College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

I'm sceptical - unless you do something particular to charge and delineate the design to take care of that. Even then, I would expect it to need periodic refreshing.

Plus, you probably aren't on the altar top.

Plus, the pentagram and hexagram rituals accomplish a great deal more than simply banishing. They make changes in the magician that help set up the right conditions for success in most ceremonies.

@veritas_in_nox said

"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?"

Every Sephirah is said to have an entire Tree of Life in it. When passing through authentic grades, one often sees these in operation (or, at least, what appears to be these in operation).

One of the most common (and even predictable) phenomena arising from this is the perception by so many people that they are shootiong way up the Tree. The number who think they have "crossed the Abyss" when they've only reached Binah-of-Malkuth comes to mind. But it need not even be that extreme - the perception of "surely being ready for Yesod" on hitting Yesod-of-Malkuth also comes to mind.

But it's not all in the misunderstanding. There is real value in witnessing this as you move through the grades. I've usually experienced "Supernal-of-Whatever" breakthroughs just as I was wrapping up the last tasks of a grade. I've probably invariably experienced "needing to get my feet under me, needing to get my grounding" whenever I've first entered a grade - and then let it take root in my cells and then my psyche - which could be seen as working Malkuth-of-Whatever and Yesod-of-Whatever.

T?he phenomena are clear and recurring - easy to recognize with attention - but they can be explained by different theories (or multiple theories at once). Some of the same things that seem sub-Sephirothic are also explainable by hiddent Paths. - Generally it has been easiest to think of it as "hidden Paths" phenomena when in the approach to a grade, and "sub-Sephiroth" phenomena when working through one.

"(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.)"

Gotta give the guy points for imagination.

@RobertAllen said

"Write, and find ecstasy in writing! Work, and be our bed in working!
—The Book of the Law"

OMG are you really going to quote from liber al to find support for your stance in the argument? or maybe this is your humor. okay ill work on finding it funny.

"

I understand the allure of not wanting to do the work, of wanting to be able to simply make mushy generalizations at will without any concern as to whether one is reinforcing stereotypes or the type of delusions common to inbred groups."

WHAT MUSHY argument? What was mushy about it? what was even an argument about it?

If your having a hard time accepting that the Book of the Law is what it claims to be (a revelation of the universe and specifically the universe at this place and time) I'm not sure I can help you - however if you accept that as a premise, then naturally current events must be a result of what it speaks in some sense, other wise the entire claim of the book is what your calling into question. Not my impressions, intuitions, or general fun banter.

"
But it doesn't make it right. And I don't think it is very Thelemic—at the very least we should challenge this kind of thing in our own ranks and raise the level of responsible debate."

challenge what kind of thing? did I go off script? Someone posted they did not see much inspiration for sci - fi in liber al - this is not really a high quality discussion to start with. Is easy banter somehow anti-thelemic?

"So much for my point of view."

YES! I agree, so much for it! But I am generous and agree to your offer!

"

I expect you to do the work. Of course, you can tell me to go to hell, but then that says something about the integrity of your beliefs, doesn't it?"

nah, not really - it doesnt tell you anything about my beliefs what so ever. But as I have not said and it never really even happened except inside of your ol noggin - you can continue on with that train of thought if you like on your spare time. Just don't blame me for what the 'oldfriend56' says in your head!

"
You assume you can simply make statements here and that we will all just nod our heads in agreement because you assumed there were a set of precepts we should never challenge, not if we call ourselves Thelemites."

wondering if you have any music to go with that position. 🙄

"

Your posts are a study in the use of fallacious argument and reasoning."

nah, not really. it kinda appears to me your just projecting your own doubts about liber al.

The logic is simple

Liber al claims, via Crowley, to be a book that explains the universe specifically the time we are currently in. That's not my claim, that's big Al's

If the claim is true, then the times we are currently in are a result, or at least a fulfillment, of that verse. That is why I assume Thelemites, any friggin where, would come to see world events as an unfoldment of their own inner understanding from study liber al.

Can you explain to me how this logic is faulty? I would love to make the correction and expose any delusion I have and your assistance here is appreciated in advance.

"

The real problem here is not my position, but your analysis."

The problem here is your reading web banter and interpreting it as an analysis. That's your own false idea about what I wrote. It's just all downhill from there...

"

Your argument seems to be that I am not a very good Thelemite because I challenged your assumptions. "

huh? Where is that anywhere explicit in my statements on this forum? and personally I dont care if your a good thelemite or a bad thelemite - I'll let the thelemic santa claus worry about that one.

"

See the fallacy?"

Yes, you made an assumption based on a false premise.

"

You are taking refuge in what you imagine to be a community bias, and that is simply not a real defense. All you have is the idea that it just seems obvious to you. And frankly, that's not very much."

where do you get this from? really! ok i'm sorry, i forgot this must be a joke and you do this to all the noobs on the forum.

