Thelema Lodge Calendar for April 1998 e.v.
Thelema Lodge Calendar
for April 1998 e.v.
The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its officers.Copyright © O.T.O. and the Individual Authors, 1998 e.v.Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
April 1998 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
Feast of Liber AL
Rose Edith Kelly Skerret had been nearly three years a widow and was living
unhappily with her parents during the summer of 1903 when her little brother,
the portrait artist Gerald Kelly, invited one of his university friends to
visit the family home for a few days. This fellow represented himself as Lord
Boleskine, but Gerald had known him as Aleister Crowley, seeing quite a bit of
him during the preceding winter in Paris, where the two had frequented the
same artistic bistro. For Rose their guest turned out to be a fascinating
figure; a poet, world traveler, and magician, who enjoyed making radical and
shocking pronouncements, and had many accomplishments to which he could allude
in conversations with the pale, good-looking, and uncultivated woman. Rose
was at this time nearly thirty, and Crowley a year younger.
The two of them ended up eloping on a sort of lark, and managed to contract
a legal marriage, without really making any plans to remain together
afterwards. At first they had perhaps intended not even to consummate the
marriage, but after the flight from her family Rose had nowhere to go, and
back at Boleskine two days later they realized they were on their honeymoon,
and in love with each other after all. Crowley described the first eight
months of their marriage as "an uninterrupted sexual debauch up to the time of
the writing of the Book of the Law."
He was during this period at the full tide of his wealth, and had nothing
much to do beyond his literary endeavors and the sporting life. After a few
weeks the couple was off to London, and then to the Continent, first shopping
in Paris, then relaxing in Naples, then staying a few days to see the sights
in Cairo on the way to spend the winter in Ceylon. It was during this visit
that they arranged (no doubt with a fair bribe to the guard) to spend a night
together in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid. At some point around the
end of October they also accomplished the conception of their first child, the
ill-fated baby Nuit Lilith (who would be born back in Scotland on 28th July
1904).
They stayed through January of 1904 in Ceylon, where Crowley hunted game
and lived the life of a colonial sporting eccentric. Frustrated at failing to
meet Allan Bennett there, they took ship back to Egypt early the following
month, arriving at Cairo on 9th February. Here for reasons of which they were
themselves not very sure they determined to remain for at least a few weeks.
Rather than staying in a hotel as on their earlier visit, they took rooms for
themselves on the ground floor of a grand apartment building in the best (and
most European) part of the city; their apartment happened to be just around
the corner from the Boulak Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.
Crowley had collected some fine formal Oriental robes and now he began
dressing in them, calling himself Chioa Khan and his wife Ouarda. They
remained for two months, and there developed a feverish magical intensity to
the work they were doing together; so much so that Crowley became worried
about Rose's odd focus (though he later decided it was due to the course of
her pregnancy, of which she was entering the sixth month). He tried several
magical operations to engage her interest, and they led to her summons of him
to record the text of Liber AL on three successive days at noon in April 1904
e.v., only a week or two before they took ship back to Europe.
The account of this pivotal magical operation, which Crowley retold several
times, is well known to all Thelemites. From it we date the consummation of
the Equinox of the Gods, the pivot of the aeon of Horus the Crowned and
Conquering Child, and a new opportunity for mankind to slough off the dead
scales of the guilty old ethos of the Dying God. We claim in its place the
primacy of the God Within, as discovered through the work of the True Will of
each unique individual, fully developed in the world. At all occasions we return to the text generated in that operation 94 years ago, which formulates
the potential of the age we work in. Early each spring for many years around
Berkeley here in California, Thelemites have been gathering to hear the three
chapters of Liber AL read to us, commemorating the time when Aleister Crowley,
operating under a magical resolve formulated as Frater Perdurabo, and dressed
as Chioa Khan, assisted by Rose under her Arabic name of Ouarda the Seer, also
listened to this same text.
Our feast for the three days of the writing of the Book of the Law gets
underway on Wednesday evening 8th April with the first chapter at the Ancient
Ways store (corner of Telegraph and 41st Street in Oakland) at 8:00. Our
reader will be Chandra, a second-generation Thelemite who grew up with Liber
AL, and whose amazing vocal performance was one of the triumphs of our Equinox
ritual last month. Next evening we gather at Thelema Lodge for chapter two,
which will be read by Jeff in Horus Temple, also beginning at 8:00. Then on
Friday evening 10th April we will all pack into Nu Temple at Oz House, where
James will be reading chapter three beginning early at 7:00, with a supper to
follow.
O.T.O. Initiations
Initiations into Ordo Templi Orientis are next planned at Thelema Lodge for
Saturday 18th April. Attendance at this ritual is restricted to active
initiate members of O.T.O., and all must first contact one of the lodge
officers in order to be included in our plans for the event. A dinner feast
for all involved will follow the initiations. The lodge usually will provide
a main dish as part of the ritual, but contributions of drinks, desserts, and
auxiliary dishes will be welcomed from attending members. Prospects for
dinner contributions are best discussed with the officers in advance, along
with the projected time scale for the event.
