It turns out that in 1917, Aleister Crowley came up with an idea to improve the game of Auction Bridge: “There are […] drawbacks to Auction Bridge. Here they are: 1. Mismated partners. You get a fiend for a partner and can’t shake him off. 2. Mismated hands, The two good heart hands never seem … Read more
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
Crowley translates Hebrew עולה as “common holocaust”. Yikes. Let’s look into it. First off, he published Sepher Sephiroth years before the rise of Hitler to power. Whew. Second, he lifted the definition straight from von Rosenroth’s “comm. holocaustû” which dates back centuries. The word actually refers to the Israelites’ burnt offerings, particularly while they were … Read more
I’m going through every Hebrew entry in Crowley’s Sepher Sephiroth (“book of emanations”, or simplified, “book of numbers”) and looking at what each Hebrew word actually means by comparing it to Hebrew Biblical dictionaries, and sometimes looking at modern Hebrew ones too for a backup (being aware of linguistic change, of course). There are lots of typos. This will … Read more
Continuing to work on fixing Crowley’s gematria entries, I find the Hebrew word אשת. Crowley doesn’t define it; he simply says “Deut. xxiii. 1.” Deuteronomy 23:1 does not contain this Hebrew word. But it translates to: He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation … Read more