"

Structurally it is no different that the claims made by Family Radio and Harold Camping about the end of the world. All the same elements are present. The assumption that such statements about what is happening in the world can only have one explanation; that this explanation will receive the assent of everyone in the group and; anyone who challenges the fallacious arguments and lazy reasoning is not a true 'whatever'!"

I'm glad this is giving you a forum to work this out.

"

For the record. I have made no statements about the Age of Horus. Should the moment arrive where I am prepared to make claims or present an argument I will not waste any ones time with lazy platitudes.

See my point here?"

yes, it's very small. 😱

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

💡 !

Both. Why not incorporate breathing techniques into a Middle Pillar exercise?

I need a shirt that says "ask the Gemini." 😀

Jim once recommended a great little book by Ophiel titled THE ART AND PRACTISE OF ASTRAL PROJECTION. You can easily find it online.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

@Jim Eshelman said

"...All I had to do was drop the Lamed, making the resulting "Word" I would "utter" to others: Aleph Heh Vav Teth Yod. I was pleased to discover that ahoti enumerated to 31, and therefore was consistent with the formulae of the aeon."

😀

Amazing! From my MR 8/26/10, and a few notes:

...after meditation and Invocation [today], I feel that I've worked out a glyph of my Understanding of the Work, at my present location on my Path:

The Word is AYTVH = Aleph + Yod + Teth + Vau + He = 31

Aleph - Passive, babe, Harpocrates, Fool, Nuit, Self-Impregnation, Beginningless Beginning
Yod - Active, Horus, Magus, Hermit, Hadit, Father Force, Expression, Word and Will
Teth - Double-wanded, Heru-ra-ha, Lust, Conjoining of Beast and Bride, the Love attraction, Force between the Dyad, Snake
Vau - The Son, the Beast, the Heirophant, the Lovers, Uniting of the Opposites, 5/6, Microcosm with the Macrocosm
Heh - The Star/to the Redeemed Daughter/to the Exalted Mother (Malkuth to Binah), rebirth of the cycle to Aleph, 2=0

A slightly different arrangement...but still cool! 😀
I'm sure you found it first...you must have been a 2=9 AEONS ago!!! 😉

Love is the law, love under will.

It was Thomas Merton who wrote something along the lines of this:

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony".

For me at least, this more or less sums up the Work, in the Outer college at least, Balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.

the important thing is a healthy sense of proportion, and perspective.

Just my two cents.

A lot of the magical orders appear to be the same somewhat. Everything they do has an equivalent thing in another order. At this point I have not joined any order but read a lot of books and practiced some or all of the magick in the books.

If there is a book about the orders practices you may want to study it, or at least scan through it. Truthfully I considered several organizations as I was growing up, but not all at the same time. I believe what has attracted me to A .’. A .’. is the fact that it teaches a lot of what I have already believed, but my belief is based on the culmination of studying or reading about a lot of beliefs, religions etc.

@veritas_in_nox said

"The thing is, this leaves openings."

Yes. It leaves gaps on several levels. Some of this has been worked out... some hasn't. Almost all of it is under obligation, except the pretty obvious stuff.

"Between Isis and Osiris are Nephthys (next up as Imperator) and Thoth (as Cancellarius). What happened to them? Why the skip?"

There is no automatic ranking through the Chiefs like that. The Chiefs stand apart from the rest of the pattern. One does not advance from Hierophant to a Chief position.

Also, the Past Hierophant is not part of the Aeonic sequence. I suspect the reason is that the PHt is really the "flip side" of the Hierophant, another part of the same idea. Thus, Isis stepped off the Throne of the East to assume the role of Praemonstrator - which, actually, is a very nice successor role since the Hierophant in the G.D. was enthroned in Tiphereth, and, as Gimel, Isis/Praemonstrator is that which stands immediately back of the Hierophant.

@frateruranus said

"Crowley's use of Chaos for the Father comes from the Vision and the Voice so his usage is from the root book of Thelemic cosmology. Liber 418 is a sorely neglected text in Thelemic circles and yet it answers so many of these questions that people repeatedly ask or wonder about."

Quite true about Liber 418. Perhaps I should have said that Liber 418's use of the name "Chaos" seems idiosyncratic to me.

I have found that my abilities as a composer increased when "layering" different rhythms and melodies during meditations. It was a fast track to Dharana, however, I think it that such an exercise could easily turn masturbatory and fanciful if you are not careful. Eventually I could "hear" the music in my head as if it was coming through headphones... pretty neat! A better method would be layering mantras using different meters/tempos for example:

AUM AH HUM VA-J-RA GURU PEDME SIDDHI HUM
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 1 and 2 and 3 and 4
AUM MANI PEDME HUM
1 2 1 2 twice as fast as the first mantra
If you do it right you should start both mantras simultaneously with AUM.

This exercise if a great way to bring the busy mind under control with a complex task. If it gets to simple try placing the mantras in different chakras.

