Thelema Lodge Calendar for October 2003 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for October 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.

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

October 2003 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

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

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

Lesser Feasts of Libra

At the beginning of 1946 e.v. the name of "Thelema Lodge" for an O.T.O. body in the San Francisco Bay area was proposed by Jack Parsons to Grady McMurtry, who was also discussing his plans for the new temple in correspondence with Aleister Crowley. The world then was just emerging from the worst war in history, disruptive to the O.T.O. as it had been to almost everything else; and, as master of Agape Lodge, Parsons led the only local body of the Order still active under Crowley's supervision. Just a few weeks out of the army, Captain McMurtry returned to Agape Lodge in January 1946 after five years away, during which time he had rapidly risen in the O.T.O. from a I° to a IX° member, now bearing Crowley's specific VII° warrant to inspect the Order in California. Between these three men a plan emerged for the revival of O.T.O., whereby Jack would legally incorporate the Order in California, and then proceed to organize new members into other local bodies. Grady had been stationed in San Francisco for military training early in his service and made up his mind to return to the area after the war. Now he had moved into an apartment there and was anxious to get a local temple started. "Under this plan," he reported to Crowley on 25th January 1946 e.v., "O.T.O., Inc. would be the central organization in California with power to grant charters to chapters throughout the state. Thus, Jack would have Agape Lodge in Pasadena, I could have Thelema Lodge in San Francisco," and other leading members elsewhere could do likewise.

In America, during the war, everyone had anticipated that "victory" (the end of national mobilization in support of the military effort) would mean a quick shift into new technologies, commercial opportunities, styles, products, and values long delayed during the fighting. A thorough reorientation was in store for all who had survived. Grady and many of his fellow GIs managed to reap some valuable educational benefits for their years of service, but in most ways the post-war world proved far more expensive and complicated and dangerous than their hopes for the "peace" had projected. Parsons, having set up a successful business corporation in 1942 e.v. based upon rocket fuel research funded under military contracts, saw his opportunities end abruptly in peacetime, and in the months following Grady's visit he became emotionally and financially unable to continue at Agape. With his personal, scientific, and magical life in hopeless confusion, Parsons resigned from O.T.O. in the autumn of 1946, cut contact with most of his old associates, and then declared himself the "Antichrist." Left without adequate leadership, and struck by the passing of Aleister Crowley in the following year, Agape Lodge gradually faded away, meeting a few more times at irregular intervals. For Grady up at U. C. Berkeley post-war life seemed somewhat more hopeful, but soon his situation as a busy student with a wife and baby at home left him neither the time, nor the funds, nor even much interest, in organizing a lodge from scratch in a new city. Long delay however did not amount to complete failure, and the plan for O.T.O. revival in California which had been shared by Jack Parsons, Aleister Crowley, and Grady McMurtry did indeed go forward with great success three decades later. Left on his own with the heritage of his friends' hopes, Grady made inconclusive attempts in the late 1950s and again in the late 1960s, but at last Thelema Lodge was established in 1977 e.v. in Berkeley. Immediately he began chartering other official bodies of the Order, throughout the country and soon world wide, and in the following year the O.T.O. was registered in California as a religious and fraternal corporation. As Caliph to the Prophet, Grady faithfully rebuilt the Order, as well as establishing the lodge and temple in the San Francisco East Bay which we in turn have carried forth with his special heritage.

As Grady enjoyed pointing out, his two colleagues like himself had each been born under the sign of Libra, and were each particularly devoted to the magick of language and poetry. Thelema Lodge traditionally gives parties this month for the anniversaries of the Lesser Feasts of these three leaders in Thelema, who were particularly significant to its establishment here in California. On Thursday evening 2nd October beginning at 8:00 the lodge will host a Parsons Poetry Party, open to all readers and listeners interested in sharing verse together aloud. Bring poems to read, not necessarily restricted to the works of the month's Thelemic "birthday boys," but perhaps limited to poems written before the end of Parsons' life in 1952 e.v. Drinks and light refreshments will also be welcome, but this event is to be primarily a feast of words. Ten days later we celebrate Crowleymas in Horus Temple E.G.C. style with a special gnostic mass, which as always on Sunday evening will be open to all whose will it is to join the lodge in Crowley's Thelemic eucharist ritual. This date, Sunday 12th October, also marks the 26th anniversary of the founding of our lodge. After mass we will repair to the neighborhood bar and grill for a late-night birthday feast beginning at 10:00. In celebration of the Lesser Feast of our founder Grady McMurtry on Saturday evening 18th October the lodge will gather for a party in Berkeley beginning at 7:30 at Ashby House. Bring meat for the back yard grill (weather permitting) and lots of food and drink to share, along with a few stories about the founder of our lodge. For information contact Leigh Ann ahead of time with e-mail to Leigh Ann's Web mail or by calling (510) 849-1970.

Empire of the Will

"The Pentagram expresses the mind's domination over the elements and it is by this sign that we bind the demons of the air, the spirits of fire, the spectres of water, and the ghosts of earth. It is the Star of the Magi, the burning star of the Gnostic schools, the sign of intellectual omnipotence and autocracy. Its complete comprehension is the key of two worlds -- it is absolute natural philosophy and natural science. Its use, however, is most dangerous to operators who do not completely and perfectly understand it. All mysteries of magic, all symbols of the gnosis, all figures of occultism, all Qabalistic keys of prophecy, are resumed in the sign of the Pentagram, which Paracelsus proclaims to be the greatest and most potent of all.

