Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
February 1987 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
Also this month, we have already had the Brigit ritual and Gnostic Mass on the
1st. Valentine's day on the 14th will probably be held at Dii Alieni Camp,
but call for information. Note that we presently lack full facilities for the
ancient form of this observance, but you have to be in Rome for that anyway.
Gnostic Masses every Sunday. Donations welcome. 6:00 PM
A Pyramidology class by Richard Segal will be offered on the 12th.
The Thelema Lodge Meeting on the 13th is the best time to become a member of
the Lodge, and the day to setup the Calendar for March. Friday the 13th will
be celebrated by a "Black Magick Party" after the meeting. What Dave has in
mind, I do not know; but I don't think it's either soft shoe or cursing.
Speaking of Brother Dave, he will present Enochian Chess on the 17, at 9:00 PM
--- that's an hour later than most of our week-day classes and meetings,
please note.
Astrology for Beginners starts with Lucia on the 19th and continues on the
26th.
Egyptiana with Ebony will be the treat of the day on the 25th.
Initiations to Minerval through IIIrd Degree will be held this month, and the
Lodge should be contacted for details. The Minerval initiations are set to
coincide with a members-only New Moon party on the 28th.
Looks like a full schedule!
is the name of the Goddess of unfailing wells and streams in
Ireland. She is honored on the first day of the Spring Season,
in
the Celtic Calendar. The Spring Equinox, considered first day of Spring in
most modern calendars, is actually Midspring in many of the ancient
traditions.
is celebrated for a fortnight, ending on the 14th and 15th
of February in what used to be a frenetic sex fest. The Christian informal
calendar calls this "Valentine's Day", but it has been known for the last 1500
years as "The Eve of the Feast of the Purification". Bishop Gelasius
pronounced February 15th the dies februatus, day of purification, in 494 e.v.
Like many virtuous words, this one is now much misunderstood today. Read
below for more about it.
If you would like to see what , the Goddess, looks like, take up a
traditional Star Trump from a Tarot Deck. If you have the Waite, Case or
Marseilles decks, those would be the best places to look. The Thoth Deck
changes the posture of the figure in this Trump. A woman kneeling on one leg
is also found carved over sacred wells in various places in Europe. One Such
carving is shown on plate 14 of John Sharkey's popular picture book, Celtic Mysteries. The Romans changed her name to Coventina, just as they changed the
name of
or
to Cernunnos.
has some elements in common with
the Norse Frigga and the Greek Aphrodite. She was worshipped anciently in
times of drought by the drowning of human and other sacrifices in her sacred
waters; but she was more commonly thought of as the Lady of the Lake with a
dash of motherhood, a wipe of virgin and a soupcon of Belle Dame sans Merci
thrown in. Her popularity continued when the Goddess was temporarily declared
to be a Saint by the Catholic Church. To this day, shouting "
!" in
Erin is like whistling in an aviary.
Turning to the end of the Festival, we reach Valentine's Day on the
14th. St. Valentine is not considered genuine by the modern Christians, but
the day is celebrated with such remarkable traditions that it must come from
something. Soror Rowen asked me what the occasion was in ancient times,
wisely reckoning that Christian holydays cover pagan ones. The end of the
festival of
is one answer. Yet, Spring for the Ancient Irish was not
only early; but considered a dark time, with Winter. We have to go South for
this one. Valentine's day turns out to be the eve of the Roman Lupercalia,
one of two annual feasts to worship the God Faunus. Faunus-Lupercus was the
aspect of this God of nature, farming, animals and oracle in the Lupercal
grotto of the Palatine Hill. The Roman Faunus and the Greek Pan are often
considered to be the same Deity. The ritual of Lupercalia is known in
general, and the rites were observed in Rome until 494 e.v. Jupiter's High
Priest, the Flamen Dialis, officiated. The Flamen sacrificed some he-goats
and a dog (wolf and prey) and smeared the bloody knife on the faces of couple
of young boys. The knife was wiped vigorously with a milk soaked bit of wool
fleece and the resulting mess held up as a trick to make the boys laugh.
