College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

I've been attempting to deduce which of Nietzsche's works Crowley may have read, to understand his influence on the philosophy of Thelema.

English translations began appearing in the 1890's. In Confessions, he mentions meeting a person who identified as a Nietzschean in 1902. The only book he mentions by name is 'The Antichrist,' however he probably at least read Beyond Good and Evil, Gay Science, and (judging from his influence on AC) probably whatever he could get his hands on at the time.

I compiled a list of all the instances I could find where he mentions Nietzsche (quite frequently throughout his life) —

[1907] Collected Works Vol. III
- A Mademoiselle le Modele — Dite Jones

[1910]* The World’s Tragedy *
- Preface: Christianity
- Preface: The Poem Itself

[1911] The Equinox Vol I, No VI
- The Ordeal of Ida Pendragon

** The Giant’s Thumb
- The Vindication of Nietzsche

[1915] Liber XV: The Gnostic Mass
- The Saints

[1916] Vanity Fair Magazine
- On the Management of Blondes

[1916] The Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw
- The Teachings of Christianity
- For Better, For Worse

[1917] The International Vol XI, No 10
- Quelque Chose (Some Shows)

[1918] Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly
- De Virtute Audendi (On the Virtue of Daring)
- De Poetis (On the Poets)

[1919] Liber LII: Manifesto of the O.T.O.

[1920] Diaries – July 11th, 1920

[1920] Diaries – July 17th, 1920

[1922] The Law is For All
- Chapter II, verse 21 commentary
- Chapter III, verse 57 commentary

[1923] Commentaries on Liber LXV: The Book of the Heart Girt With a Serpent
- Chapter V, verse 37 commentary

[1923] The Equinox Vol I, No X
- Liber XLVI: The Key of the Mysteries
* I: Unity (footnote)

[1926] The Revival of Magick
- A Letter to Henry Ford

[1930] The Confessions of Aleister Crowley
- Chapter 42
- Chapter 50
- Chapter 60
- Chapter 76
- Chapter 87

[1943] Magick Without Tears
- Chapter IV: The Qabalah: The Best Training for Memory
- Chapter VII: The Three Schools of Magick (part 2)
- Chapter XLVIII: Morals of AL—Hard to Accept, and Why Nevertheless We Must Concur
- Chapter LXX: Morality (part 1)

[1944] The Book of Thoth
- The Atu: The Fool—Hoor-pa-kraat

Most of these refer to Nietzsche's views on ethics and morality, but a few indicate that he was aware of some of the more metaphysical theories in his works.

93. I've edited together a collection of surviving film scenes with Jane Wolfe, lifelong student of Crowley's, and Phyllis Seckler's A.'.A.'. initiator:

youtu.be/PPWN3YFl3uM

Film excerpts in this reel:

A Lad From Old Ireland (1910)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0234071

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0008499

Why Change Your Wife? (1920)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0011865

Under Strange Flags (1937)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0029710

We are tracking down a few of her other known surviving films (The Grim Game, Puddn'head Wilson, and possibly a couple others). If anyone has any information, please get in touch with me.

For more info about Jane's story: thelema.org/aa/legacy_of_jane_wolfe.html

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The full video is available here:

youtu.be/T96_AOYwi

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Inevitably, the response to a particular change like this seems to fall into one of four categories:

1. People who will not accept whatever the change may be, or fight it, for the sole reason that it's coming from HB/OTO Grand Lodge.

2. People who look at both sides of the debate and decide that the BOTL should remain as it is and not be changed.

3. People who look at both sides of the debate and decide that the BOTL verse III:37 should be changed from "fill" to "kill."

4. People who don't want to review the facts for themselves, would rather leave it up to the authorities to decide for them.

I have a 100% zone of tolerance for #'s 2 & 3, and 0% tolerance for #'s 1 & 4.

To quote Soror Virakam in Book IV, Part I:

"Frater Perdurabo is the most honest of all the great religious teachers. Others have said: "Believe me!" He says:"Don't believe me!" He does not ask for followers; would despise and refuse them. He wants an independent and self-reliant body of students to follow out their own methods of research. If he can save them time and trouble by giving a few useful "tips," his work will have been done to his own satisfaction.

Those who have wished men to believe in them were absurd. A persuasive tongue or pen, or an efficient sword, with rack and stake, produced this "belief," which is contrary to, and destructive of, all real religious experience.

The whole life of Frater Perdurabo is now devoted to seeing that you obtain this living experience of Truth for, by, and in yourselves!"

For those of you researching this for yourself online, you should be aware of something that could potentially lead to some confusion regarding the "fill"/"kill" debate.

The online edition of The Equinox of the Gods, hosted at Hermetic.com, which was originally published in 1936 during Crowley's lifetime, has (possibly in the past month?) recently been edited to show "kill" instead of "fill" in verse III:37 online:

Equinox of the Gods at Hermetic.com on Jan 17th, 2013 (via Wayback web archives), there is no EotG-version of Liber CCXX included or linked:

web.archive.org/web/20130117065720/http://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox-of-the-god

Equinox of the Gods at Hermetic.com as it now appears on the live site presently, Stele Paraphrase & Liber CCXX link added to EotG (see volume index), III:37 here changed to "kill":

hermetic.com/crowley/equinox-of-the-gods/liber-al-vel-legis.html

This change, oddly, has not been made (as of today) to any other version of Liber CCXX on the site:

www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=%22let+it+kill+me%22&as_sitesearch=hermetic.com

Of course, any serious researcher would check against the actual physical paper copy. But for a person who does't have access to one (current Amazon prices are ~$45-$100) and relies on these digital versions, this could lead one to the conclusion that Crowley changed the verse in CCXX to read "kill" in 1936. This is completely incorrect. All versions of The Equinox of the Gods (both 1936 white and 1937 red cover, and revised 1991 edtion) had "fill" in Liber CCXX.

