College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Yes, there's an O.T.O. body just outside Detroit. They have meetings open to the public once a month.

@Uni_Verse said

"
I am in a similar situation as you.
I am very thin (borderline healthy) and sometimes it is more important that I eat a good breakfast and hydrate myself than perform 'proper magick ritual'

Normally, I wake up, make some coffee, eat a little, drink some water.
This, I refer to as : "Ensuring the Temple is aright."
I then wait about an hour before doing my daily meditation and rituals.
If I do not "ensure the Temple is aright" most often I end up not eating at all...
"

I do the same. If I don't eat an hour or so beforehand, there's a good chance I'm going to go the entire day without eating anything at all.

@Jim Eshelman said

"It tends to be vibrated more briskly, more like a sentence rather than even syllables, until the Adonai (which then gets the full treatment). I'm not sure I've ever heard A.G.L.A. (by which I mean the whole sentence) ever done letter-by-letter. Two syllables, two syllables, three syllables, then let her rip letter by letter on Adonai.
"

Thank you. Between this and the other thread Avshalom Binyamin pointed me to, I'm good. I really appreciate all the help and information.

Another question I have about "Attah Gibbor le-Olahm Adonai" is when it comes to vibration, is this entire statement broken up like "AH-DOH-NAH-YEE," or just Adonai? Like with the archangels how "before me, behind me, etc." is normal and just the names are specially vibrated.

I have been using the updated Qabalistic Cross, but I've been touching my chest when I intone Aiwass, not the throat.

As far as the exact reason, Aiwass I get, but touching my genitals and intoning Malkuth is still a little beyond me.

But I will admit I haven't spent any time researching or looking into why Malkuth is intoned at the genitals, I just ran with it. I've been spending all my time working on how to properly vibrate everything in the ritual.

My way of looking at is, without any attachment to the ritual, the angels, anything, is it's a tool. I've studied a lot of different banishing rituals and none of them seem to come close to replacing the LBRP. But, like I said, I'm not an expert. I'm also not too concerned about every ritual being a specifically Thelemic one. I'm willing to use any and all tools at my disposal to aid me in the discovery of my True Will and the Work in general. Until I come across a better ritual to replace it I'm going to be using the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. So, while I'm working with it, I'd like to learn as much as I can to make sure I'm performing it correctly.

I'm not arguing that it is an old aeon ritual, I'm arguing that the purpose, and result, is fully in line with Thelema. Mainly rebuilding and strengthening the aura. If that's unthelemic I must be missing something.

I'm not an authority, by any means. I'm pretty new to all this. But it doesn't seem like something has to be new or specifically use Thelemic names to be Thelemic. The purpose of the the ritual is Thelemic, and as far as I can tell it's an important one to get down before moving on to more complex practices. Crowley suggested everybody commit it to memory, which is enough for me.

I should have added this in my last post, but that footnote is from Book 4, the second revised edition. I also checked in Gems but that didn't have any footnotes at all.

@Child of Horus said

" Liber O describes pronunciations as such: YHVH- YAY ho vau
ADNI- A DO NAI
AHIH- AY HI YAY
AGLA- A GLA
I didnt copy that word for word so it may be inexact, but its definitely how i pronounce them...."

Also, I had to pull it off my shelf just to be sure, but Liber O doesn't say any of this. There's just a little footnote that says, "Pronounce: Ye-ho-wau, Adonai, Eheieh, Agla." That's it, which is really no help at all.

@Child of Horus said

"The way i always learned it is attah gibbor le-olahm adonai is made into a notariqon of AGLA.
Liber O describes pronunciations as such: YHVH- YAY ho vau
ADNI- A DO NAI
AHIH- AY HI YAY
AGLA- A GLA
I didnt copy that word for word so it may be inexact, but its definitely how i pronounce them...."

Right, that's how it's written, but that isn't how it's to be used in the ritual. There's plenty about it in different threads all over this forum. But, here:

@Jim Eshelman said

"AGLA is definitely a blind (advertent or inadvertent). Chant: Attah Gibbor le-Olahm Adonai.
"

@Avshalom Binyamin said

"Try this post:

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Thank you. This helps a lot.

I'm coming along pretty well with the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, I've got it all down, but I'm having serious issues when it comes to the correct way to "say" the Divine Names. I understand the method (how to vibrate), but because I don't speak Hebrew (yet) I'm not sure how to break these into syllables, or if it's suppose to be done letter by letter, and what it should sound like.

