Thelema Lodge Calendar for December 1986 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for December 1986 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.

Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.

Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA

December 1986 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers

This Month at Thelema Lodge

    Gnostic Masses at Thelema Lodge are held every Sunday this month, at 6 PM.
    Visit Thelema Lodge in December to enjoy a variety of classes and events.
    The Magick in Theory and Practice series will conclude this month, with a second look at Chapters XV through XVII and the balance of the Theory Chapters will be presented in a special focus. Dec. 10th and 17th.
    Enochiana with Dave on the 16th. This time the Aethers used by Crowley in his own Magical attainment will be presented
    Brother Jim, Lodge Master, continues his presentation on Ceremonial Magick on the 18th.
    Ebony brings the mysteries of Ancient Egypt into focus on the 24th --- that date rings a bell somewhere, but I can't place it exactly.
    Brother Dave has something decidedly obscure to do with a Ouija board around the 13th, but you better double check on that date. He also has a Chess event set for the 26th, and Chess was beloved by both Grady and Crowley.
    Initiations in Minerval and several higher Degrees are noted on the Calendar, and need to be reserved in advance.
    Ist and IInd Degrees please note that there is an early class on the 3rd for your curriculum and initiation prep. This will be offered in future months, so if the Calendar arrives too late for you in December, please call Lola at the ... number anyway.
    Thelema Lodge meeting on the 12th; please attend to support the Lodge and help us plan for the new mundane year.

The next few pages are a solstice bonus for all you folks who have been trying to work out Gematria on non-Hebrew.
Enjoy

English to Hebrew Transliteration Key

English Letter:	Nearest Hebrew Transliteration(s):	Hebrew Shape Cognates:	Sound and Rare Cognates:

A -/+	Aleph (), Ayin ()	Tzaddi ()	Hay (), Chet ()
B	Bet ()
C -	Chet (), Koph ()	Hay (), Peh ()	Gimel (), Aleph ()
D	Dalet ()	Resh ()
E -/+	Hay (), Aleph ()	Chet ()	Yod ()
F	Vau (), Peh (), Qof ()	Yod (), Koph(
G	Gimel ()	Nun ()
H -/+	Hay (), Chet ()	Taw (), Dalet ()	Aleph ()
I -/+	Yod ()	Vau ()
J -/+	Yod ()	Vau ()
K	Koph (), Chet ()	Hay (), Peh ()
L	Lamed ()		Resh ()
M	Mem ()
N	Nun ()	Gimel ()
O -/+	Vau (), Ayin ()	Yod (), Tzaddi ()
P	Peh ()	Koph ()
Q	Qof ()
R	Resh ()	Dalet ()
S	Samekh (), Shin () Tzaddi (), Taw ()	Mem (), Ayin (	Zain ()
T	Tet (), Taw ()	Mem ()	Hay (), Chet ()
U -/+	Vau (), Ayin ()	Yod (), Tzaddi ()
V -	Vau (), Ayin () Bet ()	Yod (), Tzaddi () Zain ()
W	Same as the letter "U"
X	If it has a "ch" sound --- like "C" If it has a "z" sound ---- like "Z"
Y	Same as "I"
Z	Zain (), Tzaddi ()	Vau (), Ayin ()

Numeric Values of the Ancient Letters:

= 1	= 5	= 9	= 40	= 80	= 200
= 2	= 6	= 10	= 50	= 90	= 300
= 3	= 7	= 20	= 60	= 100	= 400
= 4	= 8	= 30	= 70

= 1 but large Aleph

= 1000

Numeric Values of the "Modern" Finals:

Koph final Kaf-final

= 500 Mem final Mem-final

= 600 Nun final Nun-final

= 700
Peh final Peh-final

= 800 Tzaddi final Tzaddi-final

= 900

Traditional Method for Vowel Points:

Every dot is considered a Yod and given value 10.
Every line is considered a Vau and given value 6.

e.g. = 30 = 50 = 16 = 6 = 16 and so on

In calculating values for Hebrew words (and English or European Names), there are certain conventions. The values of the letters are added up to give a total:

--- 5 + 6 + 5 + 10 = 26

This total can be reduced: 2 + 6 = 8 to match the number of one of the Sephira on the Tree of Life. The value of 1, taken by such a reduction, signifies Malkuth (10) more commonly than it does Keter (1). In the more widely practiced method of Gematria, the number totals of words, names and verses are not reduced. Each number in the range 1 to 22 is considered to represent either a Sephiroth or a Letter in itself. Single digit totals are considered to represent high abstractions and the Atziloth World. 10-99 represents intellect or the Briah World. 100 - 999 represents Yetzirah. Numbers 1000 or greater represent the material universe, or Asiah World. Numbers like 111, 222, 5555 represent the direct influence of the matching Sephiroth in the World or level corresponding to the number of digits involved. Tipheret in Yetzirah is therefore 666. Magical Names and Mottoes are usually chosen to give totals of exactly three digits. Four digits would be too worldly, but two digits would be too abstract.

An ambiguity arises if the word ends in K, M, N or any other letter which may be made to match one of the 5 "final" letters. When Koph, Mem, Nun, Peh, or Tzaddi is found on the end of a word, a special shape is given to the letter, and a different number value is available. It is traditional in Gematria to ignore these special values and to take the same letter value that would be used in the middle or beginning of a word. When final values are used in Gematria, the resulting total is considered to be a secondary and more material meaning of the total obtained without using a final letter value. These "final" letters derived late, and Gematria was well established before they became available.

