~ March 18th - 31st, 2008 ~

(the latest entries are always added to the top)

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

Monday March 31st 2008 – 6:50am I'd like to extend a deepest HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Keith Richmond! He was born on March 31, 1959, the same day that His Holiness the Dalai Lama crossed into India fleeing from the Chinese invasion of Tibet; which, co-incidentally, Keith also once served briefly as a doorguard for the Dalai Lama, thus utilizing experience previously gained as a bouncer at various events including a Sex Pistols concert. Aside from extensive wanderings in Nepal (chronicled in his Wanderings in Dolpo) Keith has mostly led the sheltered life of an antiquarian bookseller. He was the co-founder of The Basilisk Bookshop in Australia but has since moved on to bigger things. He is one of the best Thelemic scholars in the world and is the author of such classics as The Rites of Eleusis (Mandrake Press Ltd 1990), Three Macabre Stories by Rosaleen Norton, Edited with Introduction by Keith Richmond (Typographeum 1996), Progradior & The Beast (Neptune 2004) and The Magical Record of Frater Progradior (Neptune 2004). 

6:45am For the history buffs: John Dee’s Monas Hieroglyphica was published on this date in 1564. ……. Also, the ‘Fox Sisters’ mediumistic communication with the spirit world on this date in Hydesville, New York in 1848 began the birth of modern spiritualism. …… and I should point out that Frederick Leigh Gardner was born on this date in Upper Holoway, London in 1857. He was a Stock broker and antiquarian bookseller. According to Dr. Wynn Westcott, Gardner was the editor of Bibliotheca Rosicruciana for the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and was appointed Secretary-General of the S.R.I.A. on October 11, 1900, a position which he held until October 14, 1904. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on March 20, 1894 and became known as Frater Credo Experto. Aleister Crowley accused him of evoking Typon-Set against him. Gardner died on June 30, 1925. ……. And it was on March 31, 1940 the day before April Fools, the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia issued a press release stating that the world would end the next day. The story was picked up by radio station KYW which broadcast the following message - “Your worst fears that the world will end are confirmed by astronomers of Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. Scientists predict that the world will end at 3 P.M. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow. This is no April Fool joke. Confirmation can be obtained from Wagner Schlesinger, director of the Fels Planetarium of this city.” Predictably, local authorities in Philadelphia were flooded with frantic phone calls which only subsided after the Franklin Institute came forward and assured everyone that it had made no such prediction. However, as it turned out, the prankster responsible for the press release was William Castellini, the Institute's own press agent. His defense was that he had intended to use the fake release to publicize an April 1st lecture at the institute titled “How Will the World End?” The insitute was not amused, Castellini was fired.

Sunday March 30th 2008 – For the history buffs: Francisco de Goya, one of the greatest masters that Spain has ever produced and who is considered the ‘Father of Modern Art,’ was born on this date in 1746. ……. And Sepharial was born Walter Gorn-Old on this date in Handsworth, England in 1864. He was a British journalist, writer of occult and astrological works, and a leader in astrological thought for over 30 years. He joined the Theosophical Movement in 1889 and he not only worked closely with the society but he lived with Madame Blavatsky until her death. He was a prolific writer. He died on December 23, 1929 in Hove, England. …….. and finally, I should point out that Rudolf Steiner, the found of Anthroposophy, who had been bed ridden since September of 1924 simply folded his hands over his chest, closed his eyes and died on this date in 1925.

Saturday March 29th 2008 – 9:20am Mike asks an amusing question about an old limerick a friend had sent him about the OTO but he is confused about its meaning. He asks, “What is OTTO? Another branch of OTO?” ……. Reply: In a way, yes but in truth here in Berkeley all the grey garbage pick up containers have OTTO stamped on the side. It seems OTTO is the Industrial Company hired by the city of Berkeley to collect and take out the garbage. … Gee, I wonder who wrote this limerick? [wink wink] … it is amazing what surfaces from the dark buried files of Thelemites! Is Nothing sacred! … Anyway, the limerick, to which Mike is referring, was written in 1991.

The trash in the OTO whom I encounter,

Differs from that collected by OTTO I gather.

For this I can flout,

the garbage is taken out,

Not by the first but the latter.

9:00am For the history buffs: it was on March 29, 1900 that the London Adepts of the Golden Dawn held a special meeting to decide whether or not to depose McGregor Mathers as ‘head’ of the Order after his dismal of Florence Farr on the 23rd. …….. and Jane Wolfe, who had lived with Crowley at the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu, died at 12:20 pm on this date in Southern California “from sheer exhaustion” according to Karl Germer, the present head of the Ordo Templi Orientis in 1958. ….... and finally, on March 29, 1971 Charles Manson got the ‘death penalty’ for the Sharon Tate Murders along with three other defendants.

