~ April 17th - 22nd, 2008 ~
(the latest entries are always added to the top)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. - AL I:40
Tuesday April 22nd 2008 – 1:10pm As a side note: Ed & I both joined the OTO on the same day up at Mike Ripple's house in Syracuse, New York in November of 1977. Grady Louis McMurtry was acting as Saladin.
10:30am My old friend Ed Wormuth from the early days of Syracuse OTO writes, “This date 1984...thanks for the memories... it is really thru the glass darkly to recall those events. [I just dug out my certificates to check and my last initiation [3rd] was in 1980.] Anyway, Happy Anniversary.” … Reply: Thanks! And yes, 1984 was an amusing period in East Coast OTO history. I wrote a lot about that year in Grady's bio and of my memories spent up in Syracuse in 1984. I can laugh now ...10:20am My friend Dave from Florida writes, “Hey Jerry, 93! Talk about freaky. Last night I was going to write to you about Richard Coles book. I was going to order a copy and didn't know if you were aware of it yet. I awoke this morning to read your blog like I always do and Walla! Thanks for answering my question before I posted it :) 93 93/93 David.” … I replied: Glad to be of help! :) Life is STRANGE! 6:45am I’ve been collecting Crowleyanity sincethe late 1960s. It takes a lot to make an impression
on me but every now and then I get a book which,
upon removing it from the package, I sit in awe.
Thelema Revisited, In Search of Aleister Crowley
by Richard T. Cole is just such a book! I have spent
all of yesterday afternoon and night with my face
glued between its pages. It has only one major flaw.
A serious flaw; I was so engrossed in its pages that I
forgot to eat supper and it got cold. But I guess I’ll
live. Be that as it may, this is a must have book in
every Crowley library. It is primarily about Cefalu;
great info, unbelievable photos (hundreds!) and well
written. Everything you ever thought that you
knew about Aleister Crowley's infamous Abbey of Thelema is but a morsel waiting for this full course meal. I want to thank Richard from the bottom of my heart for sending me a copy. I am humbled. … He also sent me the DVD – Thelema Revisited, A Guided Tour June 16-23, 2007. [drool] Contents: Orientation, Inside, Murals and Walkabout, plus bonus features. Guess what I’m watching this Saturday with a group of friends at this week's OPEN HOUSE at my apartment? [6:00pmish guys]
6:30am For the history buffs: Bettie Page, the ultimate 50s pin-up model and pop culture icon, was born on this date
in Nashville, Tennessee in 1923. Her father, Roy, was an
auto-mechanic. Her mother, Edna, was part Cherokee. She
was the nice girl but naughty, often shy while being daring,
simple and exotic, Bettie portrayed a freshness never before
seen in the modeling scene. Without elaborate props,
costumes, or even set-dressings, Bettie produced some of
the most beautiful shots to ever grace the covers of
hundreds of magazines. Bettie once said, “I was not trying
to be shocking, or to be a pioneer. I wasn’t trying to
change society, or to be ahead of my time. I didn’t think
of myself as liberated, and I don’t believe that I did
anything important. I was just myself. I didn’t know any
other way to be, or any other way to live.” …..…. and
Adolf Lanz founder of The New Templars, whose
writings influenced Adolf Hitler, was expelled from the Cistercian Monastery where he had been hiding and he died shortly thereafter, on this date in 1954. ……... And I’d like to point out that some guy named J. Edward Cornelius took Eighth Degree initiation in the Ordo Templi Orientis and swore the Oath of the Abyss in the AA; both in front of Grady Louis McMurtry in Syracuse, New York on this date in 1984.
Monday april 21st 2008 – For the history buffs: On this date in 1924 the noted Victorian occult romancer and author Mary Mackay, more commonly known to the world as Marie Corelli, died at Stratford-upon-Avon in England. She openly proclaimed herself a lesbian at time when such proclivities were frown upon. In fact, she was known as a ‘man-hater’ and it was said that having avowed “such hatred & disgust for the male portion of our species that if a man only touches her by accident she feels a sense of outrage for days.” It has also been said that Ludwig van Beethoven was the only man she could have loved and that was “because he has the advantage of being dead.” She is most famous for her novels titled A Romance of Two Worlds (1886), The Soul of Lilith (1892) and the Sorrows of Satan (1895) to name but a few of her many works. Her birth date has always been speculated but most agree that she was born near London on or about May 1, 1855. ……. And who can forget that it was on April 21st in 2007 The NEWS out of Vatican City stated that Pope Benedict XVI reversed centuries of traditional Roman Catholic teaching on the subject of limbo. In the past it was believed that if a child died before being Baptized it could not get into heaven because it was with the ‘original sin.’ Thus, came about the belief in ‘limbo’ which states that such children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness, but without being in communion with God. However, today’s decision states that limbo no longer ‘exists’ and children who die without being baptized are not excluded from Heaven. This reassessing traditional teaching on the subject came about in light of ‘pressing’ pastoral needs - primarily dealing with the growing number of abortions and infants born to non-believers who die without being baptized. Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, notes: “If there's no limbo and we're not going to revert to St. Augustine's teaching that unbaptized infants go to Hell, we're left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace” and thus “Baptism does not exist to wipe away the ‘stain’ of original sin, but to initiate one into the Church.”
