~ May 10th - 15th 2009 ~
Friday May 15th 2009 – 3:50pm I was beginning to worry that my students were all going to remain quiet on me but little by little they are coming out of the woodwork. And thus, Ben submits his understanding of Steeped Horsehair. It's quite good; offers some interesting points. He writes: "Here’s what I have for you, I’m not thrilled by it, it seems wordy…
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Steeped Horsehair I was telling Jerry the other day about my own experiences with horsehair snakes with my grandmother growing up in the South. The hairs do act like snakes and do seem to be life-like, or, animated by the water they lie in. I still look for them in the woods and find the phenomenon intriguing.
“Mind is the disease of semen.” Or, maybe I should say that consciousness/self as manifested in Malkuth is the most base manifestation of the phallic energy/libido as “sex.” “But mind, never at ease, creaketh ‘I’,” seems to echo what we were saying in regard to the illusory nature of the individual, but now we have moved into the higher Ruach and above the concept of “Death.” While it seems to be the same old new-age banter there is a subtle difference. Here we see the movement of energy from Binah/Babalon=the City of Pyramids, (c.f. “The Gun Barrel” discussions) into Geburah/Horus=Mars. According to “777” this path of Cheth, or “The Chariot,” is related to “Kephera” (c.f. “The Stag-Beetle”). It is also the Moon/Cancer (c.f. “Dewdrops”) manifesting the Will below the Abyss. Crowley, again “777,” describes this as the “Disposing Intelligence.” My pocket Webster’s defines “dispose” as “…to arrange in a certain order,…control,” again, Chastity. Case (Tarot Fundamentals) quotes Pythagoras as describing this energy as “…vehiculum, vehicle, of man’s life…THE KATHOPANISHAD says: ‘The Self is the rider drawn in the chariot of the body, guided by the intellect as charioteer, drawn by the senses as powerful horses, controlled by way of the mind serving for the reins. Thus runs the vehicle over the course of experience...’” Cheth also translates to “fence, enclosure,” that surrounds a field, a potentiality of both productivity or fallowness. It might be easier to understand this as the one-pointedness of the Will brings that Supernal Intuition, or formative power (the “Dewdrops” of the lunar fluid), via the subconscious, into a potentially active state (The Chariot) manifested as Horus (the Son).In the same way that the water (Binah-ocean) animates the lifeless horsehair, the Malkuthian shell of the “individual” is animated by the Lunar fluids descending from the Supernals.Love is the law, love under will.Ben ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:50am Jay writes - "93 Jerry, Okay okay, don't beat us master! I've been a bit stumped by the first line, "Mind is a disease of semen," but being a Scorpio I was probably just overthinking it. I think what he's getting at is that consciousness is always driven ultimately by the sex drive. On the lowest level, in Malkuth, it manifests literally as sex. As we work up the mountain, the desire to unite changes shape. All things tend to their opposite. So on the highest level the libido desires to unite with the macrocosm. Only then in samadhi with Nuit, when the microcosm and macrocosm unite, are we lost to ourselves. The libido and th chariot are both driving forces, but the Chariot seems to represent the libido in its highest aspiration. The grail depicted in Crowley's Chariot, then, represents the yoni at the back of the head to which the kundalini rises. Something like that. 93 93/93" ................ Reply: It is good to see at least one of our students is thinking. We'll give you a B+ today but that doesn't negate the need to beat you anyway, after all, you are a Scorpio whose mind is diseased more than any other Zodiac sign, no? Isn't this what astrology teaches us? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:45am I spent the morning reducing the prices on an unbelievable amount of stuff on my FOR SALE section just to dump it. This is a first come, first serve basis. You can drool. .... :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:30am I have received only one email on Steeped Horsehair on Wednesday morning since I posted a couple of my own thoughts on Tuesday morning trying to give insight or direction but no one has really picked the ball up and run with it. Are you all a sleep? I guess this is The chapter which broke the Camel's back and which has everyone climbing back down the mountain mumbling to themselves and kicking small pebbles. ... And just think, the next chapter that we'll be discussing is called The Mountaineer, Steeped Horsehair's compliment ... and on that note, I guess I can expect no mountain climbers next week, just mud wallowers and puddle jumpers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:45am For the history buffs: Lyman Frank Baum, ‘The Man Behind the Curtain’, was born on this date in 1856 in Chittenango, New York, a small town just east of Syracuse. In 1900 he released The Wonderful Wizard of OZ and then went on to release thirteen other novels based on the places and people of the land of Oz. According to one urban legend about Baum, when the wardrobe department of MGM began to buy costumes for the movie version of The Wizard of OZ (1939), they purchased second hand clothes from rummage sales in and around Hollywood. Actor Frank Morgan who played the Wizard, was given one such second-hand overcoat to wear, and he happened to notice that the lining of the coat had a label saying, “Property of L. Frank Baum.” Although now consider a myth, in early publicity announcement for the movie, MGM emphasized that it was a true story. ….....…. and it was on May 15, 1956 that the artist Austin Osman Spare died in a hospital in London at the age of 67. Years earlier he had taken the oath of a Probationer in the AA in 1909, assuming the magical name “YIHOVEAUM.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday May 14th 2009 – 12:10pm I just heard that it’s official, a few months ago Jim Eshelman’s The Mystical & Magical System of the A.’.A.’. was finally re-released in its second hardback edition. But I am hearing an utterly horrible rumor which I hope isn’t true but I fear it is ... I heard that the copyright page was not updated and that the new edition is exact reprint in every detail to the first. In other words, all of you people out there who paid hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for a copy of his first edition are going to find out that it has devalued to being worthless to collectors because there may not be any way to determine in the future whether or not what you have is an original or a reprint! Can everyone say “Thank you Jim!”
