~ April 1st - 17th 2009 ~

Friday April 17th 2009 – 7:05am I received a few emails giving me the solution to yesterday's 3:18pm posting but seriously, all six guys knew the solution while four women thought it was "unbelievable", "mysterious and perplexing", "What?" and my personal favorite - "There must be a tiny infra red camera and they're reading where your eyes are focusing." 

6:50am Tonight is an OPEN HOUSE at Love's Sake Clerk House. If you are interested in attending, feel free to stop by around 6:30pm. Email me for details if you need them.

6:45am For the history buffs: John Yarker, Freemasonic scholar, was born on this date in 1833. He was initiated into Masonry on October 25, 1854 at Lodge of Integrity No. 189 (later 163) Manchester. He is the author of The Arcane Schools: a review of their origin and antiquity; with a general history of Freemasonry, and its relation to the theosophic, scientific and philosophic mysteries (1909) as well as being the publisher from 1881 to 1900 of The Kneph, the official journal of the Antient and Primitive Rite. His Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry can be traced to the Oriental Rite of Memphis established in France in 1814, and the Rite of Mizraim, established in France in 1813. He died on March 20, 1913. …....… and I should mention that George Adamski, the son of a Polish immigrant, was born on this date in 1891. On November 20, 1952 he made contact with beings from the planet Venus who had arrived in a UFO in the desert of California. He generated world-wide fame for filming UFOs and writing such books as Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953) in which he described in-depth his encounters with aliens, such as Orthon. He died on February 26, 1965 of a heart attack in Silver Springs, Md. at the age of 74. He was cremated and then buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Although he had many followers who believed in his stories, Time magazine simply referred to him as “a crackpot from California.” At the time of his death he was offering to teach people how to visit the planets Venus and Mars through self-hypnosis  ‘for only fifty dollars.’ …....…. And it was on April 17, 1900 that Aleister Crowley briefly captured the Golden Dawn’s Vault of the Adepts in London wearing full Highland dress, a black mask over his face, a dagger at his side and a gold cross on his breast. He was acting on behalf of MacGregor Mathers.  However, the London Adepts called the police and had Crowley removed. …....…. Also, years later on April 17, 1929,  The New York Times newspaper reported that “Paris to expel A. Crowley, order effective today.” This is after the March 9 incident when Crowley and Israel Regardie were visited by an inspector who argued that their coffee-brewing machine was an infernal device for distilling drugs.

Thursday April 16th 2009 – 7:25pm We just had another earthquake hit us here in Berkeley at exactly 7:17pm; it was just a 1.5 magnitude; no biggie but it is the second day in a row!  Early rumblings of a big one?

3:18pm Every now and then something comes up where I shake my head, cannot figure it out and scream to the wind that its got to be the work of Satan. Click HERE for datails. And if you know how its done, please let me know.  

7:45am Before I forget; and it almost slipped my mind, today is the one year anniversary of the passing of Christopher Dietler aka Zardoz, who passed away after a tragic battle with cancer. Tonight, I drink in his honor!

6:20am For the history buffs: Albert Hoffmann’s accidentally discovered the pyschotomimetic effects of Lysergic Acid Diethyamide (LSD) on this date in 1943 but how it entered his system is still a mystery. In his classic book LSD, My Problem Child he wrote, “I was forced to stop my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and to go home, as I was seized by a peculiar restlessness associated with a sensation of mild dizziness. On arriving home, I lay down and sank into a kind of drunkenness which was not unpleasant, and which was characterized by extreme activity of imagination. As I lay in a dazed condition with my eyes closed, I experienced daylight as specially bright. There surged up from me an uninterrupted stream of fantastic images of extraordinary plasticity and vividness and accompanied by an intense, kaleidoscopic-like play of colors. This condition gradually passed off after about three hours.” ……… and also, Margot Adler, the author of Drawing down the Moon which is a classic study of goddess spirituality and contemporary paganism, was born on this date in 1946.

Wednesday April 15th 2009 – 6:15pm I created a 'Favorite Website' page. Its link is listed just off to the right in red. This page is just beginning and hopefully it will grow. If I do not have your site listed right now it is because there is nothing like a logo that I can post and link to ... and, at least right now, I'm not planning on creating my own design to link to your sites. 

1:00pm It seems we had an slight earthquake here in Berkeley at 12:35pm; it was only a 1.4 magnitude ... a tiny little belch, didn’t even feel it.

6:30am Ok folks I've added a page containing a collage of photos from the Feast that we held for the Three Days of  The Writing of The Book of the Law. We celebrated this event last Sunday April 12th at Leaping Laughter Clerk House here in Berkeley. This is just a 'taste page' whereas full close-up pages with clearer photos will be added in a few days. For now, just enjoy an partial overview ... Click HERE to view.

6:20am On Sunday April 12th, long before going over to the Feast of the Writing of the Book of the Law, Robert, Jerri, myself and my son drove out to Luis Alvarado's house to attend a Lucumi ceremony. My son Faustus is Luis' godchild. Anyway, there was a great drumming circle, singing, homage and evocations to the Ourishas, and did I mention sacrificing? These were not just a group of modern-day wannabes Voudon worshippers but rather generational Cuban and Puerto Ricans who flew in for this special ceremony in honoring Luis. Yesterday I sent Luis's lover a few pictures from the BOTL feast and he replied - "Sounds (and looks) like your Ben's Party (writing of the Book of the Law) was a Huge success. You made two parties in one day. It must take you back to your younger day....You wild and crazy man :)~ Loved the pictures." And regarding the Lucumi rite he writes - "Luis was very happy that Faustus and you came up for Luis' making.  Luis looked like a Beautiful Prince---No pictures were allowed for the festivities.  I have some images that will be hard to erase." ... regarding the sacrificing he writes - "... one Guinea hen flew the coop Saturday into our neighbors yard (and was re-captured) ... Another Guinea Hen escaped today (there were two birds left). That bird was smart enough to fly to our roof and plan his escape. The bird was last seen across the street heading for the 580 freeway!" And as far as the goats, he writes - "Just to let you know, - Goat Cheese Burgers are quite tasty!"   

6:10am For the history buffs: Leonardo DaVinci, the illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, was born on this date in 1452 in Vinci, Italy, just outside Florence. He was one of the greatest Renaissance artists, who were also celebrated as a sculptor, architect, engineer, and even a scientist. His profound love of knowledge and research was the keynote of both his artistic and scientific endeavors. His innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his death, and his scientific studies, particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and hydraulics, anticipated many of the developments of modern science. He painted of the Mona Lisa (1504?) and The Last Supper (1495). In 1516 he traveled to France to enter the service of King Francis I. He spent his last years at the Château de Cloux (later called Clos-Lucé), near the King’s summer palace at Amboise on the Loire, where he died on May 2, 1519. …....….. and Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress who played a witch named Samantha on the TV series Bewitched, was born on this date in Los Angeles, California in 1933. She died of cancer on May 18, 1995. …….... On an historical Thelemic note, there is no clear picture of when Aleister Crowley wrote and edited his version of the Second Degree Ritual of the Ordo Templi Orientis, although it was believed to have occurred in the late teens. But we do know that it was first performed at the Agape Lodge in California on this date in 1942; when Jack Parsons and his wife Helen were initiated into this Degree. The Lodge records state very clearly that they “were consecrated Magicians this evening - the first time the Degree, as written by To Mega Therion [Crowley], has been put on; certainly in America, and probably in the world.” The records continue, “We feel this is another mile stone in our journey; or, to be more specific, in the establishment of the New Order.” The three people acting as officers in rite were Wilfred T. Smith as Saladin and the roles of Emir and Wazir were performed by Regina Kahl and Jane Wolfe.

Tuesday Monday April 14th 2009 – 6:50am For the history buffs: James Branch Cabell was born on this date in Richmond, Virginia in 1879. In magick circles he is known for taking Aleister Crowley’s Gnostic Mass and incorporating it into his classic fantasy novel Jurgen (1919). Although Crowley hailed him as “a world genius of commanding stature,” Cabell dismissed him as amongst the “hordes of idiots and prurient fools who dabbled in black magic.” Cabell  died on May 5, 1958  in his house at 3201 Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. ……... And the notorious François Duvalier, nicknamed ‘Papa Doc’, was also born on this date in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1907. He was president ‘for life’ of Haiti between 1957 to his death on April 22, 1971. Some claim that Papa Doc created a ‘personality cult’ around the image of himself as the physical embodiment of the Haitian nation. Others are quick to point out that ‘Papa Doc’ was an expert in the art voodoo and that he ruled Haiti with brute force and utter terror with his ruthless security force known as the Tontons Macoutes, who routinely executed his opponents. ‘Papa Doc’ derived the name Tontons Macoutes from the Creole term for a mythological bogeyman. ……... And to continue on with birthdays; Erich von Daniken was born on this date in Zofingen, Switzerland in 1923. He spent most of his life pursuing his theory which postulated that the Earth might have been visited by extraterrestrials in the remote past. His most famous book was the Chariots of the Gods. …..…. And it was on April 14, 1934 as Aleister Crowley was leaving a London courtroom, a young nineteen-year old girl named Deidre MacAlpine ran up to him and asked, “Couldn’t I be the mother of your child?” He granted her that ‘honor’ and young Aleister Ataturk would inevitable be the child’s name. …...…. And it should be noted that Curtis Fuller, who had taken over FATE magazine with his wife back in 1955, died on this date in 1991 in Scottsdale Arizona at the age of 79. ……. And finally, on April 14 1996 near Laguna de Chapala, Mexico, Angler Jose.. Angel Pulido was allegedly attacked by a “dog sized creature covered with black hair.” Others people in the area reported seeing the same creature, a Chupacabra, covered with grayish or white fur. By morning animal mutilations were reported in numerous locations in the same general area. Others sources jokingly claimed that it was just an “illegal dirty hungry Honduran” who doesn’t act as “civilized as we Mexicans.”

