~ September 13th - 24 2009 ~
Thursday September 24th 2009 – 12:50pm Ben replied to my last posting, he writes - "Jerry, 93 Thanks, I just got back from class. While "De" is usually translated as "the" it also means "about" or "on the point of." So both the use of "On..." and "The..." as translations would be correct. My high school Latin being long gone I'm sure there are specific rules regarding the uses of the definite article (the) versus the preposition (on). I'll defer to Karl on this one. 93 93/93 Ben."
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4:00pm Ben just sent me an email. He asks - "Jerry, 93 I had a quick question that came up over the use of "On" in the chapter titles in Liber Aleph. Have you seen the original document or galley proofs, and do they include the use of "De" in the Latinate titles. I'm inclined to believe the Germer edition which does, and if I remember correctly Jane's handmade version did too. 93 93/93 Ben."I replied - "Ben 93 It’s funny that you should ask. It just so happens that I do have the original typescript. The original typescript does not use the word ‘ON’ in the titles. Each title simply begins with ‘De’ or ‘The’ such and such.
We do know, however, that Crowley told Grady that the Mysteries of ON are revealed in Liber ALEPH. We also presume that Karl Germer knew these Mysteries as well because in his edition; Thelema Publications, West Point, CA printed September 23, 1961, he added in the word ‘ON’ in the Contents page before each ‘translated’ chapter as if to imply 'importance.' [Why he didn't add 'ON' to all the Chapter titles is a Mystery] ... Although in the actual chapters themselves in the book he uses the original Latin titles from the manuscript which are minus the ‘ON’.When Level Press in California published the next edition after Germer’s in 1972 they duplicated Germer’s intro ... and on each page they printed the original Latin along with Germer’s translations in English. Years later, when Grady was revealing all this to me, it was the Level Press edition that he was showing me when he asked, “Have you ever wondered why so many chapters in this book are titled ‘On’ such and such?” It was because it reveals the Mysteries of ON. I hope this answers your questions ...
93 93/93 Jerry
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6:00pm For the history buffs: On this date in 1541 the great Renaissance physician, alchemist and occult philosopher known as Paracelsus, died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 48 at the White Horse Inn in Salzburg. He was there to keep an appointment with the prince-archbishop, Duke Ernsty of Bavaria when, according to legend, he simply collapsed. Some believe that he was poisoned. After his death his bones were dug up several times, moved and reburied. Paracelsus had been born Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim in Einsielden, Switzerland circa 1493 but he egotistically picked the pseudonym, which means ‘beyond Celsius’, to imply that he was a greater physician than the then-revered Roman physician Aulus Cornelius Celsius. He once invited the faculty of his college to a lecture in which he promised to teach ‘The Greatest Secret of ALL Medicine.’ He then proceeded to uncover a dish containing a pile of stinking shit in all its glory. No one was amused. Apparently they missed the concept of ‘putrefactive fermentation.’ ………. And Jacques Vallee was born on this date near Paris, France in 1938. Along with his mentor Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Vallee carefully studied the question of UFOs for many years. Jacques Vallee’s research has taken him to almost every country in the world. He is considered one of the leading experts in UFO phenomena and has written several well respected scientific books on the subject such as Passport to Magonia, Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact, Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact, Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception, and The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. As a side note: Jacques Vallee served as the real-life model for Francois Truffaut in Steven Spielberg’s classic film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. ……… and September 24, 1947 is the date given in a ‘classified executive order’ supposedly signed by President Truman and sent to Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, authorizing him to establish a board of experts who would be answerable only to the President himself and to be known as Majestic-Twelve (MJ-12). Their job was to investigate the crash of a Flying Saucer near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. This MJ-12 document appeared to be the ‘smoking gun’ that the Roswell incident, long the subject of rumor and speculation, had really happened but many, even within the UFO field, claim that it is a hoax. ………. And finally, on September 24, 1996, near Georgeville, Pennsylvania two children, a little girl and a boy, both age 9, swore that they saw a weird looking light blue creature walking through a cornfield near their school, moving its arms back and forth like a soldier. They described it s being about four-feet tall, with long arms that ended in three fingers. It had a tube-like appendage lying on top of its head and dangling down in the rear and its eyes were low, where a nose should have been. The creature was in view for about nine minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday September 23rd 2009 – 6:00am Last night I received an interesting question from Ricky. He writes - “Jerry 93! I have a quick question. I am very much no astrologer, but I am trying to learn. in my chart there is a 'planet' that is unfamiliar to me. It looks like the sign of NOX. a circle with an X through it. What is this? Could you direct me to a source for further study? 93 93/93 Ricky”
Reply: It's actually not a planet. It is called The Lot of Fortune which is often referred to as an ‘Arabic Part’ ... which means an imaginary point in one’s birth chart which is computed through the addition and subtraction of three or more specific points. However, the term ‘Arabic Part’ is misleading. In truth, most Arabic parts can actually be traced back to Ancient Greece; even possibly as far back as Babylon and Egypt. After the decline of the Hellenistic culture medieval Arab astrologers inherited the long-established tradition of astrology which they did much to refine and develop through the influence of Moslem thought. It is important to realize the Lot of Fortune’s connection with the three Fates mentioned in Plato's The Myth of Er. There are three critical factors in every birth chart which determine our over-all incarnation. They are our Sun Sign, our Moon Sign and our Rising Sign. These three points refer to the Moirae or Fates; Lachesis (ruling our Sun Sign), Klotho (our Moon) and Atropos (our Rising Sign). It was these three Fates who ratified our chosen life after reviewing all the facts regarding our past, present and future. When we mathematically correlate these three Fates or our Sun, Moon and Rising Sign into one single point we obtain our ‘Part of Fortune’ or ‘Lot of Fortune’. The sign and astrological House that the Lot of Fortune falls in could be totally different than our Sun Sign but its importance should not be over-looked. It’ll help explain why six people who are born at the same moment and place in time may have a totally different ‘mask’ webbed around the characteristic of their Sun Sign. Each person has an over-all different lot in life and if understood they will have a better understanding of their ‘foundation stone’ in childhood but equally important; it will give them an indication of what and how they shall make use of those things that were been given to them at birth. In other words, this is ‘your lot in life.’Some modern astrologers refer to our ‘Lot of Fortune’ as our Karma but this concept is very misleading because too often people believe that this term implies a ‘penitence’ or something that we pay for now, due to our past sins, but this is hardly the case. In brief; after our Spirit has reviewed its past life it picks a new incarnation in order to gain a new experience and to fulfill those things left unfinished in the previous. It is true that we all have done certain things, for better or worse, whose affects we are now feeling in our present incarnation but Karma is not ‘paying back something bad’ as much as fulfilling everything that we had previously set in motion; for better or worse. It is simply cause and effect. All in all, to sum up what we have just said; if you take your birth chart depicting every single planet and the sign in which it falls; along with every type of conjunction, square, trine or planetary aspect and then mix it all in a bowl, stirred it up and poured it out you’ll understand your ‘Lot of Fortune.’ The symbol represents your over-all ‘experience’ that you desire in this incarnation in a nutshell. It is the one point in your entire astrological chart which must not be ignored or compromised. It is the ‘hub of the spindle of Necessity.’