College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

I'm processing this all and all of your efforts in responding are appreciated more than you know. Absolutely invaluable and on-pitch help...thank you!

If anyone has a tip they used to become more fluent in reading court cards, it would be much appreciated. I stumble on them in readings and find that I haven't yet formed a system capable of a deep understanding of how their attributions interact, whereas the major arcana and the number cards have become somewhat familiar to me.

In fact, any comments whatever are welcome on this subject. Thanks.

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People make crafts with scrabble tiles (apparently) so you might find auctions like this one as well cgi.ebay.com/HEBREW-SCRABBLE-TILES-LETTERS-CRAFT-SCRAPBOOK-/160474733549?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255d0a1bed#ht_500wt_947

@Solitarius said

"93

In Zen Buddhism they have a name for this and other phenomena, they call them Makyos, they can be colours, lights, faces in the floor, flashing images; and pretty much any kind of distraction that arises during meditation.
The Japanese regard them as just that, distractions.
on the other hand, in my experience the kind of makyos you get can be an indication as to the state of your meditation, for example I notice that the colours change depending on how I hold my head and the location and degree on attention during practice.

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93,

Very interesting. In reference to this and the above posts as well, I'd like to reiterate that it is never associated with fatigue, tiredness, closing my eyes...only concentration. Once my concentration gets "going" it starts. It is sort of distracting when it starts; however, it is so rhythmic that it soon becomes incorporated and forgotten much like my breathing. I'll be curious to see if these colors ever change as I advance in my discipline, etc.

For the record, I have gotten this every time I am concentrating on my thoughts, eyes open or closed, sitting or lying.

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93,

Thanks guys. I wasn't really worried, though I understand the effect my questions must have had. I just think it's interesting. It's actually an enjoyable thing, and seems to occur with changes in my state of consciousness, and by extension I suppose maybe a change of brain wave patterns, etc.

No anxiety intended.

I think it's interesting, also, that people see different colors from each other and would very much like to know what other colors other people see. So far we have green/purple and red.

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David

Hi all.

I'm always curious about this so I'm hoping for some input: whenever I meditate or concentrate, eyes open or closed, it is accompanied by washes of color overtaking my field of vision. It has always been alternating green and purple, as long as I can remember. (the first time was when I first started meditating/doing magick in high school). It starts as green or purple, then a small area of the other color appears in the center and expands, then the other color does the same, and so on.

So my questions are:

1. Do you experience a similar phenomenon?

2. What are the colors/patterns? Any significance in your opinion?

3. What visual/neurological phenomenon might this represent?

@Ash said

"I intend to attempt to go back to the Bible, both Old and New Testaments at some point, and try to really understand what they are as well as I am able, both through the Hebrew and English Old Testaments, and the Greek and English New Testaments (the Greek will be much later, as I don't see myself learning it in the near future). (Did I mix up the Greek and Hebrew histories of the two Testaments? I don't think so, but I might have.)"

This is just great to see. I was raised in a very believing pentecostal environment and have had similar experiences and issues. In fact, these curiosities led to my eventual ability to make a full psychological break from the experiences of "belief" of the various things I had been conditioned to think.

In the process of trying to delineate all of these things for myself, I have ended up with degrees in both Classics and Semitic Languages. That said, I would be more than glad to do 'bible studies' along with you in the sense of answering any queries you might have concerning the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic of the originals.

Best of luck.

Just a 1 cent contribution...I find that the lighting in the room can help immensely in seeing the traced figures. Just out of curiosity...what, in your opinion, is the importance of seeing the pentagrams more vividly?

Anyway, experiment with it and let us know if anything helps.

@AvshalomBinyamin said

"Another, simpler working of the top line could be (although I am sure others have worked this out before):

4638ABK24aLGMOR3Y

46, 38, and 24 each stand for "X" (as a clue to the second row).

ABK = aleph-beth-kaph = 1+2+20 = 23
alGMOR = aleph-lamed-gimel-mem-vav-resh = 1+30+3+40+6+200 = 280
3Y = 3 x 10 = 30

23+280+30 = 333

Of course, as gimel, it could no longer refer to "the moon". Gamor could mean "perfected" in Hebrew or "united" in Arabic. And "Abk", "your father".