"[...] this absolute sign, this sign as old or as older than history, should and must actually exercise an incalculable influence on souls disengaged from their material envelope. Armed therewith and suitably disposed, we can behold infinity through the medium of that faculty which is as the Soul's Eye, and can cause ourselves to be served by legions of angels and demon hordes. The empire of the Will over the Astral Light which is the physical soul of the four elements, is represented in magic by the Pentagram.

"If it be asked how a sign can exercise that immense power over spirits which is claimed for the Pentagram, we inquire in turn why the Christian world bows before the sign of the cross. The sign by itself is nothing, it derives strength from the doctrine which it resumes, and of which it is the Logos. Now, a sign which epitomizes by expression all the occult forces of Nature, which has always manifested to the elementary and other spirits a power superior to their own, naturally strikes them with fear and respect, and enforces their obedience by the empire of knowledge and will over ignorance and weakness."

------ Eliphas Levi

The western ceremonial magician has at her disposal a wide armament of magical technology to "cause change to occur in conformity with the Will." With the exposure of the secret teachings of the Golden Dawn by Aleister Crowley, the techniques of operative magick were opened to a diverse and hungry audience of practitioners. Collecting the various aspects of the system that were found to be of utility for the A

, Crowley synthesized his vast experience in the arcane teachings of both West and East, incorporating such mainstays as rituals of banishing and invoking, talismanic magick, astral travel and scrying in the spirit vision, the correspondence between colors and consciousness, along with the infusion of Eastern techniques of yoga, incorporating them all into his system of Scientific Illuminism, or Skeptical Theurgy. Continuing our practical examination of this curriculum, this month the Foundations class will be looking into the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram (and if time permits, the Greater Hexagram ritual as well). The Greater Ritual of the Pentagram is actually a collection of several rites, bound together under the symbolism of the five pointed star. Many methods of working with the forms have been given, and we will explore the various combinations of divine names, lineal figures, sigils and signs that may accompany the rituals. All students of ceremonial magick in the Thelemic tradition are welcome to join the group in Horus Temple from 7:30 until 10:00 on Thursday evening 9th October.

---- Gregory Peters

Without Haste but Without Rest

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), poet, scientist, and statesman (whose personal motto was "Ohne Hast, aber ohne Rast"), published the first part of his dramatic poem Faust in 1808, having worked on it at various times over the preceding thirty years. Meeting in the lodge library with Caitlin on Monday evening 20th October from 8:00 until 9:30, the Section Two reading group will examine this occult classic, reading from it together and exploring some of its main ideas. Not only is Goethe invoked each week into the temple as a saint in the gnostic mass, but Crowley also lists him first among members of the modern "constituent originating assemblies of the O.T.O." in Liber LII (the Manifesto of the O.T.O.), and Faust appears (along with its sequel, Faust, Part Two) on the recent O.T.O. reading list. The Faust narrative was originally repeated as a sensational warning against dealings with "devils" and ambiguous spiritual entities. When it reached England in the early 1590s, however, the leading London playwright Christopher Marlowe introduced an entire new dimension to the story by giving the protagonist a complexly realized individual personality, established in compelling poetic lines with intelligence and philosophical depth. For more than two centuries the story survived, with hints of influence from Marlowe's poetic tragedy, as the principal subject for vulgar puppet shows, common on the sidewalks of German towns (similar to the "Punch and Judy" shows then popular in England). Then Goethe extended the Faust character even farther than had Marlowe, into a representative of the universal human predicament. As a "Romantic" who did not die young but matured into a more balanced aesthetic (often termed "Classical"), Goethe was not interested in the bad old theology of devilry and damnation. For him the "evil spirits" of the story dramatized forces within the individual human psyche, and the character of Faust becomes not a figure of dire superstitious warning but the representative "Renaissance man" of Humanist culture in Europe. Goethe minimizes traditional religious elements in the tale, avoiding the shameful Christian foolishness about "sin" and the horrible "divine" revenge for it, which had originally been the entire point of the story. For him Faust and Mephistopheles, in their continual dialogue as they traverse the various situations of the world, become twin aspects of a single complex personality. Faust speaks with the wisdom of a lover, while his demonic companion gives voice to a deep sense of dissatisfaction causing him to act as a cynical and selfish agent of alienation. These conflicting impulses of desire and denial both belong to the author of the work, who -- recognized by Crowley as a prototypical Thelemite -- makes use of them in his poetry as he seeks to define the working of his will.

Previous Section Two Next Section Two

The Spirit I that Aye Denies the All

"Sono lo spirito che nega sempre tutto" says Mefistofele. The depth of characterization which Goethe brought to the old cautionary tale of Faust established his story as one of the defining myths of the nineteenth century, presented again and again in drama, painting, and in musical works. The best known Faust operas appeared in the 1850s by Hector Berlioz (1854) and Charles Gounod (1859), along with other musical adaptations by Franz Liszt (1857) and Robert Schumann (1858). The most strikingly experimental adaptation, however, was the Italian opera Mefistofele, written and produced by Arrigo Boito in 1868 (revised and presented again in 1875 and in 1880, and afterward very widely performed). Brilliantly condensing Goethe's poem into a spectacular musical drama, the work features one of the most impressive versions of the orgiastic Brocken Mountain scene as a fuga infernale of interweaving demonic choruses. As an adjunct to this month's Section Two meeting the lodge will present a recorded viewing of Boito's Mefistofele at Ashby House in Berkeley beginning at 7:30 on Monday evening 27th October. Bring along your own sodas and popcorn and enjoy this stunning spiritual drama.