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11:45am Mary ask's, "What's the earthquake score like?" I replied, "None, not since my posting last night. It's been very quiet." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:20am Last Augusts 1st [2008] I posted on my blog that a "Monster Washes up on New York Shore" and the article about it reads - "We don't want to panic anyone, but a minion of Satan recently washed up on a beach in Montauk, N.Y. The deceased beast looks a bit like a dog with the sharp beak of an eagle, or possibly a shell-less turtle with the dark eyes of a griffin. Either way, it's definitely a portent of the coming apocalypse. According to the tipster quoted by the Manhattan media types at Gawker, there is "a government animal testing facility very close by" that has led some -- namely us -- to speculate that the beast is an unholy result of dark occult experimentation. If this turns out to be the beginning of an assault on Earth by the dark forces, don't say we didn't warn you. (Gawker may have later accepted that the unfortunate animal is more likely a dog, or else a viral advertising campaign of some kind, but honestly, we're holding out hope it really is a hybrid dinosaur water monster.)" The photos were quite gruesome [Click HERE]... Now today the headlines read: The Return of the Montauk Monster? and the new article goes on to state that a similar creature has washed up on the shore. Hey folks, what's up with Montauk? Just because LAM appeared there to Crowley back in 1918 it doesn't mean that this is supposedly a strange creature dumping ground! Oh, wait a minute; I read Peter Moon's The Montauk Project (1992), it is a strange area!!! ... anyway, the article reads - "(May 14) - Will the Montauk Monster mystery finally be solved? The remains of a mysterious creature, said to have been photographed on New York's Long Island last weekend, have renewed speculation about monstrous creatures -- or monstrous tricksters -- lurking near Montauk. Photos of a similar carcass allegedly found in the area became a global Internet sensation last year. Those remains were said to have disintegrated before they could be examined, according to Montauk-Monster.com, which has documented the finds in detail. But the site says the newly found monster is on ice. "The beast smelled like a mix of low-tide and rotten garbage," blog author Nicky Papers wrote on the site. "It really smelled horrific. I couldn’t help but take numerous pictures of it and video clips." Papers said that it doesn't matter if the new beastie turns out to come from mundane origins, as long as this time, the world learns what it really is." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:15am Frater Shiva sent me a great email. He writes - "How many versions of The Heart of the Master can you take? Well, if you've had enough, feel free to hit the "DELETE" link right now. But if you would like to see The Heart of the Master , er, Matter, finally posted with all the cute animations & the sound track, and in a radically cut-down, abridged format, then you can now simply go to [Click HERE]." .... and yes, I was curious so I hit the link and watched it .. then laughed and LOVED IT!!! This is a must see version to believe; one of my favorite so far. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:30am For the history buffs: not much to report today except that it was in May 14, 1660 that the widow Robinson of Kidderminster, England, and her two daughters were arrested for using magic to try to prevent the return of Charles II from exile. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday May 13th 2009 – 6:18pm I threw an I-Ching regarding all the earthquakes of late and "What should Berkeley expect?" I received 36 MING; Yoni of Sun - the line in question reads - "A Horse may save one wounded in the thigh." ... Crowley's comment on this line reads: "The subject is wounded in the thigh but is fortunately saved by his swift horse. Good fortune results from acting properly according to the circumstances." In other words, don't panic! Its a bunch of small quakes, wounding the area but we'll get over it.
