College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

@Froclown said

"I know because Chaos Magick is a result of modernism, it is Post-modern which is actually worse as the Modern era was distress at what Nietzsche called the death of God and the Post-modern is fully embracing this death.

The Death of God means the separation of the Materialist man from the Transcendent. This total fall into degeneration, Chaos not only has fallen away from the Transcendent it has WIllfully Cut all ties. It has totally divorced itself from the Third order, the A.'.A.'. or the sanctuary behind the cloud. That is they choose the cloud and not only deny the sanctuary, they say if it does exist we must destroy it. "

I don't know how you arrive at this conclusion. i guess it depends on the individual approach to Chaos Magick, which for me starts from mathematics and "Chaos Theory" which is a radical new breakthrough area of mathematics practically non-existent until 1972. Crowley concedes in "Magick in Theory and Practice" that mathematics is our purest link to God

"This is the ultimate degeneration into nihilistic materialism, which the Secret chiefs of the white brotherhood set up the New Aeon to prevent and to reverse. The re-establishment of the link to the Transcendent, under a new Law and Formula, that allows one to Cross the Abyss left by the Death of God, and directly reach the higher order. These Adepts then are not priests of God but Emissaries or Prophets of the White Brotherhood."

the language of chaos magick simply does not resonate with your archaic, literal and myopic mentality.

"That being said, Chaos magick has developed some very effective techniques which can be used for Thelemic or Old aeon ends, but the fact that it actively discourages the having of any purpose, beliefs, or world view, and actively denounces the TRUE WILL, then Chaos magick as a system is a destructive anti-system. However as a body of techniques and metaphysical explanations, Chaos magick can be an aid to to ones WILL. So long as one does not go too deep into denouncing the HGA as an Evil Apparition"

This may be your understanding of Chaos Magick according to Peter Carroll and/or the IOT, not Chaos Magick according to Scapegoat; yet we concur largely by synchronicity not by indoctrination, it is simply a well coined phrase that resonates with me, and his approach is innovative, preliminary and foundational, a whole new paradigm has been opened for future scientists to explore.

@RifRaf said

"How can the LBRP be used for invoking ones HGA? I tried to speculate, and find a suitable formula, but came up empty handed. But, my head is pretty vacant when it comes to Thelemic material. "

While this is a very personal thing - everyone needs to find his or her own formula - here are a couple of categories of approach.

(1) Remember the advice given to the Probationer never to assume that the name of any god refers to any god at all except that which is most intimately and personally known to oneself. That is (in this sense), understand that every Divine Name vibrated is simply a different aspect of one's HGA, and see where that leads you.

(2) Every mathematical detail of the pentagram is an expression of the HGA and one's relationship thereto. In the broadest sense, the pentagram (in the ratios of the different parts of the five lines) is the best mathematical expression of the Golden Mean, which mathematically expresses that "the lesser is to the greater as the greater is to the whole" - essentially, "That which is above is like unto that which is below," etc. Those well experienced in the pentagram ritual are mindfully invoking the relationship of oneself to the HGA with every stroke of the finger or sword. - At a more complex level, these mathematical ratios end up expressing the gematria values of every Divine Name used in the ritual. It's all very tightly connected, and every gesture or breath ends up being an invocation of the Divine.

I do have a tendance to write invocations and the such in lyric form. The reason being, it is much easier to memorise and flows much better in working.

@Techpries said

"Any instruction relating to the Emerald Tablet or Kybalion?"

None. (The Emerald Tablet is quoted in one Class D document that isn't required and, in any case, is only quoted. The Kybalion is from entirely outside the system. IIRC it was at least reviewed in The Equinox.)

Thanks all for the advice, this is a truely great community here. I agree with what all y'all said, I think it is a combination of all those things. I think I now know what I need to do.

93,
Kenneth

Thanks so much for the reply,

That clears much up. I am reading John St. John as I type this, quite interesting.

Its partly due to the Endorphin rush one gets from accomplishing something that one worked hard on.

An actor who remembers his lines, and completes his scene despite stage fright probably has a similar rush.

But their is more to it that this, the actual ritual is geared to have this kind of an effect.

