THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

Subject: The Hawk Headed Herald - Volume 1, Number 2

[obtained from http://www.visi.com/~invoke/camp/library/ ]

Do What thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Herein:

We started this past Spring season with a fabulously successful Vernal Equinox campout dedicated to the enactment of the Invokation of Horus and the performance of a Vernal Equinox Ceremony. All who were present know of the success had at that time, and we greatly thank all who contributed their time, effort, money, and craft to the venture. Ritually produced effects were abundant both in-temple and out, ranging from the merely strange movement of spiralling/swooping air to the more powerful visions induced by the invocatory material. Both ceremonies synergetic influence energized us for several months of very busy work on both personal and group levels.

In April we hosted our first initiatory weekend.... and what a mix of success and failure it was! We offered our assistence to brethren seeking inititiation from New Mexicos OAI Camp, as their plans seemed to fit in with initiation schedules of HHMLE members as well as our imported Initiator. Everything came together effortlessly, placing us, for a time, ahead of the game. But, with preparations made (digging out the floor of Dark Earth Temple so as to make more head room, acquiring all the necessary equipment, going over every last minute detail, etc.) and everything proceeding wonderfully, the gods had a different path in store for us. The exact matter will not be rehashed in this space, but it will be said that of what initiations were accomplished they were done in high regard.... and for those which did not go over because of a technical difficulty, we offer our grandest apology. This has all been said before, with matters discussed and reconciled, but I feel that a permanent written measure suits the situation well. The least that can be said of the whole affair is that it has been one of great learning the lesson itself centering around the achievement of everything in its own time and the potential dangers of imbalance caused by a perhaps reckless speed of accomplishment. In short: haste might make waste.

So now, with this very important episode behind us, we fly straight into the wilds of Summer, and the compelling plans that weve all made during this past quarter. Some members of the Camp will be moving into new lands with the expressed hope of a better ritual climate as well as more fertile grounds for intellectual/spiritual/creative development. Some of us (and yea nearly all!) are actively collecting ritual furniture and weapons for our often talked about performance of the Gnostic Mass. How close might we be to this goal? Closer than we were last quarter, yet still a ways out from an open performance. Even though, be warned: you will be notified when we go public! as you will also be of our upcoming celebration of the feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride. In all, our Summer is loaded with the maximum potential for hearty and advantagous progress. We hope that all have endeavored for the same. Until the Autumnal Equinox, farewell.

Frater OGK

The Pagan conception of the Universe has one great philosophical advantage over its competitors; this, that it recognizes a certain sardonic humor in the Lords of Destiny. It is a little more than practical joking, and a little less --- but not much less --- than Sadism. This humor is hidden from academic and commercial minds: even among artists it is only a few that understand and enjoy it.

Observe what happens to our ideals! One has only to formulate a desire in order to find Fate force one into a passionate denial of it. We seek to escape from the "dull monotony" of marraige, only to find ourselves the prey of a procession of the most tedious chorus girls.

We find no hate so embittered as that engendered by Love. The more one tries to help the poor, the more poor one makes them. One has only to overthrow a tyranny to find oneself compelled to impose the death penalty for sneezing, as dictatator Kerensky would bear witness. To make the world safe for democracy we must abandon all popular control of the Executive. To destroy militarism we must create a military caste.

All this is in the nature of things; it is the standing joke of the gods; and those who only joke with difficulty add to our pleasure by their freely expressed annoyance.

The whole spirit of ancient comedy is resumed in the universal plot, which has been the basis of every religious legend. You take a man, dress him up as a Priest or a King or a hunter, and set out with him to the chase or the war or the sacrifice. Then, before you kill him, you break it to him gently that he is himself the destined victim of whom you spoke so eloquently! The whole of one's attitude to life depends on whether this strikes one as a joke or not. If not, you are the "goat."

It has been suggested that when Mr. Balfour came over to this country, saluted by Mr. Wilson as the Saviour of Democracy, urged him to make sure of the war loans, and cast flowers and tears upon the tomb of Washington, the wily scot was playing just this joke. Mr. Wilson's high seriousness fits him to be a victim, and Mr. Balfour's humor is of just this order.

