Thelema Lodge Calendar for December 2003 e.v.
Thelema Lodge Calendar
for December 2003 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, 2003 e.v.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
December 2003 e.v. at Thelema Lodge
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers
Solstice in the Temple
Thelema Lodge invites members, friends, and guests to revel in the dark of
the year as Our Father the Sun enters Capricornus on Sunday evening 21st
December. The winter solstice will be celebrated with a holiday gnostic mass
and a temple full of cheer, and to mark the season there will also be a brief
ritual of dedication to Baphomet, preceding the opening of the temple for
mass. Communicants should assemble as usual in the lodge library at 7:30 on
Sunday evening to await the summons of the deacon. Come together for the
year's longest night and we will heat up the temple to welcome in the dark
season. Those attending mass here for the first time, on this or any Sunday
evening, should call well ahead to speak with the lodgemaster for directions
to the temple and further information about participation in our communion.
The gnostic mass has now been celebrated each week in the present location
of Horus Temple for fully ten years, according to the Canon Missae of Ecclesia
Gnostica Catholica established in Liber XV by Aleister Crowley as the
Patriarch Baphomet. The lodge encourages everyone who takes communion with us
to study this ritual themselves and then to learn it by practicing privately
with others. Working with other mass officers in our temple, or with one of
our gnostic bishops, novices can polish their performance, clarify the
delivery of their lines, and delve further into the miracle of the mass. When
a team has prepared itself to serve the lodge in this central celebration of
the mysteries of our Order, its members are invited to request a date on the
temple calendar, which is kept by the lodgemaster.
Our temple was first established twenty-six years ago by Crowley's
successor as E.G.C. Patriarch, Grady McMurtry. From the beginning mass has
been celebrated here on an open basis, with everyone in the community invited
to participate by learning the officers' roles and then signing up with a
team to present the ritual. The result is that Horus Temple has continued
over the years to offer the mass on a weekly basis to a strong community of
gnostic Thelemites, with a healthy variety of officers seen in the principal
roles. A good proportion of those in our congregation are experienced as mass
officers, and the core of our membership includes at least half a dozen who
have been celebrating mass together here for fifteen years and more. Because
we welcome new officers, not all of our masses have the same degree of polish
and grace -- or spontaneity and power -- that we are often privileged to see
from celebrants who have a few years of experience. The problems are
typically minor points of timing and tone, or unfamiliarity with the grammar
of certain phrases, rather than actual errors. By offering mass every week,
to an audience which has come to know the liturgy so thoroughly, the community
is able in a sense to learn the ritual anew along with each novice team, just
as we all participate in the expertise of our established performers. Even
the best officers may sometimes, on the spot, mistake or omit a phrase in the
liturgy, and such slips are easily put right (usually with calm quiet
prompting from another member of the team). Not only does a small correction
or inadvertent variation usually do no harm to the ceremony, it may even be
beneficial in focusing identification with the officers on the part of those
among the people who can easily imagine themselves up at the altar in just the
same position. Our gnostic mass is not a stage play to be dramatized by
professional actors for a passive audience of patrons. Mass is a celebration
we all make together, taking turns in the principal roles. We are an
"ecclesia" (a meeting defined by the presence of all), and not a "church"
(ultimately from "kyrios," meaning authority, related to "kyrie" in the mass;
implying recognition from on high). Unlike a church we are not a community of
"faith" but rather a community of celebration, and we are not interested in regularizing the significance of our participation. Mass does not involve
something that we need to believe together; rather, it is something we do
together.
The gnostic mass epitomizes and symbolizes the central "secrets" of our
Order's magical culture, which we gather to share and in which we strive to
further instruct one another. Unlike the initiation rituals, which are
"secret" transactions strictly limited to members by degree, the mass
expresses our work together in symbolism which is available for all to see,
hear, taste, smell, and feel in the temple, and afterwards to verbalize about
openly to any one who will listen. The work of the O.T.O. extends upon these
two parallel paths: initiations which derive their meaning from the
contractual secrecy under which they are conducted, and the gnostic mass which
manifests its miracle openly to all. The oasis and the temple each depend
upon the trust which is generated by those whose efforts together constitutes
the progress of our Order. Each is founded upon the working of rituals
specific to the O.T.O., and it is the purpose of a lodge to facilitate
progress along both of these paths. The rituals of individual development and
those of communal celebration are worked within the same community, although
in practical fact this does not mean that they are worked by precisely the
same individuals at any given time. Members, friends, and guests of the lodge
(an inclusive phrase we like to use in defining the community here) have each
their own choice, all of the time, whether to pursue individual progress along
either or both of these paths, and that choice must be left in each case to
the individual will.
The Radix of Vibration
Brother Jeffrey Sommer leads the Mantra Yoga circle at Thelema Lodge, which
meets on Thursday evening 18th December at 8:00 in Horus Temple.
Experimenting with various languages and traditions, this group studies both
the theory and practice of chanting together, with all participants welcome to
swell the mighty buzz of our devotions. Try designing your own mantric phrase
and working with it in batteries of 108 repetitions at various times of the
day, making notes of any insights and results to bring along and compare with
those of others. Or simply turn up, learn the mantra selected for group work
along with the rest of us, and join in.
Constrain the Mind to Concentrate
"Yoga means Union."
-- Aleister Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga. |
The series entitled Foundations of Magical Practice offers monthly seminars
on selected topics in the tradition of Thelemic magick. Having completed a
detailed survey of Crowley's instructions for beginning magicians in Liber O,
we now proceed to the introductory advice concerning yoga which he offered in
Liber E. Join facilitators Gregory Peters, Leigh Ann Hussey, and Samuel Shult
on Thursday evening 11th December from 7:30 until 10:00 in Horus Temple to
take part in this discussion. While Liber O provides the essentials of magick
practice, giving Golden Dawn techniques of working with the subtle levels of
energy and magick light, in Liber E we find a series of basic techniques for
training the mind and body in the practice of yogic disciplines. Taken
together, these two manuals form the foundation of practice, establishing the
solid base of a pyramid of magick and yoga which, with persistence,
discipline, and integrity, will eventually lead one to the heights of
attainment.
