Thelema Demystified perhaps?
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@Redd Fezz said
"but variety is the spice of life, is it not?"
Ignoring the ascetic point on which you directly queried - the above quote fragment is probably the thing that misleads more generally stable and serious occultists than anything else.
That is, I've seen far, far greater success of occult work (in spiritual work of all kinds) from prolonger, persistent, regularity on a very few things than with trying all sorts of things willy-nilly. And yet so many students behave as if "finding 11 more cool things to know and do and think about" is the key. "This didn't work right away, so I'll try this other thing instead."
It is entirely natural and reasonable, though, that most students would take this approach because, of the three primary stages of the Lesser Mysteries, exploring the widest diversity of things is a fundamental characteristic of the first stage - the Seeker - and that's where the vast maority of occult students are. Very few have gotten to the Server stage yet.
Just an aside, I suppose... but one that got triggered by your remark. FWIW.
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That's a thing I take into consideration quite a bit, Jim. That's why I don't tend to commit to something until I've researched it a bit. It took me years before I signed up to a group or started doing the LBRP, MPR regularly.
What I'm finding in the Seeker stage is that all the pieces fit together more and more. Having been prompted by BOTA to build an altar made me reinvestigate what Deity means to me, which meant revisiting all the important ideas that have stuck in my mind. Returning to Buddhism, particularly one amazing book I never bothered to read just before I basically gave up on it, I see there is much (if not most) that coincides with what I've learned from everywhere else. I opened right up to what interested me most: "practicing renunciation" and see that the focus is about ridding yourself of materialism and building faith. Some brilliant stuff in there which ties right into the Tarot Keys and the Hindu stuff the Golden Dawn used.
I understand your point, but this stuff really is a melting pot, as illustrated pretty clearly in the G.'.D.'. and A.'.A.'. texts (Hebrew + Hindu + Egyptian + Taoism/Buddhism + Greek...). For myself, it is mostly about clarifying certain ideas (the verification process, which is exactly where I am in BOTA), not just learning to do "11 more cool new things" if the last stuff didn't work.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I concur Jim, because I myself am guilty of "finding 11 more cool things know and do and think about" at my present stage in development. But how does one get passed that stage with so many paths to choose from? Me myself, I have a thing for ancient Egypt, so I am drawn towards Kemetic customs and mysticism. However, I am also drawn towards Thelema, and it's customs. And though I am confused as all shit (excuse my language), I am finding myself becoming more and more intrigued and engulfed in Thelema. So where does one draw the line?
Love is the Law. Love under Will.
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@Ra-Imhotep said
"Me myself, I have a thing for ancient Egypt, so I am drawn towards Kemetic customs and mysticism. However, I am also drawn towards Thelema, and it's customs. And though I am confused as all {fecal expression} (excuse my language), I am finding myself becoming more and more intrigued and engulfed in Thelema. So where does one draw the line?"
It gets even more confusing if you take up Liber Resh, as I did, based on a certain Thelemite's advice, to later find a post of his mentioning that he's not so thrilled with the pseudo-Egyptian terms Crowley employed, like "Hadit," for instance, which make up a crucial element of Liber Resh and basic understanding of Crowley's "cosmology."
I feel like the best way to understand Crowley is to familiarize yourself with the subjects he was familiar with and then read his opinions on these subjects afterwards.EDIT: Haha, this post makes #300 for me which has elevated my status to "Ultimate Spark of The Intimate Fire"... no way in heck am I on the same level as Jim!
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@Ra-Imhotep said
"I concur Jim, because I myself am guilty of "finding 11 more cool things know and do and think about" at my present stage in development. But how does one get passed that stage with so many paths to choose from?"
It's a matter of ripeness - of readiness - as distinctive and objective a developmental stage as, say, puberty. However (on the flip side), a common mistake is someone expecting fireworks and trumpets to signal readiness, and that's not necessarily the way it works for most people.
When you feel you are ready for sytemmatic training to your goal, pick something, commit, and stick with its program (whatever it is). You're the only one who can decide when you're ready for such a move.
Also, every credible system of which I know has a sort of "buffer zone," or preliminary stage (something numbered Zero, for example <g>) during which you are "deciding yourself in or out."
"So where does one draw the line?"
You gotta decide that, man.