But that any one in the world should believe Balfour a democrat is almost inconceivable. I have a very great respect for Mr. Balfour. His uncle, Lord Salisbury, was called "a lath painted to look like iron"; but Miss Arabella is iron painted to look like a lath.

There are only two theories of government: Socialism and Anarchism. Most existing states compromise. But "in the last analysis" (good phrase, that! I wonder why no one ever used it before), the one runs quite amusingly into the other. The excessive individualism of this country has created trusts so large that a single step further would turn them into state-owned concerns. Similarly, socialism always topples into anarchy the moment it becomes universal. A man is not very much hampered by being called an official of the state: what he loses in one way he more than makes up in another. The form of government makes little odds to a nation, so long as wolves have teeth, and lambs have fleeces.

But there are three inestimable treasures in monarchy; yea, four things joyful which other systems do not give.

Firstly, one knows pretty well who the king is; if it be not himself, it is his mistress or his barber, which may be even better.

Secondly, the king is a human being like oneself, not an unassailable abstraction. Theoretically, one can approach him and obtain a request. Even a refusal is better than a beating of the air; at least one knows where one is. But one cannot ask favors of a Cosmic Urge or get the ear of an Economic Trend.

Thirdly, one can estimate the situation of the moment; one can judge of human actions, even when they are monstrously inhuman. Committees have no soul to damn, and no body to kick; so they are capable of actions which are not human at all, in any proper sense of the word. Even their most admirable laws lack the human touch. Who would not rather be a beggar dependent on the careless generosity of drunkards and prostitutes than a well-fed pauper in a workhouse? The first may (by a miracle) get a five or ten dollar bill now and again; the second is shorn clear of hope; his fate has become visibly ineluctable; he can see clear down a well-swept avenue of slavery all the way to the Mausoleum.

Fourthly, when a king becomes intolerable, one can cut his head off and get another, with some hope of gain by the change. But all committees are on the same dead level of heartlessness and stupidity. It is in such forlorn vestiges of democracy as Congress that the expert slueth can trace the wailing ghosts of the Social Contract and the Magna Charta. We are still in that same slave-minded condition where we feel the necessity of explaining our actions to others. We dare not drink beer without some sort of medical excuse; we excuse ourselves for love on eugenic grounds; in other words, we are all afraid of each other. It was not enough to elect our best and bravest man to the Presidency; he felt bound to explain what needed no explaination, and natually he has failed to convince a great many people. "L'etat c'est moi" can only be answered by the lie direct. To give one's "reasons" is to appeal to reason; and reason happens to be a kind of interminable game of chess in which neither side can win. Reason has not yet decided so much as whether we exist at all.

In all crisis a dictator is a necessity. Gallipoli was a better bet than Salonica; even distaster is preferable to inaction. Fabius "qui cunctando restituit rem," has been represented as a slow-moving person by such imbeciles as the modern Fabians, who impudently took his name. No: fabius was an exceptionally quick individual; it was the enemy in whom he induced the slowness.

Committees inevitably mean delay. The rules of debate, the rights of the minority; the whole conception of such bodies is to hear all sides, to thresh everything out, to fight every detail to a finish. And there is this particular purpose in view --- to check autocracy.

In peace-time, in matters of no urgency, this is well enough. In war it is comic. Soldiers voting upon their next manoeuvre is, of course, the reductio ad absurdum.

Why then do we not take our own common-sense psychology to heart? Why do we not realize that, whatever may work in peace, we must have the "benevolent despot" in war-time? Because we fear that he may use his power to enslave us after the victory. Free men should not suffer such fear; they should rely upon themselves to supply a tyrannicide if need arose. While people are quarreling as to whether to build steel ships or wood, whether the people are to drink beer or nut sundae, whether a peice of bread should be buttered on the right side or left, nothing is done.

I happend to be in Eastbourne, England, a month or so after the war began. It was bad enough to watch the hordes of cigarretted slackers; but after all that might have been the indifference of courage. What struck me as symptomatic of sheer rottenness was the regiment of tub-thumpers howling out the advantages of their competing brands of religion and ethics. In war one needs a crude belief (like Mohammed's or Mr. Roosevelt's) in some equivalent of Thor. People who cannot shed their civilized criticism, for the time being, will not make good soldiers. If one were to analyze the pacifist, one would find him as a rule, an over- educated man, a man the slave of his own reason, unable to become a savage when the occasion arises for dealing with savages. One must fight fire with fire. Hence we find the bench of bishops in England opposing reprisals for the air raids. Leave it to the "atheistic" French to kill 200 school children in Karlsruhe!

