~ NOVEMBER 16th-30th, 2007 ~

(the latest entries are always added to the top)

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. - AL I:40

Friday November 30th 2007 – For the history buffs: Urbain Grandier, the parish priest of St.-Pierre-du-Marché of Loudun in France, was accused of witchcraft and arrested and thrown into prison on this date in 1633. ...... Also, the illustrious and noble Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet, died of cerebral meningitis on this date in 1900. His last words, as he lay dying in a drab Paris bedroom, were: “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” ......  and the Rite of Luna was performed on this date in 1910 at Caxton Hall by Aleister Crowley who would later state, regarding this particular ritual, that “... the historic incompetence of the officers was mercifully concealed from (the audience) by the gloom.” ..... also, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart (aka Timothy Zell) was born on this date in St. Louis, Missouri in 1942. He wrote the book the Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard. He was also the co-founder of the Church of All Worlds in 1962. He has published Green Egg magazine since 1968. In 1970, Oberon formulated and published the theology of deep ecology which has become known scientifically as The Gaia Thesis. He also co-founded the Ecosophical Research Association. He is married to Morning Glory and they both are part of the expanded family called the Ravenhearts, all living together in Sonoma County, California. ..... and finally, on November 30, 1951, Christian Bernard was born in France. He would later join the Rosicrucian order of AMORC; become its Grand Secretary in France and finally Imperator on April 12, 1990.

Thursday November 29th 2007 – 6:10pm I just received this email: "Hey Jer 93! How did Faustus take it? 93s Mike" .... Answer: It's funny. he & & I talked about it alot. I wanted to be sure he wasn't afraid or anything like that. He admits to being startled, looking over at the painting lying on the floor but quickly thought, “I didn’t do it” and so he turned back to the TV and kept playing his video game. Ah, yes, he's my son!

4:30pm Well, I should have kept my mouth shut this morning about poltergeist activities in my apartment. Just a few minutes ago my son Faustus was lying on the couch playing a video game and I was in my chair typing with my back to him. All of a sudden one of my oil paints leaped from where it was to the middle of the floor. We were both over six feet from the painting when it leaped! Click HERE for pictures and details.

1:45pm Regarding Aeons Robert Flores writes, “I usually try to avoid this topic in certain Thelemic circles as it is one of those heated topics. I do not however avoid the question when it comes up, as it recently did at an OTO event and I gave my usual response.. "why we are under the influence of the age of Aquarius"; not soon after i said this a brother interjected with his strong and vocal opinion of no we are not because of blah... blah..  blah.. and quoted the same old argument that many do of the actual procession of the Equinox and how we do not enter the new Aeon until 2600. Most of the time these individuals fail to understand how the influence of one aeon bleeds into another! I agree with Luis when he states that part of the problem is that "time is a fabrication of our particular solar system"...None the less this doesn't prevent my boss from complaining when I'm late... time is after all a useful tool that we all utilize so let's just go with it. To this end I agree with most that an aeon is 2150 years, give or take a few years, in duration; this being the case it is true that we will not technically be in the new aeon for a few more hundred years or around 2600. We are however clearly feeling it's influence now! It is a well established norm in astrology to give any major aspect or planet an 'orb" of 10 degrees and there is no reason not to apply the same thinking here. This would give us an orb of 720 years and easily explains the bleed over clearly observed from one aeon to the other. Using these calculations one can easily see that we began to "feel" the change in the year 1880 and then 24 years later when Crowley wrote the Book of the Law he was truly heralding the beginning of the influence of the aeon of Aquarius and one only has to observe what was happening in the world around these periods of time to see it. Also, as far as Sandy's ideas around Christ and or an aeon begining around the year 2000...this does fall within the above mentioned orb and there is much truth and validity to her perceptions as Christ is the Solar God who represented the Piscean age so the year 2000 does work, it's all just a matter of perspective and personal opinion! NOTE however that if you take my orb concept and can see the influence beginning in 1880 then is it a coincidence that exactly 120 years later (a number rooted in the mysteries of the Sun/Son) is the year 2000? Hope this provides some food for thought....”

11:30am Regarding our recent Tunis Comment debate, Heather up in Portaland writes, “93 Jerry, I'm throwing out my take on the Tunis comment: It says the study is forbidden but it doesn't say by whom. I take it as if it were of a different kind of law such as the laws of a nation or non-pagan religion. It's just the classic disclaimer like "do not try this at home" but you know somebody Will "at his own risk and peril." It also says "the fool readeth this Book of the Law, and its comment; & he understandeth it not. Let him come through the first ordeal..." and second and third etc. which implies that he who is not a fool knows to take this risk! I assume that all initiates understand the ordeals are necessary for attainment and they should seek them out and get done with it. I do and I'm not even initiated yet! I think Jim Eshelman said it best on the TOT forum's recent debate of this with "Bring on the pestilence!" : ) H. Deyo (Asraiya) 93 93/93.”

9:00am I received an interesting email from Dominic. He writes, “Dear Cornelius, 93 Re: Your recent visitors.  May I ask if you have tried reading those books out aloud that were placed on the floor, perhaps they want you to read to them! 93 93/93 Dominic.”  ..... Answer: What Dominic is referring to is recent poltergeist or elemental activity in my apartment where books were thrown off my bookshelf; click HERE for details. Anyway, nope, I haven’t tried reading the books out loud. However, I have been focusing a lot of thought recently on which books from my massive archive I want to sell off. I think the elemental simply picked up on my thoughts, of which I often went to sleep thinking about and it was trying to help me make decisions. Of course, I don’t agree with its choices. After reviewing my diaries and analyzing data that is what I think happened and once I’ve consciously realize what was fueling the activity, it stopped. If I had banished as some emails originally suggested, I would never had been able to come to this conclusion with any certainty.

8:00am Ah, when did the Aeon of Aquarius begin? There is no 100% consensus on this subject and you can find dozens of sites, religions and philosophies which will tell you something differently. As for Wikipedia, many US Universities and schools will actually turn down any and all papers citing this website as a source due to its continually posting bad or flawed information. In fact, one source wrote that “Reading a McDonald’s child meal box is often more accurate.” Anyway, I’m not sure I agree with the 500CE thing, nor the 2600. Although they sound impressive they are merely interpretations of data as are most on this subject. From a Greek Qabalistic or magickal point-of-view an Age becomes 2,160 years, it being something that the ancients worked out and knowing the system, I tend to agree. The bottom line, regardless whatever you believe, 1904 was definitely NOT the birth of the Aeon and the only source who claims otherwise is Aleister Crowley. This opens up a can of squiggling 'Thelemic' worms. ... What is 1904? ... Personally, I have always been a Thelemic heretic and I tend to think that perhaps Crowley was simply a ‘prophet’ predicting the coming of the New Aeon and that 1904 was the year of his prophesies rather than the birth of Aquarius. If that is true then what we are experiencing right now is the pull of the New Aeon and the death pangs of the old. Finally, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon or a scientist to analyze the data of Crowley’s life to realize that he acted more like an old Piscean soul rather than living Thelemically by what he preaches. Like John Dee, Crowley saw into the future and like Dee his soul was born in a different Aeon and he acted accordingly. This is the root Thelema's problems today; a confusion which lies with those in charge trying to balance the beauty of some of Crowley's visions with the actions of the man.  Was Crowley a true Thelemite, or was he a Piscean Soul? ... or was he constantly struggling between the two poles?

