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From: "John B. Fleming"Subject: HERALD-TEPAPHONE Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 15:41:16 -0500 (EST) A Quarterly Publication of IAO Camp, Ordo Templi Orientis Autumnal Equinox, 1995 E.V. Volume One, Number Three _________________________________________________________________ _Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law._ _________________________________________________________________ IAO Camp, Ordo Templi Orientis P.O. Box 5793 Bloomington, Indiana 47407 Personnel: The Non-existent Brother R. B., Camp Master The Non-existent Sister R. H., Treasurer Fr. In Profunda, Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda Sr. Manibhadra, Minister of Caffeine Sr. Shekinah, Minister of Protocol and Appetizers Fr. Wayne (formerly known as The Magician Formerly Known as Wayne), Minister of Magical Formulae Outside Contributors: A. Alhazred L.W. deLaurence Dr. Fu-Manchu Jack A. Quiller III Sr. S.S.D.D. Taliesyn Adam Weishaupt _________________________________________________________________ The _Herald-Tepaphone_ is the quarterly newsletter of IAO Camp, a duly chartered body of Ordo Templi Orientis. The _HT_ is published on the Equinoxes and Solstices. Subscriptions are $3.00 per issue or $10.00 for one year (4 issues), make checks or money orders payable to `Bowyer'. Membership in IAO Camp and/or O.T.O. is not required to subscribe or to submit material. Text submissions may be sent on paper or on 3.5 in. disk for WordPerfect or Microsoft Word (preferably on Macintosh), illustrations had better be on paper at present. All copyrights reside with the individual authors if they are willing to 'fess-up. The opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of IAO Camp, the Ordo Templi Orientis, or of anyone else. _________________________________________________________________ In this issue... * SOROR MANIBHADRA MEMORIAL ISSUE * Hell Freezes Over! Brother R. B. gets a Computer! * Web Site, Anyone? * Top Ten Cool Things about Soror Manibhadra * The Deification of Jerry Garcia * A Few More Notes on Liber 365 * A Nice Little Graeco-Egyptian Invocation * Physics for Thelemites * Typhonian Tomes: Being a Guide to the Works of Kenneth Grant * Unclassifiable Ads * Autumn Equinox Ritual * Reviews + Women of the Golden Dawn, Mary K. Greer + The Mirror Pool, Lisa Gerrard + The Andrews Sisters (Capital Collectors Series) + The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Joscelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel, and John P. Deveney + The Grimoire of Armadel, translated and edited by S. L. MacGregor Mathers + The Wars of Gods and Men, Zecharia Sitchin + Initiations and Initiates in Tibet, Alexandra David-Neel + The Soul of Lilith, Marie Corelli + The New Satanists, Linda Blood + The R'Lyeh Text, Robert Turner + The Voudon Gnostic Workbook, Michael Bertiaux + The Wizard's Bible, Louis G. Sikes * IAO Camp Calendar of Events _________________________________________________________________ SOROR MANIBHADRA MEMORIAL ISSUE As all the world knows, or at least the bits that read the Tepaphone, our beloved Soror Manibhadra, M.`. shuffled off this mortal coil some months ago under the loving hands of Brother C. L., an act which played to critical acclaim right in our very own Temple. Her accomplishments, ranging from the redemption of the ninth of August (see page six), to serving as the Camp's Minister of Caffeine _in spite_ of her demise, are too numerous to list here. It is in recognition of her inimitable wonderfulness that we have dedicated _this entire issue_ to her memory. Let this be an example to us all! _________________________________________________________________ Hell Freezes Over! Brother R. B. gets a Computer! Yes, our own Arch Luddite and Camp Master has at last moved into the Twentieth Century! He is now the bemused owner of a genuine IBM PC which answers to the name of ... Sam. We should probably have expected something like this after the Vatican admitted it _might_ have been wrong about Galileo. Word is that R. B. has even been using e-mail, which brings us to ... _________________________________________________________________ Web Site, Anyone? We have been discussing the possibility of establishing a Homepage on the World Wide Web, either as a single Camp or in conjunction with other Official Bodies in the Midwest. Any ideas, suggestions, or support will be welcome. _________________________________________________________________ Top Ten Cool Things about Soror Manibhadra 10. Lives in a mansion with a hot tub. 9. Only Deadhead with a real job. 8. Figured out Robert Plant's horoscope _before_ she cast it. 7. International sex witch. 6. Java Goddess. 5. The cute way she ties her hair up in a bun. 4. The cute way she pulls her sweater up over her nose. 3. Rastafarian by default. 2. Knew the _true value_ of Samekh Final _even before it_ was revealed to the world. 1. She's a TOTAL BABE!!! _________________________________________________________________ The Deification of Jerry Garcia By Frater In Profunda III` _`Well, I'll put up with it until they come to me with the cross and nails.'_ -- Jerry Garcia As all the world knows, Jerry Garcia, guitarist for the Grateful Dead, celebrated his Greater Feast on 9 August of this year.1 This event has elicited an unprecedented outpouring of emotion from millions of the band's fans, and in this the observant may discern the unmistakable signs of an emerging religious consciousness. In fine, Captain Trips is heading for Godhood. Now, it is hardly a new idea that at least some of the Gods were in fact mortals of great accomplishments (a doctrine known as Euhemerism); certainly history is full of people who were paid Divine honours after death, so there is no reason why this venerable custom cannot continue. That Dead shows have taken on the aspect of religious events is hardly news,2 and no less an authority than Joseph Campbell (who is heading in the same direction himself) identified Dead shows as `modern Dionysian Mysteries'. The Great One himself has been the object of veneration by Deadheads in general, particularly the `Spinners', members of a religious commune who perform Sufi-style dancing in front of the stage. One Tourhead known to us once shook the Master's hand after a concert and was immediately mobbed by other Heads