The basic outline of yogic practices given in Liber E is elaborated upon
further in Crowley's Book Four, Part I, as well as his smaller work Eight
Lectures on Yoga. In discussing the teachings of the "Great Men" of the past,
Crowley writes in Book Four:
The methods advised by
all these people have a
startling resemblance to
one another. They
recommend "virtue" (of
various kinds), solitude,
absence of excitement,
moderation in diet, and
finally a practice which
some call prayer and some
call meditation. (The
former four may turn out on
examination to be merely
conditions favourable to
the last.
It is by freeing the
mind from external
influences, whether casual
or emotional, that it
obtains power to see
somewhat of the truth of
things. |
Even more succinctly, in Eight
Lectures on Yoga, Crowley outlines
the "whole of the technique of
Yoga":
Sit Still. Stop thinking. Shut up. Get out!
The brilliance of Crowley's
adaptation of yoga is the disposal
of countless unnecessary
superstitions, cultural trappings,
and misinformation to reveal the
pristine glory of systematic set
of physical and mental exercises
which will aid the magician in
concentration, control of force,
and increased vitality and health.
The Yoga Sutras, written by the
sage Patanjali, first outlined the
path of ashtanga or "eight limbed
yoga" as a set of guidelines on
how to live one's life, with
attention to diet, self-
discipline, and ethical and moral
considerations. The first limb is
yama, a set of five ethical
standards to be followed: ahimsa
(non-violence), satya (speaking
the truth), asteya (non-stealing),
brahmacharya (sexual continence),
and aparigraha (non-attachment).
Crowley redefined yama to reflect
the changes in consciousness and
responsibility which humanity has
progressed to, by saying "Do what
thou wilt shall be the whole of
the Law. That is Yama."
The second limb is niyama,
traditionally interpreted as five
observances of self-discipline and
witnessing of the sacred in one's
life. These are saucha
(cleanliness); samtosa
(contentment); tapas (spiritual
austerities); svadhyaya
(introspection); and Isvara
pranidhana (surrender to God). In
Eight Lectures on Yoga, Crowley
interprets this limb generally as
"virtue," expanding them from five
to seven virtues which correspond
to the seven sacred planets of the
ancients. Saturn represents the
virtue of discipline and
endurance, and embraces the Trance
of Sorrow; Jupiter shows the
"vital, creative, genial element
of the cosmos" as the selflessness
of universal love, and the Trance
of Joy; Mars stands for the virtue
of energy, the ability to conquer
the obstacles on the path, in
particular the physical obstacles,
as well as courage and passion;
unto the Sun is ascribed the
virtue of harmony, the
"centralization of the faculties,
their control, their motivation;"
to Venus is given the "ecstatic
acceptance of all possible
experience and the transcendental
assumption of all particular
experience into the one
experience;" Mercury represents
the virtue of adaptability and
indifference, the adroitness and
flexibility that is requisite in
both the mind and body of the
yogin to master the path; while
finally, the Moon evinces the
purity of aspiration, as well as
the many siddhis or magick powers
which will arise. Crowley also
adds two further planetary
associations, for Uranus and
Neptune. The niyama for Uranus is
"the discovery of the True Will,"
further stating that this "is the
most important of the tasks of the
Yogi, because, until he has
achieved it, he can have no idea
who he is or where he is going."
To Neptune, he attributes
spiritual intuition, the
"imaginative faculty, the
shadowing forth of the nature of
the illimitable light," as well as a strong dose of humour.
Finally, of Pluto we are told
that he is "the utmost sentinel of
all; of him it is not wise to
speak," after which he explains
that this is because "nothing at
all is known about him." (Perhaps
it is for some future yogin to
discover the niyama of this
distant chunk of ice!)
The third and fourth limbs of
ashtanga are asana, the various
postures necessary for meditation,
and pranayama, the control of
breath. Whereas traditional yoga
utilizes several sets of asanas
for practice and mastery, Crowley
recommended selecting one position
and mastering it. "The real
object of Asana is control of the
muscular system, conscious and
unconscious, so that no messages
from the body can reach the mind."
He points out the many health
benefits of asana, including
The conquest of Asana makes
for endurance. If you keep
in constant practice, you
ought to find that about
ten minutes in the posture
will rest you as much as a
good night's sleep. |
Crowley defined pranayama as
"control of force," again cutting
through profuse amounts of mystic
obfuscation in the traditional
literature by describing the
process thus:
This simply means that you
get a stop watch, and
choose a cycle of breathing
out and breathing in. Both
operations should be made
as complete as possible.
The muscular system must be
taxed to its utmost to
assist the expansion and
contraction of the lungs. |
He also describes the classic
results of pranayama practice:
perspiration, automatic rigidity,
buchari-siddhi ("jumping about
like a frog"), and levitation.
The fifth and sixth limbs are
pratyahara, the withdrawal of
senses, and dharana, concentration. The former is
described in Eight Lectures as
"introspection, but it also means
a certain type of psychological
experience," citing the direct
experience of feeling that you do
not have a nose as an example.
Going into much more detail in
Book Four, Crowley describes the
process of simply watching the
mind think. With dharana, we move
into concentration proper. Here
Liber E gives several practices
for training the mind to
concentrate one-pointedly, such as
visualizing the elemental tattvas
for a minute or more, and
eventually working up to more
complex images. Other practices
given in Eight Lectures for
concentration include Liber
Astarte, Liber III vel Jugorum,
and the practice, "useful when
walking in a christian city," of
saying "Apo Pantaos Kakodaimonos,"
with an "outward and downward
sweep of the arm," whenever
passing a person in "religious
garb."