Monday April 13th 2009 – 6:58pm I wish to announce that Weiser’s Antiquarian Books Catalog # 55: Foundation Works of the Occult Revival; being a selection of rare books may now be viewed at: www.weiserantiquarian.com/catalog

6:00pm Jay write - "Love those Thelemic girls... Hmm, now I'm thinking girls of Thelema bikini calendar..."

12:30pm Mick brought a really expensive camera to the Feast, set up and took lots of  shots; and just sent some and he writes - "93 All. And these pics are just the warm-up! We got 451 more shots of off-the-scale Thelemic zaniness from yesterday's blow-out -- available soon on CD!  (Gonna be a lot of 'splaining to do!)  :-)  Mick 93 93/93."  ..........  Reply: I'm scared. I don't remember everything that  I did.  :/ 

8:00am Well, I’d like to write more but my brain simply hasn’t woke up yet after yesterday’s Book of the Law Feast et party. Uncle Al would have been proud of us. Leaping Laughter Clerk House out did themselves this year. It was a packed apartment, the largest gathering of individuals to date. Lots of food and drink etc. .... I received this email this morning from the head of Leaping Laughter, he writes - "Jerry, 93 I just wanted to say thank you to yourself and everyone who attended and made our Book of the Law Party a success.  It was nice to see old friends and make new acquaintances.  I know I speak for our Clerk House when I say that we had a great time. Thank you again. 93/93 Fr. Petros." ...... Reply: I could say alot but, since you, like myself, both knew Grady McMurtry the best thing I can say is that this would have been the kind of party Grady would have Lovvvvvvvvvved and talked about for years! 

7:40am For the history buffs: On the date in 1662 Isobel Gowdie, the renowned ‘Queen of Scottish Witches of the Auldearne Coven,’ confessed to witchcraft, without being tortured, in Scotland. She admitted to having frequent dealings with faeries who took her to Faerieland, entering through various mounds and caverns. The entrance of the land of the Faerie was populated by elf-bulls, whose “roaring and skoilling” always left her frightened. Gowdie said that she met often with the Queen and King of Faerieland. They were always finely dressed and offered her more meat than she could eat. Together with other witches and faeries, Gowdie would amuse herself by changing herself into an animal, like a hare or a cat. The Faeries also taught her how to fly by climbing beanstocks and cornstraws and shouting, “Horse and Hattock, in the Devil’s name!” Gowdie also claimed to have used her broom for an atypical reason. Instead of using it for cleaning or nightly traveling, she used it to deceive her husband. Before going to a sabbat, Gowdie substituted her broom for herself in bed. She said that he never knew the difference, “which might have been more of a comment on their marriage than a confession of witchcraft.” In the end, she was tied to a stake, strangled by the executioner and then burnt to ashes. …….. and speaking of peculiar people; Madalyn Murray O’Hair, activist and atheist, was born on this date in 1919. She once boasted, “There is no God. There’s no heaven. There’s no hell. There are no angels. When you die, you go in the ground, the worms eat you.” According to the 1964 issue of Life magazine, she became the most hated woman in America after suing the Baltimore school district in an attempt to subtract the word “God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Her case, Murray v. Curlet had reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963, leading to a landmark legal victory: the abolition of prayer, Bible readings, and all religious references from the American public school system. She vanished in August of 1995, was presumed kidnapped, murdered and standing before God with a dumb look on her face. …...…. And I should also point out that on April 13, 1973 the actor Sammy Davis Jr. was initiated into the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey’s wife Karla, and Michael Aquino, the future founder of The Temple of Set. …...…. And finally, on April 13 1996 near Jardines de San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico residents reported seeing something that resembled an enormous bird flying over the area. Those interviewed by the local media stated that they had never seen a bird of such enormous size and that it emitted bizarre shrieking sounds. A smell of sulfur was also noted in the area, as well as bizarre animal mutilations. A flying Chupacabra or giant killer pigeon?

Sunday April 12th 2009 – 8:30am Today we are holding The Fourth Annual Leaping Laughter Clerk House - "Writing of The Book of the Law Feast" at 2212 Blake St. #102, Berkeley, Ca. Between 3:00pm-8:00pm (or whenever). ... A Feast will be provided, but all contributions (food, a bottle of wine, beer, etc) will be gladly accepted, a grill and barbeque are available for participant’s use. Please join us for an afternoon of Thelemic fellowship and discourse. Bring friends!!!! ... in fact, people started arriving yesterday from as far away as southern California and Washington State and it was a hectic and entertaining 'warm-up' or prelude to today's event at the bar last night.

8:15am For the history buffs: Mr. &  Mrs. Horos, aka Swami Viva Ananda, are probably most famous for deceiving  McGregor Mathers into thinking that they were great adepts and then shaking him down for Golden Dawn manuscripts. Shortly afterward they tried to set up a bogus Golden Dawn in London where they rented some rooms at 99 Gower Street, but they were eventually thrown out by their landlady. It was on this date in 1900 that they both left England for Africa to “Spread the Light” to that continent. …....….. the author Joan Grant was born on this date in 1907 and firmly believed that she was reincarnated from previous individuals who lived in ancient Egypt, the Holy Land and pre-Columbian America. Her books include The Winged Pharaoh, Lord of the Horizon and many others. In September of 1914 Joan Grant and her family briefly visited America and the following month, on October 24th, Aleister Crowley also set sail for the same country. They both would be in New York during the holidays. Miss Grant mentions in her biography that on Christmas day in 1914 when she was only seven years old, a visitor came to her home to see her mother. She was expecting someone who claimed to be psychic, but writes “the moment I saw Aleister Crowley I thought of him as a kind of human toad.” She continues with a rather lengthy tale but, in truth, her story about Aleister Crowley is so uncharacteristic of the Beast that many considered it to be purely the imagination of a little girl. …........ and it was on April 12, 1988 that the UFO expert and noted author Coral Lorenzen, died in Tucson, Arizona. She, along with her  husband Jim, founded the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) ……..... And finally, the grizzly Satanic sacrificial murders of fifteen people were uncovered on this date 9 in 1989 on a ranch in the border town Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas,

Saturday April 11th 2009 – 6:30am For the history buffs: Howard Stanton Levey was born on this date in Cook County, Illinois in 1930 but his parents soon relocated to California. This was a fertile environment for the man, who would change his name to Anton Szandor LaVey and assume the role which the press would dub “The Black Pope.” In 1956 he had purchased the old Victorian house on California Street in San Francisco’s Richmond district and later he painted it black. It was reputed to have been a den of iniquity and a speakeasy. It would become home to the First Church of Satan in 1966.  He is the author of the classic book known as The Satanic Bible. On October 29, 1997 LaVey died of cardiac arrest in, of all places, the Christian hospital of St. Mary’s in San Francisco. His death certificate incorrectly lists the date of his death as October 31. After his death, the ‘black’ house remained unoccupied, fell into disrepair and was finally demolished on October 17 of 2001. ……… but most important I’d like to mention that on April 11, 1946 Grady McMurtry received an ‘official’ notice from Aleister Crowley which briefly stated, “This is to authorize Frater Hymenaeus Alpha (Capt. Grady L. McMurtry) to take charge of the whole work of the Order in California to reform the Organization in pursuance of his report of Jan. 25, ‘46 e.v. subject to the approval of Fr. Saturnus (Karl J. Germer). This authorization is to be used only in emergency.” Of course, the report mentioned is his Grand Inspector General Report of, as Grady called it, the “Hodge-Podge-Lodge.” This was the second authorization that Grady received from Crowley. The first document received in late March appointed him “as Our personal representative in the United States of America, and his Authority is to be considered as Ours, subject to the approval, revision, or veto of Our Viceroy Karl Johannes Germer IX (degree) O.T.O. ...”