------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:45am For the history buffs: On this date in 1838 Victoria Clafin Woodhull was born in Homer, Ohio. Her family was forced to abruptly leave Homer after her father, Reuben Claflin, was accused of insurance fraud. Victoria received little education and spent most of her childhood with her family's traveling medicine show. She and her sister named Tennessee started Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, a periodical which advocated, among other things, women's suffrage, short skirts, spiritualism, lots of free love, vegetarianism, birth control, and legalized prostitution. She was often referred to as “Mrs. Satan” by polite society. Although laws prohibited women from voting, there was nothing stopping women from running for office, which she did in 1872 against Ulysses S. Grant on the Equal Rights ticket with Frederick Douglass as her running mate. However, besides being a woman her foes pointed that she was too young to run for President, being only 35. She also spent election day in jail on charges of distributing obscene material which accused the Reverend Henry Beecher of adultery with a parishioner. In 1878 she moved to England where she published a monthly paper which dealt with palmistry, astrology, and, of all things, high finance. This noted spiritualist and clairvoyant died in North Park, Bremons, Worcestershire on June 9, 1927. ……....… and I should mention that on September 23, 1880 David Lang was walked across the front yard of his home near Gallatin, Tennessee in full view of his wife and children. As he turned and waved, saying, “I’ll be back in a few minutes” - he suddenly disappeared right in his tracks, never to reappear. Over the years the grass on the exact spot where Lang vanished often comes up stunted and yellow. People who have stood near the spot have also reported hearing faintly a call for help, over and over until it faded away. …...….. and it was on September 23, 1939 that Aleister Crowley wrote his patriotic poem England Stand Fast at the outbreak of World War II. …….. and Sigmund Freud died on this date in 1939 in England at age 83. He grew up to become one of the most influential figures in the world, crafting the comprehensive and controversial theories of psychoanalysis. Aleister Crowley commented on Freud’s techniques in his diary on February 19th 1930 writing, “The psychoanalysts have taken all the kick out of vice. Instead of being a glorious revolutionary, you are only a nasty infant who has never grown out of it. Similar remarks apply to virtue.” …….. and finally, on September 23, 1968 Francesco Forgione; Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, more commonly known simply as Padre Pio died of natural causes at the Franciscan Monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo in Southern Italy. For over fifty years, first starting on September 20, 1918, Padre Pio bore the wounds, or stigmata, of Christ’s Passion on his hands and his feet. Thousands of people visited him every single year while he was alive to be cured of their bodily and spiritual ills, even more visit his tomb. He was born on May 25, 1887.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday September 22nd 2009 The Autumn Equinox, the Sun enters Libra, the Moon is in Scorpio – 6:00pm Ya know, many religious books say that judgment day will be involving a lot of fire and brimstone. With that in mind have any of you guys out there heard about the research being done by NASA regarding solar flare cycles or sunspots and how in recent years these solar storms, which are normally incredibly predictable, are behaving very, very badly? It seems NASA and other scientists are even warning that in 2012 we are going to see some of the most gigantic solar flares ever recorded; that is, if their 'cycle predictions' are correct. So, are we going to be roasted alive? Possibly. It seems the Sun constantly fires high-energy particles from its magnetically dominated surface as solar winds and during this maximum Solar period in 2012 our Earth may be unlucky enough to be staring down the barrel of an explosion with the energy of 100 billion Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, or so NASA claims. Can you say “Ouch!” If the solar storms are really gigantic everything from satellites, to computers, to all electronic communications will be knocked out. Earth will come to a stand still. At its worst, large solar storms could even affect our magnetic poles – even shifting the poles! So, now NASA is talking about 2012!
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7:40am For the history buffs: According to the J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1954 classic The Lord of the Ring, this is the birthdate of both Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins; one born in 2890 (Third Age) and the other in 2968 (Third Age). …….. and it was on September 22, 1692 that the last eight people were hung for witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts. One being Martha Corey whose husband died a few days earlier. The death toll now reached twenty people hanged, or crushed, with well over 200 arrested. The Boston jail, as well as Salem’s, was packed to the point of over crowding. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday September 21st 2009 – 10:30pm A Jay writes, regarding his own 4:44pm posting - "93 Jerry, Sorry, I think Jung just repeats himself enough that I pieced together a similar interpretation from his remarks in Psychology and Alchemy. That exact quote doesn't seem to be there. (What's that snickering we're hearing...?) Love, Jay 93 93/93." .... Reply: And I'm still no closer to finding the source of the quote. :(
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4:44pm Jay replied to my 11:40pm posting - “93 Jerry, I recognize that quote because it's from Psychology and Alchemy! I want to say that it's somewhere in the first half of the second section on Mandalas. When I get home I can look into my copy and probably find the exact location. It might be in the intro. In any case it's got to be in the first 1/4 of the book or so as I haven't read further than that. I'll get back to you. Love, Jay 93 93/93” .... Reply: Ah, maybe we’re getting somewhere? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:40pm Ed replied to my 11:40pm posting - 93 Jerry, Hard at work, I see. We it is slowing down for me. In fact I have some vacation time coming next week and hope we might get together at some point for lunch or a chat or hopefully both. Anyway, I read, with interest, your request about Ouroboros and went thru my copy of Mysterium Coniunctionis. I did not find the exact quote at 1st, but strangely enough an old book mark was in my copy at paragraph 423[page 307], which references Ouroboros. A little checking through Google and Wikipedia brought me to paragraph 513 [page 365] which does contain at least a part of the quote you are seeking Hope this helps 93 93/93, Ed.” ..... Reply: We’re getting closer, but ... Anyway, the Gods are torturing me. Actually, in the extensive Index to Mysterium Coniunctionis, there is no reference to ‘Ouroboros.’------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:30pm Jerri replied to my 11:40pm posting - "93 Jerry, Everything that I find on-line says that the Ouroboros quote does come from Collected works. Vol 14, para 513. I don't have the book itself, so I cannot confirm... 93 93/93 Jerri." ....Reply: My research said the same. I then borrowed the book from Paul to get all the exact publishing info but could not locate the quote it in the volume. Ah, the Internet!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:40am 93 All. I need some help. Here is a quote by Carl Jung : “The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. Ouroboros, has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself.” ... I am told that its from Collected Works, Volume 14 Mysterium Coniunctionis but I am at my wits end, I can't seem to locate it in this book. Do any of you out there have any other books by Jung and if so, can you check the Index for 'Ouroboros' and see if I got the reference to this quote wrong. I need the standard publishing info (publisher, date, pg etc) for a footnote in a book that I’m writing. ... Help! ... and thanks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:15am For the history buffs, a lot has happened on this date: Herbert George Wells was born on this date, in Bromley, Kent in 1866. His father was a shopkeeper and a professional cricketer until he broke his leg. He wrote The Island of Dr. Moreau which uses the Satanic Litany from the German ritual of Da Tierdrama. Remember: “Are we not men?” ………. And it was on September 21, 1924 that Leah Hirsig 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. …....….. and on this date in 1935 the Profess House of Ordo Templi Orientis at 1746 Winona Boulevard in Hollywood, Californian was officially elevated to full Lodge status, becoming Agape Lodge No.2. The Lodge Master was Wilfred T. Smith. ......…. And the prolific American author Stephen Edwin King was born on this date at the Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine in 1947. His best-selling horror novels usually have a small-town or rural settings. Many of his works have been filmed, including Carrie (1974), Salem’s Lot (1975), The Shining (1978), Firestarter (1980), Pet Sematary (1983), Christine (1983) and Needful Things (1991), to mention but a few. …..….. and how can I not mention that on September 21, 1985 William Breeze was officially elected Xth Degree and acting O.H.O. (Outer Head of The Order) of the Ordo Templi Orientis. He succeeded Grady Louis McMurtry who had died in July. Breeze became known as Frater Hymenaeus Beta. …...…. And on that note I’d also like to mention that Angelo Rossitto died on this date in 1991. