Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
December 1996 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
In these lines from the unsigned "Editorial" to Equinox III:1 in March 1919
e.v., Crowley provides some brief prefatory comments to the Gnostic Mass
(published in that issue), and one might easily be supposed to read Liber XV
as the specific text offered in the closing lines of the passage:
"The world needs religion.
Religion must represent Truth, and celebrate it.
This truth is of two orders: one, concerning Nature external to Man; two, concerning Nature internal to Man.
Existing religions, especially Christianity, are based on primitive ignorance of the facts, particularly of external Nature.
Celebrations must conform to the custom and nature of the people.
Christianity has destroyed the joyful celebrations, characterized by music, dancing, feasting, and making love; and has kept only the melancholy.
The Law of Thelema offers a religion which fulfills all necessary conditions."
The seventy-eight icons of the Tarot deck provide the student of magick
with one of the more useful examples of that "suitable series of symbols" which is required for divination. As described in Book Four, such a series
must provide "a compendium of hieroglyphs sufficiently elastic in meaning to
include every possible idea". Among the classic examples, beside Tarot, are
"astrology . . . the Holy Qabalah, and the Yi King." Of course "there are
hundreds of others," but Tarot is among the more highly commended: "The Master
Therion finds that the Tarot is infallible in material questions." Its
"mathematically precise" ease of application, as well as the "artistic
significance," and "astonishing wealth of detail" to be found in its designs
are virtues only diminished by the efforts of concentration required to
interpret them, which when calculated as "at least two hours' hard work" he
found more cumbersome than the I Ching. The Book of Thoth also differed from
the Book of Changes in a certain inherently practical and secular orientation
noted in the cards, which (back before the design of the Thoth deck, at least)
"do not lend themselves readily to the solution of spiritual questions" -- MTP,
ch. 18.
The ninth meeting of our Tarot series with Bill Heidrick will be held in
San Anselmo at 7:30 on Wednesday evening 18th December, in the home of the
O.T.O.'s international treasurer; call ahead at (415) 454-5176 for directions
and details. Our illustrated segment will be an exposition upon the Major
Trumps of the Wheel of Fortune and Hanged Man, after which we will close with
a demonstration reading. Interested students at all levels are welcome to
this meeting (and for the remainder of the series); just be prepared for "at
least two hours' hard work" when the cards come out (unless modern analysis
may be said to have further refined the Beast's own best "improved method" of
handling the cards).
Relationships are the key note at Grace's Temple of Astrology for our
meeting on Friday evening 27th December of the Thelema Lodge astrological
study group, presenting the seventh in the series on the houses of the
horoscope. The seventh house rules such matters as marriage, business
partners, open enemies, war, and great oppositions of every sort. We will be
viewing charts -- including yours -- to see how the realm of relations is
constantly at work in our lives, and in the life of our nation. This evening
of focused discussion is hosted by Grace, and lasts from 7:00 until 9:00.
Grace asks that all who attend please speak with her ahead of time, or call
for directions at (510) 843-STAR.
The Enochian Liturgy Group conducts another experimental group scrying
session on Saturday evening 14th December in Horus Temple at 8:00. This month
we will be covering the Fifth Angelic Key in our work together. Wear loose,
comfortable clothing, and bring perhaps a cushion and a notebook for keeping
your own scrying data during the session.
Library nights are scheduled twice each month as suggested opportunities
for members and friends of the lodge to arrange for the use of our library
facilities. Library use is available by arrangement with one of the lodge
officers, and should be discussed ahead of time. This month's scheduled
evenings are Wednesday evening 11th December and Monday evening 23rd December,
from 8:00 until 10:00. Alternative evenings may often be scheduled by request
to suit individual needs. The Lodge luncheon meeting, on Sunday afternoon 8th
December from 12:30 until 2:30 is an opportunity to assist with the business
and planning necessary to maintain our lodge, and all members are welcome to
come by for lunch with the lodge officers. Please call ahead to be included
in this event, as the meal must be planned accordingly.