Dyana and Samadhi, the seventh
and eighth limbs of yoga, are
traditionally associated with
"meditation" proper, and ecstasy,
respectively. One necessarily
leads to the other, and samadhi is
the crown of the system, the
charisma of the yogin. In dyana
is a development of the
introspection of pratyahara and
the concentration of dharana,
resulting in the single minded
force of dhyana. This process,
taken to conclusion, results in
the ecstasy of Samadhi. In The
Soldier and the Hunchback (Liber
148), Crowley writes of this
experience:
Not what Christians call
faith, be sure! But what
(possibly) the forgers of
the Epistles -- those
eminent mystics! -- meant
by faith. What I call
Samadhi!
Ah, say the adepts,
Samadhi is not the end, but
the beginning. You must
regard Samadhi as the
normal state of mind which enables you to begin your
researches, just as waking
is the state from which you
rise to Samadhi, sleep the
state from which you rose
to waking. And only from
Sammasamadhi -- continuous
trance of the right kind --
can you rise up as it were
on tiptoe and peer through
the clouds unto the
mountains. |
---- Brother Gregory Peters |
Midst the Immortals, Be Thyself a God
The "Section Two" reading group
meets in the lodge library to read
and discuss the Golden Verses of
Pythagoras, beginning at 8:00 on
Monday evening 22nd December.
This set of 71 Greek hexameter
verses represents an ancient
distillation of the philosophic
teachings of the school
established by Pythagoras.
Crowley recommended it to his
students as a work "for serious
study" in Section One of the A
A
reading list. Here he
specifically mentions the French
translation and commentary by
Fabre d'Olivet which appeared in
1813 (subsequently translated into
English and often reprinted) as
providing for students of
Pythagoras "an interesting study
of the exoteric doctrines of this
Master." We will examine these
Pythagorean verses (designated as
"golden" after the ancient manner,
indicating their great value),
with their rather conventional
exhortations to justice,
discipline, moderation, and piety.
We will also explore the
interpretations offered in the
d'Olivet commentary, as well as in
the ancient commentary by the
Alexandrian philosopher Hierocles
and in other studies of the
Pythagorian heritage.
Our gnostic saint Pythagoras,
father of the Greek intellectual
tradition which became known as
philosophy (a term he originated),
spanned with his adult life the
latter half of the sixth century
previous to the common era. He was raised on the Aegean island of
Samos, where he showed remarkable
progress in his early education
and was encouraged to travel to
Egypt for more advanced learning.
According to the ancient
biographies, Pythagoras remained
for 22 years studying in various
Egyptian temples and libraries,
followed by 12 more years with the
Magi of Babylon, returning to
Samos as a renowned scholar at the
age of 56. During his travels he
obtained initiation in numerous
local cults and mystery schools,
all the while studying foreign
religions, governments, and
educational systems. Back in
Greece he established a training
center to propagate the
"philosophic" mode of living,
located originally in a large cave
outside the city of Samos.
Political tyranny there drove him
to emigrate within a few years,
however, and he went to one of the
new Greek colonies in southern
Italy, where he was celebrated for
his wisdom and burdened with
occasional civic responsibilities.
There in the city of Croton,
Pythagoras established a new
philosophic school where hundreds
of students and their families
lived communally, studying
together and welcoming guest
scholars from all over the
Hellenic world and beyond. Their
curriculum was based upon
mathematics, founded upon a notion
of numeric emergence from the
monad, which is similar to the
pattern of sepherotic emanation
later developed in Hebrew qabalah.
Pythagoras established basic laws
in the fields of harmony and
geometry which have continued ever
since to be studied according to
his methods, and he also
originated the concept of the
philosophical community. This
institution provided a model for
Plato's Republic, as well as for
the later monastic, academic, and
utopian traditions. For the Abbey
of Thelema, and at length for Ordo
Templi Orientis itself, the
philosophic community of
Pythagoras stands as one of the
original examples of a secular order established for a dedicated
and enlightened membership
according to an informed design.
Pythagoras gave public lectures
and directed the reform of civil
constitutions, but left no
writings of his own. Followers
attended to his oral teachings,
and passed them down to later
students for generations before
any need was seen to make a
durable record of their master's
words. By that time the tradition
had been dispersed, and many of
the accounts which were assembled
have not survived except as
fragmentary quotations in later
books. Outlines of his teaching
are given in two biographies of
Pythagoras written by the
Neoplatonic philosophers Porphyry
and Iamblichus, who (although
removed from their subject by
about eight hundred years) enjoyed
far greater reference to ancient
sources than modern scholarship
(remote by sixteen additional
centuries) can hope to recover.
In the ancient world the influence
of Pythagoras was so pervasive
that it can hardly be
distinguished from the entire
course of Greek philosophy; his
doctrines and methods were
fundamental to the work both of
Plato and Aristotle, each of whom
acknowledged their debt to
Pythagoras. Waves of
philosophical renewal later in the
ancient world are designated as
Neoplatonic or Neopythagorean
almost indistinguishably, so
intertwined are these traditions.
Apart from the "Golden" Verses
there are several other ancient
collections of the "sayings" of
Pythagoras, as well as later
philosophical treatises which
explicate his principles and quote
from teachings attributed to him.
Collections of Pythagorian
material in English translation
are available, and some study in
one of them would assist
participants to contribute to our
"Section Two" discussion, but all
are welcome for an introduction to
this great font of philosophy,
with or without any advance review
of the subject.
Previous Section Two Next Section Two
Crowley Classics
Seemingly one of Crowley's most foolish, dishonest, and offensive essays, this early propaganda piece was his first contribution to George Sylvester Viereck's monthly magazine The International: A Review of Two Worlds (New York), where it appeared in the January 1916 e.v. issue on pages 24 and 25. Although Edith Cavell had been shot by the Germans in occupied Belgium only a couple of months earlier, Crowley has very little to say here about her case, and most of what he does imply is false. Born and trained in England, Cavell had been the nursing director of a medical institute in Brussels for seven years before the war began, remaining there when the institute was converted into a Red Cross hospital during wartime. She and a Belgian man were arrested in August 1915 for assisting about 200 British, French, and Belgian soldiers with money and guides for escape into neutral Holland. Despite cooperating with the German court marshal, Cavell (aged 49) was sentenced to death on 9th October 1915 and executed by firing squad three days later. No charges involving espionage had been proffered against her, and the German government ignored strong American and Spanish protests in carrying out the hasty and outrageous judgment. She immediately became a heroine of the Allied cause, and Crowley's attempt here to argue her guilt as a "spy" would have been widely recognized for its disloyal inaccuracy. Even if it was written, as Crowley later maintained, in association with a secretly organized British effort to discredit German propaganda, it still seems difficult to excuse the author's reliance in this essay upon misogynistic nonsense about "soul" and gender, opinions with which he enjoyed causing offense in other contexts as well. With respect to the Master Therion, we present this item in the same critical spirit with which the utterances of anyone aspiring to prophecy will always need to be examined.