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska during 1908. He was known as ‘Little Angelo’ because he stood only 2 foot 11 inches high. He was an actor who starred in dozens of old movies such as the classic 1932 MGM picture titled Freaks. He spent the remainder of the 1930s playing bit parts including a pygmy in Cecil B. DeMille’s movie The Sign of the Cross, one of the three Little Pigs in Laurel and Hardy’s Babes in Toyland and one of the forest creatures in Max Reinhardt’s visual feast A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) in which Mickey Rooney and Kenneth Anger also starred. Due to his stature, Angelo was also the stand-in for Shirley Temple. In 1939, Angelo co-founded the Little People of America organization with initially seven members, now the society has a membership that runs into the thousands. He continued acting right up into the seventies His favorite, if not most notable, role was playing ‘Master Blaster’ in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). After sixty years in show business, Angelo retired to a rest home in Fairfax, Hollywood. His remaining years were happy ones until his illustrious life ended on this date at the age of 83. …...….. and finally, on September 21, 1995 eyewitnesses in a temple on the outskirts of Delhi, India began reporting that their Hindu statue of Ganesh, the Hindu God of wisdom and learning, was drinking milk. It was considered such a miracle that the stock market and the federal government closed down in India so that thousands of people could ‘feed’ the statue. Television, radio and newspapers eagerly covered this unique phenomenon, and even skeptical journalists held their milk-filled spoons to the gods and watched, humbled, as the milk simply disappeared. One person who considered the thousands of people who had already feed Ganesh, explained, “It cannot be a hoax. Where would all that milk go to? It just disappeared in front of my eyes.” Within weeks the phenomenon spread as statues of Ganesh, throughout Hindu temples worldwide, began drinking milk. While the media and scientists still struggle to find an explanation, many Hindus believe this was a sign that a great teacher had been born to save the world. At the Southall temple in London where thousands had also witnessed a similar miracle of a drinking statue, the chairman Mr. Bharbari offered his explanation: “All I know is that our Holy Book says that wherever evil prevails on earth then some great Soul will descend to remove the bondage of evil so that right shall reign. We believe this miracle, and those happening at other Hindu temples, may be a sign that a great Soul has descended, like Lord Krishna or Jesus Christ.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday September 20th 2009 – 6:00am For the history buffs: The writer therapist Dr. Joyce Brothers was born on this date in 1928. She was a popular talk show guest on the subject of psychology who gained national attention as a quiz show celebrity in the 1950s, winning both the $64,000 Question and the $64,000 Challenge in, of all categories - “boxing.” …...…. And Annie Wood Besant, social reformer and freethinker, died on this date in 1933. She wrote many articles on issues such as marriage and women’s rights and even wrote a book advocating birth control titled The Law of Population. Annie Besant introduced International Co-Freemasonry into England with the consecration of the Lodge Human Duty No.6 in London on September 26, 1902. She was also co-founder of the Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross (OTRC) in London in 1912 and was even elected president of the Theosophical Society from 1907 until her death. …...…. and on September 20, 1930 the foundation stone was laid for the Goetheanum by Rudolf Steiner. Years later the structure would be burned to the ground by the Nazis but fate would have it that the arsonist did not escape the blaze and his charred corpse was found in the ashes with his payment of gold coins still in the remains of his pocket. ……… and finally, on September 20, 1956 David Scriven was born in California. He would later become Xth Degree of the Ordo Templi Orientis for the United States known as Frater Sabazius and arguably, as one person put it - “he'll go down in history as the one person who destroyed the Order’s magickal credibility.”
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Saturday September 19th 2009 – 2:00pm Sorry folk, but I have eliminated over thirty of my closest friends off FACEBOOK. More to be deleted soon. I originally got a Facebook page to connect with old friends on the East Coast whom I haven't seen since childhood, along with my family which is mostly Mormon. I wanted the page to be more personal than magickal but there has been too much craziness etc posted which is causing me grief in my family ... thus I am separating things. My Facebook page is slowly moving toward being just for my old friends and family pre-California. Sorry. Nothing personal.
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5:00am For the history buffs: Paul Anthony Hudson was born on this date in London in 1942. He wrote the book Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks and Covens (1970). …...….. and it was on September 19, 1961, while driving home in New Hampshire, Betty and Barney Hill were kidnapped for over two hours and held hostage aboard a UFO. They became subject to all kinds of physical examinations, tests and questions. Their story was made famous in a book titled The Interrupted Journey.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday Sept. 18th 2009 – 10:30pm In regards to yesterday's birthday gathering for Ben, Luna writes - "We had a fun time last night....I was smiling as I listened to Adam and Matt talk library inhouse jargon, and you and Travis doing about the same thing...all around us the buzz of youngsters talking "bee hive talk" (where they have been and who they are) while Jen and I fleshed out blue demons and accessorized them. it was a very nice getaway to be on The Ave...thanks. )O("
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11:00am The 'Private Talk' that was scheduled tonight at Love Sake's Clerk House has been canceled. This means that outsiders can attend tonight's 'Open House' if they'd like. There is no official topic, just bring questions etc and we'll figure the topic out as we go. I know it's a short notice but such is life. Please pass the word around if you know of someone who wants to attend. It begins at 6:30pm. Since this is around supper time feel free to bring food and drink, which doesn't have to be shared. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:50am I receieved an amusing email. I replied - "Yes, you're perfectly correct; An Open Epistle to the Fallen written back in 2006 should have been carefully read by the Practicus from Sacramento before he jumped and thought he had taken the Oath of the Abyss ... But Ego has a way of blinding someone from the obvious." And to your other question - "Yes, there is still hope for him but he'll never be able to ask how." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9:25am The Bay Area has had three tiny micro-quakes this week. The first hit on Tuesday Sept. 15th at 1:59am; the magnitude 0.9 and the second on Wednesday, September 16th; the magnitude 0.7 ... and the third happened yesterday at 9:57pm while we were all at Manny's celebrating Ben's birthday. It was a magnitude 0.8. ... all no biggies. Just reminders that the Bay Area is constantly shifting; just like its politics.Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ... how about today? I'm waiting!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:40am Last night's gathering at Manny's Bar to celebrate Ben's birthday was a great success of Leaping and Laughter. I hope it was a good one for him. I left a little after ten and everyone was still going at it fairly heavy. There were lots of friends, food & drink and there will be pictures of Asian girls doing things to Ben in public which I'll post later. :) Yes, it was a good night! I want to thank everyone for making Ben's 45th birthday memorable. ~ I added some photos on the NEW PHOTOS page. ~
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7:35am My friend Cranny sent me this story. The headlines in the News reads in Orangevale, California near Sacramento - "Satan-Loving Teen Lights Church Fire" ... The article reads - "A 15-year-old girl who allegedly worships Satan was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of lighting a fire at her Orangevale church. The blaze occurred at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the corner of Hazel and Cherry avenues. Christian Pebbles of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said the teen made it clear why she started the blaze, which damaged church pews. "She hates the church and she worships the devil," Pebbles said. "That's the reason why." Pebbles said the teen was taken into custody on suspicion of felony arson. "Well, you know, kids sometimes don't always like what their parents want them to do," said Annette Hilt, the suspect's mother. "Everybody knows that." There were nearly 50 other church members inside when the blaze took place. "The flames were about 4 feet high inside the chapel," church facilities director Pat Elmer said. Fire officials said the goal is to make sure that the girl receives counseling, not to necessarily punish her."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:20am For the history buffs: Cecil Hugh Williamson was born into a fairly well to do family on this date in Paignton, South Devon, England in 1909. He was a noted researcher, occultist, witch and founder of the Witchcraft Research Centre and the Museum of Witchcraft on the Isle of Man in England. He was acquainted with Gerald Gardner, although their relationship was often strained at times and ended on bad terms. He also claims to have met Aleister Crowley shortly before his death. During World War II he not only helped M16 Intelligence collect information about Nazi occult interest but he claimed to also be involved in the famous witches’ ritual that was done to curse Adolf Hitler and prevent him from invading England. Cecil Hugh Williamson died in 1999. …...