Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
January 1998 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
M M
A reading list of "suggestive
materials" is a book with a seemingly familiar title. But James Grant's The Adventures of Rob Roy (1864) is different from the well-known novel Rob Roy
(1818) by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), despite the fact that another Scott
novel, Redgauntlet (1824), confusingly appears on the list immediately
preceding this entry. Walter Scott, who made such a great success with his
invention of the historical novel in the "Waverley" series of heroic stories
from the British past, remained enormously popular throughout the nineteenth
century. In his wake, especially in the many periodical magazines in which
most Victorian fiction originally appeared, there was a huge publishing market
for historically instructive adventure romances. The Scottish writer James
Grant (1822-1887), who knew how to spice his storytelling with Gaelic phrases
and tales from folklore, and to provide a maximum of violence and excitement
for his (presumably young) readers, has nearly faded from the reference books
by now. Publishers in his own time considered him a significant and
substantial novelist, and over a long mid-Victorian career Grant produced
dozens of "knock-off" books inspired by Sir Walter Scott, for readers who
somehow couldn't seem to get enough of these tales. A list partially out
of spite, because Mathers had obviously studied the book, and may even have
derived a substantial portion of his personal mythology from it. Edward
Alexander Crowley had also changed his name as a teenager, however, and the
unusual spelling of his adopted forename likewise figures prominently in
Grant's book. Like Mathers and many others, Aleister Crowley was an
Englishman unable to resist the "Celtic Revival" styles of the late nineteenth
century, and he enjoyed representing himself at various times as Irish or
Scottish.
The Vanity Fair Haiku Contest
 |
[Aleister Crowley]
I. | |
The Hokku - A New Verse Form
And a Prize Contest
for Ambitious American Poets
by Kwaw Li Ya
of the University of Pekin
1. The Hokku is a favorite verse form in Japan. Every year there is a
Hokku Competition, which is entered even by the Mikado.
2. The Hokku is a poem of seventeen syllables.
3. The Hokku should not be alliteration, suggestion, allusion, or epigram,
though it is, in part, all of these. The Hokku is, in a word - a MOOD.
4. The Hokku is a cunningly cut jewel of words. It is like a diamond or
an alexandrite, clear or colored, but reflecting varied rays of thought as the
light of the mind plays over it.
Here is a classical Hokku which is esteemed by the "old-fashioned" school
of poetry in Japan as the best ever written. It is a microcosm of Autumn
melancholy.
God in an atom!
Comets revel around him -
That is a hokku!
The Prize Winners of the Hokku Contest
Their Poetry and an Analysis of It
by the Eminent Chinese Poet
Kwaw Li Ya
Most Charming Mr Editor:
I am overwhelmed! I am humbled! I am snowed under! I said in my heart
"There is no poet" - "There may be five poets" - "By the favor if Shang Ti,
there may be ten poets." And lo! there are more than five hundred poets! And
they are all good poets! Only alas! They are many of them all too good!
They are inspired with sacred flame. Their genius bears them aloft upon the
snowy peaks of poesy; they will not be bound in the ring-fence of the rules of
a competition. Sometimes they scan beautifully, but not in the particular
rhythm required. Sometimes they do not mention the magic towers of Downtown;
sometimes they forget the Sunset; sometimes they omit the poor little lover
man with his troubled heart. Sometimes they write beautiful poetry about
something altogether different. Oh! it is wondrous, this nation in flower!
It is like the poppy-fields in my beloved Yuunan; it is like the iris gardens
that are about Daibutsu at Kamakura!
Look! Here is perfect poesy, the soul of the Hokku. You must all hear it;
there is nothing better; it is like a smile kissing a tear upon the cheek of
Our Lady Quan-se-on!
Oh how bitter
Is the White Poppy Death;
There are no more dreams of love.
The pale moth
Trembles with the white moonlight;
Thus my heart trembles with love.
The Hokku Winners
A Few Comments by the Judge of the Contest
by Kwaw Li Ya
Most delicious Mr. Editor:
I am altogether delighted to see that upon this occasion the golden-tongued
poets of the Occident were able to confine their Hokku birds to the cage of
thought. Nearly all of them, in their Hokkus, suggested the subject, a maiden
deciding between love and duty, and basing her decision upon the omen of a bee
alighting upon a rose.
