College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

For me, I think the *best" daily yoga regimen is one that I can perform daily... day after day after day, year after year.

It must be short and simple. Otherwise the random distractions of modern life start to squeeze out the practice on the odd day now and then, which all too easily becomes several days in a row. Then before I know it my practice is totally shot to heck.

A short practice that you perform daily for three years, or thirteen years will have more positive impact than a very long, deep, involved, expertly crafted practice that lasts for a few months (imho).

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.

Hi Maha,

I expect there is some value in creating one and then some value in actually using one.

But it really depends on the ultimate Goal.

My Goal is God-Realization

anything on the astral/(kinda -sorta-Yetzirah?) level is of dubious value in that respect. But under particular circumstances it might be meaningful in an Eternal sense.

@_aLL_seEIng_eYe_ said

"sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.

This is strikingly harmonious with my own understanding excepting that I was considering whether "initiatory Knowledge" was an exception to the rule."

I think "initiatory Knowledge" would not be just an exception but wholly separate from "judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge". I would think that "Initiatory Knowledge" is specialized knowledge.

@_aLL_seEIng_eYe_ said

"Is there a specific level of initiation that bears direct relation to Common Sense? or is this entirely independent of an aspirants spiritual attainment?"

If by 'common sense' you mean 'Intuition', I think it would improve and increase with each initiation and/or attainment.

@Jim Eshelman said

"It's difficult for me to conceive of a self-initiation ceremony since the specific purpose is for one who is in the chain to link you to it and associate you thereby with the inner links.
"

I have been thinking about this some. It seems there must be a Source for the current that the present orders are working from. I think of it as a distant River that some have diverted by means of a canal to bring it to the community in a more convenient and workable fashion.

Shortly after I began practicing the Eastern Spiritual Exercises on a daily basis I had a lucid dream that morphed into a full blown astral projection and I crossed a 'portal' of sorts and went inside a mountain where certain events took place that I will keep to myself. I look at the experience and it sure had initiatic characteristics and I wonder about that now and then.

I think self-initiation is possible but the Path from there requires a most intrepid Spirit, indeed. One must be tuned to the most subtle influences on deep Inner Levels in order to choose rightly and make progress. One would likely have to gain K&C of the HGA within a couple years in order to make real progress beyond the elementary levels. There might be serious obstacles to overcome but overall this might be a Superior approach.

For those in rural parts of the world (like me) this might be the only workable alternative at hand.

@h2h said

"The exchange has stuck in my mind over the years and is consistent with the advice given in Abramelin - that is, one should work within the tradition he or she was born and raised within and avoid mixing and matching, picking and choosing concepts he or she prefers. All paths lead to Rome but the point is to stick with the path one is born into - for reasons that become clear later.

I would be interested to hear opinions on the above.."

I think this is very good advice too. As a very young man I was yet another typical dupe who bought into all the anti-catholic bigotry and outright falsehoods that the bigots were so effectively brainwashing the world with.

I went off and began following an Eastern type mystic Path. After a couple decades I discovered that there was a contemplative tradition in the Roman Catholic practice that basically did the same thing that the eastern paths did. The Cloud of Unknowing clearly lays out a method that if adhered to as instructed would lead to the Highest states of Consciousness. The roadmap laid out was very thorough and covered the problems likely to be encountered in very clear fashion. For 900AD the work might well be an outline of Spiritual Practice that surpasses anything that any other culture might have produced at that point in time. It is written in a manner that is eminently understandable to the Western mind... unlike much of what I encountered in the Eastern traditions.

couldawouldashoulda....

@Foolster said

"My two friends in the back flung themselves on their backs and screamed and cried to Jesus. These were 19 yo kids btw. I dismissed the spirit and they all cried for some time until calming down and i drove them all back into town. Obviously this story spread about me and a lot of kids feared me.

Was I envoking to appearance an aspect of my own sick psyche? They saw it too, but was i digging down to a level where the same being existed in them and they were able to witness it?"