….. and the Earl of Clancarty was born on this date in 1911 but he was more widely known to UFOlogists as Brinsley Le Poer Trench. He was an open-minded skeptic who first wrote how ridiculous the idea of a hollow earth was, then after doing his own research, admitted in print, that he was wrong. One of his earliest, if not most famous books was titled The Sky People (1960), although other titled included The Flying Saucer Story (1966), Operation Earth (1969) as well as his last book Secret of the Ages: UFOs from Inside the Earth (1974). The later voiced his growing opinion that an ancient race had obviously colonized our Earth in ancient times and now lives inside our planet through a network of secret tunnels In 1967 Brinsley Le Poer Trench founded ‘Contact International’ which was an organization designed to prepare the world for the reappearance of the space people. Brinsley Le Poer Trench died on May 18, 1995 at the age of 83. ……...... and on September 18, 1924 Ada Waite, wife of Arthur Edward Waite died. She always remained a curious nebulous figure throughout his life. It has been written that there is “...no assignable limit to her capacity for sleeping and when awake she was such ‘unassailable taciturnity” that “she never spoke willingly, and seldom answered anyone except upon extreme pressure, this silence became itself a kind of eloquence.” …….…. And how can I forget to mention that on September 18, 1951 Pamela Colman Smith, the struggling artist, illustrator, and writer whose chief claim to fame was designing the Tarot deck used by Arthur Edward Waite and later referred to as the Rider-Waite deck, died. ……...... and finally, on September 18, 1964 the strange, macabre, but somehow amusing cartoon characters of The Adams Family created by Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine made their live-action TV debut on ABC, on a Friday night, at 8:30pm. The cast of characters included Morticia, who was the beautiful long black haired somber lady of the house while her husband Gomez Adams had strange eyes and rather destructive instincts, as did Uncle Fester. Their children, Pugsley and Wednesday Thursday also had a rather ghoulish quality about them. Grandmama, although a witch, was the most normal-looking one of the bunch. Lurch, the butler, was a seven-foot-tall Frankenstein look-alike whose dialogue usually consisted solely of the two words, “You rang?” They all lived in a musty, castle like home full of strange objects, such as a disembodied hand, called “Thing,” which kept popping out of a black box. The last show aired on September 2, 1966. Who can ever forget the theme song which began, “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, Mysterious and spooky, They’re all together ooky, The Addams Family. Their house is a museum, Where people come to see ‘em. They really are a scream, The Addams Family.”------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday September 17th 2009 – 8:30am I recevieved this email from Mr. Chuncky Monkey himself, Ben Hance, in regards to yesterday's 4:50pm posting. He writes - "Jerry, 93 Thanks for the nice posting. I hate to mention it, but I'm 45. I just look 47 and act 4+7=11. Gotta love that Mercury, God of Thieves and Liars; and Virgos. I might be later than 7.00 as Adam wants to ride over with me. I don't know yet where we are meeting, but his house is across the City from my class." ...... Reply: Gee, when I was typing out 47 I thought to myself, "47? Damn, he looks much older than that. I thought he was at least 52 or 53." :) ... don't be too 'Ben time' late tonight. PLEASE.
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8:10am A Great Big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to the Clerk House Master of 'Leaping Laughter' - Benjamin Hance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:05am - "93 Jerry, This may actually confuse the matter since he's talking about alchemy, but I found a rather interesting reference to the circle squared, not from a magician, but from Herr Jung: "Presumably the leftward circumambulation of the square indicates that the squaring of the circle is a stage on the way to the unconscious, a point of transition leading to a goal as yet unformulated beyond it. It is one of those paths to the centre of the non-ego which were also trodden by the medieval investigators when producing the lapis. The Rosarium says: 'Out of man and woman make a round circle and extract the quadrangle from this and from the quadrangle the triangle. Make a round circle and you will have the philosophers' stone.'" (Psychology and Alchemy p. 127-8). Love, Jay 93 93/93." ....... Reply: Thanks for sharing it. Great quote. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:00am For the history buffs: Hildegard von Bingen, medieval saint and metaphysician, died on this date in Rupertsberg near Binge nom 1179. She was born at Böckelheim on the Nahe, 1098. As the tenth child, she was considered as a tithe and was became dedicated to the church. She was a remarkable woman, a first in many fields. At a time when few women wrote, Hildegard, known as “Sybil of the Rhine,” was a ‘visionary’ who produced major works of theology and visionary writings. Her first and greatest work is called Scivias or Scire. ….....…. And Cassandra Peterson was born on this date in Manhattan, Kansas in 1951. She was a television ‘film’ hostess known as ‘Elvira, The Mistress of the Dark.’ Elvira always displayed a complete lack of interest in the movies that she was hosting, with skits before and after each commercial focused on totally unrelated subjects like that of an obscene phone caller. Despite the eventual cancellation of her film series, the character, like other noteworthy vampires, has kept coming back from the grave again and again. She starred in her own film, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988). …..….. and I should point out that on September 17, 1964 the TV show titled ‘Bewitched’ made its debut on ABC. …...…. And Paul Twitchell, the ‘971st Spiritual Master’ of the planet Earth, founder of the Eckankar movement in 1964 and the author of such books as In My Soul I Am Free, died on this date in 1971 of a fatal heart attack. …....… and finally, on September 17, 2000 the news media reported that witnesses had seen a UFO over San Francisco, California. One witness stated, “A couple of minutes later, another UFO came next to the first one. I saw two of them floating there. I was sitting down and watched them hover from about a 900-foot elevation. The UFOs were very high. The UFOs were just a little southeast of the Mount Sutro Tower and Twin Peaks, well over the air traffic - I’m guessing 8,000 feet or more.” He also claimed to have seen a Boeing 747 coming in from the north and heading toward San Francisco International Airport, adding: “Those UFOs had to be at least as twice as high” as the big jetliner. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday September 16th 2009 – 8:00pm I grew up to the folk legend band Peter, Paul and Mary ... to me, they were inspirational ... well, Mary Travers lost her battle with leukemia today and passed away in Connecticut at the age of 72. They originally performed such classics as 'Puff the Magic Dragon' 'Lemon Tree', 'If I Had a Hammer', Leaving on a Jet Plane' and 'Blowin' in theWind'
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7:45pm Ben Hance writes – “Sounds like fun! I have school tomorrow night, I could make it around 7.00 p.m. (You guys don't need me to get started.)."Rey Dulpos writes -"Greetings Ben, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. 4+7=11. Well you are certainly off to an auspicious start. :) "My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us..." - CCXX, I, 60 I wish you a most auspicious Lesser Feast with your friends and family. Let the beer and wines that foam flow! May the new year bring you the completion of your True Will. Love is the law, love under will. Fraternally in L.V.X et N.O.X.”Dave Solina replied – “Wish I could make it. I'll have to take a raincheck for next week. Take care and someone get Ben really trashed 93 93/93.” Charles writes – “93 I can make it.” Luna writes – “Leigh says "absolutely, we have to go, tell them we will be there!" Jay Lehman will be there ... and Adam Kendal will try.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:50pm OK guys it’s official, tomorrow is Mr. Benjamin ‘Leaping Laughter’ Hance's 47th Birthday and we're meeting at Manny's on Telegraph Avenue (the old Raleigh’s) around 6:30-7:00pm for beer, food etc. If you’re interested, and ya wanna buy a pitcher, stop by ... those that already said they are coming ... see ya there! ... Those who can’t make it, Ben said he’ll accept cash or a naked woman. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3:15pm I found a great quote in Astrology and the Modern Psyche by Dane Rudyar (Washington: Crcs Publications 1976 pg.111) in a chapter appropriately titled 'The Way of Chela-ship', which I'd like to share. Rudyar writes - " ... in the process of arousal which follows either contact with a true guru, the first consultation which a psycho-analyist, or the giving oneself to the 'inner voice,' all the dark energies of the unconscious tend to be let loose. Everything - good or bad - is stimulated as we seek to reach fuller consciousness. And, since we usually manage fairly well to ignore the memories of failures or perhaps evil thoughts or actions within our total personality (pushing them back into our unconscious), they are usually the first to be made apparent. This may lead to a sense of panic - even to the confrontation with the ghastly 'Dweller on the Threshold' made graphic in Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni. But woe to him who recoils in horror and tries to reverse the process of growth! No man can safely 'dis-educate' himself. Once the door of the unconscious is deliberately opened, once the call of the inner 'vocation' is answered, the only way is ahead."