College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

thanks for all your replies, they did motivate me to get off my ass and do my rituals although i barely had the patience to finish a whole Middle Pillar. I think perhaps the rituals are just becoming mundane to me, even though the feelings that accompany them are increasing in intensity (i noted that I did them regularly for 2 months but i have been sticking to Resh, LBRP, BRH, Middle Pillar, and the Circulation of Light for much longer than that). What kind of new daily rituals can I add to spice things up?

For the past 2 months or so I have had no trouble motivating myself to do daily rituals, even getting up at sunset was less difficult, despite my deep hatred of getting up before noon. I looked forward to doing the LBRP, BRH, Middle Pillar, and meditation. But lately i am losing momentum and my desire to fulfill the Great Work. I am unsure why my attitude changed so suddenly from eagerness to sloth. how can i overcome this "demon of sloth"? it came on so unexpected i have half a mind to try banishing it , i feel so heavy and lazy like an overflow of the element earth or something

having done hatha yoga for a little while now i figured id re-comment on this post. Hatha yoga is definitely an excellent preliminary for many spiritual endeavors especially raja yoga in my case, and it is an excellent form of mysticism in itself once some skill has been developed. Doing a series of asanas with your eyes closed makes it truly deep (i especially love the head stand, when you hit the perfect balance and can hold it). If you learn to cycle your breath well as you switch asanas this helps expand your lungs. It seems to be my route for practicing yoga. combining liber resh with some "sun salutation" asanas is a really good practice as well. Strongly recommend it if your having asana or pranayama trouble (provided you find quality instruction which is quite available, at least in my area.)

I know that rituals such as the LBRP can attract unwanted entities because its bright pentagrams light up the astral plane and I'm wondering if this has a connection to something my girlfriend has been complaining about. She reports hearing loud footsteps and sensing a uneasy energy around her at times in her apartment (where I spend much of my time). She is not a superstitious person and generally regards my interest in the occult to be ineffective and overly complicated at best, to distracting at worst. So it is odd that she has been reporting these phenomena to me, the other night she even refused to go into her own apartment.
I mostly do my rituals in my own apartment but I have occasionally done a few like the LBRP, BRH, and Middle Pillar there. Could the noises she is hearing be some kind of elemental attracted by the LBRP? Does anyone here have similar stories about little nasties/astral junk? I sensed nothing when I went in her apartment and even did an LBRP in the area. Also prescribed a psalm 91 reading to ease her nerves

agreed,
and just because Crowley seems to have "failed" one single jugorum trial among probably hundreds hardly proves that this method is always ineffective for Crowley and all Thelemites. This is basic statistics; making the conclusion that jugorum doesn't work based on just one random recorded trial is quite flawed.

Crowley probably did hundreds of jugorum trials alone and his followers have done thousands more, you would have to survey a good sample of all them to say anything about the results of jugroum.

ok thanks jim this is very helpful,

for once I think my prior love of Jesus as an evangelical might actually come in handy, I remember being "caught up in the spirit" after reflecting on his love for us and I am sure those same feelings can be applied to other gods/goddesses.

Can a relative beginner use the practices of liber astarte or is this sort of practice reserved for more skilled practioners, is there any danger of being deceived by something besides the god you are invoking?

And can I guy invoke a female goddess or is that really gonna mess with his head if hes not ready for it?

I am trying to find some concrete methods for developing my tarot divination skills. I'm looking for something with which I can look back at the divination and actually say with certainty that it was correct. But I don't want to profane the art by asking things like "Will the Jets win the Superbowl etc?" But these kind of questions are appealing because they have "scientifically" verifiable results (they either win or don't, I am either wrong or right). I want to have some proficiency with tarot divination before I delve into things that require it, like Gray magick, but I don't know what questions to ask. Could I maybe do readings for friends, I'm just trying not to become a "fortune-teller" since I'm trying to line up all magical talents and such with the Great Work.

haha oh well, better luck next time

First off, a shout to Alrah for convincing me to switch from the dragon posture to a simple sukasana, i was able to focus on pranayama much easier. Anyway during a 20 minute session after the LBRP, BRH, Middle Pillar, and Circulation of BOL, I sat down and did a very simple breathing mantra to "Hear me O Lord, your humble servant", for whatever reason I later switched to just observing my breathing.

This is the first time I can say that "something" happened, I can best describe what was happening as hypnagogic imagery, like when you start to fall asleep. At one point, Genesis 6:8 popped into my head, I didn't know the verse off-hand, I looked it up later, it reads, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." Probably just a coincidence but who knows? After some more strange images, including an interaction with the Beast himself in which I asked him to bring me with him on an astral projection, I blacked out and came to when my alarm went off.