7:45am For the history buffs: Louisa May Alcott was born on this date in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1832. She is considered historically as being one of the first great American writers of ‘juvenile’ books and short stories. Oddly, in many of her earlier writings she wrote using a pseudonym and most of these stories feature a mysterious, vengeful woman bent on manipulation and destruction; stories bathed in ghosts, opium eaters, and mercenaries. These melodramatic stories were extremely popular and provided Alcott with a steady income as she worked on lengthier pieces, like Little Woman but few people in this day and age realize the extent that she wrote about and advocated the use of ‘hashish.’ One of her classic stories titled Perilous Play (1869) is about a group of young people who find themselves bored and seeking entertainment. A young doctor in their midst obliges their lust for something different by introducing them to hashish. However, one boy and girl refuses to try the drug but it is later learned, that they did so secretly. In the end, the drug helps them confess their ‘love for each other.’ All in all, the article is a classic boy gets girl story; clearly implying that if a shy young person wants to win their true love they definitely ought to try hashish!  As one point in the story, when they are discussing the drug, Alcott writes, “About three hours after you take your dose, though the time varies with different people. Your pulse will rise, heart beat quickly, eyes darken and dilate, and an uplifted sensation will pervade you generally. Then these symptoms change, and the bliss begins. I’ve seen people sit or lie in one position for hours, rapt in a delicious dream, and wake from it as tranquil as if they had not a nerve in their bodies.” Alcott died on March 6, 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts. ..... and it was on November 29, 1925 that the German Edda Society was founded by Rudolf Gorsleben, as an ‘Aryan’ study group, at Dinkelsbühl, in Franconia. Grand Master of the group was Werner von Bülow, its Treasurer Friedrich Schaefer from Mühlhausen, whose wife, Käthe, kept open house for other occult groups which had gathered themselves around Karl Maria Wiligut in the early 1930s. Rudolf Gorsleben was Chancellor of the Edda Society and published its periodical German Freedom, later Aryan Freedom. ..... and finally, the UFO expert and noted author, Donald E. Keyhoe died on this date at the age of 91 in 1989. He was born on June 20, 1897. He was Director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in Washington, D.C. I still own a copy of Keyhoe’s book The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (1965) because it was a gift from my Grandmother, signed to me on January 31st 1967.  Yes, dear readers, I was also a strange child, into strange things and often with my family’s blessings!

Wednesday November 28th 2007 – 7:45pm Frater17FIAOF writes, “According to the Wikipedia article cited below, an Astrological Age lasts about 2,150 years. The Piscean age began circa 500 CE.  The Aquarian Age will begin circa 2600. "In 1928, at the Conference of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Leiden, the Netherlands, the edges of the 88 official constellations became defined in astronomical terms. The edge established between Pisces and Aquarius locates the beginning of the Aquarian Age around the year 2600."  http://tinyurl.com/3xz9u9”

4:45pm The noted author and astrologer Luis Alvarado writes, “ Dear Jerry: 93. Your reader posits a good question about aeonic timing. The problem is that time itself is a fabrication of our particular solar system based on the relationship between Earth and Sun, and Sun and galaxy. Uranus was named in 1781, and is considered by some astrologers to be the co-ruler of Aquarius. It seems correct that the Declaration of Independence for the US and the French Revolution with its cries of equality and fraternity should happen around the same time. The naming of Uranus brings a glimpse of the future aeon, and it could be said that the US Constitution itself was a channelling of the future aeon. The independence from England is itself a clash between future vision and old aeon of Pisces oppression. If material time is a construct particular to our solar system (I am not arguing that Time may not be archetypal in its own right), then it becomes difficult to pull out the calendar and stop watch and say, "Today the new aeon begins." The future aeon bleeds through to the present one, since evolution occurs over time. The old aeon bleeds into the present aeon as well, for continuity sakes. It's as good a marker as any to take 1904 as the start of the Aeon of Aquarius, although beginning in the 1860s evidence of new aeonic thought begins to take hold rather clearly. Since Thelema as described in the Book of the Law is so clearly the Aquarian vision, I am quite comfortable taking this date of April 8, 1904 as the start of the new aeon, but, really, who had the stopwatch? 93. Luis.” ..... Outside of Luis, no other emails came in to address Sandy's question. Where are all the Thelemic scientists, are you all asleep out there? ... Anyway, knowing Sandy, I think she is wondering why we don't consider the Aeon of Aquarius beginning NOW!  Not in 1904! After all, 2000 years [Aeonic year] from the birth of Christ is NOT 1904!

8:05am Sandy writes, “If what you said, that an astrological age (aeon) lasts about 2000 yrs and the age of Pisces began with the birth of Christ, why isn’t the age of Aquarius starting now rather than 1904?” ..... Answer:  Anyone care to field this one for me. I’m kinda busy this morning.

7:15am For the history buffs: William Blake was born on this date in London in 1757. He was a romantic poet and mystic Christian artist. The majority of his works, of both words and pictures, he engraved on copper plates, which was a method he claimed to have received in a dream. However, unlike most artists, Blake worked always on a tiny scale; most of his engravings are little more than inches in height, yet the detail that is rendered is magnificent and unbelievably exact. Some of the series of copperplate engravings, for which he is most noted are to Milton, of Jerusalem and The Book of Job. William Blake died on August 12, 1827, and is buried in an unmarked grave at Bunhill Fields, London. ...... and I should point out that on November 28, 1911 Aleister  Crowley and Soror Virakam had their second ‘interview’ with Ab-ul-Diz, which had begun earlier in the month.

Tuesday November 27th 2007 – 7:00am Aisha surfaces, she writes, "Been busy here in Tokyo. I been working hard, long days. I read your blog for the first time in over a week. Good to see your health doesn’t slow down your ability to stir the big pot of Thelemic dogma!  Remember cooking lessons, don’t stir too fast or you’ll spill things over the side. Much love. 93s Aisha.” 