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:55am I just added a few more new items into my FOR SALE catalogue and I will be adding more items hopefully throughout the week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:45am Jay sent me an email about Mercury Retrograde. He writes - "93 Jerry, I just wanted to send some of my own practical insights about Mercury retrograde in case you found them blog worthy. The first warning, as you often point out, is to be careful what you say. This is a good time to end up with your foot in your mouth. But it also seems to me that Mercury retrograde is when we need to be most weary of initiating anything. In fact, starting something during MR seems to guarantee that it won't come to fruition (or rather, it certainly won't come out the way you plan). The Baphomet Working is a perfect example of this, as the whole thing was conceived during the last MR. I took a lot away from the experience, but was aware the whole time it was coasting along that our boat was very likely to capsize. It has also occurred to me that the planet that balances Mercury and puts a steadying hand on it's influence is Jupiter. So while even the most weary of magicians will likely experience "problems", things external to themselves not coming together, miscommunications etc., we must learn to be jovial, to laugh and shrug it off and remember that that's just the trickster Mercury snickering behind your back. Laugh with him and welcome him into your home, by Jove!Love, Jay 93 93/93Reply: Very good, oh childe of Loki!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:45am Pursuing magick is difficult. Too many people forget that the path is a spiritual one. You’re tempering your mind, body and soul in an Alchemical furnace in the attempt to burn away the gross that you might find gold. It is a process, in many ways, identical to modern psychology. Prior to reaching puberty our Spirit is still forming a foundation due to the circumstances of its birth. In fact, our childhood is like a lump of clay of undetermined shape or purpose from whence out of nothing we came and from everything we are being formed; but at puberty we have just enough shape, to use more modern jargon, to be able to use the free choice to “Do what thou wilt.” In Alchemy this child-like lump of clay is a substance often called ‘prima material.’ Some refer to the prima material as a stone (אבן) on which all things are built; including the Temple of God; it is symbolized by a ‘square.’ Throughout the centuries there have been hundreds of interpretations of what this primary matter constitutes with no one definition considered prominent. Alchemists have always had a tendency to make their definition of ‘prima material’ more personal rather than towing a generic line. Carl Jung describes it best – “The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. Ouroboros, has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself.”I want to remind all my students that this path is one of Self discovery. It is a quest to know our True Will ... or why we were born. It is a harsh path, a path filled with phantoms created over a lifetime. We have all been assholes, we've all done things better forgotten and no one is exempt from frivolity. It's called life. And as magicians we face our life with excitment and joy to live it as we want and it is in the same Scales of Justice that we face our inner phantoms. Yes, we are harsh when it comes to discussing the path in relationship to each other and like the Grail Knights of the past, we each have a story to tell which will aid others. No one's Quest will ever be ignored and if you are afraid of having your story told, don't join the A.'.A.'. ... we've always be honest about that up front.Years ago I was greatly distraught at Brocken Mountain Lodge in Connecticut when a close friends fell by the wayside in our A.'.A.'. ... it was Grady McMurtry who reminded me that we all stumble on the path. No one climbs the mountain perfectly. A true initiate gets up, asks himself, "What the fuck did I do?" and then they dusts themselves off, laugh at their folly and learn from it, then continue on. If someone cannot cut it in a particular A.'.A.'. lineage and they think that they've been 'wronged' then there is no better way to prove it... than to continue on with the Quest - "success is your proof." But a person lacking 'spirituality' doesn't belong on the mountain in the first place. Often they enter the Quest with a heavy heart. This is always easily recognizable and often their actions only prove why they were booted out. Grady always said that the fallen usually do two things; they hide or they scream. It's a great big Chess game. The screamers act like white pieces attacking, seeking ears to bend to fortify their egos. The black pieces pursue a defending stance and go into hiding, hoping that what they've created will blow over, be forgotten and then they can resurface later; reinventing themselves ... but in all cases; phantoms not faced now only breed more phantoms. These are lessons that every student must learn. They are harsh, like the path itself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:30am My dear sweat Luna is back, whom I've missed these last few weeks or so. She's read the blog of late and comments: - "93! Before I started emailing you like a maniac banshee from Hayward a few years ago when Paul turned me onto you...I googled you to death, and knew exactly what I was getting into. I read everything every critic of yours had to write that was posted on the web....and though they all said that you were full of contradictions (that you could dish it out but couldn't take it yourself [they must be blind].....this made me feel very good....I knew that I was dealing with the real deal, and though some of your posts about me have made my heart race here and there...I am ever confident to know that whatever you write is real and from the heart. It is refreshing to read your blog and all that you post.... it is literally like the "old days" when we would just state our feelings and opinions without ever feeling a need to be censoring ourselves to the point of thinking that our words would cause some sort of imprint that would loop us into some eternal bardo of slander and legal bullshit. This is the real world, not some hell where mitigations can change alchemically so that we prosper with $$$$$$$$$. I wish I had $$$$$$$$$$$$ for all of my I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation. Steven J. Cohen aka Shadow Igitur reminded me of who I am two years ago: "Luna, why do you care what people think of you now? You, Luna, are a very famous San Francisco Psychotic? Don't you remember"".....oh how nice if I could get $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for my life!!!!You go you Six Foot Eight Gorilla! Blog away!Oh, the DMV just sent me my new CDL and it states that I live in Los Angeles!!! How they made that mistake I do not know.I have no idea what I am typing right now, other than that I just returned from an all girl campout in Willits, just read your blog for the first time in weeks...and wanted to say "hey"...keep on keepin it real, Jerry.......If slandering me will change lead (or cyberspace keyboard characters) into gold...then Jerry.....make me rich! I'll do the same for you...we can create a new huge pyramid slander racket and each take each other to the cleaner $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$in court by insulting each other!!!! Weeeeeee Woo woo....the money train is here.Love and 93s)O(Reply: As always, me being born under the sign of Cancer, Luna, she makes me smile. :) Thanks for the support and kind words. Hope you guys had fun camping.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:20am For the history buffs: On this date in 1692 Giles Corey was crushed to death in Salem Massachusetts for refusing to plead to the indictment of witchcraft, as did wife Martha. Since he died during the ‘treatment’ he died uncondemned; his goods were not forfeited to the state and his Will could be executed. He was 80 years old. ……….. and Anna Kingsford was born on this date at Maryland Point, Stratford, Essex, England in 1846. A woman whose early influences on MacGregor Mathers and Wynn Westcott, through her ideas and views of Women’s Liberation, made them realize that both sexes should be admitted as Hermetic students on equal terms in any fraternity, including The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn. On 17 November 1887 in Paris she spent hours in the rain in an abortive attempt to see the operations of the Pasteur Institute ( it was closed at that hour of the day), and caught pneumonia which developed into pulmonary consumption. For the next fifteen months Anna was in very poor health. She went to the Riviera and Italy without benefit then returned to London.She died at noon on 22 Feb. 1888. Age 41 yrs. ……….. and on this date in 1926 the lake monster known as Ogopogo was watched by some 30 cars of people along an Okanagan Mission beach of Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. ……..... And on September 16, 1963 the Outer Limits debuts on ABC TV on this Monday night at 7:30pm. It began with making your TV picture seemingly do strange things. Then a voice intoned: “There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture...” The first episode was called The Galaxy Being. It was about an inventor, and manager of a radio station, who creates a 3-D monitor device in order to communicate with alien beings from outer space. He