~ August 1st - 15th, 2008 ~

(the latest entries are always added to the top)

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

Friday August 15th 2008 – 5:30pm My friend John just wrote to me asking about the music festival Woodstock which started on this date back in 1969. He heard me once talk about attending and asked if I had any good stories. I wrote back to him simply quoting my autobiography - "The memories of me and a few of my friends hitching to the show still brings back a fond smile. We dropped acid shortly after leaving New Haven and the rest is history. Getting to the place was almost impossible. Miles from the concert they closed the roads and wouldn’t let anyone pass with a motor vehicle. As far as hitching any further, we were at a stand still. All along the road were hundreds of people camping, partying and having great fun. Radios were blasting and music was everywhere. People were dancing wherever they parked their cars or vans. No one seemed to really mind that they couldn’t get to the show without walking for miles. I missed the first two days of the concert by spending it partying on the side of the road doing tons of drugs with people I didn’t even know or can’t even remember. When I finally reached the concert I was wet, dirty and still flying high as a kite. I think I enjoyed myself but memories of the event are still foggy after all these years. Later when people would remark in awe, “You made it to Woodstock?” all I could do is give a little smile and say, “I believe that I did.” It was that kind of a memory."

5:10pm BREAKING NEWS - The body of the creature commonly known as “Bigfoot” has been found in the woods in northern Georgia. There was just a News conference about it on TV! They're claiming that extensive scientific studies will be done on the body by a team of scientists including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, a paleontologist and other scientists over the next few months at an undisclosed location. The studies will be carefully documented and the findings will be released to the world.

4:52pm Carol writes, “93 Jer. Read your blog. You didn’t tell people what my sign said. You edited my last email. Whats the matter, you becoming soft? Luv ya. 93s C.” ...... Reply: You mean regarding my 2:50 posting? I edit many emails but if you insist; the part I edited from your email is what your "tiny little sign" just above your pubic area says, or "If you can read this you are close enough to lick me where it counts!” ... Being 'soft' has never been my problem.

4:40pm Regarding my 11:30am posting; Jerri writes, “To be the Daemons advocate, couldn't one say that our goal as a Magician is to uncover our true Will...and regardless of how negative our incarnation may be, we did choose it to temper our souls in the alchemical furnace of life. If we picked the life of a serial killer perhaps we should honor that. I know that sounds awful...but I'm totally serious! The Daemon is neutral and it doesn't care what life we've chosen-it only seeks to lead us to that which we picked before our birth. There's some greater purpose to the choice that we've made--to be a killer, a rapist, a lover, or a saint. I know that we have free will, and could always at any point turn our backs on our Daemon and our Will. Should we though? Is it any better to deny ourselves a life of murder and crime than to deny a life of giving and service by turning our backs on our purpose for incarnating? In both cases, aren't we just ignoring our calling??  Why would one path (of 'good' or 'evil') be any better than the other--especially considering that our lives are merely specks of dust upon the infinite. If I chose my incarnation before I crossed the river of forgetfulness, which I did having all the information of every incarnation and experience at my disposal to help me decide what life I wanted and why, it really wouldn't matter if I was Hitler or Gandhi in this life, as long as I was following my Will. In a sense, to follow your Will is the act of God, rather than what it is that Will actually is because it is "good" and "evil" that is  the illusion. Pure Will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect!” ……. Reply: I like what you wrote about the daemon. Very good. But I mighty add one important ingredient; regardless if one’s life calling is like “Hitler or Gandhi” you must always remember what I’ve written in CORNELIA No.1 – “Every possible type of incarnation was offered to the Soul. It had to look over these samples and determine which life, or ‘calling’, might best, according to Plato, “make him able to learn and discern between good and evil.” In other words, it was believed that reincarnation was meant to temper the Soul in an Alchemical furnace.”  …. By studying our birth charts we are able to determine the incarnation that we’ve chosen and, in theory, the murder or vile person’s True Will is not necessarily to kill, because that would be imposing his Star and Universe onto another and is therefore unThelemic. True Will never hurts someone else! It’s the First Law of Thelema 101. But, since a person’s True Will (or experience) is very much rooted in the mundane; some people may need to come into their incarnation with a greater inclinations to ‘Kill’ and must act accordingly with what they’ve been given in order to learn the difference between ‘good & evil.’  How they ‘act’ determines if they pass or fail. Of your Will and Want; one you control while the other controls you. Remember; control does not imply ‘being good at killing’ … it implies putting those things under control which not only hinder us but hurts others.

2:50pm Carol replied to my 2:25 posting: "Jerry 93 I read your email, dropped to my knees and started crying. ... NOT!!!! What makes you think I aint got a tattoo? Next time I visit Telley I'll show you. 93s C." .... I replied: “Carol 93 Ah, my favorite little Texan! You read my email, dropped to your knees and cried, but you didn’t cry – ah, two out of three is not bad! I can’t wait to read the sign. Love ya 93 93/93 Jerry.” … Its going to be a long hard afternoon …

2:25pm Carol sent an email: “Hey JC 93 I liked your Pisces posting this morning. I’m an Aries; you got my chart what do you think? Is there love in my future? If so, I’ll dump my boyfriend quicker than you can spit. 93s C.” … I replied, “Have you ever thought about getting a tattoo just above your privates saying - ‘Enter at your own Risk’  ?

11:30am Andy writes, “On further reflection on ‘An Open Epistle on the Dangers of being a Neophyte.’ in regards to my message from yesterday I started wondering if I was missing another layer to whole process. The Kundry is evoked by putting Element over Goddess. Could then the Daimon programmed away from Goddess be the real root of Kundry? The Kundry, our Daimon programmed to want instead of will?” ...... Reply: You Scorpios think too much. You’re also referring to my blog entry of the 12th." I added, "... the answer is simple. You were born with ‘Free Choice’, if a Kundry comes at you in the form of a seductress are you blaming the daimon for supplying it? Or are you simply telling the ‘voice’ in your head to shut up, you know what you’re doing and even though you know it could be wrong, you’ll worry about it in the morning? In other words, don’t always blame the daimon for your Malkuthian folly which is more often than not the true origins of the Kundry. The daimon is neutral.  It fulfills our needs per its directive before we incarnated. Arguably, and more often than not, it will NEVER shift away from its original intent. Yes, we can ‘program’ it to help but the term is misleading because it often implies that we as mortals can get it to do what ever we’d like; even demand it to fulfill our ‘wants’ over ‘Will.’ In truth, if we pick a ‘negative’ kind of ‘calling’ it will assist us no matter how bad a road it might lead us down ... but if we pick a ‘positive’ calling and we turn our back on it, will it still assist us in our new direction?   No.  It simply goes silent and hopefully, you’ll make the proper decisions since you have Free Will.

10:56am I replied to a female Pisces this morning - "Yes, I’m finally getting down the pile of old emails; addressing them one by one and I have reached yours of the 10th. I am glad that you are enjoying your birth chart.

Plato in his classic work The Republic refers to the heavens as a giant spindle he calls ‘The Spindle of Necessity’ after the primeval Goddess of Necessity named Ananke who was born of no parents, self-formed and existing since time began and whose outstretched arms encompassed the breadth of the entire universe and on whose knees the giant spindle rests. Ananke has three daughters or Fates who sit upon Thrones and oversee each of the ‘Threads of Life’ that their mother spins. Plato uses the concept of a ‘spindle’ as a means of explaining how known celestial bodies revolved around the Earth according to his understanding of cosmology and astronomy. It was believed that the Fates cut the thread at a precise moment when we are ready to be born; at which ‘Time’ we obtain a birth map of the heavens. However, the Gods also knew that once our Spirit incarnated and attached itself into a new body that it would become difficult, if not impossible, to remember why it had chosen a particular incarnation let alone fulfill the ‘experience’ that it desired. Our birth chart gives us the clues to our ‘experience.’ I am not one of those astrologers who believe the art should be used to predict our future. I think the Greeks understood that self-reflection was something imperative in understanding the mysteries about life and death and, like them I am preoccupied by the Greek axiom inscribed at Delphi, or Know Thyself. This is how I see our astrology chart. It teaches us the type of ‘experience’ that we desired by coming into our particular body and how our psyche works through it.

You wrote, “Thus far I have discovered two interesting things in my chart: I have Venus & the Sun in my 8th house (god of love & beauty lies within my sexual province ‘evil grin’); and Saturn is in my 9th house. I haven't had any revelations on what that means yet, but it shall definitely give me something nice to dream about.” 

When trying to understand your chart research one thing at a time and ignore the rest of the chart. Your chart is the sum total of your incarnation … can you really understand it all at a glance? No. If you can learn but one or two things thoroughly, you’ll have accomplished more than most do in an entire lifetime.