Those wishing to be initiated into the O.T.O., or to advance through the
degrees of our Order, may obtain application forms from the officers at most
lodge events. In special cases the form can be requested by mail, but the
candidate will want to meet with members before proceeding, so it makes more
sense to apply in person. For those not already involved with the lodge
community, the best time to do this is to arrive a little early for the
gnostic mass on Sunday evening. Candidates will be required to plan well in
advance and to maintain good contact throughout the entire process leading up
to their initiation.
Sponsorship is required for each application, and it is best if this arises
out of a conversation between the candidate and an initiate of the degree to
which admittance is sought. Candidates should discuss with their sponsors
their reasons for contemplating this step, and their expectations concerning
the new degree. The officers of the lodge are not usually the best sponsors,
because we are like everyone's sponsors anyway (or at least often available to
discuss initiation candidacy), so you may only miss an opportunity to form a
special initiatory bond with one of your prospective fellows if you turn
automatically to the people washing the dishes. Sponsorship should not be
automatic and unknowing, nor should it be personal and private, but respectful
and fraternal.
College of Hard Talks
The College of Hard N.O.X. is about education in the sense of the word's
original Latin root, educatio, a drawing out of the knowledge and
understanding that dwells within the pupil, as opposed to the teacher-centered
ritual of absorption and regurgitation more commonly identified with the term
"education." Though some have complained that the mandatory tuition fee
charged for each class is too high (it's currently set at two cents), the
ample opportunities provided to receive a scholarship or student loan make it quite certain that no serious applicant will ever be turned away on account of
financial hardship.
The lessons for April will be held in the lodge library, as usual, at 8
o'clock in the evening on the first and last Wednesdays. Since the first
session falls on April Fool's Day the proposed topic will be, in general,
Humor and its relation to Religion, and specifically, the manifold tales told
of holy fools. The meeting on 29th April will follow up on a discussion that
began on 25th March, "What kinds of shared social ethic might be considered
most compatible with Thelema?"
Seminar on Liber 777
Bill Heidrick will be offering a new class this month, dealing at length
with the columns of correspondences given in the book 777. We will meet at
7:30 at Bill's home in San Anselmo in Marin County on Wednesday evening 22nd
April; call ahead at (415) 454-5176 for directions, or use e-mail to
heidrick@well.com. Liber 777 is available in several editions, and beside
the well-known Weiser reprint of the revised second edition, Bill will have
some copies of the old Thelema Lodge reprint of Jack Parsons' annotated copy
of the first edition. There is also a beautifully re-designed edition of the
shortened version from Magick in Theory and Practice available in the big new
revised edition of Book Four. Slides of the pages of the book will be used in
the class.
Liber 777 distills much of the study, ritual, and insight which Crowley had
invested in the teachings of the Golden Dawn. This included not only his
brief and unsuccessful association with the original London temple led by W.
B. Yeats, but his later personal work in Paris with the Society's deposed
mastermind MacGregor Mathers, and even more importantly his extended reworking
of the material with Allan Bennett over the next several years in London and
Ceylon. Crowley began work around 1906 e.v. editing his notes from these
eight years of study into a sort of index in tabular form to the whole system
of western magic, and this became Liber 777. The material is so dense that it
is hard to predict the pace of our exploration of its data. If there is a
collective interest in working more fully through specific columns, this class
may be extended into a short series of meetings to suit demand. Our April
meeting will provide an overview and introduction, and we will then see just
how much more of 777 we want to know about.
Suggestive Literature Circle
At Oz House on Monday evening 20th April beginning at 8:00 the Thelema
Lodge Section Two reading group will be spending an evening with Boccaccio's
Decameron. Readers and listeners are welcome to attend, and we plan to share
a few of our favorite stories from this "century of tales." Caitlin hosts the
group, and can be reached for information and directions to Oz at (510) 654-
3580, or call the lodge.
Giovanni Boccaccio, the first great European literary prose fiction writer,
was also in his own day a celebrated poet and humanist scholar, who lived from
1313 until 1375. He was an established author of several major works in verse
and prose when at the age of thirty-five he survived the Black Plague in
Florence, and shortly thereafter he began work on the Decameron. (The title
in Latinized Greek indicates a "ten days' record" of storytelling). Just as
Dante had set the Divine Comedia in his own thirty-fifth year of 1300 and
organized in one hundred cantos the whole moral and political culture of his
generation, so Boccaccio in a hundred Italian stories organized another sort
of great Comedy based upon purely secular explorations of human motivation.
Crowley omitted mention of Boccaccio on the Section Two reading list, but
included him in a later recommendation of "suggestive literature" attached to
in Liber Artemis Iota. Crowley himself may well have read Boccaccio in
Italian; unlike Dante or Petrarch, most modern Italian readers find the
Decameron fairly easy. At least Crowley does not mention any particular
translation, but until 1930 there had been only one English version of the
Decameron which did not expurgate the sexual details from several of the best
stories. This complete version was the work of John Payne, whose translation
of the Arabian Nights Crowley recommends on the Section Two list in addition
to that of Richard Burton. Payne's Victorian Decameron could not be published
commercially, but was distributed in an expensive private edition to
subscribers of the Villon Society in 1886.
