone there is (510) 653-3244. Listeners are welcome to share light snacks and soft drinks at the first two readings, but save any substantial dinner contributions for the third night. For the reward of Ra Hoor Khut at Ashby House in Berkeley, the Companions of Monsalvat will entertain us on Thursday 10th April with a reading of chapter three. Send electronic mail to motogrrl@pacbell.net or call ahead at (510) 849-1970 for directions to this venue. There will be a communal feast following the reading of the third chapter, with everyone who attends invited to contribute dinner entrees, salads, or desserts, as well as drinks for all to share.
The acceptance of Liber AL vel Legis as a Holy Book is central to the Thelemic tradition on which our lodge is founded. What this means for readers encountering the text individually is of course up to each one to determine, while as a community using language together we also have a shared experience of the sacredness of our texts. Whether quoting from them in ritual contexts, reading them aloud together, building upon them a system of qabalistic values, or studying them formally in research to be presented to each other, we invest meaning and authority in the specific language of these texts by the use we make of them together. One practice which has long been suggested to initiates in the Man of Earth degrees of O.T.O. is the memorization of Liber AL (along with other holy texts). Both as an individual reader, and as part of a community who share this language in their expressions of "the holy" together, the technique of memorization has much to recommend it. Not only do the elements of the text take on greater coherence and structure in the mind of one who so thoroughly knows them, but also these phrases become increasingly available for spontaneous use together in the free exchange of our speech. A group effort has been organized at Thelema Lodge to promote memorization of Liber AL this spring, meeting with brother Michael Sanborn for a series of Sunday evenings, one hour before the gnostic mass. Arriving by 7:30 on Sundays between the vernal equinox last month and the concluding meeting on 8th June, participants will systematically memorize all three chapters, while enjoying a dozen opportunities together to "Recall, Recite, and Revel in our Sacred Erudition!"


Source and Seed

Join the communion in Horus Temple for our celebration of the gnostic mass at Thelema Lodge, beginning shortly after nightfall every Sunday. Members and friends arrive around 8:00, gathering in the lodge library on Sunday evenings to be ready when the deacon emerges from the outer veil to summon us into the sanctuary of the gnosis. Guests are welcome to take part with us, and most masses here include a first-time communicant or two; to attend as a newcomer please call well ahead at (510) 652-3171 and speak with the lodgemaster for directions to the temple.


The Heptarchial Mystery

"This is a seat of perfection; from which things shall be showed unto thee, which thou hast long desired."
The Heptarchia Mystica series of Enochian seminars under the tuition of brother Charles Humphries continues on alternate Wednesday evenings from 8:00 until 10:00 in the lodge library. Meeting three times this month -- on the 2nd, 16th, and the 30th of April -- this class surveys the magical heritage of John Dee and Edward Kelly, and the record of their operations to communicate with angelic powers. Much of our study has focused upon permutations of letters with which the angelic data were encrypted, but members of the seminar are working also to augment Dee's historical achievement in their own ongoing practical engagement with the system. As we trace through the myriad names, variously extracted from the Sigillum Dei Aemeth, we are (in Dee's terms) participating in the divine impulse to open out the created cosmos and make it meaningful. The names of the powers in this Enochian model of the universe, when we come through wisdom and skill to comprehend them systematically as he sought to do, comprise Dee's great project for a unified magical theory, according to which the speaking power of the magus may be made manifest as a creative logos to participate in the divine operations of nature.
"Hereafter shall you perceive that the glory of this table surmounteth the glory of the sun."