Friday March 28th 2008 – 5:00pm Carol writes, "I like to think I had something to do with you getting thirty thou plus hits! I think there should be more talks about penises and vaginas on your blog! Keeps me interested. Magick is nice, history I suppose somebody might enjoy. It's not my thing. But sex ..."

3:10pm John writes, "I've enjoyed your blog over the year. keep up the good work. I learn neat magical stuff, info and history."

2:45pm Mary writes, "Congrats! 30,000 not bad!"

9:10am After just uploading today's entry I realized that we are one week away from celebrating our 'First Anniversay' of the blog which began on April 4th 2007 and, as of today, we officially broke 30,000 Hits in one year.  Not bad!  I want to send my thanks to everyone for making it an amusing year! 

9:05am Ok, OK, I’ve been working like a dog all morning and I just realized I forgot to up-loaded today’s ‘history buff’ section. If anyone out there is upset you can spank me later … of course, this is subject to just the women and men need not apply. ….... Anyway, for the history buffs: on this date is considered the ‘birth day’ of the Prophet Zarathushtra is observed on this date. His religious studies were crowned at the age of thirty by a series of revelations about a new religion. It inevitably became known after him, Zoroastrianism, which was first established over 700 years before the birth of Christ. It was the dominant world religion during the Persian empires (559 BC to 651 AC), and was thus the most powerful world religion at the time of Jesus. Zoroastrianism is very tolerant of other religions, supportive of the arts and education and places very little pressure on recruiting people outside the movement. The circumstances of Zoroaster’s death are not known. ….... and speaking of births; the OTO initiate Vere Chappell was born on this date in Chicago, Illinois in 1967. ….... and finally, on March 28, 1993 the witch and noted author, Scott Cunningham, died at the age of 37 of Lymphoma, a form of cancer, along with Cryptococcal Meningitis, complication from AIDS. He had written more than fifteen of his books on Wicca and related subjects.

Thursday March 27th 2008 – 7:15am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley arrived in Cefalu on this date in 1920 with plans to establish the now infamous Abbey of Thelema. ……. And the noted author Arnold Bennett, who died on this date in 1931, once wrote in his private journal in 1905, “I dined at Chat Blanc. Aleister Crowley was there with dirty hands, immense rings, presumably dyed hair, a fancy waistcoat, a fur coat, and tennis shoes.” ……. On this date in 2004 I, or J. Edward Cornelius, took his young son Faustus to see the movie Scooby Doo II.  Before being made into a movie, Scooby Doo was a comically nervous Great Dane of a long-running Saturday-morning cartoon of the 1970s and ‘80s. He was teamed up with four teenagers which included the always-hungry Shaggy, the brainy Velma, the buff Fred and the beautiful Daphne, who drove around in a van called the Mystery Machine hunting ghosts, monsters and others creatures. The one part of the Scooby Doo II movie which I especially enjoyed was when the Scooby Doo crew was rummaging around an old library in a haunted house and Freddy commented on the fact that this guy had a huge magickal library including everyone from ancient authors “to Aleister Crowley.” So the question is; if Freddy knows about Aleister Crowley, what has he read and did he every practice anything? J. Edward could only chuckle and wonder, “Now that would be a cartoon; Freddy invoking Choronzon and the Monster Inc. crew having to deal with it!”

Wednesday March 26th 2008 – 10:50am My friend Bryce up in Illinois writes, “I just finished issue #5 of Cornelia, then afterwards, read it again. A most wonderful issue for myself. Your explanation of the formula ON is really opening up some doors that were previously closed. One thing in particular that made me go, "Well, no kidding," was how it's in almost every chapter to Liber Aleph. It's funny the things you miss when not completely looking. But overall, I'm really enjoying your insight on ON. I'm sure I will be devouring the next issue very shortly. I've heard numerous lectures on ON, and probably got more out of the last few issues of Cornelia than all of those. Not that there was some good info in those as well.” ……. Reply: You’re too kind in regards to Cornelia. I am glad that you are enjoying the issues.  It is very sad that the OTO under Sabazius has 'abandoned' the teachings regarding the ‘Formula of ON.'  ... It was decided that Aleister Crowley was completely wrong with how he interpreted and designed the OTO initiations on the Qabalistic Tree of Life in regards to the Formula of ON. ... I guess Sabazius knows better than our Prophet. ? ... Anyway, it was decided to throw out Crowley’s system in preference to the old style Golden Dawn teachings which starts the candidates in the lowest sphere of Malkuth and then slowly walked them up the Tree sphere by sphere toward the top. This is ‘not’ how Crowley envisioned the structure and although OTO is preaching their ‘new’ system to be true, which is their right; they have in effect made Crowley’s magickal teaching and initiatory knowledge lectures jibberish to candidates; especially regarding ON. Many initiates now can spend years trying to figure out the Order’s Mysteries but all to no avail. In my view, since OTO believes that Crowley was wrong, there is no reason to hide what he wrote and so I released Crowley’s original system for the OTO in an old issue of Red Flame and now in Cornelias.