Like Burton, Payne's method was to translate the old stories into a strange
kind of story-book English, full of Victorian-gothic archaisms and quaint
circumlocutions, but at least he stuck very close to the sense of the Italian
text. Unfortunately Payne's edition very quickly became extremely rare, and
in those bad old days librarians sometimes tore out the indecent pages of
their books, making it very hard to consult the only translation of certain
critical passages omitted from other editions. When Payne's Decameron was
reprinted, the wretched editors of the Modern Library series went back and
expurgated it just like the other versions. In 1930 two new complete
translations appeared, and in our own day several accurate and readable
versions are easily available, so there has been little need for a careful new
edition of John Payne's old-fashioned but classic rendering. We offer the
following tale as an example.
Putting Back the Devil into Hell
by Giovanni Boccaccio
tenth tale of the third day
from the Decameron
translated in 1886 by John Payne
Charming ladies, maybe you have never heard tell how one putteth the devil
in hell; wherefore, without much departing from the tenor of that whereof you
have discoursed all this day, I will e'en tell it you. Belike, having learned
it, you may catch the spirit thereof and come to know that, albeit Love
sojourneth liefer in jocund palaces and luxurious chambers than in the hovels
of the poor, yet none the less doth he whiles make his power felt midmost thick forests and rugged mountains and in desert caverns; whereby it may be
understood that all things are subject to his puissance.
To come, then, to the fact, I say that in the city of Capsa in Barbary
there was aforetime a very rich man, who, among his other children, had a fair
and winsome young daughter, by name Alibech. She, not being a Christian and
hearing many Christians who abode in the town mightily extol the Christian
faith and the service of God, one day questioned one of them in what manner
one might avail to serve God with the least hindrance. The other answered
that they best served God who most strictly eschewed the things of the world,
as those did who had betaken them into the solitudes of the deserts of
Thebaïs. The girl, who was maybe fourteen years old and very simple, moved by
no ordered desire, but by some childish fancy, set off next morning by stealth
and all alone, to go to the desert of Thebaïs, without letting any know her
intent. After some days, her desire persisting, she won, with no little toil,
to the deserts in question and seeing a hut afar off, went thither and found
at the door a holy man, who marvelled to see her there and asked her what she
sought. She replied that, being inspired of God, she went seeking to enter
into His service and was now in quest of one who should teach her how it
behoved to serve Him.
The worthy man, seeing her young and very fair and fearing lest, as he
entertained her, the devil should beguile him, commended her pious intent and
giving her somewhat to eat of roots of herbs and wild apples and dates and to
drink of water, said to her, "Daughter mine, not far hence is a holy man, who
is a much better master than I of that which thou goest seeking; do thou
betake thyself to him," and put her in the way. However, when she reached the
man in question, she had of him the same answer and faring farthur, came to
the cell of a young hermit, a very devout and good man, whose name was Rustico
and to whom she made the same request as she had done to the others. He,
having a mind to make a trial of his own constancy, sent her not away, as the
others had done, but received her into his cell, and the night being come, he
made her a little bed of palm-fronds and bade her lie down to rest thereon.
This done, temptations tarried not to give battle to his powers of resistance
and he, finding himself grossly deceived by these latter, turned tail, without
awaiting many assaults, and confessed himself beaten; then, laying aside
devout thoughts and orisons and mortifications, he fell to revolving in his
memory the youth and beauty of the damsel and bethinking himself what course
he should take with her, so as to win to that which he desired of her, without
her taking him for a debauched fellow.
Accordingly, having sounded her with sundry questions, he found that she
had never known man and was in truth as simple as she seemed; wherefore he
bethought him how, under colour of the service of God, he might bring her to
his pleasures. In the first place, he showed her with many words how great an
enemy the devil was of God the Lord and after gave her to understand that the
most acceptable service that could be rendered to God was to put back the
devil into hell, whereto He had condemned him. The girl asked him how this
might be done; and he, "Thou shalt soon know that; do thou but as thou shalt
see me do." So saying, he proceeded to put off the few garments he had and
abode stark naked, as likewise did the girl, whereupon he fell to his knees,
as he would pray, and caused her abide over against himself.
Matters standing thus and Rustico being more than ever inflamed in his
desires to see her so fair, there came the resurrection of the flesh, which
Alibech observing and marvelling, "Rustico," quoth she, "what is that I see on
thee which thrusteth forth thus and which I have not?" "Faith, daughter
mine," answered he, "this is the devil thereof I bespoke thee; and see now, he
giveth me such sore annoy that I can scarce put up with it." Then said the
girl, "Now praised be God! I see I fare better than thou, in that I have none
of yonder devil." "True," rejoined Rustico; "but thou hast otherwhat that I
have not, and thou hast it instead of this." "What is that?" asked Alibech;
and he, "Thou hast hell, and I tell thee methinketh God hath sent thee hither for my soul's health, for that, whenas this devil doth me this annoy, an it
please thee have so much compassion on me as to suffer me put him back into
hell, thou wilt give me the utmost solacement and wilt do God a very great
pleasure and service, so indeed thou be come into these parts to do as thou
sayst."