You mentioned Venus; so let’s start here. Consider this what I wrote about the planet – “Venus – This planet is associated with love and the ‘affairs of the heart.’ Venus rules feminine virtues; it is graceful and tactful. It is an internal barometer or thermostat which gives us feedback about what is or isn't comfortable and desirable to our Sun. It is a powerful indicator of what a person values and it reveals our inclinations toward romance, marriage and partnership in general. Venus is the quality which takes the Sun’s light and warmth and allows growth in our life. Since Venus is the Goddess of ‘Beauty’ she denotes our appreciation for aesthetically pleasing things which enhance our sense of internal harmony.”

Now consider what I wrote about the Eight House; which is where your Venus falls - “Eighth House/Scorpio (Mars and Pluto). This house represents the challenges that one faces wrestling the powers of your psyche from the deep, dark underworld and of your ability to focus this energy with ruthless intensity on the process of breaking down your reality structure into little pieces, then reassemble all the pieces into a new whole; either justifiable or false. This house is bathed in a fixed sign, ruled by Mars and Pluto, making its energy often unmovable in its quest. It is the house of secrets, stubbornness, suspicions and resentment, where personal taboos, as well as those of society, are often addressed and where you dig into your own internal garbage in order to find the hidden treasure which can prove your quest justifiable. Think of Scorpio as a compost heap where all the bits of decaying food break down and eventually turn into fertilizer to nourish a new growth, of course that is in its positive stage. In its negative stage the Scorpion stings itself to death. It is the house of sex, death and regeneration, of transformation; of beginnings and endings. It is often seen as the house of occult and psychic matters. Crowley also writes that this house “indicates the probable length of life and the manner of its termination.”

But you have Venus in Aries in the Eighth House.  What influences or type of energy does Aries bring into the picture?

Consider this that I wrote about Aries – “Aries (Mars). Crowley refers to the house ruled by Aries as describing “the individual and temperament” and their “physical condition and appearance”, their primitive or almost basic animalistic image which is unique to themselves that they present to the world throughout their life. This house determines and reveals the body-type or shell that we have chosen for our incarnation. Some will tell you that it is the house of the Ego, driven by an often selfishness called “I’m first” and the world owes me mentality. Mars is the God of war who rules Aries and he bathes this house in an often aggressive primal forceful which fuels a person’s needs to pursue new things, often at the expense of not completing previous projects and ventures.”

Now, you must always contemplate upon the ‘House’, the ‘Planet’ and the ‘Sign’ in which the planet itself falls and try to understand how those ‘combined forces’ work through you – personally to affect your 'Venus'.

All we can do as an astrologer is make assumptions of how ‘we’ think they’d all meld together. I’ll give you a hint; to me Venus in Aries in the Eighth House of Scorpio implies; especially you having a Pisces Sun, that sex is probably best when it's spontaneous, aggressive and unrestricted. I would say that more often than not you look for trouble in love and driven by Mars (Ruler of both Aries & Scorpio) that you are addicted to the immediate conquest of the moment.  Due to all the influence I would also bet that you are most comfortable if you are in control in love; bordering on being selfish and probably you get impatient with too much foreplay, preferring to get right to the point but being Pisces, and since we are talking about Venus, I bet you are also sincere and enthusiastically aroused by the ‘romance’ of the moment too, or so you try to convince yourself. Deep down inside, with the influence that you got around Venus, and all the excuses aside, I bet you feel most complete when you have someone to ‘desire’ and I think you’re driven by the need of a mate and you weld sex as the weapon to conquer him. You’re a dangerous woman. I like that! 

Anyway, that is how I’d make a quick assessment; you need to figure out how you see it; which means fine tuning the above to your up-bringing, parental influence, schooling, religion and a thousand other things that were given to you as a foundation stone pre-puberty. We are all different. I can only look at the 'influence' and say I how I see them coming together in a pot and since no two people are alike; you need to be honest with yourself in order to understand how they are working through you. Too many people in our society have hang-ups around how they look for love and especially their sex and proclivities; Christian taboos are like a festering sore in our psyche. It should be you goal to completely understand and come to terms with what, how and why your libido is driven.  Our libido drives 99% of who we are. Remember, it is no ones business what you come up with in your quest to 'Know Thyself' ... so honesty is important.

7:45am Here is an actual newspaper article that appeared in The Daily Mirror in London on August 15th 1907:

MYSTIC CARD.

HOUSEHOLD MISHAPS FOLLOW

RECEIPT OF CURIOUS MISSIVE.

------------------

PUZZLING SIGNS.

------------------

An extraordinary letter, enclosing a strange, elliptical

card, has just been received at the Daily Mirror office.

The substance of the letter, which is sent from a West

End address, is as follows; -"Two days ago I received the

enclosed card anonymously, and just glancing at it briefly,

thinking it an advertisement of some sort, I placed it on the

mantelpiece.

"Within a few minutes, disasters of a minor kind began

to happen in my little home.

"First, one of my most valuable vases fell to the ground

and was smashed to pieces. My little clock stopped - the clock

was near the card - and then I discovered to my amazement

that my dear little canary lay dead at the bottom of his cage!

"I am fully convinced that the characters on the card

have some sort of evil influence. Please do not send the

dreadful thing back to me."

Two London authorities on signs and hieroglyphics, Mr. Everard Green, F.S.A., and Mr. Sadler, librarian of the Freemason's Hall, have been approached by the Daily Mirror, in the hope that they might be able to throw some light on the matter.

Mr. Green said the arrangement of the signs was apparently meaningless. "It has nothing whatever to do with any heraldic signs," he said, "It is probably the work of an individual, or of some small society."

Mr. Sadler on viewing the card remarked that it was totally erroneous to imagine that it had an evil influence.

"On the whole," he said, "I think the signs as arranged are portenders of good.

"There are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end - in the scales of justice, supported by the sword. Above all is the celestial crown, while the lettering are, as far as I can judge, mostly of a religious character. The lettering, 'V.V.V.V.V.', however, I cannot understand.

"I do not know to what society or order the card belongs." It has nothing to do with Freemasonry.

Perhaps some of our readers may be able to explain the origin of this mysterious card.

-----------------------

7:20am Just a reminder, there is no OPEN HOUSE tonight, nor lecture at my apartment. We meet tomorrow, Saturday, at 3:00pmish.

7:15am For the history buffs: Thomas De Quincey was born on this date in the industrial city of Manchester, Lancashire in 1785. He was an English essayist and critic, best-known for his autobiography simply called the Confessions of an English Opium Eater, which first appeared in 1821 in the London Magazine. De Quincey was addicted to opium from his youth until his death. His influence on such writers as Poe and Baudelaire, and a number of readers tempted to experiment with opium, has been immense and notorious. In his autobiography he wrote, “If opium-eating be a sensual pleasure, and if I am bound to confess that I have indulged in it to an excess, not yet recorded of any other man, it is no less true, that I have struggled against this fascinating enthrallment with a religious zeal, and have, at length, accomplished what I never yet heard attributed to any other man - have untwisted, almost to its final links the accursed chain which fettered me.” He died in 1859 and was buried in Edinburgh, beside his wife and his two children. …..…. Charles Godfrey Leland was born on this date in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1824. His greatest legacy lives on through his book Aradia or Gospel of the Witches (1889). It is the first major book claiming to contain material obtained directly from a practicing witch and is considered one of the most influential works to affect and influence modern Witchcraft and Wicca.  He died on March 20, 1903. …..…. And it was on August 15, 1973 that Students of the Monastery of the Seven Rays form the body of the Ordo Templi Orientis Antiqua (O.T.O.A.) which linked itself ‘officially’ to Aleister Crowley’s 93 Current, or so the twisted maze of Michael P. Bertiaux’s history claims, according to some sources. …….. and on August 15, 1977 Raymond A. Palmer, born in 1910, the editor of Amazing Stories and the co-founder of FATE magazine, died at this home in Florida. …….. and finally, on August 15, 1996, in the middle of the night in La Grange Georgia, a woman, sleeping with her 6-year old granddaughter on the other side of the bed, woke to hear her granddaughter coughing. She noticed that the girl was experiencing a nosebleed, she woke her, cleaned her up and they went back to sleep. About fifteen minutes later the woman reported that she rolled over to look at her granddaughter and saw a tall “angel-like” creature standing over her on the other side of the bed. She described the entity as being a tall female, with unusual blond curly hair and wearing a white robe. After about thirty seconds the entity disappeared and about fifteen minutes later it returned and stood next to the girl again. This time the entity had an Afghan type wrap spread between her outstretched hands, as she intended to wrap the girl up in it. The entity seemed to approach the little girl then suddenly vanished. During the encounter the woman felt that the entity meant absolutely no harm and was only trying to help her granddaughter. Unknown if related, but around the same time a mutilated hog was found hanging over a nearby road bridge.