7:00am John has a good point. He asks, Didn’t Crowley write Liber OZ toward the end of his life? If so, would that be a clearer picture of his ‘Thelemic views’ than the Tunis Comment? They seem to contradict each other.” ……. Reply: I agree. Liber OZ is a far purer vehicle of our Thelemic rights. The original was release in 1941 and there were three sizes. The first, or larger version is a 7 5/16" x 4 11/16" folded sheet. It has a title page printed by OTO from The Sanctuary of the Gnosis in Los Angeles. There are two versions of this, either with a Devil trump to the inside left with Liber Oz to the right, or with The Aeon trump to the inside left. The second version is also a fold-sheet but published in London. It is 6" x 8½" and has Liber Oz to left with line drawn down the middle, blank right side. On the obverse side of this version is one of two photos of Crowley, either in a turban, or in foul weather gear, both smoking a pipe. The photo is to left, with a line drawn down the middle and again blank right. The third version is postcard size 5½" x 3¼". One entire side is Liber Oz while the obverse is blank with only a line drawn down the middle. ..... Grady use to joke how he knew that he had entered a Thelemites home if he saw Liber OZ proudly displayed on a wall.  I agree. 

6:55am For the history buffs: It was on March 26, 1582 that the Enochian language of the Angels first appears to John Dee and Edward Kelly. …….  Also, Phillip Stauff, the German occultist, was born on this date in  1876. He was the publisher of the Pan-German and antisemitic books like Das deutsche Wehrbuch (German Defense Book) and Semi-Gotha and Semi-Alliancen, which were genealogical handbooks which purported to identify Jews amongst the German aristocracy. ……. And it was on this date in 1946 Aleister Crowley wrote to his old friend Augustus John, the leading British portrait painter and etcher, asking him if he’d make a sketch of himself (i.e. Crowley) for his new book titled OLLA. ……. And it was on March 26, 1997 that the bodies of 21 women and 18 men, ranging in age from 26-72, were found dead in a large house in Rancho Santa Fe, a wealthy community in San Diego. All were in various stages of decomposition. It appeared that several days before, they had ingested applesauce or pudding laced with barbiturates along with a shot of vodka. They also submitted to being suffocation with plastic bags placed over their heads. All were identically dressed in unisex black shirts, pants, and Nikes sneakers, and had purple shrouds placed across their faces. Many of the men had been castrated. What prompted all these people to commit mass suicide and leave their “earthly containers” was a belief spawned by the leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, Marshall Herff Applewhite. He believed that this was the proper method of transportation by extraterrestrials in a huge UFO that was traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet. According to the groups teachings; some two thousand years ago extraterrestrials from the Kingdom of Heaven passed this way to survey their garden Earth and concluded that perhaps it had evolved to a point where it would be useful to send down one being from the ‘level above.’ Earthlings, it turned out, were not ready to enter the “Kingdom Level Above Human,” they killed the emissary and from that moment on Luciferian influences dominated the Earth. The group believed that the extraterrestrials had now come back, offering yet another chance for humans to move to a higher evolutionary level, if only you committed suicide.

Tuesday March 25th 2008 – 7:30am On March 20th I answered one of Miguel’s questions regarding astrology; I’d like to now address another one. He asks, “In looking up the email in the last Bloggish issue of Cornelia wherein you describe the rising sign as referring to our Malkuth I find some interesting answers to the ponderings I had about our internal dialogs and the daimon. On 8/22/07 between 5:15 and 5:20am you seem to suggest something of the nature of what I was trying to discuss when I wrote:  “Along with what you recommend as far as striking up a dialog in the Quest for the Holy Guardian Angel, my Malkuthian studies have presented me with some practice ideas along the same lines. I have recently wondered as part of my journaling process and general self reflection especially in connection with Resh if I haven’t at some level always been conversing with God, or at least my daimon. I note the internalization of various people in my life; some part of my consciousness personifies itself like them and I have often had conversations with them or it in that way or completed conversations with them in that way. A recent survey of journals covering my graduate school period was prompted by my noting frequent “fantasies” wherein I was still arguing some unresolved issue with a now internalized classmate. There is of course something quite different in willful determining that such internal dialogues are communing with God." ... I refer back to your first three Cornelias where you mention the semantics of it all. Christian theology defined the dialog and reflections as purely an aspect of soul and psychology defines it all as an aspect of mind. I am reminded of those people I have often heard say in psychology circles that all our experience is projection, but they only look to the immediate past of their present life as the source of these projections. I am however struggling psychologically with not seeing the daimon as “some part of my consciousness” as mentioned above. In my dialogs I am trying to remedy this. Any other suggestions? ……. Reply: First, I doubt that you are conversing with ‘God’, he’s usually busy but everyone, excluding no one, has been in communication with their daimon since birth. The greatest misnomer spawned out of the white-light crappy schools is the notion of the ‘quest’ for the HGA. Most will inform you to seek the knowledge and conversation without explaining that this really means to simply learn how your daimon has been communicating with you since childhood. Arguably it uses the ‘world and people’ around us in a way to guide us in our experiences; to learn by example. You might ask, "How?" It's quite simple. Where one person may see a leaf fall from a tree, you may hear ‘internally’ a more personal reflection of the moment. ... But are these 'whispers' object or subjective? In truth, if you're still debating whether or not your daimon is some part of your own consciousness then you’re wasting my time and yours. I cannot help you 'find' your spirituality nor God. Remember, the Gnostics derived their name from the Greek word for ‘knowledge,’ or Gnosis. This was not ‘knowledge’ in the sense of being mundane information passed from one person to another but it was the belief that anyone could achieve salvation by obtaining personal ‘knowledge’ from Above. The importance of certainty, not faith, was an essential theme in Gnosticsm. Faith was referred to as Pistis and, although important in its own right, it was always considered secondary to that of Knowledge ... but never forget, Faith is the foundation strone required in building your Temple. I repeat - Faith!  If you don't have it, I can't give it to you.