Advancement in the Light

Helen Parsons Smith celebrated her Greater Feast on 27th July 2003 e.v. at the age of 93. Well known by name as the oldest and longest serving initiate in the Order, she lived a quiet life during her long retirement, and few members in the modern resurgence of the O.T.O. had opportunities to meet her. Born in Chicago, the daughter of Burton and Olga Northrup, she moved with her family to southern California early in life, and worked during the 1930s for her father's firm Northrup Business Adjustments. She met Jack Parsons at a church social, they were married in the spring of 1935, and they bought a house in Pasadena which became a center for interesting visitors and wide- ranging discussions during their seven years together there. In 1939 a chance encounter with Crowley's volume Konx Om Pax led them to investigate Thelema, and soon Jack and Helen were attending Wilfred Smith's celebrations of the gnostic mass at Agape Lodge in Los Angeles. They were initiated together as Minervals and First Degree members of O.T.O. on 15th February 1941 e.v., and Helen the same day was accepted for membership in the A

as Soror Grimaud. Within a year they were among the most active members at Agape, both working very closely with the lodgemaster, and in June 1942 they sold their house to lease an old mansion on Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena and establish a better temple for the lodge. Within a few months of that move their relationship dissolved; Helen became pregnant by Wilfred Smith, and in the following year she was divorced by Jack (who for several years afterward lived at the lodge with Helen's younger sister Sara Elizabeth Northrup). Wilfred Smith was sent into retirement and excluded from O.T.O. membership, with Helen joining him in exile. They were married and moved to Malibu, where they began their own Thelemic group called "The Church of Thelema" and continued performing the gnostic mass together.

Left a widow upon Smith's death in 1957 e.v. she remained for years in Malibu, where during the 1960s Helen worked with Gabriel Montenegro to further the cause of Thelema during the period of the O.T.O.'s quiescence. By the 1970s she was established in northern California, where she set about realizing her life-time project of preserving and publishing the writings of Aleister Crowley. Starting her own small company as "Thelema Publications," she produced a fine edition of The Equinox of the Gods and a series of volumes which were small in size but greatly significant for the continuity of Crowley's legacy, including Shih Yi (1971), Khing Kang King, and The Soul of the Desert (both 1974). She became involved in O.T.O. again upon its revival by Grady McMurtry, and her publication of Crowley's translation of the Tao Teh King (Liber CLVII) in 1975 appeared under the O.T.O. imprint as volume III number 8 of The Equinox. Through the 1980s as the Order expanded she continued to play a role in its guidance, occasionally attending Areopagus meetings, and was able to enjoy some of the fruits of her long dedication. "With veneration for the Magus of the Aquarian Age" (as she wrote in 1990 e.v.), she offered her books to a new generation of Thelemites, "to aid your advancement in the Light." She at last retired from membership during the twilight years of her life, and her preference for complete privacy was respected. Helen Parsons Smith died at Tahoe Forest Hospital, close to where she had made her home at Kings Beach in North Lake Tahoe for twenty-five years, and according to her wishes no funeral services were held. Her son Kwen Smith survives her, with his wife and Helen's two grandchildren, and also two great-grandchildren. Helen remained a true Thelemic occultist throughout her life, and too little information is available concerning her work. It is hoped that the forthcoming publication of The Unknown God, a long awaited biography of Wilfred Smith written with Helen's full cooperation by Martin P. Starr, may contain additional details about a significant period in her long life, during which she may well have been the only regularly active priestess in the world who carried forth the celebration of the mass of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.

________________________________________________________
Editorial thanks to brother Nathan Bjorge for his
research assistance, and to sister Shiren Morton
for the photograph with the foregoing obituary.

Crowley Classics

This stage drama, one of Crowley's best, appeared in his "all drama issue" of the International (New York: March 1918). We present it here in two parts, the first this month and the conclusion to follow in our next issue.

The Saviour
A Drama in One Scene
by Aleister Crowley

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

The Most Venerable Elder -- aet. 80

The Blind Elder -- aet. 70

The Deaf Elder -- aet. 60

The Dumb Elder -- aet. 50

The Palsied Elder -- aet. 40

The Most Reverend Elder -- aet. 30

The Young Plump Elder -- aet. 20

All these are members of the Town Council of the City of Blabre.

The Prophet of the Gods

The Fool

The Sentinel of the Council Chamber

The Herald of the Council

The Herald of the Gnogues

A Courier

The Saviour A Standard-Bearer

Soldiers

A young girl

The Elders, clad in furred robes of purple with hoods and golden chains, are seated at a long table of carved oak. The Most Reverend Elder wears a definitely ecclesiastical vestment of black and gold, with golden biretta.

The table occupies the middle of the chamber, near the back of the stage, but allowing plenty of room for passage. The room itself is well lighted from three windows. The west window is curved, and through it are seen one or two spires. The north window shows much of the tall buildings of a fantastic and elaborately beautiful city, such as Duerer or Beardsley might have drawn. The east window shows the towers which surmount the river-gate of the city. Beneath this window is an altar, on which are candles, and images of the gods of Blabre. Beneath the west window are steps, where stands the Herald, gorgeously appareled, with trumpet and tabard, awaiting the word to proclaim to the people of the city, many of whom are gathered without, the result of the deliberations of the Council.