Thursday August 14th 2008 – 8:00am Aleister Crowley in a letter to Charles Stansfeld Jones - "Your Ouija board experiment is rather fun. You see how very satisfactory it is, but I believe things improve greatly with practice. I think you should keep to one angel, and make the magical preparations more elaborate."  [October 29th 1917]

6:15am For the history buffs: FUDOSI (Federatio Universalis Dirigens Ordines Societatesque Initiationis) was established on this date in Brussels, Belium in 1934. FUDOSI was an attempt to create an autonomous federation of all true mystical orders and protect themselves and the people from frauds. It described its mission as being “to protect the sacred liturgies, rites and doctrines of the traditional initiatory Orders from being appropriated and profaned by clandestine organizations.” Sadly, due to much in-house fighting, the Order was dissolved in 1951. ……. And on August 14, 1948, for no apparent reason, frogs fell out of a clear blue sky on this date in Merionethshire, Wales.

Wednesday August 13th 2008 – 6:30am For the history buffs: The Italian Inquisitor Bernardo Rategno, having studied the witch trial records preserved in the archives of the Inquisition at Como, wrote a text called the Tractatus de Strigibus in 1508. In this he states that the “witches sect” in Italy had begun to expand 150 years earlier due to a woman named Aradia de Toscano. Some place her birth having occurred on August 13, 1313 in Volterra, Italy. Others claim that she grew up a strict Catholic but somewhere in her youth she received a vision at Lake Nemi from the Goddess Diana. This lead her to wander and visit people, to heal them, and teach them about the Goddess. She encouraged people to rise up against the Catholic Church and embrace the Old Ways. She became known as the Holy Strega, a spiritual teacher and wise woman, the protectress of witches, the founder of the Strega Tradition. ‘The Legend of the Beautiful Pilgrim’ can be found in author Charles Leland’s notes for his book: Aradia, Gospel of the Witches (1899), also known as The Vangelo Delle Streghe. Leland was a folklorist who went to Italy. Here he came in contact with a Tuscan witch called Maddalena who supposedly gave him the Vangelo. …..…. And Vintras and Abbe Boullan met for the first time on this date in 1875 in Brussels. Boullan would succeed Vintras upon death and continue his work in France. Some would claim that this meeting was the creation of modern Satanism. …...… and Corinne Duke was born on this date in 1882 into the aristocracy of the Old South into the prominent Duke family. She was a life-long student of the ancient mysteries who devoted much of her time to study and meditation. The Rosicrucian adept, Max Heindel, became her personal teacher and associate at Mt. Ecclesia in Oceanside, California. It is here that she met another New Age pioneer, Theodore Heline who was to become her husband. From this moment on she became known as Corinne Heline. Many an inspired writing flowed through her. Her monumental work, The New Age Bible Interpretation is in seven volumes. It was followed by many other works interpreting the ancient wisdom in terms of the needs of the day. Many consider her to be truly a New Age Pioneer, opening the way to vast new fields of investigation for those who would know and be a part of the coming world of the Aquarian Age. She wrote other classics like The Bible and the Tarot, Cosmic Harp and Esoteric Music of Richard Wagner. …..…. And I should mention that it was on August 13, 1948 that the body of Reverend Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague Summers was buried in Richmond Cemetery with no public Mass being allowed. He was a prolific writer on Satanism, Demonology, Witchcraft and Black Magic. His works include The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926), The Geography of Witchcraft (1927), The Vampire, His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Werewolf (1933), to name only a few. In 1928 the noted author Lance Sieveking traveled  to southern France near Cassis where he had the chance to meet the Great Beast, Aleister Crowley. During the evening, Sieveking took the opportunity to ask Crowley, “What he thought of the Rev. Montague Summers simply replied, knocking the end off his cigar with an air of an executioner, “I haven’t seen Monty Summersfor years … he takes care of that. He knows what would happen.” With curiosity ablaze, Sieveking  felt he just had to ask, “What would happen?” To which Crowley replied, “I should change him into a toad.” …….... and it was on August 13, 1952 that People Today Magazine carried an article on “LA’s Lust Cult” about Jack Parson’s death and The Church of Thelema, with the headlines: “Weird Black Magic rites flourish in wealthy Pasadena.”

Tuesday August 12th 2008 – 8:00pm Sorry for not answering any emails today or posting but I had to run around, walk downtown etc and do errands; I simply do not feel well. Slept most of the day; no energy, no focus.

7:15am For the history buffs: August 12th is when we celebrated the Thelemic holiday of The Feast of the Marriage of the Beast with His Bride in honor of Aleister Crowley and Rose Edith Kelly’s marriage on August 12, 1903 which inevitably led to the reception of Liber AL vel Legis. The commandment to hold this date sacred comes from Liber AL vel Legis itself which gives a list of Thelemic dates to be considered sacred. One of these is mentioned in Chapter II:37: “A feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride!” ... So tonight, go out and celebrate!

Damn, so much to report for the History Heap. I think I’ll just list it otherwise the

paragraph will be a mile long:

August 12th 1647. Matthew Hopkins died and was buried on this date. He was born in

Suffolk, England, the son of a Puritan minister. He is perhaps the most notorious name in

the history of English witchcraft, more commonly known as “The Witch-Finder General.”

He began his successful career in 1644 by questioning old one-legged Elizabeth Clarke of

Manningtree. By the time he had finished with her, thirty-one others had been named

accomplices to witchcraft. Being a ‘Witch-Finder General’ was a financially lucrative trade.

In a time when daily wages were as little as 2.5 pence, Hopkins was raking in £15 to £23

per town cleansed of witches. Hopkins dressed fashionably and was able to employ two

assistants to help him with his work. He acquired a feared and an evil reputation as a

‘fingerman’ or the informer, paid by local authorities to determine if someone was a witch,

or not. During Hopkins’ reign of terror, which lasted only two years between 1645-1646,

he was responsible for the condemnations and executions of some 230 alleged witches,

more than all the other witch-hunters that proliferated during the 160 year peak of

England’s witchcraft hysteria. Eventually, opposition to Hopkins’ methods grew. In 1646,

Puritan minister Reverend John Gaule of Great Staughton, wrote a pamphlet called Select

Cases of Conscience towards Witches and Witchcraft, an exposé of Hopkins’ cruelty.

Gaule also preached from his pulpit against Hopkins’ brutality toward people both guilty

and innocent, and even hinted that Hopkins himself was a witch. In retaliation, Hopkins

published his own pamphlet entitled The Discovery of Witchcraft. There are conflicting

accounts of the death of Hopkins. One source claims that he died peacefully at home in

Mannigtree in 1647, while another states that he, himself, was eventually accused of

witchcraft, and was hanged accordingly. However, records show that Hopkins died

“peacefully, after a long sicknesse of a Consumption” or tuberculosis in Mistley on 12th

August 1647. Today according to local legend, Hopkins’ ghost is said to haunt Mistley

Pond, a place where he ‘ducked and drowned many a witch.’ An apparition wearing

Hopkin’s 17th-century attire is also reportedly seen roaming the vicinity, particularly on

Friday nights near to the Witches Sabbats.

August 12, 1827   On this date William Blake died in London at age 69 and was buried in

an unmarked grave at Bunhill Fields, London. He is regarded by many as one of the earliest

and greatest figures of Romanticism. In his classic 1805 poem titled Auguries of Innocence,

he captured the injustice of the “haves” and “have nots” of our world by writing: “Every

night and every morn. Some to misery are born; Every morn and every night Some are

born to sweet delight.”

August 12, 1831   Helena Hahn was born on this date in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. The

world would know of her by the name of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the founder

of the Theosophy Society and who has often been heralded as the ‘Mother’ of the modern

New Age Movement. Some of her most notable books are The Secret Doctrine, An

Initiation to The Secret Doctrine, Isis Unveiled, The Key to Theosophy, The Voice of the

Silence, Studies in Occultism and the Secret Doctrine Commentary. She died on May 8,

1891 in her home at 19 Avenue Road in London. In the end she was unable to walk and

she suffered from numerous diseases. Her body was cremated with a third of her ashes

remaining in Europe, a third going to America and the final amount being sent to India.

Theosophists commemorate her death on May 8, calling it White Lotus Day.

August 12, 1903   In the early morning hours on this date Aleister Crowley and Rose Kelly

sneaked out of her family’s house in Strathpeffer, took the train to Dingwall, Scotland and

got married at 8 o’clock that morning. How did they meet? It was because Rose’s family

had previously arranged for a marriage between her and a man named Howell but,

although she had accepted, she was not really in love. The plot thickened when on August

11th Aleister Crowley, who supposedly was to spend time with Gerald Kelly playing golf,

had forgotten to bring his golf-clubs, so instead spent time with Gerald’s sister, Rose. She

bemoaned her upcoming arranged marriage and Crowley, thinking to liberate the poor girl,

proposed that she marry him instead. She accepted.