5:45am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley received a letter on this date in 1900 from Soror Deo Date, Mrs. E. A. Hunter stating that the London Second Order of the Golden Dawn does not recognize his 5=6 initiation in Paris given to him by MacGregor Mathers.

Monday March 24th 2008 – 5:30pm Jerri from Sacramento read my Christian joke page and responded, “Liked your jokes. Here's one that I've heard: Why do girls like Jesus? ... "Cause he's hung like (extend your arms...) hahahaha!” ….. Reply: I like it!  :)-   Thanks!

5:00am For the history buffs: On this date in 1661 Florence Newton, known as ‘the Witch of Youghal,’ was arrested. She was accused of bewitching people and causing them to have fits, which may or may not have caused their deaths. Her trial, unlike most trials, involved absolutely no torture. She was convicted because one of her bewitched accusers went into fits of vomiting whenever Newton was left unhandcuffed. As soon as the handcuffed were put on, the girl seemingly became normal. Newton was one of the few people ever burned as a Witch in Ireland. ….... and Ehrich Weiss, more commonly know as Harry Houdini, “escaped from his mother’s womb” and was born on this day in Budapest, Hungary in 1874. He was the world’s most celebrated escape artist. His first performance before an audience occurred on October 28, 1883 as a contortionist and trapeze performer. He was billed as “Ehrich, The Prince of the Air.” Sadly, in late October of 1926, Houdini was sitting in his dressing room in Montreal, ready to give a lecture on spiritualism, when a student from McGill University asked if he could actually withstand a blow to the stomach thrown by any man. Houdini replied yes but before he could prepare himself by tightening his stomach muscles, the student hit him three times. Although Houdini seemed to recover, even performing shortly afterwards, he soon fell ill and the pain never really subsided. He would not see a doctor for several days. By the time he was diagnosed, with a 104-degree temperature, it was too late. He had just finished his show and just as the curtain fell, he collapsed. Houdini was rushed to the nearby Grace Hospital, and diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. An operation was performed, but peritonitis had already set in. He had one more operation, but again failed to respond. His last words were, “I am weaker. I guess I have lost the fight.” On Sunday October 31st, Halloween day, at 1:26pm, Houdini died in room 401, Corridor D, in the old John R. Wing of Grace Hospital. He was 52 years old. ……. And speaking of births, I should mention that Wihelm Reich was born in Austria on this date in the Austrian province of Galicia in 1897. He was a notorious physician-scientist whose investigation of energy functions in human emotions led to the discovery of an unknown energy which exists in all living matter and in the cosmos. He called this energy “orgone.” ….... but with birth comes death and I should mention that the author Jules Verne, the father of modern science fiction, died in his home at 44 boulevard Longueville in the tiny city of Amines in northern France on this date in 1905. ……. And it was on  March 24, 1919 that Arthur Edward Waite consecrated the newly founded Temple of The Fellowship of The Rosy Cross. Earlier, after Florence Farr had severed all ties to what was left of the Golden Dawn, those initiates who were oriented toward mysticism kept control of Isis-Urania under Arthur Edward Waite. Crowley  would later angrily comment that Waite “has substituted a pompous, turgid rigmarole of bombastic platitudes for the neophyte ritual, so that the last spark of interest is extinct for ever.” History has shown that this same mystical ineptness would spill over into The Fellowship of The Rosy Cross.

Sunday March 23rd 2008 – 7:00am In honor of this being the sacred 'Bunny Day' I'd suggest that all my readers click HERE and check out my personal favorite joke page. Then find your favorite and tell everyone whom you meet today but best beware that if you tell a bad Easter joke someone might laugh and quickly ask you: "What do you call ten rabbits marching backwards?" and then you'll have to watch him laugh as he replies, "A receding hareline." 