Friday April 10th 2009 – 5:06pm In my 11:45am posting where I mentioned - "If you are standing still on the Tree in a comfy zone how can you be pursuing your True Will which shines in Tiphereth? Especially if you’re constantly preoccupied by looking around at its reflection (i.e. Wants) on Malkuth through the Lower Self as if this are paramount." ... my student now replies - "Well, this is perhaps where we are mixed in our perspectives.  I believe that the guidance I am receiving is from the Aziluthic source of the Yechidah -- granted poured like mezla from above the Abyss, but nontheless the source of my inspiration and true self.  I do not believe that the personality of Tiphereth is the One Self -- that is the marriage of personality and the One Self, the Hierosgamos [the AB-BN].  But, even here the guidance is coming from the One Life, the Yechidah." ......... My reply: Ah, but the Yechidah is the highest of the five levels of spirit that is descending through Kether, and Atziluth is the highest of all other worlds ... to claim that such is guiding you all the way down into Malkuth tells me that you believe that you have perfected your earthly 'vehicle' to the point where you've obtained God-Head and have crossed the Abyss. The rest of the world strives to obtain the Higher Self but you, you are beyond them all. Why do you even need us or our guidance if you are so Perfect?  Have you ever heard of the old Chinese parable of the boy who always claimed to be in communication with the Emperor who it turned out, never even heard of him? 

4:25pm The NEWS says that Dave Arneson, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game and a pioneer of role-playing entertainment, had died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer. Arneson and Gary Gygax developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys. It eventually was turned into video games, books and movies. Gygax died in March 2008.

11:45am Here is a reply I sent to a student regarding 'inertia' and other topics. It has good tidbits or reminders for all. I wrote - "Logic dictates that person should automatically believe it ‘incumbent’ of himself to set his course based on what ‘Self’ dictates or as you put it, “ ... who else is guiding this boat in the water?” But if this were the case, why bother joining fraternities, reading or having teachers if everyone simply had to listen to Self? ... In reality ‘everyone’ is listening to themselves and acting, or so they believe, appropriately and on that note; the world should also be filled with magicians too, no?  ... I should remind you that ‘Self’ is rooted in the Ruach; the Higher & Lower Personality. So which part of Self is guiding you? Is it Chesed/Geburah/Tiphereth, the Higher Self (Inner Adept) focusing inward or is it Tiphereth/Netzach/Hod, the Lower Self (Outer Adept) focusing downward?  I think you know the answer. ... You then mentioned, “... I am seeking for the point of reference by being present and referencing what I know and intuit to be Truth for myself.  That is how we find our True Will, yes?” ... Qabalistically, when has Truth existed below the Abyss? ... You are also again confusing direction; or Will and Want. If you are standing still on the Tree in a comfy zone [i.e. Hod] how can you be pursuing your True Will which shines in Tiphereth? Especially if you’re constantly preoccupied by looking around at its reflection (i.e. Wants) on Malkuth through the Lower Self as if these are paramount."

6:25am Happy 'Third Day of the Feast' ... and if you don't know what I'm talking about, on April 10, 1904 the third and final chapter of The Book of The Law, known as Liber AL vel Legis, was dictated to Aleister Crowley at noon on this day, thus completing the volume. ... I hope to see all of you at our Feast this Sunday!  If you want to attend, email me!

6:15am For the history buffs: Its another day filled with classic events! ... For starters; the events which lead up to this date in 1612 had begun over the previous month when Alizon Device was begging on the road to Trawden, England, where she met John Law and asked him for some pins. He refused, she became angry and no sooner had he parted than he mysteriously fell to the ground lame. The story of the witches of Pendle began with a feud between two families, both headed by old women with a notorious reputation for witchcraft and who began making accusations toward members in the opposite clans. Some members were arrested, while others of the two rival clans met on this date, of April 10, 1612, at a big feast at Malkin Tower, the home of Alizon Device and her family. They met in order to try and find a solution to their feuding and to discuss the possibility of breaking those family members already accused of witchcraft out of jail. This makes the crimes seem all the more serious, as there is now an apparent element of conspiracy and even a documented “witch’s sabbat.” This meeting precipitated in Alizon Device’s being arrested on April 27 along with her immediate family, and all those who were present at Malkin Tower ‘sabbat, along with even some of their neighbors by Roger Nowell, the prosecutor and former High Sheriff of Lancashire. After the ‘interrogation’ some were deemed innocent and released while others were sent to Lancaster to await trial on a charge of witchcraft. However, on July 27, 1612, Jennet Preston becomes the first of the ‘Malkin Tower’ Witches to be hanged. On August 18th and 19th, more were tried at the Assizes in Lancaster, with Judge Bromley presiding, accompanied by Judge Altham. Unfortunately, one of the older clan members died in prison before she reached trial. On August 20th, ten more people, having been found guilty, were taken from the castle and hanged. In the end, twenty people were arrested, tried and convicted. This is the story, in brief, of the infamous Lancashire witches. ….....…. And also of note about this date is that the  Reverend Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague Summers was born at Pembroke Lodge, near Bristol, England in1880. It is believed that he simply claimed the title of ‘Reverend’ because it is not exactly known to which religious order he belonged. Although many have theories, there is no specific proof of his affiliation. Throughout his life, he was a firm believer in the powers of Evil, and pursued an avid research to document its manifestation. His contribution to the literature of witchcraft, vampirism and werewolves have been a most valuable and while many today might criticize his over-all views, no one can doubt the meticulous scholarship that Summer brought to bear on these subjects. He wrote such works as The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926), The Geography of Witchcraft (1927), The Vampire, His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Werewolf (1933), to name only a few. It is very difficult to decipher the exact relationship which he and Aleister Crowley shared, since not enough information survives to detail the full story but, unlike the story of Neuburg being turned into a Zebra, there is another story that “Aleister Crowley once changed Summers into a giraffe, but forgot to tell him. So that Summers never knew.” On the other hand, in 1928, the noted author Lance Sieveking traveled to southern France near Cassis where he had the chance to meet the Great Beast, Aleister Crowley. During the evening, Sieveking took the opportunity to ask Crowley, “What he thought of the Rev. Montague Summers?” Crowley simply replied, knocking the end off his cigar with an air of an executioner, “I haven’t seen Monty Summersfor years … he takes care of that. He knows what would happen.” With curiosity ablaze, Sieveking  felt he just had to ask, “What would happen?” To which Crowley replied, “I should change him into a toad.” On August 10, 1948 Montague Summers died suddenly at his home in Dynevor Road, Richmond on this date. He was buried in Richmond Cemetery with no public Mass being allowed. That same year a new edition of his most notable work, the translation of Malleus Maleficarum was released. His contribution to the literature of witchcraft, vampirism and werewolves have been a most valuable and while many today might criticize his over-all views, no one can doubt the meticulous scholarship that Summer brought to bear on these subjects. …....…. And on this date in 1931 the author of the best selling book The Prophet, Khalil Gibran, died of cancer in New York City hospital, at age 48. …....… and the grandfather of late night weird radio in New York City, Long John Nebel, died of cancer at the age of 66 on this date in 1978. His classic Long John Nebel Radio Program in the 1950s talked about every facet of UFOs possible. …...…. And finally, on April 10 1996, on a ranch near Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, several livestock and goats were found mutilated and curiously devoid of blood. On the same night, during a party, the son of the ranch owner went outside and saw a mysterious humanoid figure sitting on top of a fence, it then jumping up and onto the roof of the house were others inside heard the footsteps. Several roosters and chickens were found mutilated the next day as well as some of the neighbor’s goats. The Chupacabra or “Goat sucker” had obviously struck.

Thursday April 9th 2009 – 2:30pm Jay writes - “93 Jerry, This Thelomite issue gets at something I've thought about on and off for sometime. As much as I personally agree with you, it is an uncomfortable fact that The Book of the Law really doesn't elaborate on the nature of the Will. Certainly we can infer a lot, philosophise and banter round and round, but there's really no clear distinction made between will and want. So when a lay person (or even the supposedly Thelemically educated Thelomites) misunderstand Do what thou wilt, I feel we have little recourse. I suppose I'm proposing a challange: can we legitimate this will/want distinction based solely on Liber Al? Love, Jay 93 93/93” ........... Reply: Obviously The Book of the Law might seem cryptic and often lacking in some areas; it’s a Class A Document which implies an archetypal discourse beyond a full horizontal understanding. Still, Crowley has attempted to lay out the nature of ‘Will’ throughout his work so this is something hardly up for debate as to its nature. The ‘Will’ works vertical, the ‘want’ horizontally ... both are perfect sides of a coin; a yin and a yang. Can either be wrong?  No. But a Balance is what is required. As far as a ‘recourse’ to explain ourselves ... fuck em;, the slaves shall serve. I do not debate, I do not convert and I warn all my students against such folly. This is why I think what my other student did by posting my epistle to basically ‘everyone’ while later saying his "intention was simply to share the author's perspective as one voice who has spent most of his life deciphering this magio-philosophical system we call Thelema. I was aiming for a broad range of personalities to get a collective of perspectives” is utterly stupid and clearly reflective of why this student is stuck in Hod-8, or the Intellect. Time and time again, instead of going forward up the Tree, he turns around, droops his head downward and descends via the Left-Hand Pillar in order to wallow intellectually in the Pit of Because with others on Malkuth; I fear that he has reached his mountain peak or comfy zone.