The chamber itself is decorated with a rich but civilized simplicity.

The table is covered with inkhorns and old parchments. At its east end stands the Fool in motley, blue and yellow, with cap, bells, and bauble.

The door is in the east wall; before it stands the Sentinel, in plate mail, holding erect a fantastically shapen pike. The Elders are seated behind the table, facing the audience, in the following order, west to east: the Young Plump Elder, the Most Reverend Elder, the Palsied Elder, the Most Venerable Elder, the Blind Elder, the Deaf Elder, the Dumb Elder.

At the southwest corner of the table, a little distance away, facing the Elders, is the Prophet of the Gods. He is squatting upon the floor. He is clad in dirty white robes, rugged from long use. His frame is spare, and his face is gaunt and sunken, burnt almost black by the sun. Huge wild eyes glitter beneath his matted hair. He is of no particular age; his long and unkempt beard is still black. The robes, torn and open, reveal the breast, with its weals and cars caused by the scourge. There are traces of congealed blood upon it.

Author's Note

It is not desirable that the time and place of the play should be too strictly denoted, lest in future ages some historian or other mentally defective person should desire to ruin the design of the author by "accuracy." But the reader may think, and the spectator should be made to think, of some town of delicately-flavoured name, in the time of the old chronicles; and he may use the spectacles of Mr Arthur Machen or Mr Layton Crippen. But the Gnogues are to be very clearly distinguished from the people of Blabre by their obviously different race, as indicated in the text, by their rude gruff curt harsh brutish manner, and by the simplicity of their rough harness.

The Saviour

(The curtain rises upon the deliberations of the Council.)
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: The doom of Blabre!
THE BLIND ELDER: I see no hope for the city.
THE DEAF ELDER: There is no news of any sector.
(The Dumb Elder gesticulates. Throughout, he repeats on his fingers

all that is said, for the benefit of the Deaf Elder. Managers will

wish to change this, on the ground that it will tend to drive

the audience mad; but that is the object of the direction.)
THE DEAF ELDER (translating): My colleague says that he has raised his

voice again and again in warning; and now it is come upon us.
THE PALSIED ELDER: Cannot we take some action, however desperate?
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: My children, there is no hope save in God, the

Almighty, the Merciful and Gracious, the Helper, the Ready to Save.
THE PROPHET: Woe unto Blabre! Woe to the wicked city! (His is a long wail

or howl, like a coyote. It is uttered quite in the same sudden causeless

way as one notices often enough in a dog; it is not intended as part of the

conversation. In short, he is just a wild beast, like as the Fool is a

tame one; and he receives no notice. It is as if he had not spoken.)
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: Why did He not save us before the last extremity was

on us? Look at these reports! (He indicates certain parchments.) The

Gnogues have pushed one salient to within bowshot of the city walls. We

are straightly invested. Famine has spread her leathern wings, and sucks

the blood of our bravest. Pestilence walks no more by night; under the sun

he stalks and smites. We have no necessary thing but air and water; and

both are already contaminated with the poison of our own dead.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: Still, we have water while the river-gate is held.
THE BLIND ELDER: How many days can we hold out?

(The Dumb Elder gesticulates.)
THE DEAF ELDER: My colleague says that the Emperor has promised succor

within fifteen days. For myself, I would add that we can live for a month.
THE PALSIED ELDER: Then there is hope?
THE BLIND ELDER: There is hope while we can hold the river-gate.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: Surely, the river-gate is not in danger?
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: It is the most strongly fortified of all our

positions. The men who guard it are veterans of the ancient war. The

captain of the gates is wily and valiant and trusty. Twelve times already

he has repulsed the Gnogues with fearful slaughter.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he

fall!
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: I visited the post last night. I found the captain

steadfast on his spear, grim, fierce, and vigilant.
THE BLIND ELDER: Besides, the gate is safe against surprise. So strong

runs the river that no naked man could swim across, much less a man in

armor. There is no landing place; our walls run sheer and smooth into the

tide. There is no cover on the other bank; and our towers command it with

easy archery. There is only the frail single span of the bridge, so narrow

that two men cannot pass, so slight that a single blow with an axe would

send it crashing into the tide.

(The Dumb Elder gesticulates.)
THE DEAF ELDER: My colleague says that if we only had food we could endure

for ever.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER (piously): His mercy endureth for ever. Did He not

rain food from heaven upon our forefathers in the days of the great

migration?
THE FOOL: Let us read fifteen or twenty cantos of the great epic of Glingue,

the sacred bard!

(No one notices him.)
THE BLIND ELDER: We must hold out. There is no alternative. We know the

character of the foe. If we are conquered, he will put every living thing

to the sword; he will burn every building with fire; he will efface the

City of Blabre from the memory of man.
THE PALSIED ELDER: The Gnogues are cruel and remorseless; they spare no soul

alive, save for an hour's delight in rape or torture; they eat human flesh.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: The Lord is mighty and merciful, compassionate

towards His servants, strong to save. (The Most Reverend Elder is really

as frightened as the rest, or more so: he says the brave words in a

toneless, mechanical way, from habit even more than from the wish to keep

up his righteous character.)
THE PROPHET: Woe unto Blabre! Woe to the wicked city! (No one notices him.)
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: I think that we should proclaim a message of

confidence to the citizens.
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: At the worst, it is only one more lie.
THE BLIND ELDER: Does any one dissent? (Silence.)
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: Let the Herald speak to the citizens!
THE HERALD (bows to the Most Venerable Elder, turns to his window, blows a

rousing blast upon his trumpet, and proclaims): Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!

