College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Thanks for posting that, Sphynx. But what is Spiritual Acupuncture? A book? I can't find it on Amazon.

I see a lot of the shoehorning there that Jim mentioned. E.g. "2nd circuit: Yesod" is just a description of the 2nd circuit; it doesn't have much to do with Yesod as traditionally described. I mean, they're both connected with emotions, but what about sex, dreams etc.?

Jim, as for keeping it on its own terms, isn't it the task of the student of Qabalah to relate all other systems to this mental filing system?

One thing that keeps buggin' me is that R.A. Wilson ascribed the circuits to the planets in the order of the days of the week, starting with the moon. What is the occult significance of that order?

Thanks, Jim. Would I be correct in saying you don't think the model adds anything to the Western mystery tradition, or is particularly useful for a student of it?

Modest - yes, I've seen the book, and he does a direct circuit-to-Sephira correspondence. However he seems to discard most traditional Qabalistic symbolism in that book, and I'm not sure some of the correspondences are quite right. Some of them are tantalizingly similar though. But Yesod and the second circuit, or Geburah and the sixth, for example, don't really seem to fit.

I have a current pet theory, though, if anybody's in the least bit interested....

Is anyone here very familiar with the Leary-Wilson 8-circuit theory? In studying Qabalah, I'm trying to fit my previous knowledge to the Tree, but the circuits don't seem to correspond directly with the Sephiroth. Has anyone worked out a way of doing this? Thank you...

I have often wondered about this. Can there possibly not be a connection between the 3 horizontal, 7 vertical and 12 diagonal paths of the diagram and the 3 mother, 7 single and 12 double letters of the alphabet?

Yes, a pretty poor piece - please don't take it as an introduction to his work. He apparently had no more than the most passing acquaintance with any English-speaking occultism.

Guenon has influenced my thinking greatly, without my having actually read a full book of his, through two other 'Traditionalists' who followed him - Julius Evola and Frithjof Schuon.

Frithjof Schuon is in many ways the progenitor of our whole way of thinking about World Religions today - the idea that they are all 'different paths up the same mountain', although his view was a lot more complex than that. Huston Smith, author of the standard American textbook on world religions, is a disciple of his. Neither Schuon nor Guenon were particularly fond of modern occultism, believing that true esotericism was only found as the 'inner side' one of the world's orthodox religions; that the exoteric religion provided an essential framework for the esoteric. Guenon even wrote a large book called "Theosophy: the History of a Pseudo-Religion." As you're about to read G's books on initiation, I should mention that the Christian sacraments were one of the main points of disagreement between them; Guenon believing they had lost their initiatory and esoteric power, and Schuon disagreeing, seeing Christianity as an inherently esoteric religion, a paradoxical esotericism out in the open.

Evola was influenced by Guenon but also by Nietzsche, and was part of the right-wing occult movement before WWII. Initially an admirer of Mussolini, he saw in Fascism the possibility of the revival of the pagan Roman Empire. I can't highly enough recommend his "Revolt Against the Modern World," for the sheer mental exercise and the encounter with an extraordinary viewpoint. He also wrote excellent works on tantra, alchemy, Buddhism (interpreting it as an Aryan warrior cult!). While many of his views are difficult to accept, I always feel that he is on to something important that may be missing from the Anglophone occult tradition. In particular I enjoy the respite from all the enthusiasm for modernity & progress.

Here is Evola on Crowley: www.gornahoor.net/library/EvolaOnCrowley.pdf - although this piece is not very illuminating unless you already know where Evola is coming from.

Well hopefully this quick sketch of two of Guenon's disciples who went in very different directions has given you an idea of what you're in for. They are both very difficult and rewarding writers, whose ideas have a way of sinking into your mind and never leaving. I am sure G. is too. Please let us know your impressions when you read him.

Thank you for your very helpful replies.

kuniggety:

"As a monogamous married person married to a non-occultist myself, I would have to say that Thelema fits very nicely in my lifestyle."

Good to hear.

"why are you conservative? Is it because of what you've learned from society or what you feel is right deep in your heart?"

To the extent that I am conservative on whatever topics, it is the result of life experience and contemplation. Nobody ever taught me it. What we 'feel deep in our hearts' is often what has been planted there by society. These are my considered opinions.

Anyway, I didn't come here to argue my views, but to ask whether they are compatible with Thelema. But I must say that I do regard sex as something rather on a different plane than eating or excreting. And I object to sexualizing children by making voyeurs of them.

Jim:

"no particular additional attention compared to other categories of techniques"

But they are a standard part of the curriculum at certain levels?

Edward Mason:

"Your partner needs to be into the idea for things to work best. "

Quite.

Hi. This is my first post here. I'm enquiring into Thelema. Here's my first question:

To what extent are sex magick, and the sex'n'drugs lifestyle (or experimentation with those things), essential to Thelema?

I mean, I can't be the only person with an interest in Thelema who is happily, monogamously married, to a non-occultist!

In Rodney Orpheus' Abrahadabra, he sums up Thelemic morality, IIRC, as "It's all about sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll, really." While that is obviously a puerile interpretation of the Law, much of that lifestyle does appear to be recommended in Liber AL and its commentary, e.g. "wine and strange drugs." I like wine. Strange drugs, I am done with.

Also, while one must accept AL to call oneself a Thelemite, how about Crowley's commentary? There are many things in there I find repugnant, e.g. the recommendation that children should view all manner of sexual acts. I find his libertinism infantile. I used to share it, when I was, say, 14.

Am I too conservative to be a Thelemite?

I expect someone to reply with "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt." Why then all the other admonitions in AL? What if it's one's Will to be a celibate teetotaller? Then one would be ignoring significant parts of AL. What is the connection between doing your True Will and all the sex and drugs stuff that seems to go along with Thelema?