~ JANUARY 1st - 14th  2009 ~

Wednesday January 14th 2009 – 12:05pm For the history Buffs: On this date in 1892, one of the people whom Scotland Yard suspected was Jack the Ripper, slipped off into a deep permanent sleep due to a slowly induced morphine overdose. He was Prince Albert Victor or Eddy the Duke of Clarence and the future King of England, if he had lived. It is written that years later “Aleister Crowley had somehow acquired a few incriminating letters from the dead Prince to a boy who lived in Cleveland Street.” The author who over heard Crowley make these comments was St. John Terrapin who wrote, “I heard him discussing the prospects for using them to raise money from those who might want them suppressed.” What became of this blackmail scheme is not recorded if it ever took place at all. …...…. and I should also point out that Gerald del Campo was born on this date in Cordoba, Argentina in 1960. He is an initiate of the Ordo Templi Orientis, ordained Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica Priest, Master of an O.T.O. Oasis and author of the book New Aeon Magick: Thelema Without Tears (1994), which one reviewer called, “An excellent straight-forward primer for the curious novice or neo-pagan who’d like to learn a bit more about Thelema without going directly through Crowley.” …...…. and on January 14, 1961 Sergei Torop was born in Krasnodar, Russian. Originally he was a traffic cop in the city of Minusinsk but, after being fired in 1989, this Russian mystic began proclaiming himself the Messiah, or Jesus Christ re-born. He assumed the title Vissarion Christ. He then established the Church of the Last Testament which would boast a membership of almost 4,000 people all of whom are called Vissarionites. Unlike the first Jesus this ‘Redeemer’ has a wife and six children. …...…. and finally, keeping with today’s theme, on this date in 1967 in San Francisco, the ‘Human Be-In’ took place which was attended by over 20,000 people. The promoters prepared almost 5,000 doses of DOM (STP) to distribute for free, to help promote the love-in atmosphere. Unfortunately, the dose they manufactured was approximately 15 mg, or literally 5-10 times higher than a recommended dose and hundreds of people experienced extreme ‘trips’ which, in some cases, lasted up to three days with many ending up in the hospital.

Tuesday January 13th 2009 – 1:40pm For the historians, I found this posted on-line by Marlene Cornelius - "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The brothers and sisters of the OTO in the Bay Area of California are pleased and excited to announce the formation of Blazing Star Oasis. The masters of three Bay Area local bodies: Thelema Lodge, Mons Abiegnus Oasis and Therion-Babalon Oasis have petitioned the Electoral College to unify these bodies into a single oasis. This has been done in order to combine our resources and to initiate a new renaissance of Thelema within the region. Thankfully, the Electoral College has accepted our petition! Sister Marlene Cornelius will be master of the new oasis, and we look forward to great things to come. It is our hope that the histories and unique flavors of these three bodies can be united to form a new and more vital egregore that will enable us to better serve the Order and to spread the Word of the Law. Love is the law, love under will." ..... Yes folks, there is now officially B.S. in the Bay Area!

12:57pm Luna sent another update on Steve (aka Shadow) Subject "Silly shadow tried to leave the hospital!" - She then writes, "What a weird week! Mr. Shadow decided to go home. They had to restrain him...now he is sleeping and his sister is there and all is okay.  When I got the call from his nurse, an hour ago, she was freaking out and trying to hold him down while she yelled into the phone for help from somebody in his family/friends to get there asap! And, his sister told me (after they got him calmed down) that a very cool thing happened today, a young film maker that she knows (who just moved here)..came by Shadow's today to visit and told everyone to stop cleaning...he started photographing the place and is coming back with a film crew to document Shadow's bizarre and interesting place...so this is good... Shadow is an Aquarius, so the retrograde apparantly hit him hard."

11:40am Luna sent an update on Steve Cohen's condition - "Jerry 93! Shadow is doing very well, considering.  He has been taken off all the mechanical supports, and hopefully, today, he will be out of ICU, and in a regular hospital room. We asked the doctor what would most likely happen (if all goes well). The doctor said that in a case like Steven's...with his heart having taken such an enormous hit, that Steven will be in the hospital another two weeks, then he will need to be in a facility with 24 hour care indefinitely (there is hope, though, that he could return to his home). ... I told Shadow that there were some folks who wished to visit him once he is in the regular room. Shadow was very happy about this. Shadow is going into a depression (and the doctor told him that this happens to everyone in his condition...that the body is so busy working that the brain chemistry is thrown off). The doctor has given him a little medicine, and this morning Shadow seemed to be coping with it all just fine. ... His family may have to return to PA in a day or two, and cannot return for a week (?)....those of you who can visit him this coming week...it will really help to keep up his spirits...a crucial week indeed.  He has the will to live, and he is content with living in a nursing home.  He said that his days of going to punk rock concerts is over, and he will be happy walking the halls of a home, and studying his Latin and magick. Please keep sending him your healing energy....he does his meditations daily, and he will pull down all the energy you send. Love and 93s  )O(."

6:30am For the history buffs: John Dee, the notorious Elizabethan magician, finished writing his classic treatise titled The Monas Heiroglyphica on this date in 1564, after having begun it 13 days earlier. …...…. Also, Clark Ashton Smith was born on this date in Long Valley, California in 1893. He wrote a classic set of stories titled: Out of Space and Time. Many argue that some of his stories clearly belong into Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos category. He has also written such stories as The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The City of the Singing Flame, The End of the Story, A Night in Malnéant, The Double Shadow and The Return of the Sorcerer. Clark Ashton Smith died in California in August 1961 at the age of 68. …...…. Andrew Jackson Davis the famous ‘Poghkeepsie Seer’ died on this date in 1910 at the age of 83. He was born in Blooming Grove, New York in 1826, many believe him to be the one of the founders of modern Spiritualism. In 1844 he had a strange experience that had an enduring effect on the rest of his life. It seems, in a state of semi-trance, he wandered away from home and awoke the next morning 40 miles away in the mountains. It was here that he met two venerable spirits; the ancient physician Galen and the Swedish seer Emanuel Swedenborg. The following year, while in an altered state in November 1845, Davis began to dictate his great work, The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations and a Voice to Mankind. All were published in 1847. …...…. Dr. Morris Jessup receives his first letter from Carlos Miguel Allende on this date in 1956 which dealt with Einstein’s unified field theory and the real experiments on board a U.S. destroyer which had vanished without a trace in a harbor in Philadelphia. Some individuals actually believe that the movie titled The Philadelphia Experiment was just a fictitious story to amuse the masses.  

Monday January 12th 2009 – 7:30pm Regarding my posting on Sunday January 11th at 9:50am Andy West writes - "Jerry 93! I see. That makes a lot of sense. Being that the Key to the Grade Numbers is "One you control, While the other controls you" you wouldn't have your ego under control until you'd completed 5=6 and moved up to 6=5 (or 8=3?). Until then you'd be tainted by the filter of a not entirely controlled Ego and most likely be giving your fellow pilgrims phantoms of your own ego for them to have to vanquish later rather than information that could really shine a light on the Path for them.  I thought offering advice would fall under "denying yourself utterly for the sake of others" but I see if you are still subconsciously partly under the influence of your ego you would probably better deny yourself for the sake of others by not saying anything. 93, 93/93-Andy."

12:00pm A lot of friends of late have been melting down into putrid masses of babbling emotions so I want to remind them; especially my Aquarian friends, Mercury has started retrograding on January 11th and it'll go direct on the 31st. The pull has been great this last week and if you haven’t been keeping your mouth shut, you’ll probably put your foot down your throat and out your ass like you did last year when it was also retrograding in your Sun sign; or Aquarius. But will you guys learn? No.

6:30am For the history buffs: Swami Vivekananda, Hindu mystic, major exponent of Vedanta philosophy, was born on this date in Calcutta in 1863. His birth name was Narendra Nath Datta. He was a student of Ramakrishna. Aleister Crowley, liked Vivekananda’s writings but stated that his book titled Raja Yoga “is very good indeed, if you remember to switch off when he slides into sloppiness.” He wrote classic works on Jnana, Raja, Karma and Bhakti yoga. He died in bed on July 4, 1902 at the age of 39. …… also, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was born on this date in the village of Chichli, India in 1917. He was the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, or TM. Many skeptics believe his vedic flying to be little more than “bouncing” around the floor “like an idiot.” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was briefly a mentor to The Beatles. ….. and keeping with the theme, George Joseph Kresge Jr., more commonly known as ‘The Amazing Kreskin’, was born on this date in Montclair, New Jersey in 1935. With a showman’s flair and comedian’s wit, he built up a show business career on his apparent ability to read people’s thoughts. His weekly TV show titled The Amazing World of Kreskin was a syndicated hit from 1971 to 1975 with Kreskin ‘amazing’ his studio audiences by guessing people’s birthdays or deciphering the pips on hidden playing cards. While always vague about the exact nature of his skills, he denied being a psychic or mind-reader and preferred to call himself a bona fide mentalist. ……. And finally, according to Arthur C. Clark’s book 2001: A Space Odyssey, this [January 12th] was the birthdate of ‘HAL 9000’ in Urbana, Illinois. Oddly, the movie version of the book changed the date to March 12th.

Sunday January 11th 2009 – 9:50am Andy West of Sacramento writes, in response to all the Friday emails posted on the blog - “Jerry 93! You know, I thought I'd steered clear of earthing things out in the rest of that e-mail on "Rising on the Planes" but I see how I did it now. I thought being quiet about the actual personal interior experiences in the sense of saying "I did x and y and z visions appeared to me" was enough but now I see that even in what I thought was a straightforward description of the practice I was describing how I personally work and see it. I'm trying to come up with a way to visualize how this earthing out process works. Is it something like our practices being a power plant on the sacred mountain and our sharing our interior experiences like throwing extension cords down the mountain and letting Malkuth leech a little of our electricity? Occasional security breeches won't wreck the plant but throw out extension cords willy nilly and you might blow it up? 93, 93/93 –Andy.” ......... Reply: All magicians are warned about their ego in Tiphereth, to put it under control etc but few magicians actually look at their actions in this light. It is said that only a true Hermit can stand on the mountain and hold a lantern to guide others but why is it that every damn pilgrim wants to help those below by teaching, guiding and sharing their experience ... why do they do it? ... EGO! ... as a teacher all I can say is that while on the sacred mountain path 'earthing-out' means that you turn and think that others below are more important than the pursuit of the summit. In theory, until you’ve reached Geburah and become an Adeptus Major where the ‘circle squared’ numbers reverse [ah a secret], you should NEVER take the initiative to do anything on Malkuth unless guided carefully with a task by a superior.

9:30pm Luna sent a great email, an update on Steve Cohen - “Friends, Tortured Ones (who don't know who I am but keep recieving updates from the Lunatic), and Family 93! I called Shadows's nurse tonight...she emanated the energy of a Flittering Beautiful Butterfly...she said:  "All is good ...he is watching TV and hanging in there!".  When I called the hospital earlier (11am) Steven sed:  "Luna, I think that I am going to live through this...since they took out the balloon (which was assisting his heart), and they let me drink a soda pop (The Cpap Mask he had been wearing had forced air into his lungs, and also into his stomach and intestines)...I no longer am cold, I feel a tingly feeling and feel like a Mammal again....Angel, I think I am going to live through this!!!" ... Luna then talked about preparations for her upcoming art exhibit at the Sacred Well (536 Grand Ave, Oakland), writing - "Andy, his sister...and Edie, his neice, BART-ed over here today.....We packed up the framed artowrk drove to Oakland, and met Diana Walker at The Sacred Well. Inside The Sacred Well there was a Round Table of Elders....well beyond their years in wisdom and humor, practicing their "Living Tarot" dialoge for this years Pantheacon. Leigh strapped on his tool belt, and Diana was his first mate....we were able to hang four of the pieces.  Thank you, Diana, (childe of Legba) for grounding the energy (from an old heart of gold childe of Pombagira [me]). When the four framed images were up...and we snuck outside to swig a swig of hootch out of our flasks and suck on a fag....I stood there on Grand Ave.....looking in....and saw my drawings inside. How did I feel? I felt like a Mother, watching her children going into their first day of kindergarten...Aha...so nice....the art speaking for itself. Love and 93s )O( (thee mother ship).........2009 is going to be a great COMPLICATED YEAR!  That is what makes familial spirit correct...lot'so complications EveryWhen You Go You R!.” ........... Reply: I smile.

6:15pm NEWS - an earthquake occurred at 8:59am this morning; the magnitude 2.1 in Oakland, CA. I didn't even feel it, nothing shook here.

