College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

@ThelemicMage said

"Apologies for my laziness, however reading through this post, ask I must if what is referred to as "Ο ΩΝ", or "He Who Is", is the equivalent of Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, "I am Who/That/What I am"?

Many thanks,

Frank

93
93/93"

Well, I don't know, it could be. I don't have the hebrew version of the old testament and even if I did I wouldn't be able to tell if the pronunciation of the words would match to "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh". But I think you can find on the net one of Eliphas Levi original french versions of magic and ritual where these words are first presented.... I think.

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@Sarreth said
"Also, "ON" is the reply that god gives about who he is, in the old testament.
-"Who are you?" **
-"Ο ΩΝ"** (Greek for "HE WHO IS")"

That's quite strange, since the Old Testament wasn't written in Greek.
"

Yeah but it was the oldest language it was translated afterwords, the most spoken language of the time.

"It's an Egyptian name for the Sun. In fact, it's the older Egyptian name of the city the Greeks called Heliopolis."
That makes sense since Heliopolis literaly means "Suncity"

@Veronica said

"
@milkBoxx said
"Someone confessed to me today after several years of wondering what is going on with me that they had taken blood
from me while I slept (ex-roomie) and bound it to a goetic demon. I believe him just because of how much stuff has happened
to me. How would I unbind this being from myself? I try to banish but it doesn't work."

Dear Milkboxx,

In my work I have learned a lot about binding and tying and joining things, yet it seems as not too many cover the untying, unbinding aspects.

In the mundane world, I have spent hours undoing things all bound up, and I have learned a few things about binding. Confidence is key, know that you can and will succeed!!

So while I don't play with goetic demons I feel Safe in saying to you
That because blood was used, you should proceed in this unbinding with focus, intent, safety and protection. Unbindings can be like surgery, and a slip of the blade can be.....not good.

If this was me, I would do everything possible to strengthen my bodies....all of them. Eat raw whole foods, excersize to the point of breaking a sweat, regulate your sleeping habits, espicially....I personally would take multivitamins, fish oil supplements and melatonin supplements.

I could be wrong in this part, but it is my understanding that demons resonate at a very low, base frequency.

When you strengthen your bodies, espicially work on your etheric body, or astral body, or body of light...what ever you want to call it....be the light....
"
Energy work is important for that matter. How are you going to cast away a demon... if you don't have energy? (and one of good quality, too)
An exorcism is as strong as the exorcist is.

@Takamba said

"I don't know if this is a disagreement or an intent to ask you to make clarification or dig deeper, but if it were true that "every act, and sequence of acts, can become a Ritual in magical sense, if the awareness is there, accompanied with intention," then every child who blows out their birthday candles should have their wish come true. Of course, there are "ineffectual magical acts," so maybe that's why "the Secret" got out. "

That's why "energy work" is becoming a prominent term in the occult... hehe

Also, "ON" is the reply that god gives about who he is, in the old testament.
-"Who are you?" **
-"Ο ΩΝ"** (Greek for "HE WHO IS")

"ΩΝ" is pronounced same as the word "on" in english. It can be translated as "being".
I don't know if this has any connection. Could be an egyptian god as Jim mentioned.

Thank you all for your responses, they've been most informative.

@Takamba said

"
Sarreth, I have a funny feeling the concepts of awareness and concentration are not exactly what you are thinking of them as being at this moment.

Maybe awareness you've figured out - for instance, when you sit down for your morning ritual of having breakfast, are you aware of your action when you tuck your napkin into your shirt under your chin, or do you do so mindlessly out of years of repetition? That would be lacking awareness. If you happen to be in the habit of smoking cigarettes, have you ever lit a cigarette only to discover that as you place it to your ashtray that you already had one lit and burning just seconds before? That would be lacking awareness. Total awareness - or what I term "mindfulness" requires constant practice and vigilance before you will achieve that certain clarity of awareness that I can only describe as pure glass compared to what you were so used to expecting your awareness to be."
You describe awareness very accurately. One should also note, that there have been masters/initiates that have focused SOLELY on awareness. Krishnarmuti and Osho come to my mind, but there have been so so many others who have focused on acquiring awareness. One reason being, in my point of view, that awareness is the basis of astral projection (and projection of all kinds) which allows one to perform his own research in the atsral rather than count on books, divinations and subjective opinions on matters. All true knowledge that we have been given from books and other stuff has come directly from the astral-spiritual world (higher or lower) and awareness is the basis of being able to perceive and be conscioussly aware of this world. Correct?

