~ DECEMBER 1st- 8th, 2007 ~

(the latest entries are always added to the top)

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

Saturday December 8th 2007 – 1:15pm On December 6th I posted about our upcoming lecture series reviewing IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL as being on a Friday nights; this has been changed to a Saturday Night. The first will be on Saturday January 19th, doors open at 7:00pm, lecture at 7:30pm. On this night we shall read out loud Chapter One and go over it very carefully with open talks. If you’ve enjoyed the series and want more to be involved in an open discussion, this is the time to start; from A to Z. ... You do not have to be an AA initiate to attend. ... There will be NO Friday Night Gathering on January 18th.

12:00pm Charles is alive ...

7:45am For the history buffs: George Norman Douglas was born in Thurigen, Austria on this date in 1868. He received part of his school education at Karlsruhe in Germany, and in 1894 he entered the Foreign Office as a diplomat, serving in St. Petersburg Russia before taking early retirement to live on the island of Capri. He was a prolific author and a close friend of Nancy Cunard. In 1929 she witnessed Norman talking to Aleister Crowley on the phone. It seems Norman had just called the Beast and had begun his conversation, “Hullo you old b.....” .... “Haven’t seen you for a long time. How about a drink?” According to Nancy they both talked for quite awhile and Crowley’s comments “evoked a good deal of chuckling” on Norman’s part. She also remarked how she immediately beseeched Norman, “Get me the old rascal. What’s he up to now? Does he still wear that rediculous kilt?” It seems, according to Nancy that she had seen him dressed in a kilt at a Montmartre night-club at 2 a.m. “And there was that story about him ... Oh!*just two little kittens that had got under his kilt and were playing some mysterious kind of pat-ball there ...” As to when Norman and Crowley had first met has always been a mystery but the “Italian years” which are always implied refer to Crowley’s days at Abbey at Cefalu and in reviewing Crowley’s diaries of this period there is a brief mention of Norman as being “a charming & plucky man.” Norman died on 9 February 1952. ..... also born on this date was Charles Henry Allan Bennett, who was born in London into poverty in 1872. He was orphaned at an early age and was always racked by illness. He was educated at Holloway College, and at Bath, England. He was also initiated into The Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn where he became known as Frater Iehi Aour - “Let there be light.” He always had a strong fascination for Buddhism and at the age of 28, in 1900, he decided to travel to Ceylon to further his studies and to relieve the asthma from which he had suffered for years. Later, while in Burma, he officially became a Buddhist monk, taking the name of Ananda Metteya (“bliss of loving kindness”). He founded the International Buddhist Society in 1903. With health failing, his doctors suggested that he move to the warm climate of California. Enroute he stopped in England where his health and the events of World War I, forced him to stay. He never reached California. While in London he was befriended by playwright Clifford Bax who helped him published The Buddhist Review to propagate the cause of Buddhism in Britain. He died on March 9th in 1923. He was only fifty years old. ..... and finally, on December 8, 1925, the late actor-singer Sammy Davis, Jr. was born in Harlem, New York. Although he converted to Judaism, he had also been a member of Anton Lacey’s First Church of Satan.

Friday December 7th 2007 – 9:30pm Tonight we held our weekly Friday Night gathering at my house to talk about and debate Thelema. ... Sorry Charles.

                                                                      

                                                                  Bits and pieces of Charles on the kitchen floor ...

10:25am A student wrote me this morning: “I find it difficult to let my subconscious out through writing, for me its drawing. Do you think you can do your thesis pictorially?” ... and I just replied: The latest issue of Cornelia [no.15] goes in-depth into the Magickal Thesis. Consider this quote: “Since everything below the Abyss, especially in the Lover grade, is bathed in duality the question arises, “What about the Thesis?” It is simple: the thesis is also two-fold. The first part is buried in Malkuth and details the Laws of our Universe, of which our Star is the center. This is a very scientific, conscious study of Self in our incarnation and it fulfills the first magickal Law of Socrates – “Know Thyself.” The second part of the thesis lies buried in the desert of sand known as the Abyss and this could take months or years to completely unfold but it cannot be perceived below the Abyss in a conventional medium. The language of the Higher Self funnels downward into Tiphereth but it is too archetypal and beyond rational thought; it often manifests as Genius through poetry, music, art or in another creative venue wherein the ‘I’ shuts down and ‘Gnosis’ is received. Grady McMurtry believed that this part of the thesis held the final secrets to our incarnation but it could only be fully obtained by someone who has successfully crossed the Abyss.”  ... Grady created his Thesis through poetry; I designed my Tarot cards as have other Magister Templi in our lineage. However, you might be jumping the gun by thinking of this obligation too hard, your have yet to fully function from a Malkuthian point-of-view. The process of receiving the second part of the Thesis starts once you are in Tiphereth. For now, be patient. Focus on the first half of the requirements ... but, then again, don’t stop focusing on your ambitions to formulate a Tarot deck but remember, from the point-of-view of Malkuth, they’re just pretty pictures.