Sirius Oasis meets in north Berkeley on Monday evening 30th December at
8:00. Call the oasis master for directions at (510) 527-2855. Sirius offers
O.T.O. initiations, feasts and holiday events, rituals and presentations, and
other spontaneous events, as well as taking an administrative role in the
PantheaCon and Ancient Ways gatherings in the winter and spring each year. Sirius Oasis has always been active in our presentations of the Rites of
Eleusis, and recently a proposed schedule for the 1997 e.v. cycle of the Rites
had been circulated, which has Saturn opening the cycle on 5th July, and the
planets scheduled at twelve-day intervals to conclude with a full moon Rite of
Luna on Monday 15th September. Although these dates may seem too remote for
definitive sign-ups to be formalized, many of the Rites have already been
snapped up by ritualists from Sirius Oasis and Thelema Lodge, so this would be
a good time to stake your claim if you're interested in taking on one of the
god-forms next summer!
"The most noble the Marquess of Lansdowne -- the American people." Indeed
some such word of introduction is necessary, if not quite decent. In the
Continental fashion, let me explain the quality of the person to whom I wish
to introduce you.
Lord Lansdowne is The Fitzmaurice, and comes to us as a product of careful
biological selection since William the conqueror. He has never taken any very
active part in politics, except the Battle of Hastings, merely accepting the
Foreign Office or some similar post to oblige his country, and discharging its
duties on sane, conservative lines.
Lord Lansdowne represents all the best Englishmen. He does not represent
those who have been crushed biologically by industrialism, or the alien money
lenders who have England by the throat. He speaks for the nobility, the
gentry, and the yeomanry, for the men who were England (not "patriots,"
please!) at Agincourt, whose future is as indissolubly linked with English
soil as is their past.
It is, therefore, natural that Lord Lansdowne should have said exactly what
I have been saying in this paper ever since its owners, in a magnificent
spirit of Fair Play, offered England (in my humble person) a voice in America.
For some curious reason, perhaps because I like to collect lunatics as
George Windsor likes to collect postage stamps, I find myself regarded by
superficial thinkers as a radical and revolutionary. I am in truth the most
crusted of Tories, bred in the bone, and dyed in the wool. I believe, for
example, that if we abandon the Catholic ideal of marriage, one may as well
not have marriage at all. So, if we abandon the hierarchical system in
religion or politics, one cannot stop short of anarchy, as soon as some
occasion of stress forces people to make decisions. The Church of England had
more dissenting movements in a century than the Church of Rome in ten. It was
a makeshift. So were the Girondina; so was Kerensky. Once leave the
unintellectual, illogical, unjust anchorage of Wisdom, and you are tossed
madly on the insane waves of Reason.
Men are fit to hunt, fish, and create; women to cook, to labor in the
fields, and to bear children. Abandon this conception with all its obvious
demerits, and you merely arrive at a Bottomless Pit of vague argument, ending
in the query "What is a man? What is a woman?" A very nauseating mess!
The strength of England has always lain with this "impossible" class of
stupid brutes, who are always right, because they are swayed by radical
instinct (or "wisdom") instead of by reason.
A pointer knows more about the location of a pheasant than Darwin after
half a century of Natural History. Similarly, in Germany, it is the landed
aristocracy that speak and fight for their country. Your Liebknechts are
always being swayed by "argument"; your Junkers know without being told. The
class with "a stake in the country" is the class to trust. England knows that
a Lansdowne of a Harcourt will never be false, and never foolish, though he
may be utterly stupid.
Now Civilization itself is menaced by the war -- or rather by the
revolutions attendant on the collapse of certain systems which had become
unwieldy. Russia is only the advance guard of Bolshevikism. These people will have to be swept away by cannon, and knouted into common sense, before we
have any true peace in the world again. Junkerthum and English Feudalism have
their bad points, but they stand strain. It is only when all the individuals
of a nation are as intelligent and clear-sighted as the French that democracy
has any chance to live; and, in point of fact, Joffre would have been beaten
at the Marne if he had not turned angrily on the politicians in Paris, with
his famous, "Aujour d'hui, messieurs, c'est moi qui parle," turning the
Republic into a military autocracy by a single sublime gesture.