5:45pm I emailed with Bill Heidrick regarding the closing of Thelema Lodge, he replied - "That's the report out of the Electoral College as of yesterday. Thelema Lodge and two other bodies were merged into an Oasis under Marlene. I don't know if it's final or if US Grand Lodge will have a pre-action review on it. Probably final. Yes, sad that after more than 30 years Grady's Lodge finally folded. There just wasn't enough support to sustain it." ... So folks, it seems on January 10, 2009 the Electoral College merged what was left of Thelema Lodge, Mons Abiegnus Oasis and Therion-Babalon Oasis here in the Bay Area into one single body now called the 'Blazing Star Oasis' .... anyway, most people whom I've talked with today just seem to think that Thelema Lodge closing has long been overdue, as sad as we all are about it, it was time.

5:35pm Matt sent me this blurb - "Euthenasia: the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy."

5:20pm My friend Mark read of Thelema Lodge's closing and he writes - "93 Jerry. I'm half with you and half in disagreement on this one. Certainly I'm gratified that they shut down "Thelema" Lodge as it ceased to represent any overt Thelemic principles a decade or more back, and was obviously of no value on this or any other plane. Though I haven't been in communication w/ David for a long time I don't really understand your feud or endorse either side. Yes, David bears some blame for failures viz I Degree oaths and obviously severe personal problems w/ drugs (specifically meth) for a period between '89 (just preceding the time of the raid) to '93 or so, if my memory serves. However, TL's ultimate failure would seem to come from the contempt it was held in by the central OTO organization. I understand you and Marlene giving up on it when you did, but for Breeze et al to put it in the hands of a depressed pothead like J. Brunie who obviously held magick, Thelema and his own oaths in contempt was just the start of a long downward spiral, the latter derivations of which I (thankfully) was not around to witness. Anyway Away with It! and thank you for sharing the news." ....... Reply: I have no feud with Jones, couldn’t care less if he lived or died but I won't forget too soon what he did that caused me to be arrested, nor his attacks on me when he got reinstated back in the OTO. I guess he didn’t like the fact that I kept records, diaries and I documented the Bay Area shenanigans but I’m an historian; that’s what I do. However, if you’re the type who likes to ‘reinvent’ themselves to come out smelling like roses, I can see why you wouldn't like me. But there is no feud on my part with him .... as for J. Baloney, you’re kinder than I am.  

10:33am Luna sent me an email with great news about the Shadow man, Mr. Steve Cohen and I thought I'd pass it on. - "93! Eden just called. She said that the doctors are amazed at Shadow's improvement. He is able to sit up now. They have taken the balloon out. So, we just continue to keep our fingers crossed, and hope that the next step is getting him into a regular room, and out of ICU. 93s )O(." 

7:15am I heard some great News today. Finally, I can say the O.T.O. has done something smart. It seems the Electoral College of O.T.O. has decided to close down Thelema Lodge and pull its charter! THELEMA LODGE IS NO MORE!  It is sad on the one hand, since the Lodge was founded by Grady Louis McMurtry, Frater Hymeneaus Alpha 777 but on the other hand, since I live here in the Bay Area, I can say the Lodge was center of lies, filth and the lowest caliber of wannabe Thelemites that society has ever produced. As a magician I know that everything brought out onto this plane must follow the course of the Sun; to be born, live a life and then die but I have always been appalled watching the death pangs of this wounded animal. They should have shot it years ago and put it out of its misery. I read David Jones' blog where he writes about Thelema Lodge closing - "None of the local membership in the Bay Area had the willingness or dedication to save the oldest continuously operating Lodge in O.T.O. None of the membership of USGL was willing to stand up for a body, without whose existence none of us (not a single one of us) would even be members of O.T.O. This kind of apathy at all levels frankly appalls me. Thelema in the Bay Area is reduced to a conglomeration of struggling bodies hoping to make a go of it as an Oasis and a bunch of apostates who deny the teachings of Aleister Crowley, deny the validity of the Book of the Law and deny the efficacy or worth of initiations. Our enemies have frankly won a great battle all I can hope is that we this defeat will awaken us enough to take a braver stance in the war. Are these conditions and these attitudes the future of Thelema and thus the future of O.T.O.?" ... My reply: I like how Jones chastises others for not stepping up to the plate but he forgets that he was the Bay Area's TRUE enemy. He has never taken responsibility for the fact that the area splintered, fell apart and became a shell of "conglomeration of struggling bodies" in the first place almost single handedly due to his drug induced vile antics as Lodge Master which caused the largest police raid in O.T.O. history. Its nice for Jones to sound sincere, and saddened by the loss of the once noble Lodge but had he not done what he did, the Bay Area might well be alive today but ever since his reign as Lodge Master the Bay Area has always been struggling to survive. Thank you OTO for finally having the balls to close down this Lodge! We now can get on with remembering the beauty of Grady’s legacy rather than be reminded daily of what Jones made it into.

7:00am I opened an email from Luna this morning. It brought smiles and joy; she was thinking about my son's thirteenth birthday and she writes, "J 93! When my son, and my two foster daughters, turned 13...I felt lively from it...it was a joyous time. I just closed my eyes and asked Grady's book of Poetry for a poem for you as Faustus turns 13...and I opened to

SPRING FEVER 

The green wood hummed, all day the sun

Had shimmerd in the rustic glade

And quick the flies swept thru the shade

And I reached out and swatted one.

A swish and gurgle in the creek

As sly the perch browse in the stream

And dragon flies hang in the steam

Of stagnant pools that breed and reek.

Indolence on a summer day

The fitful slumber and the yawn

Of sleepy thunder in the brawn

Of satyr muscles tired of play --- 

Ho hum.

6:50am For the history buffs: William James was born on this date in New York in 1842. In 1864 he entered Harvard School of Medicine and, although graduating as an MD, he chose not to practice medicine. Instead he started teaching psychology at Harvard where he established the first American psychology laboratory. He advocated the use of drugs and it is a well known fact that he experimented with hashish, ate peyote and bathed in nitrous oxide, his drug of choice. He admits that this drug played a major role in how he ‘saw’ things in order to write. Commenting that inhaling the gas produced “a tremendously exciting sense of intense metaphysical illumination.” He wrote an excellent piece titled Subjective Effects of Nitrous Oxide (1882). In this he wrote, “Our normal, waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.” He also published a twelve-hundred page work titled The Principles of Psychology (1890). William James died on August 26, 1910 of heart failure at his summer home in New Hampshire. ....……. Also of importance, Aleister Crowley and his Scarlet Woman Leah Hirsig swore an oath on this date in 1920 in Paris to establish an Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu on the island of Sicily. …....… and finally, Karl Germer, the Outer Head of the Order (O.H.O.) of the Ordo Templi Orientis writes to his British representative Noel Fitzgerald on this date in 1956 that the only person in England who has the Ninth Degree Paper entitled Emblems and Mode of Use is Gerald Yorke and he was ordered “not to show it to Grant”, meaning Kenneth Grant, whom Germer had expelled the previous summer.

Saturday January 10th 2009 – 10:30am I'd like to mention that it's my son Faustus' birthday today, he turned 13 - he's officially a TEENAGER!!!! ... Oh, boy, it is said that this is going to be a period of rapid changes. In fact, I am warned that between the ages of 13 and 19, I'll age as much as 20 years! 

10:10am I want to mention a recurring question about the ‘note’ at the end of Aleister Crowley’s letter to Grady McMurtry dated November 21st 1944 where he acknowledges the “Caliphate is not mine” to give, followed supposedly by a quote of John Bunyan - "My Sword to him that can get it.”  Many people over the years have been unable to locate this quote. First, John Bunyan (1628–1688) is an infamous Christian writer but Crowley is paraphrasing him when he writes "My Sword to him that can get it.” The actual passage, to which Crowley is referring, is from Bunyan's classic novel The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). In the second part of the book the main characters meets another pilgrim along the way called Mr. Honest. At one point Mr. Honest calls together all his new friends and announces that "I die, but shall make no will." ... He then utters the classic lines – “I am going to my Father’s; and though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who will now be my rewarder.” ... All pilgrims should read this novel!

9:50am OK, ok, I posted the below info! So stop sending me emails asking "Where are you?", "Are you OK?" and "Why aren't you posting today?" ... In truth, I got caught up in a writing project and time simply got away with me! I'm entitled every now and then to make opps, and yes, I forget the blog!

9:50am Luna send an update on Steve Cohen - "J 93! I drove in this morning, and just got back. I got his sister and niece situated...and they are gems. His sister looks identical to Shadow...just put on a long wavy wig with braids, and dressed in wonderful 70's style clothing, her mannerisms are the same and she asks non stop questions, just like Shadow, I downloaded my entire life to her in the time it took us to drive from Twin Peaks to Powell and Mason.  She runs a fabulous non-profit program in PA called BreakFreehttp://en.dawanda.com/user/BreakFree ...will get details soon...and she teaches kids to sew outrageous fashions...much like the Paris is Burning tape. Steven is responding to the new medicine.  His kidneys kicked back in and are working. They were able to take away some of the supports (IVs, and mechanicals) because his body is doing more of the work. So.....Keep on sending lot's of energy....because It is Working! Love and 93s )O(."

9:50am For the history buffs: only two things to report. First, the classic film title Metropolis by Fritz Lang premiered on this date in 1927. It was based on a book written by German author Thea von Horbou. The movie takes place in the future where humans are divided into two categories. There are the thinkers, who make plans but don’t know how anything actually works, and then there are the workers, who achieve goals but obviously don’t have any vision. Completely separated, neither group is really complete, but together they make a whole. The movie’s plot begins when one man from the ‘thinkers’ dares visit the underground where the workers toil, and he is astonished by what he sees. ….. and second, Francis King was born on this date in England in 1934. He joined the military at an early age and fought in the Korea War where he was captured, tortured and ‘brain washed.’ For years after the war he was a shattered man and according to his own accounts; able only to sell ice cream at a stand at Bournemouth Beach. After recovering, and many years later, he began writing and publishing over twenty books; such as Ritual Magic in England (1970), Sexuality, Magic and Perversion (1972), Techniques of High Magic (1976), The Magical World of Aleister Crowley (1978) and Tantra for Westerners (1986). He became so disgusted in later years with people constantly mistaking him for the novelist, also known as ‘Francis King’, that he added an ‘X’ to his name, which he claimed stood for Xavier and thus he became known as Francis X King. He died on November 8, 1994. Of course, his infamy came in occult circles when he edited and released the now classic thorn titled The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O. (1974) which contained all the secret initiation rituals and many of the upper degree sexual Grade Papers of the Ordo Templi Orientis.

Friday January 9th 2009 – 9:40am Andy sent another email - "Thanks for shooting that down so quick. I was able to get a message to her that it was dangerous given her current state before she even read the last one. You know what they say about the Road to Hell being paved with good intentions, right? I'll keep my damn fool ideas to myself in regards to psychology when it comes to people who are in the middle of a crisis." .... Reply: You'll learn, we all did ... I can advise you because what you're doing, I too have done; as has every magician who has ever attempted to climb the sacred mountain Abiegnus. Its part of the ordeal, the first test as it were, to either keep moving upward or turn around to wave at those on Malkuth. Remember, I’ve said it to all my students, in the end nothing survives but YOU; all jobs, possessions, family and friend are in the fleeting moment of illusions or maya in the here-now. What is real about today? Nothing! What will be real about tomorrow? Nothing! So, if you want to climb the mountain, never turn around to wave at a phantom, no matter how real it may seem to be. Choose carefully those things and people in Malkuth that help you in your experience in this valley of death; refuse none but be weary of the Kundry, she is an unconscious conspirator or traitor to the path whose job it is to turn you around; be ruthless at survival.

9:20am Andy replies to my 8:25am post - "I understand where you're coming from. I've noticed a lot of my complexes be overcome by Rising on the Planes but maybe it's not the best idea for someone who's hallucinating. The thing is, I know she does a fair amount of astral projection anyway and I thought this would be preferable than just playing with whatever comes along. What would someone do if it were an external thing causing the problem and what should they do other than probably just be given pills by the doctor she goes too?" ....... Reply: First, I have studied and practiced magick since the mid-1960s; and I took the advice of Grady McMurtry very serious about NOT publishing everything I do of a personal magickal nature!!!!! That is why I didn't address the rest of your previous email. I feel that you, and many others, who sees gems on the astral and have to run down off the mountain and tell others are simply being bathed in an unconscious need of your ego. Remember; no two Stars are alike; how YOU achieve and work in the astral will be 100% different than how someone else will achieve. Have you not read Chapter XVIII of MTP? - "This astral plane is so varied and so changeable that several clairvoyants looking at the same thing might give totally different accounts of what they saw; yet they might each make correct deductions." ... Anyway, this is the reason why I ‘hate’ the internet; it gives every mother, child and idiot the ability to quickly act as an authority because they 'achieved' something but more dangerously it offers magicians easy access to earthing out their magick. First rule of the Sphinx - SILENCE. ... What does The Book of the Law say after we’ve established our Clerk House? -  “Success is thy proof: argue not; convert not; talk not overmuch!” (AL III:42) .... Your magick is no one else’s business. ... but if you have to advise an unstable person of anything, objectively or subjectively affecting them, get them into Hatha yoga so that they can 'center' their body. Give them a foundation on this plane and in a 'reality' sense.