@AvshalomBinyamin said

"
The Mystical Magical System of the A.'. A.'. is the clearest explanation I've ever read of the journey. And, while it doesn't cover the grades beyond Adeptus Exemptus (7=4), it does discuss the order beyond satisfyingly enough for most..."

@AvshalomBinyamin said

"
@RobertAllen said
"But surely you are not suggesting we should simply be content with what we already have? 😄 "

I'm sharing opinion, not suggesting how others should think, feel, or behave."

I understand. It is just the larger context—the topic of this thread—combined with the suggestion that some people are satisfied. I wasn't sure if you were making a tongue in cheek statement, or not.

For what it is worth, The Mystical Magical System of the A.'. A.'. Is a great book, in my opinion. There is a lot of really helpful information in it. I'm grateful for the book, the time and effort that went into compiling and writing it, and the impulse/concept that resulted in its release.

love and will

An amusing compendium of egocentric hogwash. But not so amusing as his invocation of Bartzabel when 'ol Hubbard stole his girlfriend. 😆

But highly informative: a manual of what not to do on one's way to Adeptship.

@veritas_in_nox said

"As I understand the Aeons, the Aeon of Isis was a period in which humankind as a whole ascended to the level of consciousness known to Qabalists as Nephesh. In the Aeon of Osiris, humanity rose to Ruah, in Horus, humanity will rise to Neshamah, and so on."

Just to be clear, what you have quoted is the way that I represent these. I haven't ever had anyone seriously disagree with it (mostly people kind of blink in a puzzled way and ignore it <g>). But I thought it worth clarifying that while I fully think this is the best understanding of the Aeons, it isn't a "standard" interpretation (if there is such a thing).

"Does this mean that once one attains the grade in A.'.A.'. associated with Neshamah, as Crowley did in John St John, one is in the Aeon of Horus regardless of when in time one does this, and so when one attains Chiah one is in the Aeon of Ma'at, and so on?"

I'd put it earlier.

The A.'.A.'. initiation rituals open one to the symbolism and linkages of the Aeon of Horus on entering 2=9. In fact, the passage to 2=9 from 1=10 is specifically shown as a move from an Osiris formula to a Horus formula. One can debate where to draw the line, but I suppose one can say that one is formally introduced to the formula at 2=9 and certainly subsumed within it by 5=6.

The main point for me to agree with here, though, is your underlying idea that we each make a personal migration through the Aeons as we mature. Ontology recapitulates phylogeny, after all. We are Isis Aeon creatures in infancy, and begin Osirian ego-building that reaches its apex in a well-balanced adulthood. The question is... whether we go past that. It seems that more are doing so than have in the past.

No, the shadowy things just watched me and stayed away. As for a 'whisper of embarrassment,' that didn't happen, but I did get a bit worried about them.

Read Chapter 2 - from the beginning preferably or, at least, from p. 28.

Part of the problem here is that I'm trying to very briefly summarize what normally should have a short article (or a least half an hour's presentation) to communication. Another problem is that most of the answers come from practice. So you're not going to get the whole answer here. I originally sent everyone to the original source material in AC's writings, and you have to go read that - and then practice!

But I'll try to answer your specific questions. Just understand that you're not going to get this from a brief forum discussion without going off and reading the source material and then practicing.

@veritas_in_nox said

"'m not entirely sure what this means. For one thing, does the 'and so forth' happen automatically or must it be willed?"

Kind of a combination. You find yourself at the threshold, often with a realization of the next step. (Even if you know ahead of time what to expect, it may come as a sudden realization.) Something will change. And then you go with that new point of view and step up to the next level.

'

"For another, your response makes it sound like what Alrah said, 'I am observing my mind commenting on observing my mind,' &c. From Alrah's tone I'm pretty sure that's not intended."

There's a bit of that, but it's not the usual kind of pratyahara practice.

"What does it mean to shift from form to sensation, to perception, and so forth?"

I think maybe you have to do it to get it.

Let me give you my favorite example, though. I was doing this meditation on breath. I had been working on, "There is a sensation of the breath going in," etc. At some point, I realized that I had no evidence of this - I fully well knew that such sensations were keying of certain things in the brain, and that the sensation could be faked by stimulating the right part of the brain electrically. (I didn't think through all of that; it was long-known information.) I realized that I actually couldn't say for sure that there was a sensation - a stimulation of sensory nerves - only that the brain was registering one. I had just started going into, "There is a perception of a sensation of breath moving in," etc., when, all of a sudden, my body went into a panic attack. (I don't get panic attacks.)

What had happened? Simple: My brain totally got that I didn't really know if there was really breath going in. My survival reflexes had absorbed the truth that it could no longer trust brain signals - that the brain might be getting fooled! - so the body triggered an emergency "breath, mother-fucker!" reflex.

It was a good laugh after I stopped be amazed. Practice went on from there, but that remains my best story on the subject.

Ditto to Avshalom's question.