This is a pretty wild experience. I would be interested in the reply to your question from a practicing Thelemite.

Foolster, how many times prior to this had you done this sort of thing?
(and how many since?;)

@Takamba said

"hmm... to me it might be like Suicide is murder of the existence of all sense of other"

If suicide victims generally expressed a desire to wipe out otherness that might be so.

I think the desire to wipe out all sensory input is more often expressed. A presumption or hope of a peaceful nothingness is more common.

edit; another motivation that I heard in an interview years ago was expressed as a desire to "do others a favor and help the family and friends by removing such a useless, depressing character in their lives". That was about 20 years ago... they may have medication now to lift the mood a bit for cases like that.

@Alrah said

"but the truth is: all murders are decided by the attitude of the ego in respect of the other that is being killed."

Would that imply that suicide must involve full blown Multiple personality disorder, or MPD?

@DavidH said

"I was wondering what people think about the nature of astral entities. Do they exist as sentient beings in an objective way, or "just" part of our mind? Do beings that we evoke during ritual exist as a force in the universe like lightning or gravity, apart from us?

And if they do not exist other than in our own minds, how is it any different than lucid dreaming?
"

Right after I started trying to AP and started having some success I projected to my mom's house and saw both her and my sister and I am pretty sure that they are real entities. One thing I noticed was that there was something 'unusual' about them that I do not want to reveal so as not to ruin it for someone else who does this later. I was reading the works of some Gnostic Leader out there and he said some things that validated my observations in the astral realm. They were quite unusual and it really surprised me to see someone else describe it almost exactly as I had experienced it.

Lucid dreaming is actually very close to bona fide AP, if you ask me. In fact, LD can be more useful in certain respects. What starts as an AP can dissolve into an LD too. And what starts as an LD can be opened up into a full conscious AP.

I also met a mythical character on a recent projection. I think astral experiences can run the gamut of being mostly real to mostly symbolic. The real question is what is your Goal and are you making progress?

@DavidH said

"On the subject of Astral Projection, can anyone suggest a very good book?

A friend of mine has sponteneous projections and usually onl hovers around her body. She also has increased brathing and heart rate which scares her. Is this more of an OBE in the Etheric, rather than astral world? I'm assuming she sort of gets stuck in the etheric before she breaks free into the astral. Any thoughts or advice I can give her?
"

If you want to do Astral Projection I think the Robert Bruce MAP and CD-set are best among the more recent publications. As discussed in another thread the Ophiel work is also pretty good.

If you want to read about AP I think Robert Monroe, Albert Taylor and William Buhlman are very good authors, Monroe being the best.

re your friend. The increased heart rate is a typical pre-projection symptom. A good way to make it stop is to get out of the "pre" condition by either grounding back in the body by simply moving a part of it (like lift the hand, assuming sleep paralysis has not set in) or just going ahead and completing the projection by various methods that can be found in the RBruce books mentioned above.

@Alrah said

"most male animals have evolved set's of ritualised behaviours that limit harm and bloodshed in respect to ones own species. The human animal also has that capacity. It's only when 'the ego' get's involved that it all get's messy and the knives come out."

I am not sure that is true.

I have seen "Wild Kingdom" type video where the dominant male struggle can get very bloody. From wolves to horses the loser can limp off and never be seen again, presumably because it died. Among chimps observers were horrified to see murder and cannibalism! Also it can be a short and rather bloodless affair, this being when the loser sees early on that he hasn't got a fighting chance.

Among humans we see a similar scenario. When the match is even or close it can get very bloody, as in WWI and WWII.

I am just two and two.
I am hot. I am cold.
I'm the parent of numbers
that cannot be told.
I'm a gift beyond measure
a matter of course And
I'm yielded with pleasure-
even taken by force.

**What am I?
**
a woman who knows she's woman
a woman who knows she's a wife
for a man who knows he's a man
its a gift much bigger than Life

@_aLL_seEIng_eYe_ said

"I would propose that the voodoo at source is more authentic and powerful than in the diaspora."