When All the Stars Return

The Dream of Scipio, one of the most widely known documents of visionary paganism to come down to us from classical Roman culture, is the subject this month for our Section Two reading group at Thelema Lodge. Meet with Caitlin from 8:00 until 9:30 in the lodge library on Monday evening 21st April for an introduction to this brief and fascinating text, and join us in reading it aloud together. As recorded a century later by Cicero, the Somnium Scipionis describes a prophetic dream experienced by the younger Scipio Africanus, a leading military and political figure of the republic. Crowley listed the account of Scipio's dream in the primary bibliography of the A A Curriculum, commenting that it is "Excellent for its Vision and its Philosophy," and a few years later in The General Principles of Astrology he referred again to Cicero's "most lasting achievement, the Somnium Scipionis, almost the only mystical treatise which the Latins have left to us." Cicero's philosophical dialogue De Re Publica (which he worked on through the late 50s B.C.E.) recounts a fictionalized discussion held in 129 B.C.E. to explicate the various systems of constitutional government, in which the younger Africanus (at this point in late middle age) is portrayed as the most distinguished contributor. Scipio closes the entire enquiry by recounting his dream from many years before, leaving his interloquitors with the exalted notion that it is by taking part as citizens in the political process of a just government that human individuals can best fulfill within themselves the universal pattern which gives meaning to the macrocosm.
Early in the second century before the common era, the First Punic War had been won for Rome by the great general Publius Cornelius Scipio with a decisive victory over the invading forces of Carthage, driving them back to north Africa. Granted the honorific military title of Africanus as an addition to his family name, the elder Scipio enjoyed enormous civic renown in the glory days of republican Rome. His son later inherited the title, passing it in turn to a nephew he adopted as his legal heir, Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. This younger Scipio, while visiting the continent over which he had inherited a formal title as conqueror, spent an evening listening to praises of his patriarchal grand-uncle, then went to bed and had a memorable vision in his sleep. He dreamed he saw the elder Africanus come to his room and then carry him up beyond the sky into the heavens, offering him prophetic advice about the honor he was to win in a life of successful public service. His somnium, or dream vision, included a guided tour of the cosmos, venturing to the far reaches of the universe, where Scipio listened to the music of the spheres and was instructed in their great cycles. From such a perspective even the greatest human reputation, bounded upon the little earth at the midpoint of all the spheres, came to seem completely inconsequential. Scipio realized that even Rome's greatest citizens can hope at most to be famous only for a few generations over a limited part of the inhabited earth. Throughout the vast reaches of the universe, or even in the austral regions of our own globe, all Rome's grandeur goes unknown. If however wise persons can internalize the entire harmony of the cosmic system, and behave is their own lives according to the pattern of its perfect order, they partake of its divine majesty within themselves.


Previous Section Two                   Next Section Two


A Show of Anger

The latest work by Thelemic film maker Kenneth Anger has been scheduled for a public showing in San Francisco this month, at the Artists' Television Access studio, located at 992 Valencia Street, on Saturday evening 19th April. Anger's fifteen-minute documentary collage entitled "The Man We Want To Hang" will be the featured work in an evening of occultly oriented short films, part of the ATA's Other Cinema series. Anger's film includes many images photographed from his extensive personal collection of clippings and memorabilia relating to Aleister Crowley and his reputation in the popular press. The program begins at 8:30 and admission costs $5; for further information call the ATA at (415) 634-3890. (This public event is in no way associated with O.T.O., but a number of lodge members plan to attend together.)


Crowley Classics

A sequel to Crowley's article which appeared last month in this column, this piece was originally published in the London Sunday Dispatch on 2nd July 1933 e.v. No biography of Crowley reports the circumstances of these autobiographical articles, which apparently were written on commission for the newspaper. Their style and content seem consistent with Crowley's authentic authorship, and some of his comments here may even raise a few eyebrows seventy years later. There is also a rare reference by Crowley to the celebration of the gnostic mass at the Abbey of Thelema in the early 1920s e.v., and a few very amusing and silly comments regarding witches.

Black Magic is Not a Myth

by Aleister Crowley
"The Worst Man in the World"

Black magic is not a myth. It is a totally unscientific and emotional form of magic, but it does get results -- of an extremely temporary nature. The recoil upon those who practice it is terrific.
It is like looking for an escape of gas with a lighted candle. As far as the search goes, there is little fear of failure!
To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency, and intelligence. You must be obsessed with an insane idea of the importance of the petty object of your wretched and selfish desires.
I have been accused of being a "black magician." No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it.

Black Mass

In Paris, and even in London, there are misguided people who are abusing their priceless spiritual gifts to obtain petty and temporary advantages through these practices.
The "Black Mass" is a totally different matter.
I could not celebrate it if I wanted to, for I am not a consecrated priest of the Christian Church.
The celebrant must be a priest, for the whole idea of the practice is to profane the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Therefore you must believe in the truth of the cult and the efficacy of its ritual.
A renegade priest gathers about him a congregation of sensation-hunters and religious fanatics; then only can the ceremonies of profanation be of extended black magical effect.
There are many ways of abusing the Sacrament. One of the best known of which is the "Mass of Saint Secaire," the purpose of which is to cause an enemy to wither away.
At this "mass," always held in some secret place, preferably in a disused chapel, at midnight, the priest appears in canonical robes.
But even in his robes there is some sinister change, a perversion of their symbolic sanctity.
There is an altar, but the candles are of black wax. The crucifix is fixed the head downwards.
The clerk to the priest is a woman, and her dress, although it seems to be a church garment, is more like a costume in a prurient revue. It has been altered to make it indecent.
The ceremony is a parody of the orthodox Mass, with blasphemous interpolations.
The priest must be careful, however, to consecrate the Host in the orthodox manner. The wine has been adulterated with magical drugs like deadly nightshade and vervain, but the priest must convert it into the blood of Christ.
The dreadful basis of the Mass is that the bread and wine have imprisoned the Deity. Then they are subjected to terrible profanations.