10:00am I replied to a student’s lengthy email, writing, "It’s good to hear from you. Ah yes, the webs we weave. I’m glad to see you are semi-surviving, if not tormented in realms where tears form lakes. ... As a Thelemite the world is your playground. There is no sin but restriction. This clearly implies that women, wives & girlfriends, our children, jobs, money, homes, our books and libraries and ‘all’ material experiences are OK. There is no Law beyond do what thou wilt. We incarnated in order to gain an experience. They are all part of it. ... When you start throwing around too many Buddhist phrases, statements or quests, as with previous emails, it often implies to me nothing more than ‘escapism’ while trying to “Run Away” : as Monty Python so eloquently put it. Anyway, stripping away “a lot of the things that distract my focus and keep it on Malkuth” is NOT the answer. I think you’ve always missed the point on this one which is why you keep repeating the same errors over and over again whenever a similar ‘distraction’ winks at you. ... ‘Restrictions’ have absolutely nothing to do with material or mundane things. Restrictions imply our ‘internal’ desire to put any material object above another as if important. ... Remember, the Kundry [i.e. restrictions] takes on many forms from a beautiful seductress to a seemingly good job. In other words, all mundane things are ‘gifts’ from the Demons who are the true creators of all things personally in our sphere of experience on Malkuth. Read The Sacred Magic of Abramelin; it clearly states this. ... Yes, in your case, the things you mention may well be restrictions but like most people who persist to wallow on Malkuth, it’s easier to blame inanimate objects as something holding you back rather than facing the phantom in oneself.  In other words, as an example; it’s the gun’s fault that a person shot someone, so let’s get rid of all guns! It’s a natural state of thinking on Malkuth often rooted in the failure of the ‘circle squared’ - Blame Caesar, kill Caesar, problem solved on Malkuth but what does it leave? ... “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). ... Anyway, I’ll tell you this, getting rid of all your possessions [as if distractions] won’t solve your problem. The next cute ass in a skirt that shakes itself in front of you will simply mean another girlfriend and you’ll have less possessions. As you put it so bluntly in regards to your present girlfriend, yes, you followed your “dick down a rat hole.”  But this will never change until you face the source of ‘your’ actions. It’s not the rat’s fault ... but something inside you. ... As an Aquarius, you must understand that the lesson you face in this sign clearly represent needs and challenges throughout your life as you try to establish a ‘detached relationship’ with others. Astrologer often miss this point because they’re not Thelemites but to us, when they speak of ‘detached relationships’ in this sign it’s not necessarily something ‘separated in a mundane sense’ but something internal that you need to face in regards to external object. We must learn to love everything to extremes [yes, even those foul little creatures we call women] but you should place no great importance of one thing over another. In other words; in your case you should never sell your soul for the love of a woman. Have you not read Faust? To sell your soul implies deviating off the path that you chose for your incarnation in order to unconditionally embrace someone else’s! A lesson for all magicians to learn is that our partners have their path too, as do we ours, two can entwine but they should never become one. If this occurs; Crowley is right, one will always dominate the other. Still, as an Aquarian, you have this insatiable thirst for knowledge but a problem with your sign is that it easily accepts advice, often gleefully listening but rarely does it act upon it, even if they consider it valid. The reason being is that the Aquarian acts like a scientist. They take everything in but they learn more by experience than intellect. There is nothing wrong with this unless they keep blowing up glass test-tubes trying to repeat the same experiment in order to see where they’ve gone wrong. Sooner or later the Aquarian has to act ‘rash’ which as Crowley states, “rash and even foolish action is really wiser than the wisdom of deliberation,” in regards to this sign. In other words, the beacon is broken, pick up the pieces and move on and don’t analyze it to death as to why because it implies you’re standing still. Oddly, I also agree with Crowley: “The habit of deliberation, which is right, may easily become the habit of temporizing, which is wrong.” In others words, bidding one’s time and conforming to one’s apparent circumstances is procrastination and it is dangerous for the Aquarius. You’re an Air sign, don’t keep your head in the clouds or you’ll walk off the cliff! Pay attention to your surroundings so that you don’t make the same mistake over and over again!"

7:00am John writes a lengthy email wherein he asks, “Care to tell us more about how we can establish ‘wires?’ ..... Answer: Wires are your psychic system which is something that needs to be fortified or strengthened in order to receive a greater surge of Life’s current which descends once you cross the Abyss. Although yoga, magick and numerous other arts help, the Key to it all lies with the ‘Circle Squared.’ Failure in one implies failure in both and most failures occur because either the ‘spirit is lacking’ or the ego ‘is fortified.’  Or both!

6:45am You’re right Frank and I apologize for being rude and offensive. Aleister Crowley did say some wonderfully things about Christianity but you didn’t cite anything ... so let me: “Christianity is like a painted mummy; expose it to fresh air, & it crumbles to dust.” [AC’s unpublished diary on January 1st 1929] ... Hows that? So don’t write anymore trying to defend Christianity! Remember Liber AL vel Legis III: 51 “With my Hawk’s head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross.” ... And let me add, “Hang his fat bearded comrade on an upside cross!”   