August 12, 1942   On this date, in the Solomon Islands, Sergeant Stephen J. Brickner of

the 1st Paratroop Brigade, 1st Marine Division, U.S. Marine Corps, reported that when he

heard the air raid sirens go off, and he looked up and observed over 150 highly polished

silver objects that shimmered brightly in the sun, flying overhead in straight lines of 10 or

12 objects, one behind the other. He claimed that the objects had n o wings or tails and that

they seemed to ‘wobble’ slightly as they flew over at a speed that was “a little faster than

Jap planes.” Sergeant Brickner later said, “All in all, it was the most awe-inspiring and yet

frightening spectacle I have seen in my life.”

August 12, 1943   The story has it that the U.S. Navy destroyer the U. S. S. Eldridge was

made invisible on this date and teleported from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Norfolk,

Virginia, in an incident immortally known as the Philadelphia Experiment, which has also

been called Project Rainbow. However, all records in the Operational Archives Branch of

the Naval Historical Center have been repeatedly searched and no documents have ever

been located which confirm that this event ever occurred.

August 12, 1955   William Breeze was born on this date in Paris, France. He was co-

founder of Mystic Fire Videos which released many of Kenneth Anger’s films but he left in

1993 to pursue other interests. He was elected the Outer Head of the Order (O.H.O.) of

Ordo Templi Orientis in September of 1985; succeeding Grady Louis McMurtry, or Frater

Hymenaeus Alpa 777, who had died in July of the same year.

August 12, 1964   The British author of James Bond fame, Ian Fleming, started

hemorrhaging the night before and died 1 a.m. on August 12th at the age of 56. He is

buried in Sevenhampton, near Swindon. His wife Anne who died in 1981 and Fleming’s

only child, Casper, who died from a suicidal drug overdose in 1975, are both buried beside

him, beneath a simple obelisk monument in the shadow of the local stone church. During

World War II Ian Fleming, who worked for the Department of Naval Intelligence in Britain,

hatched a scheme to have the notorious Aleister Crowley interrogate the ‘captured’ Nazi

leader Rudolf Hess about ‘occult’ matters. Crowley actually accepted his offer but

Fleming’s superiors decided that it was not a good idea and they vetoed the overall plan.

Ian Fleming ‘s biography, John Pearson, wrote in 1966: “It is a pity that this had to be one

of Fleming’s bright ideas which never came off: understandably, there was hilarity in the

department at the idea of the Great Beast 666 doing his bit for Britain.”

August 12, 1983   The last experiment of the Montauk Project supposedly occurred on this

date on the military base at Montauk on the tip of Long Island, New York. The origins of

this project date back to 1943 when radar invisibility was being researched aboard the USS

Eldridge which was stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and the events concerning the

ship have commonly been referred to as the ‘Philadelphia Experiment.’ After the

Philadelphia Experiments ended the government began the Montauk Project which

purportedly took the earlier experiments to their next logical step which was time travel.

Basically, what the government used was a giant radar dish connected to a special ‘Chair’

in an underground bunker where a ‘psychic’ sat who acted as a radio receiver to visualize

‘things’ into the dish, which was set at a specific frequency. It force was so powerful that it

could make the psychic’s  thoughts open a portal into the past or the future. However, the

projected ended on this date in a disaster when a giant beast was unleashed from the

psychic’s subconscious which literally destroyed the project and prompted it be abandoned.

August 12, 1996   Near Benalmadena, Spain, Juan Ramon Barrio was on his way to his

hotel when he noticed a strange bright light that descended from the sky and followed his

car for a couple of miles, hovering directly over it. Suddenly the car stalled and the

headlights turned off. The UFO descended lower over the vehicle as a terrified Juan

suddenly saw dozens of small bright spheres floating all around the car. One of the tiny

spheres then entered the vehicle right through the windshield. It flew in front of Barrio’s

face from left to right emitting considerable heat and then suddenly flew out through the

other windshield and left. Juan then found himself pulling up in front of his hotel unable to

account for several hours of time. The next morning he found several mysterious

handprints on his vehicle, which he photographed. He also took several photos of the car

and one of them seemed to show a large head with large black slanted eyes, staring out

from the back seat window.

No more!   Sorry ...

Monday August 11th 2008 –  8:45pm Andy West sent this blurb - "Jerry 93, In regards to your 8/11/08 6:25 pm blog entry. Thank you. That put the last piece in the puzzle for me. I think I understand the particular danger of Kundry in ones sexual partners (a confusing of the daimon and the partner) and the Comte de Gabalis (the elemental brides are the daimon).  Hope you are well. 93's-Andy."

7:00pm Carol read my 6:25 posting and sent a quick question: “If I’m thinking of an ‘actual’ person in my dreams is it the same formula?” I replied: “Yes, as long as the person who is consciously talking is - ‘you’ - and the other person is simply listening. And yes, anticipating your next question that you’ll fire back; it is a woman’s greatest fantasy to talk, talk, talk to a captivated man who is silent and attentive to your every word!”

6:25pm A student read today's blog entry of 12:55 and wrote a lengthy email. I replied: I’m glad today’s blog was inspiring. ... I would avoid too much imagery of ‘best friend, my husband’ etc because this becomes too personal. If you’ve ever had issues with such ‘people’ in reality it’ll easily be transferable in your psyche and phantoms can surface years after the fact even if you try to guard against such. ... You wrote, “I have been talking with him before I go to sleep and just during moments when my mind is ‘idle’ if you will. Am I on the right track here??” … Yes, the easiest way to understand what is going on in your psyche is to memorize the phrase: ‘He who is I so She might live.”  It’s an odd statement but what it implies is that the person you [I] are ‘talking’ to is in fact yourself [He]. As an example; in the beginning of every quest [for new info] if I were imagining a woman, I’d be teaching her and reviewing everything I know about a desired subject, from A to Z. In effect; I’m letting her know what I already know and sooner or later, I drift off to sleep. ‘He’ [i.e. the damon] as a persona of myself [I] then goes off to the Goddess [or She] and relays my prayers [i.e. what I know] and as I wrote earlier, “I always wake energized and enthused; it’s why my mornings are so productive.” … But it is important to remember that with each new quest the ‘arousal’ is never needed or in early dreams. Simply ‘talking’ creates Union. With time, you no longer need to review information over and over again, and simply creating a sigil [of the desire] that your mate wears is appropriate as you ‘love under Will’ until you drift off into sleep. ... You wrote, “I have been really trying to figure out the nature of the Daemon.” … STOP IT!!!! The daimon is fleeting; he’s like Pan. You’ll see him out of the corner of your eyes and when you turn to focus upon him he’s gone into hiding. The more you focus upon him the further he’ll hide. It’s basic psychology 101. … Simply realize how to call him, use him and accept the fact that as long as you live he’ll be a ‘mystery.’ The best that we can do is ‘clothe him’ [or her] in the image of our desire; similar to a statue on a real altar but in this case we worship in our dreams. Too much imagery is to draw the daimon toward the light [i.e. consciousness] and he’ll always flee.  Less is better. ... The statement ‘One you control while the other controls you’ can be misleading. Yes, it’s true, “the Daemon is neutral” but how it guides you is up to you. You have Free Choice. If you blindly ask for bla bla bla, he’ll give you bla bla bla. You can never blame the daimon for assisting you toward stupidity; it has NO free Will. Fear of its existence often leads us to think that it can plot or hurt us. It cannot. Its nature is 100% to assist you and he can only give you what you want. Don’t confuse the treachery of human nature with its. ... Crowley tells a great story of doing sex magick for money and walking outside and finding a penny. Then admitting he should have been more specific. This is why diaries are called ‘maps’ because after reviewing them hopefully we can see the foundations being laid and chart a course of self discovery appropriately. We won’t get lost. ... You have a lovely evening … sweet dreams.

5:40pm My friend Cranny responded to today’s blog by writing, “Having weird DREAMS lately, Jerrr ? Well, me too. I had this strange dream (or should I say 'nightmare' ) the other night. I was dreaming that I was eating these large, giant marshmallows, and then I suddenly woke-up in a cold-sweat, and when I looked around the room,  I noticed that MY PILLOW WAS GONE!” [To see a picture of Cranny click HERE]

2:45pm Carol sent an email. She writes: "Hey Jer 93. Mary & I are having a deep philosophical Kabbalistic magickal debate about men's penises. You wrote to me about the Solar nature of man and Mary pointed out that the sixth sphere on the the Tree is Tifereth the Sun and six inches is the standard length of your guy's thingy. Any connection or are we just reading into it more than there is? No pun intended. 93s Carol." ..... I replied: Carol 93 Sometimes I am truly lost for a reply. 93 93/93 Jerry."