Indescribable

This is supposed to release the powers of evil and bring them into alliance. (It is rather the case of the mouse trying to make a friend of the cat!)
In the congregational form of the Black Mass the priest, having finished his abominations -- these are, quite frankly, indescribable -- scatters the fragments of the Host on the floor, and the assistants scramble for the soiled fragments, the possession of which, they believe, will allow them to work their petty and malicious designs.
My most memorable personal experience of the effects of black magic occurred when I was living in Scotland. The machinations of a degraded and outcast member of the Order caused my hounds to die, my servants to become insane. The struggle lasted until the recoil of the current of hated caused the luckless sorcerer to collapse.
The explanation of its effects is that, if you believe passionately enough in your will to do something, then power to achieve it will accrue to you.
My enemies say that the celebration of the "Black Mass" was one of the most innocuous of my activities in Sicily and in France.
"Why was he thrown out of both those countries?" they ask.

Spiritualism

The explanation of why I left is quite simple and unsensational. I took a villa at Cefalu in Sicily for work and play. We began the day with family prayers; we occasionally celebrated a semi-religious ceremony known as the Gnostic Mass.
Several people who were my guests at the "abbey" made imaginative copy out of their visits.
Then the Fascists came into power and some foreign newspaper correspondents were asked to leave.
And so was I. There was no rough turning-out. I was treated with the greatest of courtesy.
The reason I left Paris was that the authorities refused to renew my carte d'identité. No charge was made against me; and no explanation given.
Somebody I had quarreled with had gone to the authorities and succeeded in making them think that something was wrong.
Spiritualism -- more correctly, spiritism -- is not a form of black magic.
Through their mediumistic acts, spiritists sometimes get hold of disintegrated pieces of the mental apparatus of a man or woman who has died recently.
The apparatus has lost its guiding control, the spiritual side of a man, and it can be -- and often is -- taken by elemental spirits of evil and turned to any base use.
Spirits are playing with malicious forces.
Witchcraft is a more or less solitary form of black magic.
By working herself into a diabolic ecstasy the witch can achieve success in her schemes. She is willing to sacrifice her first-born, a usual price demanded by the demon, or sell her soul.
And all for what? To stop her neighbour's cows from giving milk; to send a surly enemy to a sick bed.
The effect is completely ridiculous compared with the waste of spiritual forces required to produce it.
The true magician is above spite and venom. He tries to bring about the results for which he is working, not by sudden and disruptive interference with the existing order of things, but by slow natural processes.

Elixir of Life

In theory there is no limit to the power of magic. A magician is like a mathematician; he has complete control of the symbols as long as he keeps to the rules.
I have prepared the elixir of life, that magical draught which gives eternal youth. Like the touch of Midas, it is not an unmixed blessing.
I made it first when I was forty. It was done hastily and with imperfect knowledge. I took seven doses, as the first two or three had no apparent effect. The consequences were extremely violent.
One day, without warning, I woke up to find that I had lost all my maturity. I became mentally and physically a stupid stripling. The only thing I could think of doing was to cut down trees!
I was living in a cottage in New Hampshire; for fifteen hours a day I toiled at felling trees. I worked like a madman. No feat of strength was too great for me.
These fantastic physical powers lasted for about two months, and were followed by reaction. For half a year I was in a state of lassitude. I had been playing with a dangerous recipe.
Six years later I experimented again with the elixir, taking precautions to avoid such drastic results. The result was that at 47 I was as powerful an athlete as any man of 30.
I still retain much of the good effect of this experiment.
My intellectual activity has not only been conserved but intensified, and I am still enjoying perfect health and energy.


Previous Crowley Classics                   Next Crowley Classics


from the Grady Project:

This poem is published here for the first time, from the author's typescript in the editorial archives of The Magickal Link.

