~ AUGUST 1st- 16th , 2007 ~
(the latest entries are always added to the top)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. - AL I:40
Thursday August 16, 2007 – 4:30pm My dear friend Rey from New Mexico writes, “Wow...it has been crazy here in the Land of Enchantment or as some natives have coined, the Land of Entrapment! ... Needless to say, it sounds like you are busy as well -- but enjoying the 'vida loca' with an upcoming video night! I wish to 'the gods' I could be there. I have discovered these very tasty multi-flavored popcorns at Whole Foods that are excellent...smoked Gouda! [drool] And Philosopher's quadruple Ale. [a very tasty beverage, in a large bottle with cork. It is a rare treat, but I do enjoy it very much when I can get it.] ... I shall read your blog daily [as it is so darn entertaining] and send positive thoughts for your continued peace and well-being.” ..... Answer: Yes, I too wish that you still lived here in SF area. I miss our talks over a nice cold pitcher of beer at Raleigh’s [bar] while watching the cute sights walk by!
2:00pm Dennis Currin-Duvaul writes, “I would like to say that I have enjoyed your writing and thank you for putting information within the reach of the many, and not just the few. Keep up the the Blog, as it is educational as well as humorous!” ... He also writes, "Thank you for providing your Desk Reference online. It has been a great help over that last few years. Hopefully it will make a comeback soon on your new website. Until then, I thought I would mention that people can find the Desk Reference saved on web.archive.org." ... It seems, although we have lost our RED FLAME website a few of the classic archives are still available elsewhere. Thanks for the info Dennis and I'm glad that you are enjoying the website! Everyone should bookmark these links under 'favorites.' THE ALEISTER CROWLEY DESK REFERENCE
THE FRIENDS & ACQUAINTANCES OF ALEISTER CROWLEY
Wednesday August 15th 2007 – 2:10pm My friend John from the Sacramento area received an invite to the Movie Night and replied, “Damn! I will be out of town that week, otherwise I would be there!! Miike's Wikipedia article is pretty interesting-a very bizarre guy himself-let alone his work. Let me know when you have your next movie night-I read the synopsis of Visitor Q - lots of dark themes and images, he is the Crowley of the film world.” ..... Answer: since a group of people meet every Friday night at my apartment I'm thinking about making one of the Fridays a 'movie night' every single month. The next Movie Night would be Friday September 21st.
8:20am An old Qabalistic friend from the east coast called me this morning to point out an error in CORNELIA No.3. He read where I wrote – “Many people mistakenly think that the image of the Tree of Life found in most Qabalistic books is of an ancient Jewish glyph - it is not. In fact, when Abraham wrote the manuscript of The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage in the year 1458, the Tree, as we know it today, was totally unknown.” ... He then went on to point out that at earlier book by Rabbi Gikatilla (1248-1305) named the Porta Lucis clearly has the Tree on the title page. Wow? I thanked him for the info. I love researching history and getting better info but why do all the books ignore the Porta Lucis and point to Kircher’s tree? After hanging up I did some research. I immediately saw the problem and it jogged my memory about Gikatilla. Although his book, and others authors, have earlier Tree of Life drawings, I ignored them all because they obviously have different configurations of the paths connecting the Sephiroth than we use today. So, I think I'll have to stand by my statement that Kircher was the first to use the configuration of the 22 paths that we use today. 8:05am Frank sent an email asking, “My friend told me that Aleister Crowley knew the famed photographer Man Ray but I cannot find if this is true or not. Did he know him? ..... Answer: yes, he knew him. Find a copy of Man Ray’s, Self Portrait (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1963), pp. 191-193. In this book Ray writes, “There was a strange character, Aleister Crowley, whom I’d heard of in connection with various suspect activities in London and New York. We were sitting in the cafe with some friends; he took me aside to speak more confidentially. He knew many wealthy women who came to him for horoscopes. We could work together, he said—why not tell those that wished to be photographed that I require their horoscope in order to portray them properly; on his side he would tell a prospective client for a horoscope that he needed a portrait of her to complete his analysis. As I did not need the extra business, the proposition was not adopted.” 7:50am Carol from Delaware writes, “a friend quoted to me in her email ‘Here maybe the Satyrs use with the nymphs to tread a measure.’ And when asked, she said it was from Crowley’s poem The Mound but she has only a Xerox of the poem but no reference where it can be found. Where is it published?” ..... Answer: It is located only in Crowley’s book of poetry called The Giant’s Thumb. It is a rare book. Tuesday August 14th 2007 – 7:30pm I received this email. I have not edited it. The gentleman wrote, “Hello, Some time back, MArch06, to be exact, I was put in contact with a neophyte of A A. by the chancellor ffor the purpose of passing to the grade of probationer. At the time I could not travel , for specific reasons, al beit, temporary ones i explained this and also asked specific questions, about thelemic procedure i received no response to several inquiries, leaving me wondering if I had been expelled from the student college, for some reason this came after my successful completion, of the student examwhich, i mailed to England. what makes this particularly frustrating, is i had a former connection established with aneophyte, broken when he left the order taking all student records with him making it impossible, to track down students He on the other hand was good to answer any questions i had any advice? anything you can do to help, would be appreciated thank you” ...... Answer: The first advice that I would give anyone is NEVER write an email on-line. Always start your email/letter in a Word file where you can spell check, use grammar check, check for capitols and for writing style errors etc. Then copy it into an email before sending. Why? For one thing, if you sent a first letter filled with written foolishness to any college or university in the mundane world they would simply think that you are wasting their time and your letter would go into the circular file. Regardless what computer savvy people of today might think, or that easy fast-food emailing of ‘whatever’ is OK, in my mind it does not excuse sloppiness. It is also important to be clear and precise as to what you are asking. I'm not quite sure as to what this gentleman is asking but I'll take stab at it ... I receive at least three or four emails every month from individuals who think that all AA lineages are connected and are alike and if they are not getting satisfaction in ‘their’ branch’ they write to ours, or to another, to see if we can help. ... WE CAN NOT. ... I can only warn people before hand. If you read about the AA in some Aleister Crowley book or on a website and immediately join without doing the slightest bit of research on the branch itself; or whether or not its accredited or if it can offer you the best possible education, then – BUYER BEWARE! ... You could be purchasing a lemon! ... in this case remember that in Liber LXI vel Causae it clearly states - “Listen, we pray you, with attention: for once only does the Great Order knock at any one door.” ... Once you have joined a given branch of the AA you may be karmically stuck in it for life. It is a bad policy for another branch to take you on. We, in Grady McMurtry’s AA Lineage, have tried to do this in the past and have only regrets because many of those whom we accepted were bathed in bitterness and wanton gossip over the previous hand that they were dealt. The majority inevitably fell by the wayside. ... The reason that I am posting this is to hopefully warn others of the dilemma of blindly joining just any old AA group. Aleister Crowley died in 1947; if the AA lineage that you’re looking into is not willing to tell you up front what their personal history has been over these last sixty years; or they claim that they are the only ‘true’ AA and then tell you to simply read Aleister Crowley ... RUN AWAY!
12:00pm Well, I just got back from a morning bathed in errand Hell running from the Bank to the Post Office, to the printers and doing some etcs. I was rather shocked to find so many messages on my answer machine and lots of emails all wondering what happened to the Red Flame93 site!!! People were wondering if it was 'AGAIN' maliciously attacked. So, for all those who are curious; no, Marlene did not deliberately crash it again, nor did aliens have a hand in its demise or the US Government. The abominable snowman is also innocent. In truth, it was simply time to close it down rather than continually pay the cost of two websites. But thank you all for your concern. I’m doing fine!“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”– from the song Me and Bobby McGee Sung by Janis Joplin (Jan.19, 1943-Oct. 4, 1970)8:30am This is to let all my readers know that officially, as of today, the old RED FLAME93 website has been closed down. Since January of this year I have slowly been moving pages off the old site, which was jointly held by my ex-wife and myself, onto this new site. Tragically, two of the major sections are no longer on-line since they were still on the old site and merely linked to this one. They are: The Friends & Acquaintances of Aleister Crowley and The Aleister Crowley Desk Reference. Someday, when I have spare time and enery, I will up-load them again and do the formating but for now, sorry ... or better yet, are there any locals who want to stop by my apartment and assist with this project by formatting the entries on the website ? Monday August 13th 2007 – 8:45pm The other day my friend Andy wrote, “Your blog has been a joy to read it. I started reading it a month or so ago and I always look forward to your latest blogs. About the cute giggling oriental girls in their panties hanging out in your hallway, pic's or it didn't happen :).” ... I too wish I had photos! :/ ... He also asked, I wanted to write you because I threw a question out at Luis who directed me to you. After reading your response to some people, I wonder if he's thrown me in front of the firing range! I've read a few different angles on the Qliphoth, from various sources. I was wondering where the best place to look would be that Crowley had intended for use in his system of initiation. Or rather, what do you recommend for good reading on the Qliphoth?” .... Answer: Any book, other than contemporary psycho babble and Chaos magick is usually a good place to start. Look at the index in such books as Dion Fortune’s The Mystical Qabbalah, or Ponce’s Kabbalah or McGregor Mathers’ translation of the Kabbalah Unveiled or others under 'Qliphoth' and it'll be easy to get an understanding of this realm.