2:30pm Luna replied to the 12:55 posting - "“Jerry 93! Now what a fun take on the SubGenius comic strips called 'strange sports' ??? that they feature Arnold Palmer and others in. I wonder if we can translate the money we get on E-Bay in the dreamtime from selling Shepards golf balls into our time and space? I suppose this is the question that all alchemists have pondered throughout the centuries!  All Hail Connie Dobbs Pink Panties! I'll be on the look-out for you tonight in EveryWhen! 93s  )O(.” ....... I replied, "Luna 93 Yes, all hail the pink panties! I wonder, when Bob died in January of 1984 did Connie ever re-marry? And did you realize that Alan Sheppard brought a driver and  ‘two balls’ with him to the Moon? It had to be an unconscious guy-thing. 93 93/93 Jerry."

12:55pm Earlier today I sent Luna a copy of a dream that woke me. I recorded the following in my diary – “Woke to an odd dream of Luna? I usually don’t dream of specific people. Anyway, I looked up in the sky, it was a clear chilly night and there was a huge full moon. It was beautiful. I remember how clear I could see the craters, mountains and other features and that is when I noticed something odd in one corner. I focused on it and my consciousness seemed to zoom in like it was a telescope. It was Luna. She was just sitting on a rock waving and smiling as only she can. I shook my head and woke. It brought smiles, which I’ll most likely keep for the day.” …... She just replied, “Jerry 93! How interesting is that?  I, also, rarely dream of people that I know in present time, but over the last few months I have dreamt of you four times. The most recent dreams with you in them have been over the last three days, and I will try to remember the two most recent ones (I will put my mind to it over the next few hours.) Before Leigh and I close our eyes to sleep, we decide where we are going to meet during the astral travel part of our sleep each night. I chose for us to hover above Treasure Island for many months (the location in the Bay Area where I feel would be the epi-center of The Dream Catcher (the living astral matrix created by over three decades of magick work here). It was Leigh's turn to choose our meeting place about 3 days ago, and he chose: "the far side of the moon". So there you go! See you there tonight?  Bring your notebook, and I will bring some plaster of paris, to get models of Jack's footprints? What fun. This made my day! 93s )O(.” ….. My reply back:  "Luna 93 Oooo the Gods are speaking to us! Yes, I too rarely dream of people. For over thirty years I have made it a point most nights before going to sleep to fix my thoughts on my daimon, [clothed in the image of my desire] we talk and talk on a specific pre-determined topic until I drift off to sleep. I ask her to find ‘such n’ such’ info that I’ll need for the following day in my writing and to teach it to me while I’m a sleep. I always wake energized and enthused; it’s why my mornings are so productive. … Yes, I’ll bring a notepad tonight, you bring the plaster and maybe we’ll even look for one of those two golf balls that Alan Sheppard hit back in January of 1971 during the Apollo 14 mission. I wonder how much we can get for them on EBAY? 93 93/93 Jerry."

10:25am Ed Grey who attended our Open House on the 2nd, writes, “As usual I had a blast. I love the Tarot paintings, you really were inspired when you set about on their creation. … I remember you saying the symbolism in the Tarot you painted came from Crowley's descriptions. Which particular writings did you pull them from?” …. Reply: Actually, throughout his writings ... putting symbolism together in reflecting upon VIIth, VIIIth & IXth Degree OTO magick; but primarily from Liber Aleph, The Book of Lies, Secret Rituals and The Book of Thoth.  [click HERE] I also had alot of help from Grady McMurtry, who as those close to him know, he loved some cards and had huge photos of a few on his altar while other cards he was furious believing I revealed 'too much.'  [hee hee]

 

9:00am Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalog Forty-One: Magick. Rare, Used and Out-of-Print books (Part II) was just posted on-line. Check it out at: www.weiserantiquarian.com/catalog

7:25am Here is a little fact for my OTO ritual researchers out there. In First Degree initiation of ‘birth’ the final pathway around the Sacred Well (i.e. water-womb) is known as “Pathway to Truth” … The Roman Goddess of Truth is Veritas; her Greek counterpart is Aletheia. Why is this important? Remember, Plato informs us that after death the Soul is marched through the land of the dead “in a scorching heat to the plain of Forgetfulness, which was a barren waste destitute of trees and verdure; and then towards evening they encamped by the River of Lethe.”  The name literally means the River of  Forgetfulness. It is here that some of the Souls are compelled to satisfy their thirst more than others and the more they drank, the deeper they slept and it was in this slumber that they are taken to the womb of their new mother; forgetting their divine heritage as their incarnate into their body. … Now, if First Degree OTO deals with a Soul being placed within a Well, or womb in order to be re-born is it any coincidence that the Goddess of Truth, or Aletheia is always sought in Wells according to Greek mythology? Etymologically her name is derived from the Greek word alethus which means ‘true’ or ‘not concealing.’ Her name signifies many things; for instance, the letter ‘A’ when added in front of a Greek word as a prefix can denote ‘not’ or ‘non’ something, while the next five letters of her name spell out Lethe; again, Lethe being the mythological river of forgetfulness which the dead must pass before reincarnating. Thus Greek scholars have always assumed that Aletheia is the Goddess who is the ‘undoing of Lethe’; which is why her name is often translates simply as “remembering.” So dear readers, if your want to undue the thirst you had in the land of the dead, perhaps you might start seeking ‘Truth’ who it is said is a beautiful young virgin dressed in white. Yes, "Seek Beauty, In Beauty is Eternal Truth revealed."

7:00am For the history buffs: The author T. Casey Brennan was born on this date in St. Clair County, in Port Huron, Michigan in 1948. In the mid-1970s he openly proclaimed that he was “The Great Beast 666 Reborn.” Brennan wrote such classics as The Book of Joy which appeared in Earth Religion News (NY) 1976 and The Revelation of the Damned which appeared in Gnostica No.42 1977; to mention a few of best forgotten, and rightfully so, Thelemic pieces ever vomited out of a sick mind. One person, after reading Brennan’s claims, wrote, “If Crowley has reincarnated, he’s back-sliding.” The late Grady Louis McMurtry, previous head of Aleister Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis, wrote a poetic piece titled A Maiden in Love in which he immortalizes Brennan by stating that he, “did vaunt himself THE GREAT WILDe BEASTE cometh back across Ye Abysse, and did Fart and Stench about, making Muddy ye waters that had been so clear, and generally making odiferous Ye landscape, as of an ancient Oriental rice paddy teemed with night-soil that had been ex-hum-ed, and giving a stench in ye cup of hot water as becomes Instant Shit.” ... Can anyone say, "Ouch!"

Sunday August 10th 2008 – 7:00pm A microearthquake just occurred here in Berkeley at 6:28pm; a magnitude 1.0. Yes, Berkeley is shaking! We haven't had this many quakes in a row in this area in years!

2:30pm It was a long sleep-over weekend with my son Faustus; I actually fell asleep in the recliner this afternoon shortly after he left. I was in the middle of downloading some stuff off the internet and I guess a 'snore' couldn't wait until it was finished ... anyway I woke at 1:56pm ... and damn, the News says we here in Berkeley just got hit by two small earthquakes! The first was at 1:50pm and was a 2.7 magnitude and the second hit right afterwards at 2:12pm which was a 2.3! ... I guess I know what woke me cause I know I ain’t got one of those fancy vibrating recliners! ... of note: the neighboring town of Piedmont had a 2.0 earthquake last night around 5:32pm; the area is a shaking! Is it all a precursor to bigger things in the making?

10:00am Why did the chicken cross the road?

"He was part of a secret experiment in wireless chicken transmission."

-- Nikola Tesla

9:50am Yesterday Mike sent a lengthy email; in it he asks, “I have a copy of MAGICK, Liber ABA, Edited by Fra. Hymenaeus Beta (1997) and on pg. 673 is a Liber named ‘Testis Testitudinis.’ Where did it come from? I never heard of it before and I can not find any references to it. Do you know its history?”  ……. Reply: This is one of those unknown Libers. It’s not mentioned anywhere in Crowley’s writings. It first surfaced and was sold at Sotheby's in a Crowley collection of his rare documents in December of 1996. The original typescript refers to this simply as "Liber Testis Testitudinis vel." It has no Hebrew letters, or after 'vel' any sub figura. However, in Liber ABA, this Liber now becomes known as Liber Testis Testitudinis vel [Ayin Daleth], Sub Figura LXXIV. Then, in a footnote in Liber ABA, pg.787-788, it acknowledges this information but also adds that this Liber "has been added to the AA Syllabus in Class D as 'Liber Testis Testitudinis vel [Ayin Daleth], Sub Figura 74" or LXXIV. In other words, this is a modern classification (circa 1997) of an original un-numbered Liber. Also, at the end of the typescript it lists a date of "An XIV" as to when AC wrote it, or around 1918/19. What is unique about this Liber, unlike all others that Crowley ever wrote, instead of beginning with statement No.0, then No.1, No.2 etc & etc, this Liber begins in reverse with No.11, then goes to No.10, No.9 etc. I hope this answers your question.