This is a key edition to the debate, as it was published towards the end of Crowley's life.

Personally, I find this unethical from an academic standpoint, if this indeed was done to purposefully mislead people. I trust that this was not the case, but I'm lacking another explanation given that only this instance was edited on the site.

Perhaps if someone here reading this knows who is responsible for this, they can offer a reasonable explanation?

Yours in LVX,

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93

I'd like to hold up a bit of information for scrutiny here, if you will. I believe it's rather important, and I haven't seen it brought up anywhere else (at least in the Google searches I've made.)

There is evidence that Crowley quoted verse III:37 in its entirety, using the word "fill", separately from both Liber CCXX and the Stele Paraphrase, both before and after 1912 (when both the pencil edit to the Crowley-Windram copy of Thelema and the Liber CXX MS are believe to have been written).

The instance is in a ritual titled "An Evocation Of Bartzabel The Spirit Of Mars" that appears in The Equinox Vol I, No IX, which was published in March of 1913. On page 129, it includes the following:

"(The Magi kneel at three sides of altar, all clasping spears in the proper manner.)
I adore Thee in the Song :
I am the Lord of Thebes, and I
[…]
To stir me or still me !
Aum ! Let it fill me !

  *All say, repeatedly:*
     A Ka dua
     Tuf ur biu 

[etc …]"

I would guess that it was in the process of being proofed sometime after Jan 1, 1913. The original MS from which this was published also exists, however. The evocation was performed on May 9th, 1910, according to AC's Confessions. A version was edited and published the OTO in The Equinox Vol IV, No II (1998) as an A.'.A.'. Class C document,* Liber CCCXXV* (pages 257-285). This version is noted as being more identical to the actual MS:

"The MS of the ritual is preserved in a notebook at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin. […] For publication, abbreviations have been expanded and missing punctuation supplied; doubtful readings are given in brackets. The ritual has been made to conform to the MS in order to reproduce faithfully its original performance. Some ritual instructions and several diagrams only appear in the MS; there are also instances of variant wording. Some diagrams illustrating practical details have been taken from Crowley's sources, as cited. The opening titling, summary and Latin phrase are not in the MS; other material not in the MS, but in The Equinox, is noted. The Equinox version had two misreadings of the MS ("grey" for "fiery" and "enclose" for "unloose")." (page 427)

On page 274 of this version we also see the exact same adoration quoted, using the word "fill".

However, we'll only know for sure if Crowley wrote "fill" with his own hand in the 1910 MS if the original scans become available. (This could have been changed by HB, as in the contemporary works, without a footnote added.)

Regardless, we still have an instance of the verse being published immediately after the 1912 pencil edit and CXX MS where Crowley indeed uses the word "fill" in print. If he had wished to correct it to another word, being fresh in his mind after writing the note in the Windram book, this would have been the perfect opportunity as it would have had to have been inserted and re-typeset specifically for this piece regardless. Not to mention it also survived proofing by a man who had committed The Book of the Law to memory.

Note: I am presenting this here for purely academic reasons… I respect HB's decision, and he has a job to decide what goes to print. However, I believe everyone who cares about this should make a choice for themselves after investigating the evidence thoroughly. I invite your opinions on this.

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93

Hi, I'm Brycifer and I'm a reincarnation of Aleist...

Err... No. Actually though, I've been a Thelemite for nearly half of my lifetime (I'm 29). My mother read tarot, and on of my earliest memories is crawling around over my mother's tarot spreads and some of the artwork on the cards (the Regardie/Wang GD deck). I was reintroduced later through some of her books when I was 15, then got into Wicca during high school. I recall taking an oath out of a beginner's magick book where I dedicated my life to something called the "Great Work" or something. During college I found myself interested in ceremonial magick and Golden Dawn. However, not knowning how to get involved locally, my interest eventually waned and my light grew dim during the first few years as an "adult". It wasn't long before I realized where I wandered from my path, and got back on the magick wagon (iao haw!). I contacted some Thelemites in the Bay Area and now... well, they just can't get rid of me. I'm in active member of several magickal orders and I've recently had a few chances to sharpen my skills as a writer, editor, and lecturer on the subject. I've found a hidden grail of inspiration for my other creative activies (mostly music) as well.

Nice to see y'all here! I'm delighted to see many topics on here that I haven't seen covered on Evalna. Keep on rockin' in the new aeon!

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What signs have you taken to be authentic signals that you are: a) ready join an initiatory order. b) receiving confirmation that your initiation is "working". c) ready to take the next step on your initiatory path?

Please (without spilling any secret beans, of course!) tell where you found these signs. Albeit from dreams, coincidences, numbers or words appearing frequently, ect...

I'm fascinated with the vocabularies that we develop with our unconscious (defined as "not-consciousness", eventually experienced directly through our Holy Guardian Angel, IMO) and how our experiences are often similar, although the syntax is often suited to fit the particular person's personality or state of consciousness.

The advantageous thing about learning a traditional system such as astrology, qabalah, or the tarot is that more of these signals from the unconscious tend to be decipherable by others on with similar roots in those systems.

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