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
July 1993 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
Tom George Longstaff
President of the Alpine Club and past Vice-President of the Royal
Geographical Society, this famous mountain climber had the opportunity to
climb with Aleister Crowley in the Swiss Alps in the summer of 1899. Aleister
Crowley who was only twenty-three at the time was considered 'a competent
mountaineer but a self-confessed practitioner of black magic - hardly a
comfortable fellow to have about the tent',1 but regardless, some individuals
did enjoy climbing with young Alex. Tom Longstaff being one such gentleman.
In his biography entitled 'This My Voyage' Tom Longstaff has this brief
account of mountain climbing with Aleister Crowley.
"August 24th was an off day, beguiled by lessons in the use of crampons
from that enigmatic couple Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley. Eckenstein
was responsible for the introduction of ice-claws, crampons, amongst British
mountaineer: he even claimed that their use made the regulation ice-axe
unnecessary. There was a peculiarly English opposition to their use in those
days; they were scornfully called "artificial aids", but surely, so are
special nails in climbing boots or an ice axe. Crowley was a poet and later a
notorious master of Black Magic. At that time, as Laird of Boleskine, he
chose to wear full Highland dress, complete with eagle's feather, on all
occasions. But he was a fine climber, if an unconventional one. I have seen
him go up the dangerous and difficult right (true) side of the great icefall
of the Mer de Glace below the Geant alone, just for a promenade. Probably the
first and perhaps the only time this mad, dangerous and difficult route had
been taken"2
Aleister Crowley mentions the above occasion in his 'Confessions' when he
and Eckenstein used the 'claws', he writes, "We had shown a young man from
Oxford, Dr.T.G.Longstaff, of what they were capable. Eckenstein would walk on
a measured slope of over seventy degrees of hard black ice without cutting a
step. On slopes up to fifty degrees he could simply stroll about. Nor could
Longstaff pull him off by rope."3
Crowley himself never liked the Alpine Club. He wrote that, "the average
Alpine clubman qualifies by paying guides to haul him up a few hackneyed
peaks. He is not expected to do any new climbs whatever; and it is an outrage
to the spirit of the club to do anything original." It was in the year that
Crowley died, 1947 that Tom Longstaff would became President of the Alpine
Club. One wonders what Crowley would have thought.
Tom Longstaff would die at the age of 89 on June 27th 1964 at his home in
Achiltibule, northwestern Scotland.
--- Frater Archivist
Notes:
1. Men, Myth & Mountains; the Life & Times of Mountaineering by Ronald W.Clark,
Thomas Y.Crowell Company, NY,1976, pg.103. The Archives of HA File No.1444.
2. This My Voyage by Tom Longstaff, John Murry, LTD, London, 1951, pg.23-24.
The Archives of HA File No.282.
3. The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Edited by John Symonds & Kenneth Grant,
Hill & Wang, NY, 1969, pg.215.
See Magick in Theory and Practice and Equinox Vol I, No. 6.
From Magick without Tears, available from New Falcon Press.
"... Now there is one really important matter. The only thing besides The Book of the Law which is in the forefront of the battle. As I told you yesterday, the first essential is the dedication of all that one is and all that one has to the Great Work, without reservation of any sort. This must be kept constantly in mind; the way to do this is to practice Liber Resh vel Helios, sub figura CC, pp. 425-426 - Magick. There is another version of these Adorations, slightly fuller; but those in the text are quite alright. The important thing is not to forget. I shall have to teach you the signs and gestures which go with the words. ..."
"...Particularly useful against the fear of death is the punctual and vigorous performance of Liber Resh. Meditate on the sun in each station: his continuous and even way: the endless circle. That formula in the Tarot book is most valuable. ..."
From Eight Lectures on Yoga, available from New Falcon Press.
" ... The classic of the subject is Liber Astarte vel Berylli, the Book of Devotion to a Particular Deity. This book is admirable beyond praise, reviewing the whole subject in every detail with flawless brilliancy of phrase. Its practice is enough in itself to bring the devotee to high attainment. This is only for the few. But every student should make a point of saluting the Sun (in the manner recommended in Liber Resh) four times daily, and he shall salute the Moon on her appearance with the Mantra Gayatri. The best way is to say the Mantra instantly one sees the Moon, to note whether the attention wavers, and to repeat the Mantra until it does not waver at all. ..."