7:10am I received this question: "Who exactly is Nina Hamnett why did Crowley sue her?" .... Answer: Good question. She was born in Tenby, South Wales on February 14th 1890. She attended the Royal School in Bath, and later studied at the Dublin School of Art, the Pelham Art School and the London School of Art. Her studies primarily revolved around portraits and landscapes. She exhibited her works at the New English Art Club, the Royal Academy and the London Group in England, as well as at the Salon d'Automne in Paris. She taught at the Westminster Technical Institute from 1917 to 1918. She was a talented artist and writer. She was immortalized in the paintings, sculptures, novels, poems and memoirs of her contemporaries in both London and Paris. Her greatest acclaim derived from her association with the artist Roger Fry. She was one of the first artists ever to get paid for their work at Fry's Omega Workshops in Fitzroy Square. She assisted in the avant-garde productions of fabrics, clothes, murals, furniture and rugs, etc. Shortly after she joined the workshop in 1913, her paintings were featured in several group exhibits of contributing Omega artists, which included such notables as Vanessa Bell, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Duncan Grant, among others. She also illustrated Osbert Sitwell's The People's Album of London Statues (1928) and Seymour Leslie's The Silent Queen (1927). ... Aleister Crowley and Nina were friends; an amusing entry appears in his 1929 diaries for Monday September 2nd he writes: "Nina told me that Vernon had come back in a disgusting condition. I warned her that at her age, if an honest-to-good boxer appeared with an honest-to-good erection, it was tempting Providence to ask any questions." .... Be that as it may, their friendship faded when in 932 she published Laughing Torso, containing reminiscences of her bohemian life, which become a bestseller in England and America. Crowley sued her for libel due to things she wrote about Cefalu but he lost the case. A sequential autobiographical novel, Is She a Lady?, appeared in 1955. Hamnett lived in London and Paris most of her life. She was briefly married in 1914 to Roald Kristian, also known as Count Edgar de Bergen. She died on Sunday, December 16th 1956, from complications after falling out her apartment window and being impaled on the fence forty feet below. The great debate has always been whether or not it was a suicide attempt or merely a drunken accident. Her last words were, "Why don't they let me die?" ..... The author Jack Lindsay, friend of both P. R. Stephensen and L. Goldston, later wrote about Nina Hamnett: "I last saw her about a year before her death, a sadly shabby sight, in a Soho winebar. I am told that 'hauntings' by Crowley played a main part in driving her to her death through a window."

5:40am The following is part of the actual transcript from the first day of the libel action against Nina Hamnett (the author of The Laughing Torso 1932) before Mr. Justice Swift and a Special Jury, London, April 11th 1934. Crowley is testifying:

Mr. Hilbery: What does "Therium" mean?

Crowley: Great Wild Beast.

Mr. Hilbery: Do these titles convey a fair expression of your practice and

outlook on life?

Crowley: "The Beast, 666" only means "sunlight".You can call me "little

sunshine."

5:30am For the history buffs: Edward Leedskalnin was born on this date in Riga, Latvia in 1887. When he was 26 years old he was engaged to be married to his one true love, a ‘sweet sixteen’ names Agnes Scuffs. However, she cancelled the wedding just one day before the ceremony which sent Leedskalnin on a lifelong quest to create a monument to his lost love that culminated in one of the world’s most remarkable accomplishments. His unusual creation is called the Coral Castle. What is remarkable is that Leedskalnin,  without any outside assistance or large machinery, single-handedly carved and sculpted over 1,100 tons of coral rock. Incredibly, he cut and moved huge coral blocks using only hand tools. The question which has pondered people for years is “How did he move the stones?” As an example; the entrance stone-like door is fashioned from a single coral block weighing over nine tons. This miraculous monolith is approximately 80 inches wide, 92 inches tall, and 21 inches thick. It fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls on either side and pivots through an iron rod resting so perfectly balanced on its center of gravity that a visitor can easily push it open with only one finger. Modern engineers are at a total loss to explain how such a ponderous object could have been set with such a high level of precision, especially by a man who was only five foot tall and weighing 100 pounds. As for Leedskalnin, he ‘emphatically’ stated that Science was wrong in regards to electricity, that all matter consists of magnets and that electricity is not a one-pole phenomenon. Some have speculated that Leedskalnin some how figured out the ‘secret’ of how the pyramids of Egypt were built. In December 1951 Ed became ill. He put a sign on the door of his Castle saying “Going to the Hospital.” He then took a bus to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami where three days later he died in his sleep at the age of 64. …….... Also, Fakir Musafar, shaman, artist, master piercer, and body modifier who was a depression era baby, was born on this date on an Indian Reservation near Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1930. A lot can be said about him but the truth is that Fakir has played one of the most significant roles in the revival of body piercing, body sculpting, branding and other body-related practices for personal expression and spiritual exploration as a rite-of-passage. ...……. And I should mention that on August 10, 1944 Alvah M. Reida of the 486th Bomber Group, 792nd Squadron, 20th Bomber Command, based at Kharagapur, India was on a mission from Ceylon to bomb Palembang, Sumatra. He was flying a B-29 Bomber at an altitude of 14,000 feet at an airspeed of 210 mph when reports came in of ‘Foo Fighters.’ The first two who saw the UFO was the right gunner and the copilot. He claimed it was a bright red or orange spherical object that seemingly paced the plane about 500 yards off the starboard wing. It was about 5 or 6 feet in diameter and seemed to vibrate constantly. Captain Reida claimed that he attempted evasive action, but the object followed every maneuver he did for about eight minutes, then it suddenly made an abrupt 90 degree turn and accelerated away rapidly. The official government explanation for the ‘Foo Fighters’ was that they were the effect of magnetic fields created across the wings of aircraft. …..…. And finally, on August 10, 1948 Montague Summers died suddenly at his home in Dynevor Road, Richmond. That same year a new edition of his most notable work, the translation of “Malleus Maleficarum” was released. His contribution to the literature of witchcraft, vampirism and werewolves have been a most valuable and while many today might criticize his over-all views, no one can doubt the meticulous scholarship that Summer brought to bear on these subjects.

Saturday August 9th 2008 – 9:15am Luna sent lots of photos from yesterday's Garden Party at Shadow's (a.k.a. Steve Cohen) in San Francisco celebrating 8/8/08 & etcs. Damn, I wish I could have attended. It looks like you guys had a great time. We here in Berkeley send great big astrals hugs & etcs to all your attendees and survivors!

9:08am About yesterday's 11am posting, Luna writes, "J 93! I think that this wonderful fool ran off with whatever poltergeist or pesky flu beasties that were lingering around you.  You can send this fool to my house and he can take all of the peskies off of our hands too! Sounds like the 888 Fairy came and cleared you! Nice! 93s )O(." ...... Reply: Lately, I can use all the help I can get! So, I'm cleared, thank you kind Fairy and I'm not even a Scientologist! [Note: For those who don't know, in L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics and Scientology, 'Clear' is a condition in which a person is free of the unwanted influence.]

8:50am Frank, let me answer your question with a question - "How many Italians does it take to screw in a light bulb?" ... Answer: First you must find out if they are all OTO Initiates? Second, and if so, multiply the total by twenty-three, subtract thirty-one who get disgusted and drop out, add two new ones who join and who are young and stupid and ask yourself, but how many did I really start with? Hence, the answer to the age old question about OTO Mysteries – “What?”