looking for The Guy Who Touched Jerry.3 Now, of course, the legend will only grow, and we now offer some educated speculations on the path things will take.4 This Prophet estimates the remaining members of the band will be drawn back together in, at most, two years. In the mean-time Head culture will grow and diversify as people give more attention to other bands, such as Phish or Blues Traveller, who have long been in the Dead's shadow. There will be a vast flowering of expanded consciousness as the Sixties-Current that the band and its following have held in their keeping spreads far and wide. When the Dead do return, it will be to a vastly expanded audience representing a new and powerful civilization. There will be sightings of Jerry worldwide. A bearded figure in a black tee-shirt will be seen noodling in a newly-formed crop-circle. A scuba diver will be saved from certain drowning by a large four-fingered hand. He will appear in dreams offering guidance to the faithful, some of whom will have been perfectly straight at the time. Heads will be alerted to Johnny Law in time to dispose of the evidence. There will be reports of miraculous healings and inexplicable manifestations.5 A ghostly Jerry face will be seen on the Great Sphinx at Giza. An informal cultus will develop. Shrines will be erected in parks and concert sites across the world. The liturgy will consist of listening to the Eternal Tape Loops and consuming acid-laced Kind Veggie Burritos. The Dead's old house in San Francisco, 710 Ashbury, will naturally become most the important Temple and the object of pilgrimage.6 In the inner sanctum will be a reliquary housing The Missing Finger, which will be displayed to the multitudes on High Holy Days.7 And lo! At long last will come to pass the Prophecy of Denis Hopper: that the Nineties will make the Sixties seem like the Fifties. Amen, Amen, and Amen; and Amen of Amen; Amen. Footnotes 1. A date already consecrated to Fame by virtue of being our own Soror Manibhadra's Birthday. 2. See Sardiello, R., _The Ritual Dimensions of Grateful Dead Concerts_, (Master's Thesis, University of North Carolina, 1990) and Sutton, Shan, _The Deadhead Community: A Popular Religion in Contemporary American Culture_, (Master's Thesis, Wright State University, 1993). 3. He was able to escape however, and retains his _Baraka_ to this day. 4. It does not, of course, make the slightest difference that Garcia always resisted the extraordinary veneration He received -- it was simply His Divine modesty at work; the reader may see the film _Monty Python's Life of Brian_ for a similar case. 5. Like those of Ganesha, Jerry statues will have a taste for white substances -- powdery in this case. 6. As if it isn't already! 7. A word should be said here about the lyrics. Many new Heads are already dismayed to discover that Garcia did not write his own lyrics. In time, such facts will be swept under the round tie-dyed beach blanket, and to even mention Robert Hunter will become the grossest heresy in many denominations. For others, Hunter will remain the object of secret veneration in small esoteric sects. _________________________________________________________________ A Few More Notes on Liber 365 by the Non-Existent Brother R. B. Thanks to the encouragement and guidance of two colleagues, I have made a bit of progress in my continuing study of _Liber 365_ (a/k/a _Liber 120_ a/k/a _Liber 800_ a/k/a _Liber Samekh_ a/k/a _The Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_ a/k/a _The Invocation of the Heart Girt With a Serpent_ a/k/a _The Invocation of the Bornless One_ a/k/a _The Bornless Ritual_, etc.). In the last issue of the _Tepaphone_, some valuable evidence was contributed by my esteemed colleague Mr. Quiller--a serious scholar handing out laudable erudition!--and in light of the information he so generously shared, I have discarded some earlier theories about the history of our ritual. I agree with Mr. Quiller--that wonderfully insightful thinker!--that Mathers was probably familiar with _P. Lond. 46_ in 1888 (the year the Golden Dawn was founded), and that the ritual now known as the _Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_ was redacted into its familiar modern form no later than 1896. I should observe, however, that Mr. Quiller--despite inculcating considerable knowledge!--was slightly mistaken in saying that Bennett's 1896 ritual features 'the refrain of Liber 365 in the exact wording...found in the 1904 _Goetia_,' inasmuch as the wording of Bennett's ritual differs slightly from that of the _Goetia_. Another colleague, the young William Keith, has questioned my use of the title _Liber 365_ for the _Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_. While _Liber CCCLXV_ is described in the _Equinox_, vol. III no. IX, as simply _The Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_, he pointed out that the fuller description given in the _Equinox_, vol. III no. I, leaves the matter open to debate. The fuller description reads: '_The Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_ so called, with a complete explanation of the barbarous names of evocation used therein, and the secret rubrick of the ritual, by the Master Therion. This is the most potent invocation extant, and was used by the Master Himself in his attainment.' This description is quite problematic. It sounds much more like _Liber Samekh_ than the _Preliminary Invocation_, but the description was written more than two years before _Samekh_ existed! Moreover, the invocation 'used by the Master...in his attainment' could not be _Samekh_ (which was written in 1921, 15 years after that attainment), but might instead be the _Preliminary Invocation_ in Crowley's personal copy of the _Goetia_, to which he added copious marginal notes (some, but by no means all, of which were later incorporated into _Liber Samekh_). But in AC's personal copy there is no explanation of the 'secret rubrick.' In other words, the description of _Liber 365_ cannot be applied with strict accuracy to any known text! I am reminded of the uproar a few years ago, when some of the Order's sharpest minds were involved in a debate over Averse, Inverse, Reversed, and Inverted pentagrams. The argument was that, since Crowley was a scientifically-trained thinker and a precise writer, he would only have used different terms if he had different