It is not clear what Crowley may have done to make Liber Resh "slightly fuller", aside from normal variation in group ritual application. The student may easily extend the ritual to expand the devotions, to include a personal magical name or otherwise to modify the ritual slightly. This ritual should not be lengthened much; to do so might diminish the effect. Liber Resh is intended to fix the diurnal cycle in the mind and body of the student. At the four gates of the day, the mind and body change to match the course of the Sun. Regular practice of this ritual gives insight into these states and a sense of the eternity of this cycle. The gestures for this ritual are also not widely known, and appear to be suited to the circumstances. One may use the larger postures associated with Liber Reguli, NOX and IAO; or mudras of the hands can be used. Grady McMurtry once recounted seeing Crowley perform
Liber Resh silently on the upper deck of an open omnibus in London, using small hand gestures alone. It is a simple matter to shape the hands to produce the triangular signs of the four elements, and that can easily serve. --- Editor
Recovered Memories - Modern Fables
by
When most of the people we know believe more or less the same things we do,
our reality is affirmed. When people from very different cultures diverge
greatly from our beliefs, we can dismiss them as wrong, superstitious, out-
moded, etc. But when people we have close contact with insist on a reality that clashes violently with our own, it is a challenge to the very core of our
sense of truth.
Society is presently divided by "recovered memories" a phenomenon that is
suddenly being discussed everywhere. The S.F. Examiner series by Stephanie
Salter discusses how adults suddenly start "remembering" childhood sexual and
ritual abuse, usually in therapy (hypnosis is frequently but not always used),
12 step meetings or support groups. What is striking about this growing trend
is that it has led to a flurry of law suits against some of the most solid
"regular" citizens in the country by their own children and it frequently
involves the kind of really lurid tales of Satanic rituals which created a
panic a few years ago but resulted in no solid evidence which police could
find. Salter, who is skeptical about the veracity of these memories, provides
interviews with people who thought they had remembered abuse and later
recanted. She also spoke with memory experts who describe memory as malleable
and subject to manipulation.
What it means to those of us actually involved in the "occult" is that if
even the most ordinary Americans are vulnerable to accusations, how much more
so are we? Soror Timshel, Baphomet Breeze (Baphomet Lodge - OTO,) also had a
recent article about the child abuse scare in which she warned us not to let
our children see rituals lest they inadvertently divulge to the wrong people
and bring the paranoia right to our doorsteps.
I decided to do some investigating on my own and found that many of those
who belong to this subculture (if I may call it that) are members of the
feminist, progressive and even Pagan community (Reclaiming actually has a
recovery group for survivors). I started my inquiry at a local feminist
bookstore (Old Wives Tales) and immediately hit pay dirt. There was a whole
shelf devoted to recovery from abuse. The Courage to Heal, which was cited by
Salter as one of the most notorious of its genre, was there as well as
Breaking the Circle of Satanic Abuse, a book which listed Wicca and Santeria
along with Satanism as religions leading to abuse. Very odd, I thought, for a
store that carries Starhawk. But what bothered me even more was the inclusion
of The Ultimate Evil by Maury Terry (a book which was the subject of a lawsuit
of O.T.O. References to O.T.O. were changed after settlement of the case.).
The strange thing is that this book does not mention child abuse at all. It
just talks about the evil satanic conspiracy (which it tries to link with the
Son of Sam killings). This raises a question regarding Old Wives Tales'
focus. Is it child abuse per se or satanism per se? When I questioned the
presence of this book, I was told it provided "a history of ritual and its
abuse." Huh?
I bought several of the books on abuse, and was immediately told about an
upcoming creative speak-out by "ritual abuse survivors." At that event, Old
Wives Tales had a book table with some books which are not on their regular
shelves but are on the "bibliography" of one of the survivors. It included
The Golden Dawn about which one of the people was heard to say, "The Golden Dawn. That's by Crowley, isn't it?" I said, "No, it's by Israel Regardie and
I don't know what it is doing here." I tracked down the woman who was
responsible for its presence and she merely said that Satanists pervert
rituals from many sources. (So why not include the Bible?)