The Crime of Edith Cavell
by Aleister Crowley
"And Judas said: Hail Master! and kissed him."
In the outburst of collective
hysteria, which is called by the
patients, sympathy for Miss Cavell
and indignation at her fate, it
had not occurred to anyone to
analyze the nature of her offence.
That offence is what the law of
England calls "constructive
murder."
It is an innocent and even a
politic action to open a door for
a lady, but if one did so in order
to enable that lady to murder her
husband, one would be equally
guilty. The responsibility for
crime does not diminish by
dilution. Every man who makes a
shell in Bethlehem is just as much
at war as the soldier who fires
that shell, provided that he is
aware of the purpose to which the
shell will be put. One might even
say that the man who sows the seed
to grow corn to make the bread to
feed the man who makes the shell
would be equally participant in
the final action, but that here
there is no intention to feed that
particular man. However, since it
may be so, one can understand the
position of these international
lawyers who declare every
necessity of life to be contraband
of war.
In the case of Edith Cavell,
however, we need not go so far.
She was confessedly aiding
belligerents, actual combatants,
to escape. She was sending them
from a place where they could not
kill Germans to a place where they
might be able to do so. She did
this with the intention that they
should kill Germans, and it is to be presumed that some of them
actually did so. She might just
as well have stood by the men in
the trenches and loaded their
rifles for them; morally, it is
the same position. Her intention
was that Germans should be killed;
and "Qui facit per alium facit per se" is a sound legal maxim.
Miss Cavell was therefore a
belligerent. "Certainly," some
one will reply, "and so is Sister
Susie in sewing shirts for
soldiers; that is no reason why
Sister Susie should be shot. It
is an understood thing that women
should help in every way to fit
their men for fighting. They do
not thereby render themselves
liable even to imprisonment.
These are legitimate civilian
activities."
All this is perfectly true.
But Miss Cavell was living in a
conquered country under martial
law; this law specifically
denounced the very actions which
she committed, and she knew
perfectly well that she was
rendering herself liable to
prosecution. Very true, you will
say, all the braver of her to do
it.
So far one must agree, in any
ordinary case. I am one of those
who think the spy potentially far
nobler than the soldier. For his
country's sake he leaves the open
life of the world, courts
ignominy, risks the most shameful
of all deaths, and he does it for
little pay and less glory. The
Secret Service is the nursery and
the tomb of many a nameless hero.
The real objection to that
service is that in some of its
branches men are occasionally
called upon to do actions which in
the ordinary way of life would be
dishonorable. Subterfuge of any
kind is repugnant to the average
man of frank and hearty nature.
It can only be his country's
bitter need which would induce any
man of honor to undertake such a
task. In fact, even so, few such
men will do it, and the service,
like the police, has therefore
been obliged to throw open its
ranks to unscrupulous and needy adventurers. Such usually become
double traitors, like Azoff. The
general objection to all secret
and underhand work is apparent; it
leads to blackmail and bribery and
the double-cross.
If, however, the spy is
actuated by true patriotism, one
can only admire his abnegation of
self. Even so, there are just one
or two things that he cannot do
without exciting our utmost
loathing and contempt and horror.
You remember Mordaunt, the son
of Milady, in Twenty Years After?
His father plunges in the sea to
rescue him from a death that he
had merited ten thousand times,
and the viperine creature merely
stabs him. But even this does not
so radically stir us as that other
earlier incident of the wounded
man who calls a monk to confess
him. The monk is Mordaunt, and
murders the wretch in cold blood.
It is because he is pretending to
be a priest that horror shakes us.
The priest, the doctor, and the
nurse are sacred. To them, when
we are helpless, we confide our
fate, and we do it without
reservation. Therefore they on
their side are equally pledged to
fidelity toward us. It was not
the revolt of modern thought
against the ancient dogmas of the
Church that brought about the
Reformation; it was the tale of
indulgences and Luther's cunning
hint that the priest was not to be
trusted. Similarly today the idea
is gaining ground that doctors are
ignorant and venal, that they care
only for fees and fame, and that
they like to make experiments.
Their prestige is accordingly on
the wane; many people prefer a
quack whom they suppose too
ignorant to be anything but
honest!
To resume the argument, then,
had Miss Cavell disguised herself
as Field Marshal von Hindenburg,
obtained an interview with the
Kaiser, and spirited him away in
an airship, or worse, one could
hardly have refrained from
admiration of the daring of the
act, even if we could never come
to excuse assassination. Edith Cavell would not have gone down to
history with Joan of Arc, but she
might have ruffled it with
Charlotte Corday.
But this was not the case. The
disguise which she assumed was one
which it was blasphemy to
scrutinize.
She went to General von
Bissing, in effect, and said:
"Behold me, an enemy of your
country, I admit, but with no
hostile intention.
"On the contrary, I am come to
nurse the wounded, yours as well
as ours. You can keep me out of
the country if you wish, but --
won't you trust me?" And that
great-hearted, simple-minded
German replied: "Miss Cavell, I
will trust you."
And then what did she do? She
used every resource in her power
-- left in her power by her
unsuspecting hosts -- to turn
loose tigers on them!
However, she miscalculated.
Von Bissing himself, as honest and
open as the day, had yet heard of
English treachery. Probably he
had never imagined it could go so
far as this, so that for some time
she went unwatched and
unsuspected. What leprous
distilment of perverted
imagination could figure such a
crime? Probably at first its
strange and hideous nature left
credulity sick.