The girl answered in good faith, "Marry, father mine, since I have hell, be
it whensoever it pleaseth thee;" whereupon quoth Rustico, "Daughter, blessed
be thou; let us go then and put him back there, so he may after leave me in
peace." So saying, he laid her on one of their little beds and taught her how
she should do to imprison that accursed one of God. The girl, who had never
yet put any devil in hell, for the first time felt some little pain; wherefore
she said to Rustico, "Certes, father mine, this same devil must be an ill
thing and an enemy in very deed of God, for that it irketh hell itself, let be
otherwhat, when he is put back therein." "Daughter," answered Rustico, "it
will not always happen thus;" and to the end that this should not happen, six
times, or ever they stirred from the bed, they put him in hell again, insomuch
that for the nonce they so took the conceit out of his head that he willingly
abode at peace. But, it returning to him again and again the ensuing days and
the obedient girl still lending herself to take it out of him, it befell that
the sport began to please her and she said to Rustico, "I see now that those
good people in Capsa spoke sooth, when they avouched that it was so sweet a
thing to serve God; for, certes, I remember me not to have ever done aught
that afforded me such pleasance and delight as putting the devil in hell;
wherefore methinketh that whoso applieth himself unto aught other than God His
service is a fool."
Accordingly, she came ofttimes to Rustico and said to him, "Father mine, I
came here to serve God and not to abide idle; let us go put the devil in
hell." Which doing, she said whiles, "Rustico, I know not why the devil
fleeth away from hell; for, an he abode there as willingly as hell receiveth
him and holdeth him, he would never come forth thereform." The girl, then, on
this wise often inviting Rustico and exhorting him to the service of God, so
took the bombast out of his doublet that he felt cold what time another had
sweated; wherefore he fell to telling her that the devil was not to be
chastised not put into hell, save whenas he should lift up his head for pride;
"and we," added he, "by God's grace, have so baffled him that he prayeth our
Lord to suffer him abide in peace;" and on this wise he for awhile imposed
silence on her. However, when she saw that he required her not of putting the
devil into hell, she said to him one day, "Rustico, an thy devil be chastened
and give thee no more annoy, my hell letteth me not be; wherefore thou wilt do
well to aid me with thy devil in abating the raging of my hell, even as with
my hell I have helped thee take the conceit out of thy devil."
Rustico, who lived on roots and water, could ill avail to answer her calls
and told her that it would need overmany devils to appease hell, but he would
do what he might thereof. Accordingly he satisfied her betimes, but so seldom
it was but casting a bean into the lion's mouth; whereat the girl, herseeming
she served not God as diligently as she would fain have done, murmured
somewhat. But, whilst this debate was toward between Rustico his devil and
Alibech her hell, for overmuch desire on the one part and lack of power on the
other, it befell that a fire broke out in Capsa and burnt Alibech's father in
his own house, with as many children and other family as he had; by reason
whereof she abode heir to all his good. Thereupon, a young man called
Neerbale, who had spent all his substance in gallantry, hearing that she was
alive, set out in search of her and finding her, before the court had laid
hands upon her father's estate, as that of a man dying without heir, to
Rustico's great satisfaction, but against her own will, brought her back to
Capsa, where he took her to wife and succeeded, in her right, to that ample
inheritance of her father.
There, being asked by the woman at what she served God in the desert, she
answered (Neerbale having not yet lain with her) that she served Him at
putting the devil in hell and that Neerbale had done a grievous sin in that he had taken her from such service. The ladies asked, "How putteth one the devil
in hell?" And the girl, what with words and what with gestures, expounded it
to them; whereat they set up so great a laughing that they laugh yet and said,
"Give yourself no concern, my child; nay, for that is done here also and
Neerbale will serve our Lord full well with thee at this. Thereafter, telling
it from one to another throughout the city, they brought it to a common saying
there that the most acceptable service one could render to God was to put the
devil in hell, which byword, having passed the sea hither, is yet current
here. Wherefore do all you young ladies, who have need of God's grace, learn
to put the devil in hell, for that this is highly acceptable to Him and
pleasing to both parties and much good may grow and ensue thereof.
Previous Section Two Next Section Two
Crowley Classics
This little tale was originally published in the "Juvenilia" section of Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden, Crowley's obscene miscellany, one hundred copies of which he had printed privately (most likely in Paris) in 1904, although they bear the ficticious appellation "1881 A.D., Cosmopoli."
It is strange to consider that this skillful and funny but rather mean and disgusting piece of pornography may have been one of the first expressions traced by the hand which had just completed transcribing the Book of the Law from the dictation of Aiwass a few days before. H.M.S. Osiris on which this tale is set was the same ship which carried Aleister and Rose Crowley home from Egypt around the middle of April 1904 e.v. Martin Starr, who has traced their passage, records that a fellow passenger was Annie Besant, leader of the Theosophical Society, who seems to have spent most of that year travelling between her many lectures and meetings. Starr, presumably working from Crowley's diaries, records that Crowley even had some extended conversations with Besant, but did not mention the results of the working he had just completed in Cairo.