6:20am Well, the Tunis Comment has definitely stirred up controversy once again! I’m not going to keep publishing all the emails coming in, close to thirty since just yesterday afternoon. Most are beginning to say the same thing but from a different angle or interpretation. This is a good thing. Some, like my close students Robert Flores sums it up best when he wrote, “I am completely of the mind set that Crowley never meant it to be a class A document! Thelemites everywhere should feel free to openly discuss the book. (as I always have anyhow) It is amazing to me that for years we all just accepted it as a class A document; What a fresh set of eyes can offer!” His comment is mimicked in the majority of incoming emails. The noted Crowley scholar Clive Harper writes, “Regret that I can't offer any solution to the Class A comment.” ... Some comments were not kind, like when an OTO initiate of repute writes, “Seems to me that this is another proven case where Sabazius and others have simply twisted Thelemic facts trying to keep initiates under their thumb, not thinking and accepting their dogma as gospel!” ... Ouch. ... And I can go on and on. Anyway, the basic jest of this debate seems to be that there is absolutely no evidence to support the claim that the Tunis Comment should be referred to as a Class A document and shouldn't be or at least until concrete evidence surfaces to prove such. 

6:15am For the history buffs: Françoise d’ Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, the second wife of Louis XIV, was born in a prison at Niort on this date in 1635. As an adult she had an unbelievable thirst for magic and Satanism which she saw as a means of obtaining youth and beauty. She died on April 15, 1719. ..... also, the author Lyon Sprague de Camp was born on this date in New York in 1907. He is the author of well over 120 science fiction and fantasy books, several hundred short stories, and is also well-known for many non-fiction works in history, science, and biography with such works as Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature (1970) and H. P. Lovecraft, A Biography (1975). He died on November 6, 2000.

Monday November 26th 2007 – 3:15pm Dave, a student from Florida, writes, “I just finished the first volume of "In The Name of the Beast". I loved it. Now I have to buy the poems. I had a couple of observations or rather questions. It would seem to me that Germer should not have been so hung up on Grady's debt (for the car) given Grady had given A.C. his entire paycheck during the war to support the publishing of the Book of Thoth. A debt which I believe you said was never repaid. Was Grady required to give A.C. 20 pounds as a form of dues, or tithing? ... I find Parsons rather fascinating, I would like to read more about him. Have you written anything more about him anywhere else? Pehaps you can point me to a good biography? Have you written anything with respect to his writtings? The Book of Babalon and its relationship to the BOTL.” ..... Answer: Glad you enjoyed Volume I and I hope you find Volume II as amusing.  They were fun to write. As for the debt of the money for the car; it wasn’t so much Karl Germer getting ‘hung up’ about it as his wife Sascha. Karl seemed far more forgiving but she constantly stirred up his paranoia into frenzied acts of pettiness. ... Most of the money that Grady gave to Crowley was for IXth Degree dues etc. The debt for The Book of Thoth and a few other things was something Grady simply ‘never’ considered being repaid and he often states such. He gave that money to the ‘cause.’ ... And yes, Parsons is rather fascinating. There are two biographies about him; both very flawed from a magickal point-of-view. The first is Sex and Rockets, The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter (Feral House 1999) and Strange Angel, The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle (Harcourt, Inc. 2005).

3:07pm Andy, the person who originally asked the new infamous Tunis question, just wrote me. He writes, “Jerry 93! I had a musing while at work, so I'm firing this off to you while at work :)  Even if scholars do manage to sift through the paperwork and manage to find one source that could be taken as saying the Book of the Law is Class A material, I think it is apparent that Crowley made no real effort to present it as Class A, so what if they do? Where in the Book of the Law does it say that the Comment has to be obeyed? It speaks of the Prophet writing it, how it should be written, and the fact that it should be spread with the Book of the Law. It also speaks of people understanding it and not understanding it, but not that it somehow replaces the law of Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Anywho, it's been fun reading the findings and musings of the various scholars.” ..... Answer: yes it has. Can’t wait to hear your next discovered quirk. The masses need to be stirred up every now and then!

10:00am Lee from the UK writes, “Hi Jerry, 93. Love your blog and read it every day. On the subject of the Comment I honestly think that Crowley never designated it a Class A Document. Inspired or not I believe it was merely a tool of convenience to get Norman Mudd off his back. (That's not to say that it doesn't have value beyond that though.) This is just a guess, but I think the Class A culprit here is none other than Marcelo Ramos Motta. 93 93/93 Lee.” ..... Answer: you may well be right because most of the adherents spreading the gospel belief in the Tunis Comment are ex-Mottaites!

7:20am Greig in UK writes, “Hi Jerry, 93 Is it possible that Crowley deliberately never gave "The Comment" in Liber AL a classification at all? It does say that: All questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself. There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.  This puts the responsibility on the Individual to decide when reading the book, which is what Thelema is about. Just a thought. 93 93/93 Greig.” ..... Answer: and I agree with you. The problem lies in the fact that some people over the last ten to fifteen years in leadership positions have waved The Tunis Comment like a Holy Banner of undisputed Truth because it’s supposedly a Class A document and must be ‘OBEYED’ to the letter. This is why many in the OTO have stopped writing about or discussing Liber AL vel Legis due to what the comment says. Arguably, compared to times when Grady McMurtry was alive, Liber AL has been reduced to collecting dust on Gnostic Mass altars. Now, if it turns out that The Tunis Comment is simply an inspired piece of writing it can be ignored if so chosen.  This opens up a big can of worms for the control freaks of Thelema.

7:15am A classic Aleister Crowley thought to meditate upon for today: The Difference between myself and the Pope is that his definition of the word Sin is different than mine.” - Letter to Grady Louis McMurtry from the Beast dated November 26th 1946.  Ain't that the truth!

7:10am The distinguished Crowley historian and OTO stateman Robert Stein writes, “I don't know where the Class A designation for the Comment exists. Somewhere Crowley did write that the earlier (long, short, Djeridensis commentaries) were not THE COMMENT mentioned in the BOTL. Your student is correct that the Comment was properly published as an "appendix" to an undisputed Class A Document. I am here in -------- so I have to rely on my memory. The Class A Comment first appears as a separate sheet, in black and red, enclosed in the box with the photocopies of the manuscripts as the Tunis Edition in 1923. The second time he published it is in The Equinox of the Gods in 1936. There Liber 220, the typeset version is found at the beginning.. After several chapters of diversion, the manuscript is found at the end, with the Class A Comment after it. Again, the Comment clearly is only applicable to the manuscript. An attachment to a Class A liber. In the 1938/40 London/California editions (the last of Crowley's lifetime), the Comment is included after the typescript version. The manuscript was not included. So by internal evidence, this is technically not a publication of Liber AL. ..."but always with the original in the writing of the Beast..." Crowley apparently personally supervised the 1938 London, but not the California version  (remember that there are two California ones, one in signatures, and one just in pamphlet pagination). I think that is the history of the versions in Crowley's lifetime, but check Red Flame. Personally, the typeset versions are like the other Class A libers, for most of which we don't have the equivalent of the original receptions (as received). If Crowley didn't call them Class A, they better would fit the definition of Class B. That would then be true of the typescript of Liber AL (Liber 220) alone as well. Somewhere (look possibly in the Equinox of the Gods) Crowley says that what we call the Class A comment (much later origin than any other Class A document) is superior to his other comments. By analogy I would interpret this as parallel to the difference between the manuscript and the typeset versions. Crowley (and I chose not to interpret his intent) would indicate by this that the Comment is Class A, but I don't remember any specific statement as such. ... I hope this is helpful. Let me know what you find out further. It would be a good reference for me to know about.