Punishment followed discovery;
she was shot; the shades of
Locusta, Canidia, Catherine de
Medici, and Brinvilliers bowed
them low and joyously welcomed her
to hell.
No; I do not think she was
morally responsible. Women, with
rare exceptions, are not. They
are not soul, but only sex; they
have no morals, only moods. It is
useless to punish them, and very
difficult to guard against them.
You can prevent a man from harming
you, as a rule, because you know
what he is going to do; you cannot
so prevent a woman, because she
does not know what she is going to
do herself!
It is this consideration, and
only this, which prevents our ranking the actions of Edith
Cavell as constitutionally one of
the most loathsome and abominable
crimes in the history of the
planet.
"Murder most foul, as in the
best it is; but this most foul,
strange and unnatural."
The only parallels that occur
to the mind are the crimes of
Alexander VI (Italian), the
Massacre of St Bartholomew
(French-Italian), and the Massacre
of Glencoe (English).
I have no doubt that the
shocking and unexpected nature of
the atrocity threw moral Germany
for the moment off its basis.
With all due deference, be it
said, the Kaiser missed a coup
which would have thrown America
into his arms; and it would have
cost him nothing. After all,
there is but poor sport in
shooting vermin!
He might have written:
"Madam -- You came to my
country as a guest of honor; you
used your position to assassinate
your hosts.
"You disguised yourself as an
Angel of Mercy to perform the work
of a fiend. Worthy daughter of
England, to England you shall go."
EDITORIAL NOTES:
Qui facit per alium facit per se.
-- "As one does unto others, so
likewise for oneself."
Twenty Years After -- Vingt ans apres (1845), sequel by Alexander
Dumas (pere) to his
successful
adventure novel The Three Musketeers (1844).
"Murder most foul . . ." -- quoted
from the ghost's speech in the
fifth scene of act I from
Shakespeare's Hamlet (1601).
Previous Crowley Classics Next Crowley Classics
from the Grady Project:
Written in the early 1980s e.v., this essay survives as four pages of typescript with the author's handwritten corrections and additions. It was intended for the original Magickal Link, and although it was not used in this form (and never received a final editorial polish), several of its stories and some of its phrases were recycled into other essays which Grady prepared for the Link
over the following couple of years. At the end this piece trails off into glosses upon a letter from Crowley which is quoted throughout, but which was not preserved with the essay. Copies of his poems to which Grady refers ("Normandie in June" and "The Cynic"), which have long since appeared in the pages of the present publication, were appended to the typescript.
On Crowley the Critic
by Hymenaeus Alpha
Having the opportunity to
submit one's poetry to Aleister
Crowley for his critique was a
unique experience. It could also
be rather painful.
When I hit Beach Blue in
Normandy -- that was on the right
(Cotetin Peninsula); Beach Red
(Omaha) was on the left -- on D+11
I was walking about three feet off
the ground on the astral. You
wouldn't believe the high you can
get from a rush like that. I
won't go into it here, but it was
one hell of a show. I do mean in
the theatrical sense. One result
was my poem, "Normandie in June."
One hazard of such a physical
(adrenal) high is that you can't
keep it up forever. Sooner or
later you have to come down. With
the breakout I pulled the first
convoy of deuce-and-a-halfs (two
and one-half ton GMC trucks)
loaded with 500-pounders out of
Strip Three, Normandy. We headed
east through the red brick rubble
that had been St Lo before our
bombers hit it, and swing north
for Chartres. (The French
pronounce it "Shart!" You can
pronounce it any way you want to.
Even today Americans drive the
French up the wall calling Rheimes
"Rheems!") The Germans were
fighting a desperate delaying action, and some of the things we
rolled through were pretty grim.
One of my personal nightmares is
that line of Sherman tanks we
passed on the left. The first
thing I noticed was the odd way
they were parked. Nose down in
the ditch. That is not like us.
The second thing was that funny
rusty orange color they had
painted the turrets. Then it hit
me. Oh my god, oh no! Some
American tank commander had
ordered a "by the left flank" at
just the wrong moment. He was
trying to cut off the German
retreat, but they were covering.
The German army was hurt and it
was retreating, but it was for god
damned sure still the German army,
and they weren't going to give an
inch without making us pay. In
blood. As the American tanks had
peeled off to the left there had
been a line of Panzergrenaderen
lying there in their slit trenches
under the trees. "Mit kalte blut"
and steady fingers on the triggers
of their Panzerfausts. (Stupid us
-- we had given away the secret of
the Bazooka in the North African
campaign. Naturally the Germans
had picked it up and copied it.
Old Heinie may have lost a couple
of wars, but there is damn sure
nothing wrong with his brights.)
As the American tanks had wheeled
left off the road "by the numbers"
there had been a lance of fire in
the guts of each, and twenty
American tank crews had gone up in
flaming agony. The rusty color
was the way the turrets had
oxidized in the rain. I damn near
threw up.
We came barrelling onto
Chartres airfield in the rain past
a shot-down B-17. Poor bastards;
they had named it "Bad Penny."
Bad Penny "always turns up." In
case you think primitive magick is
absent from modern warfare, I've
got news for you. There ain't no
atheists in fox holes. And there
is nothing worse than incoming
artillery. That's when you grab
the dirt. And pray. What you are
saying mostly is, "Oh my god, oh
no!" It won't do you much good.
But you've got to say something or shit your pants -- as you might
just do.
I set up our Ammunition Supply
Point in what had been the German
bomb dump. It was a little more
than depressing, wondering how
many of our aircrew had been shot
down trying to hit that airfield
when it had been a Luftwaffe base.
You could see where the lines of
bomb craters came marching right
up to the edge of the field, and
had stopped just short. The
reason was more than a little
obvious. The great cathedral of
Chartres, like some monstrous and
antique battleship riding the seas
of time, loomed just behind us.
Our bombadiers had been trying
desperately to take out that
airbase but miss the cathedral,
and too many times they had
dropped short and died trying.