8:10pm Mike, the comic that you mentioned is actually titled CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED vs RAWHEAD REX, not the name that you mentioned. It was released in 1992. The story ran through four issues (No.13-16) and is titled ‘The Wickedest Man in the World.’ The first issue supposedly takes place in 1975 with a beautiful woman, clothed only in her underwear, named Leah Qlipoth. She, being a Scarlet Woman to Kinder, or the ‘Master Therion’, is doing astral workings, dreaming about the magical child, “to carry on the Grand Tradition” which encompasses the overall plot of the series. Go to this section in my website for further info: OF BEASTLY ILLUSTRATIONS LEISTER CROWLEY IN COMICS, if you can find these comics - BUY THEM! They're really priceless.12:45pm Here is a great quote by Aleister Crowley - "The system of The Book of the Law is aristocratic; I am an aristocrat. A better word for democracy is ochlocracy - the rule of the mob. It all depends whether you want quantity or quality. Are you going to produce sonnets or Sunday newspapers?" ... Letter to Grady Louis McMurtry dated August 18th 1943.Sunday August 12th 2007 – Check out this new page on my website which has a few ancient coins of Lesbo, Bouddica, Cleopatra and Salonia: A FEW OF J. EDWARD CORNELIUS' FAVORITE COINS IN HIS PRIVATE COLLECTION.
7:45am No.12 of CORNELIA is officially off the press and in my greedy little hands! You can order your copy now! This issue contains the next installment of IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL or Chapter Ten: The Second Two Moon, of the Lover & the Intellect. We also continue on with THE MAGICKAL ESSENCE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY series Chapter 10 which is titled An Open Letter the Importance of the Magical Diary. And the crowd pleaser continues with MEMOIRS OF AN OTO INITIATE, Being an Historical Romp into a Quasi-Magickal Fraternity in California and in the biography section we detail the life of FLORENCE BEATRICE FARR and how she knew Aleister Crowley. Also in this issue contains an article titled AN OPEN EPISTLE ON THE STUDENT,THE PROBATIONER, THE NEOPHYTE AND THE ZELATOR which details their obligations within the man of Earth grade.Saturday August 11th 2007 – 6:45pm My readers might enjoy checking out LUNA's TRANSURREAL STUDIOS http://transurrealstudios.blogspot.com/
10:45am My daily horoscope reads : "You may need to be creative in dealing with a personal financial matter. It's likely that you haven't thought everything through as carefully as you should. Still, you can figure a way around an obstacle that has prevented you from buying something you want. As long as you're not fooling yourself, this can be a smart move now." ... Damn, the Stars are right! I'm going to buy beer tonight and to Hell with my budget!
9:50am The email below just arrived from one of my students with the 'Subject' being listed as : "You're up to something - I just know it."93 again Jerry, ~~~so basically ‘Angle 93 JErRmYn Street 93 93 /93’ is a glimpse of what is going on with your energy, and your students in that‘imaginary’ place floating above you...where I ‘placed’ Grady's illustration of Uncle Al's flat on 93 Jermyn St. ‘above your head’. A collision of time andspace and dimensions.” - Luna I remember now...
You pointed that drawing out early on. Then the elemental banners went up. Your historical blogs give concentrated little dollops of the archetypes and the whole hidden world then takes them back to Crowley's world one way or another.(Sure I've seen some of my own aspects featured there!)"A collision of time and space and dimensions."You mentioned grasping the Caliphate's Sword...There's a portal in the drawing that goes directly back.Is it a sigil?Hey! You upta sum big mojo oba-deya boy???And could you explain that thing about the "Cirkle" one more time???93 93/93No shit.Friday August 10th 2007 – 7:45pm My dear friend Mick saw the painting ‘Angle 93 JErRmYn Street 93 93 /93’ and commented “Just Wow --- All the way through the looking glass!”