receives a signal from the galaxy of Andromeda and a creature uses the signal as a super highway to descend to Earth. Of course the alien’s mere presence sends frightened citizens running in terror and leads to a confrontation between the alien and all those people with guns. ………. And finally, on September 16, 1996 near Nazareth, Israel, when 62-year old Uri Sakhov was walking to a local post office when he suddenly heard a loud whizzing sound and felt hands grab his hair and shoulders. In an instant he found himself being pulled into an egg shaped UFO. Inside he claimed to have found himself in a strange crystal chamber surrounded by several small humanoids, who he described as being about three feet tall, with heads shaped like light bulbs and skinny limbs. They were making unintelligible noises. The leader was described as taller and green colored; wearing a long flowing robe. He was very slender and had a narrow vertical head, with eyes located on either side of it. One of the small humanoids then stepped forwarded toward Sakhov and sprayed him in the face with a yellowish powder and then began conducting numerous medical tests on him, which made him feel “horrible” and very uncomfortable. Midway through the tests Sakhov blacked out. When he came to he found himself lying flat on his back in the middle of a soccer stadium half a mile or so from his house. Feeling dizzy he staggered home where he noticed that he still had some of the yellow powder on his face. The powder was later analyzed at a local hospital and it was discovered that it was about 60 percent aluminum and different form any soil found in the area.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday September 15th 2009 – 7:10pm Paul Hohlt writes this gem - "I guess the Clear Miguel's Name Campaign has begun. Too bad he's the only one going along with it. Only the ignorant and disgruntled will jump on this train. Anyone who knows Jerry Cornelius understands that he would not use the AA site as a platform to slander, denigrate, or denounce anyone. Each of us has weeds that must be pulled before the garden can be planted. It is our job to take responsibility of our own lives and prepare the ground for the seed of spirit to grow. When a negative example is addressed it is to educate and enlighten the less experienced, not torture the perpetrator(s). Ebony Anpu used to say there were good teachers and bad, both can teach you, if you know which is which. Having a reliable map of the Path is great but pointing out the pitfalls, blindspots and complexes we must face and overcome along the way by using real life examples is invaluable. Thanks Jerry for giving us a forum to learn about ourselves and benefit from your wealth of knowledge and experienced. Grady would be pleased.”.
Reply: Thank you, you're very kind.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:00pm Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalog # 63. Witchcraft & Witch-Hunting in Europe is now available. Secondhand and Rare Books. Click HERE to view it.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:20pm I just got home. Earlier, Ben Hance picked me up for my scheduled appointment at the Department of Motor Vehicle to get my State ID renewed. It expired well over a year ago. ... I was impressed, it took less than an hour. The only flaw was that I filled out part of my application wrong. ... There was a rather large robust lady behind the counter, filling out her chair rather nicely, who read over my application. Slowly she looked up and starred at me for a second before saying in a very monotone voice - “You don’t look six eight.” ... I replied, “What?” I took back the form, looked at it, apologized and fixed it - I’m 5’ 8”... I guess I must have spaced on that question. At least I spelled my name right ... I think. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:00pm I received a really nice 'Equinox' gift from Clive Harper today from the Fine Madness Society in England. It's a pamphlet titled Seven (Seven Seven) Poems. Only 77 numbered copies are printed, mine is Number 25. The Preface states - "... in 1955, the Neptune Press announced the revised and enlarged edition of 777 Revised" to be released in seven special copies, it stated how each would be “including one unpublished poem by Aleister Crowley." Be that as it may, along with numerous other myths, the Preface goes on to state that this is the “first publication of the seven poems together.” ... I love it! Thanks Clive! You made my day!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12:30pm One of my friends just wrote how Mr.Scorpio is acting "in my opinion rather unThelemic." She goes on to add "Liber OZ ... maybe he should get a fucking copy. No Jerry, it's not the fact that he is seeking legal advice on Facebook, no less (yet another brilliant move...) so he can sue you over some absurd notion--like your being able to write what you Will on your own damned blog--it's the sentiment that I take exception to. What a self righteous, self centered, controlling PRICK! Seriously, why won't he just get a fucking life? Didn't you kick his ass out months ago? He didn't want to listen to you when you were his teacher, and now he's still trying to tell you how to run your life ('cause it's STILL all about him)? Yes...I take fucking exception...it completely pisses me off...it is a perversion of Thelema in the most vile and disgusting way. How DARE he call himself a Thelemite!" .... Reply: Ouch! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12:04pm Damn, this Mercury Retrograde is heating up with amusing incoming emails!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:56am Jay writes - "93 Jerry. I think Mr. ------ needs to get a life. I just realized the other day that even my email box is flooded with his whining. I can understand that nobody wants to be portrayed as a failure, but the fact of the matter is that you have not committed libel, that is, you haven't printed anything untrue about him. Just to give my insight as a Scorpio, it seems that he's stuck in thoughts of revenge, for what exactly I don't really understand. It's too bad to see such an intelligent guy manifest the Scorpion and sting himself to death-- precisely what he did when he destroyed his membership within the order when he couldn't have things on his terms. I do wish him the best and can only hope that if he's reading this he might consider the Scorpio mythos and move away from behaving like an insect. Love to all, Jay." ....... Reply: I've gotten a lot of incoming emails today, most very vicious and unprintable but yours gives some interesting insights into a Scorpio. Thanks. And like yourself, I too wish him the best but I fear that he's spinning right now in a Pit of Because trying desperately to be 'right.' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:30am The problem with Facebook is that if you post anything 'privately' to all your 'Friends', everyone inevitably sees it, shares it and then it gets out into the general public. So, to address the numerous incoming emails from people who are very upset regarding a certain person looking for legal advice on his Facebook page so that he could sue me for slander; yes, I did see what he posted. In fact, I posted it here on the blog last night at 7:15pm. ... This person, a Scorpio, is being a too Scorpionic; stinging himself to death despite himself. ... Let me explain why I'm not worried, although I do appreciate everyone else's concern. This Scorpio misunderstands the legal concept of ‘slander’ to imply anything someone writes about him which he disagrees with. If that were the case every tabloid, magazine, news media and TV show would be in jeopardy of slandering people when they do their 'rendering' of events or if they dare to 'mention' a person's name. In America everyone has the right to their opinion, its called 'Free Speech' and mine is analyzing lives from a magickal point-of-view; this is not illegal. If I were to create out-right and provable lies, that is a different case. That is slander. If I say that this person is being "An Asshole", it is my opinion and I'm entitled to it.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:00am For the history buffs: Gengis Khan, who was born on this date in 1162, after conquering the city of Nishapur is said to have slaughtered all its inhabitants and then wanting to know the total slain ordered a count of each and every body. It took twelve days and the final tally was (about?) 1,747,000 people, give or take a dozen. ……..... and it was on this date in 1440 that a body of men, under the command of Jean Labbe, read a warrant to Gilles de Rais which ordered his immediate arrest to answer charges of witchcraft, murder and sodomy. He surrendered without a struggle. …....... and Ben Fernee was born on this date in 1959. In 1989, ignoring sound advice that he “should go get a proper job” he founded Caduceus Books in England. He has stated that “It is run as an absolute dictatorship with myself as sole employee. I sell journals, manuscripts etc. and also occult art work but mostly occult books. Books are ideas incarnate, talismans of thought, so there is something very special about them. Long ago I made a pact with the Universe. I gave up any attachment to owning a few such items, in exchange for the privilege of having far more pass through my hands.” …....