@Jim Eshelman said

"
And awareness isn't usually sufficiently available at the beginning. So what is one to do? One is to stumble! Stumble and trip, trial and error. You use your very best common sense, intelligence,"
There have been techniques given by various initiates on acquiring awareness. Although it's probably obvious that there is no actual "method" of one to be... aware. I hoped that modern Thelemic sects would have elaborated more on the subject but nevertheless the nature of it is quite subjective.

"You use your very best common sense, intelligence, and intuition to detect what you want to demand from the universe, demand it absolutely, AND stand ready to accept whatever consequences abide in your getting it. "
Well put.

@danica said

"
during the day, we perform many rituals, but mostly without any awareness of what we are doing and with what purpose. every act, and sequence of acts, can become a Ritual in magical sense, if the awareness is there, accompanied with intention."
I wish all beginers of magick could comprehend that.

@ThelemicMage said

"
You MUST start here:

The Equinox Vol I, no. 1

In it is the postures for meditation, breathing and thought control exercises, as well as the first installment of "Hashish", a pharmaceutical view in this first installment. It also has basic ideas on what you are looking for regarding consciousness, being, intent, and concentration. All of these are VERY important in tuning your mind to your HGA, all seriousness intended.
"
I must have already read that in the past and even printed it. But I will check on the equinox material again.

"In other terms, there's no need to fool around with "lesser" magic until you learn the fundamentals of greater magick. By lesser magick, I mean the abilities of rending change with your casual day-to-day life. With greater magick, I mean organized ritual with concentrated intent on purification/banishing of negative energies, and invoking/divinity of positive/light energies.

Good luck, Friend. And if you need any of these, I have them in pdf format. Please send a private message. Be forewarned, some versions on the internet have the wrong attributions of the banishing versions of the spirit pentagram in the greater pentagram ritual. The correct banishing of spirit active goes from Air to Fire, and correct banishing of spirit passive goes from Water to Earth. "
Many thanks, for your interest and your advice.

@Veronica said

"
I believe that in order to create effective rituals it is vital to learn how to tell a good story. In order to learn how to tell stories, the stories must be internalized, known intimately to the story teller."
Heheh! Nice analogy with the dance. Just recently I realised that my ability to story tell has been..hmm..fainter. But maybe the problem lies in lack of inspiration (which is in itself a problem) or me not having worked with the throat chakra for some time. Things should be ok now.

@v0rtex666 said

"
Liber O is a good blueprint for various ritual engines. If you start there and customize the formulas I found it is a good basis. Understanding technical elements of rituals such as the LBRP and Star Ruby, why it is constructed the way it is, where it positions the operator in the Tree of Life and the dynamics"
Just thinking about the whole theoretics behind the tree of life, gives me headackes. There is just too much material on it. But I will check on liber O for the dynamics.

@RosenKreutz said

"
Hello. William Gray has a book called Magical Ritual Methods you might want to look into as well as Temple Magic."
I 've read the magical ritual methods, found it very interesting, but temple magick I've missed. Hopefully I'll find it in pdf somewhere on the net!

@danica said

"
@Sarreth said
"I would like to hear everyone's opinions on how to create one's own ritual and also to share views on the "musts" and "mustn'ts" and the steps required to do so."

my view on the "musts" (and thus the related "mustn'ts"), regardless of the technical aspects of preparing & performing the rit.: until you are an Adept, dedicate every ritual to Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

during the day, we perform many rituals, but mostly without any awareness of what we are doing and with what purpose. every act, and sequence of acts, can become a Ritual in magical sense, if the awareness is there, accompanied with intention."

So far all the answers I've seen had deep insight. Thank you all for your responses.
Now lets get more into the details.
So, in the begining is awareness. Then, being in awareness, one concetrates on the intent.
Question: How does one acquire awareness?
Say one is a neophyte, just joined a group of thelemites, how does the master advise him on being "aware"?