The Benediction of the Devil

Day is come and where it spills
Night has gone, beyond the hills
The shadows linger yet awhile,
There is no malice in their smile
For they have found they need but wait
While garish Day in tarnished state
Proclaims his reign, then totters on,
About his heels the swirling dawn
Of darkness follows, and the bright
Joy of the nether world of Night
Resumes its pleasures; jokes and smirks
At daylight Parzival, who works.

---- Grady L. McMurtry
11-12-41

Previous Grady Project                   Next Grady Project


from the Library Shelf

Originally issued as volume five of the Collectanea Hermetica series by William Wynn Westcott for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1894, this translation was made by G. H. Frater Levavi Oculos (Percy William Bullock). First initiated in 1890, Frater L. O. achieved the grade of 5 = 6 by 1892. He served as Sub-Cancellarius and then as Sub-Imperator of the Isis-Urania temple in that year, and later in the same year succeeded Florence Farr as Cancellarius, a post he held until 1896, after which he again served as Sub- Imperator. Following the break-up of the Order when the lies of its leaders became evident, Bullock joined A. E. Waite's faction of the Independent and Rectified Order R. R. et A. C. after its constitution in 1903. His wife Pamela Carden Bullock, the famous Soror Shemeber, was also a leading member of the early Golden Dawn.

Somnium Scipionis
(The Vision of Scipio)

