A Modern Monestary?
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Is there any such place as a modern Abbey of Thelema with monks residing? Or are there any plans to create such a thing? I think it would be really wonderful to have such a place where Thelemites could dwell and perhaps live by certain precepts.
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I have often dreamed of creating one.
It started out as a secluded place in the woods.
More recently I have envisioned it in the heart of a city.
A sort of monastry/performance/gallery type of place.
Where there are main residents, places for invited guests and brothers or sisters simply passing through.
A place for both the Arts and Science. -
In my version, beer is made to keep it paid for. But that's entirely old school. All you'd really need is one good successful shop of some kind.
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@Frater Tenc said
"Is there any such place as a modern Abbey of Thelema with monks residing? Or are there any plans to create such a thing? I think it would be really wonderful to have such a place where Thelemites could dwell and perhaps live by certain precepts."
I totally agree. I had post a similar question recently but deleted it as the time was not right and by sheer egoistic motive i did not let it potentially distract me from more urgent matters
I'd see firstly a place dedicated to full time worship of Nuit and meditation... A place where one could go meditate even a year or two, with optimal conditions. Though other ideas could be good as well. Many things can be invented.
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@kasper81 said
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What would you do for food? Would there be electricity bills to pay? How would it differ from living with anyone else, apart from the smell of pungent incense in the back room now and again that is?
"Ideas:
.who can afford may pay
.who cant may be provided by who can
.there could be rules such as a minimum of 8 hours of meditation/worship daily and some level test(for instance open only to zelator and above) to be accepted. -
Wow. That's a lot of prayer and worship.
Money. It needs money, and that's all there is to it. And unless the whole thing will be bankrolled perpetually by some filthy rich altruist, then there would have to be work to pay the bills. Monasteries have done that kind of thing a long time - making beer and wine come to mind.
But still, that requires money and land upfront. You know, start-up costs.
I think if anyone really wanted to do it these days, they'd have to create a business model first - even just to make it seem worthwhile to a Thelema-friendly benefactor. Otherwise, the whole idea is just begging to devolve into a diseased flop house.
I figure if you want to attract a benefactor, you'd need a concrete plan, including a business model as well as a "rule of life" for the abbey that is at least strict enough to keep it from turning into just another diseased flop house.
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You could probably also work along the lines of a lawn/landscaping service.. I've also seen coffee shops take in a nice chunk of change when appropriately located and cool...
But once you start talking about work and structure... Well, put it this way, you'd have to have people seriously committed the Work, to living communally, and to restricting themselves to the degree necessary to actually keep the community stable and functional. No one wants to work or pay for someone else's extended escape from reality.
If it was going to work and last, it would have to be done right.
Of course, there's always the "frat house" model, which I've seen a bunch of Christian guys do in Austin. They just called it "living in community." You know, big house, people pay rent for their room. But there are organized daily events and disciplines given in which to participate. Of course, outside work means outside work schedules that can limit participation. They seemed to dig it though.
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If anyone's serious about this, very large houses are dirt cheap (and I mean dirt cheap) in Detroit right now in an attempt to attract artists and small businesses. The Abbey of Thelema was in Cefalu because it was off the beaten path and dirt cheap. Agape Lodge initially began in a large house in Hollywood that was acquired before the movies sent real estate through the roof. In today's world, Detroit is where it's at.
If anyone can find the origin of the Blue Equinox there, s/he might even be able to find a building with some history to the place.
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Air, Water, Fire, Earth.
Cause we're serving our beer at each station, right? Gotta go from light to dark.
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@Aion said
"A modern day Stonehenge, but an elemental and zodiacal labyrinth with statues or longer-lasting deep reliefs."
I had a blast of inspiration reading what you said
But instead of four, I'd make the basis five-pointed (with an outer circle encompassing the whole structure).
In each segment, the labyrinth is in the ToL form, entrance to the segment/Element from point/place 10, exit (entrance to the Central Circular Chamber) through point 1, connections to neighbor segments through paths leading from "Chet" and "Vau" on respective sides. -
In every sephitoric-place inside every segment there should be a plant growing (corespondent to that Sephira).
And in the Central Circular Chamber a Tiphereth-symbol, single and simple (a unicursal hexagram at the center, for example). -
I see that these days may come, but the Thelemic Monestaries will more resemble the great halls and cosmic temples of Atlantis rather than monks toiling on the side of a mountain.