From: Christeos Pir Area: Thelema To: All 10 Jan 95 16:14:12 Subject: Women of the G.'.D.'. UpdReq Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. From the latest catalog from Inner Traditions/Destiny Books (P.O. Box 388, Rochester VT 05767 1-800-340-2432): *********************************************************************** WOMEN OF THE GOLDEN DAWN Rebels and Preistesses Maud Gonne, Moina Bergson Mathers, Annie Horniman, Florence Farr by Mary K. Greer ISBN 0-89281-516-7 $29.95 illus. hardcover These four remarkable women, core members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, left a lasting imprint on the politics, literature, and theater of 19th-century Europe. Less well-known that the famous men in their lives, including Yeats and Shaw, their stories are now told in fascinating detail. "...reads like an elegant novel; I couldn't put it down ... discover what feminist women were all about a hundred years ago." -Vicki Noble, author of _Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess_ ************************************************************************ Love is the law, love under will. - V - ... So they will reproach thy servant, saying: 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Phillip Barker Area: Thelema To: Christeos Pir 11 Jan 95 04:02:00 Subject: Thelema 101? UpdReq Hello, Christeos! CP> Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. CP> PB> I'm wondering if you'd happen to know of an introductory book on CP> PB> Thelema. I've done some reading in A.C.'s Magick in theory & practice CP> PB> but felt I was still missing the boat. Thanks! Blessed BE!...Phil CP> LOL! No wonder... you started with the College Text! CP> Seriously, I have always found that book so dense that I still, after CP> 20 years, can only take it in little bites. Along with the Duquette CP> that Paul recommended, I would add _The Law Is For All_ (Regardie, ed.) CP> and Crowley's _Magick Without Tears_. I was beginning to wonder if it was me or the book that was having problems. It's good to hear I'm not the only one who's had trouble understanding _Magick in Theory and Practice_! CP> You might also want to drop these folks a line, if you feel like it: I will be saving the address for future reference but don't feel I have time enough right now to properly follow up on your leads; there is a possibility that my job is in jeopardy due to automation being added that will dramatically change my job-situation. Once I know more about whats about to happen, then I'll go for it. :) Thanks *very* much for your reply!...Blessed BE! Phil SLMR 2.1 Normal is just a setting on a washing machine. 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Tim Maroney Area: Thelema To: Kevin Bold 12 Jan 95 10:46:22 Subject: Re: MEMBERSHIP IN OTO UpdReq Hi, Kevin! By "Da 'Burgh", do you mean Pittsburgh PA? If so, I haven't lived there in about ten years, but when I did there were no occult politics to speak of; virtually no presence at all, in fact, other than the Sign of Aquarius bookstore up in Shadyside. What happened? Anyway, could you go into more detail about these "troublemakers"? I was glad to see that you realize such cases are very rare and that it's reasonable to be skeptical about such claims. I wonder if you understand that I have a certain concern about the common usage of the term "troublemaker" in the Order in general, and more specifically in a body whose very name seems to suggest an admiration for "troublemakers" -- "Whiskey Rebellion Camp." If Crowley hadn't been a troublemaker, we wouldn't have a tradition now. If Christianity says "blessed are the peacemakers," perhaps we should say "blessed are the troublemakers" -- for they are the ones willing to take the risks and push forward beyond the edge of consensus. Tim Maroney 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Tim Maroney Area: Thelema To: All 12 Jan 95 10:50:44 Subject: Three Ways to Study Thelema UpdReq (This is a repost of a message that seemed to get lost in the recent spate of AFU. At least I have not seen any responses.) > The O.T.O. is not an Aleister Crowley admiration society, and many who > join thinking that it is will leave disappointed. Too bad! It seems much more rational to me to view Thelema as the legacy of a particular artist and to study it as a body of work, rather than to ascribe to it all sorts of supernatural and transcendent attributes which it may or may not possess. I believe in Crowley -- that is, there was such a person and he wrote a number of authenticated works -- but the jury is still out (way, way out) on the reality of Aiwass, the succession of the aeons, the psychological accuracy of the Tree of Life, the meaningfulness of numerology, the accuracy of astrology, the truth of past-life memories, the ethical ascendancy of "do what thou wilt", and all the other fun little notions that 95% of O.T.O. members seem to take as unquestioned assumptions! Consider Dickens. There would be three primary ways to form a society which seeks to study and work on Dickensian lines. The first would be a society which considered him definitely The Best Writer That Ever Was Or Will Be, In Whose Prose Not A Single Letter Could Be Improved. This is the bugaboo of Dickensianity, which fortunately does not exist. In our realm this is manifest as the spectre of Crowleyanity, which does exist but is a fairly minor force. The second way would be to assume that Dickens was a fallible human who was the instrument of great and infallible supernatural powers who used him to create the system of the current aeon of fiction, which is known as (let us say) Boz. Members of this second group would insist -- correctly -- that they were not Dickensians but Bozites. They recognize that any particular work by Dickens was distorted by his personality, though within it, they firmly believe, is evident the hand of the angel of Boz, which everyone should be fervently seeking to develop within themselves. This is manifest in our realm as Thelema, or as I have taken to calling it, Thelemism. In the world of Dickens, the second approach is no more evident than the first. Yet there are such things as "Dickens societies" and so forth. They exemplify the third approach, which seems to be completely absent in the realm of Crowley. They recognize that Dickens was a fallible human and that his work is fallible. They do =not= assume that behind it there is some great supernatural force at work which used Dickens to create the system I have called Boz. However, they find Dickens' work very pleasant and worthy of study for all its flaws, and dedicate a significant part of their time to working it in various ways. To me this seems the most balanced and sensible perspective on the body of work of an artist, and if there were any such society dedicated to the study of Crowley, I would greatly prefer to belong to it rather than to the groups founded around Thelemism. Crowleyanity is the worship of a man; Thelemism is the worship of a system; the third approach is rational and balanced study of the work of the man. Tim Maroney 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Josh Norton Area: Thelema To: Fir 14 Jan 95 00:00:00 Subject: Achad UpdReq Thus said Fir to Josh Norton concerning ACHAD: Fi> Hey Norton! Howdy! Fi> Had lunch today with someone I've know for almost 3 years but Fi> just found out today he's been working on a biography of Fi> Frater Achad for the last 20 years. Small world ain't it? I'd be very interested to see what he's come up with, if it's possible. Fi> He's got a few holes in his timeline. Perhaps you could fill Fi> in some of them? All I know is what I read in public sources, so it's not too likely I've seen anything your friend hasn't. My "magickal memory" of him is more concerned with his screwed-up magickal karma than with his mundane life. Fi> What he did when he was in Chicago? He was an accountant. That was his usual mundane job, I understand. Fi> What he did from the time he was born until the time he hooked Fi> up with Crowley? Dunno. He's sort of like Jesus that way. Fi> The time period between 1926 to 1935? Beats me. I know he was teaching magick during that period, completely outside Crowley's venue, but don't know the circumstances. Fi> The date of his death? 1949 sometime, I think. I used to have a copy of his declaration of the "Aeon of Maat" on which someone wrote it down, but I can't locate it now. I seem to recall seeing it in one of Grant's books; can't recall whether he gave the exact date or just the year. The guy did have children; I'm suprised no enterprising person has tried to locate them and see if they know or have anything useful. Wouldn't know where to start on that sort of thing, myself. Maybe with B.C. property records? ... IRNI: I Recognize Norton's Imperium ___ X Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 X 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718