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

translated by Frater L. O. (Percy Bullock)
edited by William Wynn Westcott

When I came to Africa, where, as you know, I was Tribune to the Fourth Legion of soldiers, under the Consul Manius Manilius, nothing appeared to me more desirable than that I should meet Masinissa, a Monarch who had ever been most friendly to our family for just reasons. When I came to him, the old man, having embraced me, wept, and, after a pause, looked up to Heaven: "Ah, thanks," said he, "to Thee I render, O highest Sun, and to ye other Celestial companions, in that before I depart this life, I am permitted to behold in my own Kingdom and under these skies P. Cornelius Scipio, whose name itself refreshes me: for, never from my soul has the memory of that best and most invincible of men departed!" Then I inquired of him concerning the affairs of his Kingdom, and he of me respecting our Republic; and our day thus passed in lengthened conference. After a royal entertainment our talk again drew out into the far night, when the old man would speak of nothing save the elder Scipio (Africanus Major): everything about him he remembered, not only his deeds, but even his sayings. When, therefore, we parted to retire to rest, what with the journey and our nocturnal sitting, I was more than usually tired and fell sound asleep.
Whereupon (as I believe arising out of the subject of our talk, for it often happens that our thoughts and conversation produce some such result in sleep as that which Ennius relates to have happened concerning Homer, whom it appears he was frequently accustomed to meditate upon and to talk about during his waking hours) Africanus appeared to me in a form which I recognised more from his bust than from my knowledge of the man himself. When I recognized him, I trembled indeed: he, however, speaking said, "Take courage and banish fear, O Scipio; commit to memory what I have to say."
"Seest thou yonder City, which, compelled by me to submit to the Roman people, yet renews its former wars, unable to remain at peace -- here he shewed me Carthage from a certain clear and brilliant spot in the celestial heights, full of stars -- and to the assault of which thou comest, as yet a mere boy? This City, in two years from the present time, thou as Consul shalt overthrow, and that hereditary name, which hitherto thou bearest from us, shall belong to thee by thine own exertions. When moreover Carthage has been razed by thee, thou shalt effect thy Triumph and be made Censor; then as Legate thou shalt proceed to Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, being made Consul a second time during thy absence, and undertaking thy greatest war, destroy Numantia. But when thou are borne upon the triumphal car to the Capitol, thou shalt find the Republic thrown into confusion by the policy of my grandson. Here, O Africanus, it will be necessary for thee to display to the Fatherland the light of thy spirit, thy genius, and thy wisdom; at this period of thy life I see but darkly the course of thy destiny, though when thine age shalt have completed eight times seven circuits and returns of the Sun, thus bringing thee to the fatal epoch of thy life by the natural circuit of these two numbers (each of which is held to be perfect, the one from a different reason to the other); to thee alone and to thy name the whole State will turn; to thee, as Senator, all good people, the Latin allies and the Latins themselves shall turn; thou shalt be the one upon whom the whole salvation of the State shall rest, and, lest misfortune befall, it behooves thee as dictator to firmly establish the Republic if you would escape the impious hands of thy kinsmen." At this portion of the recital Laelius cried out and the others bitterly lamented, but Scipio, smiling slowly, said: "I beseech you not to arouse me from slumber; peace for a little, and hear the rest."
"But, O Africanus, in order that thou mayest be the more devoted to the welfare of the Republic, mark this well: for all those who have guarded, cherished, and assisted their Fatherland, a particular place in Heaven is assigned, where the blessed enjoy everlasting life. For nothing on earth is more acceptable to that supreme Deity who reigns over the whole Universe, than those assemblages and combinations of men united by Law which we call States; the rulers and preservers whereof coming forth from this place, return thither."
At this point, although I was thoroughly terrified, not so much by the fear of death, as by the treachery of my own kinsmen, I asked notwithstanding whether he himself was really alive and my father Paulus and other whom we believed to be annihilated.
"Yea," said he, "in very truth, those still live who have flown forth from the bonds of the body as from a prison; for indeed, what is called your life, is but a death! Why, dost thou not see thy father Paulus coming to thee?"
At that sight I indeed burst forth into a flood of tears. He, on the other hand, embracing, kissed me and forbade me to weep; and then, when my tears had been repressed, and I began to be able to speak, "Prithee tell me," said I, "most revered and excellent father: Since this is life, as I have heard Africanus say, Why do I tarry upon Earth? Why do I not hasten to come hither to you?"
"It may not be," he replied, "for, unless that Deity who is the Lord of this Universe which thou beholdest, shall liberate thee from the prison of your body, hither approaching, it is not possible to come. For men are born under this Law to be faithful guardians of that Globe which thou seest in the midst of this Universe and which is called the Earth: and a Soul has been given to them from those sempiternal fires which you call Stars and Constellations; these being spherical and globular bodies, animated with divine Souls, pursue their circling orbits with marvellous celerity. Wherefore, O Publius, both by thee and all pious persons, the Soul should be retained in the keeping of the body: not without His command, by whom that Soul is given to you, must it depart from mortal life, lest you should appear to be untrue to that duty to Mankind which has been assigned to you by the Deity. But do thou cultivate justice and piety, O Scipio, following in the steps of thy Grandsire and of myself, who begat thee. These qualities, although excellent among parents and relations, become still more noble when practised towards one's Country. Through this life lies the road to Heaven and to the assemblage of those, who have already lived upon earth, and now, released from the body, inhabit this place which thou seest (this Sphere shone forth with the most resplendent brightness amid blazing stars) and which, after the Greeks, you call the Milky Way. From this place all other bodies appeared to my gaze exceedingly bright and marvellous. There were, moreover, those Stars which are never seen from Earth; and the magnitude of all of them were such as we have never suspected. Among these I beheld the smallest to be the farthest from Heaven and the nearest to Earth, shining with a borrowed Light. Moreover, the spheres of the Stars far transcended the size of the Earth. Thus, the Earth itself already appeared small to me, so that I was grieved to observe how small a part of its surface we in reality occupy.