7:00am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley’s daughter Astarte Lulu Panthea was born to Ninette Shumway on this date at 2:00am in Palermo, Sicily in 1920. She died in 1928. ..... also, Raoul Loveday and his wife Betty May arrived at the Abbey of Thelema on Cefalu on this date in 1922. She would later bitterly leave after Raoul died at the Abbey. He was buried in an unhallowed grave just outside the walls of the Catholic cemetery.

Sunday November 25th 2007 – 12:40pm Brian sent a great reply. He writes, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law Dear Jerry, Just a quick note. You quite rightly say, “Anyway, simply being put at the end of a Class A document can not count otherwise an Introduction, Preface, Index and/or other additions added to any Class A Documents would automatically fall into this category.” But, if you take a look at, for example, the little red copy of CCXX taken from the 1938 edition, you will notice that the imprimatur follows the introduction, but precedes the text, Comment and facsimile. Now, I would opine that this means that everything following the imprimatur is under its classification. Comparison with other Class A texts in the Equinox is helpful, though I hope that those with access to any earlier versions of CCXX will be forthcoming with any relevant facts. Given that Crowley was careful to distinguish appendices to such texts, except in the very few cases of mixed Class texts, such as Liber 418, I think the only reasonable default position is that the Comment is in Class A (which to me is more like an injunction not to tamper with a literary artefact). As you say, “This is a tricky subject”, and I await further developments with interest. Yours, Brian. Love is the law, love under will.” ..... Answer: Thanks for the comments. I have copies of all the earlier editions of Liber AL vel Legis which enabled us to do the definitive study on the book for Red Flame No.8. ... Not everything after an Imprimatur’s stamp is of the ‘Class’ stated. Otherwise the 15 pgs of ads and comments at the back of The Book of Lies would be AA Class documents as stated at the beginning of the book. There has to be a line drawn somewhere. ... Class A for instance implies ‘received’ and therefore cannot be changed in style or letter. The question, “Did Crowley ‘receive’ the Comment or did he write it?”  In Magick Without Tears he simply writes that it was “inspired” while in a “mood of blank despair.”  Regardie talks about this period in The Eye and The Triangle; as do I in my article The study of This Book is Forbidden. ... Anyway, when we stamp Class A on the inside copyright page of Liber AL vel Legis [and many editions have such] we imply the classification to Liber AL and not our Intros, Appendix and etcs that are put into our editions. For instance; the original The Equinox of the Gods published in 1936 is a Class E manuscript. This means it’s a manuscript that deals primarily with the propagation of the Laws of Thelema. If what you are saying sounds logical then consider that throughout this book many sections carry other classifications like Class A or B in order to distinguish them from the over-all book. But The Tunis Comment on the last page carries no classification at all.  Thus we must consider, by your reckoning, to make it the classification found on the inside title page which is E?  Or should we use the classification on the last previous article before The Tunis Comment which is Genesis Libri AL which carries a Class B stamp. ???  Either, or, it’s confusing. ... I am simply bewildered; you’d think that if Crowley had made it a Class A document in 1925 he sure as Hell would have noted such in The Equinox of the Gods, no? I’m enjoying your thoughts ... keep em’ coming ...

11:20am No Carol, I do not create these “controversies to sir up trouble.” All students in my branch of the AA are told to ask questions and to think rather than accept what others tell them. If a student discovers a ‘quirk’ I think, since we are scientists, that we should seek to discover the solution. ... If the heads of the OTO told you that the world is flat are you going to blindly believe them even if data surfaces to make you question their authority?

10:15am As for the Tunis Comment, Rey de Lupos of New Mexico wrote, “... being stated as a Class A document, I did read this in a lesson series called Of Causes Why. [grin] Aside from that, I remember talking with Jim Eschelman about it many years ago and he made a statement to the same effect over soba noodles, but I thought this was a personal statement rather than a recorded fact. I will dig through my archive and see if I can come up with something.” ..... Answer: the quotes found in our series titled Of Causes Why, even in our Tunis Comment articles published in Red Flame or on our website were the official views reiterated by Frater Hymaneaus Beta, Sabazius and others. I, like others, simply accepted the view because at the time I was still on good terms with the OTO. I didn’t doubt their views but in hindsight, I should have. I should have questioned. It was just one of the amusing little historical things that never came up. Go figure?  Anyway, keep reading the blog, lots of great info being posted.

9:15am John writes, "The entire original edition of Liber AL published in 1925 is a Class A document which is why the Comment is also Class A since it was first published there." .... Answer: Logically, it sound good but all the publications of The Tunis Comment, regardless where and in what they have been published in since 1925, do not stamp it with any AA classification. All AA documents have this classification somewhere on the text. You’d think that Aleister Crowley would have labeled it Class A in The Equinox of the Gods (1936), no?  And yes, it is a great argument to simply say the 'entire' Tunis edition of Liber AL is Class A because it has such at the beginning of the original book ... but the Class A on the Tunis edition simply refers to the original handwritten manuscript; not the Intro or other parts therein. It refers just to what Crowley 'received' in 1904. Did he 'receive' the 1925 Intro?  Should it be a Class A document?

8:25am Mike writes, “Being in the OTO for many many years I am beginning to see this Tunis Comment question as simply another way the Order and 'Sabazi-ass' is trying to keep Thelemites from thinking!  Basically, if it is not Class A then we technically don’t have to follow it any more than Magick in Theory & Practice or other books he wrote. No?” ..... Answer: You are correct but I'd prefer you call him Sabazius. Anyway, it would simply be a non-AA book relating to Crowley’s personal views at the time he wrote it and nothing more. This is why the debate is so critical. The Tunis Comment may well be Crowley's definitive statement on Liber AL vel Legis but it becomes 'open for interpretation' if not Class A.

