How Do I Begin My Studies?
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I'm brand new to hermetic study and am looking for some guidance. Can anyone direct me toward some publications or point me in the right direction? I've read through Liber AL and done some basic research on Crowley and such, but I'm not sure where to go from here.
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Regardie's book The Tree of Life is a great place to start...from there it would be a minimal step to move into Crowley's Liber ABA, aka Book 4.
616
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Thanks, I checked them out and will be purchasing copies shortly. I also began researching the A.'.A.'., which appears to be the only legitimate school for Thelemic study. They have a student curriculum online, but most of the books on the list are out of print. Is it to my benefit to become a member and follow their curriculum? They seem to have a good process, but I have no way to be sure of that.
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@DanteRoc said
"I also began researching the A.'.A.'., which appears to be the only legitimate school for Thelemic study."
Don't forget T.O.T. & C.O.T.!
"They have a student curriculum online, but most of the books on the list are out of print."
The only ones that I can think of that are oop are the Equinox Vol. 1-10 & Konx Om Pax. Concerning the former, Gems From the Equinox is a suitable substitution. In regards to the latter, you should have minimal trouble locating it at Amazon or Ebay. The others that are difficult to locate are Siva Sanhita & The Writings of Kwang Tze - but if you search for them as Shiva Samhita & Chuang Tzu you will undoubtedly find them(I ran into the same problem)...& Levi's Dogme et Rituel de La Haute Magie can be found under the title Transcendental Magic.
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@DanteRoc said
"I'm brand new to hermetic study and am looking for some guidance."
You're in the Bay Area, right? You might want to check out the San Francisco area Temple of Thelema group. (By the way, they are hosting a public ritual, the Rite of the Child, in SF on July 19 during the afternoon.)
If you broadly mean "Hermetic" as you said, and aren't specifically intending Thelemic, I enthusiastically recommend the correspondence courses by Builders of the Adytum.
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Oh so there's a handful of Thelemic organizations. Is there any difference between A.A., T.O.T. and C.O.T.?
Thanks for the guidance on literature. I guess I wasn't looking in the right places. I'll start with Tree of Life and The Law is For All, then I'll start going through the A.A. reading list.
And yes, I live in the East Bay. I found the address for the SF group online (2538 Third Street, right?). I'd love to check it out if it's open to the public. Does the group have a website where I can get details about the Rite of the Child? -
AA is a student/teacher relationship following a certain graded structure. Temple of Thelema is based off of group ritual work. College of Thelema is well, a college, and you writer papers and attend lectures and do college type work. <- The three in a nutshell. The goal, I think, is pretty much the same (working the Great Work) but just different avenues.
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93,
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Read the commentaries on Liber AL including The Law is For All, Liber Aleph, and the Djeridensis Working (found online easily).
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Read sacred texts of other traditions, especially the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Teh Ching, the Heart Sutras, the Upanishads, the Dhammapada, etc.
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Examine what you want... what is driving you? What exactly are you looking for?
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Do basic practices like concentration meditation (dharana) and awareness/mindfulness meditation.
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Rise up & rejoice. Life is something to be experienced & enjoyed.
IAO131
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@Dj_PhOeniXXX said
"So when is the (Q)abbalah to be read?
i'm still unsure to the difference."Qabalah is a practice or a method, not a text - though there are several Qabalistic texts...Torah, Sepher Yetzirah, Bahir, Zohar...
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@DanteRoc said
"I'm brand new to hermetic study and am looking for some guidance. Can anyone direct me toward some publications or point me in the right direction? I've read through Liber AL and done some basic research on Crowley and such, but I'm not sure where to go from here."
Others have given good advice here, I'd just say that if you aren't able to get to work with other Thelemites easily, check around where you live to see if there are any Buddhist, Daoist or Yoga meditation classes, or even eclectic meditation classes based on Western psychology. The early stages of meditation are pretty similar across most traditions, so a teacher from pretty much any reputable, respectable tradition will do.
So whatever you can find, but check them out - you don't want a hint of anything dodgy, no flashy personalities, etc. Just straightforward teaching of seated meditation or mantra (even TM, the MacDonalds of meditation, is a solid mantra practice), preferably seated meditation.
Any system that starts off with counting breaths is probably ok, as that's definitely a practice that cuts across most traditional Asian systems.
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@Dj_PhOeniXXX said
"Thank you. i'm stucck in Pa and wouldn't be able to travel to a COT"
There are many different occult, even thelemic, groups in the Northeast, including PA but obviously NYC is a big center. Of course, some of the groups you'd find are probably better off not found...
Why not read one book after another and gradually see where the study takes you? Start with your favorite book and check its bibliography... that's always a good way to further investigate.Why are you stuck in PA? Do you choose to remain there? If not, what is keeping you?