Anyway, sometime around here,
and for whatever reasons, I hit
that old downer trip. Not too
surprising, after the fantastic
high of Normandie. The result was
"The Cynic." I didn't
particularly like it. In fact, I
damn near threw it away. Glad I
didn't. If I had, we would not
have this particular letter from
Crowley. So. I sent it, along
with "Normandie in June," to A. C.
The result we can see here in his
letter to me of November 13, 1944.
(Probably the reason the date is
not "e.v." is because the letter
had been typed commercially.)
"As I expected, my judgment
about your poems is probably the
exact opposite of yours. The one
into which you put so much hard
work I just don't like. The hard
work is apparent. The "Normandy
in June" is not so bad; but it is
not really a poem. There is no
ecstasy in it, or coming out of
it. It seems to me to be just a
straightforward description of
things observed. But for "The
Cynic" I have nothing but
unqualified praise. As you say,
it was a spur-of-the-moment thing,
and I am absolutely convinced that
all first-class poetry is just
exactly that. I said so in the
Preface to the "City of God." And
again, in the last paragraph, ". . . (as in the case of poetry) this
business" -- i.e. Magick --
"depends entirely on the
spontaneous outflow of the
spirit."
This letter also gives us other
fascinating insights into
Crowley's view of his own
character. "What we have always
lacked has been the real
fantastic. I could never be
anything of the sort myself. At
the back of me is an
extraordinarily powerful strain of
conventional behavior. I have
done a few mad things in my time;
but it has always been based upon
calculation, and (as in the case
of poetry) this business depends
entirely on the spontaneous
outflow of the spirit."
He mentions money. It is
practically impossible to find a
letter from him in those days in
which he doesn't. The "new book"
he refers to was Magick Without Tears, from which I was supposed
to derive an income. Naturally I
have never received a cent. Jack
would be Jack Parsons. Smith
would be Wilfred Smith (reference
is to Liber 132). The "three
bound volumes of typescript" on
astrology were perhaps never
stolen at all. Evangeline Adams
had worked with him for awhile,
and one line of speculation is
that when she came home she simply
brought her notebooks with her.
These were published as books
posthumously by her friends and
without her editing, which perhaps
accounts for certain passages
which could only have been written
by an English male.
His suggestion that I take the
Grand Tour of France while I was
at the same time fighting a real
live shooting war is so typical of
Crowley. I don't think he was
trying to be funny. He was just
being Crowley. He lived in a
world of the impossible, and saw
no reason why others shouldn't.
"La Gauloise" was his "Song for
the Fighting French." He wanted
me to get it published during the
war in France. At the end of a
series of most unlikely events I
handed a copy to Charles Munch, the noted French maestro, on a
cold and wintry day in Paris, with
the power off and the snow looking
like thick frost on the ground, in
the winter of '44-'45 e.v.
Naturally nothing ever came of it,
but, for whatever karma is worth,
I had fulfilled the commission
from my Prophet and made the
contact. As best I could. Under
some rather impossible
circumstances. To quote Crowley
(second paragraph of the letter
reproduced here), "It is very
extraordinary the way things
happen."
Or, as it is written in the
Gospel According to Our Mighty
What's-His-Face:
I shot a poem into the air
It fell to earth in Picadilly Circus. |
93, HA
Previous Grady Project Next Grady Project
Foundations of Magical Practice
In this new column we present a ritual contributed by the leader of our Magical Practices group. Dated 3rd December 1999 e.v., this outline adapts Crowley's paraphrase from the Stele of Revealing for use as a ritual of personal activation and magical focus. Any questions or observations regarding the techniques offered here will be welcome for discussion at the regular meetings of the group, held in Horus Temple on the second Thursday evening of each month.
Thelemic Rousing of the Citadels
by Brother Gregory Peters
An effective and simple method
of rapidly establishing an active
current of Light in the sphere of
sensation is to use the Egyptian
mantra in conjunction with a
Middle Pillar type practice,
incorporating the Four Worlds map
of consciousness. In this method, each line of the mantra is
associated with one of the Four
Worlds, thus:
Atziluth | A ka dua | Sahasarachakra | Kether
|
Briah | Tuf ur biu | Anahattachakra | Tiphareth
|
Yetzirah | Bi a'a chefu | Svadhisthanachakra | Yesod
|
Assiah | Dudu ner af an nuteru | Muladharachakra | Malkuth |
The entire paraphrase in
English is a powerful micro-ritual
in and of itself, serving as an
effective invocation of the Light
also along the lines of a modified
Middle Pillar ritual, in that each
stanza may be associated with one
of the Four Worlds, utilizing the
Gate Sephiroth of Kether,
Tiphereth, Yesod, and Malkuth to
rise through the different levels
of consciousness as one ascends
the Tree, or bring the current of
Divine Light down the Tree to
ground into matter:
Standing in the Wand Posture
(straight up, hands to the sides),
visualize your sphere of sensation
filling with radiant white light,
with a barely perceptible field of
blue light at the outer perimeter
of the aura. With this current of
energy coursing through your
system, say:
I am the Lord of Thebes, and I
The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;
For me unveils the veiledsky,
The self-slain Ankh-af-na-khonsu
Whose words are truth. I invoke, I greet
Thy presence, O Ra-Hoor-Khuit! |
Next, proceed to establish the
Middle Pillar with the following
actions:
Atziluth -- Kether: Visualize
Divine white brilliance above the
head at the sahasarachakra as a
radiating luminescent sphere.
Unity uttermost showed!
I adore the might of Thy breath,
Supreme and terrible God,
Who makest the gods and death, even
To tremble before Thee: --
I, I adore thee! |
Briah -- Tiphereth: Bring a
current of white light down from
the Kether sphere to the
anahattachakra at the chest, where
a brilliant rose-gold solar sphere
of radiant fire appears.
Appear on the throne of Ra!
Open the ways of the Khu!
Lighten the ways of the Ka!
The ways of the Khabs run through
To stir me or still me!
Aum! let it fill me! |
Yetzirah -- Yesod: The current of
white light extends down from the
chest to the genitals at the
svadhisthanachakra, as a sphere of
brilliant luminescent violet light
emerges.