Sunday April 20th 2008 – 10:05am Mike asks a curious question. "What sign was Zardoz?" ... Reply: Chris Dielter (aka Fr.Zardoz) was born on September 24th 1954 in Los Angeles. We don't know his exact time of birth but we do know that he was a Libra with a Scorpio Moon and Sagittarius Rising. He also has Mercury, Venus and Saturn in Scorpio! What can we say? He's played for keeps while continual smiling as only a Libra truly can!
9:30am Carol writes, "I don't think Zardoz would have remembered me. We met briefly near Rasputin's as you and him and some other guys were walking around the Telegraph Avenue last year. He seemed like a nice guy. Sorry to hear he's gone." ..... Reply: Yes, he was a nice guy. I had forgotten that we ran into you. 7:18am Evelyn from Belgium writes, "93, Dear Jerry. I'm sorry about your friend passing away so prematurely. Keep focusing on the good memories. Hope you are otherwise well. Best wishes, Evelyn."7:10am I received this email from Andy West of Sacramento – “Jerry 93, Just writing to give appreciation for all the attention given to Zardoz, my brief story on knowing him, and a slight correction. First, the correction: I saw him a few times before the end and he actually was suffering from liver disease and then liver failure from all the years of hard partying, not cancer. Second, my story: I met Chris a few years ago when I was working at a video store in North Highlands. I looked over the counter and saw some guy I took for a crazy social security recepient leaning up against it and talking on his cell phone. He starts talking about how his girlfriend is seeing a Reichian Kundalini yoga instructor and my eyebrows perk up a bit. Then he mentions Aleister Crowley. I can't keep my mouth shut any longer. "Hey, man, you're into Aleister Crowley?" I say. He puts down the phone and looks at me a little shocked and says "Yeah I'm into Aleister Crowley. Do you know the O.T.O.?" "Yeah. I'm a member of the Lodge in town." I reply. "Let me call you back." he tells the person on the other end of the phone, then he stands a little straighter and says "I'm Frater Zardoz." My jaw drops "You're Zardoz? Man, you're a fucking legend!" He wasn't a crazy on social security, he was a brilliant legendary Thelemite crazy on social security! And thats how Zardoz and I met and became friends. He was a great guy to hang out with. He always had some wild story to tell or a video to show, and at least as far as I was concerned, a kind heart. He created videos using clips of demons and Templars from various movies synched up with 60's and 70's rock songs that he liked to show. If he'd been born later I'm sure they would have been great youtube fare. He also created the most hideous porn film I have ever seen in my life and that's saying something seeing as the video store I met him at was practically a front for a porn shop. The second to the last time I saw him he showed Frater Orpheus and I how he discovered the Led Zeppelin III logo, when turned upside down and placed in front of a mirror, reveals a 666. He also graced us with a harmonica performance played along with Robert Plant on "How The West Was Won". On the last day he was in some pain and you could tell he was hallucinating a bit from the toxins his liver wasn't processing but he was cognizant during the ceremony Robert, Ben and I performed for him. He was visibly happier and more at peace afterward and I was glad to have had the chance to play a small role in that for him. He's most remembered for Lucifer Rising but he also is responsible for three of the best photographs of Grady that exist. He showed Orpheus and I a few on our second to last visit and they are beautiful. Hopefully in the settling of his estate they will find their way into the right hands. I'll miss him, but every time I hear Led Zeppelin play I smile a little wider for having known him. 93, 93/93 – Andy.” …… Reply: Thanks for sharing the memories. I've known Chris for ages; we first corresponded back in the early 1980s. He was a character; true to himself and Thelemic to his soul. 6:45am For the history buffs: Dr. Wynn Westcott and William Woodman had introduced McGregor Mathers to The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.) and the latter was initiated on this date in 1882 as a Zelator, choosing the motto S. Rhioghail Mo Dhream, which means ‘Royal is my Race.’ …..…. Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, died in London on this date in 1912 at the age of 65. He was cremated at Golders Green Cemetery in London. An obituary in The London Times stated that Stoker “was the master of a particularly lurid and creepy kind of fiction.” Some people have speculated that Stoker was a member of the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn but no evidence has ever surfaced to support this assertion. …..…. Norman Mudd, the gifted ‘one eyed’ mathematician, arrived at Crowley’s Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu on this date in 1923. Upon joining the AA he assumed the motto Omnia Pro Veritate, which means ‘All for Truth.’ Crowley would later write about Mudd as - “a nearly liquid mass of loathesome of detestable putrescence. - but oh that ‘nearly’. He won’t flow; he is a clammy poultice of sour war-bread. He clings, he clogs, he chokes.” …..…. And it was on April 20, 1959 that the body of Dr. Morris K. Jessup was found in his station wagon parked in Coral Gables recreational area in Florida. His death was made to look like an obvious suicide, with a rubber hose attached to the exhaust pipe and looped back into the interior. And although his death certificate reads, “acute carbon monoxide intoxication,” many believe that he was murdered. The reasons stem from three years earlier on January 13, 1956. This is when he received his first letter from Carlos Miguel Allende which dealt with Einstein’s unified field theory and the experiments on board a U.S. destroyer which had vanished without a trace in a harbor in Philadelphia. And some people actually believe that the movie titled The Philadelphia Experiment was just a fictitious story to amuse the masses. Be that as it may, Jessup firmly believed in UFOs and he devoted his life to proving their existence. He wrote several books on the subject; the most famous was The Case for the UFO. Saturday April 19th 2008 – 6:45am Benjamin Hance wrote a very touching tribute to his old friend Christopher Dietler (Fr.Zardoz) titled 'IN MEMORIAM'. It has been added on Chris' Memorial Page. Other info has also been added. The page is, and shall be growing ... in memory of Chris!