Although a rudimentary method of using values for vowel points does exist, as noted on the previous page, it is very rarely used in Qabalah. O.T.O. members in England, or planning a visit there, can find more information on the mystical significance ascribed to Vowel Points in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Hunt. 41., R. Shem Tob Bar Abraham, 1325 e.v., 86 folio sheets. The catalog of Johanne Uri, done in 1787 e.v., mentions a number of very important early Qabalistic manuscripts at Oxford, but a knowledge of the Hebrew language is necessary to get far with primary material. You can read Johanne Uri's "Bibliothecae Bodleianae Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalum videlicet Hebraicorum, Chaldaicorum, Syriacorum, Aethiopicorum, Arabicorum, Persicorum, Turcicorum, Coptiorum que ..." (sorry, not enough room for the full title, but you can find it at UC Berkeley as fz106.4 O75O7 v.1 in the library); with just a smattering of Latin.

Back down to Earth. In using the Transliteration Key table provided here, this is the significance of the columns and notes: English letters on the left match the Bold Hebrew letters in the next column more often than not. The Symbols "-/+" indicate where some letters can be occasionally ignored "-" or where Hebrew letters can sometimes be added even where there is no matching English letter. Thus, you can always add or drop an Aleph. You can make almost as free with Hay. You frequently can add a Vau to words as a sort of vowel "wild card". This may seem odd, but it is mostly based on the looseness of "Vowel Letters" in Hebrew spelling. These letters (marked by -/+, remember) and Hay are often used to shift the meanings of roots. This allows you to be a bit more free with them than you would dare with English spelling. You can sometimes take a "K" as "C" in transliteration, but you cannot indiscriminately add a Koph unless there is a "K" already there.

The Column on Shape Cognates is for more advanced work. Several Hebrew letters look very similar to one another. Some of these letters commonly get switched with their look-alikes. Hebrew spelling reflects this, with some words having the same definition as others that differ only by having a Hay where a Taw should be, or a Peh where a Koph is usually found. Bet and Koph rarely switch, because they are both used as particles on the beginning of words. Old misspellings have become proper spellings, and a case can be made for limited use of shape-cognate transliteration from English into Hebrew.

The Sound and Rare Cognates will be more useful, in that these substitutions actually are sometimes the same in sound as the more common choice for the English letter. It is a matter of dialect.

Some quick notes: Never use Vau to begin a word unless you intend the meaning "and". Crowley tended to overlook this. There is no easy way to deal with "E", because there is no simple Hebrew letter to represent it. Hay for "E" is default. It is usually better to just skip an "E". "EL" = Aleph-Lamed. "TH" can be either Tet or Taw, but is never anything with a Hay attached. Again, Crowley wouldn't agree. "TZ" = "TS" = Tzaddi, most of the time. "IEL" can be either Yod-Lamed or Yod-Aleph-Lamed, depending on the letters just preceding. "YAH" is always Yod-Hay. Ayin is not an English sound, but it is in languages having a "glottal stop". The convention that substitutes Ayin for "O" or "A" is not always easy to defend. Aleph really doesn't have the "A" or any other sound of its own, but it can be a helper aspirate with most of the vowels. In other words, you can generally put in an Aleph for or with most vowels. You can drop most vowels on the grounds that Hebrew can use vowel pointing rather than a Letter.

There is no one right transliteration for any English word or name into Hebrew spelling. Tinker until you get one you like. It works the other way too; consider that is variously rendered in English as Cabala, Cabalah, Qabbalah, Kabalah, and many more.

-- Bill Heidrick
Frater

, 441
( for Emmet )
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Events Calendar for December 1986 e.v.

12/3/86	Class for I & II Degree members 8PM with Lola	Thelema Ldg
12/5/86	Class on Liber vel Reguli 8PM at Boulder Creek CA	Selene Camp
12/7/86	Gnostic Mass 6PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/8/86	Tentative camp meeting 8PM	Hypatia Camp
12/10/86	Magick in Theory and Practice 8PM with Bill	Thelema Ldg.
12/12/86	Lodge meeting 8PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/13/86	Ouija Class	Thelema Ldg.
12/13/86	Electoral College meets in southern California	Agape Grand Lodge
12/14/86	Gnostic Mass 6PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/16/86	Enochiana Class (49 Keys) with Dave 8PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/17/86	Magick in Theory and Practice 8PM with Bill	Thelema Ldg.
12/18/86	Class with Jim "Introduction to Ceremonial Magick" 8PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/19/86	Tentative camp meeting 8PM	ABRAHADABRA Camp
12/19/86	Camp meeting	Selene Camp
12/20/86	Initiations Ist and IIIrd Degrees	Thelema Ldg.
12/21/86	Gnostic Mass & Solstice 6PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/22/86	Tentative camp meeting	Hypatia Camp
12/24/86	Egyptiana Class with Ebony 8PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/26/86	Chess risk tonight "Bored gavel" 8PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/27/86	Minerval initiations	Thelema Ldg.
12/27/86	O.T.O. Board tentative only 4:18PM at Lola's	O.T.O. Corp. HQ
12/28/86	Gnostic Mass 6PM	Thelema Ldg.
12/29/86	Oasis meeting (tentative)	Nur alal Uruk Oasis

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)