College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

I've been reading blogs and things by people who practice older systems of Western esotericism, and one remark I read is that creating a Table of Practice for one's altar, such as this one from Trithemius's Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals http://docs.google.com/File?id=dddfsnkx_287grzdm or the one from the Ars Paulina in the Lemegeton, obviates the need for penta/hexagram rituals, performing all their functions on its own. Can anyone else deny/confirm this?

Thanks for answering so completely (and answering my previous question about the paths around the Abyss to boot). To be honest I didn't know anything about 'working the sub-Sephiroth in a Sephirah'. What's that?

@Mephisto: You're welcome.

Hey everyone! It's time for V_I_N's Meaninglessly Specific Questions about the Qabbalah once again!

I was just reading about the Paths of Concealed Glory: an additional number of paths (I read 4 somewhere and 16 somewhere else) that connect the Sephiroth in addition to the more common 22 paths. I think this is intended to make things so that there is a path between any two Sephiroth on the Tree. Does anyone else know anything about this? What would be the point, and doesn't this clash with the whole assigning-the-Hebrew-letters-to-the-paths business?

To be honest, I see the best avenue for the practice of Thelema as an anarchist society. The individual communes, or whatever you want to call them, can function according to the True Wills of the people composing them, and if someone's Will clashes with the arrangement of that particular society, they are sure to find a new one if they do a bit of walking. Even if someone abuses the system and creates their own pocket tyranny, they'd only be dominating a small number of people.
Feel free to pick at all the holes in this-- I'm still trying to work out how an anarchist society would avoid technological regress. I'm thinking something with much scientific cooperation across the Internet, coordination of effort through anarchosyndicalist worker's councils, and technology rather more advanced than we currently have.

I've been recently reading the excellent graphic novel series Promethea, by Alan Moore. At one point in the story Sophie and her friend are ascending the Tree of Life, and cross the Abyss at one point, naturally. In the Abyss, Austin Osman Spare explains to them what the Tree was like before the fall, and how Daath was a Sephirah in its own right, with Paths leading to and from it-- The Beggar (Chesed-Daath) and The Fountain (Daath-Binah).
What??
Or, more specifically:
Are these Paths more than something Alan Moore made up out of his head?
Have these Arcana ever been a part of a Tarot deck?
Does this imply other Paths, i.e., Geburah-Daath and Daath-Chokmah?
Doesn't this throw the whole Hebrew-letter scheme of the Paths totally out of whack?
Where did Alan Moore get a weird idea like this?

(P.S. Other fun things occurring in Daath: they see the tower of the Black Brothers, get stalked by 'something like H P Lovecraft pulled out of his nose', witness the Choronzon Working firsthand, and meet Aleister Crowley, as a rather overweight woman, passing by along the Path of Gimel.)

On the other hand, the dominant ideologies I see are Christianity, Islam, and atheism. All of those are of Osiris to varying degrees. Most of my perspective on the Aeons derives from the article JAE put up about them, connecting them to the Qabbalistic stages of the soul (<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6153">viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6153</a><!-- l -->). As such, I don't see much progress in the direction of Neshamah, which would seem to entail a spreading interest in occultism and/or mysticism. Am I missing something? Only I don't see much of that happening. Aside from the fact that a lot of the knowledge is easier to get at via the Internet, and that there's a fair degree of innovation and variation occurring now, have we really progressed much farther?

I read a lot of SF, and it occurred to me that none of those novels predict a spiritual/occult revolution the way Thelema predicts for the later Aeon of Horus. So I was wondering-- what would happen in that situation? Imagine a few hundred years hence and the Aeonic change still doesn't appear to be coming anytime soon; how would we Thelemites reconcile that with our understanding of the Aeons?*

*I will admit that this question is partly motivated by the fact that I don't see anything like the seeds of the predicted change right now, and it's kinda worrying.

Between Mr Eshelman's posts here and his original post about the Aeons, I have never seen the path of initiation elucidated so clearly. It's nice to know exactly where I aim to go.

In my browsing of occult blogs I discovered the blog of Scott Stenwick, aka Ananael Qaa, a Thelemic magician. Although it's not the best blog I've seen --most of it is focussed upon articles regarding the occult in the news-- it does have interesting ideas regarding the use of the LRP and LRH, found here: ananael.blogspot.com/2007/11/operant-field.html
Does your experience match up with his? What do you think of it?

P.S. On an unrelated note, if any of you know of better blogs on Thelemic magick let me know.

A related question on the MP: a Thelemic blogger whose work I've been reading recently, Ananael Qaa (ananael.blogspot.com) says that he finds the Elevenfold Seal from Liber V vel Regvli is a good Thelemic equivalent to the Middle Pillar. While I can see how this would work, I'm interested to know if any of you have tried this, or, indeed (& I'm going a bit off-topic here) what you think of his blog. It has plenty of stuff regarding Thelemic magick in general and Enochian magick in particular.