6:30am For the history buffs: After the death of Eugene Vintras on this date in Lyons in 1875, Abbe Boullan, who was an unfrocked priest who had been imprisoned in Rome for heresy and in France for fraud, proclaimed himself the new Supreme Pontiff and the reincarnation of John the Baptist which he felt gave him the right to take over Vintras’ Church of Carmel. A schism soon ensued and Boullan, along with a few of his supporters, moved their Order from Paris to Lyons, a city that had retained some reputation for heretical sects going back to the days of Irenaeus. ..... also, Kenneth Hopkins was born in Bournemouth England on this date in 1914. In the late nineteen-forties he was known for wearing his hair extremely long for the period. He wrote that, “at least my moustache saves me from being called Madam by bus conductors,” which he states occasionally happened before he grew it. When Aleister Crowley died in 1947, Hopkins was one of the “long-haired devotees” described by the press present at his funeral. John Symonds has written that “he {Hopkins} had never met Crowley but he was an old friend of Louis Wilkinson.” Hopkins’ further supports this when he writes, “I wasn’t technically a devotee. I simply wanted to hear Louis Marlow read Crowley’s Hymn to Pan, which he did superbly. The wild and barbaric words echoed round the Crematorium, ‘Io. Pan! Pan!’ until I for one expected that ancient God to rise up through the floor.” Louis Wilkinson (alias Marlow) was a very good friend of Kenneth Hopkins, having met him in 1939 through a mutual friend named John Cowper Powys. Immediately after the funeral ceremony of Aleister Crowley at Brighton, Hopkins was walking back to town with Gerald Yorke when a reporter came up and asked a simple question. “Mr. Yorke, did you ever actually see Mr. Crowley perform magic?” Yorke replied “Oh, yes, countless times!” The reporter questioned, “What did he do?” With this, Yorke who was always fond of pulling reporters’ legs simply replied, “Oh, well, he was very fond of turning himself into a pillar of salt.” Also well worth repeating is Hopkin’s later account which shows his fear of Aleister Crowley even after death. He wrote that “one of the first things I do at night when I get home is take off my tie which (it seems) I then let fall wherever I chance to be. So the house is littered with ties, for I wear a different one most days. Some of these ties formerly belonged to Aleister Crowley, including one which in the end I gave to Ronnie Laws. This specimen was covered with magical symbols and I was afraid to wear it lest it strangled me.” ..... and finally on this date in 1995 near Guanica, Puerto Rico there was an unusual bloodless death of chickens and cows attributed by the Chupacabra, or “goat sucker.”

Thursday December 6th 2007 – 12:15pm I added a new epistle at the very bottom of AN OPEN EPISTLE ON THE TUNIS COMMENT. Now there are six articles titled : 1. The Latest Dance Craze, The Tunis Comment Shuffle, 2. An Open Epistle on Motta's Degree, 3. OTO Initiations or The Tunis Comment?, 4. The Study of this Book is Forbidden, 5. But is there a Comment? And the new one titled 6. The Tunis Comment 2007, The Debate Continues. This details our recent blog debate on whether or not The Tunis Comment is a Class A document. This way all the debates, contradictions and head sratching regarding the comment is kept in one place.

10:20am Might I ask, after receiving a nice but pointed email from Frank in New York City, that if I offend your Christmas senses by torturing Santa, why did you become a Thelemite and join the OTO? Equally important, why are you reading my blog? I’ve said it before and I’ll it again, there are more closet Christians in that damn organization that you can shake a stick at! And you know who you are!  ... If you put up Christmas decorations and then make excuses why its OK, you’re a closet Christian, or if you’re smitten with Holiday Cheer and argue that you simply like this time of year, you’re a closet Christian and if you can’t tell your children and family that you’re a Thelemite, into the teachings of Aleister Crowley, and that CHRISTIANITY SUCKS, then you’re a closet Christian. And finally, to all those Thelemic-Wiccans out there who argue that they're really celebrating Yule by putting up Christmas decorations ... let me get my barf bag. 

10:00am I’ve been receiving lots of emails over the last month from people asking about my blog entry of November 3rd which stated, “FRIDAY NIGHT GATHERINGS : A few important notices: There will be no gathering on Friday November 23rd or the day after Thanksgiving. Also, beginning in December our open houses will be held just twice a month for awhile until further notice; or on December 7th & 22nd; same time: 7:00pm. The Friday’s in-between these two dates are for private sessions. Inquiries welcomed.” ... Answer: Why did we close?  For afew reasons, the time changed made it dark, cold and we knew that we were moving toward our rainy season where a lot of people won’t travel to visit. No one wanted to come the day after Thanksgiving. ... But MOST important, the ‘private sessions’ dates in December are planning stages for January. We decided that one Friday, each month, we shall begin reviewing IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL. On Friday January 18th, 7:00pm, we shall read out loud Chapter One and go over it very carefully with open talks. If you’ve enjoyed the series and want more to be involved in an open discussion, this is the time to start; from A to Z. ... You do not have to be an AA initiate to attend.