Rejoice, we conquer! The Fathers of the City are still sitting in earnest

deliberation for your welfare; but in order to calm your anxiety, they bid

it be known that the city is in no danger. It has victoriously repulsed

every assault of the enemy; it is provisioned for a ten years' siege; the

Emperor has promised that an army of four million veteran troops shall

arrive to our succour not later than tomorrow at sunset; the enemy is

reported to be utterly disheartened at the failure of his campaign; his

men, ill-fed, ill-led, ill-disciplined, are already in open mutiny; civil

strife is on the point of breaking out in their capital; their king is

reported slain by his men. (Cheers from without punctuate every sentence.

The Herald turns to the Most Venerable Elder, and addresses him.) Is that

sufficient? My invention flags.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: It will serve. Perorate.
THE HERALD (turns, after the usual bow,to window): Joy! Triumph! Victory!

Blabre has overthrown her savage foes. Once more has civilization repulsed

the heathen hordes. Rejoice, we conquer!
(Cheers without. Within, the elders are still sunk in the same awful,

hopeless apathy as at first.)
THE BLIND ELDER: We lost eleven hundred of our best troops in yesterday's

sally.
THE PALSIED ELDER: That is nearly one-fifth of our whole army.
THE DEAF ELDER: I do not understand how the Gnogues resist our valor. Their

armor is rude and inferior; their weapons are but the unwieldy pike and the

short scramasax; while we have lance, sword, bow, and arquebus, with the

new cannon.
THE PALSIED ELDER: Their hosts are innumerable, and their valour desperate.
(The Dumb Elder gesticulates.)
THE DEAF ELDER: My colleague calls it treason to the city to say so.
THE PALSIED ELDER: It is true, nevertheless.
(All bow their heads sorrowfully.)
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: It is doubtful whether they are men or beasts. They

are of hue blotchy, greenish-black, with the head like an ape's.
THE DEAF ELDER: Their king is a devil, whom they worship.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: No man has seen him.
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: Do not speak of him. Even his own men dare not speak

of him. It is a hidden horror. It is forbidden.
(The Dumb Elder gesticulates.)
THE DEAF ELDER: My colleague says that he is known for no coward. You all

know his exploits in the Sixteen Years' War. But he begs of you all not to

speak of this.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: I agree. It is evil even to think of him. It is

almost to invoke. Such things stifle the soul with fear.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: Is there ever a moment when we do not think of

him? Is not he the unknown Terror that abides in out hearts,the waking

nightmare that obsesses us?
THE BLIND ELDER: It is reported that he is a dragon of their marshes.
THE PALSIED ELDER: Others say that he is but a black stone, carven like a

Satan. Their wizards have conjured it to the power of speech; and by its

oracles they fight.
(The Dumb Elder gesticulates.)
THE DEAF ELDER: My colleague says that their king is in reality a woman,

shrewish and fierce.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: No man has seen him.
THE BLIND ELDER: I thank God that I can never see him.
THE PALSIED ELDER: Who presided at the torture of the captured general?
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: I was present in person.
THE PALSIED ELDER: Be pleased to make your report.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: I beg of you to pardon me. There is nothing to say.
(He shows such horror that they determine that he shall speak.)
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: Most Reverend, I charge on your great oath of

fealty to this Council that you make your report.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER (He rises, clutching the table, shaking and sweating

with the most abject fear.): We applied the torture three times without result.

THE PALSIED ELDER: What form of torture did you use?
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: Preliminary to the examination, the tortures by

water and fire were applied. As usual, he was given to understand that this

was not serious. My time being short, I applied at once on my arrival the

Torture of the Scorpions to the Nine Gates. Before each gate, I asked

three times the question in these words: Describe your king. At the sixth

gate he broke into a kind of mad laughter, raucous and horrible.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER (sitting down again, broken up by fear and horror):

Oh God! what men are these?
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: In wonder and rage, I described the application of

the seventh Scorpion, a black beast, lusty and venomous. (He sits down

suddenly, overcome, and buries his face in his arms. A pause. Then he

staggers once again to his feet.) The prisoner became calm, and smiled.

He said these words: "I am happy, and I thank you. I have never seen him,

and now I shall never see him." With that he died.
THE BLIND ELDER: But his soldiers must see him in battle.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: They have never seen his face. Only a few know

even his form. So much we learned from the first prisoners we took.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER (in an ecstasy of dejection): No man has seen him.
THE FOOL: That is true, and that is all; why do ye babble thus? This much

is known, that his soldiers are valiant and cunning, that they are cruel

and remorseless, that they spare no soul alive, save for an hour's delight

of rape or torture, and that they eat human flesh.
(The Dumb Elder gesticulates.)
THE DEAF ELDER: My colleague says that it is infamous to say such things.
THE FOOL: It is indeed rather foolish, even for me, to say them; for all men

know them.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: Men are often too stupid to believe even what they

know. It is sufficient for Authority to deny these things. A panic among

the citizens would ruin us.
THE BLIND ELDER: We are already lost. You said that we have food for a