'If the student spends about five minutes in the contemplation of each Sephirah on the middle column, the exercise will take approximately twenty-five minutes to half an hour. And surely there is no one so busy today who cannot devote at least one half hour a day to the task of self-mastery, to the cultivation of spiritual insight, and in the quest of his own divine nature.' --Israel Regardie

This is what I was working from. I generally find myself with a little under half an hour. Is there a better source for the Middle Pillar ritual?

I have time in my day to practice either Pranayama, or the Middle Pillar, but not both for any decent length of time. Which would you say I should focus on? I have been practising Pranayama for a little while, and have not yet tried the MP.

@Aleister Crowley said

"This “God,” Horus, has a technical title: Heru-Ra-Ha, a combination of twin gods, Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-Paar-Kraat. The meaning of this doctrine must be studied in Magick. (He is symbolized as a Hawk-Headed God enthroned.)
He rules the present period of 2,000 years, beginning in 1904. Everywhere his government is taking root. Observe for yourselves the decay of the sense of sin, the growth of innocence and irresponsibility, the strange modifications of the reproductive instinct with a tendency to become bisexual or epicene, the childlike confidence in progress combined with nightmare fear of catastrophe, against which we are yet half unwilling to take precautions.
Consider the outcrop of dictatorships, only possible when moral growth is in its earliest stages, and the prevalence of infantile cults like Communism, Fascism, Pacifism, Health Crazes, Occultism in nearly all its forms, religions sentimentalised to the point of practical extinction.
Consider the popularity of the cinema, the wireless, the football pools and guessing competitions, all devices for soothing fractious infants, no seed of purpose in them.
Consider sport, the babyish enthusiasms and rages which it excites, whole nations disturbed by disputes between boys.
Consider war, the atrocities which occur daily and leave us unmoved and hardly worried.
We are children.
How this new Aeon of Horus will develop, how the Child will grow up, these are for us to determine, growing up ourselves in the way of the Law of Thelema under the enlightened guidance of the Master Therion."

He had me right about there.

Circumstances currently prevent me from performing any rituals longer and requiring more equipment than the rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram, so I am strongly considering trying to perform bigger rituals on the astral. Is there anything I need to know before I try to do this? What are the best books on astral projection? (I have little experience with astral projection) Should I work on plain projection some more before I try to do a ritual?

I was just wondering what it means to utter a Word, and the difference between uttering the Word of the Aeon and one's personal Word as a Magus.

In my reading I came upon the idea, created by Fr. Achad and supported by the late Kenneth Grant, that Crowley did not in fact utter a Word for the Aeon, Thelema being the Word of the Law of the Aeon, and Abrahadabra being Crowley's Word as a Magus. Now I am fully aware of the (lack of) esteem Grant's ideas are held in around here, but could someone tell me if this is true, explain how it works, and perhaps go into some detail on the uttering of Words in the first place?

@Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus said

36. Many have arisen, being wise. They have said "Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It."

37. Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, "Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime."
38. I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
39. Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
40. My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.
41. But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher.
42. Thus shall equilibrium become perfect.

I agree wholeheartedly with the above sentiment. The thing is, most of the groups I've read about are only interested in upward or downward movement, including the A.'.A.'., which as far as I know is much more focused upon the glittering image than the blind creature. How does the A.'.A.'. work towards this aim of balance?

@horustheantichris said

"
""Some of them are trying to encourage our evolution to higher levels, and some of them want to keep us stuck just where we are." According to Grady, some occult lodges are working with those nonhuman intelligences who want to accelerate human evolution, but some of the others are working with the intelligences who wish to keep us near an animal level of awareness."
"

The question is, how do you tell the difference between this latter group and:

@Liber Tzaddi said

"36. Many have arisen, being wise. They have said "Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It."

37. Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, "Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime."
38. I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
39. Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
40. My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.
41. But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher.
42. Thus shall equilibrium become perfect."

(apologies for the threadomancy- currently the magic discipline in which I am most advanced )
Looking over the orders I'm interested in joining, it occurred to me another means of choosing would be to first seek entrance to the groups with K&C of the HGA as a stated aim or part of the curriculum. What is your (all of your, not just Jim's) opinion on non-Thelemic orders also seeking K&C? Is this accepted in the A.'.A.'. if I try to join it later, or would I have to perform the A.'.A.'. ordeal as well (something I have no problem with doing)?

Since my discovery of magick (and shortly thereafter, Thelema) I have spent much time reading about traditions of magick and the orders that practice them. On the one hand, this has given me a great magical education (albeit broad and somewhat shallow- I am by no means qualified to take the Student exam). On the other hand, I am now faced with the conundrum of being interested in initiation under -at last count- 9 magical orders. Based on what I know about any order's workload, this is too much! Has anyone else experienced this problem and can you give me advice?