As I continued to gaze steadfastly, Africanus continuing said, "How long wilt thy mind remain rivetted to the Earth? Dost thou not behold into how glorious a Temple thou are come? Now know that the Universe consists of nine circles, or rather Spheres, all connected together, one of which is celestial and the furthest off, embracing all the rest, the supreme Deity preserving and governing the others. In this sphere are traced the eternal revolutions of the Stars and to it are subject the seven spheres which revolve backwards with a contrary motion to that of the Celestial Sphere. The first (of these Seven) Spheres is occupied by the Star which on Earth is called Saturn. Next comes the sphere of that splendid Star, salutary and fortunate to the human race, called Jupiter. Then comes the Red Sphere, terrible to the Earth, which you call Mars. Following beneath these spheres, and in almost the middle region, is placed the Sun, the Leader, Chief and Governor of the other Lights, the mind of the World and the organizing principle; of such wonderous magnitude that it illuminates and impregnates every part of the Universe with its Light. The Spheres of Venus and Mercury in their respective courses follow the Sun as companions. In the lowest Sphere the Moon revolves illumined by the rays of the Sun. Below this in truth nothing exists which is not subject to death and decay, save indeed the Souls, which by the gift of the Gods are bestowed upon the human race. Above the Moon all things are eternal, but the sphere of the Earth, which occupies a middle place and comes ninth, does not move: it is the lowest and to it all ponderable bodies are born by their own gravity."
When I had recovered from my amazement at the sight of these things, "What," said I, "is this sweet and wondrous melody which fills my ears?"
"This," said he, "is that harmony, which, affected by the mingling of unequal intervals, yet notwithstanding in harmonious proportions and with reason so separated, is due to the impulse and movement of the spheres themselves; the light with the heavier tones combined, the various sounds uniformly going to make up one grand symphony. For not with silence can such motions be urged forward, and Nature leads us to the conclusion that the extremes give forth a low note at the one end and a high note at the other. Thus the celestial sphere, whose motion in its starlight course is more rapid, gives forth a sharp and rousing sound; the gravest tone being that of the lunar sphere, which is lowest; but the Earth, the ninth sphere, remains immovable, always fixed in the lowest seat encompassing the middle place of the Universe. Moreover, the motions of those eight spheres which are above the earth, and of which the force of two is the same, cause seven sounds supported by regular intervals; which number is the connecting principle of almost all things. Learned men, having imitated this divine mystery with stringed instruments and vocal harmonies, have won for themselves a return to this place, just as others, who, endowed with superior wisdom, have cultivated the divine sciences even in human life."
"Now to this melody the stopped ears of men have become deaf; nor is there any duller sense in you. Just as at that place which is called Catadupa, where the Nile falls from the highest Mountains, the people living there lose the sense of hearing on account of the magnitude of the sound, so, indeed, such a tremendous volume of sound arises from the rapid revolution of the whole Cosmos that the ears of men are not capable of receiving it, just as you are unable to look straight at the Sun, whose rays would blind the eye and conquer the sense."
Filled with wonder at these things, my eyes ever and anon wandered back to Earth.
Hereupon Africanus said: "I perceive that even now you gaze upon the habitation and abode of mortals. But, if it appear as small to thee, as indeed it is, thus seen, strive ever after these heavenly things and lightly esteem those of earth. For what glory or renown really worthy of being sought after canst thou derive from the mouths of men? Thou seest that the earth is inhabited in scattered places confined within narrow limits, such inhabited regions are in themselves mere specks upon its surface with vast wildernesses intervening; and those who dwell upon the earth are not only separated thus, so that no communication is possible amongst them from the one to the other, but they occupy positions partly oblique, partly transverse, partly even opposite to yours: from these you can certainly hope for no glory. Also thou wilt perceive this same earth to be, as it were, circumscribed and encircled by zones, two of which, the most widely separated and situated at each end under the very poles of heaven, are ice-bound as thou seest, while the middle and largest zone is burnt up with the heat of the Sun. Two zones are habitable, one of which lies to the South, those who dwell therein planting footsteps opposite to your own, and having nothing to do with your race. As to the other zone which you inhabit, and which is subject to the North wind, see how very slender a part has to do with you: for the whole surface inhabited by your race, restricted towards the poles and wider laterally, is indeed but a small island surrounded by the sea, which you call on earth the Atlantic, the Great Sea, or Ocean. Yet, notwithstanding its name, it is but small as thou seest. How then is it possible that from these known and cultivated countries either thy name or that of any of us can cross those Caucasian Mountains, which thou seest, or pass beyond the Ganges? Who, in the remaining parts of the East, in the uttermost regions of the wandering Sun, either in Northern of Southern Climes, will hear thy name? So then, with these parts taken away, dost thou indeed perceive within what narrow limits your glory seeks to spread itself, and how long even will those who sing your praises continue to do so?