The survivors announced they were providing kleenex packages and teddy
bears in case the audience got too upset by the subject matter. Lots of
skits, chanting, singing and dancing. They were not very specific about what
had happened but they made sure we knew that doubting them was tantamount to
"revictimizing" them. I studied them intently during the whole program,
trying to get a handle on what they were about. I tried putting myself in
their place. What if that were me up there? I just couldn't get a feeling of
reality about it. But others in the audience sure did. So who is right?
It's all so subjective. They ended the program by ritually tearing up
Salter's articles. Too bad they didn't discuss them, instead. But these were
the true believers preaching to the converted.
My problem is how to relate to all this? Do we, as they say, owe them the
courtesy of believing their claims, no matter how bizarre or far-fetched they
are (at times)? I have decided not. My mind belongs to me and no one has the
right to demand that I accept something that seems irrational or contradicts
the rest of my coherent universe. Do we have the right to demand that they
deal with our reality more respectfully? I find it significant that Golden Dawn and not Starhawk is among the literature on "abuse." If cults distort
rituals, why single out only a certain kind of ritual for scrutiny? As
ceremonial magicians, we may be "others" in their eyes, folks far enough
removed to be disregarded by them. Why do they sell books written by
fundamentalists (such as Lauren Stratford) who have been discredited?
I believe we must avoid making an "other" of this culture while maintaining
our right to skepticism. We can also challenge them to do the same for us.
We have the right to ask some hard questions of the feminist community
regarding their apparently uncritical acceptance of fundamentalist and
otherwise dubious sources of information when it would seem to contradict
their politics. We can be even more frank and direct with Wiccans. After
all, they have the same problems with witchhunts we do.
Finally, we are confronted by a basic question about the past. If memories
can be false (while so convincing) what can we know for sure about the past?
How can we trust memory, a major key to the past, not to mislead us? Crowley
spoke of the magical memory whereby we can, he claimed, recover, not only our
own personal past in our current incarnation, but that of former incarnations.
Can we even trust the memory to accurately reveal our personal past, much less
our past lives? Here, Crowley's scientific approach completely saves the day.
"Far be it from any apologist for magick to insist upon the objective validity of these concatenations! It would be childish to cling to the belief that Marius de Aquila actually existed; it matters no more than it matters to the mathematician whether the use of the symbol X22 involves the 'reality' of 22 dimensions of space.... The 'falsity' of Aesop's fables does not diminish their value to mankind." MTP - p.58
Sepher Yetzirah (7th Installment)
Section Five.
Elohim has also set the one over against the other; the good against the
evil, and the evil against the good {here "good" is the Hebrew word "tob" which is the seal of creation used in Genesis and "evil" is "Ra" the name used
by the Egyptians for the god of the sun -- a competitor of Jehovah}; the good
proceeds from the good, and the evil from the evil; the good purifies the bad,
and the bad the good; the good is preserved for the good, and the evil for the
bad ones {The Qabalistic ideas of good and evil are very different from those
of modern society. Avoid a moral interpretation here. In simple terms,
"good" = "our side" and "evil" = "anything against us." The Qabalistic ideas
are more complex than that, and they involve concepts much like those met in
law courts.}.
There are three of which every one of them stands by itself; one is in the
affirmative, the other in the negative and one equalizes them {The three
mother letters are viewed as plaintiff, defendant and judge}.
Section Seven.
There are seven of which three are against three and one places them in
equilibrium. There are twelve which are all the time at war; three of them
produce love, and three hatred, three are animators and three destroyers {Beth
vs. Gimel, Dalet vs. Koph, Peh vs. Resh with Taw placing them in equilibrium.
As for the twelve which are at war, that matter depends on association to body
parts and directions -- it is not clearly defined in the Sepher Yetzirah, but
needs more study.}.
Section Eight.