8:25am Andy from Sacramento, not Japan, writes – “Jerry 93! I was talking to an old friend who is going through a bout of mental illness via e-mail. I shared my understanding of what she was going through from the perspective of some of the psychology books I've been reading lately. First I wrote this: “All of our mental illnesses great and small are basically the result of some part of our personality becoming unacceptable to us, breaking off and sapping libido to power itself. It then acts more or less independently of our conscious mind." ... This is very similar to the idea of the Qlippoth or Shells requiring the light of our Sun to animate themselves. Or Jehovah (Our Ego) creating and casting out the creatures of Chaos (the rejected parts of our psyche) to later torment Man.” .......  My reply: I wouldn’t say ‘All of our mental illnesses’ is internally rooted because this ignores the fact that there are other objective Shells which might be affecting an individual. This is the danger of psychology – it assumes ‘subjectivity’ to everything while sometimes ignoring the obvious, or ‘objective’ entities. Remember, that Crowley wrote in Magick Without Tears, regarding psychics who play with Shells, that often these “hollow shells glow with infernal fire. Also, of course, they soak up vitality from the sitters, and from the medium herself.” So, Andy, are you qualified enough to determine if its an internal Shell or external affecting your friend? .... and then Andy adds - “In addition to the therapy she's getting, of course I recommended banishing and ‘Rising on the Planes’ from Liber 0. She was having hallucinations so I thought it might help her develop the ability to transcend these unwanted visions.” ...... My reply: I would NEVER give anyone advice to do the simplest of magick if I thought they were having bouts of ‘mental illnesses’, least of all advising her how to ‘rise on the planes’ ... where it is required to use your ‘imagination’ to create images; your friend is having ‘hallucinating’ and your advice is to induce more? Remember, working the planes upward requires stability on Malkuth. How many times do we talk about magicians falling by the wayside of the Path of Return simply because their attempts were feeble or unjustifiable ... and you recommend an ‘unstable person’ to climb the planes as a means of stability? That’s like throwing her off an ocean liner in the middle of the Atlantic to learn how to swim and telling her you’ll pick her up on the way back! Magick is filled with tragedy and failure; teach your friend how to play in the sand on the shore before taking her to sea. With your advice; if she goes more crazy, its your karma.

7:50am And in another email - Subject: 'Am I completely insane or did Mary say she would hit a succubus with a frying pan?" - Luna writes - "Jerry 93! Am I crazy?  Well, that was the stupidest query in the universe...YES, we all know that I am a certified Lunatic....but, am I just drunk  (which, I most certainly am)...but isn't Mary the woman that you blog about being your astral sexual partner for 20 some years?  Most likely I am nutzo.......I should have first re-read back Corn Blogs ago to find out...but if my memory serves me right....I thought that you had posted gobs of corn bloggings from her and you.........so, why in Hades is she frying panning her husband's succubbuusssssesss? Enquiring Minds need to know...I have been out of the social loop for over a decade, and I am having trouble with simple butch femme things..so, please, I am teachable....teach on... 93s )O(." ...... Reply: Nope, Mary & I never did any astral workings. She's only been corresponding with me since I started my blog a few years ago; a friend turned her onto it. Besides, she never sent me a photo or set up dates etc which helps establish a 'Magickal Link.' Anyway, there have been quite a few girls I've worked with over the years, some more receptive than others, the best being Rosemary from about twenty-five years back.

7:45am Luna sent an update on Steve Cohen's condition; she writes - "Captain Cornelius 93! I hope this finds you and Faustus happy and well. Leigh and I drove into S.F. at about 10am.  We picked up Max, and then drove up to Moffitt Hospital.  Finding parking was like being on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland, and by the time we went round and round and round in the parking facility, (took about 20 minutes), none of us knew where we were, or what the hades we were doing!!! ... Shadow Igitur was undergoing some extensive testing...but we got there right on time...they were just buttoning up.  Shadow Igitur was in excellent form today!    He has 35-50% odds of being around for awhile with the help of pharmaceutical and mechanical support. ... We told him that EVERYONE was rooting for him...and I relayed the email exchange between you and I about him (per:  Minerval)...Steven, in his Auntie Woody Allen mannerism vocalized:  "So, when was I demoted?  I am a P.I.!!)  [I do not know what this means but laughed and loved listening to his thick Philly Jewish East Coast Auntie Woody Allen vocas]. ... Max and Shadow Igitur talked at length about Max's new poetry, and then we had to dash off to drive Max to Van Ness Ave.  to sign the documents for the grants for more ART!!!!....ooops, first, Max, Leigh and I stopped by Shadow Igitur's apartment to take photos of Shadow's Cat:  Lorax Applesauce Apache. ... We went to his mailbox and there sitting on top of the mailbox was a manila envelope!!!! Yes, it was "Lorax Applesauce Apache's" formal documents from you, Captain Cornelius!  Lorax is now officially a member of Thee Pestilence Society!  We took photos of Lorax....went to a "one hour photo" and took back, to the hospital, prints of Lorax and her offical docs on Pesty-ness to Shadow. ... Shadow's nurse, Anne Marie, is an angel!!!!!!!!!  We stayed until 7pm., and thanks to Max and all of you, we heard as, Anne Marie, relayed all of the calls to him. ... Shadow is stable and OK?!...he may beable to carry on for awhile with some support! ... Oak LaStrega...my first ex-wife, and the operator of the Vermont Community Public TV Station, she and I were the first to befriend Shadow when he arrived in Sunny CA in circa 1975. We all worked at theeeee infamous Island Cafe..where we were IN YOUR FACE WITH MARIJUANA!...Our Fearless Leader, Dennis Peron, and the rest of The Island Collective (including Shadow) were the great grand uncles that made it possible for you kids to smoke as you wish). Oak sent this to me tonight: for Steven what I first thought of was simply everyone light candles and surround him in green healing energy and maybe we come up with a chant and image to try to do simultaneously tonight and or tomorrow. But immediately the green light became a green dragon with ruby eyes breathing fire into his heart, magick healing fire, red flames that don't burn, that transform... the dragon is dancing around his bed, shaking a red rattle... the dragon is flying, hovering, protecting, raising energy, being a medium for all our healing energies.. out of the green comes Red fire light... LOVE AND 93s......R! in PRANCING PESTILENCE......Keep on Keepin ON,  YA HEAR? EveryWhen You Go You R! LOVE 93 93/03 )O(."   ....... Reply: [lots of smiles]

7:40am For the history buffs: The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, killed a fourth of the European population in just three years time. In Basel, Switzerland, not understanding that humans got the plague when bitten by fleas and then spread it by coughing, the townspeople came up with the ludicrous belief that the disease was caused by the Jews. In retaliation for causing the ‘plague’ six hundred Jews were forced into a huge wooden house on this date in 1349 which was then set on fire. They all burnt to death. One hundred and forty children were also taken from their parents and forcibley baptized which officially ended the Jewish presence in the town, but not the bubonic plague. ……. Also, Jimmy Patrick Page was born on this date in London, England in 1944. In late 1968 he, along with Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones, formed the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin. Their 1969 debut album was a unique blend of heavy rock and the blues, while their second album soared to the top of the charts with such hits like Whole Lotta Love. Throughout the 1970s Led Zeppelin was considered one of rock’s most successful acts. Jimmy Page was becoming a ‘guitar god’ famous for his strange obsessions with the occult as much as for his heavy riffs. In fact, he even bought Aleister Crowley’s mansion called Boleskine over looking the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland. There are those who said Page was convinced that Crowley’s ghost haunted the mansion, and that Page frequently tried to contact it through séances and spiritual readings. Then disaster struck; the band’s drummer Bonham died in 1980 and soon thereafter Led Zeppelin disbanded. Some blame these tragedies, and many others, on something Jimmy Page unwittingly unleashed while dabbling in the occult.

Thursday January 8th 2009 – 8:55am Mary writes - "I read what Andy said about his wife hitting the succubus with a frying pan. I agree. If I ever caught my boyfriend cheating on me with anyone else, she better watch out. I can astral project good and I'd chase the little bitch down no matter how far away she flew. When I catch her she can kiss her little succu-thingy goodbye. Then I'd fly home, wake and slap my boyfriend just out of principle."  ....... Reply: Damn woman, lighten up, Andy was just joking!

8:20am Andy Walker from Japan writes, "It's been awhile and so I thought that I'd say hi :) Although normally an avid reader of your blog, I got caught up with a lot of things and didn't read it for about 2 weeks straight. I just sat down and got caught up and wow, what a two weeks! There was definitely a lot to chew on with the Qlippoth." ... and of my blog entry of December 25th 6:50am Andy adds - "Your succubus encounter was interesting but I don't see it happening to me because I think I would awake to the sound of my wife hitting it with a frying pan before it ever touched me. No demonic fun for me."

6:12am An email was forwarded to me from Feral House about my book Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board which they published. They are going to post the full letter on the Feral house blog and titled it "God's Warning (or so a Fundamentalist emailer claims)" ... After reading the letter I replied to Adam - "Well, this made my morning, I'm in stitches. :)." ... The original email had the Subject: "Urgent Life Saving Alert!!" and then it began "God told me to tell you this:  DO NOT SELL THIS BOOK!!! Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board By J. Edward Cornelius" and then it went off on a lengthy Christian tirade against Satan, not really saying anything about me or my book but babbling such nonsense as "You still have a chance to be saved from Hell while you are on earth.  Do not wait until it is too late!" and "Admit to Jesus that you have done wrong and that you want to change and do right." ... All I can say is that it's true, yes, Jesus saves and I hear its at the Wells Fargo Bank.

6:05am Robert Flores writes, "I really like what Ben wrote and it most closely resembles my own ideas on the Qliphoth.  My two cents... evil itself only makes sense below the abyss and is always a matter of perspective. In other words our understanding of the Tree and the Tree itself are a reflection of our own psyche and since we each have our own set of universal laws, myths and symbols which archetypically animate us, This then must also be true of our own Qliphoths.  It's no wonder why some would see the Qliphoth as evil as this is simply a reflection of there own understanding. (the universe they create) I agree with Kabbalah 101 in that the entire lower Tree of Life of the fourth or Asiatic World below the Abyss is also called the world of shells Abyss is also called the world of shells. It is simply a "shadow" created out of a necessity of the dualistic nature of everything that lies below the abyss.  A necessary component of existence even.  But what exactly this "shadow" is  and how it operates is what remains debatable. Such mysteries are subtle and sublime and any definition tells you more about the Word or Nature of the individual then they do about the Qliphoth itself. Like most mysteries only a broad definition can be given the rest grows like a flower within the heart of man.  Simply said there is an internal mechanism at play as well as an external which we must interact with and understand on our own... so maybe there are those who Qliphoth's are invested with Aliens and creepy crawly things that bump in the night....maybe it's just dark matter??"