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UPDATED [Rather than adding new listings to this blog entry I'll simply add the new quakes to the bottom of the list during the course of the night]: Today Berkeley got whacked with a bunch of earthquakes and aftershocks starting at 3:34pm. I didn't feel them but then again I was initially sitting on Telegraph Avenue with friends watching the cute sights in short skirts go by and if the earth moved I wouldn't have noticed it ... :) ... and here is a listing:
3:34pm - 3.0 magnitude3:52pm - 1.3 magnitude4:36pm - 1.3 magnitude4:46pm - 1.5 magnitude4:59pm - 2.4 magnitude5:02pm - 1.8 magnitude5:04pm - 0.9 magnitude5:20pm - 1.3 magnitude6:07pm - 1.8 magnitude9:36pm - 1.5 magnitudeWe were previously hit with a bunch of earthquakes and aftershocks on the 9th & 10th. ... Berkeley is shaking! I wonder why so many lately? This is very odd, not normal. We usually get one random quake, maybe a brief aftershock but never so many in such a short period of time. If fact; Berkeley has had more quakes since Saturday than it has had over the previous entire year. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:40am Fr. VIA-151, one of Luis Alvarado's A.'.A.'. students, writes - "I’ve been following your blog for awhile now. I've really enjoyed the idea of a ‘group work’ of study and have been trying to keep up with these chapters of 'The Book of Lies'. The last few entries on your blog have moved me to finally start getting things out of my head and universe and throw it out there for others. It seems to be a theme and need for me, especially quite recently. The interplay between these chapters is so close, I have never noticed before how much so and I feel that I want to keep waiting to ‘get it’ before I send out anything, but I think that its more important to get it out there first. Here goes;
Bindu is the semial Seed-Point that allows manifestation, Kether, can be transformed into the Ojas of divine consciousness. The Semen becomes the Sacred. This I feel to be the theme running through these chapters so far.
A friend once told me that true love was the instant spark that we feel in meeting that certain person (or thing, idea etc). This is the Charioting, when we lose that sense of self, of ‘I’ and allow this flash of intuition to pull us onward. The collective consciousness that contains all of where we have been and thus what we are. The ‘I’ is the vehicle, even as the Gun-Barrel that channels that energy, but we must not think that this ‘I’ is us, as our Mind would have it. But to allow that Dewdrop to flow through and lose that false sense in the moment. To be the hollow, the O of the rOd, for though it appears as an ‘I’, it is the empty vehicle.
The influence of the Moon is seen as the Path of XVIII, where the Dewdrop manifests in Malkuth as the seminal seed. The Moon is in Yesod as the bridge and link to Tiphareth, the sphere of the HGA and the Great Work. And linking to this is the Moon as The Priestesss, who is as the Ojas of spiritual consciousness descending. The Gate of the God On. Thus the two triangles of the Holy Hexagram.
Hope it makes sense. Thanks for the time and instigating this study!
Fr. VIA-151.Reply: It makes sense ... and glad our little discussion group has been inspirational. Jump in any time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:15am For the history buffs: Olaus Wormius, also known as Ole Worm, was born on this date in 1588. He was a Danish physician and antiquarian who collected early literature. He also wrote a number of books on runestones and their lore. He most likely would have remained obscured in occult circles had it not been for H. P. Lovecraft who fictionalize him by name as the translator from the Arabic into Latin of the norotious grimoire known as the Necronomicon. The real Wormius died on August 31, 1654. …..…. And it was on this date in 1896 that an unofficial Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ritual was held by Florence Farr, Allan Bennett, F. L. Gardner and Charles Rosher in which they evoked the great demon Taphthartharath. …….... and on May 13, 1915 H. Spencer Lewis announced the first ‘official’ Rosicrucian convocation of AMORC to be held in the United States. …....… and it was on May 13, 1922 that the Baltimore Talking Board Company filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to over-ride the lower Court’s decision that the Ouija Board was taxable because of its toy status. The fight had begun two years earlier, in 1920, when the Internal Revenue Service handed the company a tax bill for the Ouija board. The Baltimore Talking Board Company fought hard against this on the grounds that the Ouija was a ‘scientific device’ used as a means of amateur mediumship of a spiritual nature and therefore it should be exempt by its religious status. They took the Internal Revenue Service to court in order to recover a whopping $202.81, which it had protestingly paid in taxes. However, the U. S. Court thought otherwise. It believed that although the board was unique and in a class by itself, it was still being sold in stores as a ‘sporting game’ and therefore taxable. The headlines of the paper read “Nothing Occult in Ouija, Federal Court Rules. Boards are Taxable, according to Opinion Handed Down by Judge Rose.” The company disagreed and appealed the decision but to no avail. The headlines told the story. “Ouija Board is Taxable, Appellate Court Says. Judge Woods, in Richmond, Hands Down Opinion Affirming Baltimore Judgment.” The court stated, that the company “cannot pretend to be ignorant that it [i.e. Ouija] is very largely sold with the expectation that it is to be used as a means social amusement or play and is actually so used. It is true that automatism is the basis for its use, but phenomena of psychical as well as of physical nature may be the basis for amusement and games.” Not to be discouraged, the Baltimore Talking Board Company filed papers, on this date in May of 1922, with the U.S. Supreme Court. Unfortunately the Supreme Court refused to hear their case and sided with the lower court ruling. The local headlines in Baltimore said it all, “The Supreme Court Refuses to Say What It Thinks of Ouija.” The case was officially closed and from this date forth the Ouija has been considered a toy. …....…. And finally, it would be negligent of me if I did not mention that Jim Jones was born in Lynn, Indiana on this date in 1933. He would become famous on November 18, 1978 by assisting in the mass suicide of over 900 members of his church in a settlement he had cut out of the Guyanese jungle on the northern coast of South America. Question: Why don't you hear any Jim Jones jokes? Answer: It’s because the punch lines are too long. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday May 12th 2009 – 6:40pm Here is more rambling food for thought: the Muladhara Chakra is identified as the 9th Qabalistic sphere known as Yesod (Foundation) or the Dark Mother, the Moon on the Tree of Life and although the Sun’s significance with our Spirit is well known; the Moon’s importance with our Soul is rarely understood. The Moon represents the nine months of gestation that it takes a child to form within its mother’s womb.