8:45am Yes, I'm posting later than usual. Last night's gathering or 'Open House' at my apartment was really good; we drank, chatted and talked about everything from Greek philosophy, magick, astrology to lots of etcs until almost twelve-thirty! And did I mention that we drank alot? Anyway, we were a little noisy at times; I expect that someone will complain to the Building Manager today ... hey, wait a minute, I'm the Building Manager ... [hee hee]  :)-

8:30am For the history buffs: Vivian Hereward Rowden Deacon was born on this date in England in 1895. He was a noted herbalist and spiritual psychic. When he was seventeen he traveled to Australia where he fell in love ‘intimately’ with a twelve-year old girl name Eunice, whom he later married. He was a pupil of the Bishop Leadbeater, he knew Krishnamurti, joined Theosophy and later befriended Frank Bennett who ran the Ordo Templi Orientis in Australia. Deacon became an avid Crowleyite, reading as many of the Beast’s works as he could find, as well as practicing his brand of magick. Later Deacon moved back to England where he met Aleister Crowley. Deacon died on Saturday February 19, 1938 peacefully in his sleep. …....…. And how can I not forget to mention that William Emmet Heidrick was born on this date in Williams, California in 1943. He would take Minerval initiation into Aleister Crowley’s O.T.O. on April 19th 1977 at the house of Grady Louis McMurtry on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, California, with Lady Sharine acting as the Black Guard. Seven other people, besides Bill, were brought into the Minerval Degree on that day. He would become the first Grand Treasurer General of the O.T.O. under Grady McMurtry and would retain this position for almost 26 years. He retired on May 1st 2005. ……...… and I should point out that Harry Hibbard Kemp died on this date in 1960 after a long illness. It was the author Frank Harris who introduced Kemp to Aleister Crowley, the black magic occultist,  at his studio on Fulham Road. Crowley accepted Kemp’s proposition that he attend a séance in order to write it up for the Sunday Magazine Section of The New York World but Crowley later complained about Kemp’s newspaper article in his autobiography, The Confessions, saying that Kemp exaggerated his magical exploits. Kemp, for his part, characterized his article on Crowley as a “turgid bit of sensational journalism.”

Friday August 8th 2008 – 6:00pm Rey Delupos of New Mexico read my 11:00am posting & writes, "The Beast has AWAKENED!" ... and then adds - "HA!  Awesome... an excellent story with a potential parable.  :)" ..... Reply: I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that today is the 8th day, in the 8th month, in the 8th year = 888. [i.e. the sacred number of Jesus]

11:00am On an odd note; I had to go out this morning to the store. As I was walking down the sidewalk I saw a long straggly haired older hippie, filthy, crazy, with no teeth and tattoos all over his face approaching me in the opposite direction. You could smell him as he walked by. Usually I just ignore Berzerkeley's finest but this time I felt him tap the back of my knapsack;  I thought he was trying to steal something but as I swung around he started laughing loudly, shaking his head with crazed eyes bulging out and without saying a single word he started leaping around all the while pointing at my knapsack. He then made the magickal ‘Sign of Pan’ which is exactly the same thing Aleister Crowley is making on patch sewn to the back of my knapsack. Then in a flash, he turned and ran down the sidewalk with his hands still held to his head as if he were a charging bull. People moved out of the way and watched him as he ran laughing half the length of Durant St, turning the corner on Telegraph and disappearing. I wondered; what are the Gods trying to tell me?

7:00am This is a reminder that there is an 'Open House' tonight at my apartment; although I'm moving very slow, it hasn't been cancelled despite my recent illness. We meet tonight around 6:30pm-7:00pm and it'll go until ten, or so. Remember; you can bring food and drink for yourself and, because it is so close to supper; don't feel obligated to share - just do what thou wilt. Email me for details. ... Please do not come earlier in the afternoon as I may be needing a nap, or rest as has been the case of late. I simply do not have the energy anymore for long days.

6:45am For the history buffs: Willian Henry Sleeman was born on this date in Stratton, Cornwall, England in 1788. He joined the Army in 1809 and was sent to India. Here he became fascinated by the peculiar practices of those who worshiped the goddess Kali, the dark consort of Shiva who it is said feeds on the blood of mortals. It was during his research that he came upon the accounts of the Thugs, or Thugees as they came to be known. He spent years studying their secret beliefs and practices and he was first person to make available to outsiders accurate information about this murderous religious cult which strangled and killed literally thousands of people every single year. Sleeman decided to dedicate his life to the detection and eradication of Thugee. He is credited with succeeding by sending over 1,400 Thugees either to the gallows or prison. After retiring in 1856, he decided to return to England. He died at at sea on his way home on the 10th of February 1856. ……. And it was on August 8, 1887 that Rev. A. F. A. Woodford sent the infamous ‘cypher manuscript’ to Dr. William Wynn Westcott after obtaining it from the papers of Fred Hockley who had recently died. Westcott would then give the papers to Samuel L. MacGegor Mathers thus was the reported beginning of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. …..…. And how can I not point out that Ed Gein, the man who inspired the making of both Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was born on this date in LaCrose, Wisconsin in 1906 to a heavy-drinking father, George Gein, and a domineering mother named Augusta. After the death of his family, Ed Gein began his murderous traits. On January 6, 1958  he was officially ruled insane and therefore never stood trial for his crimes. It could be said that he was more than a cross-dresser who derived pleasure in wearing woman’s clothes, because he often danced in the moonlight his backyard wearing his victim’s face, breasts and hair, along with their vagina and underwear but now behind bars his proclivities were curbed to wearing the standard uniforms issued by the hospital. …..…. And it was on August 8, 1918, during his magickal retreat on Esopus Island in New York with Charles Stansfeld Jones aka Frater Achad, that Aleister Crowley discovered through the use of ‘magical memory’ that he was the reincarnation of the French magician Eliphas Levi. ……. And speaking of Charles Stansfeld Jones, on this date in 1923 he sent Aleister Crowley a copy of his latest book, The Egyptian Revival. …….. and finally; on August 8, 1968 Charles Manson recorded his first LP but it is not released for at least another year and it would be called ‘LIE’ It was originally produced during his trials using a take-off of the Life Magazine cover in which he had appeared on the cover. Some of Manson’s classic tunes on the album were Mechanical Man, People Say I’m No Good, Home Is Where You’re Happy, Garbage Dump and my personal favorite:

  I’ll Never Say Never To Always

Always is always forever

As one is one is one

Inside yourself for your father

All is none all is none all is none

It's time to drop all from behind us

The illusion has been just a dream

The Valley of Death may not find us

Now as then on a sunshine beam

So bring only your perfection

For then life will surely be

No cold no fear no hunger

You can see you can see you can see

Thursday August 7th 2008 – 6:25am After reviewing my diaries for the last week I found this gem of a dream which woke me out of my sleep. I wrote: "I had died in bed, alone and I feared no one would find me for weeks. After starring at my body for awhile I went through the door and into the hall trying to get people’s attention whom I heard chattering but to no luck; they don’t see nor hear me; they walked right through me. I was so disgusted I said to Hell with you all; turned back to my apartment and thought to myself “I need a beer.” Half way to the kitchen it dawned on me that I was dead and couldn’t drink it. With that I woke up in a cold sweat. I don’t know what was worse; being dead or not being able to have the beer? Moral: always have one last beer before you go to bed because you never know if you’ll be dead in the morning."

6:07am To answer one of my students recent questions about astrology; we know that Carl Jung did not consider planetary forces as actual living entities; he wrote that “Astrology, like the collective unconscious with which psychology is concerned, consists of symbolic configurations: the planets are the gods, symbols of the power of the unconscious.” In other words, he saw the Gods of ancient mythologies as representing forces that are behind all archetypes both subjective and objective which originate in our collective unconscious. To explain, Jung also notes – “The collective unconscious appears to consist of mythological motifs or primordial images, for which reason the myths of all nations are its real exponents. In fact the whole of mythology could be taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious. We can see this most clearly if we look at the heavenly constellations, whose originally chaotic forms are organized through the projection of images. This explains the influence of the stars as asserted by astrologers. These influences are nothing but unconscious introspective perceptions of the collective unconscious.”  He also believed that the names might change and the myths may slightly differ from country to country but the archetypal principles remain the same due to their universality.

5:50am I'M BACK!!! [sort of] Sorry for not posting since Saturday. Health issues are hopefully behind me for awhile. This time it wasn't my heart that whacked me as much as a good old fashion bed-ridden kinda cold. Sadly, I can't take cold meds because most spike my blood pressure and with a deteriorating heart, I have to watch what I throw into my system which might speed things along. Anyway, I want to thank everyone for the hundreds of emails and phone calls that I received and let you all know [to answer the main question] that I'm still alive; although some might debate this.