5:45am For the history buffs, a lot has happened on this date and I’ll give you about half: Samuell Liddell `MacGregor’ Mathers was born on this date in England in 1854. He was described by W. B. Yeats as, “a Jacobite who believed in the overthrow of Queen Victoria and the restoration of the Stuarts” and “imagined a Napoleonic role for himself, Europe transformed according to his fancy, Egypt restored, a Highland principality, and even offered subordinate posts to unlikely people.” He was also said to be a man who studied only two subjects - magic and the theory of war. On August 8, 1887 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 and thus was the reported beginning of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which became official in 1888.  His magickal mottos in this fraternity were Deo Duce Comite Ferro (With God as My Leader and the Sword as My Companion) and 'S Rioghail Mo Dhream (Gaelic for Royal is My Race). He was married to Moina Bergson and from 1894 on, the couple lived in Paris, where they founded an Ahathoor Temple. It is here they celebrated an Egyptian Mass with much stately ceremonial in honor of the goddess Isis, whose religion he was attempting to revive. He wrote many things but of interests are his translation of ancient text such as The Qabbalah Unveiled (1888), The Key of Solomon the King: Clavicula Solomonis (1889) and The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (1896) to name but a few. Mathers died in November of 1918. The cause of death was listed as ‘unknown’ on his death certificate but friends around him said that it was the result of Spanish influenza which was sweeping the continent. ……. also, Dennis Yates Wheatley was born on this date in South London in 1897. Wheatley was an acquaintance of the Great Beast, Aleister Crowley. In fact, he and Maxwell Knight, the British spy-master during World War II of MI5, both “jointly applied to Crowley as novices and he accepted them as pupils.” However, Wheatley’s interest in Crowley’s group was purely academic and he claimed that, he was merely studying magic for use in his novels. He wrote such classic novels as The Devil Rides Out (1934), They Found Atlantis (1936), To The Devil - A Daughter (1953), The Ka of Gifford Hillary (1956), The Satanist (1960), and of Crowleyean interest, his biography titled Drink and Ink - Memoirs 1919-1977 (1979). Wheatley would describe Crowley as “a well-dressed middle-aged eccentric with the manner of an Oxford don.” Wheatley died on November 10, 1977. ….. and abit of frivolous history, the noted TV show host and comic named Soupy Sales was born on this date in Franklinton, North Carolina in 1926. His popular children’s show which began as a replacement for Kukla, Fran and Ollie in 1955 was suspended for a week in 1965 after he told all the children who were watching to go to “your parent's wallet”, take out those “little green pieces of paper” and send them to me. Many of his jokes went well over his young audience’s heads but inevitably they got him kicked off the air. Most notable of these was his comment, “My wife can't make a cherry pie worth a cent, but boy oh boy, does she know how to make a banana cream!” ….. and Violet Mary Firth is the real name of Dion Fortune. She died of acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 55 on this date in 1946. In 1919 she joined the Alpha and Omega Lodge of Stella Matutina of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She derived the name Dion Fortune from the magical motto which she adopted when joining which was “Deo Non Fortuna,” which means “by God, not chance.” In 1929 she left the Order and founded a Community (later called Fraternity) of the Inner Light. She wrote numerous books throughout her life. Such as, The Secrets of Dr. Taverner (1926), The Demon Lover (1927), Sane Occultism (1929); The Training and Work of an Initiate (1930), Psychic Self-Defense (1930),  Through the Gates of Death (1932), The Mystical Qabalah (1936), The Goat-Foot God (1936), The Winged Bull (1936), and The Sea-Priestess (1938) to name only a few. When Aleister Crowley published The Book of Thoth he sent her a copy inscribed to the “Priestess of Selene.” ….. and finally, David Robert Jones was born on this date at 40 Stansfield Road, Brixton, London in 1947. He would grow up, change his name and become better known as the rock legend David Bowie. He is reported to have always had a fascination with the occult and especially Aleister Crowley. When he released his album Hunky Dory in November of 1971 it contained a song called Quicksand which contains the verse; “I’m closer to the Golden Dawn. Immersed in Crowley’s uniform. All in a dream.”

Wednesday January 7th 2009 – 6:15pm Ben Hance writes, "Jerry, 93 I am finding the discussion of the Qlippoth quite interesting, and thought I might share a few thoughts of my own on the matter. ... In The Bahir it states that Jehovah's first creation was the Tree of Chaos.  The vessels ("sefirot") created to contain his spirit broke as his spirit descended.  These "husks" or "shells" ("KLiPoT") then fell into the lowest plane (the World of Assiah) to become abodes for demonic beings.  The purpose of this was to introduce chaos and evil into creation, and to confound individuals.  There are striking similarities to the Gnostic concept of Jehovah here.  Jehovah then created the Tree of Life, resulting in the formation of the world (or Malkuth). These husks communicate with the sefirot of the Tree of Life and influence us today.  Obviously, this is a gross oversimplification of the myth involved. ... Note the similarity to the ancient Greek idea that Chaos ("...the sole viceregent of the Sun upon Earth...," Liber XV) becomes the prima materia for the creation of the universe by Kronos (or, Creator God).  ... I find it useful to think of the Qlipphotic spheres as "shadows" of the lower spheres on the Tree of Life. This is not to imply "evil" but a lack of, or a dualistic response to, the "light" emanating from the spheres themselves.  Maybe the shadow is actually cast by the individual themself, as "Every man and every woman is a star."  AL Iiii. ... It is interesting to note that KLiPoT is semantically related to the verb KLYPaH or "peeling."  It seems to suggest that the introduction of the Yod (spirit, "hand" of God, active principle) peels away the husk, "effect," of the Qlippoth from the Initiate. Anyway, just a thought. Hope you are feeling well, and I had a nice time last night. 93/93 Ben." ....... Reply:

Deeper by far 

Than any Star

Deeper than the Unknown Night

The spaceworm spins its prison bar

Its casement tower, height on height

"Shell by the Abyssal Crustacea"

Grady McMurtry - Alien Star

6:00pm Luna sends an update on Steve Cohen's condition, She writes, "I hope this finds you, your family and The Friends of Grady well and happy.  Steven is doing so-so.  He had a procedure done today (they inserted a catheter in his neck, to his heart, to measure the cardiac pressure.  He has a Cpap mask, which helps him to get enough oxygen. ... I just talked to him via his nurse (the mask makes it difficult for him to talk on the phone), but I could hear his voice.  He sounds just like himself, and he is alert.  Leigh and I will drive over tomorrow morning to visit him. ... Oak LaStrega emailed me earlier, and she will begin a healing rite tonight for him.  I also, will begin one here in the ways that I know how.  Steven's magickal motto is "Shadow Igitur", and I believe that he told me that he was initiated into Grady's magical lineage, and said "I guess this means that Jerry could be called my spiritual father". If there is something specific to Steven's magical lineage, that I can incorporate in my own ritual for him, or, if you have a traditional healing ritual to use, please, by all means tell me what to do.  ... At this time, all of the little mundane things (picking people up from the airport, time schedules, directions, getting his mail, etc.), are what all the phone calls are about now...and I do not want to forget the focus of Steven's spirituality, for, as we all know, Steven is far from being caught in the mundane world and lives his days more in Spirit than any sane person I have ever known. ... I'll keep directing the traffic on the incidental mundane plane....if you could direct us now to getting back to the real world, I am ready to follow your lead.  Also, is there anything traditional that Steven should have with him, that he may have at his house, that I should take to him?  Thank you, In LOVE and 93s )O(." ......... She then adds, "The nurse also said his kidneys are failing, and he will be put on dialysis as soon as tomorrow." ...... Reply: I met Steve back in the early 1990s just after I moved here from Connecticut. As Lodge Master of Thelema Lodge, which was then located at 328 49th St in Berkeley, this is where I met Steve and initiated him into Aleister Crowley's OTO.

5:05pm And Andy is still thinking; he sent me another email with this thought – “Again! I realized I didn't really address what you and Jerri had to say about the Shells. I was drinking coffee and reading at the local Borders the other day and came across Rudolph Steiner's book on Theosophy. His conception of Astral Travel discussed was interesting. He said that  Astral Travel is split into two phases. First is Soul Travel and the Visions and Voices received are important to the Traveler and their Incarnation personally. Beyond this realm there lies subtler realm. To travel these he called Spirit Travel and the Visions and Voices received here are of benefit to all humanity. The Soul Realm seems to be the realms of these Akashic Shells that require the light of our Sun to become animate. The Spirit Realm would then contain the discarnate entities that exist Independently of us (Secret Chiefs?). Would Spirit be the place of Angels and Soul the place of Demons or Shells then (minus the value judgment on the word demon)? I know his terminology confuses our own ideas of our Spirit and Soul but I found the basic division of the Astral to be interesting.” .............. Reply: To be fair; I would need to read the book to fully understand Steiner’s thoughts but I enjoyed what you wrote. It makes one think.

4:50pm Andy is on a roll ... he writes, “On contemplating what I wrote earlier today about attaining Solar Consciousness and the growth of a flower I had the realization that Liber Resh helps facilitate both of these processes. In addition to drawing the energies from the Sun into the aura in Resh it also seems that from these energies one is building one's aura into a Sun. The Pattern of the Enterer and Elemetal Signs at each of the 4 Quarters seems to mirror the 4 tides ementanting from the Sun. The poem from the Book of the Law that is read is a pretty clear Invokation of Solar Consciousness too. The other thing that dawned on me is that for a Flower to grow it needs the right amount of heat and sunlight (fire), enough wind to keep the air cool but not enough to blow it away(air), enough rain but not too much or little (water), and soil rich and fertile enough for it to grown in (earth). We keep these things balanced in Resh so that psychically and spiritually we have the proper conditions to grow our souls properly here in the "Vale of Soul-Making". This too could explain the reasons for not performing sorcery or black magick. You can control the weather. But what good is it if you spoil the crop in the process?” ........... Reply: Very good.

4:45pm Andy writes, “Your response to Jerri's questions on the Qlippoth got me thinking about something I got out of reading between the lines in Ponce. Ponce seems to correlate the Qlippoth to Matter itself. Our bodies are the shells of our Spirit and Malkuth is the Shell of the rest of the Tree.  The Creation then can be seen as the process of transformation from pure En-Sof to the Qlippoth of Matter. In Ponce, the Shekinah is also said to lie sleeping in Malkuth until raised to the higher spheres of the tree, just like unawakened man lost toiling in matter. The Great Work then perhaps is the Alchemy of distiliing from the Shell of the Body the Primal En-Sof. ... I've also heard the Qlipopth refered to as the excrement of the Tree, and, as we all know: Bullshit makes the Flowers grow, And that's Beautiful!” ....... Reply: Yes, the human body, in a Neo-Platonistic sense, was considered a tomb that could easily ensnare our Soul if it were not careful. Plato said it best in Phaedrus when he wrote, “We are imprisoned in the body like an oyster in its shell.” As for Qabalists, most of any merit will tell you that the entire lower Tree of Life of the fourth or Asiatic World below the Abyss is also “called the world of shells.” (The Kabbalah Unveiled, translated by S.L. MacGregor Mathers, pg.30) which can snare our spirit in flesh and that this realm of the Qliphoth is “what man terms matter” (Qabbalah by Isaac Myer pg. 330).... Also, in the upper Trees exist no Qliphoth. Consider the Zohar – “Above are not any Q’lippoth for no one can enter in the Gate of the King in a rough garment, but thr Q’lipphoth are Below.”  ... The main difference as I see it is in how we interpret the Qliphoth. In an old aeonic sense rooted where spiritualism was bathed in escapism off Earth we can see Shells as vile contemptible tombs imprisoning our spirits but if that be true ... why do we incarnate; to experience imprisonment? I don’t think so, I think the ancients were correct that we incarnate in order to gain experience because ‘evil’ doesn’t exist above the Abyss and only with self-reflection in matter can its 'opposite' truly be understood by our spirit but there is a fine razor’s edge learning to embrace our world while not becoming ensnared. I think in this aeon we will begin to see that there are reasons why God created the ‘Light and the Darkness’ and we have to stop fearing darkness.

4:30pm Andy writes, “I got a lot out of "Stepping Out of the Old Aeon into the New". I'd read it years before but there were some parts that didn't make the same impact last time. In relation to what I wrote the other day I see what you're getting at. Not to get all Tony Robbins but the Giant is within. Achad makes a really good point that seems to describe the diference between a succesful adept and one in danger of becoming a black brother. The black brother becomes aware of their starry nature and then returns to Earth and more or less thinks to themself  "I am such a cool badass motherfucking star. Look at all these slaves of earth. They should worship me." The Adept Lover, becoming aware of their starry nature and residing in it, see the starry nature in all, even those who have yet to become aware of their own starry nature. The Adept can then guide others to this relization of their own starry nature and therefore then takes on students.”

9:45aqm Luna sent some 'Steven updates', she writes, "Jerry 93! R! Please excuse my pirate-y Prancing rant last night! :) ! After several phone calls late into the night, I just lost my mind with nervous silliness." ... and "I just spoke to Steven on the phone.  He is ok, but his condition has not changed at this time.  We will let him rest today, and will come in tomorrow to check on Lorax and see him if he is up to it.  We will talk to the doctor at 3pm today. Thank you so much for posting on your blog.  Over the last two years, since Steven and I have been spending time together again, and Steven has reconnected with you and The Friday Night Friends of Grady, you and The Friends have been extremely important to Steven. Not a day goes by without Steven asking after everyone there. Jay's wonderful surreal sculpture brought absolute joy to Steven when it arrived. He called me as he opened the package, and was just laughing and giggling with joy. All of your thoughts are very important to him. You all have a blessed day, and I will check in with everyone tonight. 93s )O(."  ....... Reply: Silliness? No. They bring smiles. Always remember one of my favorite Crowley quotes - "The Common defect of all mystical systems previous to that of the Aeon whose Law is Thelema is that there was no place for Laughter." .... I am so glad that Steve is feeling better.