10:00am Every now and then the wind brings a fresh scent of creativity. LUNA is not only talented, a trance medium painter but a bringer of smiles, this is a rare gift. When so many people become obstinate that I don’t drop everything and answer their emails instantly, she simply sends on thoughts, pictures, poems and things to share, without asking naught in return. She is a precious little Taurus and someone whom I enjoy receiving tidbits. One such painting she has done recently is from her ‘Angel’ series. She has gratuitously allowed me to share it with my readers. With this painting she writes, “The story behind the Angles is that they are [one of] the person's ‘angels’ flitting by my drawing paper and revealing what YOU look like at that given time to them! (I haven't figured out how to write this with brevity yet)...so basically ‘Angle 93 JErRmYn Street 93 93 /93’ is a glimpse of what is going on with your energy, and your students in that ‘imaginary’ place floating above you...where I ‘placed’ Grady's illustration of Uncle Al's flat on 93 Jermyn St. ‘above your head’. A collision of time and space and dimensions.” ... And when I saw the drawing, I was blown away. 9:20am Regarding the first task of a magician, I wrote ... “The autobiography of a family is important because you picked this family prior to birth in order for it to give you a certain foundation in your incarnation which would enable you to achieve your True Will. All the clues as to the nature of your True Will are rooted here. On the most mundane or scientific level we can say genetics, DNA or even family archetype is the foundational key but there is obviously more. You also asked, how far back do you go? As far as you can with both mother and father’s family, or until you get the ‘flavor’ of the family’s archetype that you inherited. If you were born into an old military family or a family of sailors or artists or were constantly bathed in family stories, what was the message? You don’t have to follow the ‘inherited baggage’ and that in itself tells a lot but you must determine why you picked your particular family to incarnate into. ... I am always amazed by wannabe magicians who seek the Great Work as if it’s something in front of them. Remember, to seek anything is an admittance that you are not it. The true answer lies in where we’ve been, not where we want to go. All of us must reflect upon our families and determine the one single kernel of corn that sums up the entire stalk. That is the first and most important task of a magician; doing a thousand Apo Pantos or reading one book after another won’t get you there. ... Also, always remember, if you are born into a family with little or no genealogical records which can trace things back then this in itself reveals a lot but as to what, only you can determine the lesson it gives, or ‘has’ given. ... When you become comfortable doing this task you also need to start writing your own autobiography but just pre-puberty. You need to determine how ‘family’ and its attitudes, its child rearing techniques and a million other things molded your early years; from being a born a male, to siblings, to race and religious background ... to “What did being born in Rome offered you that no other place possibly could?” Each thing taught you a lesson, each childhood experience was a foundational stone which inevitably brought you to magick and the quest of your True Will. Why? ... The bottom line is this: we know that psychologically most baggage that we carry throughout our life is rooted in childhood and early sexual experience. If that is the case then from a magickal point of view we need to determine how the baggage affected us ... but we must be neutral in our quest and open minded in order to seek the lessons that we were taught which have made us different from other people.”9:15am In one reply this morning I briefly discussed the concept of ‘ego’, I’d like to share my thoughts ... “An ego is a two-fold engine; either it’s bathed in falsity or it is pushing us forward justifiably. We can never, regardless what some old white-light schools claim, destroy it. We can only put our ego under control and like all dual aspects of self the pendulum always swings back and forth. We must be constantly aware that both aspects of our ego will rear its head as long as we’re in our mortal shell. A good magician never forgets; below the Abyss, everything is bathed in this duality. There is absolutely no exception to this rule. This is a Catch 22 because on the one hand we assume that we must ‘conqueror our ego in order to cross the Abyss’ ... but on the other hand, we cannot stay above the Abyss and we must move below in order to fulfill our attainment in our incarnation or body. This means that what we supposedly conquered is once again a dual aspect. Do you see the dilemma? I have always believed that it is misleading to use the word ‘conqueror’ to a magician rather than simply tell them that their ego must be ‘put under control.’”Thursday August 9th 2007 – 3:00pm I sent my old friend Bill Heidrick a ‘Happy Birthday’ greeting and hoped he was having a good one. He replied, “Al's well. How's by you? Thanks. This is the 64th one. I hope you wouldn't be willing to pull wisteria, trumpet and ivy vines out of a lot of bursh -- anyway, that's what I've been doing. Some of those thingee's are over 30 feet long, and the bushes are much frequented by an amazing variety of paper wasps.” ... I replied back, “You do seem to live a challenging life ... of my life, last night when I opened my apartment door around midnight to see what all the noise was in the hall I was confronted by a gaggle of cute young giggling oriental girls in t-shirts, pajamas and underwear, just sitting on the hall rug and drinking wine! I suppose it’s better than wasps but at least wasps sleep at night. Hope your birthday has been enjoyable.”