Similarly, as this country is ruled by strong men of practical common
sense, war measures were taken here which no Tsar would ever have dared, with
the result that, so far, America's military achievement stands as the world's
record for all time.
The hierarchical and caste system is the system with biological truth to
back it, and it always comes back as soon as the organism is in danger. This
war will make an end of the "brilliant," "intellectual" nonsense of the George
Bernard Shaws and the Leon Trotzkys; aristocracy will be re-established in a
more enlightened form. Birth is not everything; we need brains as well. But
we must put an end to the power of money, which is the corruption of all
Virtue.
Listen to Lord Lansdowne; his voice is England's; England, sooner or later,
will forget Lloyd George, and do what her heart and soul bid her. Our family
quarrel with the Hohenzollerns was all very well; in fact, it was rather bad
form of the blighters to bring in their beastly science. Damn those Liberals
all the same! However, the mischief's done, and we can't help it. But, now,
these Lenine fellows are trying to butt in, it won't do, don't you know?
King Solomon said that he who ruleth his spirit is greater than he who
taketh a city. Truly, indeed it has been a giant's task in these days to
avoid the contagion of hysteria, the spiritual rabies of the baser sections of
the press.
But in the last week or so statesmen have taken to borrowing (often without
acknowledgment) from the editorial matter of the International. There is no
longer any pretense that the Germans are other than "men of like passions with
ourselves," or that the Kaiser has dragooned them into unwilling submissives.
Also, there is a general acceptance of the belief, highly unpopular in
Bolshevik circles, that the organized hierarchy is the most stable structure
of society, that a man is better than a mess, and a cathedral than a pile of
stones.
The excuse given in private by the extremists for their bombast in public
has been that it was necessary to spur the unwilling public into war. The
situation would be Gilbertian were it not so devilish; but its usefulness is
over. It is time that the voice of reasonable men should be heard in the
land. It is probably hopeless to ask people to think for themselves. In the
last week or two the New York Times, Sun, and even the World, have more or
less turned upon the President to rend him. The public is becoming familiar
with what must be to the man in the street quite inexplicable tergiversations.
The extremists are now attacking Mr Wilson as they attacked us a month of so
ago. We can, therefore, appeal to rational thought and calm balance, and say
to men and women of good will everywhere in the world, "Come forward, make
yourselves heard, give your support to the people who are fighting the battles
of good sense."
It is not for us, perhaps, but for other statesmen, to determine what can
honorably be accepted by any given nation, but we can at least insist that
those who speak for us shall speak with good faith and without rancor, with
sympathy and understanding. We shall not fight with less courage and
determination because we are chivalrous. The days of the cave-man, when crazy and unthinking rage could determine a victory, are past. A handful of British
soldiers were able to defeat countless hordes of Madhists because this was
understood. It was the dervish who possessed the fanatical rage, the
unthinking courage. The Briton opposed to him cool thought, armchair
organization, careful aim. He did not hate his enemy. He simply shot him
dead. Kipling expressed the feeling of the British soldier admirably in his
famous poem:
"So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy Wuzzy, an' the missus an' the kid,
We 'ad orders for to smash you, so course we went and did."
That is the spirit in which [we] should all of us be fighting. The
observer will notice that, ever since Lord Lansdowne formulated the feeling of
that silent element in England which determines her policy, statesmen have
been making clear their war aims with much more elasticity than before. There
is a feeling in the air that it is time to talk things over quietly. One
cannot do this with a cannibal who is suffering from acute delirious mania;
and, therefore the theory that the enemy was this kind of person had to be
given up by all parties. In other words, the slogan of "Deutschland uber Alles" and its equivalents in other languages have had to be altered to our
own little effort in motto making: "Humanity first."