8:35am Jay, one of our AA students, writes, “The Grady bio is quite excellent. It has been consuming any spare time I have. I just finished Vol I. It's very nice to get the story of Thelema in this country. It tinges my perception to find that Grady was taking heavy magickal instruction from Crowley at the same time he was fighting WW II. As for the oath of the Abyss, I think I am mostly interested in your personal experience as it's invaluable for Thelemites in general to get the wisdom of those who have gone before. Honestly, my only magickal aspirations are for Knowledge and Conversation with my HGA. I figure anything else is for my HGA and  the gods to tell me. Thanks for answering my questions by the way. I have been somewhat startled by Parson's story. It's unfortunate that such a capable magician would suffer such an ending for being ill equipped. PS Have you thought about  writing an autobiography? Or have you already done so? ..... Answer: I’m glad you enjoy the Grady’s bio. It was a labour of love to write. Vol.II goes in-depth in Grady’s taking the Oath of the Abyss, his turmoil and views on the Angel. You should enjoy it.  Yes, I’ve written my own bio, titled ‘I Meant Well.’ It goes in-depth into my experiences with the Oath but I’m not planning on releasing it any day soon. ... Also, remember what I wrote in the Intro to Vol. I that Aleister Crowley believed that the true seeker has only two real steps to take: “(1) to achieve 5=6 which means bringing your Energy up to your Heart Chakra Tiphereth where you meet your HGA [i.e. Holy Guardian Angel] & then ‘under that divine guidance’ to (2) essay the adventure of the Abyss.” And I then pointed out that to attempt the latter before one’s Angel is achieved leads only to failure. In CORNELIAS we lay out the quest for the HGA in as clear a series as possible.

7:30am For the history buffs: Jacob Sprenger, co-author of the Malleus Malificarum, died on this date in 1495. ..... Violet Mary Firth, also known as Dion Fortune, was born on this date in Llandudno, England in 1890. Her interest in occultism was sparked when she was working as a psychotherapist around the time of the First World War. Her first esoteric teacher was Dr. Moriarty who specialized in astro-etheric psychological conditions and who later provided the inspiration for her book The Secret of Doctor Taverner. Having found her ‘path’ in the Western Mystery Tradition in 1919 she joined the Alpha and Omega Lodge of Stella Matutina of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She derived the name Dion Fortune from the magical motto which she adopted when joining which was “Deo Non Fortuna,” which means “by God, not chance.” In 1929 she left the Order and founded a Community (later called Fraternity) of the Inner Light. She wrote numerous books throughout her life. Such as, The Secrets of Dr. Taverner (1926), The Demon Lover (1927), Sane Occultism (1929); The Training and Work of an Initiate (1930), Psychic Self-Defense (1930), Through the Gates of Death (1932), The Mystical Qabalah (1936), The Goat-Foot God (1936), The Winged Bull (1936), and The Sea-Priestess (1938) to name only a few. When Aleister Crowley published The Book of Thoth he sent her a copy inscribed to the “Priestess of Selene.” She died of acute myeloid Leukaemia on January 8, 1946 at the age of 55 on this date. ...... Aleister Crowley and Victor ‘Vickybird’ Neuburg went a few miles outside the town of Marrakhesh into the desert on this date in 1909 and, as Neuburg later wrote, “we did not draw a circle, but a pentacle” to evoke Choronzon & the 10th Aethyr. It is well documented but the part of how the ritual ended borders on pure myth. The intent of this ritual was to hold a serious business conversation, but toward the end it seems Neuburg kept chirping in with questions of “a purely ostrobogulos nature” until Crowley became so enraged that he turned him into a zebra, rode him into Alexandria and sold him to the zoo, where he remained for two years before regaining human shape. As far as the demon Choronzon goes; within the original writings of John Dee this entity merely implies the serpent in the ‘Garden of Eden’ but when Aleister Crowley popularized this entity it became synonymous with the final evil dark obstacle of the Abyss, which separates the Second School from the Third on the Tree of Life. In an odd way the interpretations couldn’t be farther apart. If one believes in the Gnostic concept that the Serpent is, in truth, our true savior then one should embrace Choronzon as being good, while the other end of the spectrum Choronzon according to Crowley implies that the Serpent is the antipathy of Christian good, or baneful. It all depends upon how you see the ‘Serpent’ in the Garden. ..... Also, it was on December 6, 1932 that the movie based on the Golden Dawn writer Sax Rohmer, titled The Mask of Fu Manchu, opened in theaters. Its plot is simple; Somewhere in the East lies the grave of Ghengis Khan and buried with him is his powerful sword and mask which have the ability to let the East rule over the world. A group of British scientists have found the grave and are taking the treasures to the British museum but Fu Manchu and his diabolical daughter, Fah Lo See, are watching them. They want the items in order to rule the world. ..... and finally a UFO supposedly crashed on this date in 1950 outside El Indio-Guerrero area of the Texas-Mexican border. What remained of the object was said to have been almost completely incinerated.

Wednesday December 5th 2007 – 8:30pm I am really bummed out. I ran into Elana, a real cute Japanese girl from my building. She likes me growing my beard out. Her exact words were, “It makes you look like Santa Claus.” ... I hate this time of the year.