month, when we know that it will last a bare week. We lie even among

ourselves.
THE DEAF ELDER (to the Young Plump Elder): How is it that you are so plump?
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: I foresaw famine. I stored food. It is necessary

that I should be strong to fulfill my destiny.
THE BLIND ELDER: So you are the great captain that shall save us?
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: It is in the hands of the Lord.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: It is in the hands of the Lord.
THE BLIND ELDER: Will the Lord restore my sight? Then may the Lord exalt

the blue banners of Blabre above the black pennon of the Gnogues!
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: It is terrible and sinister, that triangle of

death! Had they a dragon, or a skull, embroidered on it, I would fear it

less. It is the blank of blackness that appalls me.
THE BLIND ELDER: I see it every day, and every night.
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: Oh death to these dreadful and ominous croakings!

Is there not hope in the Most High?
THE PALSIED ELDER: Why does not the Prophet utter aught in his most sacred

trance? He is as silent as death itself. I would rather that he cursed

us, that he pronounced inexorable doom upon our city.
THE PROPHET: Woe unto Blabre! Woe to the wicked city!
THE FOOL: Behold! He earns his crust. He seeks to please your lordships.

Clothe him in purple, while you have the purple! Hang golden chains upon

his neck, ere you yourselves are hanged in chains of iron!
THE PROPHET: Woe unto Blabre! Woe to the wicked city!
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: Declare unto us the oracles of God!
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: What is to be our fate?
THE YOUNG PUMP ELDER: May Blabre be saved?
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: He answers not. His eyes are dull and glazed,

turned inward on his soul. He is not yet entranced. By the might and

majesty of the Most High, I command thee, declare unto us the oracles of

God!
(The Prophet rises, stretches, yawns, spits contemptuously, and sits down

again, his back to the Most Reverend Elder.)
THE MOST REVEREND ELDER: The curse of the Most High upon him! He was thus

ever!
(Knocking without.)
THE SENTINEL: There is an alarm at the door.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: See who wants admission.
(The Sentinel lowers his pike, and opens the door cautiously. Without, his

comrade beckons him. They converse in whispers. The first Sentinel

returns.)
THE SENTINEL: The herald of the King of the Gnogues humbly demands audience

of your lordships. His master sues for peace.
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: It is the end. (to the Herald) Proclaim that we

have conquered; that the King of the Gnogues sues humbly for our mercy.
THE HERALD (turns and bows as usual, returns to windows, and blows a blast on

his trumpet): Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Rejoice, we conquer! Citizens of

Blabre, even now a messenger asks for admission to the Council. He comes

to sue humbly for peace. The Gnogues sue for peace. The King of the

Gnogues is here in person with dust upon his head. He has kissed the feet

of the Most Venerable, the Father of the City! Rejoice, we conquer!

(Blast on trumpet. Cheers, and a swelling murmur of satisfaction, have

accompanied each phrase. He turns from the window, and bows to the Most

Venerable Elder.) Is that enough?
THE MOST VENERABLE ELDER: It is enough. (to the Sentinel) Admit him. (The

Sentinel goes out.) Let us ask at least our lives.

to be continued

Previous Crowley Classics Next Crowley Project

from the Grady Project:

These two autobiographical statements have been edited from notes Grady made while completing two separate informational forms during his military service and academic career in the 1950s e.v.

Two Autobiographical Statements

by Grady L. McMurtry

Military Statement of Personal History
(1951 e.v.)

Mr Grady Louis McMurtry, military on active duty
alias: entered grade school as Summerville due to having been adopted; see

remarks [below]
permanent mailing address: 2193 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, California

date of birth: 18 Oct 1918
place of birth: Big Cabin, Craig County, Oklahoma, USA
date and place certificate is recorded: 5 April 1945, Oklahoma City
native US citizen

presently on active duty drawing full pay
grade: Captain
service number: 0-1574983
service: OrdC
component: ORC
organization: 2301-1 ORC Instr Grp
station: MMD, Baltimore, Md.
current continuous active service: {9 years} [entry deleted]

previously served tour of active duty
service: Ordnance Dept
component: AUS
discharge date: 2 Feb 1946, Honorable
discharge grade: Captain

education:
1932 - 1933 Eugene Field Junior High School, West Tulsa, Oklahoma (graduated

with diploma)
1933 - 1934 Beggs, Okla. & Gladewater, Texas (see remarks) [below]
1934 - Jun 35 Bristow High School, Bristow, Oklahoma
Sept '35 - Mar '36 Salem High School, Salem, Oklahoma
Mar '36 - Jun '36 Hanford High School, Hanford, California
Sept '36 - Jun '37 Valley Center High School, Valley Center, Kansas

(graduated with diploma)
Sept '37 - Jan '41 Pasadena Junior College, Pasadena, California
Mar '46 - Jun '48 University of California, Berkeley, California (graduated

B.A. Philos.)
Jun '48 - Jan '51 U. C. (Graduate Division), Berkeley, California

family:
father Grady McMurtry (no middle initial), born 6 Sept 1893 in Blaine,

Arkansas, a U. S. citizen, deceased
stepmother Cora (Summerville) McMurtry (Phillips), born 19 Dec 1890 in

Buffalo, Mo. (Dallas Co.), a U. S. citizen presently living at 2124 Whitson

St., Selma, California
natural mother Bee I. St Clair (Pluckett), born 30 June 1901 in Tulalah,