6:25am Aleister Crowley recorded a brief conversation in his private diary on April 19, 1939 of a profound piece of wisdom in which a woman named Peggy questions his attitude toward woman. She asked, “You think we’re fools and crude primitive animals! What are we then?” To which Crowley replied, “Mind-Readers.”6:10am For the history buffs: Leopold Engel, the itinerant actor who practiced hypnotism and alleged naturopathic healing on the side, was born on this date in 1858. It is believed that he, Theodore Reuss and Franz Hartmann, were co-founders of the Theosophical Society in Germany. ……. And it was on April 19, 1897 that a Texas newspaper reported that a strange airship crashed in this state and that its strange inhabitants, who were definitely not human, were given a Christian burial in the local cemetery. ….... and on April 19, 1900 the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in London ‘officially expelled’ McGregor Mathers as its Chief of the Second Order. ……. And I should like to report that Anton LaVey describes her as “lewd, lascivious virago who was happiest when rolling on the floor with masochistic orgiastic energy. She liked to be humiliated, liked to be degraded. There was nothing forbidden in bed, and she reveled in her lust.” He was referring to Jayne Mansfield, who real name was Vera Jane Palmer. She was born on this date in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1933.Friday April 18th 2008 – 10:20am I received this email, Subject : “Sorry to Hear about Chris Deitler.” - “Just thought you might find this interesting ... This myspace page ( http://www.myspace.com/fraterzardoz ) has a link to a 1987 College interview Chris did discussing his involvement also some other tidbit. Ps love your website Cheers Aaron ~ an Aquarian :-) .” ... Reply: Thanks so much. The info is greatly appreciated. And this is a GREAT webpage. I highly recommend that my readers check it out. Well done!!!
9:05am Chris writes, “That is a beautiful tribute to Zardoz. Very tastefully done - I have to admit it moved me.” 8:58am Mari sent another email. She writes, "DearJerry Oh, my, again! Jerry!!! I'll be too famous! ... Every
time you mention about me, I will send Mari Cat punch
\(-o-)/ From now on, I became Mari dog nun.....not
your assistant any more...I resigned (^0^) Love, Marie."
...... Reply: Boo hoo. I lose more assistants this way.
8:20am Mari sent an email with a picture. She writes, "I just clicked to your blog right
now. And found, Oh, it's Mari cat! and you
said I checked kitty porn sites???? Jerry!!!!!
Well, actually I checked like 1 st pic And I
found Jerry cat, too. You should say in your
blog Mari cat complains her boss is always like
that. But I am sending Mari Cat punch to you
because you exposed Mari cat! (-.-#)---#### in
your blog! Love, Mari." .... Reply: OUCH!!
... Mari, it is no fair taking pictures of me
while I sleep! [and I'm drinking Lite beer?]
5:40am Carol writes, asking if I got any new young Asian assistants yet to
help me around my apartment. ... Reply:
Yes, and no. She is not Asian [wink wink]
and here is a photo of her to the right ...
of course, every time I turn my back she
is surfing the Net on some kitty porn site!
5:30am For the history buffs: On this date in 1955 Albert Einstein died quietly in his sleep at Princeton Hospital in New Jersey, after a long and brilliant career in which his name became synonymous with genius. Like Aleister Crowley, Einstein acknowledged the importance of combining scientific and religious methods. Where Crowley wrote the profound statement on the cover of The Equinox: “The method of Science, the Aim of Religion,” Einstein, years later in 1934, offered this observation: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY
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Love is the law, love under will. – AL I:57
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