The Needs of the Navy
by Aleister Crowley
The air of the room was quite sweet and heavy with the savour of forbidden
kisses; a faint moist sense of sweat steamed up in the twilight, and there was
a sound of breath that did not dare to breathe, of sighs choked by fear. The
midshipman's head silently turned round and his tongue pushed languidly
forward to touch the lips of the lieutenant. A sound in the next room; both
trembled violently, sprang from the sofa where they had been lying and hastily
arranged the disorder their passion had made necessary. The middy took his
lover's hand, raised it to his lips, bit it hard with sudden mad desire and
whispered, in a voice shuddering with unsatiated lust "Ah God! Ah God! I love
you now!" He slipped through the door and left Andrew Clayton to sweet
memories and disquieting thought of the future. For Monty Le W-- had never
given him his love before. Monty was a dark, languid-eyed boy with jetty
hair; there was about him the indefinable air that sexual perverts recognize
so quickly, a closer union than masonry can boast. In fact, he had not been
on board H.M.S. Osiris a week before the Captain had promoted him to a dignity
sufficiently high to excite the envy of the boys who had till then held the
proud distinction of favourite catamite. A furious battle between the jealous
beauties ended in their growing so excited over the spilt blood and the
violent physical pain that the spectators were scandalized by the sight of an
impromptu orgie as infuriate as the fight had originally been. The boys were
still fast friends, but Monty was first favourite with the Captain and
tyrannized over him to the previously-unheard-of extent of demanding
reciprocity en affaire d'amour. The Captain on his part only asked fidelity;
and indeed Monty had grown to love him so dearly that the thought of an
adultery would have been insupportable. One day, however, a sudden desire
came upon him towards the most popular of the lieutenants, Andrew Clayton, a
man of violent passions not usually associated with fair hair and rather timid
grey eyes. Andrew saw the sly looks of the midshipman and one day went into
his cabin and, stepping to his side without a word, gave him a fierce kiss,
while his hand sought to awake desire in an even more direct manner. But the
passing fancy of the boy had gone, and he rudely repulsed the advances of his
would-be lover. Andrew, with great self-command, withdrew in silence. Next
day, however, they were both called before the Captain, read a long lecture on
the sin of paederasty and severely reprimanded. It was evident that Captain
Spelton liked his forehead very well as it was, and meant to keep a sharp
look-out. Monty in his innocence was terribly indignant and naturally became quite ready to cuckold the Captain if he could. At mess that evening he
managed to whisper "you shall have me if you still -" the immediate result of
which was considerably embarrassing to Andrew. But all the endeavours they
made to meet and steal a kiss occasionally were always frustrated as if by
accident, though they now knew it must be of set purpose. Andrew suggested at
last that, to allay suspicion, he should choose another middy and pretend to
make violent love to him. Monty's jealousy said no, and only after a long
time was he persuaded to agree. "Katie" Ambrose, the boy selected for this
vicarious duty, was a dirty little fellow of the most vicious type. His
favourite fancy, in public, was to lie on his back and to endeavour to catch
in his mouth, and swallow, his own emissions, and he was also constantly
degrading his rank by licking the genitals, or the feet, of the dirtiest
sailors and stokers on the ship. He was only glad from the social status it
gave him when Andrew made overtures of love. Monty would have himself
preferred this choice, arguing that Andrew would have himself preferred this
choice, arguing that Andrew could never be really enamoured of so vicious a
boy, but what he saw three weeks after undeceived him. On this wise.
One night the Captain, being restless, suggested a tour of inspection, and
the two lovers stole quietly out of their cabin. They came after a time to
where Andrew and Ambrose were, and were lucky enough to catch the former in
the very act of sacrificing at the most holy altar, while the boy, turned half
round, was gently chewing and licking the armpit of the perspiring lieutenant.
One finger of his free hand sought to penetrate the other's shrine, while the
hand underneath him titillated his own genitals in unison with the motions of
his lover. The act was consummated; gasping, heaving, breathless, they sink
lower on the bed. Their tongues mingle lazily; the elder man withdraws
slowly; a pleasant sound announces his exit. Hardly a moment and the boy
gives his lover a signal. The latter turns over while Ambrose rises and sits
over him while the sweet salt offering, spiced now by the god to whom it is
offered, trickles daintily into the open mouth of the languorous man. Then
the boy slips down into his lover's arms: they share the incense with mingled
mouths until the flavour is appeased and they swallow it with the first blush
of reawakening desire. "Katie" eagerly reverses his position to prepare for a
new embrace; but Monty whispers to the Captain: "Darling, I can bear it no
longer; come back!" They never slept at all that night; but I never heard
either of them regret the fact. But Monty was terribly disgusted with Andrew,
and when little Ambrose struck Monty (who had called him, with naive
eloquence, "Suck-shit") the latter knocked him down and kicked him. The
lieutenant, who was near, had to interfere, and the dark languorous boy was
punished. This mean revenge (as he understood it) irritated Monty still more
and he eventually refused to speak to Andrew at all.
