==> Commentaries, midrash, and annoying quibbles from Josh Gordon ==> are marked by this arrow. Twilight Crossing Twilight Crossing is a magical assembly dedicated to assisting its members in the pursuit of their artistic and spiritual satisfaction. ==> Lovely goal! "Satisfaction" is both unambiguous and personal. 0. Legends... E. this difficulty, and once the belief in imaginary enemies -- Satan, the International Communist Conspiracy, whatever -- is established, it is ==> Minor quibble. "whatever" is a waste-word, a handwaver, and doesn't ==> work very well here. (Doesn't sound very literary.) F. ==> Simply wonderful. Not even a quibble. 1. Membership A. The only requirement for membership in Twilight Crossing is a shared interest in the Hekatian or Satanic current expressed in poetry, theatre, music, magic, and other arts. ==> This is a bit ambiguous; I can't tell if you mean that the interest ==> is expressed in poetry etc, or if the interest is in the "current" ==> as expressed in poetry etc. Is it deliberately ambiguous? E. Twilight Crossing officially supports the rights of all human beings as put forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All forms of discrimination on grounds of race, gender, national origin, social class, sexual preference, religion, creed, and so forth are expressly forbidden at the Crossing. The only exception is that assemblies formed exclusively of members of oppressed groups, such as women or African-Americans, are permitted. ==> I don't think I'd make such an exception. There is plenty of room ==> in the world for special assemblies to benefit oppressed classes; ==> once you open the door for whichever politically correct group ==> needs special attention, then the information and other magick ==> created in closed groups becomes compartmentalized and not freely ==> available to people outside the special groups. Essentially, you ==> are saying: Black only groups cool; white only groups uncool (until ==> whites are oppressed groups); women only cool, men only bad bad bad. ==> This generates a feeling of guilt among people whose only fault is ==> to have been born in a class/race/whatever that has been historically ==> dominant. Further, who is going to "permit" an exclusive group to ==> be formed? Are American Jews oppressed enough to qualify, for example? ==> Making such an exception puts a permanent can of worms in the structure, ==> and I don't see the benefit. Perhaps a longer explanation of why the ==> exception is necessary would be called for: how is it needed in the ==> current context? G. Rituals of initiation, meditation, invocation, celebration, and so forth are sponsored by assemblies of the Crossing and by the Crossing as a whole for the artistic and spiritual benefit of the members. In all such rituals, the widest possible latitude of beliefs is to be embraced, so that no one should feel excluded because of the integrity of their intellectual conscience. Rituals and other works sponsored by the Crossing as a whole are to avoid all definite statements of belief or disbelief in such matters as the primacy of a certain artistic movement or the reality of spiritual beings and psychic powers. It is accepted that particular assemblies may be composed only of those who share an opinion on certain matters. ==> This conflicts with E. above. If assemblies can be formed composed ==> only of people who share an opinion on certain matters, then the ==> assemblies are discriminating against those who do not share the ==> opinions; and almost by definition, this is religious discrimination. 2. Hierarchy B. ==> This should have the net effect of reducing restrictive rules to ==> a bare minimum. Lovely. D. Should it become necessary to impose some governing council on the Crossing due to the size of its membership, all its offices shall be selected by the full membership, and those who hold such positions shall not be considered superior to other members in any essential way... ==> You might want to consider making clear the distinction between ==> offices of service and offices of leadership. The problem is that ==> it is quite difficult to get people to accept responsibility without ==> authority. Overcoming this difficulty is an important role of the ==> organization; it should be clear, for example, that just because ==> Joe X has accepted the role of Twilight Crossing General Secretary, ==> this means the person has volunteered to serve TC, as opposed to ==> being a leader in TC. F. Excessive dogmatism or exclusivism, or radical disregard for the rights of others, are the only grounds for refusal or removal of an individual. ==> Who is going to define "excess dogmatism"? Perhaps this document ==> needs a clear definition. Just being dogmatic isn't all that bad; ==> it is the expression of the dogmatism that is really the key. One ==> can be dogmatic about some things that have little to do with the ==> TC at all; should unrelated dogmatism be an issue at all? Example: ==> Joe X is very open-minded on all religious/magickal/whatever issues; ==> however, he is Dr. Joe X, and is has the AMA religion of debunking ==> chiropractic. As loathsome as this may be, as dogmatic as it may ==> be, it is not relevant to TC; but by the rule here, he'd be rejected. ==> If you intend this, fine; but it needs to be clarified. ==> Further, you need to specify a structure wherein someone rejected ==> can appeal the rejection. Or can someone just keep trying till he ==> lucks out and gets voted in in a small meeting where his enemies are ==> absent? 3. Assemblies ==> Mostly ok, with the above considerations. 4. Initiations C. It is acceptable that one initiation should have some other as a prerequisite so long as there remain multiple threads of initiation -- that is, so long as the initiatory paths of different assemblies are open to all. ==> I don't quite understand this. Are you saying, for example, that ==> the Zen Qabalist Assembly can have an initiatory path, but that ==> someone from the Anarchist Bastard initiatory path should be able ==> to use his fourteenth AB initiation as a prerequisite for the ==> fifteenth ZQ initiation? D. It is acceptable that those undergoing initiation rituals should be sworn to secrecy concerning the contents of those rituals, but only so that the rituals do not lose their efficacy through predictability. ==> Good understanding of why initiations need secrecy. E. Individuals are not to be subjected to unanticipated physical jeapordy, or any deliberate harm of any kind, by any initiation or other ritual at Twilight Crossing. ==> Make clear that this does not rule out dramatic use of tension ==> and fear. For example, it is quite helpful if the person undergoing ==> the initiation can suspend disbelief, and for the purpose of the ==> initiation, "believe" that they are in some jeopardy, even if ==> they know intellectually that they are safe. For example, "Tell me ==> the password of the ZQ 14th Aether or I'll cut off your finger" ==> is going to set up an interesting and possibly useful psychological ==> state; if the candidate knows in his mind that he is guaranteed ==> physical safety, then such ritual actions should be acceptable. ==> Essentially, the moment in the initiation leads to: "OK. I know I'm ==> safe. But if I weren't safe, I'd be scared for my life. I'm looking ==> at fear and pain directly now, without having to really risk it. ==> This is useful." 5. Relations to Other Groups D. The Crossing is critical of many temporal authorities. All governments drawn to date are flawed by authoritarianism and narrow-mindedness. Its right to criticize officialdom is guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nonetheless, it is not seeking the violent overthrow of these governments as a matter of policy. Its official position advocates peaceful revolution through education, just as happened in the states of Eastern Europe shortly before the founding of the Crossing. Medea overthrew the rulers of Corinth through her sorcerous knowledge, not by staging a coup. In the Twilight Crossing's symbolism, sorcery means art and knowledge, not the force of arms. Individual members of the Crossing may support one or more revolutionary movements throughout the world, but they do so as individuals and not as members of the Crossing. No project of Twilight Crossing or any of its assemblies seeks the violent overthrow of any government. ==> Too absolute. Violent overthrow of a government might become the ==> best alternative (for the grossest example, planting a bomb under ==> a Hitler might turn out to be the most humane solution.) What is ==> the intent of the blanket statement "NO project..."? ======================================== ==> Good stuff in general. Its the first definition I've seen of a ==> movement which can be rightly called Satanic. Hope to hear your ==> responses to this soon.