College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Thanks Jim and Atlas Itch. I was nervous about having to read Budge. I guess I was hoping I could avoid having to choose between getting background for the texts I'm reading and accuracy. Ah well...

I guess the bigger question this raises is what to do with rituals and other material based on information we now know is false. Do we try to correct the texts? does it matter? what sort of responsibility do we have to the Egyptian religion? etc., etc.

I'd be interested to know how others have approached this problem.

I've always taken "love under will" to mean that Love is an hypostasis of Will. So in a sense they are the same in that they are in hypostatic union, but they are not simply synonyms.

An analogy would be the relationship in much Christian theology between any one person of the Trinity and the Godhead. Christ (or the Father, or the Holy Spirit) is an hypostasis of the Godhead. In a sense they are identical, but they are clearly not synonyms, and the Godhead is also in a sense the higher principle. So we might say that Christ is "under" the Godhead.

We should not make the mistake of treating Love as the ultimate principal, for in doing that we would not know it's essential nature, but at the same time, we must remember that Love participates fully in Will, and is not inferior to it. If this sounds like a paradox, it is, in a sense, but that is the mystery (just as the nature of the Trinity is one of the great Christian mysteries).

That's how I think about it anyways...

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone a little more experienced might be able to make a few suggestions about works on Egyptian religion. My objectives are: first is have a good grasp and foundation with the gods and mythology to understand the Golden Dawn's (for instance the initiation rituals) and Crowley's use of them. Perhaps a work on Egyptian magic might also be helpful. My second objective is to get a firm enough background to read the Book of the Dead (I've been trying, it's hard, but I can <i>feel</i> the depth of these rituals and writings, but can't quite get an intellectual grasp on them...
So what I'm looking for is maybe a suggestion of two or three books.

Thanks!

Thank you. I was afraid it was going to be that simple. Refraining from assuming complexity is tough sometimes, especially when Crowley and Gematria are involved...

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum.

Anyways, I was hoping someone might be able to shed a little light on something from Crowley's Sepher Sephiroth.

I was doing a bit of Gematria and came across the following, under the value 59:
"AChYM
Brethren [Referred to Lilith & Samael--K.D L.C.K p 54]"

(just to clarify AChYM is, from from right to left, Aleph, Cheth, Yod, Mem)

K.D L.C.K. is of course Mather's <i>Kabbala Denudata</i> (or, <i>Kabbala Unveiled</i>). I searched through the Google Books copy as well as several online copies and could not find the reference. There is one mention of Samael, but it sheds no light on the passage. AChYM seems to mean "brothers," so "brethren" is definitely a fair translation. But why "Brethren" might refer to Lilith and Samael, I have no idea.

Any ideas, info... guesses? It would help a lot with something I'm working on. I like the attribution quite a bit, but I'd just like to understand the logic behind it.