6:45pm My dear friend LUNA wrote a lengthy email filled with gems. Besides interesting magickal thought, there were these: "I LOVE your decorations! They are terrific! ... I don't know what it is about landlords not wanting blood on their tenants front doors! ... OH! I LOVED the Santa/Satan thing that your blog linked to also! ... Next time I am over at the 99 cent store I am going to pick up some Santa's and crucify them as decorations for us here at The Sanctuary! ... I'm also copying all of the art that I have done since reading the Grady books and will bind them for you and mail them in a few weeks. ... I am also reading Grady's poetry. Leigh really enjoys the poetry also. ... Take care...and I am glad you are feeling well." ..... Answer: Her emails always bring smiles, lots of smiles.

6:00pm I've gotten sixteen emails this afternoon [and phone calls] from friends about my "Santa crucified" above my door as posted on this blog below and all are saying about the same thing; they love it, they think I'm sick and twisted but some still consider me 'lovable.' ... My eleven year old son Faustus stopped by just awhile ago with his friend Tristan, along with Tristan's dad Mr. Benjamin Hance. Faustus looked up at Santa and simply said, "Dad, that's sick." I smiled, and simply replied, “OK.” Then, while I was busy, Ben, never to miss a beat, showed my son the tiny picture of Santa in the new issue of CORNELIA No.16, the same one that is seen in the left hand corner of my FOSK posting. Smiling, he told Faustus who it was ... my son is traumatized! ... If you can't see the tiny picture too well, then click on the picture itself [because its a link]... Doesn’t anyone out there believe that I mean well?

3:15pm I feel better today, so I got into the mood and hung up Christmas lights and decorations above my door. Ah, nothing tells your neighbors about your views better than a Santa crucified on an upside down cross! ... But my landlord said no fake blood on the door this year!

NOTE THE UPDATE POSTED ON DECEMBER 8th.

9:00am As soon as a new student starts asking questions about the Oath of the abyss I get nervous. First, I shake my head and utter to myself, “Don’t do it!” and then I reflect upon their question in an attempt to answer it. Anyway, one of my students asks, “I was wondering if you would be willing to relate your personal experience in taking the oath of the Abyss sometime?”  ..... Answer: Grady McMurtry and I often talked about our personal experiences. He felt, like Crowley himself, that he had been guided since childhood and once he realized ‘how’ or the ‘methods’ that his Angel had been using to communicate with him, he felt comfortable enough to take the Oath of Abyss; knowing that in the years of turmoil to come, he’d look for the “road signs along the way” which were placed by his Angel throughout his childhood, to guide him across the desert of sand. He marveled at my diaries and writings since we shared similar views on this subject. He felt, as do I, that the clues to a successful crossing are laid out in the foundation stones of our incarnation. To date, most successful crossings realize this simple lesson. ... However, although the above might be helpful, I think my student actually wanted to know more about what occurs upon taking the Oath. ... In brief; HELL. Once the Oath is taken, one is immersed into the Abyss where as a Child you spend years trying to “establish the wires” - as Crowley called them. The old self must be shed like a snake's skin as you prepare the new as a proper vehicle. If the Ego has not been placed under control, it resists these changes for the sake of preserving the 'I'. If successful, with 'wires' established, you have the means whereby Gnosis can descend from Above. Remember, the Knowledge (Gnosis) that is given by our Angel is 'Beautiful' and Illuminates our Inner Sun ... but like everything that descends below the Abyss it automatically becomes dual and contains the seed of its opposite. Therefore, if Gnosis about the Abyss is pure TRUTH then logic tells us that it will become TRUE and FALSE once below. "How is this possible?" you may not ask. .... Simple; if the wires are established your HGA communicates TRUTH. If the wires have not been established then the Knowledge received becomes the False Crown, being a serpent whose tail is actually rooted in Malkuth. The clue to such failures are seen in those who wallow in self grandeur, ego and often create ‘phantoms’ or a belief structure that is fitting for the mind of H.P.Lovecraft or Tolkein - that only 'they' can guide you through. They have forgotten - "Truth is a simple thing."  Finally, people who also write that Daath (Knowledge) is merely a Gateway to evil side of the Tree and that it is ‘only’ a False Crown’ reveal more about themselves and the angle by which there are viewing Knowledge than what Qabalistic writings actually states. 