For three years I have fought against muddle and hypocrisy. We should not pretend that it is possible to fight with kid gloves on. If we killed our prisoners, and cooked their hearts and livers to give us courage, it would be no worse; and we should know where we were. War under Queensbury rules is not war at all, because there is nobody to exact any penalty for the breach of these rules. "Atrocities" is a good cry when you have a referee who can award you the fight on a foul; in a tussle with another savage for life or death, the cry is simply the wail of a weakling. Now that the referee, Uncle Sam, is in the war himself, we can at least stop this, and become as "atrocious" as the English in Ireland and South Africa, the Russians in Finland, the Italians in Tripoli, the Turks in Armenia --- is there any one stupid enough not to see what St. Paul saw? "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

So now we have what has been always admitted to be the best of all possible governments --- a benevolent despot. There is nothing personal about it. It is the will of the people incarnated in a single mind. It is the apotheosis of democracy. The arrangement is exceedingly convenient in other ways. It solves the puzzling problem of the name for this particular section of the American continent. Wilsonia is neat and easy to remember; and it has further the advantage of sounding like an apartment house is the Bronx. To make things pleasent all around, the wilder parts of the country might be called, on the South African analogy, the Roose Veldt.

But whatever may be the powers exercised by any government, there is one thing which cannot be done without a revolution. That is to interfere with the customs of the people. A custom may be the silliest superstition, or the most deleterious habit, but it is inviolable. History is full of examples of tyrants who fell because of attempts to interfere in such methods. I almost wish I had not forgotten my history, because I would like to quote a whole lot of examples. However, history is all lies: it will be just the same if I invent a few cases. Timur Bukh was assassinated by a child of twelve years old in the midst of his victorious army, only a month after he promulgated his infamous decree forbidding the use of toothpicks. Mamilius tried to alter the date of the festival of the God Rumtum, and his dynasty crumbled in an hour. The emperor, Chwang Myang, lost his throne through forbidding people to feed goldfish on oatmeal as formerly.

As a matter of fact there is a recent and rather terrible case, the Sipahi Mutiny in India. The entire country had submitted uncomplainingly to all sorts of tyrannies and exactions. But as soon as the Mahammedan thought that he was to be compelled to defile himself with pig, and the Hindu with cow, there was an immediate outbreak. It is impossible to alter by an act of legislation those deep-seated customs which refer to the satisfaction of the primary needs of men, the need to support life and the need to reproduce it. It is notorious that a food riot is the most terrible of all the danger signals.

But interfering with those customs which contain reference to pleasure is even more dangerous. The man of the common people has so little pleasure in his life. It is as crazy as it is criminal to attempt to remove the little he has got. Robbing the poor man of his beer is a desparate adventure.

If prohibition were enforced in any State, revolution would instantly follow. Trouble does not arise in dry States under the present system, because in addition to pleasure of drinking you have the pleasure of thinking that you are putting one over on the law. It is humiliating to reduce men to school boys. I shouldn't care to do it myself; but I dare say it is good fun for those who like it.

To attempt any such change in war time is entirely suicidal. I am perfectly convinced that the prohibition of vodka was the determining cause of the Russian revolution. If any Russian peasent does not understand politcal economy; he knows scarcely more than the average professor of that subject in a university. But the story was put about that the Germans had mutilated his ikons; and that put him into a baresark rage, although it did him no manner of harm.

The whole history of popular warfare is that of the attack and defense of sacred symbols, or superstitions, or customs, that could not be rationally defended for a moment. I do not know whether I like beer or not; for as it happens I have never tasted it. But I value my option. If any one comes into my office, and forbids me to drink beer, one of us has got to die. Any person not similarly irrational and violent has no just title of the name of man.

The Power Cone Orgasm Ritual is, by its very nature, an imitation of a certain act of nature. It seeks to harness the forces of a life process and achieve a manifestation on the psychic and/or physical planes of existence. Because the ritual uses an act that all practitioners are probably very familiar with, its performance should be very easy to the most unexperienced of magicians --- while, at the same time, being utterly captivating and inspiring for even the most experienced and adept amongst us.