types of pentagrams in mind, and there ensued heated discussions about how Averse and Inverse pentagrams differed from each other. My counter-argument was that, since Crowley was a poet as well as a pretty sloppy scholar who despised proof-reading, there was no reason to suppose that he had half-a-dozen different pentagrams in mind just because he used that many adjectives. A Crowley manuscript finally established that an averse pentagram was in fact the same as an inverse, inverted, or reversed one (students with nothing better to do may consult Bro. DuQuette's _Magick of Thelema_ for a discussion of this debate). My point in dredging up that stuff is to show that AC was sometimes rather vague, and to suggest that we should not read this description of _Liber 365_ with too keen an eye. The descriptive title of _Samekh_ equates the 1921 version of the ritual with the version Crowley used in 1906, though the texts are clearly different, so that we could justly use the title _Liber 365_ both for _Samekh_ and for Crowley's annotated version of the _Preliminary Invocation_. Since Crowley apparently saw these different texts as merely two phases in the development of a single ritual, we could also see (if we squint a little) the un-annotated _Preliminary Invocation_ as simply one more phase in the development of _Liber 365_. Ideally, Crowley's own usage would tell us what he had in mind when he created the title, but Crowley does not seem to have used the name _Liber 365_ anywhere except on p. 16 of the _Blue Equinox_! _Liber Samekh_, when actually written, was assigned the numbers 800 and 120, both connected with the letter Samekh (120=SMKh, Samekh spelt in full, and 800=QShTh, 'a bow,' which is the Hebrew name for the sign Sagittarius, attributed in G.`.D.`. Qabalah to the letter Samekh). Furthermore, Crowley rarely used either of these numbers, using instead either _Liber Samekh_ or the _Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_. One gets the impression that Crowley just never found a number to his liking. When I began using the title _365_, I hoped to replace the awkward and misleading monicker _Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_ and the equally misleading _Bornless Ritual_, and to have a simple title for that particular version of you-know-what-ritual which appeared in the 1904 _Goetia_. I now think it would be a better idea to use _365_ -- as Crowley himself seems to have used it in the _Equinox_, vol. III no. I -- as a generic term applicable to all the versions of you-know what-ritual, at least up till 1921. That is, I think we could profitably lump together everything from the original manuscript of _P. Lond. 46_ to _Liber Samekh_ as different stages in the evolution of 365. Of course, this usage is not in strict agreement with the description given in the _Blue Equinox_, but then again neither is anything else. I think the use of the otherwise disused title _365_ would simplify discussions by supplying a simple generic name for the many versions of you-know-what-ritual, and by avoiding the confusing generic use of titles like the _Bornless Ritual_, which properly refer to one particular version of the ritual. I can't say what Crowley had in mind, but for my own purposes at least I have found a use for the title _Liber 365_, and I will continue to use it as long as it seems useful. Someone will no doubt ask what the number 365 has to do with our ritual. Besides the obvious solar significance, 365 is the numerical value of the name Abrasax, a Gnostic god who is invoked in the ritual twice by name and once by allusion (look at a picture of Abrasax and you'll get a clearer idea of what it means to have 'sight in the feet'). Crowley's explanation of the name Abrasax in _Liber Samekh_ interprets it as 'the Father' [AB='father' in Hebrew], 'the Sun' [RA, the Egyptian Sun God], 'Hadith' [SAX=SET=HAD, etc., via a curious line of etymological reasoning: see cap. V of _MTP_], and 'the spell of the Aeon of Horus' [Abracadabra, according to magical tradition, derives from the name Abrasax], which is good enough for me. Aside from these somewhat pedantic revisions of my earlier ideas, not much has happened with my study of _Liber 365_. I have been promised copies of several manuscripts relevant to the project, which I hope will allow me to go forward with my research. _________________________________________________________________ A Nice Little Graeco-Egyptian Invocation translated by R.B. For reasons which will be obvious to my more astute readers (such as Soror Manibhadra), I have not ventured to make up a descriptive title or choose an appropriate number for the following invocation. It comes from _P. Lond. 46_, the source of our _Liber 365_, and is one of the finest spells in that collection. My translation is based on the Greek text given in Goodwin, 1852, and I have imitated the style of _365_ in favor of a simpler and more literal translation. I personally use this invocation to 'warm up' before _365_, but my readers will doubtless find other uses for it. The papyrus itself describes this as an all purpose invocation: 'It loosens fetters, weakens, sends dreams, creates favor. It is a common spell to get what you will.' _I invoke Thee, that didst create Earth and Bones and all Flesh and all Spirit, And that didst raise up the Sea and that shakest the Heavens, Thee, that didst divide the Light from the Darkness, The great Lawful Mind that directeth All, Eye of the aeon, Daemon of Daemons, God of Gods, the Lord of the Spirits, the aeon that cannot go astray, IAW OUHI [sic], Hear my voice! I invoke Thee, the Ruler of the Gods, High-thundering Zeus, Zeus the King, ADAINAI, Lord, IAW OUHE. I am He that invokes Thee in the Syrian tongue, Thee, the Great God ZAALAHR, IPhPhOU. And do Thou not misunderstand my voice in the Hebrew tongue, ABLANAThANALB [sic], ABRASILWA. For I am SILThAChWOUCh, LAILAM, BLASALWTh, IAW, IEW, NEBOUTh, SABIOThAR, BWTh, ARBAThIAW, IAWTh, SABAWTh, PATOURH, ZAGOURH, BAROUCh, ADWNAI, ELWAI, IABRAAM, BARBARAUW, NAU, SIPh,O High-Minded, O Life of the aeon, the Crown of the Cosmos, that prevailest over All! SIEPH, SAKTIETH, BIOU, SPhH, NOUS, SIEThO, ChThEThWNIRINX, WHAHHWAI, A, WHIAW, ASIAL, SARAPHOLSW, EThMOURHSINI, SEM, LAU, LOU, LOURINX. _(Note that I have transliterated the barbarous names according to a fairly common convention, in