6:45am For the history buffs: Dane Rudhyar, considered by many to be the greatest astrologer of our time, was born as Daniel Chennevière on this date in Paris, France in 1895. His final book, The Astrology of Transformation (1980), was his pièce de résistance, which he called “my astrological testament, in the sense that it brings to a conclusion my attempt to reformulate and give a new direction to modern astrology.” He died at the age of 90 on Thursday night of September 12, 1985. ……. Also, Dr. Gerard Encausse, better known by his pseudonym ‘Papus,’ joined the Golden Dawn on this date in 1895, but soon thereafter ‘resigned.’ He was a Spanish-born French physician, hypnotist, and author who popularized occultism. ……. It was on March 23, 1904 that Aleister Crowley’s wife, Rose Kelly, aka Ouarda the seer, identified the ‘god’ whom she saw in her visions as waiting to be evoked by the Beast, as that which is found upon the stele No.666 at the Boulak museum. ……. And Gary Martin was born on this date in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1951. He was raised on his grandparents’ farm in Mount Nebo. He later took the name Kelly in honor of his Irish heritage, amongst other reasons and became known as ‘G. M. Kelly.’ He published the caustic The Newaeon Newsletter which has been extremely critical of everyone, every group and every fraternity, which might be associated with or have connections going back to Aleister Crowley, seemingly leaving himself the only true authority on Crowleyanity. In some ways he is a very funny satirical writer and in his ‘Sword of Horus’ column in The Newaeon Newsletter he directs his pointed wit at everyone. Some people think “his anger is misplaced from his childhood.”

Saturday March 22nd 2008 – 1:20pm I am so far behind with even reading my emails it’s no longer funny but today I vowed to make a serious dent in answering a bunch of them. My biggest opps came when I just read Luna's email from yesterday wherein she writes: “Hey Kids 93! Today Leigh is 56 years old." ... Reply: Well, I certainly must throw tons of astral hugs and mea culpas his way for my being so delinquent in not only answering my emails but also for not sending him a birthday greeting yesterday. ... So, Leigh, you and I are the same age?  ... I too am 56 and 56 = 50 Nun (N) and 6 Vau (U) or the Goddess NU (Nuit)  As kids growing up, who NU we’d both live this long! ... hummmm ... just noticed the birthday cake ... it has 3 candles? A hint perhaps of the Great Triple Headed Veiled One?

7:30am For the history buffs:  The German dramatist, philosopher and poet, Goethe, often ranked with Shakespeare and Dante as one of the three most important poets in history, died at Weimer on this date in 1832 at the age of 82. His most famous work, Faust, presents the tragic story of its title character, who makes a pact with the devil and sells his soul. …...… and it would bewrong if I did not mention that Laylah gave Aleister Crowley ‘shit’ before she went away on this date in 1912. This being a Gnostic Talisman of the Sacrament.  It is ‘blasphemed’ to the wise, 87 to the profane and LIES to others. A mystery oh man! ….... and speaking of Crowley, he and Ninette Shumway left Cefalu with the ‘brats’ for a visit to Marseilles on this date in 1920 while Leah Hirsig went off to London. ….... and it was on March 22, 1931 that William Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec. Ironically, his character on Star Trek named Captain James T. Kirk was also born on the same date of March 22nd but in the year 2228CE. ……. And to continue on; Jack Parsons took the Oath of a Probationer in the AA under Wilfred T. Smith on this date in 1941. He took the magickal motto of ‘Thelema Obtentum Procedero Amoris Nuptiae’, which Crowley later commented was “couched in a language beyond my powers of understanding.” ……. Also, in regards to the old Agape Lodge I’d like to mention Frederick Mellinger. He was an actor and dramatist who had immigrated to London from Berlin with his wife and his two sons in 1933. Three years later he moved to Los Angeles and in late 1939 he contacted Wilfred T. Smith. He took Minerval and First Degree on this date in 1841, joining the Ordo Templi Orientis at Agape Lodge. He was also a member of the AA. His motto was Frater A.U.M.G. (Arte Unionem Manifestabo Gnosticam). …… And finally, I’d like to point out that 29 years to the date after Jack Parsons swore the Oath of a Probationer, or on March 22, 1970, Grady Louis McMurtry took the Oath of a Probationer 0=0 in Aleister Crowley’s AA. His immediate superior in the Order was none other than his wife, Phyllis Seckler, much to his later regret.