It was the night of a big dinner ashore and Monty Le W-- had gone up to a
little sitting-room which was next [to the] billiard-room, to wait for the
Captain. Unperceived Andrew had followed him and was now lurking behind the
heavy curtain that hung over the door; he listened to the boys' muttered
soliloquy, disturbed only by the noisier laughter and curses of the billiard-
room. Spelton was long - damned long - coming; no doubt of that. And Monty's
desires were getting less controllable every minute. At last he took down his
trousers and began to play with himself, hoping to ease a little his
discomfort. At this moment Andrew glided forward and whispered "If you speak
we are both lost. Your dress . . ." The frightened boy made a movement of
agony. He was terribly angry, and yet dared not speak or make the least
sound. After the other affair he knew the Captain would never believe his
story. The lusty lieutenant took out a weapon fiery and enormous, and began
to seek admission. The boy, with all the force of the sphincter, resisted. A
sharp tap or two on the coccyx, however, reminded him that he had a bold
lover, who would stick at nothing, and he gave way. The whole length of his
lover's yard was engulfed in one great push, and, accustomed as he was to the
Captain's penis, he could hardly repress a cry of pain. The ravisher was far
longer and thicker and cared a great deal less about any pain he might inflict. And he plunged like a mad horse! At last the welcome climax, and a
perfect deluge of kisses bitten hard into his olive neck. And then the
luxurious confession with which this story began.
Left to himself, Clayton invented incidentally twenty-three quite new
curses, called Le W-- a little bitch, kissed the mark of the little bitch's
teeth on his hand, and generally conducted himself as an officer and a
gentleman would do, provided he were also a devout Christian. He foresaw
trouble. It came pretty quickly. Two days afterwards Clayton had to quit his
lover's room in a great hurry, as heavy footsteps trod the passage. The
Captain was in his dressing-gown and proved quite Arcadian beneath. He was in
bed in a jiffy, and discovered heat and moisture to an extent unwarranted by
the climate. "I thought you would never come, love," sighed the charming
middy, with resourceful tact, "so I've been whiling away the time." "I'm here
now," said his lover, and applied his lips to the dark altar of his desire.
That was very moist too, and the Captain's inquisitive tongue soon penetrated
its secrecies and became aware of a strong warm taste as of incense recently
offered. "I envy you your amusement," he observed, with delicate irony, "you
appear to have succeeded at last in following my advice to go and bugger
yourself!" He said no more just then, but came round with a sharp knife two
days later to both the lovers and said he thought their accomplishments, if
unique, were unnatural. But the knife cut both knots at once; he told Lord
Cartington at their tête-à-tête dinner the next day that there seemed to be no
end to the variety of entrees which had as a basis - oysters.
"Katie" Ambrose grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with god and man.
Previous Crowley Classics Next Crowley Classics
from the Grady Project:
| (on giving the OD your GO,as written)
|
| Down upon Pier Seventeen |
| Relief is few and far between |
| For those who pace the weathered front, |
| Or so it was one night when Runt, |
| The Squirrel, was there upon patrol |
| And wearing out more G.I. sole: |
| So when the O.D. came his way, |
| He stopped to pass the time of day.
|
| -- Sgt. Grady L. McMurtry |
| (undated) |
Previous Grady Project Next Grady Project
Primary Sources
Why there were so few:
Oriflamme #2, The Revival of Magick is on its way to dues current members now. Some might wonder why so much goes into these issues and why they are so far apart. Wonder no more! Here's Crowley's reaction to an earlier series number put out by old Agape Lodge. It was only a few pages, a good start on a sort of newsletter. Shall we say that it was not well received by the Beast? Nowadays OTO has many publications out of local bodies, the Equinox, with Constitution, is back at intervals and the Magical Link brings news and information twice a year. No such luck in the decades after this shot at the first attempt to bring the Order to the members in the forties! With a wink to the editor of the new series, here's Crowley's reaction to the old that died aborning.
| | 93 Jermyn Street
London, W.i.
4th May, 1943
|
|
Dear Jane,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thanks for your letter of March 15th. I am glad you liked the "Fun of the
Fair" and will feel the same about the "City of God" when you get it. I
cannot afford to send it by air.
About "Oriflamme": I cannot see the point of this at all. It is the most
amaturish production I have ever set eyes on. You give absolutely not one
word of the information which people expect when they pick up a new magazine.
Why don't you print the Constitutions of the O.T.O., perhaps in an abridged
form? You have got to shew who you are, what you stand for and what you are
doing. You don't even give an address, except a post office box. I cannot
imagine any more stupid way of wasting money.
Then, in case anybody ever should see the thing - which God forbid - you
print those verses of Jack's which are not bad in themselves in their way, but
you could hardly have found anything in the whole world more objectionable
from our point of view. What could have been better calculated to revive the
ancient stories about drug-traffic and so on! Incidentally, he not only
misquotes the Law, but gives it that very interpretation of all others which
we are most anxious not to give. When I saw them I said: "This cannot be
plain idiocy, this must be malignant design'. Then when your letter came and
said that you were editing the thing I saw that it must have been plain idiocy
after all.