8:20am I received this question from Jay, one of our students here in the Berkeley area. He asks, “Hey Jerry, I've been reading the Grady bio and have come to wonder, to what extent was Jack Parsons familiar with the importance of the Holy Guardian Angel? I'm curious because it seems to me that Jack's unfortunate end may serve as an example of how information withheld can actually be quite harmful.” ..... Answer: Good question and I agree. As magicians, we learn by example and studying Jack's life is important. Anyway, the Angel is a subject that is not mention in both biographies on Jack Parsons. You’d think that Jack’s views on communication with one’s Holy Guardian Angel would have been something they would have tried to explore but they don’t. Still, Jack left us quite a few magickal writings but since he was a scientist, his writings are often less than inspiring but I think they’re brilliant in some areas. They should be read. I’d recommend to all to seek out a copy of Freedom is a Two-Edges Sword (Falcon Press 1989). However, I also personally think that when Jack starts talking a lot about previous Aeons like Osiris and now Horus, he’s 100% misses the point. You should take some things that he writes, similar to the writings of Charles Stansfeld Jones, with a grain of salt ... they, like even me, are scientists of New Aeonic thought. We all make mistakes but at least we’re daring to think which is something that most Thelemic leaders today are afraid to do. It is easier for them to write stuff that is ‘safe’ rather than thought provoking. Anyway, if you had read a lot of Jack’s writings you’d walk away with the impression that he believes, although he never really calls it the HGA, that the HGA is simply our Higher Self. For instance, I noted once that he wrote, “If we wish identity with a greater power, let us seek union with ourself – our total self raised to its highest potential of wisdom, knowledge and experience.”  I once wrote a brief article on the subject of Jack & the HGA because I found that few people realized that if Crowley himself believed the HGA was merely the quest for our own Higher Self or genius and really didn’t ‘openly’ state such otherwise until he wrote Magick Without Tears, what do we expect Jack and others to believe? Remember, although originally titled Aleister Explains Everything, Magick Without Tears was not published in Crowley's lifetime. ... Karl Germer re-titled the manuscript and published it in 1954, two years after Parsons’ death. Yes, perhaps had Parsons read it, studied it and reflected upon the need to seek one’s objective Angel before attempting the Oath of the Abyss, perhaps he would have survived but all this is merely historical wishful thinking and hard knock lessons that he went through, that we now appreciate.

7:15am For the history buffs: The Papal Bull that was issued by Pope Innocent on this date in 1484, being in need of credibility, inevitably lead to the Malleus Maleficarum (1486) being published which was one of the most widely referenced and infamous books of its time. Throughout the middle Ages and the entire period of the witchcraft hysteria, the Malleus Maleficarum was the most influential how-to guide used for the persecution and torture of witches and heretics. Montague Summers who translated it into English called it: ”One of the most important, wisest and weightiest books in the world.” Due to the rapid spread of the Printing Press revolution in the late 1400’s, generally attributed to Johann Gutenberg, the book became widely available to the masses and for over two centuries was second only in sales to the Holy Bible. ...... The ship known as the Marie Celeste, which had recently left New York, was found on this date in 1872 under full sail in the mid-Atlantic. Although some accounts claim that it was found on the 4th. Upon boarding the ship it was discovered that the vessel had plenty of food and water, everything was left perfectly as is. In fact, the galley fire was still burning, half eaten food lay on the table and still fresh. Smoldering pipes lit with tobacco were found, along with numerous other oddities. The cargo-barrels of alcohol were still lashed in place in the hold. But something was missing -the Captain, his wife and children and the entire ten man crew were gone. They had vanished without a trace, or a fight; leaving one of the greatest mysteries of the sea for all to ponder. ..... and speaking of mysteries; on this date five in 1945 Avenger torpedo bombers lifted off from the Navel Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 2:10 in the afternoon. It was a routine practice mission which had the planes fly due east 56 miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals to conduct practice bombing runs. About an hour and a half after the flight had left a radio transmission was received from one of the bombers claiming that their compasses were not working and, although they were they experienced pilots, they believed they were somehow heading in the wrong direction out over the Florida Keys. No matter how hard they tried, ground communications could not get the five Avenger torpedo bombers back on any recognizable course. By 4:45pm it was obvious that the planes were hopelessly lost. As it grew dark, communications with the planes slowly deteriorated. At 6:20 a Dumbo Flying Boat was dispatched to try and find the planes and guide them back. Within the hour two more planes, Martin Mariners, joined the search. The last transmission from the lost planes was heard at 7:04pm. The other planes searched the area throughout the night and into the next few days but no sign of the Avengers, nor was any wreckage ever found. They had vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. ..... and I’d like to point out that in an article titled What is Scientology? it states, “In 1945, left partially blind with injured optic nerves and lame from hip and back injuries, Mr. Hubbard was hospitalized at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California.” Finally, on this date in 1945, Lieutenant L. Ron Hubbard was mustered out of the Navy from too many undiagnosed pains. It has been written that “the doctors were undecided as to precisely what was wrong with him. He was certainly not blind nor crippled, but seemed to be suffering from endless minor aches and pains.” ..... and finally, on this date in 1966 the ashes of Dr. J. Irving Bentley, 92, of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, was discovered by a meter reader. Dr. Bentley’s body apparently ignited while he was in the bathroom and burned a 2-1/2-by-3-foot hole through the flooring, with only a portion of one leg remaining intact. Nearby paint was unscorched. This is reported as a classic case of spontaneous human combustion.