6:45am One of my often over zealous students sent a link to my epistle ON THELOMITES to his 'Friends' on Facebook yesterday. I was not amused. Anyway, obviously a few of 'his' people did not like it. I guess it struck too close to home. For example: Rodney Orpheus wrote - "Why is someone else's interpretation of Liber AL being sent to me? I am quite capable of interpreting it for myself."  Yes, I agree. I read his book Abrahadabra, he interprets Thelemic and magickal writings just fine but I guess his own writings are to be seen as being exempt from his own views. ... And Donald Michael Kraig, the noted Llewellyn author, simply quoted The Tunis Comment. It shows how much he knows. Had he studied the history of this document, or the controversy it drew a few years back, this would not have been his first defense. (Tunis Comment) ... and I should like to point out that just finished J. Daniel Gunther's new book Initiation in the Aeon of the Child. It's good but he sure as Hell interprets parts of Liber AL, should he be shunned like The Tunis Comment demands or is this simply another double standard amongst Thelemites while ignoring the obvious?

5:25am I have just up-loaded and added the next or seventeenth installment of a series which Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 (Grady Louis McMurtry) wrote on magick and philosophy. 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. The latest installment was originally published in The Magickal Link, Volume III No.2 February 1983e.v. and is titled ON ENOCHIAN & COMPUTER CIRCUITS. ... Frater Orpheus adds – “....this is one of my favorites thus far... Grady is up to his old tricks again dropping great Gems of Magickal thought and Theory! Grady’s words are priceless as if he speak to me through time.” ... If you'd like to read the article, click HERE for details.

5:20am HAPPY 'SECOND FEAST' DAY! …....…. on April 9, 1904 Aleister Crowley received the second chapter of The Book of The Law, known as Liber AL vel Legis, on this day in Cairo at noon.

5:15am For the history buffs, there is alot to report: it was on this date in 1744 that Grace Pett, 60, an alcoholic residing in Ipswich England, was found on the floor by her daughter like “a log of wood consumed by a fire, without apparent flame.” Nearby clothing was undamaged. The first reliable historic evidence of spontaneous human combustion appeared years earlier in 1673 when Frenchman Jonas Dupont published a collection of spontaneous human combustion cases and studies entitled De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis. …....…. And one of the giants of French literature, Charles Baudelaire, was born on this date in Paris in 1821. He was an audacious character who cherished the idea of doing things for their shock value, like dying his hair green or walking down the streets of Paris with a pet lobster on a leash. Once, when an interviewer asked him what his favorite word was, he simply replied, “hemorrhoids.” He was one of Aleister Crowley’s greatest inspirations. Crowley, like Baudelaire, would often wear daring hairstyles like a Mohawk haircut, or only a tuft of pink or green hair on top of a shaved head. Crowley’s dress was also so unusual at times that people starred at him as if he were a Parisian fashion statement. Crowley translated and published many of Baudelaire’s poems. …...…. And I should like to mention that Gerald Festus Kelly was born in Paddington, London on this date in 1879. He was educated at Eton, Trinity Hall Cambridge and Paris. While at Cambridge he met Aleister Crowley. Together they planned to publish a magazine, but they never did. Kelly was initiated into the Golden dawn on October 31, 1899. He became known as Frater Eritis Similis Deo. Kelly and Crowley built up a close friendship, with Crowley later joining him in his Montparnasse studio in Paris. They met again in Scotland, where Crowley met Kelly’s sister Rose whom he eventually married. Kelly became a member of the Salon d’Automne, Paris in 1904. His first exhibition of paintings and drawings took place at the Royal Academy in 1909 and he was also a founder member of the National Portrait Society. He was commissioned to paint the State Portraits of both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, which he completed 1945. He died quietly and peacefully at his home on January 5th 1972 of bronchial pneumonia. He was 93 years old. …...…. And more important, Leah Hirsig was born on this date in Switzerland, one of nine children in 1883. At the age of two her family moved to the United States, where she grew up in New York. On reaching adulthood she became a teacher at a public high school in the Bronx. She and her older sister Alma were drawn to the study of the occult, and this interest led them to visit Aleister Crowley in 1918, who was living at the time in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Crowley and Hirsig felt an immediate and instinctive connection. In January of 1919, he consecrated her as his Scarlet Woman. She adopted the magical name Alostrael, “the womb (or grail) of God.” Crowley also called her the Ape of Thoth, in reference to the companion of the god Tahuti who enables his ideas to become reality. Hirsig indeed proved herself by assisting Crowley in making his dreams a reality. In 1920 they founded the Abbey of Thelema in the town of Cefalù on the coast of Sicily, thus realizing in concrete form the dream of the French literary genius and early Thelemite François Rabelais. At the Abbey, Hirsig was instrumental in guiding Crowley, the Prophet of the New Aeon, to a deeper understanding of the Law of Thelema. At a time of despair, Crowley wrote, “What really pulled me from the pit was the courage, wisdom, understanding and divine enlightenment of the Ape herself. Over and over again, she smote into my soul that I must understand the way of the gods… We must not look to the dead past, or gamble with the unformed future; we must live wholly in the present, wholly absorbed in the Great Work, ‘unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result’. Only so could will be pure and perfect.” Hirsig’s role as Crowley’s initiatrix reached a pinnacle on May 23, 1921 she presided over his assuming the Oath of Ipsissimus in the AA, or 10=1. She was the only person present to have witnessed this event. Inevitably, like all his woman, Hirsig fell out grace. On September 21, 1924 she sent a letter to Aleister Crowley stating, “I hereby renounce the title of Scarlet Woman and pass it on to the Scarlet Concubine” of your desire, which meant that his latest woman, Dorothy Olsen, could assume the throne. This did not mean that Hirsig was abandoning her commitment to Thelema. Her diary from this period reveals her continuing devotion to the Great Work, her renewal of her magical oaths, her ongoing invocations of Ra Hoor Khuit, and her consecration of herself as the bride of Chaos. In 1925, when Crowley asked her to serve again for a period as his scribe and secretary, she readily accepted; she was ready to give her assistance when it was necessary to the furtherance of his magical work and to the promulgation of the Law of Thelema. As Crowley wrote in his diary during the Cefalù period, “She loves me for my work… She knows and loves the God in me, not the man; and therefore she has conquered the great enemy that hides behind his clouds of poisonous gas, Illusion.” Hirsig ultimately returned to the United States and resumed her work as a schoolteacher. She died in Meiringen, Switzerland  in 1975. …...…. And to continue on; Paul Robeson, the son of a runaway slave, was born in Princeton, New Jersey on this date in 1898. He began his acting career in 1924 with the Provincetown Players. With a resonant voice and the ability to project a humane spirit, he won wide acclaim with his creation of the title role in Eugene O’Neill’s Emperor Jones (1925) and All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1925) Other outstanding dramatic performances included Black Boy (1926), DuBose Heyward’s Porgy (1928) and Othello (in London, 1930, and New York, 1943-45). In 1925 he made his debut as a concert singer. Possessed of a magnificent bass voice, he became known especially for his rendition of “Ol’ Man River” in Jerome Kern’s play Show Boat (1928) and for his interpretations of spirituals. The oddest play, which Robeson wisely never did, was to perform the lead in Aleister Crowley’s play titled Mortadello (1912). It seems, according to Viola Bankes, that Crowley once approached her and asked, “I wish you would ask Paul Robeson to play the Negro rôle in this play. If he accepted it, the success of the play would be assured.” The character whom Crowley felt Robeson should play was Orlando. In Mortadello he is described as being “of gigantic stature, a full negro who is romantically involved with a white woman named Monica, ‘whose long black hair hung down upon her milky white shoulders.’ Viola agreed to Crowley’s requests and, in time, she met with Robeson at Albert Hall. She also gave him a copy of Crowley’s Mortadello but, in the end, Robeson declined the offer to play Orlando. He explained, “I’m afraid it’s no use. You see, there are certain lines and gestures which the British public would not care to see enacted between a Negro and a white woman. As for the American stage, why, if I were to produce it over there, someone in the audience would get up and shoot me with a revolver!” Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia on January 23, 1976.

Wednesday April 8th 2009 – 1:30pm Jerri sent an email, she writes - "I find myself chewing on your 9:15am post today. Chewing, chewing, and chewing---troubled by the crappy aftertaste left in my mouth. The question asked within itself is indicative of an OTO dressed up in flacid plastic horns...and underneath we find just another white light Christian movement leading the sheep toward slavery. If we as Thelemites can't find God in the gutter, in our beds, in a flower or in the mud...(or, more simply put, within nature) we might as well just head off to church, get down on our knees and open our mouths in the hopes that we will be spoon fed and forgiven for our "evil" ways. What is the OTO advocating here? Hanging out with Our Lord Lucifer for a fucking tea party??? Christ on a crutch!!! Oscar Wilde says it best--"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." ... ok...rant done :)."  ........... Reply: I love this girl!