9:30am Jerri writes and asked a bunch of good questions. – “I was wondering where elementals, demons, etc. fit in to this Qlippothic thing. I would imagine that thoughts/emotions function in this manner as well...everything (below the abyss) has this encasing. I've often thought of the Qlippoth as the shells of those who have lost their souls. That seems true, but only in part. In a way, aren't we creating a "shell" with every thought or emotion??? It cannot be helped, it is the nature of the universe. So, why does almost every Magician I know think of the Qlippoth as evil--and only evil?? I suppose people tend to think of Maya as illusion/evil as well. More of the Christian ideology shells that have polluted the stream of consciousness?? If I continue on this line of thinking, it would seem that the collective unconsciousness is often just a kaleidoscope of shells in the form of philosophies of an Aeon, beauty, fear, want, love, hate, etc., etc...hmm...in one of it's forms, the shell is the psychic impression left upon the fabric of the universe--which is why some shells are so powerful--and have names???” ....... Reply: The Qliphoth has got a lot of bad press due to writings of Kenneth Grant. He is brilliant on some levels but he’s so caught up into the Dracula, Lovecraft Hollywood horror motif that he is the classic example of someone who lives more in the dream world of fantasies rather than reality. His latest writings are great sci-fi but hardly reflective of the scientific approach. There is a great quote by Crowley in his unpublished diary – “People who avoid facing facts are bounded by phantoms.” (October 25th 1939) ... although my favorite Crowley quote is from De Natura Deorum - “Of all our enemies those are most to be feared, who make false gods of their imagination.”  Grant epitomizes these dangers. He hasn’t a clue as to the nature of Shells. What he writes about doesn’t reflect the old Qabalistic text. Read Dion Fortune’s The Mystical Qabalah, Chapter XXVI The Qliphoth pg. 297. She tows the line of old Aeon, Golden Dawn school mentality but is very revealing when she cites as an example of ‘the averse Sephiroth’ as Abramelin. ... In CORNELIAS I clearly point out the duality of the daimon in the Abramelin system who resides between good and evil, light and darkness as a pendulum swinging with one you control, while the other controls you. If we continually paint the ‘dark side’ as evil we wallow in old aeonic Christian bullshit that saw Satan in every shadow. ... I agree that ‘shells’ can seem to be negative residue but is this a bad thing or is it merely something whose purpose we don’t fully understand in regards to why God found a need to create them?  There must be a purpose to them? ... We know that below the Abyss, everything is bathed in duality. Do not negative shells balance the positive manifestation of who we are? ... It must be remembered that daimons are elementals, which are found in all forms of manifestation, including our mundane bodies. Upon death the elemental which is rooted in the Lower Self of Tiphereth, bathed in the knowledge of our lower ego, become ‘free’ ... and is what the Egyptians called a Ka. It becomes a shell of the sum total of our experience that is left behind. ... Our higher Self, whose ego is also the sum total of his experience, goes on after death with the spirit. .... It is really tough trying to shake two thousand years of Christian bullshit when we have so many modern magicians who like to play scared little school children.

6:20am Regarding yesterday's 4:15pm posting, Luna writes, "Captain Cornelius 93! You, my friend, and non-eating spinach meister, are definitely a Prancer!...but, I LOVE PRANCERS....you/they make my clock tick tock!!!!!  Leigh is a prancing Ares, and you are a Prancing Cancer...and all of you Berkeley Friday Night Friends of Grady are the most fabulous fancy prancing maniac-wonderful Fiend Pests that I know!  From Ben the Blue Collared Plumber to Jerri the Freckled Faced Farmer's Daughter...I LOVE PRANCING!!!!   Leigh and I just got back from Moffitt Hospital where Steven the Prancing Curmudgeon is pestil-snickering in his ICU bed...and, yes, all calls to him will be relayed...all messages will be given to him...so call (415) 353- 1007, and give Steven J. Cohen Pestilence Hades! ... I watched, you, Captain Cornelius, prance around The Ave, on Saturday in your black Tee and just a muff 'round yer neck (I won't give up the details), while I, Panninggazz da Pyrat, was wrapped up tight in three leather jackets and a faux muff from Macey's... Meat ON! Brother and El Capitan Cornelius...we prance because we don't need no stinking vegetarian pizza slices from Blondies....no we don't...we need Pepperoni Slices of Red Red Babalon! (obviously, me, da mudder ship, Luna, has been hitting the hootch)! ... Love and 93s and, YES..it is OK?! to call and leave Shadow Igitur, aka, Steven J. Cohen, messages with the nurses station at the ICU desk,  I just got off the phone with the nurse's station and they absolutely accept all calls to the inmates 24/7 (415) 353-1007...........I am prancing into the night of a vigil for our brother and uncle Shadow.....Prancing Prancing Prancing...and the AhA AaaaaahHA AHA! is the sled of wonder the sled of AHA!!! We love you El Capitan, and Love to Shadow! 93s  )O(."

6:10am For the history buff: Queen Catherine of Aragon died on this date in 1536 at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire, England, either from cancer or by poisoning. Following the news of his former wife’s death, King Henry VIII held a ball at Greenwich to celebrate the glorious occasion. He wore a bright yellow suit. A large portion of the South Wing of the Castle later collapsed in 1707 but the Queen’s private Chamber remained intact, and it is in this Chamber that the lonely Queen still returns as a ghost, seen robed in a white dress and wearing her crown. Another ghost of the castle is that of Sir John Popham, who was Lord Chief Justice during the reign of Elizabeth I, who after death, just as he had done in life, lies in wait for poachers in the park. He has also been seen on many occasions sitting on a wall, ready to pounce on any intruder. A third ghost is that of an unidentified child who had been flung from one of the castle’s windows to meet a dreadful death on the flagstones below. ……. Also, on this date in 1883, largely at the request of Madame Blavatsky who was living in India, Anna Bonus Kingsford was elected president of the British Theosophical Society in London. Aleister Crowley once wrote that, “this woman, though handicapped by a brain that was a mass of putrid pulp, and a complete lack of social status, education, and moral character, did more in the religious world than other person had done for generations. She, and she alone, made Theosophy possible, and without Theosophy the world-wide interest in similar matters could never have been aroused.” ……. and Charles ‘Chas’ Samuel Addams was born on this date in Westfield, New Jersey in 1912. He is the artist best known for his one-panel outlandish comic strip called The Adam’s Family. It had a lovable cast of characters from the father Gomez and his wife Morticia, to their two children named Wednesday and Pugsly, and of course a butler named Lurch. ……. And to keep with the flavor of today, William Peter Blatty, American screenwriter and novelist, who gained international fame with the theological horror tale known as The Exorcist (1973), was born on this date in New York City, NY in 1928. ….. and Nikola Tesla died on this date in a New York hotel room in 1943. Earlier, a Federal Judge had ruled that Tesla was the true inventor of the radio even after his strange view of openly proclaiming to everyone that its crystals were actual ‘living beings.’ ……. And for the UFO people; Captain Thomas Mantell was flying his P-51 Mustang in hot pursuit of a UFO on this day near Fort Knox, Kentucky when all of a sudden his plane blew up and crashed on January 7th 1948. His last words were, “. . . metallic and tremendous in size.” Be that utterance as it may, the official government explanation of his crash was, and I quote; that “Mantell died from a lack of oxygen while chasing the planet Venus.” ……. And finally, I want to mention that a motorist was startled on this date by a giant bird in 1976. He claimed it was an actual Pterodactyl, standing aggressively in the middle of the deserted road in Mexico with his wings wrapped around his body and whose eyes glared at him as he sped by. It was the second such sighting of this creature, the first being on January 1st.

Tuesday January 6th 2009 – 11:30pm Luna sent an email subject “Steven update...11pm Tuesday night.” She writes, “93! Steven is in the ICU. He had been suffering from chest pains for three days. He called his mom last night complaining, and finally today he took a cab to UCSF Moffitt Hospital in S.F. He is on the 10th floor. The direct nurses station phone line is (415) 353-1007. We were unable to talk to the doctor, but we talked to the nurse, Maria, on the phone. Maria says that his heart is failing. He is in severe pain and distress. They have inserted a balloon into his heart to support the heart. He is not on a ventilator, just an oxygen mask, and he is able to respond verbally and talk to them. This time, tonight and tomorrow, is the window of observation to see if he will pull out of it, see if his heart calms down, or if they need to go to the next level. ... We were able to see him tonight at 6:15pm...and, of course, his main concern was making sure that his new foster cat, Lorax Applesauce, was safe.  Lorax was outside.  He was alert and okay when we saw him this evening, I kidded with him about sneaking him a cigarette, and he was smiling, but most concerned about Kitty, and Leigh and I getting him his Latin study books.  The ICU does not allow visitors between 7-8am, and 7-8pm...this is when the shift change occurs and the nurses and doctors and attendees are pow wowing in the hallways. ... We got his house keys, and went to find Lorax Applesauce.  It took us about 20 minutes to lure Lorax Applesauce inside by shaking the Meow Mix bag...but, eventually she did indeed come inside and Leigh closed the door behind her.  We left out four bowls of water and a weeks worth of dry kibble....just in case. ... We returned to the hospital at about 8:20pm, but they would not let us see him.  Maria, on the phone tonight, said that they did not want to over stimulate him...so, he is resting and medicated for the evening. ... His mother, Adele "Babe" Cohen, and I have talked several times on the phone today.  Babe will be putting Steven's sister, Andrea and possibly Andrea's daughter, Eden, on a plane out here asap.....If things go well, Andrea and Eden may need some moral support, and just plain directions around San Francisco, so, for those of you who live in Frisco, if everything goes well, maybe you can be in contact with Andrea and Eden by cell phone, or to help them get around, etc. ... So....last night Steven called his mom, Babe, and complained about pain.  He told her that he had chest pains and his elbow hurt. Babe told him to go to the hospital immediately, but Steven told her he would wait until morning.  Steven told us, tonight when we saw him, that he thought he just had the flu and a bad chest cold.  Steven told us that he called a cab today (early afternoon, as we can gather), and when he got out of the cab, across the street from the hospital, on Parnassus, that he had a heart attack there on the sidewalk...in front of the emergency room.  Maria told me that he was admitted at 3pm today.  Steven told us that his heart is only working on 1/3 it's ability. So, tonight we are on a spiritual vigil to send him all our love, and to remind him, in our dreams and thoughts that his wonderful library and his blessed kitty, Lorax Applesauce, are okay and secure. I will check in with you all tomorrow and give you an update. ... I met Steven at The Island Cafe in the spring of 1973, I believe. I am attaching some photos of Steven for you to enjoy and to help you meditate on him and his magickal links. Love and 93s, Luna and Leigh.” ......... Reply: Thanks for the update; loved the photos.

10:10pm Jay writes, “For the love of Nuit, I'm sorry to hear about Steven. Glad to hear he's alive at least. I've only met him a couple of times, but in my experience he was a sweet and charming old man. He was even nice enough to give me his first art piece "The Babies Leap from the Caves" (featuring the return of Uncle Nose). I wish him my love and the god's blessings.”

4:15pm After receiving Luna's email I fired off one to her of my concerns and she just replied, “93! I just talked to Steven on the phone. OF COURSE, the only thing he is concerned about is Lorax Applesauce his cat. So, Leigh is taking off work right now, I'm throwing on some clothes, and we are headed over to The City now. Steven sounded okay!  He is on the 10th Floor of the UCSF Hospital  (505 Parnassus). We will get his keys, and go to his house and bring in the cat and feed her.....and Adele "Babe" Cohen, his mom will put his sister and neice on a plane asap. Remember that Shadow is a big prancing curmudgeon!....who has been alone for a decade, and has forgotten how to let people help him...that is Babe's big worry.  OK...off to see The Shadow will report back in later tonight. LOVE and 93s )O( and Leigh.” ... Reply: .... and being a crusty, ill-tempered old man myself, more of a slow walking curmudgeon than a prancer, I understand Steve's enjoyment of self reliance and doing things himself. Anyway, Luna also gave me Steve's hospital phone number - I immediately tried calling but all I could do was leave a message with the nurse; only a few friends and family are on his ‘list’ to receive incoming calls .. I understood; they took my name and I told the nurse to let him know I called.