I am not violating any copyright Laws or secrets since the info that I'm about to explain appears in The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O, Edited and Introduced by Francis King that was published way back in 1973. Anyway, within the First Degree initiation rites a candidate is taken around a Sacred Well in what is called the ‘travels of the Moon.’ These are three stages, each is symbolic of one of the three coils of the serpent Kundalini. Initially, the candidate stands before the initiator who sits in the East and is told “This is the pathway to the Knowledge of Thyself. Be true toward thyself.” and then they are taken three times around the Well through the stages of birth, life and death. After completion the initiator informs the candidate that the next travels are called “the Pathway to the Perfection of Thyself. Conquer thyself.” The candidate is then taken three more times around the Sacred Well. After the completion of these travels the candidate is brought before the initiator who informs them that the final three circles are “the Pathway to the Truth. Seek Beauty. In Beauty is eternal Truth revealed.” He then sends the candidate on their final three travels around the Sacred Well. Upon completion of the nine moon, or months of gestation, the candidate is then placed within the Sacred Well with a noose around their neck, symbolic of the umbilical cord, in preparation for birth. But most candidates symbolically drink too heartily from the sacred waters of forgetfulness (Lethe) within the Sacred Well and few if any, know how to look for Aletheia, or Truth and because of such, once they are born, they simply become Thelomites or seekers of mundane wants. (Note: the difference between being the Greek words Thelema and Theloma is that the later simply replaces the 'E' for an 'O' .... O = Ayin, the Devil, Lord of Illusions)One is also reminded of the primeval Goddess Ananke; who is said to be serpentine, twisting her snake-like body around the whole of creation as her three daughters or Fates; Lachesis, Klotho and Atropos sit upon Thrones (coils). These Fates oversee each 'Travel' around the Sacred Well which the Greeks called the ‘Thread of Life’ which their mother, the Goddess Necessity, spins for our Soul’s incarnation. Lachesis rules our Sun Sign. In Qabalah the Sun is ruled by the sphere known as Tiphereth which means Beauty and here we must learn to seek the Laws of our Star for in Beauty is eternal Truth reveals. Klotho rules our Moon sign, Qalalistically ruled by the sphere known as Yesod. Klotho rules the pathway of Perfection where we must learn to conquer or put under control our outer personality and Self in order to fulfill our desired experience. The third fate Atropos rules the Rising Sign or birth onto Malkuth (Earth) and she brings us Knowledge if only we have ears to listen in order to ‘be true to ourselves’ as to why we are incarnating. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:30pm Jay sends an email subject "Cherry It" where he writes more on Steeped Horsehair - "93 Jerry, So if the Chariot is the Conquest of Illusions, what are the illusions we are conquering? "But mind, never at ease, creaketh 'I'". The ego, being in the lower Ruach, is one of the illusions we need to conquer; only then can we distinguish Gnosis from personal psycho-babble (to use a favorite Jerryism). Otherwise the shadow of the ego blots out the light of gnosis. I think that what Crowley is getting at is that the True Will is what descends from above the Abyss, thus "man is only himself when lost to himself in the Charioting." Everything else is the wants and illusions of the lower Ruach. One you control (the ego), the other controls you (the True Will). I think this is where the matter of faith comes in: allowing the gnosis we receive from those dewdrops above the Abyss to guide us. ... Where the dewdrops are concerned, I find it interesting that there is a distinct lunar influence along all of the paths of the three pillars that connect that which is above the Abyss to that which is below. The Chariot is ruled by Cancer which itself is ruled by the Moon, the path of Gimel is ruled by the Moon and the path of the Heirophant is ruled by Taurus which is exalted in the Moon. I was asking myself what the difference is between the path of Gimel and the path of Cheth. I'm not entirely sure I have an answer, but it seems that the details are negligible as the process is the same and the influence is ultimately the same... (and I shall conclude as all good philosophers should ) maybe... Love, Jay 93 93/93 ........... Reply: I'd like to quote Cicero (106 BC-43 BC) from his On Friendship about how we often "... put the cart before the horse" which has come to imply that we should always begin at the proper place and do things in their proper order. In other words; too often the individual lets their body and reality (i.e. Illusions) dictate their incarnation without realizing that the reigns are really being pulled by a Higher Source (the Charioteer) whom we must inevitably relinquish our control. I like it when you mention the Law of "One you control, while the other controls you" but consider how children today scream that they're 'Thelemites' without a clue that acting with unrestrained measure on Malkuth to "Do what you want' automatically implies that they've restricted the Charioteer's ability to move the Chariot accordingly in order to fulfill one's incarnation (i.e. their True Will) ... Don't put the cart before the horse, control your reality FIRST, conquer Illusions. ... and remember; the first lesson taught to every Minerval Initiate of the Ordo Templi Orientis is structure in order to fulfill their role as a Soldier of Freedom. ... as for the rest of your comments, very good. Keep thinking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:05pm Weiser Antiquarian Books has made available two New Catalogs: Catalog 56: Aleister Crowley. 