10:20am Jesus and Moses get together for a little reunion. Moses says “I haven't parted a sea in a long time.” So he raises his hands and a sea parts. Smiling Moses looks a Jesus and says “Damn that was fun.” ... Jesus then looks at Moses and says “I haven't walk across water in a long time.” With that Jesus walks down to the shore and started to walk out onto the water. He gets out about 10 feet and sinks, so he swims back in where he asks, “What the Hell went went wrong?” ... “I'm gonna try again.” This time Jesus gets out about 20 feet before he sinks and is forced to swim back in. “I still don't know what happened, I'm gonna try one more time.” But with this attempt he gets out about 30 feet before he sinks and is forced to swims back in. ... After walking up onto shore, dripping wet and breathing hard, Jesus looks at Moses and says “I know why I can't do it. The last time I tried it I didn't have these damn holes in my feet.”8:45am Question : “What do you consider the greatest problem with the old system that you felt had to be changed?” .... Answer: One of the major issues that saw wrong with the AA was that it is littered with strange terms and jargon often bewildering to most. Arguably, magickal symbology is necessary despite what some want us to believe because our mind, especially the deeper we go, does not think in language that you or I might exchange. It thinks in archetypal imagery and symbols and like any science we must learn the language which makes it coherent. However, the problem does not lie with AA students who reach the upper stages as much as with students in Malkuth where nine out of ten fall by the wayside. Why? Doesn’t the Great Work inspire them? This phrase has evolved to symbolize many things but initially it was an alchemical principle of Solve et Coagula, the dissolution of the Self into the infinity, the uniting of the Above with the Below until naught remains which explains the conclusion of the alchemical process. In the modern works, especially within Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic circles, the term means obtaining ‘the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.’ Still, although this concept mentions an ‘Angel’ it has absolutely nothing to do with an objective entity. It refers to obtaining one’s genius or True Will; being the reason why you incarnate. Inevitably this occurs within the Qabalistic Sphere of Tiphereth; again, a sphere high up compared to Malkuth. So where within Crowley’s massive amount of literature is a clear-cut explanation for the student to follow for his first few steps? Even where Crowley does give advice he webs it to the point that a student needs a massive literary background of knowledge in order to understand what a few pages of a Liber might be referring. On that note I set about writing a simple, clear and precise step by step piece about the Great Work beginning within Malkuth and I began offering it as series in CORNELIA titled In Quest of the Holy Guardian Angel. I always figured my goal was not to supersede Crowley’s writings, which are really brilliant, but instead to offer a suitable foundation for the beginner wherein his travels may be more profitable and where he can understand, in simple terms, what the spiritual quest really requires.8:10am This morning I received this question : “How much of your reorganizing of the AA is yours, or Grady’s or even Crowley?” ..... Answer: This is a great question. Obviously Crowley did very little and although he often complained about his student’s failures he rarely looked at himself or the structure that he had created as being at fault. Grady too talked a lot but as anyone who knew the man would attest, he rarely put things pen to paper. Mostly what survives are recordings of him talking about his views. I joined the AA in 1979 and heard many of these rants but was always puzzled as to why nothing was ever done. After Grady’s death in 1985 I, being a Magister Templi while Grady was alive and now the highest ranking member in the lineage, assumed the role as head and admittedly, for years I too did little to alleviate the problems. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that we began taking a serious look at all the issues and started reorganizing to conform with Liber AL vel Legis. In this light we must acknowledge that most of the new restructuring is my doing. I might suggest reading An Open Epistle on Changes Within Our AA.7:45am Today in 1976 a delightfully independent magickal practitioner, who is a very creative and visionary artist born in 1954, received her name of ‘Luna.’ Today is her new ‘Name Day.’ She enjoys my Tarot deck and once commented on my Chariot Card that it is “... one of the most difficult cards for me to explain to people but your version opens up the mind to what the card means by sort of dangling the essence of the card, rather than the chariot just waiting at a traffic light.” ... She wrote me yesterday and said that she’s planning to “take a road trip on the motorcycle and I am going to buy myself a gyroscope as a name day birthday present.” ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNA! Wednesday August 8th 2007 – 11:00 Coming soon [and no pun intended], most likely early next week, will be CORNELIA No.13 which I named : Some BLOGGISH SEXUAL THOUGHTS, On-line entries taken off JERRY'S MIND BLOGGLERS between April thru July 2007 with detail just magick and sex. It has been created by popular demand and should be a crowd pleaser!
10:45am Sorry for not posting much over the weekend and for the last two days but I’ve been busy final editing & proofing issue No.12 of CORNELIA. It goes into the printers tomorrow and should be available by the weekend. This issue contains the next installment of IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL or Chapter Ten: The Second Two Moon, of the Lover & the Intellect. We also continue on with THE MAGICKAL ESSENCE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY series Chapter 10 which is titled An Open Letter the Importance of the Magical Diary. And the crowd pleaser continues with MEMOIRS OF AN OTO INITIATE, Being an Historical Romp into a Quasi-Magickal Fraternity in California and in the biography section we detail the life of FLORENCE BEATRICE FARR and how she knew Aleister Crowley. Also in this issue is an article titled AN OPEN EPISTLE ON THE STUDENT,THE PROBATIONER, THE NEOPHYTE AND THE ZELATOR which details their obligations within the man of Earth grade.Tuesday August 7th 2007 – 9:40am A friend just wrote me and commented, "Hey Jer 93! It seems from your blog these last few days that you are getting annoyed with some people more than usual. Whats up?” ... and I’ll edit out his humor but, in truth, I often get individuals who write to me who are obviously less than ‘spiritual.’ I am always amazed that a path like magick, which is rooted in one’s spirituality, is so filled with egotists and crazies. Anyway, most I either ignore or, as in the case over the last few days, I think my reply has something to offer the more astute and magickally inclined so I'll post it. After all, Aleister Crowley believed strongly that we learn by example and these people have offered themselves up to us. So no, nothing is up, it's simply business as usual.