I have no wish to rub it in with an "I told you so," to point out that my
so-called pro-German writings of last year are the same as the utterances of
the President of the United States and of the Premier of England of this year.
For, in truth, I am not conscious of victory, but of defeat. It has not been
the spirit of humanity which has dictated the change of policy. That change
has been forced upon the various governments by necessity. My work is yet to
do. It is still necessary to prove to men that they are cutting their own
throats by anger, greed, and ambition. It is still necessary to appeal to
self-interest. The planet has been taught an appalling lesson; but will men
learn it? Will they really understand that even on the lowest ground the
philosopher and the poet are their real friends, that that man of the world is
really as much of a fool as he is a knave. Selfishness is the highest
stupidity. I cannot hurt my brother without hurting myself. That is what
some of us have been preaching for many a long day; and because we have
preached it we have been called unpractical; we have been called traitors.
The event has proved only too terribly that we were the patriots and the
sages. The time has come to put that lesson into practice. We must take away
the power from the self-seeking scoundrels who have been boosting themselves
as practical men; and, although the mechanical details of reconstruction must
necessarily be left to people of experience in each branch, yet the theory
must be left to people who understand truth in its deepest sense. We must
entrust the supreme government to the supreme philosopher.
In the meantime our urgent necessity is to make place for the moderate man,
to him who has shown by his detached attitude that he could see an inch or two
beyond his nose. The President's "war aim" message is most significant in
that connection. We do not want people with entirely new theories of
government. This is no moment for revolutionary social measures. The world
is one vast wound, and the business of the moment is to heal it so far as may
be. For this purpose we need soothing applications such as universal charity,
and we must complete the work of sterilizing the bacillus of hatred. There
could never have been a war if the men in power had had the slightest
realization of what it was going to be like. Yet these people were all
excellent specimens of the type of man that has been in power for centuries.
The moral is to get rid of the type. However, for the moment, the political
issue is less radical in character. It will be enough if we sternly refuse a
hearing to the bloodthirsty cries of those people who think that the People is
but a mob of savages, and that the only way to obtain power over them is to
appeal to their more senseless passions.
We want moderate men.
Derived from a lecture series in 1977 e.v. by Bill Heidrick
Copyright © Bill Heidrick
We now begin a study of the Tree as a growing and changing thing, of other
versions of the Tree of Life, along with centering, projecting and multiplying
of the Tree. Taking a view of Qabalah from Tipheret, we will examine
techniques of patterning, functioning and relating to things, events and
ideas.
Consider a knight riding out on a quest with his fair damsel left behind.
That's nice and poetic, but what does it mean? Her heart is beating for him,
and he's going away from her. There is bond and a breaking, a tension between
the two which does not relieve itself -- they are separate from one another and
the distance is increasing. Many things in life are like this. Whenever you
discover something apart from yourself, there is a sense of necessity of
separation. Since it is other, it is distinct from you. There is also
longing that the other may be as you are or a part of you. This is like
walking by a store and seeing something desirable in the window that costs too
much. A particular kind of tension evolves in such situations. It can be
feeling for a person, a desire to change something, a desire to possess
something, a desire to learn something, or a desire not to possess, learn or
know. This is an establishment of two points of reference, yourself and
something other than yourself, with a tension between. The Tree of Life is a
dynamic tool, a means to separate and unite. One point is identified with
Malkut and the other with Kether, while all the structure of the Tree of Life
is between.
| The Seven Headed Beast has won | |
| The Woman Clothed With The Sun | |
| The Beast comes from the Conscious Sea | |
| The Beast walks in eternity | |
| Each Sign-Change must be served its Beast | |
| As sacrifice, and royal yeast | |
| The Lion and the Lamb shall share | |
| The innocence of Beastly lair | |
| The Eagle tears the Taurian sky | |
| Androcles leads the Lion by | |
| A Beast is beastly without sin | |
| In Eden Beastly men begin | |
| The Serpent is a Beastly tree | |
| In His Edenic purity | |
| And forests of the Trees of Heaven | |
| Burn with Thy Star, Unstable Seven! | |
This poem was originally published in Ecclesia Gnostica I:3 (1985), with a dedication by the author to Sallie Glassman. Its next two appearances were in McMurtry: Poems (London/Bergan: O.T.O., 1986) and in The Grady Project 4 (Berkeley: O.T.O., 1988).