93 Secondhand, Out-of-Print and New Books. (click HERE) and Catalog 57: Aleister Crowley. Rare Books and Documents. (Click HERE) Lots of great stuff ... I'm drooling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3:55pm Last Saturday I recommended the movie Jubilee (1978) to Luna. It's a Derek Jarman film. It's about Queen Elizabeth I being transported forward in time by the occultist John Dee through the spirit guide Ariel. Elizabeth arrives in a desolate and brutal wasteland Britain of the 1970s. Queen Elizabeth II is dead, killed in an arbitrary mugging, and Elizabeth I moves through the social and physical decay of the city observing the activities of a group of sporadic nihilists ... Jubilee was arguably the first UK punk movie, and among its cast featured punk groups and figures such as Wayne County of Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, Jordan, Toyah Willcox, and Adam and the Ants. .... Anyway, Luna just sent me an email wherein she writes - "Jerry 93! We watched "Jubilee" this afternoon. Very complex fim, actually......very eerie. There was an after effect, from watching the film, that I did not expect....at first blush it read like a John Water's or a Cockette film. ...but there was something else going on in the film. I will have to watch it again. anyway, Jarman, the director, is definitely an "Uncle From Pluto". Thank you for your recommendation. Love and 93s )O(." ............ Reply: Jarman is an Aquarius which really shows in his films with his eclectic use of surreal images. Sadly, he died on February 19, 1994 of HIV. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:20am Ricky writes -"Jerry 93, Further considerations on this chapter and what is really being conveyed lead me to consider from whence the Charioteer is issuing in clearer language. Binah can be considered as intuition and Geburah is energy in action. 'Mind' gets in the way of the subconscious if it is not fully under control and thus is a disease of spirit. For spirit communicates to our consciousness through the inspiration of intuition. This is the Faith AC speaks about "based upon subconscious calculation". It is blotting out the Ruach so that our Nephesh can become a perfect mirror of Neshamah enabling the free flow of 'intuition'. Just a thought. 93 93/93 Ricky ." .......... Reply: And its a good thought. You know Ricky, there is no real right or wrong below the Abyss; hence the lesson that I hope you and others are all learning. What you wrote yesterday is simply the Truth as you saw it from the peak whence you climbed; now you are climbing further ... were you wrong yesterday? No. A magician knows that what is real today will be illusions tomorrow on a faded landscape ... and armed with this deep philosophical logic you must inevitably understand that there is not one single thing on this plane that has any divine Truth in it. It’s all bathed in Lies! Anything that has ever been written can be hotly debated as being totally wrong depending upon someone else’s point of view from the peak where they stand. It’s like trying to get twelve people to walk down a street at the same time and then ask them what they saw. No two people will describe the exact same thing. It’s impossible. ... Sadly, people who are afraid of metaphorical Death keep things to themselves, most are 'terrified' about jumping into this little exercise regarding The Book of Lies because they don't want to be seen as being 'wrong' ... Ah, ego screams and they stopped climbing the mountain. ... a magician, however, knows that he or she must go within and climb deeper into our minds. Here we find the Truth in Silence while knowing that we MUST inevitably bring our thoughts out into the Light of Day. Only then can something follow the course of the Sun and die; being reborn into something greater. The seeds of thought that you are planting today by meditating on The Book of Lies will hopefully inspire deeper insights tomorrow. ... Don't stop climbing and don't ever let your ego get in the way to tell you that you've found Truth.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:05am Frank asks, "I have heard of Paul Foster Case before but I have never read any of his works. Any suggestions?" ..... Reply: He wrote a few great books like The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order and The Book of Tokens but I'd recommend a book titled The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, which all serious students should keep near their desks for quick reference on Tarot symbology and whenever we discuss a Tarot card this should be one of your first reads. In many ways, he's far clearer than Aleister Crowley. Be that as it may, if you become a member of Case's group, as I was for years and years in the seventies, one of the first things they send you a small 4 1/2" x 6" yellow covered pamphlet titled Highlights of Tarot; and still, after all these years, this sits just to left of my computer monitor in my mandatory reference books. It is like a handy little abridged version of The Tarot.