After this, the youths, called Luperci, would run near-naked through the streets. All they wore was an apron of goat skin and thongs in their hands
from the skins of the sacrificial goats. These thongs were called februa, or
purifiers, and were used to beat the women who jumped in front of the runners
as they passed through the city. In the quaint parlance of scholarly writing,
this is characterized as a cure for "barrenness". ***Leather Guild please
note, this is definitely your day!*** My source, Dictionary of Classical Antiquities by Oskar Seyffert, goes on to say that these thongs of the Luperci
gave us the name of the month of February. Bet you didn't know that!
Armed with this information, it is possible to guess the significance of the
tokens of Valentine's Day. The cherubs with red hearts on their bodies are
the blood-stained Luperci. The grotto of the Palatine Mount was traditionally
the cave of the Wolf Mother of Romulus and Remus, and gave us our Lover's
Bowers. The Valentine Card is a symbol for the token of virginity displayed
after first night. The mysterious shape of the Valentine Heart, so far from
an anatomical depiction of that organ, is clearly the shape left by the stain
of a sacrificial knife on an unfolded bit of fleece. This same shape is also
produced by taking the "virgin's test" with a cloth. Such cloths were often
preserved for many years, and the practice of keeping them continues in some
rural parts of Europe to this day. Young men gave their Roman sweethearts a
notice of intentions on the eve of the Lupercalia in the form of a replica of
the Flamen's fleece. Ecce Valentine!
2/1/87 | O.T.O. Brigit Ritual Noon at | |||
New Horizons | ||||
2/5/87 | Hriliu Camp Gnostic Mass every Thurs | Hriliu Camp | ||
7:30 PM | ||||
2/6/87 | Abrahadabra Camp meeting 8PM | Abrahadabra C. | ||
2/6/87 | Selene Camp meeting most Fridays 8PM | Selene Camp | ||
2/8/87 | Gnostic Mass at 6 PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/10/87 | Hypatia Camp at Dii Alieni | Hypatia Cmp | ||
2/11/87 | Tarot Divination: Introduction with | Thelema Ldg | ||
Bill 8PM | ||||
2/12/87 | Pyramidology Class w. Richard Segal 8PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/12/87 | Hriliu Camp Gnostic Mass 7:30 PM | Hriliu Camp | ||
2/13/87 | Thelema Lodge meeting 8PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/13/87 | "Black" Magick party after meeting | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/14/87 | Valentine's Day party (Ancient Roman | Thelema Ldg | ||
Fest of Lupercalia for Faunus) | ||||
2/15/87 | Gnostic Mass at 6 PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/17/87 | Enochian Chess 8PM with David | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/18/87 | Tarot Divination. Major Trumps with Bill | Thelema Ldg | ||
8PM | ||||
2/19/87 | Astrology for Beginners with Lucia 8PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/19/87 | Hriliu Camp Gnostic Mass 7:30 PM | Hriliu Camp | ||
2/20/87 | Abrahadabra Camp meeting 8PM | Abrahadabra C. | ||
2/21/87 | Initiations: Ist and IInd Degrees | Thelema Ldg | ||
Call for place date and time | ||||
2/22/87 | Gnostic Mass at 6 PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/23/87 | Nur Alal Ufuk Oasis meeting | Nur Alal Ufuk O. | ||
2/23/87 | Dii Alieni Camp lecture and demo on | Dii Aleini C. | ||
William James | ||||
2/24/87 | Hypatia Camp meeting 8PM | Hypatia Camp | ||
2/25/87 | Egyptiana Class with Ebony 8PM | Thelema Lodge | ||
2/26/87 | Astrology for Beginners with Lucia 8PM | Thelema Ldg | ||
2/26/87 | Hriliu Camp Gnostic Mass 7:30 PM | Hriliu Camp | ||
2/27/87 | Class on Dragons, Gnostic Mass ++ | Thelema Ldg | ||
with Sharon 8PM | ||||
2/28/87 | Minerval initiations and New Moon Party | Thelema Lodge | ||
2/28/87 | O.T.O. Board 4:18 at Lola's | Grand Lodge |
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.
Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O. Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
Phone: (510) 652-3171 (for events info and contact to Lodge)
Production and Circulation:
OTO-TLC
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94978 USA
Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and circulation only)