College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Salvete!

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Anyone have an idea why Crowley had Frieda Harris paint "ABRACADABRA" instead of "ABRAHADABRA" into the trim of the Chariot's Canopy?

Love is the law, love under will.

Curate et Valeatis

@Froclown said

"Thus say I, I am as the sun and all else is my plaything it exists to glorify and amuse me and I shall use all as I see fit."

Just a quick question... Does telling other people THAT, totally make them want to DO immediately what you want them to do?
Cuz that would be sweet...

btw- I think this thread needs a little perspective... enjoy!

youtube.com/watch?v=gT12hgxZhmQ

@Brycifer said

"
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?

"

Yo! Brycifer!

(Please don't let my cheesy answers detract from the excellent discussion that has unfolded)

These are the most authentic (albeit mundane) signals I've encountered:

A.) You actually show up for the ceremony (and don't run away in the middle)!

B.) You are able to do the work immediately in front of you.

C.) You've completed the work required to advance and actually show up for the ceremony (and don't run away in the middle)!

@Techpries said

"Hey all,
I am about to submit my paperwork for minerval initiation to the OTO. I was wondering what y'all's experiences with them were, if any? I am also interested in some of the A.'.A.'. members opinions of them.

Danke,
Kenneth"

Salve,

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law

I would ask, what do I wish to make of myself in that organization? Contemplative thought on that subject will be very useful.
There are within the O.T.O. members who respect and serve those whose aspirations are pure. In fact, to that end, that is why the organization is able to survive. You are ultimately going to determine what any undertaking you persist in teaches you. If your aspirations be pure, Then they can be transmitted as such. The rituals written by Crowley continue to teach that.

Love is the law, love under will.

Cura et valeas

@Draco Magnus said

"

Remember Jesus and his merry men. Every single one of them an occult crazy or degenerate.

"

Don't forget about the whores and wine!

@Jim Eshelman said

"Those who most serve by this method ("serve" being the most exact synonym for "avail" in the next verse) shall be "the chief of all.""

I like this a lot! I've seen it definitely pan out in practice. For instance, People in my life who divorce themselves from personal moral connotations while listening to others, always end up giving out the best advice. It leaves the other with the feeling that their inherent power of making choices is valid. Additionally, it makes them feel completely responsible for those choices!

" I'd like to think that there will be an overall heightened spiritual orientation across the species as Thelema takes active, visible hold, but I don't know that I'll get my wish on that one. "

I think it IS happening, my friend, but I don't think anyone but Thelemites and Grad students of religious studies (a couple hundred years from now) are ever going to say it openly! I see the species definitely progressing internally on the whole. I meet quite a lot of people these days that seem to have basic thelemic ideals pretty rooted in them! Of course They call it "common sense"... but it wasn't that common even in the relatively near past!

During my research at the Warburg, I came across a hand written recipe for a magickal BBQ created by Crowley!

@Metzareph said

"
@DeoAdjuvante said
"
Perhaps the word to be said IS "Behold!"
This hit me when I discovered that in Greek the word for "Behold" had the same enumeration as the word for "Wheat".... which coincidentally is the exact object a Hierophant of the mysteries would hold aloft at the culmination of the rites!
"

Interesting! What kind of rites are you talking about? Is this some old druid type of ceremony?

"

The Greater Mysteries of Eleusis!
Here's a quick snip from one of their critics -

"Hippolytus provides further information in his anti-Gnostic Philosophumena or Refutation of All Heresies (5.8.39): "The Athenians, when they initiate in the Eleusinia, exhibit in silence to the epoptai the mighty and marvelous and most complete epoptic mystery, an ear of cut-wheat. But this ear of wheat is also considered among the Athenians to constitute the perfect enormous illumination that has descended from the ineffable one, just as the hierophant himself declares." "

@Metzareph said

""There is a word to say about the Hierophantic task. Behold! "

O' Ye Centre O' Pestilence, My friend!

But since You brought it up...
Why not take it literally!
Perhaps the word to be said IS "Behold!"
This hit me when I discovered that in Greek the word for "Behold" had the same enumeration as the word for "Wheat".... which coincidentally is the exact object a Hierophant of the mysteries would hold aloft at the culmination of the rites!

:Cough: :Cough: Don't mind me its just my TB acting up!

"I've never seen a version where a new phallus was fashioned."
I shows up in a number of different tellings(Plutarch, Diodorus, Engraved on certain stele in parisian museums) sometimes its said to be of wood or clay or gold. Diodorus seems to make the biggest claim to its importance as he portrays the fashioned image of Osiris's phallus to be the origin of the words "Phallos" and connected with the orgies and festivals of Dionysus in Greece.

