College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

I just noticed that I did not share about this card yet. I promise, I will get the hang of this eventually!

Here is a bit from my diary about this card:

Today with meditation on the 3 of disks (Tower/Devil flanking):
...thoughts of industry...of using all parts of oneself...of using the seeming obstacles in your Work...of being "on the court"….of the Angel putting obstacles in your path to "use" as opportunities for breakthrough….that doing the work of breaking through our illusions regarding the limited view of ourselves is THE WORK. ..our working this work is the fuel of which to do our Work...walking the walk not just talking the talk….reality, in this timeline….

I regret having to admit this, but I have fallen behind in the meditations. I have been keeping this card, with the flanking ones, on my mind all week, but haven't formally meditated on them. But there is one thing interesting to note; during this time I bought a new car. This was my first new car and first time with a car payment.

I will proceed with catching up with the meditations.

giving the update on this meditation, a little late...

I picked starting with this card, the Ace of Disks, instead of going to the beginning. I don't have anything obvious to contribute from the actual meditation. However, I have noticed that my life has taken a new direction...like the seed and first sprouting of a new direction...hmmm

I would like to join in on this, starting today. Is that ok or is there a better time for me to begin?

Sent from my BlackBerry 9850 using Tapatalk

RANT WARNING, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

Seriously, WTF?

And why does it seem that most of them love to argue inane points of Thelema, Crowley, etc.? More often than not, they are not even understanding the original point. They just seem invested in hearing themselves bicker. Maybe it makes them feel intelligent or something.

I'm just annoyed because forums like this one can potentially be such a cool place to exchange ideas, but these freak-tards tend to create a space that's no fun to be in.

Alright, I went overboard with "freak-tard" didn't I?

And people wonder why more woman don't participate....come to think of it, that's probably a question these idiots are quite familiar with.

END RANT

heavy sigh

Jim, why oh why do you waste your time with contentious a$$holes like aum418?

Here I come back to this forum with a resolve to engage in and enjoy community of a Thelemic setting...and I find a reason as to why I don't bother in the first place.

I have decided to keep with my commitment to myself and call it like I see it. No doubt I'll come off like an a$$hole myself, but what the hell. And leave myself open to attack, I suppose. It just gets annoying to have to read through all these idiots.

Excellent topic!

By no means am I an expert on this, but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents on the topic.... and invite any corrections on my assumptions. And all my observations are in the domain of, "What do you do if you don't know your True Will yet?"

I've gathered that doing your True Will has a certain amount of "joy" in it, although it can also be hard, especially if one is overly identified with their personality. I mean, it is what we were "meant to do" and "who to be" right? And in addition to joy there is a "rightness" and added energy present. Any hardship present while doing your True Will would be caused by the personality "putting on the brakes" so to speak, or going against the natural flow which is the True Will (not to be confused with what the personality calls 'natural' for what that is really just familiarity.)

So, it brings up the question of how do you tell if something in the moment is your True Will or not? The practical advice I once heard a certain wise man give ( ) in regards to this is that at any given moment, choose the thing that rings true in your gut as being the most right,... that will be the closest thing to your True Will in that moment.

Also, if something is hard or scary I ask myself, what is the quality of the hardship and fear? Is there a thrill there also or an excitement? Then it might be that my personality has to let go of something and embrace more of my true self. Is the hardship just draining and drudgery? Then maybe its not my true will but rather some lesson on the path.

The above might be rather simplistic, however I think that most human beings get very caught up in automatic reponses and ways of being. Also, as human beings we are conditioned to identify with our personality "T-shirts." So it takes a multitude of small steps, I believe, of bringing more consciousness into our thoughts and daily choices. This is the path or 'moment to moment' practice of discovering one's True Will, in my opinion.

I also believe that if we leave out this practice, we can do any amount of Star Ruby's, LBRP's, Reguli, what have you...it won't get you squat in the area of discovering one's True Will. Of course, I'm also of the same opinion as Regardie in that all magician's should get therapy!

Ok, back to work for me...thank you for bringing up this topic, it seems to have brightened up my previously miserable day!

Thank you God, for providing me with a much needed laugh this morning!

"But I guess I actually expected the OTO initiations to have more power than you two give the impression of them having. But like one of you said, they serve very different purposes."

Just to clarify exactly what I meant...I don't mean to give the impression that the O.T.O. initiations are mild in any way. I actually think they are very powerful.

However, the O.T.O is a social and political organization. Any inner work is entirely up to the individual. A person could hypothetically, go up through quite a few degrees within the O.T.O. system without going through much inner Work. I personally know quite a few people who, IMO, fall into this catagory. Originally I felt pretty bitter about this...I felt if a person was say, oh, a fifth degree, well then they should act it. When I got clear on the O.T.O.'s actual purpose, I then could "get over it."

You did not state this but if there is any question in your mind about whether you should do O.T.O. or A.'.A.'. , my vote is for A.'.A.'. That's where the real juice is!

93,

I can give my 2 cents concerning my personal experience. I am an initate of the T.O.T. and the O.T.O. and the two don't seem to conflict...for the most part. But I will be careful in the timing my next O.T.O initiation. When I took my Minerval's, I was going through a pretty intense time with my T.O.T work and KABAMM!...my life went topsy turvy (oh what a pretty way of putting it!) And looking back I can see it was entirely necessary in the futherence of my True Will.

But in general, I don't think the two conflict and that seems to be the consensus I've heard from others. Probably because they serve different ends. My inner work is done through my T.O.T. work as well as getting me ready for the A.'. A.'. The O.T.O. does not do this for me, rather its a social order and a place for me to meet fellow thelemites. My issue would just be in sceduling it in the "right" time as the O.T.O. initiations do pack a punch. Only your intuition can tell you when is the right time.

93 93/93