@gmugmble said

"Wasn't one of the points of Crowley's "John St John" work to show that one could lead a normal life and a magical life at the same time?"

Yeah, but that wasn't about a beginner! 😆 That was Crowley's 6=5 self-initiation.

@Techpries said

"I actually have changed jobs since I posted this, but I was a maintenance worker for a restaurant. Getting an office job has eliminated most of these issues."

Oops! Got to read those dates on the top of the post.

Belated congrats on the new job.

@gmugmble said

"
@dshoemaker said
"Crowley has some useful suggestions, in Magick Without Tears IIRC, such as the practice of classifying all our day-to-day experiences into one or another sphere or path on the Tree. Orange leaves draw our mind to the sphere of Hod, the moon reminds us of Yesod, the angry guy on the freeway is associated with Geburah, and so on."

I was 16 or 17 when I read that advice, and decided to try it out, in the "light-hearted" manner that he suggests. At the time, I had a part-time job in a fast food restaurant, and one of the first things I saw when I began this practice was a pile of uncooked chicken pieces (legs and thighs and so on). I was stymied! Where the heck on the Tree of Life do you put uncooked chicken parts? To this day (decades later) the question annoys me, and perhaps this is the reason I have made so little progress on my spiritual path. 😀"

you could've just referenced the colours of the body parts

Yes, there is a mental state that can freeze and even reverse time. It's called boredom. 😆

93

i think its a great idea to go to the OTO, and very quite possibly there maybe members there that could help you. i can tell you the 1st time i went to a magickal group of ppl, whihc was the OTO, i had been practicing magick for about 7 years. and i thought they would think i was some type of magick genius or guru, boy was i wrong. but through them i learnt most the rituals i was doing i was fucking alot of stuff up, as well as saying almost every magickal name completely wrong. my desicion to check out the OTO was a life changing one i will never regret.
but with that said i was lucky enough to check out a very wonderful OTO body, and since then i have seen bodies that was much less than wonderful. each body has its own feel, is own life. so go check one out and see how it goes. there is far so much to gain and the only thing to loose is the time you spent checking it out.
1 other thing i would recommend is to go to at least 3 events before deciding if this is for you. give it a chance. and you should know within 3 events.

93s

Related to this topic: Is there a good invocation of Therion out there? I tried googling but didn't find anything. Could I use the invocation of Pan from MTP as an invocation of Therion? Or is this another case where if I want something done right I'm going to have to do it myself?

😄

It was... Hard to describe. Good luck. 😄

"So, your horoscope could be a clue to your true will?"

It could, but I personally would not make that the point of focus, or an obssessive tendency might arrange itself in a manner that may determine the alignment of actions toward the Angel that may not be appropriate. [grin]

Then again, Do what thou wilt.

"I wish we had a lodge nearby. sighs Sad"

There was once a Oasis in Santa Fe that offered the Gnostic Mass twice monthly, but it has since closed its doors. That said, if ever you are given the opportunity to experience the Mass, it is an experience of sublime beauty.

But, then I have always been a sucker for a naked goddess! 😉

Personally, I'd warn that satisfying your ego is not the same as following "True Will." They're capitalized for a reason. I've found my ego doesn't necessarily want what's right or best for me.

Usually I've found the more difficult path is actually the right one, honestly. Establishing a 'conscious contact' is the first step to really understanding what I mean. It allows you to develop an intuition as to what's the right course of action. YMMV.

93 - JG

@DeoAdjuvante said

"During my research at the Warburg, I came across a hand written recipe for a magical BBQ created by Crowley! 😀"

Yeahy, yeah, well-known... but not Qabalistic! 😆 😆

Plus, a lot of the guests didn't want the steaks after they heard he missed random sexual fluids into the solution. 👿 👿 👿

everywhere I turn, I am reminded that I need to get those books. lol.

P.S. as far as my supposed quote from Liber L, I was just reading Duty and ended up paraphrasing something from that without remembering exactly where it came from.

I appreciate the info Jim, I also appreciate your not pushing any particular set of instructions on me (like so many "teachers"). I actually began with the meditation on the tarot today. I got some very interesting results during and after meditation on the fool. Once again, thanks much.