In memory of the genius for street rhetoric which we so enjoyed in our brother Criss, this satirical pamphlet is reprinted here from his own `zine Onus (Oakland: circa early 1993). It ought to go without saying that this piece of writing adopts certain notorious perspectives in order to oppose the silly excesses of sidewalk proselytization.
by Criss Piss
This may be YOUR LAST CHANCE!
Are you a "Christian"? Are YOU "Born Again"? Are you "SAVED"? Are you
"Washed in the BLOOD of The Lamb"? Well, if you are, it's no "accident" that
you are reading this pamphlet RIGHT NOW! This little tract could change your
ETERNAL LIFE! This little booklet could be the most important thing you'll
ever read, because it concerns the fate of YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL! This little
message could be YOUR LAST CHANCE!
Where will I spend Eternity?
Think about it. Where will you go when you die? Where does the flame
go when you blow out the candle? Will you go to Heaven or will you go to
Hell? Or will you just be dead forever? Well, if you're a Christian, you
already know the answer. You'll go to Heaven when you die, to be with your
God forever.
DEATH IS EVERYWHERE
As we all know, DEATH is Ever Present. Any of us could kick-off at any
time. You could be hit by a bus or struck by lightning JUST FOR READING THIS
TRACT. You could have a heart attack or catch a stray slug in the Drug Wars.
Either way you'll be dead dead dead. Even if you die of old age, at home, in
your bed, "IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MAN ONCE TO DIE" (Coloss. XI ch. 9). You have
to die. But where you spend ETERNITY is UP TO YOU! Remember, God gave you
Free Will! Christian, I'm here to tell you the Good News! You DON'T HAVE TO
GO TO HEAVEN!!!
HEAVEN OR HELL?
By all accounts, Heaven is a dull place, populated by De-Sexed Angels
and smug, holier-than-thou prigs. Smoking is not permitted and the chief
occupation seems to be the perpetual praising of a jealous and insecure God of
Love and Goodness. Hell, on the other hand, is a hot, happening place with
plenty of Sex and Thrills Galore. Most of the people you know will be there,
and many friends and lovers will be re-united. The good people, party
poopers, censors, hypocrites and evangelists will not be allowed in but will
have to watch from Heaven knowing that "There but for the grace of God, go I."
YOU MUST CHOOSE
Would a God of Love really crucify his Own Son? Did Jonah really live
for three days in the belly of a whale? Is Santa Claus really coming to town?
YOU MUST DECIDE
Only you can choose, but this helpful tract is here to guide you to Do
The Right Thing.
SATAN IS COOL
Christians in general have a lot of misconceptions about Satan and His
Kingdom. But the facts are simple:
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE GOOD TO GO TO HELL."
Anyone can go. We're not asking you to break all 10 commandments today; start out slow, a venial sin: tell a lie, lust in your heart, masturbate. See how EASY it is! Soon you'll be able to step up to the Big Time and STEAL, LIE, SWINDLE AND MURDER with the best of them. Commit ADULTERY! Cheat on your Taxes! You'll be amply rewarded -- in this life and the next! By the time you die your carnal body will be able to withstand the kind of Hard-Core Jollies available in Hades!
"DO IT" TODAY
Just say this simple prayer and fill out the handy form. Satan Does the
Rest!
|
"Dear Jesus, I know I asked you into my heart but now I'm asking you nicely to leave. I want to go to Hell when I die and be with all the Cool People. Satan, I adore you and worship you like a God and I want to be with you always. NEMA!" |
[ ] Yes! Christianity is
stupid!