The three that produce love are the heart and the ears; the three that
produce hatred are the liver, the gall and the tongue; the three animators are
the two nostrils and the milt; and the three destroyers are the mouth and the
two openings of the body; and God, the faithful King rules over all from His
holy habitation to all eternity. He is one above three, three are above
seven, seven are above twelve, and all are linked together. {If the text is
not corrupt in Section Eight, we may understand that: Gimel, Peh and either
Aleph, Taw or Vau produce love; Lamed, Ayin and perhaps Taw produce hatred;
Dalet, Resh and Qof are the animators; Peh and two other Letters are the
destroyers. The issue is not clear.}
There are twenty-two letters by which the I AM {}, Yah {
}, He of the
Hosts
{}, God Almighty {
}, He Who Creates the Eiohim {
}, designed, formed and created by three Sepharim, His whole world, and
formed by them creatures and all those that will be formed in time to come.
When the Patriarch Abraham comprehended the great truism, revolved it in
his mind, conceived it perfectly, made careful investigations and profound
inquiries, pondered upon it and succeeded in contemplations, the Lord of the
Universe appeared to him, called him his friend, made with him a covenant
between the ten fingers of his hands, which is the covenant of the tongue, and
the covenant between the ten toes of his feet, which is the covenant of
circumcision, and said of him: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew
thee." {Jer.l.5}
Plasma grail-fire | |
Sailor stoa | |
Queen of Heaven, Maid of Longing | |
Royal ale-pyre | |
Brother Noah | |
Ark of Neptune, Child belonging | |
Frigidity ? | |
Rigidity | |
Luminous ? | |
Numinous | |
Demonic ? | |
Mnemonic | |
Crucible ? | |
Deucible | |
Acrostic ? | |
Al Gnostic ! | |
Published in McMurtry: Poems (London & Bergen: O.T.O., 1986 e.v.), and in The Grady Project #3 (March 1988 e.v.)..
PRImrose 5053 | 23 Albert Road, N.W. 1. January 28, 1936 | |
|
Nothing came of this attempt. The author of this document is not definitely known. Karl Germer, Crowley's Grand Treasurer General, had been released from a Nazi Concentration camp by this time; and his identification papers were stamped at London to permit travel in England from 22nd January to March of 1936 e.v. The date is right, but another hand is possible. Perhaps Louis Wilkinson, Crowley's financial adviser of the time, had something to do with this; perhaps Crowley's legal firm for the libel suit against the "Tiger Woman". Agape Lodge #2 had started in Southern California in 1935 e.v., under W.Smith; and the letter was probably addressed to O.T.O. members in the U.S.A. -- possibly also to the residue of the Achad Agape #1 Lodge in Vancouver, B.C. and scattered O.T.O. members on the East Coast of the U.S.
It is unlikely that Crowley had read the 1921 e.v. "Gage of Amity" document issued by Reuss to Lewis before this letter was prepared. That document spells out the relationship between A.M.O.R.C. and O.T.O. in a way not entirely compatible with these claims.
As a parting note, the question often arises: "How is O.T.O. present practice different by necessity from the 1917 e.v. O.T.O. Constitution? What changes were required by Law?" Here's one. Under the old Constitution, the assets of the Order vested in an undefined way in the higher degree members, including the Head of the Order. That isn't allowed under US nonprofit law. Before the old O.T.O. Association was incorporated over a decade ago, the ranking members of the Order consented to new Articles and Bylaws, thereby vesting the assets of the Order in the new O.T.O. Corporation. The higher degree members still form an Aeropagus, with authority over amendments to the Bylaws and Articles of incorporation; but no question remains of any individual receiving financial benefits directly from the assets of the Order. Dues refunds to families and personal loans are a thing of the past; and any assets of the Order would have to continue in another non-profit organization, rather than be disbursed to individuals. In many ways, this is a great enhancement of the stability of the O.T.O. and a major safeguard against potential abuse.
JB of Alaska asked about Minerval (beginning) initiation in O.T.O.
Minerval initiation can only be received in a physical ceremony run by a
chartered initiator, who must be at least IIIrd Degree O.T.O. Initiation to
any degree of O.T.O. membership must always be done by a properly chartered
O.T.O. initiator of the requisite minimum degree -- no non-O.T.O. initiators
or astral initiations. This comes from the nature of the initiation
ceremony itself and from the nature of O.T.O. as an Outer Order. Associate
Membership is available through the mail. No form is needed for Associate
Membership, and the forms for Minerval application are only available
through an initiating Oasis or Lodge -- some of the Camps can also initiate.