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9:30am Here is an after thought: Paul Foster Case’s teachings holds quite a few keys in understanding Steeped Horsehair. He informs us that The Chariot is our human body and the Charioteer is our higher Ruach. The reins which our Inner Self uses that are attached to the Chariot is our Mind. He further writes – “Advancement in occult work depends upon the realization of the facts portrayed in this Key, for it is only when we understand these facts that we allow the real Self to guide our personalities.” Crowley agrees; he tells us in The Book of Lies that the Great Work is tied to Cancer-Cheth the ruler of The Chariot: see Chapter 69. Case also informs us that this path’s “Key represents the Conquest of Illusions.” ... Remember, the Lord of Illusion is The Devil card ruled by Capricorn and the very opposite sign in the Zodiac Wheel is that of Cancer; both paths lie within the Formula of ON. They are both on the Left Hand Pillar of 418 which encompasses two other paths or that of ‘Fire’ (Shin) and ‘Water’ (Mem) paths; how Alchemical. Another clue can be seen astrologically: the Solstices and Equinoxes are seen as ‘positive (day) and negative’ (night) forces; bathed in duality. Here is how they break down:Spring Equinox – Equal in Power (Aries) Summer Solstice – Day Force is the strongest, the Night the weakest. (Cancer)Autimn Equinox – Equal again. (Libra)Winter Solstice – Night Force is the strongest, the Day the weakest (Capricorn)Note: Cancer and Capricorn; think about it ... yes, there are two kinds of Faith; does not Crowley tell us that? Again, think about it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:20am Here is a good clue re: Steeped Horsehair; have you all read the Chapter LXVII on 'Faith' from Magick Without Tears? Crowley writes "There are two kinds; and they are almost exact opposites." Adding, "Faith in its Meaning Number One was perfectly well defined by the schoolboy: "the faculty of believing that which we know to be untrue." It is at least the acceptance of any statement as true without criticism, examination, verification, or any other method of test. Faith of this sort is evidently the main symptom of the moron, the half-wit, the village idiot. It is this kind of faith upon the possession and exercise of which religious persons always insist as the first condition of salvation. Here is my own lamentable foresight on the subject!" and then he uses an example from The Winged Beetle titled The Convert. ... and later he adds - "What is the other kind of faith? Like its hostile twin, it must have no truck with reason, at least no conscious truck, or it ceases to possess a moral meaning. It is that confidence in oneself which assures one that the long shot at the tiger will fly true to the mark, that the tricky putt will go down, that the man one never beat before will go down this time; also its horrid contrary, the moral certainty that something will go wrong, even with the easiest problems, with one hundred to one in one's favour. I think the official answer is that one's certainty is in reality based upon subconscious calculation, so that faith has nothing whatever to do with it. If there is any answer to this, I don't know it. After all, that is neither here nor there; there is but one material issue: how to acquire that kind of faith. Suppose we hunt it up in that precious Book of Lies! Any luck? Sure, kiddums, here we are!" ... He then adds two chapters from The Book of Lies starting with Steeped Horsehair, followed by The Mountaineer which will be our next chapter that we'll be reviewing. ..... Ah, Crowley is brilliant -"The Method of Science, The Aim of Religion."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:10am Ed Wormuth sent this gem re: Steeped Horsehair - "93 Jerry, This is a wonderful exercise you have initiated and I much enjoy the analysis and comments of your "circle". Pondering over this Rune, "The Steeped Horsehair" brought back a memory of a conversation between Grady and a group of us from the Ra Hoor Khuit Lodge many years ago. The gist of that conversation was, that the mind was a subordinate function to the regenerative organs. That the prime function of the species was replication, much like a virus, and that that was the prime motivator or "raison d'etre'. [It gave me pause to consider a more lofty regard for the much denigrated term "thinking with one's cock". Just as this poem has given me insight for the term "Charioting". 93 93/93, Ed ... P.S. My warped brain envisions the William Bourrough's episode of "STAR WARS- The Porcine Rebellion" as Obe Wan [aka the old boar] admonishes his piggy charge "Be the Flu, Luke, Be the Flu!" ..... "p.s.s. I forgot to mention H1N1 is played by R2D2."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:55am Last year I posted this astrological gem and it was a crowd pleaser. So, let me remind you all - How many ‘people’ does it take to Change a Lightbulb? ARIES: Just one. Wanna make something of it?TAURUS: Well, I prefer natural light if at all possible. Are you absolutely positive that lightbulb is burned out? I hate to throw it away if it still might be useful.GEMINI: Probably one is best, because if there are more than one, they'll get so wrappedup in talking to each other that they'll forget all about the lightbulb.CANCER: Only one, but three therapists will be needed to help with the grieving process.LEO: Leos do not change their own lightbulbs. They find someone else to do it for them.VIRGO: 1.11111119873, give or take .00000000000013%.LIBRA: Well, I could do it, unless of course you'd prefer to do it, but you look sort of busyright now. What do you want to do?SCORPIO: None, because Scorpios aren't afraid of the dark.SAGITTARIUS: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got the rest of our lives aheadof us and you're worrying about a stupid light bulb?CAPRICORN: I don't have time for these foolish jokes.AQUARIUS: Well, you see, energy is really matter and matter is really energy and light is aform of energy but the light bulb is matter, and--PISCES: What light bulb? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:50am For the history buffs: Wilhelm Reich, who popularized the notion of Orgone Energy, made contact with a UFO on this date in 1954 which he claimed had been hovering over his laboratory in Rangeley, Maine. …....