[ ] No! I'm too chicken.
© 1990 ZSM
Zionica Satanica Masonica; Div.
SecHum Co.
| Hampton N. J. September 19, 1954. | ||
| Dear Jane:
Yours of Sept. 9 and 15. First yours of the 9th. I'm glad that Mary K. feels better and that you are taking her back to home. Your scheme with that woman keeping her company sounds like a good one. Relieves you. 75 cents per hour sounds very high from what we knew in N.Y. -- As to the financial part. That is serious, and provisions should have, or should still be made to safeguard you. And then: how much interest per cent is she getting on her money? War Bonds etc. pay only 3%, and I doubt you have risky investments which yield high interest. I have to pay 5% on our mortgage! (We still have over $4,000.) -- If you would trust me, and if Mary K. would agree, you could turn some or all of your assets over, I would not only pay you 5%, but also keep the investment so that you can always draw on it. -- This is just an idea. But it seems to me your present arrangement keeps you always on tenterhooks. However, I can not very well boost myself. This is entirely a matter of Trust and common sense. The moral basis ought to be this line of thought: -- I am pledged to A.C. to look after the welfare of his son and I am sending him regularly money. If Mary K. and you agree, you could turn over your surplus (I mean above what you want to hold there) to me as a fund for A.A. as long as he is under age and as long as he needs assistance from me. As I am paying A.A. now from London accounts (England) it would help if I'd pay off all or part of my mortgage, which saves me my monthly 5% payments. There is another angle: For many years you have been sending contributions regularly. There is a rule that a member in good standing has to right to draw on this when in need. This also could be a basis for a working scheme. Could you not talk this over with Paul, who, after all may well know how to manage this? I feel you ought to take a step, and that soon so as to have a clear situation without worry on your part. -- It would, of course, be better for me to talk this over with you personally. But I'm afraid, time is too short. Write me if I have not expressed myself clear enough. You might tell me how much cash you need to draw from your bonds etc. per month. I could have Georgia make certain monthly payments for instance. Re yours of Sept. 15. I was the one that sent out those "Notes on the Ritual of the Pentagram" back around 1942 or so. But with my strange stubbornness and need to have something shown in practice before I do it, I kept copies, but never applied it. Thanks all the same for your additional remarks. Why, for heaven's sake, did I not ask you when you were here to do it with me?? Why? Why? -- If you would take the trouble to trace out the method and write the postures etc. for the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram for myself, I would be grateful. I may make good use of it some day. I have an idea that both the Lesser and the Greater R. of the P. are done for "protection". In what sense? Against what or whom? I know not. About the Charge of the Spirit I cannot help you. Isn't there much in the Goetia and Solomon the King stuff, I forget the title. About Liber Pyramidos, this is the former name of: -- A Ritual of Self-Initiation based on the Formula of the Neophyte. It is Ritual DCLXXI. It is mentioned in John St. John. My typescript has about ten pages of close typing. Would you like to see it? I shall send you separately by ordinary post typescript material of further stuff arrived from Australia, all from Prog. They are over 100 pages of typed copies of letters, rituals, etc. etc. If you like you can read it. The material dates from 1910 on and concerns mainly A.C., but Achad, Cowie, Leah, Ninette, you, and so on figure. That Cefalu part may be especially of interest to you. Please return it. I shall leave out the IV° OTO, as you know this. This will follow in a day or two as I have to check it first. Your "child" vision: anything to do with the First Aethyr child, or that in the Garden of Janus? Can you simplify it? Child was just then created? Very remarkable indeed! This Cameron girl keeps popping up. She must have a peculiar fascination. Has she? Does she have real true and pure aspiration? She must be very aggressive from her horror. Is she any good? I must confess she intrigues me, the more so as Smith could not stand her. Has she accepted Thelema? Do you have a snapshot of her? Enough now. This is endless! But I am sending you
Which please convey to all in your group with all my wishes. I am exclusively concentrated on the publication of the first translation in any foreign language (German) to be out Sept. 23, 1954. With German-English text, Stele, facsimile reprod. of original. I am all tense lest one of the many powers that try to prevent it, may prevail. I speak of Liber Legis. I feel this is the great magical event.