The light is mine; its rays consume
Me: I have made a secret door
Into the House of Ra and Tum,
Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.
I am thy Theban, O Mentu,
The prophet Ankh-af-na- khonsu! |
Assiah -- Malkuth: The
scintillating column of white
light descends from the genitals
to the feet representing the
muladharachakra, where a sphere of
brilliant citrine light appears.
By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit!
Bid me within thine House to dwell,
O winged snake of light, Hadit!
Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit! |
Now pause to see the four
spheres of radiant light, and the
central column of brilliance
connecting them all. From this
point, one may wish to go into
meditation, invocation of the Holy
Guardian Angel, or other forms of
ritual and meditative Work.

Next Magical Practice
from the Library Shelf
This installment completes the fourth chapter of The Arcane
Schools: A Review of their Origin
and Antiquity; with a General
History of Freemasonry and its
Relation to the Theosophic,
Scientific, and Philosophical
Mysteries (Belfast: 1909) by Jonathan Yarker (1833-1913).
The Mysteries in Relation to Philosophy
from The Arcane Schools (1909)
-- part three --
by Jonathan Yarker
As to the necessary
Apprenticeship for even the Lesser
Mysteries, we have some
information in the writings of
Theon of Smyrna, who was a
disciple of Euclid, and an editor
of his books. Theon is comparing
the five liberal sciences, as
necessary for a mystically
initiated philosopher, with the
five preparations for the
Mysteries:
"Again it may be said that
Philosophy is the Initiation into,
and tradition of, real and true
Mysteries; but of Initiation there
are five parts. That which has
the precedency indeed, and is the
first, is Purification. For the
Mysteries are not imparted to all
who are willing to be initiated,
but some persons are excluded by
the voice of the Crier, such as
those whose hands are not pure,
and whose speech is inarticulate.
It is also necessary that those
who are not excluded from
initiation should first undergo a certain purification; but the
second thing, after purification,
is the Tradition of the Mysteries.
The third thing is denominated
Inspection. And the fourth, which
is the end of inspection, is
binding the head and placing on it
Crowns, so that he who is
initiated is now able to deliver
to others the Mysteries which he
has received; whether it be the
Mysteries of a Torchbearer, or the
Interpreter of the sacred
ceremonies, or of some other
Priesthood. But the fifth thing
which results from these is the
Felicity arising from being dear
to the divinity and the associate
of the gods. Conformable to these
things likewise is the tradition
of the political doctrines, and in
the first place a certain
purification is requisite, such as
the exercise from youth in
appropriate disciplines, for
Empedocles says, 'it is necessary
to be purified from defilements by
drawing from five fountains in a
vessel of unmingled brass.' But
Platon says, 'that purification is
to be derived from five
disciplines, namely, Arithmetic,
Geometry, Stereometry, Music, and
Astronomy.' The tradition,
however, by philosophical,
logical, political, and physical
theories is similar to Initiation.
But Platon denominates the
occupation about intelligibles
'true beings'; and ideas Epopteia
or 'inspection'; and the ability
from what has been learned of
leading others to the same theory
must be considered analogous to
binding the head, and being
crowned; but the fifth, and most
perfect thing, is the felicity
produced from these, and,
according to Platon, an
assimilation as much as possible
to God."
So far Theon, and his essay is
a most important comparison
between the relative value of
philosophy and the Mysteries; it
might be worth while to ask
ourselves, whether these five
parts of Initiation, five
sciences, and five fountains, have
any relation to the mystic pentagon,
, and the Masonic five
points of Fellowship, in the
ancient aspect; for in these old
times the Liberal arts and
sciences were not seven, but five.
We are informed by Diodorus that
the Egyptians had an especial
veneration for the number five, as
they considered it to represent
the Universe, because there are
five elements -- earth, water,
air, fire, and ether or spirit -
and it is noteworthy that it was
by these elements that the
worthiness of the Neophyte was
tested before Initiation. It is
related that when the eminent
Christian, Justin Martyr, applied
for Initiation into the Society of
Pythagoras, he was asked whether
he had studied arithmetic, music,
astronomy, and geometry, as these
alone were capable of abstracting
the soul from sensibles, and
preparing it for intelligibles: as
he could not reply affirmatively
he was refused admission (Oliver's
Pythagorean Triangle, John Hogg,
London).
We see from these extracts that
the requirement of the Liberal
arts and sciences were common to
Theosophy and Philosophy, as they
were of old to Freemasonry, and is
a proof, to be added to many
others, that these three had one
and the same origin, and were
rites of the same Fellowship.
Discipline was made to precede
Initiation into the Mysteries in
the same way that Freemasonry,
having abandoned the teaching of
the arts, and especially Geometry,
now requires a certain amount of
education for its candidates. The
Lesser Mysteries were intended to
teach the sciences which the Art
Mysteries transmitted. The
Greater Mysteries were essentially
spiritual, embracing man's origin,
rebirth or regeneration, and his
final felicity; and this passed to
Gnostics, Mystics, the Church, and
the later Rosicrucians.
In explanation of the terms
Inspection, and Seeing, (Epoptae,)
which are frequently used by
writers who comment upon the
Mysteries, we will give some
quotations to shew that the claim was actual and not metaphorical.