Okla., a U. S. at Box 115, Centrahoma, Okla.
spouse Marjorie F. McMurtry (Fox) (F. for Fox used as middle initial), born

29 July 1922 in Paso Robles, California; a U. S. citizen; address 206B

Donnybrook Lane, Baltimore 4, Maryland
former spouse Mrs Claire Hallock Miller (Palmer), divorced 25 Sept 1942 in

Reno, Nevada; a U. S. citizen: address 356-1/2 Water St., Helena, Montana

foreign travel (other than as a direct result of United States military

duties): none

employment:
summer 1935 various fruit picking jobs, California (reason for leaving:

school)
Jul 1936 - Aug 1936 DiGiogia Ranch, Bakersfield, Calif. (left for school)
Saturdays only, school years 1937, 38, 39, 40 Kress Store lunch counter,

Pasadena, California (left for army induction)
summers of 1939, '40 Libby, MacNeil & Libby, Selma California (left for

school)
school years 1937, '38, '39, '40 N. Y. A., Pasadena Junior College, Pasadena,

California (supervisor, Audrey Strong, Dean of Men) (left for army

induction)
summer & fall 1946 United Air Lines, 400 Post St., San Francisco, California

(supervisor, Mr Ben Berry) (left to return to U. C.)
Campus Smoke Shop, Telegraph & Bancroft Way, Berkeley (supervisor, Al Braver)

$1.10/hr
T.A. [teaching assistant], Poli Sci Dept, UC (supervisor, Dr Rosenblum)

$155.00/mo
Campus Theatre (Fox West Coast), 2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley (supervisor, Mr

Apple, California Theatre, Berkeley) $130.00/mo
United Centrifugal Pumps, 280 - 2nd St., Oakland (supervisor, Mr Miller)

$300.00/mo

Have you ever been employed by a foreign government or agency? No.
Have you ever been refused a bond? No.
social security number 570-07-3511
E. M. serial number 39152254

credit and character -- business references
Bank of America, Polk-Van Ness Branch, San Francisco, California (6 years)
Sherman Clay & Co., Kearney & Sutter Sts., San Francisco, California (1 year)
Sears, Roebuck & Co., Howard & Lexington Sts., Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
Towson National Bank, Washington Avenue, Towson 4, Maryland (5 months)
Hochshild, Kohn & Co., Howard & Lexington Sts., Baltimore, Maryland (4 months)

credit and character -- personal references:
Mrs Haxel M. Payne, 1661 Sacramento St., apt. 1, San Francisco, California (5 years)
Mrs Walter Dransfeldt, 112 Harkness Avenue, Pasadena, California (14 years)
Col. Henry C. R. Akin, Plum Hill, Pasadena, California (10 years)
Lt. Herschal B. Cannon, Rt. 1, Box 166, Aloha, Oregon (9 years)
Mr E. H. Cusworth, 206B Donnybrook Lane, Towson 4, Maryland (6 months)
Col. Raymond C. Brisach, 108 Regester Ave., Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
CWO Allan W. Johnson, 1614 Pentwood Road, Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
Major Sidney R. Marcus, 3 Oak Grove Drive, Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
Capt. James T. Riordan, 1809 Northern Parkway, Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
Miss Jean Trahan, 885 - 36th St., Oakland, California (3 years)
Mr Cecil C. Burton, 60 Cathedral St., Annapolis, Maryland (3 months)
Mr William L. Gholston, 3001 Seabury Rd., Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
Mr Audrey L. Strong, Dean of Men, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California

(14 years)
Dr Dwight Waldo, PoliSci Dept., University of California, Berkeley 4,

California (3 years)
Dr George Lipsky, PoliSci Dept., University of California, Berkeley (3 years)
Mr Earl L. Bundara, 6108 Richmond Ave., Baltimore, Maryland (8 months)
Mrs M. H. Long, 2707 Rose St., Berkeley, California (2 years)
Miss Juanita Poulton, 1948 Ellis St., San Francisco, California (2 years)

residences during past 15 years (except military stations):
Born in Big Cabin, Oklahoma. Moved to Ponca City, Okla., and to Sallisaw,

Okla., during infancy. Adopted by Cora Summerville (maiden name Phillips)

at about age of three (3) and removed to Slick, Okla., where I entered

grade school as Summerville. At the same time my middle name was spelled

as LOUIS although my birth certificate, available to me only recently,

indicates that LEWIS should have been the proper spelling. Some year later

my stepmother married my father and we moved to West Tulsa, Okla., where I

lived with my paternal grandparents for some years going to school at Celia

Clinton Grade School and Eugene Field Junior High. At various times we

moved back to Slick and on to Beggs, Okla., and Seminole, Okla., and

Gladewater, Texas, and Fruita, Colorado, always returning to Oklahoma until

we finally left for California in 1935, going up to Oregon and returning to

California the next year.
1932 - 1933 West Tulsa, Oklahoma
1933 - 1934 Beggs, Okla. & Gladewater, Texas
1934 - Jun '35 Bristow, Oklahoma
Jul '35 - Mar '36 Salem, Oregon
Mar '36 - Jun '36 Hanford, California
Jun '36 - Sept '36 Bakersfield, California
Sept '36 - Jun '37 Valley Center, Kansas
Jul '37 - Feb '41 (home) General Delivery, Selma, California
Sept '37 - Feb '41 (school) 104 Harkness Avenue, Pasadena, California
Feb '41 - Feb '46 Army of the United States, U.S.A. & E.T.O.
Jan '46 - Mar '51 1661 Sacramento St., Apt. 3, San Francisco 9, California
Mar '51 - Jun '51 Casual E. A. D., Washington, D.C. & Baltimore, Md.
Jun '51-present 206B Donnybrook Lane, Baltimore 4, Maryland

past and present membership in organizations:
{Military Order of the World Wars, Berkeley, Calif. 1956 - present} [a later addition in ink]
Society of American Military Engineers, Washington, D.C. 1942?-1946?
National Congress of American Indians, Washington, D.C. 1950 - present
Pi Sigma Alpha, Iota Chapter, Berkeley, California 1949 - present (National