…. And I should point out that on September 15, 1970 Eileen J. Garrett, medium, psychic, author and founder of the Parapsychology Foundation, died quietly after a long bout of bone cancer. She originally developed her PSI abilities under the spiritual guidance of James Hewat McKenzie while attending the British College of Psychic Science (1924-1928). After coming to America she participated in the experiments conducted by Dr. J. B. Rhine at Duke University (1932-1938) and has worked with such psychic researchers as Dr. Herewood Carrington and Nandor Fodor, to name only a few. Years earlier, while still in England, she had the opportunity to meet Aleister Crowley. She described him as “a rather rugged, athletic man with an undeniable force of personality.” Once, while she was sitting with friends in the Café Royal, she was approached by the Beast who leaned over her table, took hold of her hand, looked into her eyes and said, “You are a pythoness ... and a strong one.” Miss Garret further elaborates that Crowley “looked at me intently with half-closed eyes. I remember that his eyes were protruding and his mouth betrayed a sensual nature. He may have been anywhere between thirty-five and forty at the time-but in those days everyone over thirty looked old to me!” He then took off one of his rings and gently slipped it onto her finger. She quickly took it off and gave it back to him. “My giggling companions were somewhat surprised, and I, too, was startled not knowing what a pythoness was.” Crowley apparently “just walked away slowly to another table and joined a few companions.”------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday September 14th 2009 – 7:15pm I hear through the grapevine that certain person has posted this question on his Facebook page in regards to me and this blog - "Anyone know anything about the legality or know someone who can help me with the legality of someone using my name slanderously on a public website?" .... Reply: The first thing a lawyer will ask is whether or not a person has any assets. I don't. You can't get blood from a stone. Second, slander is almost impossible to prove in a society based on free speech. I am entitled to my opinion and besides, there is absolutely nothing I've posted (nor could post) which can't be proved. I'm very careful that way ... and finally, for the record, it's far more easy to find a lawyer who would be willing to counter-sue someone for filing a frivolous lawsuit.
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1:20pm Sandy from New Jersey writes – “Been enjoying your website. There is really more magical teachings than anything on the entire internet.” She does make one criticism – “Reviewing back blog archives you seem to be obsessed with the penis. I wonder what Freud would say?" Reply: I tend to think that you might be correct. Penis penis penis penis. I might mention the word penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis more than I should. Penis penis. But it is the favorite part of my body, penis penis penis penis penis. And have I mentioned the word penis yet? It's like, my Tree of Life! As for Freud, he would likely give me a cigar, smile and say "It's a boy!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12:30pm A great tragedy has struck the city of Berkeley. I'm so depressed; I'm eating a full container of ice cream and staying in bed, I am in mourning, tears running down my cheek after reading this article:Organizers pull plug on edgy Berkeley parade
Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 14, 2009
Berkeley has finally come up with an answer to the question posed by the annual parade: How Berkeley Can You Be? The answer is: Very Berkeley - as long as you don't sell beer off the back of floats, toss candy to kids or walk naked down University Avenue. Those restrictions, plus some unexpected permit fees, ended the 13-year run of the How Berkeley Can You Be? parade and festival, a bacchanalian romp through downtown that featured everything from flame throwers to Nobel laureates to motorized couches. Daunted by the new restrictions, organizers have decided to cancel the event, slated this year for Sept. 27."The city saw a bunch of long-haired people having fun and they said, 'Uh-oh,' " said organizer John Solomon, a retired Berkeley restaurant owner. "They city is being very controlling.They want to turn this into the Solano Stroll."The parade, started by Solomon and a few friends, was intended to poke fun at Berkeley's famed devotion to political correctness. One popular contingent was called PETA, People Eating Them Animals, in which participants shot Spam into the audience with bazookas, hacked at a pig's head with a chain saw and handed cigarettes to kids, Solomon said.Another entry featured a flame thrower affixed to a chair on a hydraulic lift, "until the Fire Department freaked out," Solomon said.Other highlights included the Piedmont Lawn Chair Brigade, a motorized couch ridden by people in bathrobes reading the Sunday newspaper, and a group called Berkeley Dykes, who performed a song and dance about "letting lesbians take over Berkeley and sending the straights to Straightsylvania," said parade organizer Karen Hester."It was tongue-in-cheek satire. We really liked to push the envelope," she said. "But it's getting increasingly hard to be creative and have fun in this city. Berkeley's become really kind of an uptight place."The event cost about $25,000 to stage every year, and the city gave organizers an annual grant of $10,000 to help offset costs. But last year costs ran higher than expected because the event ran past the permitted hours, said city spokeswoman Mary Kay Clunies-Ross. "The event has gotten larger and requires more planning to keep it safe and fun and not adversely affect the neighborhoods," she said. "They decided not to have the event this year, and that's all we know."Alcohol was the primary point of disagreement between the city and parade organizers. A few years ago the city banned alcohol at festivals unless it was sold in a roped-off area staffed by police. Alcohol sales at the parade plummeted from about $5,000 to $1,000, because "who wants to sit inside this pen with police while you drink a beer?" Hester said."One of the marching bands likes to drink beer. They said they're not going to come if they can't," Solomon said. "I don't get it. What's wrong with drinking beer at a parade?"Meanwhile, the city cracked down on participants throwing candy to kids because children running in the street posed a safety hazard. Nudity and flame throwing were also not high on the city's list of acceptable public behavior."We look forward to them having the parade back next year," said Clunies-Ross. "Hopefully they'll have had more time to plan for a safe, fun event where you can send your kids."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:30am I just found out, Jim Carroll, an icon of the underground for his memoir The Basketball Diaries, died last Friday, Sept. 11, in his New York City apartment of a heart attack at the age of 60. Carroll also enjoyed success as the frontman for the band that sported his name, with the touching punk rock ode, People Who Died, a furiously paced list of his fallen comrades. He enjoyed alternative radio success in the early '80s and even turned up surprisingly on the soundtrack for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial when Steven Spielberg chose the song for the opening scene of the film. He recorded multiple albums, including Dry Dreams and I Write Your Name. He also wrote The Basketball Diaries sequel Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries, 1971 - 1973, and the critically lauded collections of poetry, Book of Nods and Fear of Dreaming. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:00am Ariadne Lemieux is an old friend and fellow OTO Initiate from here in the Bay Are. She visited England last summer, sent me a great email with lots of photos of herself. My favorite is of her at "Stonehenge after Cheryl and I did a sunrise Lammas ritual to Lugh on Aug 3." ... All I can say is I miss you Ariadne, I send ya great big hugs and etc. Thanks for the photos. They brought smiles.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:30am For the history buffs: Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was born on this date in Cologne in 1486. [although others give his birth date as September 15, 1486] He was a famous French physician, soldier and occultist. He often faced the suspicion of having a ‘familiar’ simply because he owned a black dog, named Monsieur. Agrippa supposedly died in Grenoble or Lyons on February 18, 1535, no one is really sure but they did record the fact that at his death his dog disappeared, which only fueled the legends that it was a ‘familiar’ and that Cornelius Agrippa had been in league with Satan all along. Agrippa’s Magnum Opus is The Occult Philosophy, which defends magic as a composite of scientific knowledge, religious doctrine, and occultism. ………. And on this date in 1927 the famous dancer Isadora Duncan died. It came as a shock to the artistic community in Europe. It seems, as she was waving good-bye to her close friend, Mary d’Esti Sturges, the long flowing scarf around her neck became caught in her Bugatti sports car’s rear wheel, strangling her and then breaking her neck. Ironically, the shawl had been knitted by Mary who had, at one time, been Aleister Crowley’s lover and Scarlet Woman. Isadora Duncan was cremated and her ashes were placed in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday September 13th 2009 – 5:25pm To address part of an incoming email - "Miguel (a Scorpio) use to love to listen, add in his two cents and comment on the lives of others when we used members either during lectures or on our blog as examples for either good or bad choices in magickal judgment but now, when the shoes is on the other foot, he ... well, let’s just say that - “hypocrisy is often a coat worn by the fallen.” I am sorry that Miguel thinks I'm attacking him, or bullying him, its not meant that way. Oddly, like the Practicus, I still consider both of these two guys friends.”
