College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Aye?

@FiatYod said

"I can guess the reason for that is (at least) one of the following:

• They get lots of emails every day
• They check their email very seldom
• The task of taking care of new applications has a low priority on their daily schedules
• They need to run some background tests before responding
• They want to test your patience

So I should just email the Chancellor and wait for a year? "

Never forget the all-pervasive administrative incompetence. You shouldn't have to wait a year for a reply to an email.

I thought it was good as a Hollywood movie, but also a very dystopian and depressing vision of our future. The suggestion that we are not meant to save the planet, we are meant to leave it, and basically suggesting that wiping out every other species on the planet through environmental catastrophe is an integral part of our evolution certainly fits with the Neoliberal kamikaze philosophy.

It seemed to present the coming evolution of man as a sentimental secular humanist trapped in a never-ending k-hole (that's what the tesseract looked like to me anyway).

I'm not sure if it was intended as a warning of the hell we are driving ourselves toward or propaganda from the Black Lodge to drive us all to consume more and hasten the coming environmental apocalypse.

Not to mention the unwholesome images of bears that have human personalities. Like Paddington Bear. Or the one off that movie. Ted I think it was called. Some powerful Juju going on there.

If you look here:

http://esotericarchives.com/

And scroll down, under Giordano Bruno there's a section surveying the Sigillum Dei Aemeth as it appears in various manuscripts, pre-Dee and post-Dee.

Most people with a casual opinion about Crowley only know what was said about him by the gutter press, or authors who were intentionally assasinating his character. They probably don't realise that this is where their information has come from so maybe bring it to their attention. Ask them why as a Pagan or occultist they are swallowing nonesense from the Christian Right elements in the press.

There appears to be a whiteboard on the wall at the back of the picture. That must be very helpful for "doing the qabalah".

But I do like the image of Hrumachis pacing up and down in front of his whiteboard which is covered in qabalistic scrawlings talking animatedly to himself as he tries to figure out some obscure passage in the Zohar. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue the answer comes - "yes, yes, it's been right in front of my eyes all this time!" "I have it! I have it!"

It's also worth considering that you probably won't be struck down by an angry god if you do some stretching warm up exercises before you start. All other forms of physical exercise start with a warm up.

I did gymnastics as a child, and I remember how flexible I was at that age, compared to as a grown up. Middle aged westerners have very stiff unflexible joints which is why we struggle with some postures more than others. This is why I have never even tried the dragon asana, just looking at a picture of it tells me all the problems I would have with it. Fortunately Crowley gave us a way out of all the unnecessary suffering and potential damage in the form of a reading list which contains books full of easy postures which one can choose.

@Silenci said

"This is a good example of when "The Comment" should be obeyed."

I obey "The Comment" to the letter and freely discuss the contents of the Book with anyone who will listen.

"The study of this Book is forbidden. It is wise to destroy this copy after the first reading."

Yea! but I am a fool, a flutterer!

"Whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril. These are most dire."

So is crossing the road in Camberwell.

"Those who discuss the contents of this Book are to be shunned by all, as centres of pestilence."

Al-Quaeda have really got it in for me.

"All questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself."

Fortunately, my inspired folly guided me to retain my copy of Liber Al and all my other Crowley books.

etc...

You could have look over this:

evocationmagic.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34

it's a simplified guide to Solomonic evocation. That forum is all about evocation so it's worth having a look through it.

These days as there are many more grimoires published it's also possible to read numerous ones and decide which one appeals to you the most. Different ones have different approaches and characteristics.

@Archaeus said

"I think that this whole thing merely puts us into the mouth of Choronzon"

An inevitable result of people who were expelled from, or never members of an Order claiming to be it's Heads? The cracks are starting to show.

@Los said

"The most important takeaway point is that if you seriously find yourself hesitating to do what you authentically want to do because some book has some apparent ill-defined "rule" against it, then the message of the Book of the Law has not gotten through to you yet."

I agree with this mostly, except I don't think the comment is ill-defined, I think it is very well worded. I see it acting as a filter, anyone who can't wield sharp enough discrimination and relate it to the text it's attached to has, as you suggest, not absorbed the message of the Book. Anyone who is looking for a book to follow slavishly should burn it and forget about Thelema until they can stand on their own two feet.

Yeah, I think questions of timelines and which part of a class A document really is class A and which part can be considered less than A (A- maybe?) are red herrings. What's written down on paper, the tangible manifestation of the impulse that started in Aiwass' consciousness is what cannot be changed or edited. So we have XXXI in it's unchanging form, and anything that deviates from it is a different book, not a true transcription.

The answer to this seems simple to me. As has already been considered here, Crowley continued to work on the poem and made a little change, but as Liber Al tells him not to change a single letter of the Book he felt he was barred from implementing the change in Liber Al itself, but he could implement it when printed separately from Liber Al. After all, he is directly instructed not to make changes so once the ink is on the page that's it, and that's how it stays. The book probably doesn't say "no one else in years to come should change it either" because it's patently absurd for anyone else to do so, and it was inconceivable that anyone would try to.

The law of diminishing returns could work out very badly when evoking a spirit with 30 teeth. Sorry couldn't resist.

@Frater Aurum said

"I still think that for the purposes of examination it is important to hold everyone to the same standard, and to demonstrate competence in the task, so for the purposes of examination Liber E should be followed. However for continuing practice beyond examination conditions it is really up the student how they proceed."

Exactly. So if you need a prop for a position, choose a different position. Then you can be examined in it without any unnecessary variables being brought in. Hatha Yoga Pradipika has plenty of positions, some of the cross legged ones can be done with the least chance of long term damage to joints. Especially if you start out with short amounts of time in the asana, like 10 minutes and increase gradually.

@Patthana Gati said

"I have been disappointed by the talk Wasserman posted on Youtube on Thursday. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmDsxyTc3a8"

Is there any truth to the rumour that just after the recording was stopped, an unidentified individual stands up and with a cry of "Allahu Akbar!" throws a sandal at him?

@Archaeus said

"I too have had Motta lineage people distance themselves from me over the subject."

Motta must be spinning in his grave, being associated with people who he either expelled or who resigned from the Order when he was in charge!

Re: "Succes is thy proof" - even if an Order is highly successful, that won't change their history, and if they started off on a dishonest footing, they will be forever tainted by the lie of their origins.