Stated simply, the foundation of this ritual relies heavily on the process of sex, conception, and birth. It uses the sex-force in a round-about way to energize the imagination to the level where enough power can be given to a sigil, picture, or phrase in order to obtain a manifestation, or a "magickal child", within the mind-space-time continuum. Granted, the ritual itself focuses mainly on the sex and orgasm aspect of the process, but this is typical to the nature of the act with which we work --- for once accomplishment is had through orgasm (the climax of the ritual) and conception (the empowering of the ritual's outcome/symbol on the astral plane), the rest of the ritual follows naturally, as does impregnation, pregnancy, and birth on the physical plane --- of course, provided that there are no complications to cause a "miscarraige".

Basically, this ritual is set up from the male's point of view. I realize that some women may not be able to "get into it" because none of their experiences mesh exactly with what imagery is utilyzed, but I have yet to receive a complaint or comment on the matter. So far, so good. But if there are comments or concerns, please feel free to let me know. In fact, I would be much interested in exploring an equivelent ritual written from the female perspective.

To enact the Arte of the Power Cone Orgasm Ritual, several things are needed before beginning the operation, these are: a fire producing tool (lighter, campfire, strike anywhere match, etc.); a 4"x4" piece of paper in the elemental or Qabbalistic color of your working; a small paper-clip or wire to keep your fingers from being burnt (or not, depending on whether one knows the Arte of the Transublimation of Pain); a quiet place to work, preferably out of doors so that any smoke from the burning paper can more easily enter the mundane atmosphere; and a number, 10 or below (perhaps Sepherotic), that can be used to express your clearly defined objective.

On the colored piece of paper inscribe a sigil (via A.O. Spare, TOPY, Rose Cross Lamen, etc.), picture, or phrase that enshrines the ultimate success of the ritual. Keep in mind that your design should be kept as simple as possible as it will have to be internally concentrated upon --- without recourse to looking at the paper --- during the ritual's progress and climax. Also, it is beneficial to devise an easy to remember mantra or chant to accompany your performance. This can be something as simple (!) as AUMGNs or as strange sounding and illuminating as a sing-song made up of only the vowel (or consonent) sounds of your phrase.

Before the Power Cone Orgasm Ritual's actual performance, cleanse your area of working with your best known and most powerful banishing ritual. Then, if it is desired, and you are confident of your invocatory powers, it is wholly worthwhile to invoke the element, planet, or zodiacal sign of your working. Also, it is proper in this ritual to invoke a Goddess if she is properly aligned with your purpose --- this symbolism fitting in nicely with the whole affair. (Of invoking Gods, at this point, I will not speak: keeping my speculation regarding "children of bowels" at a minimum.) When your circle is cleansed and energized to the point where you feel very good with it, gather your tools of working and proceed to the center of the circle and perform the PCOR proper.

I.) Assume the attitude of the Limp Lingam, aka, the Frog: knees bent all the way and spread as far apart as possible --- balancing on the balls of the feet --- back straight, chin touching chest, and hands (holding paper and fire tool) resting comfortably and warmly at the groin.

II.) Slow your breathing and begin to concentrate on your objective, naturally circling your mind amongst yourself as phallus, the sigil of your intent, and possible realistic outcomes of the operation. Endeavor to use your sex-force to energize your imagination, working its stimulation in with the rotation of the other elements in your mind. Also, begin to imagine a brilliant white cone or pyramid surrounding you: its tip just above your head.

III.) Once these forces are comfortably circulating in mind, begin a slow rendition of your mantra, centering its power in your sexual center. Once you have established a resonant link between your mantra and sexual center, you should proceed to imagine a brilliant and blinding yellow sphere of light surrounding your hands and pelvic region. This sphere of light should pulsate, pound, and grow brighter with each of your continuing mantras.

IV.) After a time, and you will know when, begin to increase the loudness and pitch of your mantra. Slowly raise your head and begin to stand erect. As you attain your full extension, expand the cone to fit your new form. Keep your hands at groin level, maintaing and strengthening the mantra, imagination, and sex-force link.