9:05am I had an individual today upset that I am not recognizing their proper AA degree of 5=6, or Tiphereth. First, I must say up front, they’re not in Grady’s lineage but out of courtesy we should never refute another's accomplishments. Still, for quite some time now this individual’s behavior and ‘Words’ by which a Soul is judged, are, how do we say it? Less than honorable. They lie; they disrespect and they often babble out tripe as if it were their ‘True Will’ and undisputed right. They forget a valuable lesson which I think all magickal students need to remember when climbing upward into the Tree of Life. Let me quote something Phyllis Seckler wrote to me: “Just because you reached a spot on the tree doesn’t mean you can stay there forever.” - Words never spoken so clearly. - In other words, this person may well have once reached into Tiphereth and can wave a letter around pointing out that their Superior claimed such but to stay up in the branches is a continual struggle. Accomplishment in any given Sphere is not a ‘Magickal Diploma’ of permanency but a right of passage that a person achieves and fulfills daily on Malkuth. Granted, the difficulty lies in the fact that once on Malkuth we have to deal with daily issues of existence and the experiences for which we incarnate but this does not mean the lowering of one’s Soul in the process. If you want to claim a lofty degree - live it! If you want to act like a punk don't be upset if you are treated accordingly. This is a good lesson for all students.Monday August 6th 2007 – 5:40pm Today I got an email from a person who again didn’t use Thelemic Greetings when asking for advice. I sent her an email politely asking, “Out of curiosity, I've been meaning to ask you for some time now. Why did you stop using correct Thelemic greetings?” I knew it was probably laziness but in truth, it’s more revealing than not of a hidden problem rooted in her non-belief. Crowley would have thrown a fit had he received replies without proper Thelemic Greetings. Has she forgotten what he wrote in Magick Without Tears? Anyway, she replied, “I haven't stopped using them. It is a crazy-hectic day today and the second email was jotte dout in a hurry. However, there have been ‘many’ times when you have failed to use them with me! Not a tit-for-tat, just the facts.” ... First of all, when did magickal beginners start barking at teachers? And second, whenever this little girl has been confronted with an ‘opps’ she always tries to turn the table on me with classic adolescent behavior, sticking her tongue out and babbling, “You did it, so I can do it.” Accusations, which I might add, she never substantiates. Didn’t this kind of response go out in Elementary School? Anyway, the reason that I'm mentioning this is to give all my readers a lesson. Aleister Crowley has stated it very clearly, Thelemic Greetings are mandatory and there are no excuses not to use them. So let me tell you this; if you cannot use Thelemic Greetings properly, don’t write and by all means, at least grow up and stop blaming ME for your laziness and folly! As of today, I will no longer respond to questions not properly addressed. For those wondering about Thelemic Greetings please read An Open Epistle on the use of 93.
Saturday August 4th 2007 - 8:10am Regarding the next issue of CORNELIA or No.12 [not yet released] with the next installement of IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL which details the Lover grade and the next Two Moon of the Abramelin system, Luis Alvarado writes, "I just read the chapter - brilliant once again. It was awesome to recognize the points you so clearly articulate as aspects of my own process. Wow. You can't get any clearer than this, but some will simply not get it. That's a depressing thought." He is of course correct, most students stagnate in the early stages of the Lover grade or within the Qabalistic spheres of Hod and Netzach, i.e. the lower personality stages. Taking control of Self can be a nightmare.
7:38am "... there is MUCH value/teachings in your Blog. I read it every morning with my coffee." - James StrainWednesday August 1st 2007 – 9:45am Here is another great question that I received: “While I understand that a decent amount of Qabalah should be known in order to navigate Crowley, individuals have attained to Mastery without ever having heard of the Qabalah. How much Qabalistic knowledge is stressed in your lineage?” ..... My reply: "We believe strongly in ‘Do what thou wilt’ but equally acknowledge that someone who is trying to learn Algebra while bemoaning they’ve never learned fractions is a waste of our time and energy. If I bring out a certain Qabalistic theory of which you are befuddled, I expect you to research its principles to the point of understanding them thoroughly. You don’t have to know it ‘all’ up front but I will not spoon-feed laziness."