8:10am Brian Cross sent some good observations about The Tunis Commentalmost mimicking about a dozen other that I received. Like the OTO Archivist Tony Iannotti who wrote, “The short comment was also from Tunis, and was first published in the Tunis edition of Liber AL, though I have never seen that edition. (11 copies in leather boxes?) If the whole edition was Class A, then that might count.” ... and, as Brian puts it rather nicely, I’d like to quote his email. ... “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Dear Jerry Cornelius,  As the Comment is printed with the text and facsimile of the Book, and the latter are covered by the imprimatur, does it not follow that the former is too? Accordingly, I suggest, one should look to the 1925 Tunis Edition of CCXX. Should it have an imprimatur, problem solved! Otherwise, the first edition of CCXX with the Comment present and the imprimatur would appear to be the source for the Class A ascription. Whichever way one considers it, I would say that this indeed qualifies as a quite literal answer to your question "Where does it state The Tunis Comment is a Class A document amongst Aleister Crowley’s writings?". Hope this helps! Yours, Brian Cross. Love is the law, love under will..” ..... Answer: Thanks Brian, good thoughts. My reply to Tony also answers yours and is as follows: “All the scholars so far are scratching their heads over this one. The one page 1925 Tunis Comment published at the end of the 11 copies of Liber AL vel Legis is the Comment in question. It also appears in most modern editions at the end. Some refer to it as the ‘Class A Comment’ but we’re trying now to determine why? Is this a modern assumption?  I am perplexed. Anyway, simply being put at the end of a Class A document can not count otherwise an Introduction, Preface, Index and/or other additions added to any Class A Documents would automatically fall into this category. This is a tricky subject because if it’s not a Class A document but just something Crowley wrote about his views on the subject then interpretation and/or ignoring it is completely justified." 

8:00am The noted author and Crowley biographer Richard Kaczynski writes, “Dear Jerry, 93. I'm still looking, but so far have this:  In "Equinox of the Gods," p. 126, footnote, he says the Tunis "Comment is the really inspired message."  Whether Crowley means inspired in the "Class A" sense of the word, I don't know. I was thinking that there may be some significance to the fact that he signed it Ankh-f-n-khnoshu, but he's written non-Class A material under that pen-name. I suspect the answer may rest in some of his contemporary correspondence, either between Crowley and Mudd, or possibly even to Montgomery Evans.  Or correspondence around the 1938 edition of Liber AL (or its subsequent reprinting by Agape Lodge).  It's also possible it may be in the Wilkinson letters, as Wilkinson later edited the long comment.  Of this, Crowley remarked that it was written in an exalted state of mind that he could never regain, so he was reluctant to alter a word of it.  I should go back to that letter in case he's talking about the short comment. The search continues. 93 93/93 Richard.” ..... Great thoughts; I have much of the correspondence mentioned and predictably, I already searched it. Any true reference to The Tunis Commentbeing Class A in these works eludes me. I'm beginning to wonder if its not a 'modern' interpretation or classification of this document?

7:45am Wow, Andy one of our students in Japan really stirred up a hornet’s nest on this one! The Tunis Comment always seems to bring out debate. Still, most scholars are saying the same thing; under Fraters Hymenaeus Beta and Sabazius The Tunis Comment has always been referred to as Class A which means it must be “obeyed” in regards to The Book of the Law. It's waved like a Holy Banner to silence anyone debating Thelema.

7:40am For the history buffs: Reuben Swinburne Clymer was born on this date in 1878. He would later be the co-founder of FUDOFSI, which later recognized the Fraternitas as the authentic Fraternitas Rosae Crucis (FRC), or Rosicrucians, in Quakertown, PA in 1912. He viciously fought most his life against AMORC which he saw as a bogus and fraudulent Order. He published several volumes pointing out AMORC’s connections to the evils of Aleister Crowley and the Ordo Templi Orientis.  He died on June 3, 1966. ..... and, as if irony was smiling, Herbert Spencer Lewis the founder of AMORC was born on the same date as Reuben Swinburne Clymer, but in Frenchtown, New Jersey but in 1883. ..... and on November 25, 1909 Aleister Crowley assumed the Oath of Dominus Liminis in the AA. The initiatory ‘area’ on the Qabalistic Tree of Life which is symbolically attributed to this grade is found between Netzach (7) and Tiphereth (6). It is called a ‘Portal Degree’ which is the bridge used for leaving the First Order and entering into the Second. ..... and on this date in 1994 it was announced by church leaders that David Berg had died at the age of 75 - “a few days ago.” The church has never given an exact time or place of his death, or what exactly caused his death; although rumors persist that it was allegedly due to a sexually transmitted disease which ravished his body and had kept him in hiding for years. Berg was originally born in 1919 in Oakland, California. The mid 1960's produced many counter-culture movements in this state. It was a time when the youth of America was questioning the ‘establishment.’ Out of this hippie flower child era came a loosely connected group collectively known as the Jesus People. In Huntington Beach, in 1968, Berg solidified this movement into a church known as The Children of God. He proclaimed himself to be God's end time prophet and he drew from the Bible in order to prove that the Old Testament spoke directly to him and that he was to play a major role in the Second Coming, the long anticipated return to earth of Jesus Christ. He adopted various names including ‘Moses David,’ ‘Mo,’ ‘Father David,’ and simply ‘Dad.’ It is no secret that Berg exploited everyone sexually, both males and females and he even sent his followers out to become quite literally “hookers for Christ.”  

Saturday November 24th 2007 – 5:00pm I’ve been receiving lots of emails all day from the different Crowley scholars and all, like me, are perplexed. We have all towed the official Dave Scriven, Bill Breeze and OTO line for years without questioning whether or not The Tunis Comment is really a Class A document to be taken verbatim and without question. But we are still searching for the answer whether or not this really is a Class A document. Any thoughts from my readers?

7:45am Here is a switch, I have a question for my readers. A student writes, "Recently, I was in discussion about the status of the Tunis Comment. In your Epistle on the Tunis Comment, you acknowledge it's stature as Class A, but where was it ever published as a Class A publication?” .... Answer: Admittedly, I’m brain dead and the answer is probably right in front of my nose but it is eluding me this morning. I need more coffee or less late night partying so that my eyes will face the right direction. Anyway, I can't seem to find any source outside modern theorists referencing The Tunis Comment as Class A. So my question - "Where does it state The Tunis Comment is a Class A document amongst Aleister Crowley’s writings?" Any readers out there want to point out a source? Since the Tunis Comment was written in 1925 it would have to be in some book written after then.