Ok, so we have the awareness thing handled. Concentration is relatively easy if awareness is achieved.

"The first thing to achieve is communion with one's holy guardian angel" (I rephrased it) (Note: I suppose by holy guardian angel, you refer to what I call, the Being, or, occasionally, the higher self, although I don't like that term that much)

So, how does one achieve "conversation" with his Holy Guardian Angel?

Any suggestion?

It seems to me that one is very restrained in his work of magick if he cannot actually use magick, in his own way, to bring about the results that he desires.

Therefore I would like to hear everyone's opinions on how to create one's own ritual and also to share views on the "musts" and "mustn'ts" and the steps required to do so.

I realise that the matter is very wide, but I hope that we get things in an order. Maybe it would be easier if one first classified a ritual in relation to it's purpose.

For example, is it an invoking ritual?
Is it a ritual that intends to affect circumstances?
Is it a ritual that intends to affect another human being or even one's self?

What is it about?

Afterwards one could outline the steps required to perform the ritual safely and effectively. References are also welcome for that matter.

-peace-

"Oh yes, Potater. Soma is one of the most mysterious sacraments to contemplate the meaning of."

If it is of any significance.. "Soma" in Greek means "body"..
We could be dealing with a different kind of flower here...

@bdc said

"four things to bear in mind about the ritual of the pentagram:

-the names "lesser" and "greater"/"supreme" are unfortunately misleading. don't make the mistake of thinking that the supreme ritual of pentagram is "better" or more important than the lesser ritual of pentagram. if anything it is much more vital to be familiar with the lesser than it is with the supreme.

-the generic lesser pentagram ritual is not banishing/invoking earth, even though they use the same directions and starting points. the crucial difference is colour and intention.

-one should connect the pentagrams as you move from one to another to create a horizontal circle which links the four.

-"agla" is not a divine name, it is an acronym of the sentence "ateh gibor le-olam adonai""

Thanks for your response bdc, you chose good points to emphisize.
I will incorporate the cycle that you mentioned, I found a reference of the cycle somewhere, but didn't gave much value to it.
For starting point I use the left "leg" of the pentagram. I also visualise it white. Is that color effective or is there a more effective one?
And I don't use the word "agla" I use the full sentece. I find it sluggish to use the abbrevation istead of the whole formula, since it is at hand.

@Dar es Allarah said

"
@Sarreth said
"Well... anywhere is suffocating when you have an ego. But in this era, with this humanity, in this city, well..."

Getting over the city making mentality... well... that's an evolutionary step as well.

I live in the country. I was born in a city but moved out. Cheap housing. No sirens. Beautiful scenery and animals... do yourself a favour and move!

www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0112.html#aeso"

I would, but I need to find my priestess first

Besides, I also need to work for the army of the Lord. One can go and live happily with the goats, but the goats show no interest whatsoever for the teachings of Buddha, Jesus, Crowley and whatever right hand or left hand master. Therefore my role there would be merely decorative unless I could somehow serve my "fellow" human beings from a distance. And therefore serve myself.

"http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0112.html#aesop"

So true...

"Also - may I remind you - it was 'suffocating' before the first ape started eating the fish and the possibility for reincarnation presented itself to the watchers. "
Well... anywhere is suffocating when you have an ego. But in this era, with this humanity, in this city, well...

" I also know that when you actually live in the moment and not vicariously that the times you know are going to happen are very different when you actually experience them even though their qualia are exactly the same."
Well, yeah

"'m merely suggesting it is a conduit to the original consciousness. The fungi Kingdom retains the link and was around before the extinction of the watchers. They are the first and ultimate alchemists and the handmaidens of the original consciousness. By providing the fungi kingdom with a link then their consciousness will merge with yours. Nothing at all to do with 'the enemy'. From my perspective you have already done this.
"
Interesting...

"
"
"Involution. Like a starved body that starts to eat itself. Yes - I am also concerned with this. "
We are, a fallen race. I'm concerned with those who have, delusions of freedom. Freedom being something twisted, dualistic, in their minds.