which H represents the letter eta, and W represents omega. Rough and smooth breathings are not indicated in the papyrus. Also, I have avoided translating the multifarious word aeon, preferring to let my readers interpret it as they will. Also note that in the interest of academic soundness I have resisted the temptation to include "MANIBHADRA" among the barbarous names.) _________________________________________________________________ Physics for Thelemites by Jack Frater Sanctimonious, hardcore Thelemite (got 76 on last issue's test), is overjoyed because he has just received his signed copy of the limited edition of _The Laundry Lists of Aleister Crowley_. Unfortunately, Fr. S. is unaware that every Crowley book contains minute quantities of the _highly radioactive_ element THERIUM (#93, atomic weight 666), and that his Crowley collection has now reached _critical mass_. Thus, when Fr. S. adds his new acquisition to his over-burdened shelves, he causes an _uncontrolled chain reaction_ that instantly destroys his entire city block and rains death on the city of Los Angeles. Thousands die horribly from _Therium contamination_, lasting only long enough to mutter a few lines of bad poetry before Greater Feasting. Public outcry is muted, however, when it is discovered that each of the casualties was the _Real Head_ of the _One True Order of the Golden Dawn_, and were due to be culled by the California Bureau of Wildlife Management anyway. _________________________________________________________________ 9 August in History 'The day that lives in infamy.' 117ev Hadrian learns he has been adopted by the Emperor Trajan, 2 days before learning of Trajan's death. 378 Visigoths rout the Roman army and kill the Emperor Valens. 1483 Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel. 1549 England declares war on France. 1849 Hungary is decisively defeated by invading Russians. 1932 Iowa Farmer's Union begins violent strike. 1940 British garrisons withdraw from Shang-hai and northern China as Japanese empire begins expansion. 1943 Expressionist painter Chaim Soutine dies. 1945 Atomic bomb kills 75,000 at Nagasaki. 1956 British families are airlifted out of the Suez Canal Zone, after Egyptian occupation has already begun. 1967 SOROR MANIBHADRA IS BORN! 1970 Peruvian jet crashes, killing 101. Israel violates cease-fire by attacking guerilla bases in Lebanon. 1974 President Nixon resigns, President Ford is sworn in. 1980 Saudi jet catches fire, killing 301. 1989 President Bush signs act to bail out S&Ls. 1995 Jerry Garcia becomes first rock star to die of natural causes. (It will be noted that the birth of our beloved Soror is one of only a few good things which redeem this ill-omened date.) _________________________________________________________________ Typhonian Tomes: Being a Guide to the Works of Kenneth Grant by Frater In Profunda III` Part Five: _Nightside of Eden_ (Muller 1977, Skoob 1995) After completing his _Typhonian Trilogy_ (_The Magical Revival_, _Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God_, and _Cults of the Shadow_), Grant embarked on a new series of studies in his `Draconian Tradition'. The first of these is a specialised discussion of the Tree of Life based on the Class A book, _Liber CCXXXI_. Grant's premise (partly derived from Fr. Achad's `Formula of Reversal') is that there are two sides to the Tree: the normal `Dayside' which is familiar to all Magicians in the Golden Dawn / A.`.A.`. tradition -- and the `Nightside', or `back' of the Tree, which is the source of the Qlippoth. The Qlippoth are normally said to form an upside-down Tree depending from Malkuth and are to be avoided at all costs. Grant, however, considers them to be a dark `mirror image' in Universe B, a `non-existent' reality underlying our normal Universe A. Here, instead of the Paths, we find the strangely looping `Tunnels of Set' winding their way through the `dream-cells' of the collective unconscious. This realm consists not of `evil spirits', but of the most ancient atavisms that may be accessed by the intrepid Magicians in quest of knowledge and power. The means for doing this are provided by the sigils in _Liber 231_ utilized in conjunction with sexual Magick. `Very well,' you say, `let us see how Grant deals with this.' First of all, it must be noted that he does not present all of _231_, merely the Qlippothic sigils and individual verses. He does not give, or even mention, the `Dayside' material at all. I assume that there was some worry about copyright infringement if the entire Liber was included, but I suspect that this omission reflects an overall tendency of his to concentrate on the `dark side' of Magick to the exclusion of all else. The entire first half of the book is a long, rambling, disjointed collection of weird Qabalistic goo that generally leaves one wondering just what the point is.1 It often seems that this section was chopped into chapters at arbitrary intervals, especially since the chapter titles usually have only a tenuous connection to the material they introduce (even if they do sound totally cool). As for the text itself, we learn among other things, that the O.T.O. Degree system is `old aeon', that `Choronzon manifests as the Scarlet Woman', that nuclear experiments have caused an invasion of `powers from the other side', that _Ain_ = _Ayin_, and therefore 0 = 70, that apes are `the outcome of pre-human magical experiments by extra-terrestrials who copulated with primitive women'2, and all manner of bizarre lore culled from Blavatsky, Bertiaux, Massey and others. He also seems determined to reduce every possible Deity to an aspect of Set, no matter how unlikely the subject. Another point to be made here is that while Grant denies that the Nightside is really evil, and advocates working with these energies as a spiritual necessity, he can't seem to help always dragging out the most lurid descriptions possible, often reminding one of a bad horror novel rather than a serious occult tome. It is as if he cannot see any way to invoke the Tunnels _except through fear_. In my humble opinion, anyone working with this material stricly from Grant's perspective is in for a very wild ride. Part Two is more coherent, simply because it follows the very obvious structure of discussing each of the twenty-two Tunnels in turn. The sigil of each guardian is given along with