6:10am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley took the Oath of a Philosophus, 4=7, in the AA on this date in 1905. The initiatory sphere on the Qabalistic Tree of Life symbolically attributed to this grade is that of Netzach, the seventh sphere of Venus. Like his last degree, he kept the magical motto of Frater OY MH. ..... also, on November 24, 1909 Aleister Crowley divorced his first wife, Rose Kelly. He wrote, “...my domestic tragedy was coming to a crisis.” ..... and Forrest J. Ackerman was born on this date in 1916. He is the founder the classic Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and he helped establish the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society back in thirties. In the beginning, when ‘scientifiction’ evolved to the phrase of Science Fiction, Ackerman when a step further and coined the now infamous term “sci-fi.”

Friday November 23rd 2007 – 3:33pm WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS INTO GRADY LOUIS McMURTRY'S AA, OR UNTIL WE HAVE A FEW MORE TEACHERS AVAILABLE. THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY APPLIED ARE EXEMPT AND WILL BE HANDLED IN DUE TIME.  THANK YOU.

6:30am For the history buffs: Boris Karloff was born on this date in 1887 as William Henry Pratt in London, England. He starred in over a hundred and seventy movies but is most likely remembered for being in Frankenstein (1931). Of all his movies, from an Aleister Crowleyean point-of-view, The Black Cat (1934) carries the most significance. The plots centers around two newlyweds Joan and Peter Allison who meet Dr Vitus Verdegast (Bela Lugosi). On the way to the hotel, their bus crashes and Joan is injured. They take refuge in a house belonging to Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff), a character loosely based on Crowley. Needless to say, the twisted Satanic ritual which follows is rather amusing. However, although the title is ‘suggestive’ of an the Edgar Allan Poe story, in reality has nothing to do with Poe’s original story. A black cat does make a few brief appearances throughout the movie, seemingly to justify the title, but its only memoriable scene is when Bela Lugosi throws a knife at it. Sadly, Boris Karloff died on February 2, 1969 after battling emphysema for a number of years, he was 81. ..... also, it was on November 23, 1905 that Aleister Crowley assumed the Grade of Practicus, 3=8, in the AA. The initiatory sphere on the Qabalistic Tree of Life symbolically attributed to this grade is that of Hod, the eighth sphere of Mercury.  ..... and speaking of the Great Beast, he and Victor Neuburg evoked the twenty-eighth Enochian Aethyr known as BAB on this date in 1909 between 8:00-9:00pm at the village of Aumale in the Algerian desert. There are a total of Thirty Aethyrs according to the magickal structure laid out by John Dee. Crowley had previously evoked the twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Aethyrs in Mexico. To look into these invisible realms, known as Aethyrs, one often uses a crystal and once one has obtained the ‘vision’ the angels will appear and communicate messages by pointing to one letter at a time on huge boards of letters. After Crowley finished going through all Thirty Aethyrs he titled his findings The Vision & The Voice. ..... also, on this date in 1963 Raymond Buckland was initiated into Wicca by Gerald Gardner’s High Priestess Lady Olwen. ..... and finally, I should report that it was on November 23, 1969 that Charles Kent walked outside at the Calkins Ranch, which is located on Neimi Road near Woodland, Washington because it was a beautiful moonlit night and he wanted some fresh air. That is when he saw it, off in the distance, a standing “bear” which slowly disappeared into the woods. This ‘standing behavior’ startled him but not as much as in the morning when he discovered human footprints almost twelve inches long and four inches wide where the ‘bear’ had stood. This is when he realized that he had seen a Bigfoot.

Thursday November 22nd 2007  ... 12:20pm I added a new oil painting on my For Sale section.

IT'S TURKEY DAY! ... and for the history buffs: Aleister Crowley assumed the Oath of a Zelator, 2=9, on this date in the AA in 1905. He took the magical motto of Frater OY MH. Most initiatory systems within magickal fraternities like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Ordo Templi Orientis, or even Aleister Crowley’s AA, deal with spiritual self-transformation on the Qabalistic Tree of Life and titles like ‘Zelator’ are symbolically attributed to one of the ten sphere on this glyph. In this case, a Zelator works out of Yesod, the ninth Sphere of the Moon. Its purpose is to establish a suitable Foundation. ..... Also, Aldous Huxley, the man whom Aleister Crowley turned onto peyote, died on this date in 1963. There is story worth mentioning. In 1930, at the Porzo Galleries in Berlin, Aleister Crowley had an exhibition of seventy-three of his paintings and drawings. One portrait hanging on the walls was that of Aldous Huxley. It is said to have been a hasty sketch or drawing of Huxley, about which Aleister Crowley stated, “I thought he had a lot of money and painted him like this to flatter him.” There is no record as to what ever happened to this particular painting, or if Huxley even bought it, although it is presumed to have been destroyed by the Nazis shortly before World War II. It appears the entire Crowley collection was seized from Martha Kuntzel who was living in Leipzig. She had been storing them for Crowley at the time. It was truly a great loss.

Wednesday Nobvember 21st 2007 – 7:15pm Robert writes, “93 Jerry! I was a bit worried about you this morning when you posted later than usual, although I guess minus the elementals you’re doing fine?” ..... Answer: Life has been amusing. I haven’t told anyone about the elemental activity until last night when I sent Luis a copy of the photo. Admittedly, I was really blown away when I actually caught something on film which is also why I created the webpage. I was like a little kid excited in a candy store.

6:40pm Jerri asks, “Why did Crowley spell Magick with a K and none of the other forms of the word with a K? I ask this because in an email to someone, I referred to the magickal motto. I was then told that magickal was never the way Crowley spelled the word, he always left out the k. I thought perhaps it was an oversight on his part, given his reasoning for adding the k in the first place. I also considered that it was possible he didn't come up with the new spelling until late in life, when most of his material was already written. That is however, not the case. Is there some reason that you know of for the incongruence?” ..... Answer: It is often said that Aleister Crowley put the ‘k’ at the end of the word magic as a way of differentiating it from the term ‘magic’ which was often bantered about by spiritual frauds. In the Introduction to Magick in Theory & Practice Crowley writes, “I chose therefore the name MAGICK as essentially the most sublime, and actually most discredited, of all the available terms. I swore to rehabilitate magick, to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated, and feared.”  Kenneth Grant goes in-depth in Aleister Crowley & The Hidden God (pg.5) as to why Crowley added the ‘K’ and he quotes Crowley’s reason – “in order to distinguish the Science of the Magi from all its counterfeits.”

11:50am Mike writes a long email but the basics can be summed up when he writes, “Weren’t you scared?” ..... Answer: Personally, poltergeist activities are like a shot in my arm reminding me that magick really works! I just marvel at magicians who panic when the first time something ‘happens’ and scared shitless they immediately banish in an attempt to get rid whatever it is. Me, on the other hand, I want to document things, to study the elementals behavior and try to realize what prompted it to act in order that I might better understand myself. Obviously, it’s ‘fulfilling something in my dreams’ but what?  Anyway, why else would you do magick?

