College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Can anyone recommend one translation of the Zohar over another? Also, could you direct me to them? Thanks!

Ok thanks!

I don't pretend to have any real experience in magick. I'm mostly focusing on just building a strong and informed mind and body before embarking on anything (also, don't have a room of my own at the moment). But in my life, I've been noticing the number 222 come up a lot. Also 22, but I have a feel of that being a less full expression. I could very well be interpreting this in a biased way, but I also get the feeling from it of a guide, but the kind you're terrified of because you know the sheer magnitude of what he represents. Also seems to provoke a bit of humor in me, but very dry and not altogether pleasant. This is all a single very specific feeling seeing this number provokes in me.
Interpret that how you will, or not at all, what I'm asking for is for someone more knowledgable to do an analysis of 222. It has only recently occurred to me that 2+2+2=6 Tiperath, which would certainly fit with the feeling it gives me. Of course, I have up to now kept no record of the appearances and my feelings at the time, so I may simply be projecting feelings on my past. The only connection with 22 I can think of is the trumps, which I'm not terribly familiar with and seem kind of unspecific in that regard. So life story out of the way, any help would be appreciated.

Second, are there any resources, internet or otherwise, to make gematria and such easier?
Thanks

If I may, I think of my true will (as I can think of it, on the level of my body and it's material life) in terms of the passage in Liber Al vel Legis, where it says something along the lines of: if you partake in a pleasure, increase in taste. Having established a stable food supply, I can no longer tolerate McDonalds all the time. I could be a "selfish" person and, say, not let the other monkeys into the pool, but it is a higher pleasure to allow everyone to have it, it makes me feel good about myself in a more tasteful and fulfilling way than an excess of hot baths could. Or, to go off of the running question, running hurts at one level, but leaves you with a deep, good feeling for the rest of the time, and satisfies a subconcious need to feel confidant about one's appearance. If I can enjoy sitting and resting my legs for most of my day, I then want to start to spend part of my time making that rest a better experience, through the pain of running. In exercise there is also even a deep satisfaction in the pain itself, and through experience one develops a sort of taste for pain, without being a masochist. I find muscle soreness and aerobic fatigue to be a good feeling a one level, but if I have knee or ankle problems there is nothing satisfying about that pain. That is how I live "Do as thou wilt" in my daily life. But I also see my "True Will" as the culmination of all my taste, as a sense of purpose is what I find to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest pleasure to be had. Part of "Do as thou wilt," I think, is to say to this: Who cares why this is so satisfying? Who cares why I want this? I want it, I am currently satisfied by working towards it, increasing my pleasure and taste in all things, and if the universe also seems to be designed to fulfill my Will, all the better!

Thanks, this has been a huge help!

Thanks, this all helps. It never occurred to me that these are the stars in the planetary disk (at least that's the idea I'm getting). And the mechanism in the Astral world makes a lot of sense. But are you saying that there are ancient sources that indicate two or three extra planets? Phoenix, you're right about art coming with difficulty to me, but I do have a good deal of experience in music. If I may explain my thoughts on the matter with such a metaphor, any use of music beyond scales is an art, but it still has its basis in music theory, which has its basis in wave mechanics. Same might apply in a different way for the application of any science. I just wanted to know that the basis did exist.

Coming from a rationalist background, I'm having some problems reconciling astrology with what we now know about the universe. From much of Crowley's writing he advocates applying scientific vigor to the occult studies. Granted, the study mentioned on solunars is a start, but it seems to still have some pretty wide gaps with the observed universe. For instance, how do we reconcile the effects and importance of the zodiac with the fact that they are made of stars, pictures that only exist from our sun's perspective, for a cosmologically short time period? What mechanisms are proposed for the effects claimed? Why does the astronomically much more important milky way have such a lesser role than these twelve pictures? How do we determine the effects of the planets? For the inner six, we have ancient tradition, but for the recently discovered three, how were attributes allocated? And furthermore, how did the ancients fail to note their influence? I don't mean to sound so aggressive and skeptical, this is just the major obstacle I have to embracing Thelema or any Western esoteric tradition, and I want to get my concerns out of the way, if possible. I have similar problems with the other branches of the occult, but I am much less knowledgable about them and they are not as much of an underlying principle as astrology is.

Hey, I'm an 18 year old student from near DC. I've been reading a lot of Crowley and definitely like his impressive persona, for one, and the approach to life that he put forward. Til now my studies have been based in rationalism, hoping to gain some knowledge of the occult and to figure out how to start practicing basic magick. Also, I'm hoping to gain some familiarity with the options for occult organizations and such after I'm done with college/get a car.