In any case, drop it. Every penny is wanted for getting out unpublished
stuff, or at least for advertising the Order and its principles and the work
of the Order.
There is no allusion to the celebration of the Gnostic Mass and if it is
not being celebrated, there is no sense whatever in your having a house of the
millionaire type which you apparently inhabit. You say nothing about the
course of initiation; in other words, I simply cannot imagine what you are
after. I can see nothing but distraction, dispersion and waste, and colossal
stupidity beyond the power of the human imagination to conceive.
You ask for help or criticism and this is it. It is much milder than I
should like. Anyhow, for the future please print nothing of mine in any such
rag-bag of imbecility.
It is perfectly ridiculous to express a hope that I may sit under your
vines and fig-trees when you do nothing whatever to help the work at
Headquarters.
We have now by dint of immense sacrifice got the Tarot book to the point
where there will be nothing more to pay until it is ready for delivery and I
suppose not very much then. We were obliged to use any cash available to do
this because at any moment the government may require the metal used in the
setting and the edition must therefore be printed off without a moment's
delay.
This leaves us on the brink of actual ruin and starvation, and you play the
fool in Pasadena issuing ridiculous magazines and squabbling. It looks to me
as if you were wasted out there - the whole crowd of you. You ought to join
the Fighting French.
I hope that Jack's visit to Germer will do something to straighten out your
domestic troubles, but unless you can decide to settle down and work in
perfect harmony under instructions from Headquarters, there will be no longer
anything to do.
Karl's suggestion that you should get into close contact with Schneider is
admirable. He is simple and loyal. He is absolutely trustworthy and
sensible. The greatest mistake you have made out there is in allowing Smith's
jealousy to jocky him out of his rightful position.
Love is the law, love under will.
Yours,
P.S. In all this you will please understand that I do not in any way lack
confidence in you, but I think you have allowed yourself to be deceived and
misled. I am sending you enclosed with this a letter which you can hand to
Helen when you have thoroughly digested it. It is in answer to hers of the
Vernal Equinox. She attacks various people without mentioning who they are,
but I fancy you must be one of them. Don't stand any nonsense from any
upstarts and interlopers. |
Previous Primary Sources Next Primary Sources
The Qabalah Series will resume next issue. No room this issue
From the Outbasket
Here are the annual demographics of the O.T.O. from International
Headquarters. These membership totals have been obtained from central
accounts at the end of February 1998 e.v.: 3,129 all, 2,818 of which
are initiates. The International O.T.O. financial statement for
fiscal year 1997-1998 e.v. will be available toward the end of April.
For a copy, enclose an SASE and write to: O.T.O. Annual Financial
Statement, Ordo Templi Orientis, P.O.Box 430, Fairfax, CA 94978 USA
| ADV |
|
88 |
| Associates |
|
223 |
| Minervals |
|
898 |
| Ist Degrees |
|
727 |
| IInd Degrees |
|
451 |
| IIIrd Degrees |
|
331 |
| IVth Degrees |
|
239 |
| Vth Degrees |
|
118 |
| Higher Degrees |
|
54 |
--oOo--
In the list which follows, all data is drawn from the
International mailing list. Accordingly, the actual membership
total here is less than the total count, owing to changing and lost
addresses. A sizable number of members behind in dues were dropped
from the active roles in February. That change, coming immediately
before the annual report, has depressed the count in some countries
Known OTO member addresses by regions at end February 1998 e.v.
(Associates and initiates both) Total: 2,859 in 38 countries.