…. And it was on May 12, 1970 in Butte Creek Canyon near Chico, California, Clifford Brushshot walked to the well on his farm to get some water and was shocked to see a huge Bigfoot. He shot his .22 caliber rifle at it after it became aggressive by waving its arms and growled at him. The creature fled, making cries of pain. …….... And finally, on May 12, 1996 near Varginha, Brazil a truck driver was turning a curve when his headlights illuminated a short humanoid creature standing in the middle of the road. The driver slammed on the brakes to see the creature raise its hands in a protective manner over its large red glowing eyes. The creature then ran into the woods and disappeared. The truck driver noticed that it had only four fingers on each hand.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday May 11th 2009 – 8:00pm Ricky sent in a very good interpretation of Steeped Horsehair; he writes- "Jerry 93, This chapter is so completely sublime in its symplicity and depth that I am having a hard time choosing where to start. I guess the beginning would be good. This is the 8th chapter of the Book of Lies attributed to the letter Cheth and the Chariot Atu. The path of Cheth, as has already been pointed out connects Binah to Geburah and is the "influence of the Supernals descending through the Veil of Water upon the energy of man, and so inspires it" (Book of THOTH pg.85) This Water is identified with Blood, and Blood in this sense I think is synonymous with semen. So it is through the semen that the influence of the Supernals descends in this path. The reference to a snake in the title is Key here. In certain symbol sets a snake or Serpent swims in the 'Blood' of a Lion and is the animating force behind it. Cheth is the first path of the Formula of ON and the Charioteer of the 12th Aether declares that "there is no power that may endure, save only the power that descendeth in this my chariot from Babylon, the city of Fifty Gates, the Gate of the God On" (Liber 418 pg.152)
Also Cancer is the house of the Moon and for this reason AC states certain analogies are appropriate between this card and that of the High Priestess. This I see as primarily the Supernal influence descending through the Abyss. I think it is worthy to note that 8 is also Mercury or the Phallus the 'Chariot' of the Semen as it were.We see in the first line that 'Mind' is a disease of this descending force and it 'creaketh I'. This 'I' can be identified as the Lower Ego because it does not persist, it changes frequently and then dies. However this Semen which has given birth to this disease contains All. Maybe best described by what Jung called the 'Collective Unconscious.' It seems helpful to consider this chapter with that of chapter 32 'The Mountaineer' where we find 'symptoms' of the disease... The last paragraph shows us a for the first time a method to achieve, even if it is only a 'Glimmer' of our True Selves. The key to which is the blotting out of the disease of mind. 93 93/93 Ricky------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:15pm Jay sent an email about Steeped Horeshair under the subject title - "Steeped in Babalonian Whore's Hair" .... "93 Jerry, This chapter is a rather brilliant analogy, comparing consciousness, the awareness of self, to the awareness of the body when it's diseased or somehow injured. The alleviation from this unease is in samadhi with Nuit, when one is lost in The Charioting, the path connecting Geburah to Binah, where the self is identified with the non-self. The obscure reference to a snake in the title is probably due to the kundalini risen to the sahasrara chakra. Crowley's seeming insistence that the self is properly the non-self reminds me of Wittgenstein's claim that there is no "I"; that is, "I" can only be defined in gramatical terms as the speaker, but is impossible to pin-down in empirical terms. Love, Jay 93 93/93 ." ......... Reply: It must be the Mercury Retrograde. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:00am For the history buffs: Jiddu Krishnamurti was born on this date in 1895 in Madanapalle, a small town in south India. He was the eighth child in a middle-class family. At an early age he was adopted by Annie Besant, the President of the Theosophical Society, with had its headquarters in Madras. She took Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya to England where she had them educated privately. Krishnamurti died on February 17, 1986 at the age of 90 in Ojai, California. One of his students once commented that “Listening to Krishnamurti speak was like eating a sandwich made of bread and sand.” Although his writings are far more clear; like when he wrote, “All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.” .....….. and the artist Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Domenech was born on this date at 8:45am in the small agricultural town of Figueres, Spain in 1904. .....….. and William Wallace Webb, astrologer and artist, was born on this date in Seattle, Washington in 1919. It was in 1950 that he boasted his mystical life began. He founded the Philosophic Gnostic Hermetic Society (PGHS) at Joshua Tree in 1963. This group was said to be an independent offshoot of C. F. Russell’s Choronzon Club .....….. and it was on May 11, 1923 that Aleister Crowley arrived in Tunis after being expelled from Italy by Mussolini. .....….. and finally, on May 11, 1950 Paul Trent took photographs of UFO over his farm in McMinnville, Oregon, which are claimed by many to be the best photographic evidence to support the existence of alien space crafts. Finally, in 1975, Dr. Bruce Maccabee acquired the original negatives and tested them for signs of fraud. None was found.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday May 10th 2009 - 10:40am If you read yesterday's blog you'd know that here in Berkeley we've been hit by a series of small earthquakes of late; so many in such a short period is very rare and another one just happened this morning! At 6:45am we had a 1.7 magnitude. It's another small quake but one can only wonder if these are precursors to a big one!