9:43am I received this question which is often asked by individuals just joining Grady's AA or within the man of Earth grade: “If self initiation is primarily what is occurring how does one get acknowledgement for movement from say the Man of Earth to the Lover’s Grade?” ..... My reply to this question was simple. "I cannot outright tell you this otherwise you’ll focus on obtaining the solution rather than fulfilling the man of Earth which gives the answers. But basically I can tell you that self-initiation is not something totally within; inevitably by their words and actions you can tell if initiation really took and not simply a legend in a person’s mind. Anyway, your question reminds me of the day when my son asked me to tell him about what he had to do to get into Middle School. I could only smile, he had yet to even graduate out of the Fourth Grade in Elementary School. He had almost two years to go. All I could do was to simply tell him not to worry about it yet."9:40am I received this question from an individual, not yet a member of the AA, who asks: “If I no longer associate with the O.T.O. but wish to utilize O.T.O. related material in my work will my teachers in your lineage be open to this?” ..... Answer: I think you already know the answer to this. It is yes, but only up to the degree that you held in this Order. In the past we had a student trying to find a ‘back door’ in OTO upper degree Mysteries by quitting that Order and thinking, if they joined Grady’s AA lineage, they’d get the OTO teachings handed to them. I had to put a serious squash on that behavior years ago. So, with the man of Earth grade the answer is no, no OTO Mysteries are expounded upon but if examples are to be had, it will come from a teacher and not inquiries from the student. Re-read my blog entry of Monday July 23rd 2007 of 4:15pm Where it begins, “One of my students, after reading my blog regarding sex magick wanted to know if I would teach him OTO theories.” It will explain more of my views.8:10am This quote appeared in a friend’s email. I’d like to share it because, since I’m getting on with age, it amuses me. “Born to be wild - live to outgrow it.” Lao Tzu.4:45am Shelia from Manchester England writes, “Who is Kircher?” ..... Answer: Athanasius Kircher was a Christian, a German Jesuit born in 1601. I wrote in CORNELIA No.3 “Kircher attended the Jesuit College in Rome where he devoted most of his life to collecting information from many different religions, observing the Universe, analyzing, synthesizing, making numerous graphs and publishing what he believed to be other people’s religious Truths. His books are filled with a multitude of beautiful illustrations designed to make his points clearer. In one such book titled Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652) he drew a glyph of the “Sephirothic System” on a Tree of Life as he has ascertained it to be from the Hebrews. His drawing clearly shows three pillars comprising of ten spheres, which he then connected by using twenty-two paths of his own devising while attributing these paths to the Hebrew letters. Later Hebrew Qabalists so embraced Kircher’s design as being an accurate portrayal of God’s Will that over a period of time it has become an acceptable part of Judaic Mysticism. But most historians agree, it is Kircher’s design that is the earliest rendition of the Tree of Life most readily used today.” 4:28am After reading this mornings blog Mike from Oakland fired off an odd question, “I’m confused with what your saying. Is the angel a real winged creature or not. Subjective or Objective?” ..... Answer: I know you have CORNELIA No.3 because my records show you bought it. Have you read it? In this installement of IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL the question was answered. I wrote, “Since Judaic lore did not have a specific figure of a Tree before Kircher early Qabalists drew all spiritual references upon the backside of a giant heavenly image of a man whom they referred to as Adam Kadmon. This image not only referred to God, whose face could not been seen by mortals and live but it was also the primordial man or the image behind the germ of all creation. A second or identical image was drawn upon the lesser Adam or the first human being created in the image of God. The ancient Greeks referred to these two concepts in a more fluid undefined fashion as the microcosm and macrocosm. ... The term macrocosm is from the Greek phrase makros kosmos or ‘greater world’, which refers to the Tree of Life symbolizing our Universe, the Heavens above, the Angels and the entirety of God’s Kingdom. It is the objective universe or of those things outside our body and, in a sense, it is the primordial Adam. The word microcosm is from the Greek mikros kosmos or ‘little world’ which is a reference to the Tree of Life symbolically found on each one of us. This Tree not only refers to our mundane body and all its functions but it is also a map of our human consciousness and spirituality. This is the image of the lesser Adam. ... Both Trees are identical or mirror images of each other. It is believed that God used the exact same blueprint to create everything from the most exalted to the infinitesimal and to study any part thereof on one Tree will reveal, simply by analogy, an identical fundamental principle on the other Tree. In other words, what is found on one Tree must be found on the other and to know one Tree is to know both. Thus the fundamental principle of all magick - As Above, So Below. In realizing what has just been imparted, the answer to the question about the Holy Guardian Angel being an objective or subjective reality is actually quite simple. Since there are two Trees of Life, which are identical or mirror images of each other, then there must be two separate entities. With that in mind we can affirm that the Holy Guardian Angel on the microcosmic Tree is our internal or subjective elemental, the Augoeides or daimon which descended through our internal