[If none of this makes sense, I apologize. I'm having a terrible time trying to word this correctly. I'm not having trouble vibrating... I'm having trouble with how I'm suppose to be vibrating the NAMES.]

The worst is when it comes to "Attah Gibbor le-Olahm Adonai." Although, "Ve-Gevurah" and "Ve-Gedulah" are giving me a pretty rough time, too.

The only parts I think I'm even getting close on are Aiwass (during the Qabalastic Cross) and the archangels.

I've tried running a few searches but I'm not finding anything that really helps me out. Is anybody willing to break this down or point me in the right direction? I know this would be easier taught in-person, but since that isn't an option I'm kind of stuck. I really want to get this right and if anybody can help it would be greatly appreciated.

Understood. That makes sense.

Thanks. I'll do this, all the things mentioned.

But, even if I hadn't mentioned anything about the activity, how should a person go about securing their home? It's still something I'd like to do.

@Jim Eshelman said

"I won't get into "house blessing" stuff yet - the above is the preliminary work for that in any case. Also, if we have to develop something more detailed, the first thing we need to know is whether it's a house or apartment."

I'm sorry, it's a house. I should have mentioned that at the beginning.

Also, what would be an example of the type of incense you mentioned?

@Jim Eshelman said

"How old is your daughter?"

She's 4.

@Frater INRI said

"In your opinion, what did you do to help this situation manifest?"

Hmm... everything? I don't know. All I really do is study, meditate, some asana and light pranayama, occasionally work with the tarot, but that's about it.

I had a roommate for a while that was into chaos magick, but I don't think he ever took it further than playing with sigils.

I don't really know what to make of any of it, and for the most part I just try to ignore it the best I can. I know LBRP will probably help (I was actually looking for the threads about the AGLA "blind" when I came across the statement about protecting the house before practicing).

I was reading through discussions on LBRP and came across this statement...

@Jim Eshelman said

I'm heading for the airport soon, and don't have time for a long discussion, but will make a few remarks. Some people don't secure their living place at all, though I generally recommend it. If you do, then that's a separate issue from consecrating your temple. Usually the overall place should be protected first and then, once you're settled in, further consecrate the space that is to be reserved for your sanctuary.

Usually the external premises and doorways should be secured. That's easier with a house, harder with an apartment. There are some particular tricks and devices (and these vary with traditions - consider the mazuzah for a variant). This is one of those few places where the Wiccan tradition a much better developed magical practical repertoire than most other magical traditions.

Would anybody care to go deeper into the details of how I should go about securing my entire home? There is a lot of weird phenomena that has been going on, such as knocking on the walls, doors opening/closing on their own, noises, etc., and my wife and daughter aren't really too happy about it. It usually scares them and they've been having a hard time sleeping because of it. I know the weird is pretty much to be expected, but since I never did anything to protect the house (I didn't know I was suppose to) I was thinking it may help.

I know it isn't the intended use, but for my own curiosity and experimentation I used the methods from Liber Jugorum to go a week without smoking cigarettes. When I set my mind to the task I smoked a cigarette, recorded the time, then officially started the experiment. I normally smoke a little over a pack a day (and have been doing so for roughly 10 years), so the withdraws were pretty intense, but anytime my mind would turn toward cravings I would go in the bathroom and slash my thigh with a box cutter. (I initially started on my upper arm but switched to my thigh so I wouldn't give my co-workers the false impression that I'm a "cutter", depressed, or mentally unstable.)

I didn't smoke a single cigarette during the experiment, but wound up with a significant amount of tallies by the end of it.

It's been a few months since the experiment and I'm considering doing it again, but for a longer duration. Possibly 3 months. My question is, is this an appropriate way to go about it and experiment with Jugorum, or should I just kick the habit with will-power alone and use Jugorum in a more traditional and recommended way?

I'm new here and wanted to say hello before I start posting.

At this point, aside from studying the books, I'm basically just doing a lot of asana, light pranayama, basic exercises, and meditation.

I'm considering joining B.O.T.A. soon and I'm hoping to eventually get a response to my A.'.A.'. inquires.

Other than that I'm not sure what there is to tell. I came into all this a few years ago as a militant atheist (I was introduced to Crowley's work by a close friend), and still, even after quite a few unexplainable experiences, I'm pretty sure I'm still an atheist... just confused; magick and mysticism have pretty much flipped my worldview upside-down.