9:10am One well known OTO initiates, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me an email. She asks a very good question. “Why is it that many of your postings like yesterdays at 1:15pm are always reduced to sexual innuendos and mud rather than spiritual loftiness? Why can’t you take the high road?" ..... Reply: High road? I’m not into breasts; I’m a Cancer, a true bottom feeder. Anyway, everything on this mundane plane is rooted in the Union of Opposites. Due to the restrictions of Christianity in the Old Aeon we could not be open and honest about sexuality. We know that the mind works through archetypal symbols and although much of the last Aeon’s Alchemical, magickal and sexual writings patronize this nature, they often did little for mundane judgment and unless a person was trained in interpreting symbols, the teachings often go undecipherable. Still, there is another reason as to why we cannot openly interpret archetypal books like The Book of Lies and it’s not because they contain ‘secrets’ as much as their understanding is not of this plane. You must be on their ‘level’ to fully Understand them. The closest we can come to express their Truths is by the use of mundane, or horizontal analogies. And if being sexually graphic gives a student a glimmering of the Divine Play occurring throughout the Universe then I have achieved my goal. If I offend anyone then they need to ask themselves as to why what I’m writing bothers them. ... Besides, I have Jupiter in Aries in the First House and admittedly, this brings out my Cancerian sense of humor more often than not; it’s how I often teach.

8:30am I just posted a new epistle on our website called ON THELOMITES. It is about the difference between those who 'Want' and those who 'Will' ...of the Thelomite and Thelemites, or of bugs and gods ... and you know who you are!

7:00am HAPPY 'FEAST' DAY!

6:25am For the history buffs: it was on April 8, 1904 that the first chapter of The Book of The Law, known as Liber AL vel Legis, was received by Aleister Crowley in Cairo on this day, at noon. …...…. The poet Victor ‘Vickybird’ Neuburg signed the Oath of Probationer joining the AA on this date in 1909. Later, when Aleister Crowley & Neuburg were in the Sahara trying to summon the Devil, Neuburg kept ‘chirping’ unintelligently during the ritual and, as Neuberg’s friend Calder-Marshall noted, “Crowley became so enraged that he turned Vickybird into a zebra, rode him into Alexandria, and sold him to the zoo, where he remained for two years before regaining human shape.” ……..… and it was on this date in 1939 Elizabeth Clare Wulf was born in Red Bank, New Jersey to a World War I German U-boat captain and his Swiss wife. After her first failed marriage she met Mark L. Prophet. Being clairvoyant she informed him that they had met in a previous life at King Arthur’s Camelot when she was Lady Guinevere and he was Lancelot. Obviously thrilled by the idea they married and she assumed the name Elizabeth Clare Prophet. She would become a pioneer of modern spiritual thought who supposedly is a Messenger for enlightened spiritual beings called Ascended Masters. She and her husband established The Summit Lighthouse in 1958 to publish the teachings of these Ascended Masters. She is also became the head of The Church Universal and Triumphant. Her followers call her everything from Mother, to Guru Ma, to the Vicar of Christ, The Messenger and the Mother of the Flame. After Mark died of a stroke she married Randall Kosp, who then changed his name to King. After divorcing King, she married Ed Francis in 1981, a man 11 years her junior. They divorced in 1998. One person once commented, “You’d think the Ascended Masters would have given her advice about her own life?”  …..…… and I should point on that on April 8, 1944, following months of German bombing, where one actually exploded in the backyard of 93 Jermyn Street, blowing out the windows in Aleister Crowley’s bedroom, Crowley finally decided that he needed “more quiet” and he left London for the countryside. “Can’t say I blame him,” said Grady McMurtry, “I thought it was dumb enough to stay in London to begin with; but I didn’t tell him that.” Crowley took a small room at the Bell Inn, Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire. Crowley described it as “a most delightful, really old, inn, big open fire, food incredibly good. But nothing to do, and no one to talk to.” He was given room No.11 which, according to one of Crowley’s biographers, seemingly pleased him since it was the number of the Qliphoth or rather the infernal sphere on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. ……… and finally, James Daniel Gunther was born on this date in 1950 in Altus, Arkansas. In Marcello Motta’s Equinox Vol.V No.4 (1981) on page xi Motta maliciously wrote, “James Daniel Gunther: once legitimate O.T.O. representative; demoted for planning to murder his hierarchic superior; withdrew voluntarily from the AA and was expelled from the O.T.O.”  In truth, James Daniel Gunther, who was living in Nashville, was also demoted from 4=7 to a Probationer 0=0 by his teacher Marcelo Motta for supposedly lying about memorizing his Chapters from the Holy Books, and for ‘forging’ his diaries. After Motta’s death Gunther mysteriously re-emerged and became head [?] of Motta’s AA which now ‘pulls the strings’ behind the Ordo Templi Orientis; especially in America; second in command of this lineage is William Breeze. As I once told Bill Breeze - "Had I known you guys were coming, I would have baked a cake."

Tuesday April 7th 2009 – 2:30pm To John; no the OTO Initiations in relationship to the Chakras on the Tree of Life are not Secret. It has been published elsewhere, even on this website but here is the system again:

MinervalAnja/Muladhara     Chockman/Yesod

First Degree Vishuddha Binah

Second Degree   Anahata    Chesed/Geburah/Tiphereth

Third DegreeSvadhisthana         Hod

Fourth Degree    Manipura               Netzach

Fifth Degree Anahata               Tiphereth

Sixth Degree Anahata                Geburah

Seventh Degree   Anahata                Chesed     Minerval fulfilled

Eighth Degree     Vishuddha             Binah             First Degree ‘re-Born’ above the Veil

Ninth DegreeAnja                     Chockmah          Second Degree ‘Life restored’

Tenth Degree     Crown                   Kether

1:15pm A student asked about a chapter from Crowley's The Book of Lies. I responded - "Ah, Peaches ... if you look at a peach at just the right angle you’ll see the vaginal opening; “soft and hollow” which can “overcome the hard and full’, i.e. erect hard penis. This is a great metaphor. A man can cum a hundred times inside 'a woman' but for a woman to learn how not to ‘interfere’ with the impression (seed) is difficult but once grasped, this is Pan. The chapter titled Peaches is ruled by the Thoth card of The Empress. She rules the Hebrew letter Daleth which means a ‘Door’ ... The path of Daleth unites Chockmah-2 (Male) with Binah-3 (Female). As for the ‘thousand lover’ comment  ... no, you don’t have to become a Thelemic slut. One lover will do. This is another of those Crowley metaphors. If the Union between Chockmah-2 and Binah-3 is perfected then a ‘Door’ opens and the Influence (Gnosis) from Kether-1 descends. ... Of all the Chakras, Kether rules the Crown or Sahasrara which is also known as the “Thousand and One Petal Lotus.” .... Also, the Gnosis descends out of Kether via the path of The High Priestess and The High Priestess in The Book of Lies rules The Oyster! ... Yes, all peaches intrigue me too ... they can contain a ‘seed’ ... yes, just one but it can be a good one if done right!"

7:45am For the history buffs: Pierre Michel Eugene Vintras, the foreman of a cardboard box factory who founded The Church of Carmel, was born in Baxeux, France on this date in 1807. Vintras’ religious practices which received him condemnation was with conducting ‘Black Masses’ in the nude, masturbating while praying at the altar and advocating homosexuality. He also knew the notorious Satanist Abbé Boullan. …....…. Max Schneider, who joined the Agape Lodge O.T.O. in southern California in 1935, who was also known as Frater VIATOR, died on this date in 1948. …...…. And I should mention that Humphrey Osmond coined the term ‘Psychedelic’ on this date in 1956. Along with his colleague, John Smythies, Osmond shocked the medical community in 1952 by drawing attention to the structural similarity between the mescaline and adrenaline molecules. He theorized that schizophrenia might be the result of the brain releasing an endogamous hallucinogen, possibly derived from adrenaline. Osmond died at home, peacefully, on Friday February 6th, 2004 at the age of 86.

Monday April 6th 2009 – 8:20am My friend Chuck Furnace in Connecticut sent me this article titled - "Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican" ... It begins - "Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years. ... The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers. ... The Shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral, has long been revered as the shroud in which Jesus was buried, although the image only appeared clearly in 1898 when a photographer developed a negative. ... Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican Secret Archives, said the Shroud had disappeared in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, and did not surface again until the middle of the fourteenth century. Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Dr Frale said its fate in those years had always puzzled historians. ... However her study of the trial of the Knights Templar had brought to light a document in which Arnaut Sabbatier, a young Frenchman who entered the order in 1287, testified that as part of his initiation he was taken to “a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access”. There he was shown “a long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man” and instructed to venerate the image by kissing its feet three times. ... Dr Frale said that among other alleged offences such as sodomy, the Knights Templar had been accused of worshipping idols, in particular a “bearded figure”. In reality however the object they had secretly venerated was the Shroud."  To read the rest of the lengthy article, click HERE. It is amusing.