But alas! The arrangement of short and long syllabic quantities is still
very puzzling to the Vanity Fair poets.
For example, Miss Winifred Waldron, 1219 Randolf Street, North Glendale,
Cal., wrote as follows:
1003 = address of Agape Lodge at the time
Roy = Roy Leffingwell.
K.J. = Karl J. Germer
Max = Max Schneider
Jack = Jack Parsons
Jane = Jane Wolfe
132 = W.T.Smith
Jean = Jean Schneider, later Schivonen.
| COPY. Extracts from letter Roy to K.J. Sept. 8, 1943.
"Now as to 1003. I wanted to attend the 'Important meeting'. Both Jack and Max for diametrically opposed reasons asked me to attend. ... (He could not do it.) Hence I am writing in complete ignorance of the result of the meeting, and you must bear this in mind in reading the following comments on that situation. I don't believe that Max, Jack and Jane will ever come to a meeting of minds on 1003, nor do I believe that it is possible for Jane and Jack to wholly ever accept Max either as a resident there nor as an adviser. To me, an impartial observer, on the ground, the reason is clear. Jane and Jack suspect Max's motives - Max suspects their associations and their viewpoint on 132. Neither has convinced the other, .... of their sincerity so long as Jane and Jack look upon Max as an interloper and a spy, and Max looks upon them as secretly holding forth with 132. Seeing so little of them, I am not competent to judge who may be in the right. I do agree with A.C. in his last letter to ... that when Max departs from a strictly judicial attitude, he allows his personal feelings to sway both his judgment and reports. And, I agree with Max that there is still the old pseudo-Bohemian, doubtful and indecorous social atmosphere so reminiscent of the Smith regime. I went to 1003 Friday last week. Max wasn't there and I spent the whole evening with Jane and Jack. They gave me their views and complaints in full. Saturday afternoon Max and Jean came out and stayed over labor day. Max showed me all the correspondence between A.C., you and himself, and told me all his views. After listening to all of them, you and you alone have my heartfelt sympathy in the matter. I could be no more wearisome as I see it if you were handling a bunch of little children. ... I wonder if it is all worth while. About a year ago I wrote you that I had passed 1003, that it appeared 'quite pretentious - too pretentious, I am afraid for permanency.'. It now appears that I was right. Jack complains that it costs him about $300 a month, that he could get along in a much cheaper place and send more to A.C. if he gave it up - and that unless he got more material cooperation from members, and unless he were allowed to run things himself, he would give it up. As I understand it that was to be the purpose of the meeting last night - to give all members an opportunity to express themselves and determine future plans. Frankly, I can't say that I blame Jack, Karl. He understands and appreciates his lack of experience and development. He is, I feel, sincere and earnest in his desire to further the Law and the Work. He is carrying out of his own pocket an establishment ten times too large for him for a bunch of unco- oprative 'good time Charlies' who will drink all he'll buy for them, attend 'parties' regularly, and leave him holding the sack for expenses. Of what value is that material, and that establishment, and that program to the Order? Of what value are initiations that fail to initiate, because there is no dignity, no power, no solemnity worthy of the rituals in their presentation (read from typed script by the officers officiating!) Of what value a huge establishment that can be only half kept up on $300 a month, with that sum dependent on one man? Of what value the petty bickerings, and spites, and jealousies eternally current with each writing his little grievances to you or to A.C. as though THE ORDER were 1003, and Jack and Agape? |
The strange thoughts of a lonely soldier in a forgotten army in a land lost over the rim of the world. The Soldiers of Mithras must have felt something like that when marching gallantly but hopelessly into the Dark Ages of the Teutonic forests.