9:45am Well guys, people have often asked me if Ouija Rituals really work. Previously on my blog I have posted stories of my workings which to the average may seem little more than proof that the elemental is merely a malicious poltergeist but I feel otherwise and rather than quickly ‘Banishing’ after each strange incidence I begin documenting their activity. Now, armed with a new toy – a digital camera – it’s been my turn to play! I’ve added a new webpage of the elemental’s activities and one picture will blow you away!  Click HERE to check it out.

7:45am For the history buffs: Jacob Bohme the German philosopher and alchemist died on this date in 1624. He spent his life as a cobbler in the town of Gorlitz, Silesia and he published none of his writings during his lifetime. ..... also, the author Arthur Machen was initiated into the Golden Dawn on this date in 1899. He assumed the magical motto of Frater Avallaunius. ..... and it was on  November 21, 1911 that the spirit Ab-ul-Diz first appeared before Crowley’s Scarlet Woman Mary d’Este Sturges who was also known as Soror Virakam (Sanskrit for ‘I-Perform’) in Zurich. She was the secretary to Isadora Duncan. The spirit claimed the number 78 and offered a book to Aleister Crowley called ABA to Crowley. ..... and finally, on November 21, 1920 the young American Cecil Frederick Russell (1897-1987), also known as Frater Genesthai, arrived at Aleister Crowley’s infamous Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu. He had met Crowley in July of 1917, in New York, while working as an attendant at the Annapolis Naval Hospital.

Tuesday November 20th 2007 – For the history buffs: Samuel Liddell Mathers died in his apartment in the Rue Rivera in Paris on this date in 1918 at the age of 64, in the world-wide post-war Spanish influenza epidemic. In 1904 Aleister Crowley issued an unauthorized edition of Mather’s translation of the Goetia where he not only credited the work to “a dead man” but prefixed an elaborate curse against Mathers in Greek. A translation of which concludes “... the whole assemblage (of Demons evoked) calls to me and marches and throws down the terrible Mathers. He shivers in the coad, he has wronged someone ... and he has poured the blood of Nature upon himself.” ..... also, Mary Anne Maclean De Grimston was born on this date in 1931. She was the co-founder, along with her husband Robert, of The Process Church which gained infamous notoriety by appearing in the book about Charles Manson titled The Family. ..... equally amusing, on November 20, 1952 George Adamski made contact with beings from the planet Venus. They had arrived in a UFO in the desert of California. ..... and finally, on November 20, 1952 Roy Leffingwell died on this date in his California home. He had taken Minerval and First Degree OTO initiation on February 24th 1938 and later became the Lodge Master of Agape Lodge after Jack Parsons had resigned.

Monday November 19th 2007 – Ah, here is wisdom! I found this gem in an unpublished diary of Aleister Crowley on this date in 1938. He writes: “The day was curiously peaceful. One must not have women about.” 

For the history buffs: Grady Louis McMurtry received a letter, dated on this date in 1943, from Aleister Crowley in request to help him come up with a magickal motto. In this letter Crowley wrote, “Ah! United. Yes: Sometimes I sat and thunk, and sometimes I just sat. But no nearer to your motto. Then a flash! Well, yes, I think it may do. Hymenaeus Alpha (=Aleph) (You know the Greek Alphabet & its values of course?) Hymenaeus, the Graeco-Roman God of Marriage; and Alpha (Aleph) with all its meanings - see Essay on Atu O in the Tarot. And the whole show adds up to 777. Good enough?” Grady immediately sent Crowley back a letter, which was dated November 25th, “Is 777 good enough? I should argue with Jack Pot! This Alpha business. A bi-lingual pun asserts itself, i.e. ‘Liber Aleph’ which could mean anything from ‘Greetings, o perfect Fool’ to ‘Hi, Chump’. Yes, I think that it will do. And I think that I am the boy for the job.”  Thus, Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 was born. ..... also, on November 19, 1995 in Puerto Rico the Chupacabra or “goat sucker” was blamed for a killing spree that caused the death of dozens of turkeys, rabbits, goats, cats, dogs and even horses and cows. It was even said to have ripped open the bedroom window of a house in the north-central city of Caguas, destroyed a stuffed teddy bear, and left a puddle of slime and a piece of rancid white meat on the windowsill. Witnesses said that it had hairy arms and huge red eyes. Witnesses to another attack claimed, “It just showed up and -- poof -- it vanished.” In Canovanas, Puerto Rico on this date, a man saw the Chupacabra in the afternoon in his back yard. It had come out of the brush and attacked the family dog. He later commented, “I think it belongs to the monkey family, but it isn’t a monkey exactly,” adding, “It ran like a monkey and was about four feet tall, but it didn’t have a tail.” Over the next month it was sighted almost thirty-five times in Canovanas, most agreed that it is not a humanoid, it’s small and has large oval alien type eyes. Others described the creature as being about four feet tall when standing erect, having huge red elongated eyes, grey skin that was part fur and part feathers, short arms with claws, legs like a kangaroo, and a line of sharp spikes down the middle of its back. It is reportedly a very powerful animal. Some report that the Chupacabra had wings and could fly. ..... and the very next year, on November 19, 1996 in La Barra, Caguas, Puerto Rico, the Concepcion family heard a loud ruckus in their chicken coop. Upon investigating they found several of their animals wounded. While waiting for the police to respond one of the family members looked out the window and saw a strange creature about five feet tall. It had an oval shaped head with two bright red elongated eyes. The creature was dark gray in color; it had large hind legs resembling those of a kangaroo, and small arms and hands. It seemed to be searching for something, maybe the rest of the chickens. The frightened witness screamed that it was the Chupacabra and the creature quickly turned and appeared to jump out of sight at very high speed.

Sunday November 18th 2007 – 9:35pm Luna saw my posted page where I have my tattoo photo and she writes, "Jerry 93! I have removed all of my Iggy Pop, Ian Curtis, Flipper, and other Punk Rock icons from around the house and am having a print of you and your tattoo installed in The Sanctuary!!! YOU ROCK! (I just gotta say that that photo is OK!?!!!!!) 93 93/93 Luna "Fish" Discussion - The Feederz" ..... Answer: Thanks. The original picture was taken and 'mutated into art' by a Japanese artist/photographer named Shizuka using Adobe on the computer. I used the un-colorized version to show my tattoo and I edited out the bottom half of the picture. Her version is 'blue' and quite nice. I love it. ... Needless-to-say, I am not shy, the blue picture is also a full frontal nude shot of me taken with my pants partially down which I thought not wise to post on my website forum. It shows everything.