I was reading in the Deng Ming Dao trilogy about a Kung Fu monk who fled China when Mao was destroying the monasteries and came to San Francisco. He reported how certain rituals and incantations that worked very reliably for him in China did nothing at all in this new land.

@he atlas itch said

"But it would be useful to know whether other older traditions or systems prior to Crowley have written about KCHGA - specifically, the HGA as an other waiting beyond kundalini. To my knowledge it doesn't exist."

You gotta be kidding me....

How about of the numerous offshoots of the Northern India Sant Mat...? (anything that mentions the Sat Guru...etc.)

Not to mention the obvious testimony of so many Christian saints....

Dante Alighieri?

Maybe not prior but certainly independent...Robert Monroe.

@Alrah said

"Love is something engendered elsewhere, but when ego proclaimes 'I love you', it is a lie of manipulation, or a declaration to satisfy a social convention. It is something to be expected to say. But the ego does not love."

If, "when ego proclaimes 'I love you', it is a lie of manipulation"...

what is it that wants to hear the words, "I love you"?

?

@Alrah said

"the ego cannot love, feels no love, is not capable of love and does not have the equipement to love"

whoa...

Well done. And well said. Alrah, you may have tapped into something beyond the ken of most folk 'round these here parts (planet earth).

True Love only issues from the Eternal Realms well beyond ego.

But given the limitations of language... Love, love, luv... hippie L_U_V, puppy love.... This could be a more than difficult subject.

Children require a form of love in order to grow the same as they need food and sustenance. Grown ups are expected to know how to give Love. But of course, many can't quite manage it. Not even for themselves, not to mention those who depend on them....

@gurugeorge said

"There's a bit of a smell of "Please like us!"

THAT! is practically the National Anthem of LiberlLeftWingLoserVille!!

Hey Guru... maybe that smell is your upper lip....

What NERVE you pseudo-Thelemists have...

going around pretending you know what other people should be doing -- and even WHY they should be doing it!?

What a bunch of thelemic phonies.

Am I the only one who can see this display of arrogant self righteousness for what it is?!?

@gurugeorge said

"(indeed, they now have a former "Grand Inquisitioner" as Pope), and for this reason (one would think) ought still to be viewed with a great deal of suspicion by Thelemites."

Of course the hopelessly ignorant masses have been completely duped by the Proprietors of Anti-Catholic Bigotry Inc. and they can't look at history in any sort of objective manner and readily see that the Roman Catholic Inquisition was a huge evolutionary leap in medieval jurisprudence that afforded the commoner with some level of protection against an abusive nobility. So many of these ignorant dupes don't know the difference between the Roman Inquisition and the Spanish Inquisition.

...

I could go on and on...

but enough for now.

I think those of you with half a clue get the idea.

@gurugeorge said

"Hitchens condemns Teresa for having used contributions to open convents in 150 countries rather than establishing a teaching hospital, the latter being what he implies donors expected her to do with their gifts."

How would he know what donors expected? That doesn't make sense anyway. Here is a poor woman who opens a convent and ministers to the poor. People give her money and she opens more convents to minister to the poor. I expect she didn't take all that money and open 150 convents overnight. Obviously she established a pattern of behavior over time that donors would come to know and recognize as something they would support.

Hitchen's idiot accusations sound like a bunch of crap.

Just because her True Will did not match up with Hitchen's fantasy of a teaching hospital does not justify going around blowing negative crap about her. Why doesn't Hitchen shut his yammer and get busy on the hospital himself?

Why would anyone take these lame accusations seriously? I guess anti-Catholic bigots would eat this stuff up but it looks like the powers that be in choosing Thelemic Saints have the ability to see past the smears and give credit where credit is due.

@gurugeorge said

"(Btw, are you at all familiar with a text called The Book of the Law?)"

Yes.