"Yea, indeed, if generations hence posterity shall seek to perpetuate the fame of anyone of us handed down from father to son, yet notwithstanding, on account of fire and flood, which will inevitably happen at certain fixed periods of time, we are unable to attain lasting renown, much less eternal glory. Moreover, of what importance are the things which shall be said concerning thee by those to be born hereafter, when no one who existed before will then be alive? More especially, when of those same men who are to come, not one will be able to remember the events of even one year. Now, according to common custom, men usually measure the year merely by the return of the sun, or, in other words, by the revolution of one star. But when the whole of the constellations shall return to the original positions from which they once set forth, thus restoring at long intervals the original configuration of the Heavens, then can that be truly called 'the Great Year,' within which period, I scarcely dare say how many generations of men are comprised. For, just as in time past, when the Soul of Romulus entered into these sacred abodes, the Sun appeared to fail and be extinguished, so when the Sun shall again fail in the same position and at the same time, then, when the Signs of the Zodiac shall have returned to their original position, and the Stars are recalled, the cycle of the Great Year shall be accomplished; of this enormous period of time, know that not a twentieth part has yet passed away.
"Wherefore, it thou despairest of a speedy return to this quarter, wherein all things are prepared for great and excellent men, pray of what value is that human glory which can scarcely endure the smallest part of one cycle? And so, if you would look on high and fix your gaze on this state and your eternal home, thou shalt pay no heed to vulgar talk, neither allow thy actions to be influenced by the hope of human rewards. True virtue for its own sake should lead thee to real glory. Leave to others the care of ascertaining what they may say of you: they will assuredly speak of you beyond all doubt. Human fame is wholly restricted within these narrow limits which thou seest, and never at any time has anyone gained immortal renown, for that is impossible through the annihilation of men and the oblivion of posterity."
Whereon I said, "If indeed, O Africanus, for those who have deserved well of their country, a Path, as it were, lies open to Heaven -- although from my youth up I have followed in the footsteps of yourself and my father, and never tarnished your great renown -- now nevertheless, with such a prospect before me, I will strive much more vigilantly."
"Strive on," said he, "with the assurance that it is not you who are subject to death, but your body. For thou art not what this form appears to be, but the real man is the thinking principle of each one -- not the bodily form which can be pointed our with the finger. Know this, then, that thou art a God, inasmuch as Deity is that which has Will, sensation, memory, foresight, and who so rules, regulates, and moves the body to which his charge is committed, just as the supreme Deity does the Universe, and as the Eternal God directs this Universe, which is in a certain degree subject to decay, so a sempiternal Soul moves the frail body.
"Now, that which is always in motion is eternal, whereas that which only communicates motion, and which itself is put in motion by some other cause, must necessarily cease when the motive impulse is withdrawn. Accordingly that alone which moves spontaneously because it is ever all itself, never indeed ceases to move, and is moreover the source of motion in all things. Now a primary cause is not derived from any other cause; for forth from that do all things proceed, and from no other. That which springs from something else cannot be the primary cause, and if this indeed never had a commencement, neither will it ever have an end. For the primal cause once destroyed could neither be generated afresh from any other thing, nor itself produce anything else: for all things must necessarily proceed from the primal cause. This eternal principle of all Motion arises out of that which is moved by itself and of itself, and cannot therefore be born or perish; or else of necessity the whole heavens must collapse, and all Nature come to a standstill, unable any longer to derive the impulse by which it was set in motion at the first.
"Since, accordingly, it is manifest that that is eternal which moves of itself, who will deny this eternal principle to be a natural attribute of Souls. For everything which is moved by an external impulse is inanimate: but that, on the other hand, which energizes from within is truly animated, and this is the peculiar operation of the Soul. If then the Soul is the one thing above all, which is self motive, it certainly is not born, but eternal. Do thou then exercise this Soul of thine in the noblest pursuits: solicitude and care for the welfare of one's country are the best; for, animated and controlled by these sentiments, the Soul passes more swiftly to this sphere -- its true home. And this may be the more speedily achieved if, while imprisoned in the body, it shall rise superior to terrestrial limitations, and by the contemplation of those things which are beyond the body, it shall abstract itself to the greatest degree from its earthly tabernacle.
"For the Souls of men who have delivered themselves over to the desires of the body, and of those women who, as abettors, have surrendered themselves, and by the impulse of passions obedient to sensual gratifications, have violated the laws of God and of Man, once liberated from the body, are whirled around this world, and such tortured Souls will not return to this place, save after many centuries."
Here he ceased, and I awoke from sleep.