Friday March 21st 2008 Full Moon in Libra. – 8:00am Rey from New Mexico writes, regarding the picture in the upper left, "Thanks for sharing the photo --  it looks like a beautiful evening and you look ready for a pint! Needless to say, I am sure that with the warmer weather there will be many pleasant sights to see!  [grin] BTW, nice hat!  :)  ."  ....... Reply: Thanks! [This picture has been moved to the picture archive page]

6:10am The new photo above left was taken last night in front of my apartment, before we headed off to the bar. Left to right: Ben Hance, Jay Lehman, Robert Flores and in the middle - me!

6:00am For the history buffs: Marie-Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès was born in Marseille, France on this date in 1854. He spent the early part of his life in one financial scheme after another until his ‘frauds’ were discovered and he was forced to flee from France to Geneva. Here he changed his name to Léo Taxil but, caught in another fraud, he was expelled from Switzerland. He returned to France in 1879 during a period of strong anti-Catholic Church sentiment and Léo, ever looking for his next victim, decided there was a ready market for anticlerical publications. In hopes of gathering anti-Church material, he joined the Masonic lodge Le Temple de L’Honneur Français in Paris in 1881 but he was exposed and expelled before going beyond the first degree. Unable to make any serious money from his anti-Catholic writing he decided to look in other directions and soon he began attacking Freemasonry with such titles as; The Three-point Brothers, The Anti-Christ and the Origin of Masonry, The Cult of the Great Architect, Pius IX; Freeman? and The Masonic Assassins. He also took the simple phrase attributed it to the Masonic scholar Albert Pike; being “Lucifer is God” and he honed it into proof of the organization’s evil intent. He was also not above ‘fabricating’ information to incite the masses to buy his books. In the end the incorrigible opportunist moved away from Paris to a stately home in the country, where he enjoyed a comfortable life until his death at the age of fifty-three, in 1907. ……. Also born on this date was Jane Wolfe in Petersburg, Pennsylvania in 1875. She was a silent film star who had appeared in well over fifty Hollywood movies but is probably most famous for playing Mary Picford’s mother in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917). In June of 1920 she left New York destined for Cefalu to join Aleister Crowley’s commune known as the Abbey of Thelema. She arrived there the following month. She was hoping that Aleister Crowley might cure her sickness. William Seabrook, a very close friend of Wolfe’s states that she was suffering from “... an unrequited passion for some homme fatale of the speakeasy epoch, from too much bathroom gin, despondency, and a couple of other depressants which ... included veronal.” On June 11, 1921 She was admitted as an AA Probationer. Her admitting Superior was Aleister Crowley. On March 29, 1958 at 12:20pm Jane Wolfe died in Southern California “from sheer exhaustion” according to Karl Germer, the present head of the Ordo Templi Orientis. ……. It was also on March 21, 1904 that Aleister Crowley took the Oath of a Probationer in the AA, keeping his Golden Dawn magical motto Perdurabo, which means ‘I shall endure to the end’ and the very next year, on the same date, he took the Oath of a Neophyte in the AA, taking the magical motto of ‘OY MH’ which means ‘The Not.’ ……. And it was on March 21, 1919 in Detroit, after a ‘Five year Period of Silence’ wherein no Vol.II of The Equinox appeared, Aleister Crowley finally released No.1 of Volume III, which is often called the ‘Blue Equinox’ …. And on March 21, 1943 Aleister Crowley’s published his pamphlet titled The City of God and the very next year, on the same date, he released The Book of Thoth.

Thursday March 20th 2008 – 6:55am Miguel has a bunch of interesting questions; one of which is: “I appreciate the astrological directions. It’s a very easy road to get lost on. … I have been wondering if the elemental nature of our daimon can be ascertained via an understanding of Lachesis, our individual Sun, i.e. the sign into which our Sun fell at birth, or if the Fortuna offers this information given its nature to summarize our fortune?” ….. Reply: Most definitely, Lachesis holds the key. She is the first of three Moirae or Fates who control our ‘Thread of Life’ or our chosen incarnation. It is she who gives us our daimon [HGA] as our Soul’s personal guardian. The three ‘Parts of Fortune’ in our chart are the Sun, Moon and our Rising Sign; or Lachesis (Sun), Klotho (Moon) and Atropos (Rising Sign). It is the general belief that our daimon or genius is not only guided by but controlling the main star in the natal constellation of each person; which makes sense considering that our daimon enters through Tiphereth, or the Sun - i.e. Star.