"You know enough about projection not to be surprised if I turn this around - and suggest that you are trying to find your own motivation. My answer probably won't be very pleasing to you, then, since I would mostly recommend that you have to find it within yourself. You know what is leading you on."

Why... does the truth... always... burn....

"I think that the End that has led people inward hasn't changed from Aeon to Aeon - only how the psyche frames and labels it have changed (and things secondary to that, such as how to follow through)."
Ahhh.... The follow through... That's definitely what I'm being tested on in this incarnation. Now where was that sacred lance of mine? oh... right up here...

" The Zohar already had told us around 1300 that there was a big piece of the puzzle that we didn't understand concerning the letters, and that the puzzle was in Tzaddi - and intentionally withheld"
.
How "Righteous" of them!

As always, thank you for your insightful answers!

Love is the law, love under will.
Frater D.A.

Here's a couple of my opinions:

"So far it appears the CoS is beating Thelema in the race to religious status."

Yes, but they are running the wrong way!

"Them and there team of lawyers replete with information booths at Tom Cruise movie sets."

"By their fruits ye shall know them!" and I have to say... Battlefield Earth was the most horrible movie I've ever seen in my life.

"My question is when will Thelema catch on as a religion?"

This is tricky... In my mind, "Thelema" is an expression of truth about the universe. Therefore others choosing to accept it or not makes no difference in its operation. You're going to be intimately involved with it whether you're conscious of it or not. Also, you can choose to use the term "Thelema" for it or not. I'll quote some Crowley: "Every star must calculate its own orbit, to swerve is ultimately impossible. To seek to swerve is to suffer."

Love is the law, love under will.
Frater D.A.

Mister13 said:

My question is when will Thelema catch on as a religion? Ultimately that's what is desired in order for it to survive. So far it appears the CoS is beating Thelema in the race to religious status. Them and there team of lawyers replete with information booths at Tom Cruise movie sets.

Salvete,

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

What is the difference between an Initiation system and a Religion?

Love is the law, love under will.
Frater D.A.

Welcome Mister13,

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

"This shift in Aeons is nothing new to religion in general."

I was trying to frame my question in terms of an individual initiatory experience as opposed to a general religious experience. But I suppose we should discuss the difference. I'm going to start this in a new thread.

"Osiris is the slain deity, Horus the newly risen."

According to the myth, Osiris was slain, found by Isis, hacked into bits, had his phallus eaten by a fish(hmmm....), then was put back together and a new phallus fashioned for him, Isis then conceived Horus from his body.

"On the Tree of Life I believe Osiris occupies Tiphareth"

The story of Osiris as an initiatory allegory could pertain to various sephiroth at different stages. 777 lists the practical attribution to malkuth.

"My question is when will Thelema catch on as a religion? "

I'm going to transfer this question to the Thelema forum.

Here's the original question:

"In your opinions, what are the fundamental differences between aspirants of the Aeon of Osiris and those seeking initiation in that of Horus?"

I should probably frame this even more by saying that I am referring to the Procession of Aeons as those of Isis(Where the mysteries were about the forces of nature)Osiris(Where they are concerned with death and re-birth) and Horus(The mysteries of the crowned and conquering child, made official in 1904).
I'm mostly trying to get a better understanding of what it is that leads( ) essentially worthless lumps of lead to contemplation of their own divinity during our present Aeon and the most recent past Aeon.
I have my own theory which is bound up in the switch of Tzaddi from The Star to The Emperor. But I don't want to bias anyone else. Of course I probably just did... Damn!

Well... at least the ball is rolling. Anyone else got any Theories?

Love is the law, love under will.
Frater D.A.

"Well, the former were born earlier. "

Well, that certainly is a fundamental difference! or is it?

93, 93/93
Frater D.A.

Greetings All,

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

In your opinions, what are the fundamental differences between aspirants of the Aeon of Osiris and those seeking initiation in that of Horus?

Love is the law, love under will.
Frater D.A.

I regard Dion Fortune as being a magician of quite low attainment... except for her "good stuff", then she's invaluable.

Actually, I'm interested if anyone has an answer to the part about 11 knocks (I always just assumed it was from ABRAHADABRA being the word of the Aeon).
as for Invoking in the North. Does she say what ritual this is from?

Amor es la ley, amor bajo voluntad.
Frater D.A.