3:48pm I just received a devastating email from Luna letting me know that an old and dear friend, Steven Cohen, has had a heart attack.  He is now in the intensive care at UCSF, 505 Parnassus, S.F. She writes, "I just got off the phone with his mother, Adele Cohen.....she does not know where to begin or what to do...but she will most likely be flying Steven's sister and niece out here asap. Adele and I agreed that we have to take some sort of control in helping Steven  (as we all know, Steven is a recluse). SO....at this time, Adele is just standing by, and she welcomes phone calls from anyone who can possibly help her in the situation.  She is most concerned with getting Steven to cooperate with her, his sister, and neighbors, in being able to get in and out of his apartment, and in getting him food...and getting to and from the hospital (his sister will rent a car). She said that she spoke to Steven's doctor, Dr. Zligo (but that this doctor may not continue to be his main doc), and that Dr. Zligo told Adele that Steven is now in the cardio cath lab. He did suffer some damage to the heart, but at this time we do not know how extensive it is. ... I know that several of you on this emal list are presently taking care of ill parents out of state, and that most of us are also down with the flu, and busy with work... ....but, if any of you can just stand by to do, even one little bit, in orchestrating how Adele and Steven's sister and teenage niece and get around the city (I volunteered to pick them up from the airport), this would be great.  I think that at this time Adele and Sister just need to have people to contact so that they can get around in a strange city. more later. Love Luna."  .... Reply: My deepest love is extended to this truly remarkable little guy. If anyone out there can help; give me a call and I'll put you in touch with Luna, or email her directly at transsurrealstudios@gmail.com.  

3:20pm I received the latest issue of Another Mirror at the end of the Road, Volume One, No.3 Winter 2008. Great interview titled ‘Psychotronics, Interdimensional Gateways, and Energy Monsters: An Interview with Peter Moon.’ ...  Nice job guys. If anyone wants to order copies send an email to Friends-of-gammon-house@yahoo.com

1:45pm We just added another piece by Grady Louis McMurty onto this website. It is an INTERVIEW with CALIPH HYMENAEUS ALPHA 777 which is titled CONCERNING “MY BOOK" It originally appeared in the KAABA Newsletter Volume I Number 2, An. LXXIV, Sol in Cancer, Summer 1978 e.v., pgs.7-14. This newsletter was published out of Ra-Hoor-Khuit Lodge, OTO in Syracuse New York. ... We wish to thank Soror Copulo Contrarium for helping us make this article available and we hope our readers enjoy the old Grady stories ...

8:25am Andrew West sent an email – “93! I was thinking about the confusion that comes with the term God in the New Aeon. If we have an Angel then there is a God. Thelemites clearly do not see this God the way our culture generally describes God though. So who is God really? I realized that as the past Aeons saw a reversal of the last's cosmology (the masculinizing of goddesses from Taurus to Aries and the relegation of the Gods of Olympus to the depths of Hell from Aries to Pisces) in the New Aeon we have the Beast 666 in the role of Prophet and the Whore of Babylon replacing Mary pointing to the conclusion of the many that the Christian Devil is our God- in addition to the obvious revival of the worship of the Pagan gods. ... So we've had four general phases of vastly different conceptions of God and gods on this planet. Which gods do we talk to? Who do we trust? Well my conception of this now is that the gods of the Aeons, as we experience them, are time elementals. By this logic the aeons are sections of a larger body that exists across time at such a scale we can't see it all at once. The truest God we can conceive of then seems to be the Daimon of this entire four Aeon period. A god to whom Goddess and God, Jehovah and Satan, Allah and Zeus, Christ and Antichrist are as different parts of its body. It's as if we're on a plane and a giant is passing over us. Different generations have seen different parts of this passing giant. Most religious arguments then are a lot like two people who don't go outside arguing over what the weather is like by quoting two out of date weather reports. Go outside! Look up and see the Giant! Below the Abyss, at this time, we're living in the Thelemic Aeon and we should access the proper gods but across the Abyss we should keep in mind the God we meet transcends all time and space and so will both contain and transcend every conception of god man has ever had throughout our history. ... Alright. I'm spent for Now. 93, 93/93 –Andy.” ......... Reply: Previous Aeons used metaphors for God like the bull (Taurus), sheep or rams (Aries) and fish (Pisces) but Aquarius is the only Zodiac sign which has a human figure in it - thus, there is no God but Man is how we are seeing it now. Its funny, I just posted Stepping Out of the Old Aeon into the New this morning. ... Are the Gods [wink wink] trying to tell us something?

7:15am To remind my readers, we have been up-loading a lengthy series of talks which Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 (Grady Louis McMurtry) did here in Berkeley on magick and philosophy. These were later transcribed and published. The series is titled FROM THE CALIPH. The first installment appeared in The Magickal Link in October of 1981. I wish to thank Frater Orpheus for making this page and the other pages possible in this series. In regards to this latest installment Frater Orpheus has written - "....this article is brilliant and timely! ... I will never forget the Grady line "angels are blind until you turn them ON..." of AL I:11 Crowley states, "A verse with so sacred a number as 11 is likely to mean very deep things. Probably much concerning the function of The Fool is concealed in it."  "These are fools that men adore...", which Crowley suggest are our "Silent selves", "impotent babes unborn" and then charges us to bring forth our Holy Guardian Angel from the womb of our subconsciousness then to take our fill of love, or to do our true Wills whose mode of fulfillment is love....he also discusses the dual fold nature of the Angels/Gods and hints at how we turn them ON. In other words how we bring forth the Angel through the formula of ON creating that ideal situation which as Grady put it leads to "No more disturbances on the lower planes" and more...this is a great article!!!! Enjoy." .... Reply: and so many magicians don't believe that Grady's understanding of Crowley's Formula of ON is important. There are numerous gems throughout this series ... I only hope our readers appreciate what is being revealed. Now if only they had a copy of Red Flame No.7 - The Magickal Essence of Aleister Crowley they'd get a 'full blast' of what ON signifies according to Grady McMurtry! ... Anyway, the latest installment of From the Caliph is from The Magickal Link, Vol. II, No.5 May 1982e.v. and titledOON DISTURBING THE TRAQUILITY OF GODS. ... Click HERE and enjoy. .....

6:40am A new piece has been added into our website. You can reach it on our CONTENTS PAGE or here; it is titled STEPPING OUT OF THE OLD AEON INTO THE NEW. It was written by Frater Achad (Charles Robert Stansfeld Jones) who was born on April 2, 1886 in Fulham Park Gardens, London. On December 24, 1909 Jones joined the A.'.A.'. taking the motto O.I.V.V.I.O, which stands for Unus In Omnibus, Omnia In Uno. On February 26, 1913 he received a letter informing him that he has passed into the Neophyte Degree. On January 1, 1915 he was granted a patent by Aleister Crowley to establish the O.T.O. in North America. He created Agape Lodge No.1 in British Columbia, Canada. ... On July 8, 1916 Aleister Crowley & Soror Hilarion (Jane Foster) attempt to create a ‘Magical Child’ as heir to his magical current. Unknown to them at the time was that the month before, on June 21, 1916, Frater Achad had swore the Oath of the Abyss and entered the City of the Pyramids which is the abode of NEMO (No Man), thus becoming a Master of The Temple 8=3 in the A.'.A.'..... Crowley would inevitably believe that Frater Achad was his 'Magical Child.' ... The piece above was originally published in The Equinox Vol.III:1 pg.183 (1919). In his 1918 private diary Frater Achad wrote - "On Sept. 1st I obtained a clear understanding regarding the Will and the Law. On Sept. 8th nothing special I think, but on Sept. 15th I wrote 'Stepping out of the Old Aeon into the New' and today I had a mind to write, at Therion's request, a pamphlet on how All is Change."  (Liber 31; The Diary of O.I.V.V.I.O.). Jones died on February 24, 1950.   ..... This piece is a MUST read by all Thelemites!

5:45am I should mention that January 6th is known as the Feast of Epiphany, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas. The Greek word ‘Epiphany’ implies the manifestation of something spiritual or divine. In the Christian sense, the 12th Day is when Christ was shown to the world by the Three Wise Men. Oddly, throughout Europe, the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany are often considered ‘evil’ or a ‘witching time’ and the Twelfth Night is when all the ‘evil’ is finally expelled. In Greek tradition it is believed that when Christ was born, so too were the demons known as Kallikantzaroi. They are the souls of ‘unbaptised babies’ who manifest to torment people. In fact, it was believed that children born at Christmas most likely would become a Kallikantzaroi in the flesh as a punishment for their mothers’ sin in bearing them at a time sacred to the Mother of God. In Macedonia the Kallikantzaroi were believed to be real people whose Holy Guardian Angel underwent an evil transformation. Other legends say that during the Twelfth Day of Christmas these mischievous creatures ride around on chickens, they steal infants and they are said to wear wooden or iron boots with which they kick people, while in other areas it was believed that these imps aren’t shod at all but hooved. Of all the beliefs which are consistent in most countries the most humorist is the idea that Kallikantzaroi enjoys urinating in your groceries. Some legends even claim that they take the form of wolves or monkeys. The Kallikantzaroi cannot come into a house uninvited; a black cross or X painted on your door keeps them out and in the mean time they normally hover around lakes and crossroads. However, they are good at imitating the voices of a loved one in order to trick a person into opening their door or window. On the Twelfth Night is the Greek feast known as Kalanda when all Kallikantzaroi are expelled in a ceremonial blessing of the waters by the local priest which, it is believed, will settle these nasty little creatures until the next year.

5:30am For the history buffs: lots to report, first Jeanne da Arc, more commonly known as Joan of Arc, or the Maid of Orléans and the hero of the Hundred Years War, was born on this date in Dormy, France in 1412. She was a simple peasant girl who had claimed to hear the voices of ‘saints’ telling her that she must help the Dauphin gain the throne of France. She let these voices guide her throughout her life and also on the battle field where the voices urged her to save France from English domination. She had a lot in common with Marshall Gille de Rais who fought at her side, both were said to be reckless in battle; they both preferred a simple response to any given situation; they both had a sense of occasion, of the theatrical; and they both shared a fondness for fine clothes. Sadly, not long after helping the Dauphin be crowned King Charles the VIIth, Joan was captured by the English, who tried her as a heretic, found her guilty and burned her at the stake in 1431. ….... also, Khalil Gibran was born on this date in 1883 in the mountain village of Bsharri, Lebanon. At the age 12 his family immigrated to Boston, where he lived for three years before returning to the University of Beirut. He was a very prolific writer, but is mostly known for his book titled The Prophet (1923) which Gibran summarizes: “The whole Prophet is saying one thing: You are far greater than you know, and all is well.” Besides writing one of the best-selling books of all time, he is also a talented artist. In fact, when Auguste Rodin wanted his official portrait done, he commissioned Gibran to do the work.  Gibran died on April 10, 1931 of cancer in New York City hospital, at age 48. …...... and Albert Hoffmann was born on this date in 1911. He was the brilliant Swiss chemist, author and philosopher; and the retired Director of the Pharmaceutical-Chemical Research Laboratories of Sandoz Ltd., Basel. He is best known for fathering his “problem child” or discovering LSD on April 19, 1943. …...... other notable people born on January 6th are Ena Twigg the well known British medium in 1914, Dr. John Cunningham Lilly in 1915, Alan Watts in 1915, Sun Myung Moon in 1920 who was the leader of the Unification Church, Doris Sutton also in 1920 the author of Voices In My Ear (1980) ….. and I should finally point out that upon learning that Karl Germer, the head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, had died in October of 1962 Hermann Metzger (Frater Paragranus) of Switzerland summoned all his close friends on January 6th 1963 for an election. He later acknowledged that they “unanimously elected” him; “the Very Illustrious + H. Josephus M*, Fra.*Paragranus, Grand Master X° of the Order of Oriental Templars, Sovereign Grand Master-General of the Ordo Illuminatorum, Sovereign Grand Master General of Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua, and Sovereign Patriarch Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ henceforth to be Sovereign Grand Master-General, Outer Head of the Order of the Ordo Templi Orientis.” This sounds all well and good and very impressive, but since no other IX°s in the entire world were even notified of the elections being held, Metzger never gained any credence outside his own circle of friends who elected him.

Monday January 5th 2009 – 7:30pm Aleister Crowley’s wrote in Rex de Arte Regia, The King on the Royal Art Diaries, on this date in 1915 regarding the opposite sex in New York, that - “women in America seem purely animal. They come like water and like the wind they go. Not one of these operations in this country has ever had the flavor that one gets in Europe.”