Monday Decembner 3rd 2007 – 2:00pm The latest issue of CORNELIA would have been out last week but I have been very sick. However, I spent all afternoon doing final editing & proofing and I just put No.15 into the printers. I’ll pick it up tomorrow. Yes, No.15 is finally released! Ah, this means that we’ve released 15 issues in 12 months. Not bad! ... Anyway, in this new issue I continue on with Part Eleven of IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL titled The Magickal Thesis. This is a critical issue for the magician. The Thesis is one of the most misunderstood magickal requirements in the AA system. Few people realize that this is NOT something that you should be ignoring until you reach the Qabalistic sphere of Chesed (4) but it is something every individual, male and female, must begin considering the second they desire to climb the Tree of Life. In this issue we shall explain why. We also include the next section to THE MAGICKAL ESSENCE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY titled An Open Letter on the Third Reason for doing Liber Resh vel Helios. This installment explains the 'hidden' reasons why a true magician does Liber Resh. And we continue on with our 'crowd-pleaser' or Chapter Nine of MEMOIRS OF AN OTO INITIATE. This chapter discusses with gruesome details the events leading up to and my becoming the 6th Lodge Master of Thelema Lodge!

6:30am Well, how was my weekend? Well Friday started with me being sick. Then, toward evening, just about 6:00pmish I heard a massive BOOM! It sounded like a huge bomb going off. It shook my window. I immediately look up to see the sky exploding in a bright blue light with sparks flying hundreds of feet! It was visible higher than the surrounding buildings. It lit the sky up! Within seconds it stopped and my apartment lights dimmed and then partially went out. I lost my Cable, computer, telephone, fish tank filter, clocks & etc. As for the lights, they didn’t go completely out but they dimmed like I had only ten watt bulbs everywhere, very odd. I went outside to see what happened and it seems a main power line right by Gypsy’s Restaurant [next door] sparked, snapped and swung down touching a metal newspaper box, charring it and causing the light show. Looking around I could see half the neighborhood was dark. Luckily no one was hurt. ... Within a short time friends showed up for our Friday night gathering but awhile we were talking the lights went completely out everywhere for miles around! Berkeley went dark! ... Candle time!!! ... Finally, around 9:00am, due to no lights and because of the fact that I was feeling like shit, I had to ask everyone to leave. I took cold meds and went to bed early. The lights were restored about 2:30am. ... As for Saturday, it was supposedly my son’s sleep-over weekend but I had to cancel. I was sick as a dog; high fever, coughing, running nose and I was generally not my best. I slept most of the day and Saturday became a blur. The other thing about the losing electricity was that the surge caused our apartment building’s furnace to have a meltdown. Our landlord let us know that we’d have no heat all weekend or until Monday. My apartment was cold. No, my apartment was FUCKING cold! And with freezing temperatures outside now inside, it was all I needed. ... The final straw to my sanity came early Sunday morning. Not having eaten all day Saturday, I was starving. I didn’t have much in the house but I knew that I had cereal. Like a zombie; tired, mouth half open and with a blank stare I dragged myself out of bed and went into the kitchen. I got my bowl, filled it with Special K and proceeded to open the new milk that I had just bought Friday. You can tell when you’re still sick by your reaction time. Normally I would have instantly stopped but this time I stood in horror watching lumpy, slow moving thick yellow milk ooze out of the bottle onto my cereal. It was horrible. Not changing my expression one Iota, I simply lifted the bottle up and read – Egg Nog.  I was under the impression that I had bought regular milk on Friday. I remember putting the bottle down, coughing and simply heading back to bed, leaving everything on the counter. ... Anyway, I’m feeling a little better today; I’m still coughing, tired and all-around feeling like shit but at least the Sun is out and hopefully the Sun will come out tomorrow!

6:20am For the history buffs: While skrying into the 14th Aethyr on this date in 1909 and, on an ‘impulse’, Aleister Crowley seized upon the idea of a doing a homosexual ritualistic act upon his scribe Victor Neuburg. This occurred outside Dal’leh Addin  and it was dedicated to the great God Pan. Thus, on an erected altar of rough stone, Crowley was said to sacrifice himself, an act which he claimed consumed ‘every particle of his ego.’ Later that very same evening, while skrying further into the same Aethyr, Angels admitted him into the company of the Masters of the Temple. Thus it can be said; with a little buggery and just the proper ‘push’, Aleister Crowley ‘officially’ became a Magister Templi, 8=3, and entered Binah, the third sphere on the Tree of Life. This degree, Crowley had taken back in December of 1906 but never felt ‘comfortable’with obtaining it until now. Back in 1906 he assumed the motto Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici which means: By the power of Truth, I, in my lifetime, have conquered the Universe. ..... and to continue on with the flavor of the day, John Michael Osbourne, more commonly known as Ozzy Osbourne, was born on this date in Birminham, England in 1948. He was the lead singer of heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath. Ozzy left the band in 1979. Not only did he have hit records, he was a magnet for controversy; like the time he once bit the head off a bat while on stage, giving himself a rabies scare; or the time he bit the head off a dove in the offices of record executives. He was even sued over his song “Suicide Solution” by the parents of a teenage fan who had killed himself; the case was dismissed. He was arrested in 1982 for urinating on a historical “shrine,” on of all placed - The Alamo. Along the way he toured and released successful albums such as Blizzard of Ozz (1980), Bark at the Moon (1983), Ultimate Sin (1986) and Ozzmosis (1995) but Crowleyites will best remember him for the classic song titled Mr.Crowley, which begins: “Mr. Crowley, what went on in your head, Mr. Crowley, did you talk with the dead, Your life style to me seemed so tragic, With the thrill of it all, You fooled all the people with magic, You waited on Satan’s call.” In 2002 Ozzy and his family made it to MTV in a reality sitcom called The Osbournes, a video journal of their wacky life in the Los Angeles mansion. ..... also, Friedrich Bernhard Marby, German occultist and rune scholar, died on this date in 1966. He believed that man was a sensitive receiver of cosmic waves which animate the Universe and he saw the runes not just as letters but as incantations, or even as gymnastic postures and movements. ..... and finally, on this date in 1967 a 22 year old Police Sergeant named Herbert Shirmer in Ashland, Nebraska, was driving down a desolate road when he reported seeing a bright light in the sky, or a flying disk, which slowly settled on a distant hill. As he got closer to the object his car stopped and his lights went out. Needless-to-say, he was frightened as he watched some figures come out of the object and walk toward him. At what point he passed out he is not sure but, later, he came to in his patrol car, he realized that he had a missing time episode. He wrote in his official police log entry for the day, “Saw a flying saucer.”