6:20pm Here is another of my infamous movie reviews. This weekend I was lucky enough to watch the Japanese movie TOKYO GORE POLICE (2008). If you like the actress Eihi Shina who played the psycho-Jap in Takashi Miike’s now classic film Audition (1999), you’ll love her in this movie. It takes place in the near future when a Japanese mad scientist known as the ‘Key Man’ creates a virus that mutates humans into monstrous creatures called Engineers that sprout bizarre weapons from any wound or injury; like a woman who has lactating acid shooting tits or the man whose bitten-off penis turns into a gigantic four foot plus bloody fleshy cannon that he uses to shoot cops and if that is not enough, it then gets worse. I personally liked the woman with the gigantic snapping pussy with teeth but that’s another story. Anyway, the plot has the Tokyo Police Force being privatized to deal with this new threat and they have created a special squad of officers into a quasi-military force known as the Engineer Hunters. Eihi Shina plays Ruka, an anti-social Samurai sword welding Engineer Hunter who wears a black school girl dress. Her job is to hunt down the Key Man and kill all the mutant. The movie clearly isn't concerned with a serious plot. There are lots of gratuitous body parts and lots of blood spraying in this movie; not in any realistic sense but in a very perverse tongue n’ cheek way which goes way over the top in every scene. I laughed alot. Michael Esposito of the Chicago Times gave this film three stars noting that it is as "sick, twisted and gory, but surprisingly funny in an adolescent boy fantasy way— Beavis and Butt-Head would love it.”

6:15am For the history buffs: The ‘Satanic’ Rosicrucian, Stanislas de Guaita, was born in France on this date in 1861. He and Oswald Wirth deliberately infiltrated Abbe Boullan’s Satanic group and wrote a scathing exposé of it titled The Temple of Satan. Boullan was so outraged that he, and his friend, the novelist J.K. Huysmans, engaged in magical warfare with de Guaita which resulted, tragically, in Boullan’s death of a heart attack on January 3, 1893. De Guaita, in utter anger, challenged Huysmans to a duel, but he wisely declined and apologized. …...…. And, depending upon whom you believe, it was on this date in 1928, 31 or 33, Richard Alpert, the son of the President of the New Haven Railroad, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He first took psilocybin in 1961 with Timothy Leary and he became an integral part in the Harvard Psilocybin Project. He also worked with Leary and Ralph Metzner to rewrite the Tibetan Book of the Dead as The Psychedelic Experience. The intention was to provide a manual which will serve to establish an appropriate ‘setting’ for the experience of such drugs as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline and DMT. He was dismissed from Harvard along with Leary in 1963 and, disillusioned with utopian drug projects, he traveled to India in 1967, It was here that he encountered his spiritual teacher, Neem Karoli Baba and received the name Ram Dass, or ‘servant of God.’ Afterwards he returned to the United States to pursue his sadhana, or spiritual journey and, in 1974, Ram Dass created the Hanuman Foundation. He also co-founded the Seva Foundation (‘service’ in Sanskrit) in 1978 which is an international organization dedicated to relieving suffering in the world. On February 19, 1997, Ram Dass suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed of the right side of his body and limited his ability to speak. …...…. And finally, on April 6, 1992   one of the most famous and prolific science-fiction writers of all time, Isaac Asimov, died from kidney failure at age 72. 

Sunday April 5th 2009 – 9:05am Still not laughing? Ok, one more joke:

Question: What do you call a nun who walks in her sleep?

Answer: A roaming Catholic!

8:45am Ok, that last joke was bad. I'm really, really sorry. Let's try this one, maybe it's better?

Question: What goes black white black white black white black white?

Answer: A nun rolling down a hill.

8:30am Ok, here is a bad joke:

When nuns go to heaven, they pass through a special gate and St Peter

hears one last confession. One day, four nuns are at the gate.

St Peter says to the first "Sister, during your life, did you ever touch a

penis?" "Yes," she replies, "I once touched one with the tip of my finger."

St Peter blesses her and says "Dip your finger into this holy water and you

may through the gates."

St Peter says to the second "Sister, during your life, did you ever touch a

penis?" "Yes," she replies, "I once held one in my right hand." St Peter

blesses her and says "Wash your hand in this holy water and you may

through the gates."

St Peter turns to the third nun and is about to speak to her when the fourth

barges in front. "What are you doing, sister?" he asks.

"Well if I'm going to have to gargle that holy water then I'm going to do it

before Sister Mary Francis sticks her arse in it!"

7:10am This is my son's sleep-over weekend. I'm a very light sleeper; every time Faustus is over I sleep with one-eye opened and never that deep. Around 5:15am this morning I opened my eyes, sat up and wondered, "Earthquake?" I looked around, saw nothing out of the ordinary, smiled and wondered if I simply had gas from last nights rather abysmal supper. So I got up, got coffee, did my usual routine; up-loaded this blog etc and then while on-line I checked the USGS site and found out that yes, Berkeley did indeed have an Earthquake this morning. At exactly 5:11am the earth moved; it was just a 2.0 magnitude; no biggie. Had Faustus not been here I probably would have slept right through it. ... I should also like to point out that while looking at he USGS site I realized that Oakland (Berkeley’s neighboring city) had two earthquakes; the first at 5:09pm yesterday and the second around midnight; both were just a 1.4 magnitude. Never felt either. Ah, California is reminding us that it is a state in movement, or maybe it just has gas?

6:15am For the history buffs: Algernon Swinburne was born on this date in London, England in 1837. His most famous piece is titled Atlanta in Calydon: A Tragedy (1865). Aleister Crowley incorporated part of his poem in the Solar ritual found in The Rites of Eleusis that was published in The Equinox Volume I, Number 6 (1911). The part Crowley uses starts: “Before the beginning of years, There came to the making of man, Time, with a gift of tears, Grief, with a glass that ran, Pleasure, with pain for leaven, Summer with flowers that fell, Remembrance fallen from heaven, And madness risen from hell.& etc.” These same verses Crowley incorporated in the rewrites of the First Degree Initiation Ritual of the Ordo Templi Orientis. ….....…. And I’d like to point out that Edgar Lucian Larkin was born in a log cabin along Indian Creek, California on this date in 1847 to a father of ordinary means and a mother of high morality and nobility of mind. Having accomplished many a feat in his day, one of his claims to fame began on August 11, 1900; this is when Larkin found himself accepting the position of director of the Lowe Observatory. A volume alone could be written on the history of the Mt. Lowe Observatory in California and the astronomical discoveries of the skies recorded by its various learned astronomers but such does not necessarily warrant consideration in this book. What is to be noted is that in 1925 a writer by the name of Selvius wrote an article titled Descendants of Lemuria: A Description of an Ancient Cult in America, which was published in the Mystic Triangle in their August 1925 issue. The article was about a mystic Lemurian village hidden and concealed on top of Mt. Shasta in northern California. Selvius reported that Edgar Larkin had actually seen this Lemurian village through the Lowe Observatory telescope. Then, in 1931, Wishar Spenle Cervé published a widely read book entitled Lemuria: The Lost Continent of the Pacific in which the Selvius material appeared in a slightly elaborated fashion, which seemingly gave credence to Selvius’ story as if it was true in regards to Larkin. The following year another article appeared in the Los Angeles Times, dated May 22, 1932, by Edward Lanser. In his article he reiterates his stories about seeing strange things on Mt. Shasta and to prove that he has penetrated the Lemurian secrets he cites “no less an authority than the eminent scientist, Prof. Edgar Lucian Larkin, for many years director of the Mt. Lowe Observatory in Southern California.” He goes on to say that Larkin actual saw through his telescope huge temples and villages of marble and onyx, rivaling the in the beauty and splendor of those seen in the Yucatan. Thousands of Lemurians were seen going about their daily chores. Of course, all these Lemurian stories about Mt. Shasta went unchallenged because supposedly the original source, or Edgar Lucian Larkin, had died in 1924. Still, it is known fact that Larking did read A Dweller on Two Planets (1905) which was a ‘channeled’ book about Lemurians on Mt. Shasta and in 1913 he did openly acknowledge with absolute certainty, that he believed it. So, it’s quite possible that blinded by his ‘beliefs’ that he did focus Mt. Lowe Observatory’s telescope upon Mt. Shasta and there is no telling what he might have seen. …....…. And Robert Bloch was born on this date in Chicago, Illinois in 1917. He wrote more than 200 stories, mostly fantasy, horror, and science fiction, but also mystery and crime, as well as 22 novels and a large number of non-fiction articles. He was also very active in Hollywood, penning a large number of teleplays and screenplays. He is best known to the general public for his novel Psycho (1960), which became the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s film  Robert Bloch passed away on September 23, 1994, after a long fight with cancer in Los Angeles, California. ……... And finally, it was on April 5, 1963 that Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds opened in theaters. It’s an out of the ordinary movie with a simple premise; birds of all kinds suddenly, and without provocation, attack people in increasing numbers and with increasing ferociousness.