6:45am Jay has a very good observation about Jack Parsons after ready Grady McMurtry's biography In The Name of Beast. He writes, "I find Jack Parsons story rather interesting, a bit frightening, a bit grotesque. To read of his demise was certainly surprising; it is very unfortunate that such an accomplished magician would suffer such a demise. It brings me to wonder if accomplishment in magick should not be mistaken for success– success in the sense of making a balanced vertical climb. Where in Parsons’ story can we find the signs of danger? What can the rest of us magicians learn from this? Was Parsons lending ear to a demon from the beginning or was he just wreckless, ill-informed, unprepared to accurately interpret his accomplishments? If the Babalon working brought him someone who would have such a devastating affect on his life, was the working misguided from the beginning? I certainly cannot discount free will, so I must conclude that Parsons was either ill-informed or simply uncritical about his accomplishments. Parsons, for me, serves as an example of how incredibly important it is for us as magicians to be properly armed psychically and intellectually. Magick is full of real dangers and is not to be undertaken lightly." ....... Reply: Yes, Magick is filled with pitfalls. Climbing the Tree is like fighting gravity. Jack’s story should stand as a warning; many in the old Agape Lodge thought it ‘easy’ to take the Oath of the Abyss from Wilfred T. Smith, to Jack Parsons and others. The tragedy of their lives are legendary and the consistent theme is that most never achieved the Knowledge and Conversation of their Angel first before taking the ‘leap’ and without guidance the ‘signs of danger’ are obvious in hindsight. Jack’s ego for starters was his undoing and the mere fact that he knew he had to hide his magick from his superiors like Germer and Crowley should have been a ‘light bulb’ going off in head. The problem with the Oath of the Abyss is that it’s irrevocable. Once taken the magician is automatically thrust upward on the Tree and in truth; he ‘can’ receive divine messages as in the case of the Babalon Working but if he has no right to be there he’ll be cast out sooner or later and from these lofty branches on the Tree the fall can kill you. In many ways, Babalon was warning Jack of this … but he did not listen. 

6:15am For the history buffs: Daniel Dunglas Home, pronounced hume, was born an illegitimate child on this date in 1833 in Currie, a village near Edinburgh, Scotland. He was adopted by his aunt when he was but an infant, and taken to Connecticut. He has been described as “the most celebrated medium of all time, judging by the number and impressiveness of the séances of which we have records and by the caliber of the observers whom he attracted in the many countries he visited.” He conducted over 1500 séances and physic demonstrations which were always conducted in broad daylight, and in settings other than his own home. Sir William Crookes conducted tightly controlled experiments with Home in 1871. Crookes claimed that he saw no proof that Home was anything less than the ‘real thing.’ Two years later, in 1873, Home moved to the Mediterranean due to a recurring bout of tuberculosis.  He he died on June 12, 1886 at the age of 40.  He was buried at St Germain-en-Laye. After his death, his wife Julie, published two books about Home.  The first was titled D. D. Home: His Life and Mission (1888) and The Gift of D. D. Home (1890). Other earlier books by Home himself included My Life and Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism. ……. Also, the Stock broker and antiquarian bookseller Frederick Leigh Gardner joined the Golden Dawn on this date in 1894. He is known as Frater Credo Experto. He is often confused with witch Gerald Gardner. ……. Also of interest, on March 20, 1903 Charles Godfrey Leland, the author of Aradia: Gospel of the Witches (1889), died. ……. And it was on March 20, 1904, the Equinox of the Gods of the Element of Fire, that Aleister Crowley performed a ritual to Horus in Cairo, Egypt. He received a psychic message that Christianity was dead, an idea that obviously appealed immensely to him, the Great Beast 666. In the following month, over three successive days in April, Crowley ‘received’ The Book of the Law, eventually titled Liber AL vel Legis. This new ‘bible’ was dictated to him by Aiwass, an invisible entity who claimed to be the minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat and a messenger from the forces ruling the planet during the Aeon of Aquarius. The new decree given to mankind was “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” ……. Also, John Yarker, Freemasonic scholar, died on this date in 1913. His Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry can be traced to the Oriental Rite of Memphis established in France in 1814, and the Rite of Mizraim, established in France in 1813. ….... and finally, it was on March 20, 1979 that the Articles of Incorporation of the O.T.O. were established and signed in California. …..... Still, for the psychology minded, I should have pointed out that Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in the small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna. Besides Sigmund Freud, B. F. Skinner is probably the next most celebrated psychologist. He developed a theory based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Reinforcement is the key element to his theory. And on that note:  Why did the chicken cross the road? According to Skinner its “because the external influences, which had pervaded its sensorium from birth, had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own freewill.”  Skinner died on August 18th in 1990.

Wednesday March 19th 2008 – 1:45pm I'm looking for a few people who can help me for about an hour on Sunday afternoon [23rd]; grunt work, stapling & etc a few hundred CORNELIAS. If you want to volunteer give me a call or send me an email. HELP!

6:00am Massimo sent an interesting email this morning regarding my posting of the death of Arthur C. Clarke yesterday. He writes, "93 Jerry. So, Clarke has died. I wonder if someone noticed some thelemic 'hints' in his writings. The beginning of 2001 A Space Odyssey seems to hint to 'every man and every woman is a star' when he writes that for every man who has lived on earth there is, more or less, a star in our galaxy. In 2010 there is a message of 11 words who gets repeated 93 times, and even 718 pops up (even I don't remember where at the moment). Just my ideas, anyway. 93 93/93 Massimo." ..... Reply: I was never a big Clarke fan, don't care much for his writing style but I may have to go back and read some of his stuff. Thanks.