4:45am For the history Buffs: Mukunda Lal Ghosh was born on this date in Gorakhpur, India in 1893 into a devout and well-to-do Bengali family as Mukunda Lal Ghosh. The world would know him as Paramahansa Yogananda the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles. He was the author of the classic book The Autobiography of a Yogi. (1946). He died on March 7, 1952 from a massive heart attack while attending a banquet in Los Angeles. He lay in state for over twenty days and, according to a signed and notarized statement from the director of Forest Lawn Memorial Park, “no physical disintegration was visited upon his body…it was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability.” …..... also, Jeanne Pinchert, more commonly known as Jean Dixon, was born on this date to German in 1904 immigrant parents in Milford, Wisconsin. She was a well-known psychic, Seer and astrologer who always concealed her real age, often citing 1918 as her birth year, but her birth records show that this date is correct. She grew up to be one of our most noted modern psychics, although this title of ‘most noted modern psychics ‘ is dubious considering that she predicted that Russia would be the first nation to put men on the moon, that world War III would begin in 1954 and that the Vietnam war would be over in 1966. Her sole claim to fame rested on a single ‘correct’ prediction that she made in Parade Magazine, May 13, 1956, which stated: “As to the 1960 election, Mrs. Dixon thinks it will be dominated by labour and won by a Democrat. But he will be assassinated or die in office, though not necessarily in his first term.” Naturally, when President Kennedy was assassinated, she quickly reminded the world that she had predicted it. Jeanne Dixon missed her greatest prediction; she died of a heart attack on January 25, 1997, at 2:30 PM, in Washington, DC. Her most famous book was A Gift of Prophecy (1966). …...... and finally, Grady Louis McMurtry, the future head of Aleister Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis, attended his first Gnostic Mass on this date, of January 5th 1941, at Agape Lodge in Pasedena, California. He recalled that the “temple was big enough so that you could have people on both sides of the altar,” and it appears that men sat on one side and the women on the other. The Mass was beautifully performed and one specific point left a lasting impression on Grady. He wrote, “We come down to the Collects. To the point where ‘sap of the world ash, wonder tree’ where all say it together. And I looked around to people sitting on my right and on my left, and I realized ‘These are the people I came down to meet. These are the people I came down to find.’ And that’s how I became a Thelemite.”

Sunday January 4th 2009 – 3:45pm I received an email from Ricky, he asks a good question – “I would like to thank you for keeping such an informative blog, I enjoy it immensely! I have a question about elementals, 'poltergeist' activity and the 'shadow' or daimon. You've said that after a persons body dissolves their daimon stays in this plane, on Malkuth. My question here is, can a person encounter a disembodied daimon the same way they can an elemental or a succubi/ inccubi? Could such a thing muster enough energy to cause 'poltergeist like' activity or are elementals alone in this category? And finally if both these beings can cause this sort of phenomena, how could one go about deciphering which is the culprit to banish accordingly?” ........ Reply: First; a disembodied daimon, an elemental and a succubi/inccubi are all one an the same. Although called by many names; everything that has ever been brought into manifestation has an elemental from a rock, to a tree, to a table, or even shoes and even our own body. There are no exceptions. Even the Jewish Talmud tells us that every blade of grass has over it an ‘angel telling it to grow.’ However, if the mundane vehicle of an elemental still exists it is usually hard for that elemental to resort to ‘poltergeist’ activity so we can rule out the origins of an ‘active’ elemental relatively easy. As for the succubi or inccubi, these are just certain ‘types’ of daimons that are programmed sexually. In fact, what most ghost hunters call a ‘poltergeist’ is simply a daimon that is fulfilling its host’s programming over and over again. In all cases, the intensity of ‘poltergeist’ activity is directly related to the ‘intensity’ of its hosts programming. ... As I was taught by Grady, almost all elementals respond to ‘Earth’ banishing; regardless of the type they are.

7:15am Luna sent a great email. She writes, "J 93! I was perusing Google last night to find some of my ex-wife's photographs....which led me to Susie Bright's Blog March 11, 2008. Rewind a bit:  When Tracy was featured in an issue of "On Our Backs" in circa 1987, Susie published an expose' and interview with Tracy Mostovoy....and the photos included several shots of me. In the interview Tracy says that I (and I am paraphrasing) "Luna was the FIRST LESBIAN to wear lingerie...she was not afraid of it.." and Tracy goes on (in the article) to state that "Luna is a powerful witch". I have always laughed about this because this makes me the oldest living femme!!!  BUT .... (apparantly Susie still uses Tracy's photos to illustrate her editorials)...Susie, in this March 11, 2008 Blog posting...uses a photo of me in my dungeon...and, if you read down in the article it says something like "The photo is of a dom, Tracy's LATE lover...." So, my friend, Jerry...I am DEceased...Dead and Late... too funny...here is the link...and if you scroll down you will see the credits that state that I am DEAD...Late and whatever...good to know. here is the link (and I must say that seeing myself in 1986 motivates me to do some upper arm exercises) ... Love and 93s from the other side )O(." ..... Reply: Ah, she brings smiles ... Anyway, I spent yesterday afternoon with Luna, Leigh, Charles, Domino and others on Telegraph Avenue. I had a great time. These are truly remarkable people. Later, at home, after getting the above email I quickly went to site and read - "Tracy, an accomplished photographerQuinceneara, took this portrait of her late lover in the 1980s, who was working as a dom for clients who had much in common with men like Elliot Spitzer." - and I smiled. For being written up as 'deceased', I thought Luna looked really good today!

6:25am For the history buff, a lot has happened today and unlike last year where I decided to pick just 'one' thing and post it, this year I’m going to deviate off the standard format and simply list everything I have on file in a row:

1. ... January 4, 1878  The artist Augustus John was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, S.W. Wales on this date. He studied art in London and Paris and made an early reputation with his etchings. His favorite themes were gypsies, fishing folk and naturally regal women, as in Lyric Fantasy (1913). He also enjoyed painting portraits of political and artistic contemporary figures, such as Shaw, Hardy, and Dylan Thomas. He even drew numerous sketches of Aleister Crowley throughout his lifetime but probably his most famous was for the frontpiece in Crowley’s book titled OLLA, An Anthology of Sixty Years of Song (1946). Of his earlier sketches, John described them briefly in letter to Evan Morgan, or Lord Tredegar, wherein he wrote: “Aleister Crowley is in no way admirable; I even doubt his carnal prowess. The face I have drawn is that of a vulgar charlatan - a coarse bad mystagogue.” Augustus John died on Tuesday October 31st in 1961

2 ... January 4, 1918 It is considered by some that Roddie Minor or Sister Achitha’s visions, which actually began on this date, appear to be no more than hallucinations produced by ‘Our lady of Dreams’ (opium), lacking any real occult significance but Aleister Crowley found them extremely impressive and claimed that the visions put him in contact with a spirit known as the wizard Amalantrah. 

3 ... January 4, 1922 Doreen Edith Dominy was born on this date in Mitcham, South London. On the May 29, 1944 she married her second husband Casimiro Valiente and thus she became known as Doreen Valiente. She joined a wiccan coven in 1953 and became one of the most respected Gardnerian witches to have influenced the modern day movement of Witchcraft.  Some of her books include An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present (1973), Natural Magic (1975), Witchcraft for Tomorrow (1985) and The Rebirth of Witchcraft (1989). Finally, after a long struggle with cancer, she died on September 1, 1999 in Brighton, Sussex.

4. - January 4, 1946   On this date the Spear of Destiny, known also as the ‘Spear of Longinus’ which is reputed to be the actual spear which pierced the side of Christ, was rescued from the Nazis by the Allied forces in Bavaria. 

5. - January 4, 1946   Jack Parsons began the rites known as The Babalon Working on this date in California, and they continued on for a few weeks. Parsons’ intent was to invoke and incarnate an Elemental or Familiar Spirit ... a ‘Moonchild’ in the purest sense. These rituals began precisely at nine o’clock every night, often performed with Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto Number 2 as an accompaniment. The scribe throughout some of these earlier rituals was L. Ron Hubbard. Then on January 18th, as Parsons records: “at sunset, while the Scribe and I were in the Mojave Desert, the feeling of tension suddenly snapped.” A calm came over the air and at this stage Parsons turned to Hubbard and told him that he felt “It is done.” He felt “in absolute certainty that the operation was accomplished.” Upon returning home he “found a young woman answering the requirements waiting for me” at the door. Jack described his ‘familiar’ as “an air of fire type with bronze red hair, fiery and subtle, determined and obstinate, sincere and perverse, with extraordinary personality, talent, and intelligence.” The woman whom Parsons was referring is Marjorie Cameron. Now that he had his Elemental Spirit or ‘earthly vehicle,’ the next stage was to prepare her to be the ‘Mother of Babalon.’ These rituals continued till late February, the last occurring on the 27th. The following day, February 28th, Jack Parsons headed into the Mojave Desert alone. After the appropriate invocations, Parsons wrote, “the presence of the Goddess came upon me, and I was commanded to write ...”  This ‘Communication’ as Jack Parsons would later call it was seventy-seven verses, later named Liber 49, The Book of Babalon. It is very fascinating to read, although the most outrageous claim is in Verse 2 where it states, “And this is my book, that is the fourth chapter of The Book of the Law.” It appears that Crowley’s three previously manifested Chapters of Liber AL vel Legis represented Yod-He-Vau, the Father, Mother and Son - Babalon now communicated the fourth and final chapter, that of the Daughter, the final He. On March 1st and 2nd Jack Parsons prepared a special altar in accordance with the instructions found in Liber 49. Little was obtained this evening but one warning would later manifest with frightening consequences. The scribe recorded, “Beware the use of profaned rituals. She (Babalon) is the flame of life, power of darkness, she destroys with a glance, she may take thy soul. She feeds upon the death of man.” It continued with commands to perform another ritual the next day, concentrating all one’s energy and being in Our Lady Babalon. Parsons was required to light a single candle on ‘Her’ altar, saying: “Flame is Our Lady, flame is her hair. I am flame.”

6 - January 4, 1949   Lewis Allen Browne, the former Rabbi and author of This Believing World and Stranger Than Fiction, was so terrified of his approaching blindness that he committed suicide on this date. His suicide note ends “I have no fear of death. I think it is an endless sleep so good night. I don’t want to think.” His book, This Believing World, A Simple Account of the Great Religions of Mankind, is frequently suggested to people by A.A. sponsors, but this is not to be mistaken for Aleister Crowley’s  AA, it refers to ‘Alcoholics Anonymous.’

7 - January 4, 1971   The Christian minister Arthur Ford, born in 1897, died on this date. He was brought up as a strict Baptist but developed ideas that were too heretical for the faith and was kicked out of his church at the age of sixteen. He became a great spiritualist better known as the “man who talked to the dead.” He was the founder of the ‘Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship’ and has been described as “a gifted psychic who fell back on trickery when he had to” and after his death his private papers seemed to support this claim. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, after witnessing one of Arthur Ford’s séances, called it “one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in forty-one years of psychic experience” but he further added that everything Ford had said could “fit someone in the crowd” as if to imply such broadness gives way to fraud. Ford had gained his reputation as a spiritualist by communicating with the deceased Harry Houdini who told him the ‘Secret Message’ that he set up between himself and his wife Bess. This code, supposedly known only by Bess, had been set up to prove that the psychic who claimed communication with Houdini was real and not a fraud. At first everyone was amazed at Ford’s revealing the code until it was pointed out that Bess had earlier revealed it to a newspaper writer, who had then written it an article about the late Houdini. Immediately, Ford was labeled a fraud and with the same enthusiastic headlines that he had received when he first announced his ‘success’ with contacting the other side and in revealing Houdini’s message but, either way, Ford was now famous. One of his most popular books was Unknown but Known.

8 - January 4, 1986 Christopher Bradshaw Isherwood died on this date in Santa Monica at the age of 82. He was a champion with his controversial stand on gay liberation. In 1955 he experimented with the drug Kif while in Tangier while visiting the novelist and poet Paul Bowles. He fictionalized his account in a short story titled A Visit to Anselm Oakes, which he included in his book Exhumation. Some have speculated that Anselm Oakes was actually based on Paul Bowles but actually Oakes is “a figure primarily modelled on Alistair {sic} Crowley.” This is obvious because instead of the typical Crowley greeting of “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” Anselm Oakes uses a corrupt version, “The Will is the Law, the Law is the Will.” It might be interesting to note that in the opening paragraph to this story one of the main characters states, “I don’t trust Anselm,” as if to mimic an unconscious view which Isherwood himself shared about the Great Beast. Originally the story was the final episode of Isherwood’s book titled Down There on a Visit. However, not “long before the novel was published, in 1962,” he “suddenly decided to take the visit to Anselm out of it.” Years later, in his private journal, Isherwood made another rather amusing comment about Crowley. He wrote, “The truly awful thing about Crowley is that one suspects he didn’t really believe in anything. Even his wickedness. Perhaps the only thing that wasn’t fake was his addiction to heroin and cocaine.”

9 - January, 4 1996 On this date outside Isabella County, Michigan, the town woke to its first case of ‘cattle mutilation’ when eight one week old calves were found frozen and dead. Two of them were skinned of their hide from head to hooves; six were skinned of their entire hide from neck to hooves. These type of cases are often attributed to UFOs. Three days later, near Kalamath Falls, Oregon another one week old calf was found dead and mutilated. Its right ear had been cut off and the entire skull had been removed.

