College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Good job Mithros,

I concur with and use the Tree as laid out in your essay. I noticed myself the traditional Kircher tree's discrepancy with Keys XIV and XV. The three paths from Kether go right-left-down as Keys O, I, II—but the three paths from Tiphareth go right-down-left as Keys XIII, XIV, XV. I have wondered if there was some intentional blind so as not to have the Devil upon the middle pillar? I like how the middle pillar is purple now: Saturn as Blue-purple, Capricorn as the same, and Moon as purple (I color Moon purple and Jupiter blue like the spheres of the tree).

I really like Key IV as 2-4, Heh is majestic as Jupiter the King, and the Hierophant is also great as 2-6, as Vau = 6 which emphasizes his solar, light bearing nature. I do not subscribe to Crowley's switch.

I like to call your rules of ordering the paths upon the tree "the nearest sphere first" process of emanation.

"The Book Of The Law and other Holy Books
were written for the Guardian Angel by the Guardian Angel.
For the most part these books can only be interpreted by the Incarnate (88418)
with the hindsight of the Ordeal.
Many of the situations described are Personal Experiences.

"

Well, as you attain to the grades you are explained the mysteries of Liber Al.

There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.

I have noticed a definite 'cult' atmosphere among the Samaelians.

From what I saw these followers do not demonstrate much in the way of Growth or any kind of special ability that would justify the extreme practices they expound.

They are easily offended and will delete posts and remove members who even ask simple questions of the wrong sort or point out blatant errors in the writings of "The Venerable Master"

Samael made several dire predictions for the world that simply did not come true in the time frame he stated. (and still haven't)

When I ask how does a man who preaches and practices no orgasm tantra, father at least six children from three different women? they go nuts.

He preaches monogomy and rails against lustful pursuit of multiple partners but at least one group admits the truth of the rumors of his taking several new 'alchemy' partners' after his wife went through menopause. Pure hypocrisy but they invented some new Cosmic Law to excuse it.

They claim that after he died he took on the form of his Egyptian mummy body and is now walking around among us (apparently wearing a turban... even though ancient Egyptians did not wear turbans - hahahahhaha)

There are lots of strange rules.

You are not allowed to shower within 24 hours of practicing alchemy (orgasm-less sex-tantra) It is suggested to practice the alchemy once every day (doesn't leave much time for hygiene;) Women are not allowed to shower or even wash their hair during their period. (They usually comment on how they get awful cramps and their practice is shot to heck when they break this rule... but the apostates report that the apparently psychosomatic ills do not manifest after they leave the cult). Eating pork is a horrible sin and they commonly report being consumed by LUST! when they even just accidentally consume miniscule amounts of pork additives at a restaurant or in some product that wasn't properly labeled. After even ten years of daily effort and practice, just one orgasm will reset all gains to Zero. You must remain celibate for one full year if you get divorced (which many do in order to leave the spouse that is not interested in this alchemy practice) They are obsessed with Astral Projection (Samael apparently could project at will as could his wife). They think the astral plane is a form of eternal heaven, but they recognize levels above. I once observed that with all the mortal sins they list basically 99% of humanity is going to Hell, "The Abyss" and one of the senior Teachers replied, "yes". and much, much more ridiculously strange stuff if you care to investigate.

That's some really cool stuff of which I hadn't been aware...But as far as the Aissawa/Aiwass "muddling" or whatnot goes, wasn't it Ouarda, i.e. Rose, who first put the name Aiwass to Crowley? I seem to remember reading that somewhere...

@Jim Eshelman said

"That's just quoting from a standard G.D. 4=7 lecture."

Ah. Duly noted.

Alrah, 93,

"Married woman with grown children?
"

The age of the kids is immaterial. 😄 The usual derivation of the acronym is from "Mothers I'd like to [F-tetragrammatize]."

I do think this is one area in society where the Babalon archetype has had impact. The neopagan community still speaks about the Maiden-Mother-Crone triad (nubile, fertile, senile), which defines woman in terms of her relationship to breeding. I find that a little too close to Christian Family Values (tm) in concept.

Babalon has opened up a more complete expression of femininity where the phases are not mutually exclusive. What next - ROLs? (Raunchy Old Ladies?) Rock on!

93 93/93,

Edward

All you need to know about someone's A.'.A.'. grade is if they are a Neophyte and then if they are a Zelator etc. ad nauseam until you get to a certain point and from there you're usually on your own.

93,

Gotcha. Thanks - that clarifies.

93 93/93,

Edward

Nihilism, monism, dualism - all opposite sides of the same coin. Not that I understand these principles any more than through a mind hampered by rational thought.

As for the last part of your statement: touche. I couldn't nor would I want to argue with that!

93

Welcome!

@Thanateris said

"My dad first introduced me to the ideas of Thelema while I was growing up, but I've been left on my own to study and attempt to understand them."