a few pages describing its nature and powers. Much of this is simply taken from _777_. Grant puts special emphasis on the specific type of sexual Magick worked by the adepts of each Tunnel, thus making this a comprehensive, if overly specific _grimoire_. The major idiosyncracy here is,of course, Grant's re-definition of the XI` to cover menstruation. He goes on for so long about how Moon-Blood is the true original sacrament and how it breeds abhorrent monsters in the Ether that it seems both offensive3 and ridiculous. Whilst reading this book, I thought at first that Grant had finally run out of perplexing words. In fact, it was just that he was saving his strength for a supreme effort of amazing proportions. Here we are faced with `discreted', `insee', `teratomas', `appertained', `entifying' and its cousin, `entification', `expatiating', the `inferior Hebdomad' and the `superior Hebdomad', `advert to', `aduced', `impubescent', `equipollence', `pre-eval', `olid', `keraunograph', and the ultimate `excrementious manifestation'. As a final note, I must say that I regard this book not so much as a completely wrong headed project as a worthwile idea that got ruined in the execution. Those wishing to explore the mysteries of _Liber 231_ are directed to _The Shadow Tarot_ by Linda Falorio and Fred Fowler (available from Black Moon Publishing), which provides a far superior treatment of this same material. Footnotes 1. Some years ago a group in this area did considerable work with this material. Some of the participants had their photocopies of Part One out of order and did not notice the fact until they specifically looked at the page numbers! They said putting things back in the correct order didn't seem to help much. 2. To be fair, later on Grant says this is to be understood symbolically. 3. Especially to international sex witches. (Buckle up kiddies, because next issue we go _Outside the Circles of Time_.) _________________________________________________________________ Unclassifiable Ads Congratulations! YOU are now the REAL HEAD of the ONE TRUE ORDER of the GOLDEN DAWN. Reading this ad constitutes your Initiation. You now have full authority to Initiate, Charter, Rule, Instruct, Expel and Excommunicate. If you need further details, WE will come to YOU! Remember: YOU are the ONLY ONE! -- the Secret Chiefs. Astral Double -- Please come home, all is forgiven. -- Material Body _________________________________________________________________ Autumn Equinox Ritual Sol in Libra, Luna in Virgine, IViii AL by members of IAO Camp _First Part--Yod--the Preparation_ In the East of the Temple the Stele of Revealing is exalted. Two pillars, or two great candles, flank the Stele and suggest the base of an equilateral triangle of which the Stele is the apex. Below the Stele lie the elemental weapons of the five senses -- to the right, a rose for Air and the sense of smell, a lamp for Fire and sight; to the left, a cup of wine for Water and taste, a stone for Earth and touch; between these, a bell for Spirit and hearing. A small altar stands in the center of the Temple. The five Officers of the Temple represent the five elements. They are stationed in the quarters -- AIR in the East, FIRE in the South, WATER in the West, EARTH in the North, and SPIRIT in the Center. (ALL enter the Temple and form a circle, the elemental officers in their quarters.) (FIRE moves to the center, and SPIRIT moves to the North.) (FIRE banishes.) _Second Part--He--the Salutation_ (WATER moves to the center, and SPIRIT moves to the West.) WATER: _'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.' 'Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty! There are rituals of the elements and feasts of the times.' Tonight we celebrate the Festival of the Autumnal Equinox. Our Father the Sun enters the sign of Libra, the Balance, mid-way between Summer's heat and Winter's cold. Day and night are of equal length, and the cycles of Our Mother the Earth are poised in equilibrium. In this time of balance between the forces of Osiris the Father and Isis the Mother, we invoke the Child: Horus of the Two Horizons as Reconciler of their opposing powers. For as we are born into this world amidst the darkness of matter and the strife of contending forces, so must we endeavor to seek the Light through their reconciliation. __Third Part--Shin--the Invocation_ SPIRIT: _Let us invoke the Balance of the elemental powers._ (SPIRIT goes to the altar in the East, arranges the elemental weapons in a cruciform pattern, then returns to the center with the bell.) (SPIRIT reads the Prayer of the Sylphs (from Levi), while AIR takes the rose, salutes the East with a cross, and goes round the circle deosil, allowing all to smell the rose.) (SPIRIT reads the Prayer of the Salamanders (Levi), while FIRE takes the lamp, salutes the South with a cross, and goes round allowing all to gaze into the flame.) (SPIRIT reads the Prayer of the Undines (Levi), while WATER takes the cup, salutes the West with a circle, and goes round allowing all to taste the wine.) (SPIRIT reads the Prayer of the Gnomes (Levi), while EARTH takes the stone, salutes the North with a circle, and goes round allowing all to touch the stone.) SPIRIT: _Let us invoke the Unity of the elemental powers._ AIR: _Light._ WATER: _Darkness._ AIR: _East._ WATER: _West._ AIR: _Air._ WATER: _Water_ SPIRIT: (strikes the bell) _I am the reconciler between them._ FIRE: _Heat._ EARTH: _Cold._ FIRE: _South._ EARTH: _North._ FIRE: _Fire._ EARTH: _Earth._ SPIRIT: (strikes the bell) _I am the reconciler between them._ AIR: _One Creator._ FIRE: _One Preserver._ WATER: _One Destroyer._ NORTH: _One Redeemer._ SPIRIT: (strikes the bell) _One reconciler between them. Horus of the Two Horizons, Who bringeth Unity out of Diversity, we invoke Thee! Thine is the Air with its movement. Thine is the Fire with its flashing flame. Thine is the Water with its ebb and flow. Thine is the Earth with its stability. Thou art in all things, and all things are in Thee._ _Fourth Part--Vau--the Divination_ (AIR moves to the center, and SPIRIT moves to the East.) AIR: Child of Isis and Osiris, Lord of the aeon, Reconciler of Opposites, speak to us now from the silence, giving us each an Oracle to guide us in our Paths. (ALL silently obtain individual Oracles, each participant using his or her preferred means of divination, and meditate for a few minutes. Alternatively, AIR goes round allowing each participant to draw a Tarot card.) _Fifth Part--He--the Valediction_ (SPIRIT returns to the center, and AIR returns to the East.) SPIRIT: _Let us bid the elemental powers farewell.._ (One at a time, the elemental officers salute their respective quarters with circled crosses, circle widdershins to the Altar in the East, and replace their weapons.) (EARTH moves to the center, and SPIRIT moves to the North.) EARTH: _Horus of the Two Horizons, Reconciler of Opposing Forces, let Thy power and wisdom abide with us as we strive toward the accomplishment of our Wills, the Great Work, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness._ EARTH: _Let us adore the Lord of the aeon, in the words of the Stele of Revealing._ (ALL turn to face the West.) ALL: _'Unity uttermost showed,'_ etc. (ALL turn to face the central altar.) ALL: _'Love is the law, love under will.'