10 - January 4, 1996  On this date near Campo Rico, Puerto Rico, about 7pm, Madeline Tolentino was driving her Isuzu Trooper on Route 185 near a horse track called El Comandante. Her two year old son was in the car seat. Suddenly, she smelled something very pungent, a sulfur-like odor, which irritated her throat. At this very moment a small hairy creature with bright red eyes ran across the road in front of the car and quickly disappeared into the woods. Frightened, Madeline quickly headed home to tell her husband. He decided to investigate for himself and although he claimed to never have seen the Chupacabra or “Goat sucker” he did smell a lingering foul odor.

Saturday January 3rd 2009 – 10:15am On Sunday December 14th 2008 at 11:00am I posted - "Hey all; Paul Hohlt turned me onto a great psychology book by Sandra Lee Dennis M.A. which is titled EMBRACE OF THE DAIMON. It is written by a woman psychologist over a nine year period and details her own personal experiences, and her research into the literature of the daimonic realm of the archetypes: the land of the daimons, the source of creativity, the soul, and of imaginal reality. The Foreword begins - "Nothing is more important that reflection on the daimonic, which is the source of both human creativity and human depravity. It is rare to find an exploration of the daimonic that is not moralistic, that doesn't try to spare us from encountering its power." ... So far I am greatly enjoying this book immensely which quotes lots of Jung and Hillman. I highly suggest that my readers, especially women, who have enjoyed Hillman’s THE SOUL'S CODE, hunt down a copy." .... Anyway, why I'm rehashing this is because I have two mint, brand new, never read copies of EMBRACE OF THE DAIMON. If anyone is interested I got them from Paul at $10.00 each [sells new for $21.95] and I'm selling them for the same plus shipping. First come, first serve ...

8:45am Mary was curious if I ever made lists of who ‘passed away’ during the year as News services do. I replied no, never had but I then thought about it and the only ones who I can think of, that I posted as dying in 2008, are listed on:

Wednesday February 6th 2008 – I reported the death of the 'Beatles'

Renowned Guru Dies' Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Wednesday March 19th 2008 – I reported the death of Arthur C.

Clarke.

Wednesday April 30th 2008 – – I reported the death of Albert

Hofmann, father of the mind-altering drug LSD

Tuesday June 17th 2008 7– I reported the death of Stan Winston,

Hollywood special-effects maestro who worked on Aliens, 1992's

Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 1993's Jurassic Park.

Tuesday June 24th 2008 – I reported the death of Parsival Krumm-

Heller the son of Arnoldo Krumm-Heller, Frater Huiracocha (1876-

1949) the founder of the F.R.A. or Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua

and a friend of Aleister Crowley.

Saturday July 12th 2008 – I reported the death of Alan Miller

(aka Dr Christopher Hyatt), the author and publisher of Thelemic

works, the founder of Falcon Press.

Monday December 8th 2008 – – I reported the death of Beverly

Garland of B-movie cult stardom in the 1950s who acted in such

movies such as Swamp Women (1955), Curucu, Beast of the Amazon

(1956) It Conquered the World (1956), Not of This Earth (1957) to

the ultra low-budget The Alligator People (1959).

Friday December 12th 2008 – I reported the death of '50s Pin-Up

Queen Bettie Page.

Yes, admittedly a lot more famous people died in 2008 but the ones above were the only ones I reported. Although I should have mentioned that one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin passed away on June 22nd 2008.

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7:30am For the history buffs: on this date in 1892 a child was born in a hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa but within days the baby was stolen by a local native. Testimony later showed that the woman simply wanted to take the child home to show the rest of her family. Apparently none of them had ever seen such an oddity before – a ‘white child’.  Since it was an ‘innocent act of curiosity’ no charges were pursued and the little blue eyed, fair haired and ‘high-domed headed’ baby who was named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was returned unharmed. Thus was the remarkable beginning of J. R. R. Tolkien the author who wrote The Hobbit and the classic trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, which are highly imaginative stories about elves, dwarves, and wizards in a land known as Middle Earth. Characters like the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, along with the wizard Gandalf figure prominently in these stories. He died on September 2, 1973. …..... Also of note; the Ahathoor Temple No.7 of The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn was consecrated by MacGregor Mathers in Paris, France on this date in 1894. Although it might have been due to his autocratic tone and what some historians believed to be his growing friendship with Aleister Crowley, a practicing homosexual, but this would be the last Temple of the Mathers’ branch of the Golden Dawn.  …........ although my favorite thing occurring on this date is what Aleister Crowley briefly wrote in his diary in 1931 on January 3rd, or that “practically all woman ought to be chloroformed at 35”,  but here is no indication before or after this remark which might give the reader some indication as to what prompted this comment but, knowing Uncle Al, it could be anyone’s guess. …....... and finally, it should be pointed out that Harold Angel, a private eye depicted in the movie Angel Heart, was hired by Louis Cyphre on this date in 1955 to track down the black magician Johnny Favorite who had fled into obscurity before fulfilling the payment of his ‘soul’ to Lucifer.

Friday January 2nd 2009 – 6:15am For the history buffs: this date is the birthday of the Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth named Inanna.  She journeyed into the underworld only to find herself turned into a corpse and the only way for her to leave was to provide a substitute. She thought hard and decided it was best that she make available her husband as the substitute; a story of true love. …..... and Joanna Southcott died on this date of brain disease at the age of 64 in 1815. She was the controversial British prophetess and religious visionary. She was buried in Marylebone Cemetery. She had been born in April of 1750 in the County of Devon in the West Country of England. Little is known of her childhood but late in her life, in 1792, she proclaimed openly that she had obtained the gift of prophecy. Soon afterwards she announced that she was the woman mentioned in The Book of Revelation, Chapter 12 and that she would be the mother of the coming Messiah.  She wrote over sixty some odd books. However, despite the fact that she never gave birth to any children her followers continued to believe in her long after her death. She left a locked box with special instructions that it should be opened only in the presence of all the bishops at a time of national crisis. However, in 1928 when the box was opened, all agreed; “it revealed nothing of interest.” …......... also, George Gilbert Aime Murry, better known simply as Gilbert Murray, was born on this date in Sydney, Australia in 1866. He later became the President of the Society for Psychical Research (1915-1916) in England and was famous for his thought-transference experiments. He died in 1957. ….......... and I should point out that Issac Asimov was born on January 2nd in Petrovichi, Russia in 1920. At age of three he moved with his family to America. He is an extraordinarily popular science-fiction writer and one of the most prolific in history; producing around 450 books in his lifetime and thousands of articles in professional and mass-market publications; a few of his most notable stories being I, Robot (1950) and Fantastic Voyage (1966).  To clarify his belief as to whether or not there was intelligent life in outer space he once wrote, “Let me make my position clear, since I don’t want my writing to be used as a basis for a point of view that I consider folly. I don’t believe in flying saucers.” Asimov died in 1992 at the age of 72 from AIDS-related heart and kidney failure, a consequence of an infected blood transfusion during a triple bypass operation in 1983. …......... and finally, Robert Louis Stevenson’s (1850-1894) classic book titled Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, about the consequences of letting one’s dark side run wild, was made into a Hollywood movie and released publicly on this date in 1932.

Thursday January 1st 2009 – 2:00pm I am presently immersed in reading a book titled Jung and Yoga, The Psyche-Body Connection (2001) by Judith Harris. The author is a Jungian Analyst with a diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich and an MA in Holistic Medicine and Psychology. She lives and maintains a private practice in London, Ontario, where she also teaches yoga. Her book details her personal journey and discoveries using Jung's theories on Kundalini Yoga and practical application. The back cover states – “Jung and Yoga is an in-depth analysis of the parallels between yoga practices and Jungian analysis, and the implications of both for spiritual and psychological growth. It is an eminently practical approach to the subject that, on the one hand, focuses on the understanding of Jung's ideas, as they may be experienced through bodywork, and, on the other, offers a new psychological perspective to practitioners of bodywork.” It then quotes the author: “Many of us have endured a life not-yet-lived. In the mysterious place between the opposites, previously hidden energy brings psyche and body together, uniting them in the sacred union that gives birth to a new consciousness, and the gift of a life fully lived.” ... I may not agree with everything that I’m reading but I’m thoroughly enjoying the book; great feminine insights. It’s a semi-rare book, but I suggest that my students keep an eye out for it.

8:45am After last night, my brain hurts, my eyes are in backwards  ... and so stop reading my blog so loud. Read it in a whisper please.    :/

8:40am For the history buffs: James Frazer was born on this date in Glasgow, Scotland in 1854. He authored the monumental study in comparative folklore, religion and magic titled The Golden Bough (1890). He died on May 7, 1941 in Cambridge, England.  …...…  Also, at the age of seventy-two, the Revd. William Alexander Ayton decided to join the British occult fraternity known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He took the motto of Frater Virtute Orta Raris. He died about twenty years later on this very date in Saffron Walden, Hertfordshire in 1909. The Revd. Ayton once wrote to his friend W. B. Yeats that he had actually manufactured the elixir of life - “A French alchemist said that it had the right smell and the right color ... but the first effect of the elixir is that your finger nails fall out and your hair falls off.  I was afraid that I might have made a mistake and that nothing else might happen, so I put it away on a shelf. I meant to drink it when I was an old man, but when I took it down the other day and it had all dried up.” …....... also of interest, I should point out that the history of the Ordo Templi Orientis in America began on this date in 1915 with Charles Stansfeld Jones (1886-1950) being granted a patent by Aleister Crowley to establish the O.T.O. in North America. Jones created the British Columbia Lodge No.1. One of the first members was Wilfred T. Smith, who signed the O.T.O. Pledge Form on January 18th; taking Minerval initiation on April 17th. Smith later joined Crowley’s AA as a Probationer in March of 1916; taking the magickal motto of Nubem Eripiam (I will snatch away the cloud). Smith later founded Agape Lodge No.1 in North Vancouver, Canada and in June of 1921 he swore the AA Oath of the Abyss and assumed the magickal motto of Frater Velle Omnia Velle Nihil 132 (To will all, to will nothing). In early April of 1922 Smith moved to southern California where he began working for the Department of the Southern California Gas Company in Los Angles. Here Smith establishment Agape Lodge No.2. ....….. and Aleister Crowley, the notorious Great Beast 666, wrote a deep philosophical piece of wisdom in his private diary on January 1, 1929 in regards to his favorite religion  “Christianity is like a painted mummy; expose it to fresh air, & it crumbles to dirt.” .....….. What other piece of historical trivia can I dig up? Ah, here is something else to note. It was on this date in 1946 that the author Eliza M. Butler, a professor at Cambridge University, left London enroute to Netherwood to interview ‘Old Crow’ or Aleister Crowley for her new book, The Myth of the Magus. She later wrote; as she stood in the hall, “a seedy figure in light tweed knickerbockers materialised on the stairs and a grating voice was heard to utter: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law’.” She claimed that her direct response to Crowley’s statement was an unspoken comment which immediately ran through her mind: “In that case...I’m for the next train back” — but, somehow, she decided to stay. Butler claimed that Crowley “was more repulsive that I had expected, and his voice was the ugliest thing about him: thin, fretful, scratchy - a pedantic voice and a pretentious manner ... I could not take him seriously.” When The Myth of the Magus was finally published a year after Crowley’s death in 1948 he was only briefly mention as being the “amanuensis of Aiwass,” or ‘secretary’ of his Holy Guardian Angel; nothing more. Ironically, in his diaries on this date, Aleister Crowley write, “Prof. Butler of Newham came & talked with such sympathy, consideration, and understanding that the day was a dream of joy!”  ….....… and finally, I’d like to report that on January 1, 1976 a five-foot tall, huge, bald, black bird, with large red eyes and with a six-inch long beak in the center of its gorilla-like face was seen by many people in the Rio Grande Valley of Mexico. Some claimed it was a prehistoric Pterodactyl. Witnesses said that it was standing with its wings folded around its large body making a loud shrill “eeeeeee” sound and that its wings sounded almost bat like when it took off. Those who reported seeing the creature said that its face was horrifying with large red eyes of ‘pure evil.’ One family member reported that the bird was seemingly watching their daughter and her little playmate. When the fathers of the two little girls later went out to investigate the area where the creature had been seen they found prints that were eight inches across squared at the top with three-toed impressions and about two inches deep in the hard dry dirt. One of the men attempted to gauge the weight of the bird. His weight was about 170 pounds and even jumping up and down hard on the hard dry dirt, he was unable to make even a slight impression. Later that evening, once the family dog was unchained in order to come into the house for dinner, it darted in and refused to leave the safety of the house all night. A second sighting of the bird was made six days later by a motorist on January 7, 1976. 

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