B & L S of AR asked about commitment to Thelema as a religion and initiation in O.T.O.
Formal commitment to Thelema as a religion is mostly left to the
individual. We do require that a Ist Degree accept Liber AL, but that only
applies in two ways: no deliberate changes in the text (paraphrasing or
"improving" without identifying such a derivation as different from the
original) and agreement that Liber AL is subject to personal and individual
interpretation -- no standard "right" way of understanding the verses.
Fundamentalists give me the shivers; Christian or Thelemic are equally
disgusting. Frankly, I don't think Fundamentalist Thelema can exist outside
of a mental disorder -- it's a contradiction in terms. The Thelemic
Religion is a belief in individual discovery and evolution by the Great
Work, together with a personal belief in Liber AL. The Gnostic Mass is open
to the general public in some places and by appointment or invitation in
other places. It largely depends on the feelings of the participants and
the general attitudes in the community around the location. There are some
places where you have to be careful who knows what you practice. Write to
any or all of the O.T.O. Camps, Oases and Lodges in the Magical Link list,
as you please. There's a considerable variety.
G of England wrote to resign from O.T.O. Although he didn't exactly ask a question, his vigorous and youthful vocabulary suggested that some of the benefits of O.T.O. membership may have passed over his head. Normally resignations are more relaxed and respectfully received. I thought to help him understand the mysteries, with a view to the intellectual level of his letter:
(Taking a couple of the words G used to describe O.T.O. and yours truly)
... Investigative research did turn up the fact that "whimp" and "wanker"
both may be used as nouns and verbs. ... did you know that "Wimpy" of
"Whimpy Burgers" fame is actually based on this same term and meaning?
Wimpy is a character from the Popeye comics, as I am sure you know. But are
you aware that Popeye, Olive Oil, Sweet-pee and Wimpy are actually a hinting at the VIIIth and IXth Degree secrets? The "strip" even has Black Brothers
and Sisters (Bluto and the Sea-Hag) as well as Men of Earth (the Goons). If
the symbolism of the Gnostic Mass is a little obscure to you, there you have
a level of the mysteries suited to the mental age of your vocabulary. Don't
thank me; glad to help.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
It's official! There is a new Camp in the North Bay. We are looking for
Thelemites in the Sonoma, Marin and Napa county area to help build a
successful Camp and spread the word of Thelema. There is a fully stocked
temple at the Camp ready for Mass Teams, and also for certain initiations.
Call or write for more information, or with any suggestions you may have
about what you'd like to see done in the area.
Ra Hoor Camp OTO
925 Lakeville St., #193
Petaluma, CA 94952-3329
An Historical Perspective By Frater 101
OK, we all know Saladin as "some guy with something to do with a camp in
the desert", right? But does anybody know the history of the man? Well, it
may just be that I'm the only one in the whole Order who had to go and look
this one up, but I'll take the chance that there are others out thee who say
"Of course I know who Saladin was and what he did" and then add in a silent
(...not...). And this is what I found...
Saladin was born in Tikrit, Iraq in 1138 as a Kurd, his Arabic name was
Salahad-Din Usuf. When he turned 14, he joined other members of his family
(the Ayyubids) in the service of the Syrian ruler Nur ad-Din (lived from
1118-11174). During the years 1164 and 1169 Saladin made a name for himself
on three expeditions for Nur ad-Din to aid the faltering Fatimid rulers of
Egypt against the Christian Crusaders from Palestine. In 1169, Saladin was
appointed the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian army and Vizier
of Egypt. While he was somewhat subject to the authority of the Fatimid
Caliph in Cairo, Saladin treated Egypt as an Ayyubid power base, relying
mainly on his Kurdish family and supporters. Saladin was clever enough to
begin his next campaign against the Christians by arranging a truce with
King Baldwin III of Jerusalem. That gave him time to rally the Moslem
forces while the Christian leaders, bent on further glory, quarreled amongst
themselves. Once Egypt's economy was revitalized and its land and naval
forces were reorganized, Saladin repelled the Crusaders and took the
offensive against them after King Baldwin broke the truce by attacking one
of the rich caravans specifically protected under the truce. In September
1171 he suppressed the dissident Fatimid regime, reuniting Egypt with the
orthodox Abbasid Caliphate, but his reluctance to join forces with Nur ad-
Din against the Crusaders brought him to the brink of war with his former
master.