V.) When you are confident that all of the previous elements of imagination are stable in your mind, proceed to imagine a Heavenly Yoni, in direct proportion to your bodily phalle, above you. This is as far as the visualization needs to go. But, if you have strong visualization skills you may, to great benefit, complete the scene by running your "greater body" outwards horizontally (with head in the elemental direction of your working) and see the body of the Heavenly Yoni or that of your invoked Goddess poised above. Remember that, in this scene, you are the erect phallus on the horizontally outstretched greater body and that your aspiration is absolutely vertical.

VI.) After all of this is achieved, and with voice chanting strongly, imagine the union between yourself as phallus and the Heavenly Yoni. Endeavor to experience the union as real: feel the union all over your body, ever stretch upwards into her, become mad with the will to ejaculate your "idea" into her. At this time, the elements in the imagination should be somewhat regimented into a sexual rhythm that corresponds with the "outer" visualization of yourself as phallus. This segment should be the longest of the whole ritual and should be maintained until at least three waves of the "urge to stop because of fatigue" have passed.

VII.) When orgasm is imminent, speed up the rhythm of your mantra and your imagination becoming intoxicated with breath and vision. Subtely prepare the fire-tool for use. When it is time, take a a final deep breath, hold it, and halt all imagination and visualization except for the symbol of your intent. Hold your breath until you begin to scrape the surface of your "drowning complex". Know that you are not going to drown and keep your breath held until you are close to fainting. When your conciousness begins to black-out, and you start gulping for air within yourself, light the paper and bring it up your torso to high above your head --- expelling your breath in your most forceful mantra, keeping the sphere of gold light around your hands. Let all the elements of the ritual crash back into your imagination as you forcefully repeat your mantra the number of times as chosen as symbolic before the ritual --- tensing and relaxing your Psoma (body-mind) in orgasmic outpouring rapture synchronized with your mantra, imagining your will's symbol rushing upwards and outwards from you into the Aethyr/Heavenly Yoni/Goddess.

VIII.) Hold your pose until your breathing and mind are calm. Then slowly, and gracefully, lower yourself to the floor (with your head in the direction of your greater body's head) and channel all excess energy into the ground. When all remnant energy has been removed from your person, rise with the signs of LVX, saying with utter meaning: "I have died so that my will may live; yea, so that my will may live." Assume the god-form of Harpacrates and maintain it until your circle is clear, stable, and you feel ready to close.

IX.) Banish.

In closing, it must be noted that this ritual is by no means absolutely fixed. It lends itself well to many different kinds of workings. While it is here presented as a solo operation, it can be easily modified into a very effective group ritual. If one does not already possess confidence in either visualization techniques or the utilization of the sex-force in a ritual context, practice with both of these must be had if PCOR is to be effective. A good source for basic magickal and visualization practices can be found in Aleister Crowley's Liber O, Israel Regardie's The Golden Dawn, and Donald Micheal Kraig's Modern Magick. General familiarity with the magickal aspects of one's own sex-force can be obtained by an open and inquisitive study of personal sexual reality and fantasy --- paying particular attention to changes in conciousness and concentration during fantasizing and the act itself. It will be found that once the elements of the imagination and sex-force are fused into a coherent working ritual whole, one's powers to effect change in the world will subtely increase --- both within the magickal circle and without.... and it shall be personally known that the Serpent hath once again given of Himself Knowledge and Power and Liberty in the name of Light and Peace and Wisdom; yea, in the name of Light and Peace and Wisdom.

Besides this electronic version of the Hawk Headed Herald, paper copies are also printed upon fine paper far from being made by hand --- but even so, they are quite fit for binding in your archives! Yearly subscription is $8.00. Please contact the camp via S or Email to arrange payment. HHMLE also publishes (we hope!) a bi-yearly journal named EXO. Volume One came out this past summer solstice (An IViii). EXO is $6.00 per year or $3.00 a piece. Our Smail address is:

Hawk Headed Mystical Lord Encampment
P.O. Box 147
Flagstaff, AZ
86002-0147

June 17-18 Summer Solstice Celebratory Campout

July 8 777 Workshop (mythology of the Middle Pillar)
July 18 EGC Baptisms & Confirmations

August 12 A feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride! (potluck!)
August 19 777 Workshop (current events)

September 2 Camp Meeting to discuss upcoming quarter
September 21-23 Autumnal Equinox Celebratory Campout