Star, while the Holy Guardian Angel on the macrocosmic Tree is an objective Angel of God found within the Kingdom of Heaven. Still, as simple as this concept sounds, these two independent Holy Guardian Angels must have a mutually beneficial relationship in that one cannot exist without the other and, to deny either, is to deny both. Again, the fundamental principles of Qabalah - As Above, So Below.” ... MIKE, READ THE ISSUE!4:15am Mary had another good question. She writes, “Everyone is telling me my HGA is my Higher Self and they cite Crowley as the authority, but is it the same?” ..... Answer: To explain, consider what I wrote in CORNELIA No.4 -“Crowley deplored the watered down philosophy of the Theosophists which stated that all human beings who have reached their “Higher Selves are immortal.” Crowley also felt that the teachings of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which he had been an initiate, were equally flawed in this belief. As a Neophyte Crowley studied a document known as Z1 titled The Enterer of the Threshold. Here he learned that the most important goal of initiation was to “lead the Neophyte unto the knowledge of his Higher Self.” However, Crowley bemoaned those whom he saw as his superiors in Order who claimed this lofty attainment while acting like insipid little children. He believed that many individuals in the Order had failed to fulfill the original initiatory intent and this inevitably led Crowley to revolt.” ... I then go on to point out, “... it is imperative to understand that Crowley’s rationale for using the phrase ‘Holy Guardian Angel’ was simply to create a term representing his beliefs in the Higher Self. In his mind the Holy Guardian Angel had absolutely nothing to do with an objective or independent entity and he would not change this point of view until late in life.” 4:00am Mary from Ohio asked if Crowley’s system of contacting the Holy Guardian Angel was the same as that found in The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. In basic theory, yes but to answer this properly let me quote from CORNELIANo.4 – “... the crux of the original Abramelin system is a way to obtain an independent Angel in order for it to help guide your ‘calling’ to lean toward that of God’s Will rather than toward the ‘evils of a Demon.’ Both conclusions, that of Crowley and Abramelin, are seemingly as different as night and day; one implying a subjective goal in pursuit of one’s Higher Self while the other reaching out toward the Kingdom of God for an actual independent Angel.” Just because the same term is used [i.e. HGA] doesn't make the systems identical.Tuesday July 31st 2007 – 11:00am I was forwarded a comment made on another blog which stated: “I have become so confused on this issue that the terms HGA, Higher Self, and Genius have become little more than empty tokens which I don't even know the value of. I can't differentiate between any of them because I have no clear conception of what any of them means. Consulting works of referrence is a complete waste of time because none of them seem to agree.” .... If I had to address this poor soul's comment it would simply be that I completely agree. I would then add a quote from my “IN QUEST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL” series where I wrote, “Unfortunately, no topic can be more arduous to write about than the origins and meaning behind the word Angel. Although originally a rather simplistic concept it has had hundreds of years of images pendant to it by every religious zealot and faith imaginable. What was originally an abstract theory debated amongst scholars and philosophers is now almost too convoluted to be appreciated.” ... I tried very hard to explain the evolving differences between the daimon, genius, angel and our higher self in the first five issues of CORNELIA under the following topics: Issue No.1 - THE DAIMON, BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, Issue No.2 - THE AUGOEIDES AND THE ELEMENTAL, Issue No.3 -IS THIS TENUOUS SOMETHING AN OBJECTIVE OR SUBJECTIVE REALITY?, Issue No.4 – THE HIGHER SELF and finally Issue No.5 - THE ANGEL AND THE DEMON. ..... The bottom line is that you should be skeptical of anyone who tells you communication with your Angel occurs only when you reach upward into 'higher realms' of spirituality in Briah or into Tiphereth. They're confusing apples with oranges. They're trying to justify why the Higher Self, the Genius, Daimon and Angel should all be lumped into one entity. They obviously lack an understanding of the daimon (angel) and how if we accept its guidance we become possessed by extraordinary intellectual and creative powers, the source of which the Romans called the ‘genius’ which then works through our Higher Self. The crunching all these names into one is a modern belief. It is primarily spawned out of Theosophy and the Golden Dawn and sadly complicates the truth. It is not founded in original Angelic literature. Crowley even believed it for years or at least up until 1936. After this his writings clearly show that he began realizing that they were separate states and entities. Anyway, your Angel has been with you since birth, always has and always will be until the day you die. The secret is learning how they communicate! You don't need to go to Tiphereth or Briah to communicate any more than to the corner store.
6:45am I have added a new section onto my website titled ‘The Tarot’ which are photographs of my twenty-two major trumps that I painted in oil on canvas 18x24. I apologize that they are not the clearest of photos and I regret the loss of some of the finer details and symbols but regardless, I think some of you might find them amusing. Feed-back is always appreciate.CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY
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"There were plants, And birds, And rocks And things”
-America's Horse With No NameLove is the law, love under will. – AL I:57
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