| ||
| Live Dangerously! Do what you will, by all means -- but first be such as one as can will! My Brothers, I do not exhort you to love of your neighbor: I exhort you to love of the most distant. The retired Pope had been speaking of the God he had served. "Away with such a God," spake Zarathustra. The retired Pope replied in turn, "Zarathistra, with such disbelief you are more pious than you believe. Some sort of God in you must have converted you to your godlessness. Is it not your very piety that no longer allows you to believe in a God?"
1. O Higher Men, live ye by your
own law! 2. Eat ye what ye will, O Higher Men, and drink what ye will, and dwell where ye will, and move as ye will on the face of the earth.
3. O Higher Men, think ye what ye
will! 4. Love ye as ye will, O Higher Men! "Untroubled, scornful, outrageous -- that is how wisdom wants us to be: she is a woman and never loves anyone but a warrior." 5. O Higher Men, ye have been known to kill those who would thwart ye. "Once you had passions and called them evil. But now you have only your virtues: they grew from out your passions." Thus spake Zarathustra! |
The Egyptiana in The Book of
the Law can be explained simply
enough in a literal way: Crowley
was in Egypt. The Egyptian gods
and goddesses spoke to him. When
in Cairo, dress your thoughts as
the Gizans did. That's a tad
mundane. It's more noble to say
that this Aeon of Horus started
and dictated the form of myth to
go with Thelema on that occasion
in 1904 e.v. Gods and goddesses
after all should be accorded their
stature. It ill behooves us to
treat them as a tourist would.
Why that myth? What's wrong
with the usual Christian mythos?
I submit that the mythology
presented in, about and after
Liber AL fits Crowley's life more
closely than the Xtian Gospel
story. Perhaps it fits more lives
in these days of broken homes and
two jobs, within a setting of
technological magick. True, both
JC and Horus had an "absent
father" of sorts, with an uncle or
foster father somewhere in the
picture. Both were more visibly
influenced by the mother while
growing up. There are
differences. Horus truly did not
get along at all well with uncle
Set. If JC tended to ignore uncle
Joe a good deal, it does seem that
there wasn't much resentment either, to judge by the record
that remains. The death scene and
aftermath is a bit different too.
JC started a political and ethical
movement, as it appears now,
whatever the actual events. He
died a martyr to his role, but his
arisen spirit carried on the work.
Horus simply did the best he could
with a rotten situation at home,
eventually triumphing as Ba-Hedi
or Hadit, by flying into union
with the disk of the sun. There's
no death for Horus in that story,
and you can see him plainly on any
clear day.
Here are some suggested details
in Crowley's life, related to the
myth and deities of Liber AL.
Nuit -- the ideal, if somewhat
distant mother. Crowley
apparently did love his mother, if
not her ways. This is seen in
Confessions briefly, when she is
in danger of sliding off a cliff.
Without her legacy, there would
have been no money for the Abbey
of Thelema and the struggle to set
a social pattern for Crowley's
work.
Isis (Asi) -- the actual mother,
trapped in involuntary bondage to
the uncle, seen in Crowley's
endless carping about the
religious behavior of the Plymouth
Brethren.
Osiris (Asar) -- the dead
father, idealized and emulated in
changed ways for changed times.
Set, not in Liber AL but
hanging in the wings -- Crowley has
several poems and diatribes about
a particular uncle, generalized to
British politics and clergy.
Harpocrates -- Crowley's
protected childhood, with imposed
silence on his growing views, fits
the child Horus.