Previous from the Library Shelf                   Next from the Library Shelf


From the Outbasket

Here are the annual demographics of the O.T.O. from International Headquarters. These totals have been obtained from active central accounts at the end of February 2003 e.v.: 3,711 all, 3,003 of which are initiates. It will be seen that the number of associates has dropped to about half the figure reported last year. Association was extended past the paid period until regular issuing of the Magical Link could resume. Since the 'Link has now returned to two issues a year, these extensions have been ended.

ADV 280
Associates 428
Minervals 1,003
Ist Degrees 697
IInd Degrees 480
IIIrd Degrees 348
IVth Degrees 261
Vth Degrees 120
Higher Degrees 94

--oOo--

In the list which follows, all data is drawn from the International mailing list. Accordingly, the membership counts here are less than the actual total count, owing to changing and lost addresses.

Currently recorded OTO addresses by regions at end February 2003 e.v.
(Associates and initiates both) Total: 3,274 in 47 countries.


UNITED STATES TOTAL: 1,929

Alabama 12 Mississippi 5
Arizona 70 Missouri 35
Arkansas 11 Montana 2
California 328 Nebraska 11
(North Cal: 140) Nevada 42
(South Cal: 188) New Hampshire 5
Colorado 38 New Jersey 24
Connecticut 7 New Mexico 12
Delaware 5 New York 93
Dist. of Columbia 3 North Carolina 16
Florida 80 North Dakota 1
Georgia 60 Ohio 26
Guam 1 Oklahoma 30
Hawaii 1 Oregon 130
Idaho 13 Pennsylvania 68
Illinois 52 Rhode Island 2
Indiana 73 South Carolina 3
Iowa 5 Tennessee 15
Kansas 24 Texas 219
Kentucky 5 Utah 50
Louisiana 18 Virginia 24
Maine 3 Washington 86
Maryland 21 West Virginia 7
Massachusetts 35 Wisconsin 37
Michigan 56 Wyoming 3
Minnesota 54 Military AOP 8


EUROPE TOTAL: 893

AUSTRIA 2 IRELAND (N&S) 3
BELGIUM 5 ITALY 77
BELARUS 1 MACEDONIA 8
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA 1 MALTA 1
BULGARIA 12 NETHERLANDS 28
CROATIA 128 NORWAY 72
DENMARK 12 RUSSIA 10
ENGLAND 133 SCOTLAND 9
FINLAND 10 SLOVENIA 81
FRANCE 13 SPAIN 9
GERMANY 86 SWEDEN 92
GREECE 7 WALES 3
HUNGARY 1 YUGOSLAVIA 85
ICELAND 4


CANADA TOTAL: 132

Alberta 11 Ontario 55
British Columbia 59 Quebec 6
Newfoundland 1


OCEANIA & ASIA TOTAL: 146

AUSTRALIA 76 NEW ZEALAND 21
BAHRAIN 1 TAIWAN 9
ISRAEL 12 TURKEY 3
JAPAN 23 U. ARAB EMIRATES 1


PANAMERICA (exp. US&CAN) TOTAL: 157

ARGENTINA 2 CUBA 1
BOLIVIA 1 GUADELOUPE 1
BRAZIL 147 MARTINIQUE 1
CHILE 1 MEXICO 2
COLUMBIA 1


AFRICA TOTAL: 17

SOUTH AFRICA 17

Previous years:

2/922/932/942/952/962/972/982/992/002/012/02
ADV549190871041188899122200260
Assoc.273317221246286375223348581735873
Min.605660642706889890898820873946995
Ist483485487573700685727670685734739
IInd291290311378441447451459427468457
IIIrd198221226225296325331307328369362
IVth111125160194204212239239224238259
Vth677066102113107118119116124119
Higher3129353541575464748189
============================================
Total2,1312,2882,2382,5463,0743,2163,1293,1253,4303,8954,153

Detail of February 2002 e.v. Demographics (last year)

---- International OTO Treasurer General (Bill Heidrick)

Future OTO demographic reports will be circulated internally within OTO. This may be the last to appear in the TLC

Previous Outbasket


Thelema Lodge Events Calendar for April 2003 e.v.

4/1/03New Moon in Aries 11:19 AM
4/2/03Heptarchia Mystica, Enochian
with Charles 8PM in the library		(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/6/03Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/8/03Feast of Liber AL: chapter I
In Horus temple 8:00 PM		(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/9/03Feast of Liber AL: chapter II
At Ancient Ways 8:00 PM		(510) 652-3244Sirius Camp
4/10/03Feast of Liber AL: chapter III
At Ashby House 8:00 PM		(510) 849-1970Comp.Mtsal.
4/13/03Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/16/03Enochian class with Charles
in the library 8PM		(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/16/03Full Moon in Libra 12:36 PM
4/18/03Pathworking with Paul 8PM
in Horus Temple		(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/20/03Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/21/03Section II reading group with
Caitlin: "The Dream of Scipio"
by Cicero 8PM in the library		(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/27/03Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple(510) 652-3171Thelema Ldg.
4/30/03Heptarchia Mystica, Enochian
with Charles 8PM in the library		(510) 652-3171Thelema 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)

Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and internet circulation only)

Home away from Home