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3:33pm Obviously Miguel Walters is upset by my Sept. 9th 11:30am posting. He writes- "Let's try this a second time since it was apparently not understood previously. Emphasis added as of this resending." Meaning that he asked me never to mention him on the blog again in what he referred to then as his "character endlessly attacked with very slanderous remarks in a public forum." In truth; we just mentioned facts. He screwed up, we expelled him. If mentioning that is considered 'slanderous', I don't know how, unless Miguel is trying to hide these facts. ... Anyway, Miguel in his latest email also adds - "I have a right to the security of my name as do you. This bullying really should stop, aren't you tired of it? " ... Well Miguel, the last time your name surfaced on the blog was in mid-July when we expelled you. That was over two months ago, hardly something which constitutes bullying. The only 'bullying' is coming from your end in context to the insinuations in your recent email. Mercury is Retrograding, you should learn to bite your tongue. ... Besides, I have the undisputed right to use your name and I haven't published anything that wasn't true about you ... in the A.’.A.’. we teach our students by using examples of each other and you know that ... your life in the Order, as brief as it was, is classic example of what not to do in regards to how you treat your teacher and superiors and if others can learn from your mistakes then that should be considered a compliment, not bullying. Besides, on 9/9 all I was doing in my blog was addressing an incoming email - I didn't bring up the subject of you and the Practicus, someone else did. ... If my mentioning your name bothers you, stop reading my blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:00am Mike here is the quote I was trying to find about the branches of the Tree and the chakras. I'm posting it on the blog because others might find it amusing in regards to the Practicus. It is found in The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Notes of the Seminar Given in 1932 by C. G. Jung, Edited by Sonu Shamdasani; Princeton University Press, Bollingen Series XCIX 1996, pg. 63. ... Jung writes - "We begin in the head; we identify with our eyes and our consciousness: quite detached and objective, we survey the world. That is anja. Because we cannot linger forever in the pure spheres of detached observation, we must bring our thoughts into reality. We voice them and so trust them to the air. When we clothe our knowledge into words, we are in the region of visuddha, or the throat center." ... Below the Heart Center, or anahata chakra, Jung adds "If we go lower still, the situation becomes impossible, because then the body begins to speak." ... We know this to be true. In fact, below the anahata (Outer Adept) is where we are trying to lay a psychic Foundation in our body of control. As for the svadhisthana in the Qabalistic sphere of Hod, (i.e. Practicus) Jung adds - "Only when this level becomes activated did mankind awaken from the sleep of muladhara and learn the first rules of bodily decency" .... adding that this is the "beginning of moral education" ... which we know to be both physical and spiritual. This is why the study of the Grail is so important in Hod. If you deceive your teachers, your superiors, students and friends and think that the 'quest' is all about you, then Klingsor is your ally, not the Light. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival (NY: Vintage Books 1961, Chapt. IX, pg. 244) it warns those who begin the 'adventure' that you "had to learn the ABC's but without the art of Black Magic" ... it is an Angelic quest, the Demon and all his arts bathed in the first glimmerings of an over zealous ego must be put under control at the very beginning. ... It is in the sphere of Hod that moral fiber and intellect go hand in hand. Hod is the first sphere above 'animal instinct' (Yesod) and it is here, on the first 'true' footing of the path, that the ordeals are made severe according to Liber AL vel Legis. And it is here where the ego is the strongest and the pull toward Malkuth greatest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:50am I want to send a big Happy Birthday out to my dear friend Andrew Drylie who was born on this date in England in 1947. Although he considers himself “a Br'er Rabbit sort of guy, lie low and say nuffin' that's my motto”, he is a noted Crowley scholar who, along with Will Parfit, released one of the most infamous research pamphlets in the history of Crowleyanity known as the Crowley Cross-Index in 1976. Hope you're having a great big Happy Birthday! I'll toss down a few pints tonight at the local pub in your honor. Any particular beer you like best? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:45am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley wrote The Soldier and The Hunchback in Gibraltar on this date in 1908. …...…… and on September 13, 1932 Leila Ida Nerissa Bathurst Waddell died from uterine cancer at the young age of 52. She was an accomplished violin and orchestral player. Of all Aleister Crowley’s Scarlet Woman, Leila Waddell aka Soror Agatha, is without doubt the most unique. Waddell, with a thick Australian accent, used to call Aleister Crowley, “I.C.” According to her friend Gwen Otter, Crowley used to say to Waddell, “Oh, Mother, I wish you’d get rid of your Australian accent. It sounds so bad in ceremonies.” To appease the Beast, Waddell once asked Gwen, “Will you tell me when I sy anything in Austreyelian?” Some of Crowley’s best work was inspired by Waddell’s presence, including The Book of Lies, and many wonderful short stories and works of poetry. …...…… and also, Louis Umfreville Wilkinson who was born in 1881, the only son of a clergyman, died on this date at the age of 84 in 1966. Throughout his life Wilkinson wrote autobiographical and satirical novels and publishing them under the pseudonym Louis Marlow, like such books as Forth Beast! (1946) and Seven Friends (1953) amongst many others. Wilkinson was a friend of Aleister Crowley and, about him, he once wrote: “The pity is that his nose was too small; otherwise he would, I believe, have been indisputably a great man, both as a writer and as a religious leader.” At the Great Beast’s funeral he read Crowley’s Hymn to Pan. Later, when Wilkinson, being Crowley’s literary executor, was approached by a gentleman who was planning to write a biography of Aleister Crowley. The young man remarked to him, “You know, I would like to write the Life of Crowley now he’s safely dead.” Wilkinson slowly turned to the young man and asked, “Ah ... but what do you mean by safely dead?” …...…… And finally, on September 13, 1974 the classic show titled Kolchack: The Night Stalker debuts on TV. The very first episode was called The Ripper and it dealt with Kolchack, who is an investigative report, discovering that the serial killer responsible for the murders of young women across Chicago is none other than the original Jack the Ripper.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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