But, since it's not 418, it's not really on-topic anymore..."

Just curious to hear a perspective: do you choose vav vs. ayin for Latin "O" depending on the result? Would you mix them in a single calculation, i.e., would you ever give O the value 70 in one place and 6 in another?

@AvshalomBinyamin said

"In the manuscript, the "G" has a very clear line on the top section, like ʛ

That's IPA for a "voiced uvular implosive", which sounds like a very good description of the arabic pronunciation of "qoph" (additionally, in many areas "qoph" is transiliterated as "g" or "gh").

EDIT: My rationale was also based on the previous verse, which says to "*listen *to the numbers + the words"" (emphasis added).

But, I also acknowledge that between the 'qoph' and the "v/y/gamma" at the end of the first line, it's all quite a stretch."

You acknowledge it's a stretch and I thought I would add that at no time was the articulation of this phoneme 'implosive' in any Semitic language. The theoretical historical pronunciation in Arabic was probably a voiced uvular plosive, and the g/gh transcription you refer to is sadly just a regular, boring old voiced velar plosive.

Hi John.

Jim's suggestion is great and I would add, since I'm a huge dork, that the Hebrew phrase "water of life" would have to be in a genitive relationship since the Latin phrase is also (water of life) and the word water would lose the mem and thus some of the value.

@Jim Eshelman said

" At the time of writing Liber O, Crowley gave Ye-ho-wau. The Golden Dawn tradition employed the vibration of the individual letters, and Temple of Thelema continues with this tradition: the pronunciation, for us, is Yod Heh Vav Heh. (Not waw. That's a bastardization. I think it came from English-speaking misunderstanding that the German w is pronounced like the English v.)"

The individual letters makes more sense to me. I have to add, though, as a Semitist, that the original, ancient pronunciation of the letter ו was certainly the w sound. But it doesn't matter, and I think this is one of those contexts where tradition, and its development are more central to the 'correctness' of things than historical linguistics. Since the ritual was not likely performed/designed by a native speaker of Hebrew (since none existed) I will stick with what's handed down.

"With all of these considerations, I think it is far more valuable to retain it as unpronounceable that to debate its pronunciation."

That makes so much sense. Especially since * ye-ho-wau * is just the tetragrammaton with the voweling of * Adonai * superimposed on it to remind the reader what to say. Those Masoretes have sure made things hard, if not very detailed, for us!

Greetings.

I've read as many pronunciations of the Tetragrammaton in the LBRP as can be imagined with a combination of four letters. Is it better to say the letters י ה ו ה separately as letters (yod-he-waw-he) or some kind of mystical pronunciation (ye-ho-wa), or does it depend?

Thanks.

@PatchworkSerpen said

"
I think you have the definition wrong: a break is nothing more than an interruption of concentration in whatever practice you're attempting- whether it's meditation, rising on the planes or frying eggs.
If one began to occur during the practice of another however, what may be an interesting side effect is ultimately considered a break."

Exactly the kind of answer I'm looking for; thanks.

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Have a question about meditation. I have been practicing concentration more or less as described in book 4. My questions are:

1. I can be completely still in God position now, but want to try a position without a chair that I have found more effective for losing consciousness of the body in the past...would this be considered a 'break'?

2. Would it be a 'break' to practice the beginnings of 'rising on the planes' or should I wait until I've experienced full dharana or even samadhi first?

Cheers,

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David

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I've developed a good recipe for a cannabis tincture which can produce very strong intoxication with a couple dropper fulls (15 strong doses per 1/8 oz. plant matter). The benefits are that you needn't irritate your lungs or create a smell in your environment and it lasts a lot longer once it kicks in (2 hours peaking, 4 hours coming down). Also, it creates a 'body buzz' much like pain killers without the restlessness afterward.

I think it would be ideal for meditation as long as not done at the end of the day when one is already tired. If anyone wants the recipe, just PM me and I can explain the process...it's not very hard.

Also, if you want to completely trip out on a small amount of weed, a different edible preparation can do the trick.