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6:00am I have posted another chapter from The Book of Lies above that I'd like us all to discuss for the upcoming week; it is the 8th which is titled - Steeped Horsehair. Aleister Crowley's COMMENTARY on this new chapter is as follows - "Cheth is the Chariot in the Tarot. The Charioteer is the bearer of the Holy Grail. All this should be studied in Liber 418, the 12th Aethyr. The chapter is called "Steeped Horsehair" because of the mediaeval tradition that by steeping horsehair a snake is produced, and the snake is the hieroplyphic representation of semen, particularly in Gnostic and Egyptian emblems. The meaning of the chapter is quite clear; the whole race-consciousness, that which is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, is hidden therein. Therefore, except in the case of an Adept, man only rises to a glimmer of the universal consciousness, while, in the orgasm, the mind is blotted out." My comments: The 'mediaeval tradition' to which Crowley refers is when horses were the main form of transport. It was quite normal in those times to find horse hair floating in the water and occasionally a long worm would appear in the same water that looked very much like the hair from a horse's mane or tail, so it was assumed that one of the horsehairs had somehow ‘come alive’ and with a little imagination these ‘Horsehair Worms’ became known in Medieval times as ‘Horsehair Snakes’. You can google search and find more out about these worms if you'd like; they are amusing little critters ... Anyway, I hope that we have more comments about this chapter than the last ... being that I'm a Cancer, born in July, this chapter has personal meaning to me since Cancer rules The Chariot card. But don't let that kind of pressure bother you during this horrible time of Mercury Retrograde into worrying that if you submit something really stupid about me, I mean, The Chariot, that I'll take it personal! ... But don't fret too much, just have Faith ... hey, isn't that the name of a Chapter from Magick Without Tears? [wink wink] And from my own research; consider this:"More than enough by Guido's familyFor non-production of the promised fruitOf marriage? What if Nature, I demand,Touched to the quick by taunts upon her sloth,Had roused herself, put forth recondite power,Bestowed this birth to vindicate her sway?Like to the favour, Maro memorized,Was granted Aristaeus when his hiveLay empty of the swarm, not one more bee-Not one more babe to Franceschini's house-And lo, a new birth filled the air with joy,Sprung from the bowels of the generous steed!Just so a son and heir rejoiced the Count!Spontaneous generation, need I proveWere facile feat to Nature at a pinch?Let whoso doubts, steep horsehair certain weeks,In water, there will be produced a snake;Spontaneous product of the horse."Robert Browning (1812-1889) 'The Ring and the Book'------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:55am & big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to Mr. DAVID MILES! Lots of astral hugs coming your way. :)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:45am For the history buffs: Fredrick Bernhard Marby was born on this date in 1882. He was the German occultist and rune scholar who believed that man was a sensitive receiver of cosmic waves which animate the Universe and he saw the runes not just as letters but as incantations, or even as gymnastic postures and movements. He died on December 3, 1966. …...…. And it was on May 10, 1922 that Reuben Swinburne Clymer assumed the title of Grand Master of the Rosicrucians after the death of the previous world leader, Edward H. Brown. This Rosicrucian fraternity is not to be confused with AMORC. …...…. And on May 10, 1941 Hitler’s Deputy, Rudolf Hess, took off for Scotland in his Messerschmitt with a mission of peace between England and Germany. After his capture, Ian Fleming, who worked for Department of Naval Intelligence in Britain, suggested to his boss, Rear Admiral John Godfrey, “that Crowley should be allowed to interview Hess about the role of the occult in Nazism.” Fleming thought Crowley would be able to obtain further details on the influence of astrology with the Nazi leaders. …...…. And Karl Germer, the Grand Treasurer General of the Ordo Templi Orientis was arrested on this date in 1940 by the Nazis who had just entered Belgium. He was sent to a concentration camp. He was held until February of 1941. ……. And finally, Sid Vicious was born on this date as John Simon Ritchie in London, England in 1957.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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