Given the nature of the images I was seeing and the dream-like Crowley encounter, did I just fall asleep lol? I find it hard to believe I fell asleep with my back nice and straight but I was feeling pretty "exalted" and comfy after an intense Middle Pillar. Any thoughts? is this a common problem during meditation?

i have been doing the LBRP regularly for just about 4 months now and I am in the same boat you are in. At times the pentagrams leave a "residue" of blue flame behind but i cant say I "see" them with my physical vision. As for the archangels i visualize them with my eyes closed but I am slowly beginning to sense them, especially with the added visualiztions of their elemental correspondences (heat coming from Michael, a gust of wind from Raphael etc.)

I have had more success with the feelings that come from the ritual, I can feel my body parts vibrate with the Kabalistic Cross and their is a definite sense of peace and cleanliness after the ritual is finished. Kraig says in modern magick it's enough to just KNOW these things are there, and that if you had better astral senses, you would see them. Don't get caught up on the cool visuals, practice and practice some more and know that those pentagrams are there. Also it helps me to revisualize the entire circle and pentagrams as I can sometimes lose focus of a certain one when I face another direction and come back to it.

Why are you so caught up on your heritage and the evils of Christianity? I am Italian American but I don't sit around fuming about how the Austrio-Hungarians killed my great uncle during World War I etc. The subjugation and extermination of many tribes should be more attributed to old racial ideas and steroeotypes rather than religious ones alone; that the White Aryan was destined to move west just as his White Teutonic ancestors did. It was the same racial attitude that led to our deplorable treatment of the Hawaiians and later the Filipinos.

I'm no fan of nominal Christianity either but do not use Crowley to justify your hatred of it. He certainly detested many Christians of his time and the religion they twisted to suit their needs but to say that he agreed with you on all things pertaining to Christianity is a gross misinterpretation. Crowley respects mystics like Jesus, Augustine, Ignatius of Loyolla, he just hates dogma. Regardie displays an even more sympathetic view to some Christian mystics, values, and systems of mysticism.

You would do well to remember that Christian missionarys and Catholic priests were some of the few people actually arguing that Native Americans and other indigenous people deserved fair treatment and equal rights. Frankly I'm tired of hearing how Indians have some kind of special access to spiritual knowledge just because they refused to accept that the world changes and because they were history's doormat for the last few hundred years.

alrah and friends, theres not a lot of evidence that giving someone the finger comes from any aspect of the Hundred Years" War or English longbowmen. I'm not trying to be argumentative im just bored at work.

Is it absolutely necessary to have every divine name and sigil written on the magical tools, Crowley doesn't even seem to mention sigils and names and such when talking about the tools in book 4? I am having trouble fitting all the names on my dagger and I was wondering if it is a big deal if I just leave a few out or exclude all the names. Would my altar be unbalanced if I have the sigils and names written on the other tools but not the dagger?

and now that I think of it, your explanation is further evidenced by the fact that lately the nature of the pain has switched from back pain to foot pain, meaning I am definitely slumping without noticing it, Ill try keeping a book on my head again to avoid this. thanks again

aha thank you! while I will need to try it for a prolonged period of time to make sure the numbness doesn't return, it seems like I have been slumping and just kind of plopping down on my feet. More focus on keeeping my back straight and "braced" seems to be a good improvement.

it might help you a bit to meditate on the Book of Job and the whole Lord of the Darkness and the Light prayer you referred to before. This may because I am still shaking the vestiges off of my former Christian past, but I do feel that God/HGA will test you. Remember that Satan was once merely an accuser, under the jurisdiction of God to test people's faith, and presumably make them as gold.

"YHWH gave and YHWH has taken away; blessed be the name of YHWH"

Doing the dragon pose for roughly 25 minutes a day, I am getting some extreme numbness in my right lower leg especially. As expected my pain has been getting increasingly difficult over the duration of my practice but from what Crowley says that is actually a good sign that hopefully the worst will be over soon. But I am a little puzzled by the numbness. Is it to be expected in the dragon pose or am i sitting the wrong way? Or is it a sign that I am doing something correctly? thanks

im sorry im not really experienced to answer most of your questions, but I am curious do you just stab yourself with the Jugorum needle? You might want to try using a thick rubber band and snapping it on your wrists, it's not quite like a razor blade but the welts and redness go away quickly and you can mark your slips ups on the rubber band with a pen. Since you are primarily working on Asana mostly focus on oaths for controlling your body (no itching, no biting fingers, etc.) It's been pointed out in another thread that the Jugorum practice seems to be most useful in conjunction with your current meditation focus.

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Get started!!!! Don't be afraid to do a ritual just because you haven't analyzed very single aspect of it (though eventually this is important), I made that mistake and wasted valuable practice time, magick is something you do. Also don't neglect meditation, sitting still in a painful posture might not be as exciting as the Middle Pillar ritual but don't make the mistake of just going for the "cool" stuff right away. I too, live nowhere near a Thelemite group but if you really believe that you were meant to follow this path, than one will come to you, visualize it, see yourself in the robes. Good luck

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