Though not necessary to our
subject, we may say, that
Iamblichus in his letter upon the
Mysteries, has left us in no doubt
as to the significance of Epopteia
or Inspection, and Autopsia or
Seeing, for he repeats, over and
over again in unmistakable
language, paragraph after
paragraph, the fact of the visible
presence of supermundane beings at
the celebration of the Theurgic
rites (On the Mysteries, par. ii,
sec. iii to ix). These
particulars, were it necessary,
are too long for insertion here,
but he proceeds to define with
care the appearance, functions,
qualities, and the good effects of
beholding the gods, defining
archangels, angels, daemons or
tutelary spirits, potentates or
demi-gods, hero-gods, and souls,
with all the authority of one who
had beheld and studied all their
qualities. The means taken by
these Philosophers, for inducing
the development of seership, was
strict chastity and purity of
life, accompanied by strict
dietary, with fasts and prayer;
principles adopted in all the
sacredotal Mysteries for superior
Initiation. The following is
recorded by Damaskios as to the
appearance of the god in the
Mysteries of Serapis: "In a
manifestation which must not be
revealed, there is seen on the
walls of the temple a mass of
light which appears at first at a
very great distance. It is
transformed, whilst unfolding
itself, into a visage evidently
divine and supernatural, by an
aspect severe but with a touch of
sweetness. Following the
teachings of a mysterious
religion, the Alexandrians honour
it as Osiris or Adonis." This
appearance corresponds, in its
description, with what was said of
Serapis in our last chapter.
Porphyrios, circa 270 A.D.,
records in his Life of Plotinos,
that that Philosopher in order to
satisfy the curiosity of an
Egyptian priest, repaired with him
to the Temple of Isis in Rome, in order, as the most suitable place,
to invoke his tutelary Daemon,
which having done, a divine being
made his appearance, apparently so
much above the rank of the
ordinary daemons as to greatly
astonish the Egyptian. The
eminent Platonist, Thomas Taylor,
translates a passage of the
Phaidros thus: "Likewise in
consequence of this divine
Initiation, we become spectators
of entire, simple, immovable, and
blessed visions, resident in a
pure light, and were ourselves
pure and immacualte, and liberated
from the surrounding vestment
which we denominated body, and to
which we are bound, as an oyster
to its shell." Proklos, in his
Commentary on the Republic of Plato, has these words: "In all
Initiations and Mysteries, the
gods exhibit many forms of
themselves, and appear in a
variety of shapes, sometimes a
formless light, shining from
themselves, is thrown forth for
contemplation, sometimes the
luminosity is in a human figure,
and sometimes it takes a different
shape," into all of which
Iamblichus also particularly
enters.
The wondrous works of Homer,
"The blind old man of Scio's rocky
isle," are as full of the
appearance of gods and angels to
man, as the Jewish Scriptures. In
book IV of the Odyssey, in
describing the descent of Ulysses
into the Cimmerian Cavern, leading
to the abode of souls, he asserts
that the fumes of the blood of the
victims offered in sacrifice, and
slain for the purpose, were used
by the shades of the dead to
reanimate and strengthen their
corporeal faculties. Moses says,
"the blood is the life." Pope
thus words it, on the appearance
of the prophet or seer, Tiresias:
"Eager he quaft the gore, and then expres't
Dark things to come, and counsels of his breast."
Again, when Ulysses observes the
wan and melancholy shade of his
mother, Anticlea, standing aloof, Tiresias the Seer thus informs
him:
"Know, to the spectre, that thy beverage's taste,
The scenes of life renew, and actions past."
And when the mother approaches her
son's sacrifice:
"When near Anticlea moved, and drank the blood,
Stright all the mother in her soul awakes,
And owning her Ulysses thus she speaks."
St Basil instructs us in this,
that "the blood being evaporated
by fire, and so attenuated, is
taken into the substance of their
body." It is said that in the
Eleusinian Mysteries the Initiate
took the solemn oath required of
him, standing upon the skins of
the animals slain in sacrifice.
The disgusting rites of the
Taurobolium, said to have been
practiced in some of the
Mysteries, were of the nature
described; and it is alleged that
when the Aspirant was to receive
this baptism of blood, he was put
in a chamber, above which was
another with the floor pierced
with holes; in this a bull was
slain and the Aspirant received
the crimson stream upon him in the
lower chamber. Prudentius has the
following lines on the subject
(Perieteranon, v, p. 146;
Fragments of Initiation, Bro. F.
F. Schnitger):
"All salute and adore him from afar
Who is touched with this uncleanliness,
And sullied with such recent sin-offering,
Because the vile blood of the dead ox
Has washed him who was hid in filthy caverns."
The reader of these pages will
no doubt remark that details of
such matters have no reference to
Freemasonry; that is so, but we
were minded to shew of what the
Mysteries consisted, and what they
actually professed and practiced.
Nevertheless a large amount of
affinity with Masonic rites, and
its symbolism, will be found in this chapter by the attentive
observer, and considerably more in
the next.
The perfectly metaphysical mind
of Plato eminently fitted him for
an exponent of Mysteries which had
reached him from remote ages, and
it may be said that the Mysteries
were Platonism, and that Platonism
was the Mysteries, and in this
sense we may aptly apply the words
of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who says:
"Out of Plato come all things that
are still written and debated
among men of thought." "Plato is
philosophy and philosophy Plato;
at once the glory and the shame of
mankind; since neither Saxon nor
Roman have availed to add any
ideas to his categories." Plato
himself holds that of the five
orders of things (of which we have
just written) only four can be
taught to the generality of men.
Previous from the Library Shelf Next from the Library Shelf
Thelema Lodge Events Calendar for December 2003 e.v.
12/7/03 | | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | | (510) 652-3171 | | Thelema Ldg. |
12/8/03 | Full Moon in Gemini 12:37 PM |
12/11/03 | Magical Practice series 7:30PM in Horus Temple | (510) 652-3171 | Thelema Ldg. |
12/14/03 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | (510) 652-3171 | Thelema Ldg. |
12/18/03 | Mantra Yoga Class with Jeff Sommer 8 PM in Horus Temple | (510) 652-3171 | Thelema Ldg. |
12/21/03 | Winter Solstice Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple (Sol>Capricorn 11:04PM) | (510) 652-3171 | Thelema Ldg. |
12/22/03 | Section II reading group with Caitlin: Golden Verses of Pythagoras 8PM in the library | (510) 652-3171 | Thelema Ldg. |
12/23/03 | New Moon in Capricorn 1:43 PM |
12/25/03 | (lesser feast of the old aeon) |
12/26/03 | Gnostic Mass 7:30PM Horus Temple | (510) 652-3171 | Thelema Ldg. |
12/31/03 | have a 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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P.O. Box 2303
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