Saturday April 4th 2009 – 7:05am For the history buffs: Mantak Chia, the founder of the Universal Tao Center, was born on this date in 1944 in Bangkok, Thailand, a place which he called “the land of smiles.” He is the founder of the Healing Tao system and the Director of the International Healing Tao at the Tao Garden in Doi Saket, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Since childhood he had been studying the Taoist approach to life as well as other approaches. His mastery on this ancient knowledge, enhanced by his study of other disciplines, has resulted in the development of the Healing Tao System which is now being taught in the United Stated, Canada, South America, Africa, Europe Australia and Thailand. .......... and I should also mention that this ‘BLOGERIA’ is exactly two years old today!

Friday April 3rd 2009 – 10:55am Another cute female writes - "How are you, out there??? Yesterday's blog was perfectly fitting (regarding the Aeons...) as I have been thinking about The Oyster and one of the lines therein (it fit remarkably well with where my thought process was going...)>' ....... I replied: I’m glad yesterday’s blog’s inspired you. Which line in The Oyster were you thinking about? Ah, my mind wanders as only a man’s can because the “Man delights ...”  and speaking of such ... turn the page and read Peaches.  It’s important. Ah, my little peach ... one of my favorite fruits.

8:20am To Mary's other question - reply: shaved.

8:00am Yes, to Mary, it may seem like I don' like the OTO but don't read into things; I actually admire the Order. It's just not the Order that I was initiated into; its mutated and the debate now is whether or not it's for the best.

7:45am To answer Frank's question: I know it may seem like I don't post a lot of ritual instruction. However, I'd rather direct incomings emails privately to the fact that there are plenty of 'how to' books out there about performing rituals so go read them. I let people know that my site is primarily about history and theory. This is something greatly lacking in the magickal world.

7:30am I received a couple of emails asking if I thought myself a “revisionist”?  ... To reply: in some ways yes, in others no. The term is often used by the status quo of modern magicians as a ‘negative’ to imply that an individual or group is not towing ‘their’ traditional line and therefore anything that they say should be suspect. I like to call these ‘traditional sticklers’ the - “flat Earth magicians.” These people have lost touch with their roots and are so caught up in screaming that the Earth is flat that they often forget that they were trained as scientists. It is up to us to review the data of human evolution, see how its evolving and act accordingly. If all they want to do is harp on the ‘past’ as if its methods and teachings were carved in stone, it kinda says it all, and all I can say is that I hope they don’t sail off the end of the Earth. Yes, it is no secret that some of my views have been proven wrong before, some will in the future but at least I can say that I am moving forward ... yes, hitting rocks occasionally but none the less my boat is still afloat. Maybe I just think too much ...

5:00am For the history buffs: the American author Washington Irving was born on this date in 1783 in New York as the youngest of 11 children. He is best known for the short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Irving died in Tarrytown on November 28, 1859. …...…. According to the book by George Emerson titled The Smokey God, Olaf Jansen was a Russian fisherman who sailed out of Stockholm, Sweden in his father’s sloop on this date in 1829, beginning one of the strangest recorded voyages in history into the ‘Land of the Smokey God’ which lay deep in the interior of the Earth at the North Pole, where he lived for over two years before returning home. ..…..... also, Basil Wilby, better known as Gareth Knight, was born on this date Colchester, Essex, England in 1930. He had an interest in psychic matters from early childhood, and in 1953 he enrolled in the study course of the Society of the Inner Light, the London-based esoteric school founded by Dion Fortune. Working his way quickly through the grades, he was initiated into the Greater Mysteries in 1959 and became the Society’s librarian. During this time he undertook the research which led to the publication of A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism in 1965, drawn mainly from unpublished material in the Society’s archives. He is considered by many to be a leading contemporary authority on the magical applications of the Kabbalah. …....... and finally, it was on April 3, 1962 that Brenda Spencer was born in southern California. To appreciate her claim to fame see this blog's entry of January 29, 1979.

Thursday April 2nd 2009 – 11:40am I wish to address a reoccurring theme that occasionally surfaces in emails. Let me explain my views why initiation in this New Aeon is NOT through the child Horus and why women, in particular, should be weary of any man who tells you otherwise. Although the concept of the 'male child' is thoroughly interesting on some levels it is based on a flawed premise in regards to New Aeonic teachings. It is no secret that Aleister Crowley, as brilliant as he was, did not have a clue about certain subjects; the astrological progression of aeons being one. That may seem harsh but Crowley's own teachings have trained us to act and think as scientists. As I see it, his apparent Truths are merely a hypothesis which might have appeared to be adequate for him at a specific moment but should never be preserved as an article of faith for all time. In other words, at one time the world was considered flat, errors were inevitably corrected in regards to our perceptions and we evolved. Sadly, in the realm of Crowleyanity, many of his followers think him to be an undisputed authority that has never made a mistake. Time and time again this has been proven not to be the case and his astrological theories of Aeonic Progression is a classic examples of errors. Of course, were he alive today, he might feel that his writings are exempt from debate but that is hardly a scientific approach.

Be that as it may, Crowley attempted to give Egyptian god attributes to the Aeons solely based on the fact that Liber AL vel Legis has three chapters but in doing so, he also believed that there can be only three Aeons. He believed that the first stage of human evolution began with the Aeon of Isis (the woman), then Osiris (the man) and then Horus (the son). He is correct with the order of mother, then father and then the son. However, since we are now entering a New Aeon, obviously in Crowley’s mind, it must be one of the three Aeons. He automatically assumed Aquarius is ruled by the ‘son’ or Ra-Hoor-Khuit (Horus). This means that the previous Aeon of Pisces is ruled by Osiris and the whole of humanity's previous civilizations are then lumped into the Aeon before this, or in Isis. But is Crowley correct from a scientific point of view? To understand we must briefly reflect upon the concept of the Aeons which lasted roughly two thousand years each.

First, civilization emerge during the birth pangs of the Aeon of Taurus, the Zodiac sign of the Bull; an Earth sign. This sign become apparent roughly around 4,000 BC. The most common and long-lived of the animal cults during this period were, of course, the Bull cults.

Second, two thousand years passed and the Aeon of Aries, a fire Sign, emerged. This occurred about the time Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt into Canaan. One has only to read the Old Testament to see evidence of sheep, lamb or ram sacrifices to realize its connections with the Aeon. One also can easily remember that when Moses came down out of the Mountain in the Sinai wilderness he found that the Israelites had forsake the new Laws and fashioned a huge ‘Golden Calf’ as if implying they had yet to emerge out from under the old Aeon of Taurus.

Third, two thousand years after the birth of Aries a New Aeon emerged called Pisces; this being a water sign. In this age we see a fish prevalent in symbolism especially in the New Testament. In fact the Christ was often referred to as the Fisherman, a man who walked on water. A discourse on the fish cipher has encompassed many books on esoteric Christianity.

And finally, two thousand years since Pisces began, a New Aeon has emerged. We are now on the threshold of the Aeon of Aquarius; a Air sign. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the Aeon in which we are presently feeling its birth pangs is the fourth, not the third as Crowley assumes in our human evolution.

Crowley’s Interpretation:

Taurus ........ Bull

Aries ........... Ramboth are the mother, Isis

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

Pisces .......... FishFather, Osiris

Aquarius ..... ManSon, Ra-Hoor-Khuit

Astrological Progression (proper):

Taurus ........ Bull Mother

Aries ........... RamFather (Jehovah)

Pisces .......... FishSon of God (Christ)

Aquarius ....... Man    Mankind (daughter)

“There is no god but man” ... this being 'man' in the generic sense, the Tarot card ruling Aquarius is The Star and the central figure is a 'woman' not a man ... and this is due to the fact that Aquarius is the Aeon of the daughter.

Now don’t get me wrong; to me Crowley is truly our Prophet but not in the same sense as he, nor others might consider. He is a great prophet in that he’s given humanity a sacred book detailing our evolution from its beginning to its present stage in three chapters. We need these teachings. That was Crowley’s destiny, to prepare humanity for its future. By giving us The Book of the Law he clearly tells humanity where we’ve been, how each Aeon or chapter over lapses and supports the next and he points us in the right direction to understand the New Aeon. Crowley has given us the greatest gift relating to ‘humanities archetypal spirituality’ in a nutshell. If we understand all the clues to our past we then know the direction we are to walk. ... So, do I recommend studying Crowley despite his teaching are so Old Aeon in some places, YES! Any help given to understand our past while bringing us closer to the New Aeon must be appreciated but remember, some of Crowley's views are those of the previous Aeon, not the present and for that the reader must be cautious. Remember, Crowley treated women like shit, like sex objects in both action and writings. We cannot forget, nor ignore the fact that he was born almost thirty years before the Advent of Aquarius; he is an Old Aeonic Soul, which is why so much of his personal life rubs so many women wrong. Yes, he channeled the New Aeon but lived as in the past.