This is probably pretty unique. I don't know of too many Thelemites who learned the basics from their parents!

"And the rest...37 tomorrow, independent, media/publishing, a dog and a cat and no kids, Philadelphia, and I suppose anything else might come out in the process of posting."

And a Futurama fan! 😄 (My first userpic here was a photoshopped Professor Farnsworth wearing a Golden Dawn Nemyss...)

I went to Drexel University as an undergrad. There are some cool esoterically-oriented places in Philly. Is there still that occult-heavy used book stall in the Reading Terminal Market?

Steve

93,

Thanks for the brain-work on this. The Wikipedia article used not to give the QPhTzIAL spelling. I recall checking it out for a friend in another country, and only coming up with Kassiel or Cassiel, without a Peh.

I once tried to read an old book with the f-like s. After two pages, my brain rebelled so that I couldn't stand it.

93 93/93,
EM

Yes. At least, if you expect any discussion or real response, break the individual topics into individual posts (individual threads).

One of the moderators will delete this post in a couple of days if you haven't. I suggest you break it into several smaller posts under separate threads.

PS - Welcome to the forum.

@Frater Pantha said

"So what do you think the difference is between an Atheist and a Thelemite? Anyone can feel free to answer"

IMO the distinguishing line is a thin one. 666's statement "There is no god but man"(LXXVII) has dual connotations. On the one hand, there is a clear designation of Man as the sole discerner of order in Nature(a statement that is highly compatible with the tenets of Atheism). OTOH, there seems to also be a designation of Man as the manifest-countenance of God, 'ZOIR ANPIN'(which has definite Theistic implications). This same duality can be seen in the A.'.A.'. system itself...in the beginning stages God-as-Other is emphasized in the relations between initiate & HGA, but once the Abyss has been traversed the idea of God becomes much more akin to that of Theravada Buddhism(i.e., there is no God but Self) which also seems quite compatible with Atheism.

616

The previous poster gave a handy link.

I just spoke to a Jewish girl yesterday also named Ariel who does not believe in reincarnation (the name Ariel instantly reminded me of this conversation). But, she is pretty religious (or traditional, I guess) because she asked my fiancee's cousin to convert to Judaism so that they could get married. If this has anything to do with accepting her God or not I have no idea. I think tradition is pretty silly; his tradition is Catholic and he isn't going to convert, so pretty likely their inherited traditions will keep their relationship from developing any further. Just a commentary on tradition and different beliefs within an overarching belief. When she left, someone asked the boyfriend if they "believe in circumcision at least," which I thought was funny. I guess he figured, "Well, if you don't get married, at least you must agree on the cut of the penis! I had to pipe up and say, "Yeah, they invented it, ya know..."

The Ego triggers the intellect,the intellect then triggers the Will its very Ogdoadic,, the Will triggers emotion,, now the intelect get s you there to that Higher plane now Ego must be destroyed, in the Spiritual Realm there cannot be Ego.. Now you must change the way you think and percieve things. Read all the atu paths you wish,But in the Spiritual realm NO EGO;;; AGAPE IN L.V.X. to you,,,, Frater N,,,

93!

Well, since I don't KNOW the answer, I'd say your idea is just as good as mine. Mine just happens to serve me better at this point in time.
😀

Unfortunately, no. I pulled it from a site while browsing. No cited sources or documented information available. Website evidence suggests (pun intended) that the Quetzalcoatl story resembles in many ways the story of Christ, hence the Franciscans using it to convert the natives to Christianity.

Separating the original myth from the additions, which now include the ideas of esoteric Mexicanistas, could be a worthy pursuit.

If I could delve into the ridiculous, this might support the beliefs of the Mormons that the Master Teacher from Nazareth was indeed in America. Perhaps he was a master of bilocation. The myth summaries I've read say that Quetzalcoatl was white; maybe he was a lone viking.

[This post was plagiarized from wikipedia Quetzalcoatl article and other sites.]

My personal interest in the picture was in the fact that it is an equal armed cross, or solar cross.

Great story, Jim!

@Edward Mason said

"Both the Tibetan tradition and a quote from the Talmud ("the mother gives the red, the father gives the white...") indicate that in Hermetic Qabalah, we have switched around an esoteric attribution used by other paths."

In that particular attribution, the reference is, of course, to blood and semen, respectively.

There is also a general reversal of the color usages in East and West in popular culture. In Southeast Asia in particular, red is the color of life - for example, is the color worn at weddings - and white is the color of death (worn at funerals). Presumably the basis is whether there is blood informing the complexion?

Based on this, some traditions relate red to the south and white to the north. This carries into European heraldic tradition where red is the color used to represent gold (Sol) and white is used to represent silver (Luna).

Therefore the South-North polarity of white and black in comtemporary Western culture (wedding vs. funeral) is equivalent to the red and white of Southeast Asia (wedding vs. funeral).