7:40am For the history buffs: The Sacramento Bee in California reported on this date in 1896 of the strange appearance in the sky of an unidentified object “huge and cigar-shaped and had four large wings attached to an aluminum body.” There were quite a few sightings throughout the later half of this year up and down Northern and Central California. What exactly it was has remained a mystery. ..... Isaac Fuld, who with his brother William, was a co-owner of the original Ouija Board Company in Baltimore, Maryland, died on this date in 1939 at the age of seventy-four. His brother died twelve years earlier, in February of 1927, when he accidentally fell off the roof and plunged three stories to his death. He was only 54. ..... Also, it was on November 18, 1975 that the Lutz family bought the Amityville house on Long Island, New York and some might argue that they perpetrated one of the most famous modern hoaxes which would later inspire the movie The Amityville Horror. ..... and finally, I should mention that it was on November 18, 1978 that the mass suicide of 900 people at the direction of their pastor, the Rev. Jim Jones, in the People’s Temple at Jonestown, Guyana occurred. His congregation stood in line for poisoned grape-flavored Kool-Aide. As for Jones, he died of a gun shot wound.

Saturday November 17, 2007 – 7:40am I was recently asked in an email, admittedly about a week ago, if I had a tattoo and if so, what?  ..... Answer: I have only one. Click HERE to see it. OK, you can bemoan me for being delinquent at answering my emails but I'm trying to catch up. [really] I've just been focusing on trying to get the next CORNELIA out and hopefully by Monday it’ll be in the printers!

For the history buffs: It was on November 17, 1900 that   Aleister Crowley evoked the 29th Aethyr in Mexico, although Israel Regardie wrote, “... the seer here is obviously unskilled and untrained relatively speaking, and had not overcome the effects of his early upbringing and conditioning.” ..... and speaking of Regardie, or more properly Francis Israel Regudy, he was born on this date in London in 1907. His parents were poor Jewish immigrants and during the course of WWI, when his older brother joined the army, his name was accidentally written down as “Regardie.” Rather than change it, it was adopted as the family name when they moved to America. Later Regardie also dropped the use of Francis, preferring to be known simply as Israel Regardie. He would become the short lived personal secretary to Aleister Crowley. Upon meeting Crowley he was ordered to lose his ‘virginity’ as quickly as possible with the visit to a ‘local prostitute!’ Regardie was also a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, known as Frater Ad Majorem Adonai Gloriam. He died on March 10, 1985 of a heart attack while having dinner with friends at one of his favorite restaurants in Sedona, Arizona. ..... also of note; on November 17, 1979 Immanuel Velikovsky, the author of Worlds in Collision, died at the age of 84 in Princeton, New Jersey. He often stated that, “... science is proving I was right all along.” He implied that his theories that questioned the knowledge of Earth’s history, which he based upon cosmic catastrophes involving our planet and its influence on the course of civilization, were being proven true time and time again. ..... and finally I’d like to mention that on this date in 1996 near East Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada the area suffered a blackout. One witness who was leaving the Skytrain Station claimed that she saw a large black square shaped UFO moving low over nearby Slocan Park. Arriving at her daughter’s residence she heard a “whoo” sound outside and upon investigating the two women saw a tennis ball size blue light maneuvering over the area. At one point it dropped close to the ground near the trees. Later, the woman and her daughter went over to the area to investigate and found strange marks on the ground. Upon leaving the park the two women saw two short humanoids wearing jeans with rolled cuffs, pointy ears and glassy eyes. The humanoids then smiled and the woman claimed to have then received a ‘telepathic message.’ She closed her eyes only briefly but when she turned around to look at the little men they had disappeared.

Friday November 16th 2007 – For the history buffs: It was on this date in 1900 that the rite of Venus of Eleusis was performed at Caxton Hall. Crowley wrote, “... if I had had the most ordinary common sense, I should have got a proper impresario to have it presented in proper surroundings by officers trained in the necessary techniques. Had I done so, I might have made an epoch in the drama.” ..... and Robert Stein was born on this date in Brooklyn, New York in 1931. Although he is known for many things within AA and OTO circles he’ll probably be most remembered as the man who wrote the classic tome titled Liber DCLXXI vel Troa, vel Pyramidos and then published it in a limited edition out of Pyramid Oasis, OTO in Buffalo, New York, much to the annoyance of some. ..... also, on November 16, 1933 the movie based on H. G. Well’s 1897 classic novel titled The Invisible Man opened in theaters on this date. Its premise, rather simple, is about a scientist who turns himself invisible but the formula slowly drives him insane, which causes him to terrorize the countryside as an invisible killer. ..... and to keep the flavor of the day going; Edward Gein of Plainfield Wisconsin was caught on this date in 1957. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Psycho were loosely based on his life. Edward Gein was known to his neighbors as being a kind and generous man, always giving away “free deer meat” and often eating such himself if invited to dinner. However, it was later revealed after his arrest that Gein never killed a single deer. The truth as to where the meat really came from forced many of Plainfield’s residents to shudder and ‘become sick.’ ..... also, on November 16, 1996 in Casablanca, Valparaiso, Chile several local students at the basic Manuel Baquedano school reported encountering several little gnome like men who wore different color clothing and usually hid in the trees and bushes. Their leader appeared to be an aged looking one, dressed in black who threw stones at the curious children and emitted strange shrieking sounds trying to scare he children off, at the same time he made signs with his hands to stay back. 12-year-old Felipe Guerrero Silva reported seeing other friendlier gnomes wearing red, green, and white clothing. The entity wearing the white clothing seemed to be the friendliest. After a while, the children fled home. ..... and finally, the musical psychic Rosemary Isabel Brown died on this date at the age of 85 in 2001. Her career began at the age of seven when a white-haired spirit appeared to her in her bedroom and told her that she would become a famous musician. Although she tried, she never became proficient in music. Although, what she didn’t know was that she would become a gifted a ‘musical psychic’ whose ‘compositions’ would be written by over twenty dead composers. In 1964, Rosemary, then a middle-aged British widow with two children, was contacted by the spirit of Liszt who apparently brought some friends along. Rosemary began composing music through the spiritual guidance of such legendary composers as Bach, Chopin, Stravinsky, Schubert, Debussy and Liszt, to name but a few. Beethoven even spoke through her and finished his Tenth and Eleventh Symphonies. The critical assessment of Rosemary Brown’s work is mixed and while some agree that the compositions are definitely in the style of the composers to which they are attributed, others argue that such spiritualistic techniques are impossible. Be that as it may, one thing is for certain; Brown found it difficulty if not impossible to play many of the compositions that she wrote down while in a trance.

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