Remember, though: The first word of our law is Do.
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93 Redd,
I do agree with you about the psuedo-Egyptian names...I've never heard of Hadit until I began to study Thelema. You know, I have a book by a man named Re-Un Nefer Amen, who created a system of mediation and attainment using the tree of life. He attributed various Egyptian deities to the sephiroth, which match up perfectly with the G.'.D.'. attributions. Ptah, the creator God, was attributed to Kether. Now I have a question. Where does Hadit fall on the tree of life? Cold there be a connection between Ptah and Hadit? In my mind, I always attributed Hadit to Kether and Nuit to the three negative veils.
93
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@Ra-Imhotep said
"93 Redd,
I do agree with you about the psuedo-Egyptian names...I've never heard of Hadit until I began to study Thelema. You know, I have a book by a man named Re-Un Nefer Amen, who created a system of mediation and attainment using the tree of life. He attributed various Egyptian deities to the sephiroth, which match up perfectly with the G.'.D.'. attributions. Ptah, the creator God, was attributed to Kether. Now I have a question. Where does Hadit fall on the tree of life? Cold there be a connection between Ptah and Hadit? In my mind, I always attributed Hadit to Kether and Nuit to the three negative veils.
93
93/93"I have that book. I accidentally stirred up a bit of controversy on the PFC list by discussing the criss-crossing of the top pillars. You're talking about Tree of Life Meditation System, right? I am beginning to think that all of these ideas are "ways in" but they are not all exactly the same or completely equal (I don't mean to suggest that), but there is probably something that clicks for anyone in his particular stage of development that can really boost his progress if he really puts his heart into it. The T.O.L.M.S. doesn't seem so different from certain Tibetan meditation practices. And neither seems at odds with Qabalah. I really liked Ra Un Nefer Amen's placement of the deities on the Tree of Life, but that's not where Crowley put them. And other people put them different places as well. But, if you analyze Ra Un Nefer Amen's placement, it seems kind of hard to argue against his proposition that the Earth God belongs on Malkuth, etc. Ra Un Nefer Amen's system seems more of a straight transfer to the Tree, which makes perfect sense to me, unlike other versions I've seen.
To answer your question about Hadit, I really have no idea. I discussed it before on these forums, but I think the suggestions I got were too vague for me to grasp. Seems like Nuit would be the ultimate outer limits (negative veils, sure) and Hadit would come through Kether, through Malkuth and centered in Tiphareth, as well as everywhere else. Nuit and Hadit are everywhere in different ways, I guess; Nuit being the container and Hadit being the point of interaction within that container. (I think).
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@Ra-Imhotep said
"I do agree with you about the psuedo-Egyptian names...I've never heard of Hadit until I began to study Thelema."
Thelemic deity names shouldn't be confused at all with Egyptian deities of similar names, no matter how much superficial similarity. I'm not sure there was ever intended to be any identity or actual "Egyptian-ness" about them.
"Now I have a question. Where does Hadit fall on the tree of life? Cold there be a connection between Ptah and Hadit? In my mind, I always attributed Hadit to Kether and Nuit to the three negative veils."
See this thread: heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?t=435 - my 23 June post.
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That's exactly the book that I am talking about. The attributions make clear sense to me as well. Have you worked with that system? I haven't just yet. He seemed very adamant that if one were to use that system and stop for whatever reason, the consequences would be disaterous. I thought that book made a lot of sense though.
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Nope, I didn't use the system. As I said upthread, I tend to do a lot of research before I jump into anything. His system did make a lot of sense, but he did seem to indicate some danger and he did outline a fairly rigourous routine that needed to be kept up without slack due to the cyclic nature of it or something (I can't remember if it had something to do with the moon or what now). Anyway, I studied it for a good 6 months trying to embed it in my brain to prepare myself, but during that time, other research pointed me in the direction of BOTA, which is what I eventually ended up doing. The other thing is, you need to get those mantra tapes to make sure you're pronouncing everything right. Basically, there just weren't enough people I knew who were using that system and so I felt a little uncomfortable jumping in headfirst. I didn't have enough faith in it, even though it made a lot of sense to me. AFTERTHOUGHT: I probably would now, though, if I had the time.
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Thanks for the link Jim. That helped clarify a ton of stuff.