_ (ALL quit the Temple in silence. A feast follows.) Note: This ritual was composed , on rather short notice, as a presentation for the local chapter of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPs). Originally based on the VIAOV formula and some elements of the Golden Dawn Equinox Ceremony, we later re-worked it to conform with the YHShVH formula. Those with lots of free time may wish to compare the two formulae, to decide for themselves which is more appropriate. _________________________________________________________________ Reviews `Treat 'em Rough' Women of the Golden Dawn, by Mary K. Greer. Park Street Press, 1995 (490 pp., $29.95). This book is of particular interest to women (such as Soror Manibhadra) who may have wondered if there were any female Magicians other than Dion Fortune. Greer focuses on four women who distinguished themselves outside the G.`.D.`. as well as in the Order. Maude Gonne was and still is a hero of the Irish independence movement. Of the four, she was probably the least influential on the Order's development, except for her deep and life-long involvment with Yeats. Annie Horniman is considered the founder of modern British Theatre and was the Mathers' source of income until her expulsion from the Order. Moina Mathers was a great artist who never reached her full potential, choosing instead to devote her life to MacGregor Mathers in a celibate marriage. She did, however, pioneer the use of collage. Moina also was the creative inspiration and source of the G.`.D.`.'s elaborate color system, and was the channeller for Mathers's talks with spirits. Perhaps my favorite of the four is Soror S.S.D.D, Florence Farr. She was a strong, independent woman, most well known outside of the G.`.D.`. for her long relationship with G.B. Shaw. She replaced Westcott when he was forced to resign as Praemonstrator of the G.`.D.`. in 1893. Florence Farr was respected by Crowley until she refused him admittance to the 5=6. She is probably the most responsible for the downfall of Mathers and the G.`.D.`. hierarchy. Upon discovering that the G.`.D.`. papers were forged and Fraulein Sprengel was a fake, she refused to cover for Mathers and Westcott and turned the information over to the entire membership of the Golden Dawn, thus sealing its fate. The book is full of inspirational stories of struggle and triumph in and out of the Order. It cites many of the subjects' works (particularly those of Farr, who wrote a great deal), motivating me to seek out these works and read them in their entirety. An interesting feature of the book is that it presents the four women as the four seasons, or four female archetypes, so that this book, like a G.`.D.`. ritual, is based on a magical formula. If only Mary Greer had not learned astrology this would be a great book: instead it is about twice as long as it needs to be and half as good. She spends an exorbitant amount of time explaining the astrological states of her subjects and how they should have seen events coming, since they were right there in their charts. Anyway, if you can ignore the pseudo-psychological astrological crap (this means skipping whole pages of text) and focus on the underlying history and biographies of these four women, the book is well worth the time and money. For further reading, several biographies of Maude Gonne and Annie Horniman are available. I also recommend King's _Astral Projection, Ritual Magic, and Alchemy_, which contains Golden Dawn instructional material by Farr. -- Soror SSDD (SameShT, Different Degree) _________________________________________________________________ The Mirror Pool by Lisa Gerrard. 4AD, 1995 (@75 min., $14.99 CD, $9.99 cass.). This is the first solo album by the female half of Dead Can Dance (Brendan Perry should have his out early next year), and the anxious listener could not ask for a more magnificent gift from the Muse. Working at her home studio in Australia and with the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra, Lisa has created an iridescent collection of mystical transport. Early versions of two songs -- `Persian Love Song' and `Sanvean' -- appeared on the _Towards the Within_ concert. The rest are new, and with titles like `La Bas: Song of the Drowned' and `The Rite', fall firmly into the `Decadent' mode of early DCD albums, especially _Within the Realm of a Dying Sun_. This music has excellent potential for ritual and meditation, and as a reliable anchor against the tempests of the Era Vulgari. -- des Essientes _________________________________________________________________ The Andrews Sisters (Capitol Collectors Series). Capitol Records, Inc, 1991 (68 minutes, $14.99CD). First there was that $31 CD of Crowley reciting his poetry, and now the Original Thelemic Musical Group (or so legend has it) can be heard on compact disc. Somehow it doesn't seem right to hear the music of Soror Manibhadra's favorite swing-era vocal group without a lot of scratches and pops in the background, but it does sound nice on CD. The compilation, which includes three previously unreleased tracks, is entirely composed of material recorded in 1956-58. This, of course, is rather late in the Andrews Sisters' career, and while these late recordings are doubtless cleaner-sounding and better suited for reproduction on CD, they occasionally lack the vivacity of the earlier versions we all have on our scratchy old records. 