After Nur ad-Din's death in 1174 Saladin began to expand his power in
Syria and northern Mesopotamia. Following the conquering of Damascus,
Aleppo, Tiberias, Acre, Jaffa, Ascalon and Mosul, Saladin and his immense
Muslim armies finally stood before Jerusalem. There was no hope for those
within the city, and on October 2, 1187, they surrendered. Saladin's
entrance into Jerusalem was very different from that of the Christians when
they had taken it from the Moslems eighty-eight years before. Not a
building was burned this time, not a person injured, and nothing was stolen.
The Moslems had agreed to let the Christian inhabitants ransom themselves
for ten gold pieces per man, five for a woman, and one for a child. For
seven thousand of the poor folk who could not raise the whole ransom,
Saladin accepted thirty thousand gold pieces instead of seventy thousand.
But there were thousands of the poor who could pay nothing. Patriarch
Heraclius, head of the Christian church in Jerusalem, and other wealthy
churchmen paid their ten gold pieces per man and left the city with wagon
loads of gold, silver and precious stones. Behind them trudged the poor
who, unable to pay, had to become slaves to the Moslems.
Saladin's brother, al-Adil, was so touched by the sight that he begged
for the liberty of a thousand of them as a reward for the fighting he had
done. This was granted. Saladin himself freed all of the old people and
gave money from his own treasury for the widows and orphans of knights and
sergeants killed in battle. He granted freedom to five hundred more for the
sake of the captain of the city, and he gave seven hundred to the Patriarch,
who was thus able to save his gold. Saladin's chivalry, and that of many of
his officers, put to shame the behavior of the Christian Knights.
As the long procession of Christians, free and captive, moved away from
Jerusalem, the golden banner of Saladin was raised above the walls. The
cross upon the dome of the Rock, the mosque that the Christians had made
into a church, was pulled down. "The very statues," wrote a Christian
chronicler, "wept for shame." The Eastern kingdom of the Franks had crashed
into ruin. In 1189 the nations of western Europe launched the Third Crusade
in an attempt to win back the Holy City.
Despite Saladin's relentless military and diplomatic efforts, a Christian
land and naval blockade forced the surrender of the Palestinian fortress of
Acre in 1191. The Crusaders, however, didn't follow up this victory in
their quest for Jerusalem. In 1192 Saladin signed an armistice with King
Richard (the Lion-Heart) of England that allowed the Crusaders to
reconstitute their kingdom along the Palestinian-Syrian coast but left
Jerusalem in Muslim hands. On march 4, 1193 Saladin died in Damascus after
a brief illness.
Sources: | Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia | |
The Knights of the Crusades Soror Akasha |
We are extremely pleased to announce the engagement of our Lodge Master J.Edward Cornelius to the beautiful and voluptuous Lodge Treasurer Marlene Smith. The Wedding is being planned for Tuesday October 12th 1993ev 12:00 Noon. We are well aware that this is a few months away but there is so much planning which is required that it is a must to begin notifying in advance. For those who can not make a Tuesday afternoon, plans are being made to hold a special 'Feast' on the Saturday before the actual wedding date which should be one hell of a party. Future plans will be announced in the Calendar as the actual date draws closer. We extend the best of luck and well wishes to both as their futures draw closer together and paths entwine.