5:50am For the history buffs: it was on March 19, 1563 that the Criminal witchcraft statute was enacted on this date by Queen Elizabeth I. It would take effect in June of this year.  It was England’s most notorious Witchcraft Act which stated that anyone who should “use, practice, or exercise any Witchcraft, Enchantment, Charm, or Sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed,” was guilty of a felony without benefit of clergy, and should be put to death. This law was broadened further by Elizabeth’s successor James I, a king who wrote a treatise on Dæmonologie. In 1604, the first year of his reign, the Elizabethan act was broadened to bring the penalty of death to anyone who invoked evil spirits or communed with familiar spirits. It was this statute that was enforced by Matthew Hopkins, the notorious ‘Witch-Finder General’. …… and to keep with ‘legal findings’, it was on March 19, 1954 that an injunction was issued ‘against’ all of Wilhelm Reich’s inventions by the U.S. District Judge of Maine. ….. but on a lighter note; it was on this date in 1933 that Aleister Crowley’s Gnostic Mass was first publicly performed in California at the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis. ….. and finally, the classic cult movie titled Eraserhead opened on this date in 1977. Often a visual difficulty for sane people, the plot centers around a person named Jack Spencer who lives in an industrial town and who discovers that he’s the father to a hideously mutated infant.

5:45am Happy Vernal EQUINOX you all! 

Tuesday March 18th 2008 – 4:10pm The NEWS just said that Arthur C. Clarke, the visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, just died in Sri Lanka. He was 90. He is most likely best remembered for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

7:30pm For the history buffs:  Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templars, after a painful imprisonment of six and a half years, was publicly burnt at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris on this date in 1314. ……. And Edgar Cayce, the ‘Sleeping Prophet,’ was born on this date in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1877. He was considered by many to be the greatest psychic of the 20th Century. Most of his adult life Cayce demonstrated the uncanny ability to put himself into self-induced sleep by lying down on a couch, closing his eyes, and folding his hands over his stomach. This state enabled him to place his mind in contact with all time and space and, while in this state, he could respond to questions as diverse as, “What are the secrets of the universe?” During his life he had openly preached vegetarianism as a system of health and diet although he was known to break his own rules by eating his favorite meat, pork. When asked about this violation he simply replied, “I wouldn’t be worth much if I couldn’t raise the vibration level of that poor little hunk of meat.” He also believed that one of his past incarnations was ‘Lucius’, or Luke, the companion of Jesus Christ. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest psychics of the 20th Century. However, one of his strangest visions centered on the death ray used in ancient Atlantis. This Great Crystal was called the Tuaoi Stone and Cayce claimed that it was a huge cylindrical prism in which the Atlanteans could gather and focus “energy.” Unfortunately the Atlanteans got very greedy with their power and they fired up their Crystal to such a high frequency that it set off volcanic disturbances that inevitably led to the destruction of that ancient world. Cayce died on January 3, 1945 in his bed in Virginia Beach, Virginia. ….. also, Manly Palmer Hall, one of the metaphysical giants of the Twentieth Century, was born in Peterborough, Ontario on this date in 1901. He spent decades researching eastern philosophy, occult studies, astrology, and a wide variety of related topics at a time when such subjects were still unknown territory in the western world. He authored of over seventy-five published works and although historians acknowledge that he was indeed a Mason, most will also claim that it could hardly be said that he was representative of all Masons. In other words, Manly P. Hall was often “different.” In 1934 he founded the Philosophical Research Society. He died on August 29, 1990, in his long-time residence of Hollywood, California, at the age of 89. ……. And I should point out that Ian Fleming finished his first novel about James Bond the British Secret Agent 007 entitled Casino Royale on this date in 1952, basing its evil villain Le Chiffre on his old friend Aleister Crowley. ……. And finally, George Sylvester Viereck was a noted writer, poet and propagandist who died on this date in 1962. He was editor of such German language publications known as The International and The Fatherland which defended Germany at the outbreak of World War I. He was questioned by the US government in 1918 for receiving money from a former German minister but was not prosecuted, despite public outrage. He was known for his interviews of international figures such as Adolf Hitler (1923). It was no secret that he was a Nazi apologist and he was charged with such a criminal offense in 1941 under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He served four years in prison between 1943-47. He was, for awhile, a close friend of Aleister Crowley who submitted numerous articles to his publication. In Crowley’s 1936 diaries there is a brief entry on Thursday July 30th, “George Sylvester Viereck to lunch. Saturnus, Rudy, & girl Pat. Viereck will sign affidavit that I had no trouble with authorities in U.S.A. He said also that after [the] war he made friends with our N.I. chiefs, who told him that I had been working for them during the War.” Saturnus is Karl Germer.

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