UNITED STATES TOTAL 1,712
| Alabama |
|
13 |
|
Mississippi |
|
60 |
| Arizona |
|
60 |
|
Missouri |
|
27 |
| Arkansas |
|
4 |
|
Nebraska |
|
19 |
| California |
|
371 |
|
Nevada |
|
40 |
| (North Cal: 199) |
|
|
|
New Hampshire |
|
5 |
| (South Cal: 172) |
|
|
|
New Jersey |
|
35 |
| Colorado |
|
21 |
|
New Mexico |
|
14 |
| Connecticut |
|
6 |
|
New York |
|
119 |
| Delaware |
|
2 |
|
North Carolina |
|
13 |
| Dist. of Columbia |
|
1 |
|
Ohio |
|
22 |
| Florida |
|
49 |
|
Oklahoma |
|
35 |
| Georgia |
|
63 |
|
Oregon |
|
119 |
| Hawaii |
|
3 |
|
Pennsylvania |
|
68 |
| Idaho |
|
7 |
|
Rhode Island |
|
4
|
| Illinois |
|
32 |
|
South Carolina |
|
3 |
| Indiana |
|
47 |
|
South Dakota |
|
2 |
| Iowa |
|
3 |
|
Tennessee |
|
15 |
| Kansas |
|
26 |
|
Texas |
|
159 |
| Kentucky |
|
5 |
|
Utah |
|
29 |
| Louisiana |
|
23 |
|
Virginia |
|
29 |
| Maryland |
|
28 |
|
Washington |
|
73 |
| Massachusetts |
|
34 |
|
West Virginia |
|
6 |
| Michigan |
|
29 |
|
Wisconsin |
|
12 |
| Minnesota |
|
31 |
EUROPE TOTAL: 817
| BELGIUM |
|
2 |
|
MACEDONIA |
|
7 |
| BULGARIA |
|
16 |
|
NETHERLANDS |
|
19 |
| CROATIA |
|
86 |
|
NORWAY |
|
92 |
| DENMARK |
|
21 |
|
PORTUGAL |
|
1 |
| ENGLAND |
|
116 |
|
RUSSIA |
|
2 |
| FINLAND |
|
1 |
|
SCOTLAND |
|
7 |
| FRANCE |
|
21 |
|
SERBIA |
|
75 |
| GERMANY |
|
97 |
|
SLOVENIA |
|
80 |
| GREECE |
|
2 |
|
SPAIN |
|
5 |
| ICELAND |
|
7 |
|
SWEDEN |
|
100 |
| IRELAND (N&S) |
|
7 |
|
SWITZERLAND |
|
1 |
| ISRAEL |
|
1 |
|
WALES |
|
1 |
| ITALY |
|
50 |
|
|
|
|
CANADA TOTAL: 138
| Alberta |
|
27 |
|
Ontario |
|
40 |
| British Columbia |
|
54 |
|
Quebec |
|
14 |
| Manitoba |
|
1 |
|
Saskatchewan |
|
2 |
OCEANIA & ASIA TOTAL: 134
| TURKEY |
|
1 |
|
AUSTRALIA |
|
84 |
| BAHRAIN |
|
1 |
|
NEW ZEALAND |
|
28 |
| MALASIA |
|
1 |
|
JAPAN |
|
19 |
PANAMERICA (exp. US&CAN) TOTAL: 56
| BRAZIL |
|
51 |
|
MEXICO |
|
3 |
| MARTINIQUE |
|
1 |
|
WEST INDIES |
|
1 |
AFRICA TOTAL: 2
Previous years:
| 2/88 | 2/89 | 2/90 | 2/91 | 2/92 | 2/93 | 2/94 | 2/95 | 2/96 | 2/97 |
| ADV | N/A | 42 | 49 | 54 | 72 | 91 | 90 | 87 | 104 | 118 |
| Assoc. | 170 | 194 | 245 | 211 | 273 | 317 | 221 | 246 | 286 | 375 |
| Min. | 397 | 403 | 443 | 526 | 605 | 660 | 642 | 706 | 889 | 890 |
| Ist | 236 | 358 | 380 | 457 | 483 | 485 | 487 | 573 | 700 | 685 |
| IInd | 154 | 173 | 217 | 249 | 291 | 290 | 311 | 378 | 441 | 447 |
| IIIrd | 97 | 109 | 145 | 178 | 198 | 221 | 226 | 225 | 296 | 325 |
| IVth | 35 | 64 | 66 | 80 | 111 | 125 | 160 | 194 | 204 | 212 |
| Vth | 40 | 49 | 63 | 65 | 67 | 70 | 66 | 102 | 113 | 107 |
| Higher | 16 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 31 | 29 | 35 | 35 | 41 | 57 |
| ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== |
| Total | 1,145 | 1,408 | 1,627 | 1,844 | 2,131 | 2,288 | 2,238 | 2,546 | 3,074 | 3,216 |
Detail of February 1997 e.v. Demographics (last year)
---- International OTO Treasurer General (Bill Heidrick)
Previous Outbasket Next Outbasket
Events Calendar for April 1998 e.v.
| 4/1/98 | | College of Hard NOX 8 PM
with Mordecai in the library | | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/2/98 | Ritual Study Workshop with Cynthia
8:00 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/5/98 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/8/98 | Feast of Liber AL ch.I 8:00PM
At Ancient Ways | |
| 4/9/98 | Feast of Liber AL ch.II 8:00PM
At Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/10/98 | Feast of Liber AL ch.III 7:00PM
At Oz House | |
| 4/12/98 | Lodge luncheon meeting 12:30 | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/12/98 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/16/98 | Ritual Study Workshop with Cynthia
8:00 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/18/98 | OTO initiations, call to attend | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/19/98 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/20/98 | Section II reading group with
Caitlin: Boccaccio's "Decameron"
at Oz house, 8 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/22/98 | Class series on Liber 777 begins
7:30 PM with Bill Heidrick at
5 Suffield Ave. in San Anselmo | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/23/98 | Ritual Study Workshop with Cynthia
8:00 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/26/98 | Gnostic Mass 8:00PM Horus Temple | Thelema Ldg. |
| 4/27/98 | Sirius Oasis meeting 8:00 PM
in Berkeley | Sirius Oasis |
| 4/29/98 | 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)
Production and Circulation:
OTO-TLC
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94978 USA
Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and circulation only)