5:35am For the history buffs: A member of the Transylvanian royal family, Countess Elisabeth Bathory, was born on this date in 1560. She was known as the Bloody Lady of Cachtice, a Hungarian countess and probably the most famous serial killer in Slovak and Hungarian history. She spent most of her life at the Cachtice castle where she and four collaborators are said to have tortured and killed around two hundred girls and young women. In 1610 she was finally imprisoned while her collaborators were executed. Her guilt has never been proven. Various legends still circle about her life, including the idea that she bathed in or drank the blood of servant girls so that she could preserve her famous beauty. She is believed by some to have been the origin of numerous vampire myths. She died on August 21, 1614 at the age of 54 while still confined in prison, a prison which was her own castle Csejthe. As punishment for her crimes she was walled up in her bedroom with only a tiny slit to pass food through. Even the windows were walled up.  …...…. And it was on this date in 1876 that the worlds most infamous spy known as Mata Hari was born as Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. At her execution, on October 15, 1917, it was said that more than 6000 people made a ‘pilgrimage’ to the firing range to watch the spy Mata Hari shot. She was tied to a tree, refused a white bandage for her eyes and smiled as she heard the call, “Do your duty, gentlemen, Fire!” A total of twelve shots split the frosty air. …...…. And the German occultist and Theosophist, Franz Hartmann, died on this date in 1912. He was the founder of the Order of the Esoteric Rose Croix and was briefly affiliated with the Ordo Templi Orientis. He, along with Theodore Reuss, started a magazine for the O.T.O. called The Oriflamme in 1902.  One of his most famous books is Magic, Black and White. …...…. And finally, on August 7, 1928 James Randi was born as Randall James Zwinge in Toronto, Ontario. He is a professional magician known as ‘The Amazing Randi’, as well as an author, lecturer, amateur archaeologist and amateur astronomer who is recognized internationally for his tireless and successful investigations of psychic, supernatural, and ‘magical’ claims. He has written eleven books, some being: The Magic of Uri Geller (1975), Houdini, His Life & Art (1978), Flim-Flam! - The Truth about Unicorns, Parapsychology & Other Delusions (1982), Test Your ESP Potential (1983), The Faith Healers (1987) and The Magic World of the Amazing Randi (1989), to name just a few.

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Tuesday Aug. 5th - 7:15am 93 All. I've been ill … will post when feeling better. Thanks for all your emails. 93s JEC

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Saturday August 2nd 2008 – 6:00am For the history buffs: Henry Steel Olcott was born on this date into a pious Presbyterian household in Orange, New Jersey in 1832. After the Civil War he returned to New York City, where he supported himself by being a journalist and an insurance lawyer. In 1874, while covering reports of spirits materializing at a farmhouse in Chittenden, Vermont, he struck up a friendship with a Russian occultist named Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. One year later, he and Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society in New York, an organization that would soon play a major role in introducing Americans to the ancient wisdom of the East. Ironically, there was not one single representative of the Eastern Mystical Tradition among the founders of the Theosophical Society. At this stage they all claimed, including Madame Blavatsky, that their ‘Inner Contacts’ were non-physical masters from an Egyptian Order that was carrying on the work of Zoroaster and Solomon. It was years later after Blavatsky and Olcott had converted to Buddhism that The Theosophical Society shifted its beliefs from the western concept of ‘Secret Chiefs’ to communicating with three oriental Masters named Koot Hoomi, Morya, and Djwal Khul. Olcott died on February 17, 1907 in Adyar, Madras, India. …....…. On this date in 1920 the noted author Louis Pauwels was born in Paris, France.  In 1960 he collaborated with Jacques Bergier to write Le Matin des Magiciens, or The Morning of the Magicians. The book is a rambling classic interpretation of occultism and anomalous phenomena in ancient history and prehistory which is distinct from that expounded by run of the mill historians. It delves deeply into our world’s historical development, the existence of technologically advanced civilizations now forgotten, of aliens, the use of occult forces, telepathy and the possibility of human mutants. …..…. Also, on August 2, 1939, at 3:15pm, Dr. Herbert Spencer Lewis, the founder of AMORC, gave up his earthly vehicle and died. He had been called many things during his life but some believe that he should be remembered by this quote which called him “a boastful, pilfering Imperator with Black Magic connections!” …….... and how can we not mention the birthday of Wes Craven? He was born on this date in Cleveland, Ohio in 1939. He is a veteran of over thirty films, and has invented some of the most memorable horror films ever to grace theatres; like The House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988), Shocker (1989), The People Under The Stairs (1991) and Scream (1996). ……... And finally, Gerald Suster, the esteemed British writer, occultist and historian was born on August 2, 1951. He died suddenly of a heart attack on February 4, 2001 in London at the age of 49. His body was cremated. He over thirty-one books such books as Hitler: The Occult Messiah (1981), The Legacy of the Beast: The Life, Work and Influence of Aleister Crowley (1984) and John Dee, Essential Readings (1986), to name but a few.

Friday August 1st 2008 – 9:50am Today's headlines read - "Monster Washes up on New York Shore" and the article reads - "We don't want to panic anyone, but a minion of Satan recently washed up on a beach in Montauk, N.Y. The deceased beast looks a bit like a dog with the sharp beak of an eagle, or possibly a shell-less turtle with the dark eyes of a griffin. Either way, it's definitely a portent of the coming apocalypse. According to the tipster quoted by the Manhattan media types at Gawker, there is "a government animal testing facility very close by" that has led some -- namely us -- to speculate that the beast is an unholy result of dark occult experimentation. If this turns out to be the beginning of an assault on Earth by the dark forces, don't say we didn't warn you. (Gawker may have later accepted that the unfortunate animal is more likely a dog, or else a viral advertising campaign of some kind, but honestly, we're holding out hope it really is a hybrid dinosaur water monster.)"  

5:45am For the history buffs: The most prolific of John Dee’s skryers and one of Aleister Crowley’s earlier incarnations, Edward ‘Talbot’ Kelly was born on this date in Worcester, England in 1555. Almost nothing is known about his life and much of what is, is a fabrication. There has been great confusion over his death, especially considering that John Dee’s private diaries recorded in 1595 on November 25: “News that Sir Edward Kelly was Slain.” This turned out to be only gossip because in 1596 Kelly, who was apparently still alive, was imprisoned for debt at the castle in Brux, western Bohemia. It was in the following year of 1597 while trying to escape over the wall that Kelly slipped, fell and broke his leg. He died shortly afterward due to complications. …...….. also Ida Craddock was born in Philadelphia on this date in 1857. When she was only two years old her father died. After this, her mother who had always  been very interested in spiritualism and the occult, became a fundamentalist Christian. She raised young Ida with an extremely puritanical discipline and armed with this intense religious training, this repressed young woman inevitably grew up to be deeply interested in the very subjects which were most forbidden to her in childhood: namely, sexuality, occultism, and all aspects of freedom in general. She published a book on her ideas in 1893 titled Heavenly Bridegrooms. Aleister Crowley reviewed this book in his Equinox Vol. III No.1 and wrote, “This book is of incalculable value to every student of occult matters. No Magick library is complete without it.” …...…. And to continue with birthdays; Montague Rhodes James was born on this date in 1862. He was a brilliant scholar and antiquary who is generally considered to be the best, or scariest, writer of supernatural fiction that England has ever produced. He authored some of the greatest and most influential ghost stories in the English language. There are approximately forty of his supernatural tales, most of which were published in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), A Warning to the Curious (1925) and The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James (1931). Among them are famous titles such as Casting the Runes which has an evil character named Karswell who is loosely based on Aleister Crowley and he also wrote a short supernatural fantasy novel for children called The Five Jars (1922). M. R. James died in 1936. ….....… and there are more; Raymond A. Palmer, the editor of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories and the co-founder of FATE magazine, was born on this date in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1910. Tragedy struck when he was only seven. He was run over by a truck and one of his vertebra was cracked. The operation to remove the pressure on his spine was almost a success but in the end, due to many complications, Palmer was left permanently disabled; a hunchback. As an adult he stood only four feet eight inches tall. It can be said that Palmer was the P. T. Barnum of the occult world. He championed some of the most bizarre stories about UFOs, monsters and the Hollow Earth imaginable and some say that he even single-handedly created the ‘myth’ about Flying Saucers. His friend and colleague, P. W. Fairman, once wrote to him saying, “In these times of drab and unconvincing falsehood, there is still something to be thankful for. A Palmer promotion has the touch of genius. It has zing, sparkle, and true showmanship. It can be spotted a mile away by the bright lights. The thing to do is sit back and enjoy it.” Ray Palmer died in August of 1977 at this home in Florida on this date. …...…. And I should also point out that on August 1, 1912 Iona de Forrest, the mistress of Victor Neuburg, committed suicide by shooting herself. Neuburg was convinced that Aleister Crowley had put a spell upon her as a ‘Circe’ and had actually murdered her. Crowley implies his own guilt in Magic in Theory & Practice. …...…. And finally, on August, 1, 1978 Walter Ernest Butler, born in 1898 in East Yorkshire, died in England. The world simply knew of him as W. E. Butler. He spent some years with the British army in India and tried many times to get into the Theosophical Society but was always turned down. While in India he studied among Hindu spiritual teachers and with the renowned mystic Annie Besant. After returning to England he became a member of Dion Fortune’s Fraternity of the Inner Light, and was also a pupil of the psychic Robert King, an archbishop in the Liberal Catholic Church. In 1965, W. E. Butler founded Servants of the Light School of Occult Science. He was SOL’s first Director of Studies up until a few years before his death. His books, classics in the field, are well-known for their readability and no-nonsense approach to occultism.

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