| I am a Centurion | |
| of the Legions of Freedom | |
| all men are my comrades | |
| all nations my brothers | |
| all life is a boon | |
| of the Goddess Our Mother | |
| at our term we return | |
| to Our Maid of the Star Drifts. | |
| there is no dread hereafter | |
| there is dissolution of the body | |
| and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Our Goddess | |
| there is death for the dogs | |
| of Sensate and Reason | |
| there is no bond that can unite the divided but love | |
| all else is a curse | |
| there is no higher rank | |
| than Centurion of the Legions! | |
| there is no higher honor | |
| than Legionnaire of the Legions! | |
| ave The Centurion! | |
| ave Our Starborne Goddess Mother! | |
| ave The Legions! | |
This fragment was preserved in a letter Grady wrote to an O.T.O. sister,
dated from Berkeley on 22nd August 1957 e.v. He described it as a "section
torn out of context from a long poem on my experiences in the Chosen Land,"
explaining that "'Chosen' is the old name for Korea." Nothing more from the
poem, which was based upon Grady's impressions of fighting in the Korean War,
is known to have survived, and these lines are published here for the first
time.
Derived from a lecture series in 1977 e.v. by Bill Heidrick
Copyright © Bill Heidrick
We add sixteen more, using up all the possibilities of connect-the-dots between the Sephirot that are not used by the twenty-two paths for the
twenty-two Hebrew letters. Four of the new paths come out of Keter; to
Chesed, Geburah, Netzach and Hod. Four come out of Chokmah; to Geburah, Hod,
Yesod and Malkut. Four join Binah with Chesed, Netzach, Yesod and Malkut.
Two new ones come out of Chesed to connect with Yesod and Malkut, with another
two coming out the same way from Geburah. David Hulse turned me on to this
diagram some years ago, based on a remark made by Jason Lauterhand.
The paths coming out of Keter suit my notion of the Knights in traditional 
Tarot. They act like messengers of the deity, riding forth to take charge at
distant points around Tipheret like manning watchtowers about the city. Keter
to Chesed would probably be the Knight of Wands. The Knight of Cups rides
down from the Crown to Geborah. The Knight of Swords and the Knight of Coins
ward Netzach and Hod, each aiding the balance by adding a little of the
quality opposite to the Sephira.
We will come back to these sixteen paths when we take up human psychology
on the Tree; but for now, experiment with them. Unlike the traditional
twenty-two, there aren't many correspondences to "help". Working out meanings
for these hidden paths is a good exercise in thinking of the paths as simple
connections or transitions between the Sephirot. That's closer to their
nature and much better than over-defined attempts to memorize every little
table in Liber 777. Those columns in 777 all have meaning, but you can't get meaning by rote.
A.R. asked about blinds and non-traditional aspects of Golden Dawn work with Qabalah. Here are short notes on those topics.
There are apparently some deliberate blinds in the published material, but
most of those are errors in placement or spelling in the tables of spirit
names. Otherwise, the Golden Dawn was both syncretic and diverse. They
forced systems to work together with some damage to traditions. Several
people contributed to the studies in somewhat individual approaches.
The Tree of Life and the Sephirot are not clearly set forth in the Sepher Yetzirah. The Sephirot are there; but their names are not associated with
them, only used as ordinary words in the text. The Tree diagram is not in the
SY, although it is possible to construct a simplified version on the shapes of
the letters Shin, Aleph, Mem - a point illustrated in Golden Dawn diagrams and
on the Waite-Smith and Case-Parks High Priestess in Tarot. The system of 10 +
22 = 32 was appended to some manuscripts of the Sepher Yetzirah, as early as
the 14th century.
The Tree, with letters attributed to the paths, used by the Golden Dawn was
apparently first published in A.Kircher's Oedipus Aegiptiacus, 1653 e.v.
Versions of the Tree diagram showing paths are known from the 14th century.
Most Tree diagrams after Luria show 22 or fewer paths.
The Lightning flash does not use the paths, although most of its course is
traceable by paths in the more developed version of the Tree. It is variously
used to describe either the creation of the Sephirot or the generation of the
22 letters. When used for the latter, the Tree of Life is not involved at
all.
C. asked about the issue of following Crowley's instructions as set forth in the 8th Aethyr.
That was an instruction for Crowley, personally. What was prescribed for
him, was for him and whoever else it might assist. The nature of this
endeavor is to find your own way, with the assistance of your own HGA.
I favor use of the Abramelin procedures as adapted to present time and
circumstances. 20th century is not 15th century, and most of the details of
that process have to be adjusted.
