The verse in The Book of the Law where it’s mentioned that the Hebrew letter Tzaddi “is not the Star” led to Crowley doing some weird gymnastics with the Tarot trumps and their attributions. This was recently discussed on Reddit (in /r/thelema). Reddit user “Do_What_Thou_Wilt” has an excellent page with excruciating detail about Crowley’s solution … Read more
It will take a long time and a lot of work to produce a thangka (Tibetan Buddhist illustration of a meditation deity) in Adobe Illustrator, but I figured I’d give it a start. So far, here’s the face of Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), founder of Tibetan Buddhism.
I would normally post this in a more private location, like to a very restricted friends group on Facebook, but I feel, somehow, here it will be more significant. Also, it got a bit long. A few weeks ago, having gotten my magick and spirituality jumpstarted, and going well, I said “Well, I need some … Read more
In the original Bornless papyrus the purpose is not invocation of the HGA, but invocation of the gnostic deity to exorcise an evil spirit from a possessed person. At one point in the GD/Thelemic version we have: This is He […] King, Ruler and Helper. Hear Me, and make all spirits … But in the … Read more
So near the end of the Bornless Invocation is the phrase “‘The heart girt with a serpent’ is my name! ” The Greek original of this sentence, in the British museum collection, is “ονομα μοι καρδια περιεζωσμενη οφιν”, “onoma moi kardia periezosmene ophin”, “name my heart girt/girdled/encircled serpent”. I didn’t have anything in my Gematria … Read more
I’m not strong enough to be an atheist. Intellectually, I look around the world and go “Wow, it looks like we’re pretty much on our own. No evidence for a Creator or a purpose.” But I can’t bear laying awake at night and thinking that I myself am going to die. That one day I … Read more
In the central ritual of Zoroastrianism, the Yasna, while the priests are reciting their professions of faith and the hymns of Zarathushtra, thanking God for his blessings, opposing the forces of evil, asking that all people have freedom to follow their consciences (yup, that’s in there too), there’s a few other things they are doing … Read more
I’ve noticed some remarkable similarities between a classic of pulp space opera and a classic of ancient religion. If you don’t want spoilers for either Zoroastrianism or the Lensman series by “Doc” Smith, you should stop reading now. Not every Zoroastrian would agree with every single point herein (the non-omnipotence of the Wise Lord, as … Read more
“Soul Care and the Roots of Clergy Burnout” If we wonder why Temple 31 kinda flamed out, this is definitely one of the reasons I hadn’t thought much about. The need to plan, prep, organize, clean, email, devise lessons, etc. just took a lot out of me (already had a full-time job, after all) and … Read more
The two major religions which figure so prominently in the current so-called “clash of civilizations” have many things in common; but most of these, good and bad, are well-known and I shall not recount them here. They have one thing in common peculiar to me, however: if I am ever to be converted to either … Read more