Sunday December 2nd 2007 – 1:50pm It's that time of year again when Jerry kicks Santa! Yes, FOSK is back! Click HERE.

12:45pm Sniffle sniffle, and more sniffles and blaaaaaa! My nose is stuffed up. I can't breathe and I got no taste buds. My beer tastes horrible! Is there no God?

12:37pm For the history buffs: The Hollywood actress Jane Wolfe signed the Pledge form for the AA at the Abbey of Thelema on Cefalu on this date in 1920. She later took Probationer’s degree on June 11, 1921. ..... and Jane Roberts began using an Ouija board on this date in 1963 which inevitably put her into contact with an invisible entity known as Seth, who described himself as “an intelligence residing outside time and space.” She would later tell her story about Seth in such best selling books as The Coming of Seth and The Seth Material. To this day she has a phenomenal following and her books can be found in bookstores across the world. She died in 1984

Saturday December 1st 2007 – 2:15pm Sorry for not posting earlier but I've been in bed all day with the flu ... sniffle sniffle, cough.

2:10pm For the history buffs: Franz Bardon was born on this date in 1909 in Troppau (now Opava) in the current Czech Republic. His father was a student of esoteric Christianity. In 1924, or so the legend goes, a spirit of a high Hermetic adept entered into the body of fourteen-year-old Franz and, being possessed, his personality changed dramatically and with great suddenness. In time he became one of the most remarkable magicians of the 20th century. He wrote such books as Initiations Into Hermetics, The Practice of Magical Evocation and The Key To The True Kabbalah. He died on July 10, 1958, in Brno, also in the Czech. ..... also, Steffi Grant , the noted occultist and visionary artist, wife of Kenneth Grant, was born on this date in England in 1923. ..... It was on December 1, 1947 that Aleister Crowley, magician, poet and author, died in Hastings, England of bronchitis and cardiac degeneration. He was 72 years old. It has long been reported that the last thing which the Great Beast tearfully said just before he died, while his hand was gently being held by his dear friend Frieda Harris, was - “I am perplexed!” But this is not true. Although they might have been the last words that he spoke to her, she was not at his bedside when he died. His real last words, which were spoken to his nurse, were - “Sometimes I hate myself.” ..... and equally amusing, a few hours after Crowley died his personal doctor, Dr. William Brown Thomson, also died. Approximately one week earlier the Beast had place a curse upon him. The author James Laver, who met Aleister Crowley shortly before he died, related this story in his own book, although he’s quick to point out “I do not vouch for it.” According to Laver, when the Doctor told Crowley he was going to cut off his heroin, Crowley replied, “If you do I shall die—and I shall take you with me” and, as already stated, Dr. Thomson did in fact die as Crowley predicted. The first article mentioning Dr. Thomson’s death appeared in The Daily Express on December 4th. It candidly proclaimed, “Magician Put Curse on Him, Crowley’s Doctor Dies.” It went on to say, “Dr. William Brown Thomson, who used to prescribe morphia tablets for Black Magician Aleister Crowley, ‘the wickedest man in Britain,’ has died within 24 hours of his patient, it was disclosed yesterday.” ..... and it was on this date in 1952 that Anodea Judith was born in Elyria, Ohio. She is he President of Church of All Worlds and has written such books as Wheels of Life (1987), The Sevenfold Journey (1993) and Eastern Body, Western Mind (1996). ..... and finally, on December 1, 1962, Gloria Lee (Byrd) died of hunger after claiming that “space people” had told her “to go on the fast.”

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY

TO THE NEXT DATES STORED IN THE ARCHIVE

"There were plants, And birds, And rocks And things”

-America's Horse With No Name

Love is the law, love under will. – AL I:57

RETURN TO MAIN PAGE

93