Reconciling different approaches is by syncretic means. The nature of
sacred scripture is that of a voice alive, not a voice embalmed like one finds
in some historic texts. Whatever you are, by whatever you can learn and use
in accord with your experience and nature, is your side of that knowledge and
conversation with Liber AL or aught else. Crowley advocated and used many of
the approaches of Kabbalah, including that of the 50 Gates, although he often
seemed to be either unaware of the association with details of those
traditions or forgetful of the terminology.
Crowley started with the G D Shin of Shin ritual. He was successful by a
personal adaptation of the Enochian Calls, after failing through too close a
following of procedure laid out by others. Try the method of the 8th Aethyr,
but be ready to learn something unique to yourself if that doesn't pan out.
L. was interested in the notion of the "Man-Sheppard" from the Poimandres in the Corpus Hermeticum as being an example of the later notions of the Holy Guardian Angel.
Poimandres does have elements of that in it, but only on the side. It's an
earlier tradition, more focused on content than method. Complicating the
question further, the Corpus Hermeticum is a c. 6th century relic literature,
diverse in source but common in general approach. Gnosticism conserved through the Christian era tends to be ugly, but the Gnosticism recovered from Codex Brucianus and Nag Hamaddi includes more
complete and more positive handling. The texts that survived directly, in
contrast to the recently recovered ones, were saved in part from affinity to
the Christian view and in part from their ugliness - hence safety to
Christianity. Notions that are found in the related Hermetic material are
generally those that have proven less dangerous to Christian beliefs.
I really can't agree that the "Man-Shepard" of the Poimandres is a type of
the HGA, but the beginning of the communication is a little like that. The
spirit is perhaps closer to an HGA or personal Daemon than Numa's Dryad, but
not in the sense of one-to-one affinity with the individual receiving the
visions. This "Man-Sheppard" is a spirit ministering to human kind in Gnostic
revelation. In that sense, it is not at all an HGA, or particular spirit with
affinity to one individual.
G.E. had some questions about Pranayama and Asana. Here are snippets from my side of the discussion.
Asana goes well with pranayama. Find some comfortable postures and use
them. Save the elaborate things for later, especially after getting a little
more limber in odd positions. Kundalini is tricky, but the most common hazard
is scaring oneself to the point that a good technique, tried too soon, becomes
psychologically unavailable later.
Unless the work is part of a rigorous regimen of meditation, skipping for a
day or two once in a while does no harm.
Despite what Crowley says, severe or chronic pain and numbness are to be
avoided. Use the rule of thumb that above all else, do no harm.
Evocation is always safer than Invocation. So long as you don't have
problems with sleep or get nervous about sounds and half-seen motions during
the day, go for it.
Starting the first of this month (January, 1998 e.v.) OTO dues and initiation fees go up.
The new schedule is published in the Magical Link, Fall 1997 e.v. issue, page 11. From calls
already received, there is a bit of confusion. These notes should help:
1. Anniversary dues assessments and initiations before 1/1/98 e.v. are at the old rate, even
if not yet paid. The new rate doesn't apply to those.
2. Credits carried over in member accounts from before 1/1/98 e.v. lock in the old dues rate
until used up. Members who paid ahead will not be assessed extra to match the new rate.
3. Normally, the postmark date will determine the assessment, old or new dues scale, not the
date on a check or money order. However, the old dues rate applies if local bodies have
collected dues in advance of an initiation, with the collection before 1/1/98 e.v., even if
the initiation is after that date. For this to be secured, a note of the date of collection
needs to be in the red or green book report.
4. Local initiating OTO groups may reduce the fee, but not the dues, so long as regalia is
supplied to new initiates as appropriate.
| 1/4/98 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/7/98 | College of Hard NOX 8 PM with Mordecai in the library | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/10/98 | OTO Initiations, call to attend | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/11/98 | Lodge luncheon meeting 12:30 | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/11/98 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/18/98 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/19/98 | Section II reading group with Caitlin: James Grant's "Rob Roy" at Oz house, 8 PM | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/25/98 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. | ||
| 1/26/98 | Sirius Oasis meeting 8:00 PM in Berkeley | Sirius Oasis | ||
| 1/28/98 | College of Hard NOX 8 PM with Mordecai in the library | 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.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O. Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
Phone: (510) 652-3171 (for events info and contact to Lodge)
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