Hoor-paar-Kraat -- Crowley's
rebellion against established
religions and his war-like writing
style fits the warrior Horus.
Thoth (Tahuti) -- The tutor or
honorary uncle features
prominently, sexually and
mysteriously in Crowley's life and
Liber AL. From a resented
homosexual pass in youth through
many male mentors in succession,
Crowley highlights the men who
educated him.
Nephthys -- Aunts have an
ambiguous role in A.C.'s life,
even as in J.C.'s. Supportive in
the latter, resented in the
former, they lump around seeming
important but not obviously doing
much. I suspect both the C's were
puzzled by their aunts. Nephthys
is another not in Liber AL, but
she does hang about a good deal.
Scarlet Woman -- Babalon isn't
in Liber AL, but this lady of
forbidden vice is there and quite
complex. She has the red-letter,
but otherwise seems more helpmate
than prophetess or party person.
She is discarded in Crowley's life
when she shows weakness but
otherwise seems a good deal
stronger than he is.
Babalon -- What of this latter
lady? She seems to be the perfect
archetype behind A's lady in red.
Never a falter. Always dominant
and the perfect object of
devotion.
Beast -- not hard to find A.C.'s
mother's sobriquet for little Al
there.
Crowley's mystical life could
be summarized by emulation of Ra-
Heru-Khuti-Ba-Hadit -- The God who
is the Hawk who Flys into the Disk
of the Sun, be it the eternal sun
of midnight or aught else. No
crucifixion and resurrection here.
The plan was to go there and come
back in a nimbus of
transfiguration.
| 12/1/96 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/1/96 | ZEN (18) 3:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/2/96 | TAN (17) 12.15AM OZ House | |||
| 12/2/96 | LEA (16) 5:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/3/96 | OXO (15) 9:30AM OZ House | |||
| 12/3/96 | UTI (14) 3:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/4/96 | ZIM (13) 3:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/4/96 | LOE (12) 11:30PM OZ House | |||
| 12/5/96 | IKH (11) 10:30PM OZ House | |||
| 12/6/96 | ZAX (10) 2:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/7/96 | ZIP (9) 9:30PM OZ House | |||
| 12/8/96 | Lodge Luncheon meeting 12:30 | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/8/96 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/8/96 | ZID (8) 7:30PM OZ House | |||
| 12/9/96 | DEO (7) 8:30PM OZ House | |||
| 12/10/96 | New Moon in Sagittarius 8:56 AM | |||
| 12/10/96 | MAZ (6) 8:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/11/96 | Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM (call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/12/96 | LIT (5) 7:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/13/96 | LIT (5) 8:00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/14/96 | Enochian Scrying Workshop 8PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/15/96 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/16/96 | Section 2 reading w/Caitlin at OZ Rosicrucian Books 8PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/16/96 | PAZ (4) 9:30AM OZ House | |||
| 12/17/96 | ZON (3) 9:30AM OZ House | |||
| 12/18/96 | Tarot with Bill Heidrick, 7:30 PM in San Anselmo at 5 Suffield Ave. | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/18/96 | ARN (2) 10.00AM OZ House | |||
| 12/19/96 | LIL (1) 2.00PM OZ House | |||
| 12/20/96 | Winter Solstice 8PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| ARN (2) 10.00AM OZ House | ||||
| 12/21/96 | Sol enters Capricorn 6:06 AM | |||
| 12/21/96 | R+C hosts party | R+C Chapter | ||
| 12/22/96 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/23/96 | Thelema Lodge Library night 8PM (call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/24/96 | Full Moon in Cancer 12:41 PM | |||
| 12/25/96 | Lesser fiest of the aeon of Osiris | |||
| 12/26/96 | "The Houses in Astrology" workshop with Grace in Berkeley 7 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/27/96 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 12/30/96 | Sirius Oasis meeting 8PM Berkeley | Sirius Oasis | ||
| 12/31/96 | Eve of the vulgar New Year |
The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the
contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its
officers.
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