JULY Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law -- Liber AL vel Legis I:40
July 3, 1886 | Kenneth Mackenzie dies, Rosicrucian Adept and member of the S.R.I.A. |
July 3, 1900 | Raoul Loveday was born. |
July 5, 1924 | G.I.Gurdjieff has been described "... as an insane diver who would not last two minutes on a modern road". Fritz Peters tells that he drove too fast on the wrong side of the road. Often he would miss his turn and refusing never to go backwards he would look for a new route on his map. One such route brought him head on into a tree outside Paris on this date, which was almost near fatal. |
July 7, 1864 | Florence Farr was born on this date. It has been written that she was "... not a nymphomaniac, nor was she really interested in sex, but she was almost incapable of saying no to any man who asked her to sleep with him." Aleister Crowley was rumored to be one such gentleman. |
July 8, 1916 | Aleister Crowley & Hilarion (Jane Foster) attempt to create a 'Magical Child' as heir to his magical current. The child would take the form of Frater Achad. |
July 9, 1910 | D.H.Lawrence writes in a letter to Miss Crawford a brief reply, "If Ambergris smells like 'Crowley', it is pretty bad. Civet cats and sperm wales - ugh!" |
July 12, 1985 | The beloved O.H.O. of the Ordo Templi Orientis Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 aka Grady Louis McMurtry shed his earthly vehicle and died in California after a long illness. |
July 13, 1865 | M.Encausee, alias Papus was born. |
July 13, 1915 | The New York Times runs an article in its paper entitled 'Irish Republic bork in New York harbor' which tells the story of Aleister Crowley burning his British passport at the base of the Statue of Liberty. |
July 20, 1955 | Kenneth Grant sends Karl Germer his 'New Manifesto' along with a letter which explains that for the preservation of secrecy it was not possible for Germer, the O.H.O. of the Ordo Templi Orientis to see copies of the 'new' OTO Initiation Rituals which he has written. In reply, Germer sends a registered letter on this date to Mr.Grant expelling him from the Order. |
July 22, 1921 | Frank Bennett, Frater Progradior signs the Oath of Zelator in the A ![]() ![]() |
July 23, 1874 | Rose Edith Kelly, wife of Aleister Crowley was born on this date. The best quote regarding her is as follows: 'Rose stripped off her clothes and stood before Crowley in all her nudity. Her breasts were perfect cones, and firm. Her waist was trim and her hips nicely rounded. She was a true red head all the way.' |
July 23, 1920 | Jane Wolfe arrives at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu from America in hopes that Aleister Crowley might cure her sickness. William Seabrook, a very close friend, states she was suffering from "... an unrequited passion for some homme fatale of the speakeasy epoch, from too much gin, despondency, and a couple of other depressants which included veronal." |
July 25, 1928 | Fortune claimed that Moina Mathers killed a Mrs.Fornario by sending a large astral cat to claw her to pieces. This is an impressive story but facts show that Moina Mathers died on this date ... eighteen months before Mrs.Fornario! |
July 26, 1856 | George Bernard Shaw was born. A man who Aleister Crowley wrote, "... was engaged in public exhibitions of rapier play; his subtlety made his colleagues doubt his sincerity." |
July 26, 1895 | Aldous Huxley was born. Aleister Crowley met Huxley while he was visiting Berlin and did a hasty sketch of him stating, 'I thought he had a lot of money and painted him like this to flatter him.' |
July 27, 1873 | Dr.William Moriarty, the real figure Dion Fortune based Dr.Taverner upon, is born in Dublin on this date. It has been written that "Moriarty was not an MD. He was not even a PhD. He just fibbed a little." |
July 28, 1904 | Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith is born to Aleister Crowley and his wife Rose, although she would not live long and dies shortly after. Duncombe Jewell remarked later that she had died of "acute nomenclature." |
July 29, 1875 | P.B.Randolph shoots himself in head and dies. |
A.O.583 VIII°
7/4/93 | LOP & Adviser Council 3:33 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/5/93 | Thelema Lodge meeting 8:00 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/8/93 | Burmese Astrology w/Kathy 7:30 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/10/93 | Ra Hoor Camp Warming (North Bay) | RaHoor Camp | ||
7/11/93 | Thelema Lodge Open House from 3:33PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/14/93 | Liber Reguli Class w/Bill 7:30 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/15/93 | Giants of Will Pt.II w/Jeff 8 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/16/93 | Academia Masonica 7:30 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/17/93 | IIIrd Deg. Initiations | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/18/93 | Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/22/93 | Burmese Astrology w/Kathy 7:30 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/23/93 | Symposium on the Eucharist & Alchemy 8 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/25/93 | Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/28/93 | Liber XV Workshop 7 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/30/93 | Lammas (Call one week ahead to go) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
7/31/93 | Minerval initiations (Call to go) | Thelema Ldg. |
The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the
contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its
officers.
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.