7:30am For the history buffs and there is lots to report: Giacomo Casanova was born in Venice on this date in 1725. His memoirs are considered an unreliable account of his adventures with 122 women but they do provide an intimate portrait of the manners and life in the 18th century. He once wrote, “Real love is the love that sometimes arises after sensual pleasure: if it does, it is immortal; the other kind inevitably goes stale, for it lies in mere fantasy.” …..….. and William Ellsworth Robinson, a fairly undistinguished Scottish stage magician and illusionist, was born on this date in New York in 1861. There was nothing out of the ordianary about his act and he would have simply disappeared in history had it not been for a unique offer. In 1900, he was offered a lengthy European engagement if he could imitate the real Chinese magician called Ching Ling Foo in order to exploited the western craze for orientalism. He agreed; shaved his moustache, cut his hair like a Chinese man, added a long fake ponytail and began dressing in long oriental robes. He began billing himself under the name Chung Ling Soo. He rarely spoke on stage and, if he did, it was to use such words as “much glad” in broken English. Everyone accepted him without question and he managed to keep up his Chinese pose in the public’s eye for many years, in spite of the fact that hundreds of his friends and fellow illusionists actually knew who he really was. Then, on March 23, 1918, while performing in front of the usual packed house a tragic accident ended his career. He was performing his infamous bullet catching feat which involved a gun being fired at him by an assistant. He would catch each bullet in his teeth and spit them out into a plate that he held in his hands. When inspected, the bullets had marks identical to those that were placed in the muzzle of the revolver. He had performed this trick routinely for many years but this night something went tragically wrong. The assistants fired as usual, but the trick gun malfunctioned and the magician fell to the ground. With a gasp he scream his first audible English words heard on a stage in years  “My God, I’ve been shot.” The bullet had pierced his right lung. He died in London the following day. ……..... And the well-known Masonic author of Morals and Dogma, and originator of the ritual for the concordant body, the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, Albert Pike, died on this date in 1891. …........ but more important for Thelemites: Charles Robert Stansfeld Jones was born on this date in Fulham Park Gardens, London in 1886. Years later, while acting as a census-taker for voter registration in Vancouver, Canada, he met the author Malcolm Lowry. Jones introduced himself as “Frater Achad, an adept in the Cabbala, a former member of the Hermetic Students of the Golden Dawn, the mystical child of the infamous Aleister Crowley, with whom he had for a time edited Equinox magazine, founder of a group of Chicagoans who called themselves the Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum, and author of two privately printed Cabbalistic texts, The Reception of the Bride and The Anatomy of the Body of God. Lowry was dazzled: here was precisely the person he needed, just when he was needed most.” What an intro! Anyway, the history of the Ordo Templi Orientis in America began on January 1, 1915 when Jones was granted a patent by Aleister Crowley to establish the O.T.O. in North America. He created the British Columbia Lodge No.1. Jones died on February 24, 1950 in Vancouver, Canada in 1950 at the age of 64. …....…. And to continue on with historical facts: although he had actually arrived in Sicily in March; it was on this date in 1920 that Aleister Crowley ‘officially’ established the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu. ........... also, Coral E. Lorenzen was born on this date in Hillsdale, Wisconsin in 1925  She witnessed several UFOs during her lifetime, the first at the age of nine, another in Arizona during 1947 and another which was seen by over 300 people in Wisconsin. In 1952 she and her husband Jim Lorenzen founded the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). Together they share the opinion that UFOs are best explained by the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH). Coral and Jim both passed away in the early 80’s. She published such books as The Great Flying Saucer Hoax (1962), Flying Saucers, The Startling Evidence of the Invasion from Outer Space (1966) and Shadow of the Unknown (1970). …...... And speaking of birthdays: Peter Haining was born on this date in 1940. He is one of Britain’s leading authorities on horror, with a particular emphasis on early Gothic and classic ghost story. At a time when 19th century Gothic fiction was not easy to come by, his anthologists were often the only available source of such literature for the general public. He took a firm stand against the shocking and the graphic and he favored the subtle approach in stories. He also strove to broaden the repertoire of the anthology beyond the familiar handful of tales that are rehashed over and over again. Only a few of his anthologies contain pieces written by Aleister Crowley. In The Satanists ( 1970) he included a chapter called The Initiation which was actually Crowley’s Ceremonies Proper To The Obtaining Of A Familiar Spirit, or Stauros Batraxou  (Liber LXX - 70) the Frog Ritual. In his book titled The Necromancers, The Best of Black Magic & Witchcraft (1972) Haining has a chapter called The Black Lodge and is incorrectly portrayed as short story written by Aleister Crowley. The name is false and the piece in question is actually Chapter XIX of Moonchild which was originally titled The Grand Bewitchment. Haining did the same thing in his next book titled The Magicians, The Occult in Fact and Fiction (1973) In this book chapter four is titled An Experiment in Necromancy which is merely Chapter XV of Moonchild. In Haining’s book titled The Dream Machine (1972) he published one of Crowley’s poems titled The Balloon and in his book Tales from The Rogue’s Gallery, A Guided Tour (1994) is republished Crowley’s story titled At The Fork in the Roads. ……. And finally, as my readers scream enough facts already, I should point out that it was on April 2, 1948 that the Aeon of MAAT, or MA-ION commenced according to Charles Stansfeld Jones, or Frater Achad. ...... Ok readers, you can scream "No more!"

Wednesday April 1st 2009 – 5:30am HERE IS A TRUE APRIL FOOL’S DAY STORY - On this date 1919 the citizens of Venice woke to find piles and piles of horse manure throughout the Piazza San Marco in Venice, as if a huge procession of horses had gone plodding through there during the night. Naturally people were stunned considering that Piazza is surrounded by canals. In time it was discovered to be an April Fool’s joke by the infamous British eccentric and prankster Horace de Vere Cole (1881-1936), who was honeymooning in Venice at the time. It seems he had transported the manure over from the mainland the night before by gondola and the boatman helped him deposit small piles throughout the Piazza thinking this to be funny. Other tricks of Cole’s were the Dreadnought Hoax of 1910 when he dressed as a sultan of Zanzibar who was visiting London and who wanted to visit Cambridge University, where Cole just happened to be a undergraduate. During another charade he disguised himself to look like Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and arranged for the real MacDonald to be delayed, if not lost, in a cab. In his disguise Cole then whet to the Labour Party meeting where he made a speech telling its members that they should work harder for less money. On another occasion, Cole dared a Member Of Parliament to race him to the nearest corner and he gave the man a 10-yard head start; having already slipped his gold watch into the MP's pocket. As soon as the MP began to run, Cole yelled at the top of his lungs for the police who promptly arrested the MP as a “pickpocket.” There are those who also believe that Cole had his hands in the great Piltdown Man hoax.

5:20am For the history buff: After MacGregor Mathers and his wife  moved to Paris, Florence Farr assumed the head of the Isis-Urania Temple of the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn in London on this date in 1897. …….. and it was on this date in 1915 that H. Spencer Lewis founded a spurious and clandestine Rosicrucian body calling in AMORC, The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis. …….. and in was on April 1st 1960 that my dear friend Tony Iannotti was born on this date in New Haven, Connecticut. He was originally one the OTIO initiates at Brocken Mountain Lodge. …….. and Sascha Germer, a Vienna born piano teacher whose maiden name was Sascha Ernestine Andre, died on this date in 1975. She was the third wife of Karl Germer, the man who took over the Ordo Templi Orientis after Aleister Crowley’s death in 1947. Karl once remarked that, “no one has done so much as Sascha for the Great Work.” ……. I would also like to report that on this date in 1996 near San Antonio de Los Sauces, Chiapas, Mexico, Julieta Calderon awoke to discover almost twenty dead, blood-covered sheep on her property. All the animals had their throats ripped open. One of the security guards at the ranch recalled seeing a naked albino-like “person” only about twenty inches tall hiding among the bushes. He and his companion went after the creature without much success, it escaped. This was another classic sighting of the Chupacabra, or “Goat sucker.” ……. And it was on April 1, 1997 that a statue in the community of the Franciscan Sisters in Gebegamey, began weeping tears of blood. Vincent Metonnou, a journalist who witnessed the miracle wrote about it in the weekly Le Forum. He wondered why there were so many similar “signs of sorrow” appearing all over the world: “Has the world lost the way?” He concluded that the Son of Man is probably saddened by mankind’s villainy. .......... and on April 1, 1998 the online edition of Nature Magazine ran an interesting article on this date by Randy Sepulchrave. It mentioned a discovery by the Museum of the University of Southern North Dakota of “a near-complete skeleton of a theropod dinosaur in North Dakota.” The exciting part about the discovery is that the article claimed that “researchers believe that the dinosaur, now named as Smaugia volans, could have flown,” which in theory should have ended the palaeontological debate over the origin of birds. However, it  was an April Fool’s joke. In fact, the University of Southern North Dakota does not even exist. As for the names used in the article; Smaug was the name of the flying dragon in Tolkein's book The Hobbit; and Sepulchrave was the name of the 76th Earl of Groan in Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan. This Earl, believing that he was an owl, leapt to his death from a high tower; discovering too late that he could not fly.

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