Political Science Honor Society)
Tournament of Roses Band, Pasadena, California 1938 - 1941
Technocracy, Inc., Pasadena, California 1938? - 1941
Hi-Y, Valley Center, Kansas, 1936 - 1937
Order of the Oriental Templars, Los Angeles, California 1941 - present
American Indian Club, Berkeley, California 1950 - 1951
Boy Scouts, Seminole, Okla. & West Tulsa, Okla. 1930? - 1932?
Indian Welfare Foundation of California, San Francisco, California 1950 - present
California Rocket Society, Los Angeles, California 1940?
Plutocrats (student club at PJC), Pasadena, California 1040 - 1941

Church affiliation: Nondenominational Protestant at present. Baptized into a

Pentecostal Church in West Tulsa, Oklahoma circa 1933.

Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party U.S.A., or

any Communist organization? No.
Are you now or have you ever been a member of a Fascist organization? No.
Are you now or have you ever been a member of any organization, movement,

group or combination of persons which advocates the overthrow of our

constitutional form of government, or of an organization, association,

movement, group or combination of persons which has adopted the policy of

advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny

other persons their rights under the constitution of the United States or

of seeking to alter the form of government of the United States by

unconstitutional means? No.
Have you ever been arrested, indicted or court marshaled for any reason other

than for minor traffic violations? No.
Are there any unfavorable incidents in your life not mentioned herein which

you believe may reflect upon your loyalty to the U.S. government or upon

your ability to perform the duties which you will be called upon to take? No.

Autobiography
to Delta Phi Epsilon
(20 Oct 1954 e.v.)

name: Grady Louis McMurtry
address: 2217 Channing Way, Apt. D, Berkeley 4, California
telephone: TH 3-0488
date and place of birth: 18 Oct 1918, Big Cabin, Oklahoma
marital status: married
number of children: one

education:
Valley Canter High School, Kans. 1936 - 1937 (diploma)
Pasadena Junior College, Calif. 1937 - 1940
U.C. (Berkeley), Philos. Dept. 1946 - 1948 (B.A.)
U.C. (Berkeley), Grad. Div. 1948 - 1950
U.C. (Berkeley), Poli. Sci. 1954 (M.A.)

employment record:
1937 - 1940 N.Y.A., Pasadena J.C.
1941 - 1946 U.S. Army
spring 1946 student, UC (GI Bill)
fall 1946 United Airlines, San Francisco
1947 - 1950 student, UC (GI Bill)
1951 - 1953 U.S. Army
1954 student and T.A., U.C.

military career:
Feb 1941 - Sept 1942 Private to Sergeant
Sept 1942 - Feb 1946 2nd Lt to Capt, OrdC (included two years in ETO,

campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe,

France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany)
Mar 1951 - Oct 1953 Capt, OrdC (includes eighteen months in Korea and Japan,

Korea summer-fall campaign 1952 and 3rd Korean winter campaign)

cultural background:
Born in Oklahoma of Scots-Irish and Cherokee Indian parents. Schooling

somewhat haphazard as family engaged in migratory labor in Oklahoma, Texas,

Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and California as part of the "Okie" migration of

the 1930s. Entirely self-supporting student after high school.

subjects taken in Foreign Service field: Comparative National Administration

& International Relations and Organization
special interests: writing monographs on the relations of Political Theory to

International Relations

professional objectives:
First, to teach Political Science and to conduct research in Political Theory

and International Relations. Later, government service, as e.g.

psychological/political warfare with U.S. State Department.

contributions: Time, effort, experience, and friendships.

Previous Grady Project Next Grady Project

Thelema Lodge Events Calendar for October 2003 e.v.

10/2/03	Lesser Feast of Jack Parsons Poetry party 8 PM	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/5/03	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/9/03	Magical Practice series 7:30PM in Horus Temple Greater Ritual of the Pentagram	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/10/03	Full Moon in Aries 0:27 AM
10/12/03	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple CROWLEYMAS	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/16/03	Mantra Yoga Class with Jeff Sommer 8 PM in Horus Temple	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/18/03	Lesser Feast of Grady McMurtry Dinner party at Ashby House 7:30 PM	(510) 849-1970	Thelema Ldg.
10/19/03	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/20/03	Section II reading group with Caitlin: Goethe's Faust 8PM in the library	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/23/03	Sol enters Scorpio 1:09 PM
10/25/03	New Moon in Scorpio, 5:50 AM
10/26/03	Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple	(510) 652-3171	Thelema Ldg.
10/27/03	Occult opera series: Boito's Meistofele 7:30PM at Ashby House	(510) 849-1970	Thelema Ldg.