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schon,' for example, seems a little stiff compared to the older recordings. One of the highlights of the album, for Andrews-heads and Javacrucian adepts alike, is the previously-unreleased 'Proper Cup of Coffee.' One of those 'silly songs' the sisters liked to sing, it tells of a Sultan who is sad because not one of his wives can make a decent cup of Java, and all he really wants is 'a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot.' This track also features a memorable kazoo solo. The album's chief shortcoming is that the compilers have stressed well-known boogie-woogie and swing hits to the total exclusion of those slow and lyrical love songs which best display Patti's bel canto virtuosity. This exclusion is regrettable, and I hope forthcoming CD compilations will let us hear more of Patti's solos. There are, however, several songs which showcase the sisters' harmonizing, like the very fine version of 'Begin the Beguine.' Other songs like 'I Want to Linger' highlight how well the sisters could work together with their accompaniment. The compilation's disappointments aside, it's still a worthwhile addition to your Andrews Sisters collection. -- Frater O.T.M. _________________________________________________________________ The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, by Joscelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel, and John P. Deveney. Weiser, 1995 (452 pp., $25.00). This book certainly provides more information about the H.B.L. than did the previously available sources: the first half of the book gives historical information about the colorful personalities involved in the order, and the second half offers a heap of primary-source material by and about the order. The H.B.L. secret documents are pretty disappointing, and consist mostly of the sort of metaphysical gup that was popular in the nineteenth century--you know, vague pseudo scientific theories about magnetism and verbose yammering about Great Cosmic Cycles that guide the course of history. There's some stuff lifted from Levi which will be familiar to students of Crowley or the G.`.D.`., and there's some occasional stuff about sex to revive the reader's interest (though an international sex witch like Soror Manibhadra would find this material pretty tame). More interesting and more entertaining, though more frustrating, is the historical section. Unfortunately, the material is not organized chronologically; instead it is grouped anecdotally around the major figures in the order's history, which makes it a little difficult for the reader to keep in mind what was going on when. I suspect the authors chose to present their research in this odd fashion to give the impression of a connected story, since it seems that they really don't know much about the chronology of the order. Even a century ago the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was pretty obscure, and modern researchers just don't have much to go on. For example, O.T.O. initiates would be very eager to learn more about the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, which was somehow involved in the early history of O.T.O. The entire discussion of this H.B.L. offshoot is one sentence on p. 67, which informs us that the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light was either founded or reorganized in 1895, at either Chicago or Boston, and that it 'fed the streams of sexual practice flowing into the Ordo Templi Orientis....' While that is more than I knew previously, it is not quite as much as I had hoped to learn from this book. -- either K. or C. Kellner _________________________________________________________________ The Grimoire of Armadel, translated and edited by S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Weiser, 1995 (79 pp., $20.00). This is not the version of the _Clavicula Salomonis_ attributed to Armadel, nor, for that matter, is it anything attributed to or entitled _Almadel_ or _Arbatel_. It is, in fact, the _Grimoire, ou la Cabale_ attributed to Armadel. It's very Christian, very brief, and a little wacky, but it has lots and lots of sigils. You may want it for your grimoire collection, but you probably won't use it much. -- Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Madel _________________________________________________________________ The Wars of Gods and Men by Zecharia Sitchin. Avon Books, 1985 (377 pp., $5.99). The basic premise of this book (and the others in Sitchin's _Earth Chronicles_ series) is that the ancient Sumerian Gods were in fact Space Aliens from the 12th Planet, Nibiru, who came to Earth 450,000 years ago to mine gold to stabilize their homeworld's atmosphere. The cities and monuments of the ancient Near East were the Spaceports and Control Centres for this operation, and humans were created by genetic engineering as mine labourers. This book deals intimately with the rivalries among the Gods and ends with the atomic destruction of Sodom and Gommorah. Actually, this is a rather interesting collection of data from mythological and archaeological sources that throws some light on a few holes in the modern `scientific' view of pre-history -- the Geomantic alignments of the first Sumerian cities is especially interesting -- I just wish the author's rocket fetish would abate. -- Adam Weishaupt _________________________________________________________________ Initiations and Initiates in Tibet by Alexandra David-Neel. Dover Books, 1993 (224 pp., $5.95). This is a sequel to the author's _Magic and Mystery in Tibet_ and deals more specifically with the subject of spiritual discipline and practice. Mme. David-Neel discusses the concept of the spiritual Master, his relationship with the student, and the many differing types of Initiations and Empowerments available in Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes in sufficient detail for real use by the reader, (though unfortunately, she does not include the rare Mantra, OM MANI BHADRA HUM!) There is also some interesting material on the transmission of Initiatory lineages. The only problem with this book is that, like the rest of Mme. David-Neel's work, it suffers from a certain primness and rationalistic reductionism quite out of tune with its subject, and with Tibetan culture generally. Even so, it is still quite useful. -- Dr. Fu-Manchu _________________________________________________________________ The Soul of Lilith, by Marie Corelli. American News Company, 1892 (356 pp., original price not noted). Corelli was Queen Victoria's favorite novelist, which should tell you a lot about the book, but Crowley was also familiar with Corelli's work and honored her with a reference to her toe-jam in one of his better poems, 'Birthday Ode' in Snowdrops, owners of the 1986 Teitan Press edition will note that the editor has confused Marie Corelli with Mabel Collins, the book's charm is more antiquarian than literary, i.e. it is quaintly Victorian but is no masterpiece by modern standards, it is, however, not without appeal to the occultist, as the tale revolves around magical themes, its main character is determined, Crowley-like, to master the secrets of life through the power of will, and there are several amusing jabs at Theosophy, there is also an unintentionally hilarious character--an idealized self-portrait of the author--who voices all of Corelli's complaints about society, over and over and over, her style is long-winded and moralizing, and her characters and situations are none too believable, four of the main characters, e.g., are non-Muslim Arabs (three Christians and a pagan), two of whom are uneducated peasants who speak flawless English, and one of whom is blonde, but all her faults notwithstanding, we must hail Marie Corelli as a Past Master of the Bewildering Run-On Sentence, in fine, then, the book is entertaining, if not wholly in the way its author intended, I would, however, recommend that you not buy some arm-and-a-leg Kessinger xerox, but wait till you can find it for $1.50 in a junk-shop in Kokomo. -- A. Quiller III _________________________________________________________________ The New Satanists by Linda Blood. Warner Books, 1994 (244 pp., $5.50). A sort of memoir by a woman who claims she was seduced into the Temple of Set and had an affair with Michael Aquino. Aside from the insiders details of TS, it is mostly a re-hash of the usual legends with an emphasis on the neo-Nazi connection and Satanic child abuse. Unfortunately, the few details of Setian life and ritual that Ms. Blood (her real name apparently) shares with us seem far too shallow to give her narrative the required air of verisimilitude. -- Adam Weishaupt _________________________________________________________________ The R'lyeh Text by Robert Turner, edited by George Hay. Skoob Books, 1995 (175 pp., $11.99). This latest in a long line of H.P. Lovecraft pastiches is a sequel to Hay's bogus _Necronomicon_ of the 70's, and it reassembles all the usual suspects from that project for ... more of the same. Mr Hay's editorial style is unusual in that, whereas the editor's normal job is to prune irrelevencies leaving a concise text, here he has left _nothing but irrelevencies_ to baffle the reader's mind. From the crocodile-infested cover to Colin Wilson's rambling introduction to Patricia Shore's oblique concluding essay we are left feeling strangely ... unfulfilled. It is especially ironic to see that Robert Turner is behind this, as he spent a good portion of his _Elizabethan Magic_ fulminating against the Golden Dawn for making `inauthentic' additions to Dee's Enochian system, and now he's marketing _this_ as the decoded contents of Dee's cypher manuscripts! The supposed `main text' itself is rather inadequate and certainly nothing compared to the original it attempts to ape. Quite honestly, if these people continue to take their own insipidities and pass them off as my work, I will have no choice but to take the matter up with my Patrons. -- A. Alhazred _________________________________________________________________ The Voudoun Gnostic Workbook, by Michael Bertiaux. Magickal Childe, 1988 ($29.95). Michael Bertiaux has at last publicly released a compendium of his varied instructional material relating to his variety of modern esoteric Voudoun and Gnostic magic. Subdivided into four volumes (_Voudoo Energies_, _Gnostic Energies_, _Elemental Sorcery_ and _Elemental Theogony_), the book is unique in that it affords an overview into one magician's largely synthetic digest of an exhaustive traditional education in occultism, with special emphasis on Haitian occultism. I was fortunate enough to have access to Bertiaux's course materials as a teenage student of occultism. Although I was never a formal member of his various groups (except for the Villatte succession E.G.C. in which I am a Bishop), I can testify to the utility of his approach. Does he make a lot of it up? Yes, no doubt about it. Will he pull your leg? Yes, if you let him. Does it work? That depends if you learn how to develop your own system. That, at any rate, was my experience. Highly recommended. -- L. W. deLaurence _________________________________________________________________ The Wizard's Bible by Louis G. Sikes. International Imports, 1987 (128 pp., $6.95). Hardly. -- Taliesyn _________________________________________________________________ IAO Camp Calendar of Events Autumn, 1995 E.V. October Fri. 6: Regular Camp Meeting, 8 p.m. Thur. 12: "Lesser Feast" of the Prophet Fri. 13 -- Sun. 15: Gnostic Mass Seminar in East Chicago Fri. 20: First Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Fri. 27: First Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Sun. 29: Sor. Shekinah's Lecture on the Tarot, 3 p.m. at Morgenstern Booksellers. Tue. 31: Hallowe'en November Fri. 3: Regular Camp Meeting, 8 p.m. Fri. 10: Second Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Fri. 17: Second Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Fri. 24: Second Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. December Fri. 1: Regular Camp Meeting, 8 p.m., "Greater Feast" of the Prophet Fri. 8: Third Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Fri. 15: Third Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Fri. 22: Third Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Thur. 21: Winter Solstice Ceremony, 7 p.m. Fri. 29: Third Degree Initiation Study, 7 p.m. Sun. 31: Vulgar New Year party Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at the IAO Camp Temple. Dates and times may change, so please call ahead to confirm. _________________________________________________________________ _Love is the law, love under will._ EOF
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