Indeed, attention is needed"

We hardly lack attention. Yet the origins of the watchers as far as I know are lost in the midst of time, and while the ongoing crisis presently occurs with the planetary ecology I am reminded that there have been 5 great extinction events already in the lifetime of this planet. Yet it did not erase their consciousness. Instead - it seems to have amplified it and gifted them with more than they had before their fall. "

Well, it seems that the harder the fall the stronger the coming up. It is said that some of the left hand initiates of our times will be major right hand initiates in the next "times". I wouldn't wait to find out though.

"This species has not fallen yet. And if they do they will arise once again, just as the watcher did after their species wide abyss."
Humanity right now is falling far below all the previous ones. If the next one falls, my guess is it will be even worse than the present. But there is always a golden era before that. I don't know If we'll get to see a golden age with this humanity though. The question is, how much pain are you willing to endure? And how much more "condensed" are you willing to become? It's suffocating in here already.

"Have you ever ventured to be one with the fungi kingdom? "
The fungi kingdom? No, I haven't. It doesn't sound familiar.

"Menstrual blood or semen given to a living batch of yeast should provide the conduit of the abiogenesis. "
I'm not sure I get what you are refering to, but nevertheless i would rather not dirty myself with atoms of the enemy. Some consider ejaculation a sacrifice, I consider it, idiocy. Of course that depends on the path you are treading. I would not judge one who has decided to take the "opposite" path.

"Deepening meditation practices will give you the capacity to witness your own mind's functionings and to prepare yourself for authentic communication when it is ready. Psychological practices, such as witnessing and examining your psychological projections, will fortify you enormously for working on the less concrete inner worlds."
Meditation and self-observation do take someone a long way indeed.

"
Where do you live? Those exact consequences arise out of the initiatic work of Temple of Thelema. (And, of course, you can persevere independently with things mentioned above.)"

I live in south-east europe, is there a temple of thelema active in "this part of town" ?

"There is a war in heaven... Be mindful of who you talk to."
There is a war closer than heaven..

"Have you also heard of the term 're-evolution'?"

The way I see it, there is only time for evolution, rather than, re-evolution. Although for some of us it might be re-evolution, of some kind.

"Involution. Like a starved body that starts to eat itself. Yes - I am also concerned with this. "
We are, a fallen race. I'm concerned with those who have, delusions of freedom. Freedom being something twisted, dualistic, in their minds.

Indeed, attention is needed

Jim Eshelman thank you a lot for your reply, it was, enlightening.

Basically the reason I was searching for the supreme ritual of the pentagram is because.. I don't know what else to look for.

To be more precise, I don't really know what kind of rituals can one use in this system(s) to evolve spiritually and/or come in contact with entities/energies that work for the evolution of man kind (rather than, involution).

I'm not really new to the world of magick, I'm just new to these particular systems which relate to Golden Dawn, Mathers, Crowley, Regardie etc. So I'm trying to introduce myself to these systems and see where they get me. But apparently I cannot do that without any help, as I couldn't and when I first began. I know every system, every group, every teaching, has it's own culture, it's own history, it's method and philosophy.

So, going back to the initial point: "what kind of rituals can one use to evolve spiritually and/or come in contact with entities/energies that work for the evolution of man kind (rather than, involution) "

I focus on the "rituals" because methods for psychic development I already have. But nevertheless any advice, method, or reference, is welcome. Sometimes you find jewels in the most unlikely of places.

Hi, I have just began practicing the LBRP and am interested in getting into Ritual Magick more seriously.

I've been trying lately to find a Greater Banishing Ritual to practice but the information on the net has left me puzzled.

From what I figured there is no actual greater banishing ritual, but you just use the invoking one and change the invoking pentagrams to banishing ones.

Yet, in different places I see different versions of the supposed invoking and banishing pentagrams.

The most precise instruction I've seen so far on the net (this one about LBRP) about pentagram drawing is "Start the pentagram from your left hip". It really frustrates me when vague words or images are used to specify direction - one thing can only be located in relation to another, not by itself. So it seems to me that only an 'expert' can guide one in those matters.

So, the question is, which pentagrams are for banishing and which for invoking

Is this picture, for example, accurate on that matter?
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9089/pentagrams.png