Monday, February 17, 2003



This is as succinct as I can be about point of view and traveling in this world.









"Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
"-Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Without apologies to Pascal,
My Love to Pascal.
If he were a Thelemite he might write.

Thelema must teach greatness and joy; must lead to the esteem and respect of the god that is self, to love and to hate.

OTO is to Thelema as Roman Church is to Christianity.
It must be at once the great instigator and corrupter of the Aeon.

A.C. wasn't satisfied until all were appalled at him; Thelema is divided for love's sake.

The only sin is restriction; an oath is self-imposed restriction.

Forgetfulness is necessary for all the operations of magick.
The history of Thelema ought properly be called the history of Lies.
In addition to so many other signs of the holy Thelemite, they are also persecuted, which is the best sign of the Thelemite.
Thelema is in an excellent state when it is sustained by the current only.
A star errs gravely when proclaiming the truth of another star; not that this is a falsehood, it is just not an appropriate truth.
If an Order errs today, it is because the Order erred in the past. If an Order is correct today, it is because it intimates its rightness in the future.

The gods perform miracles in the ordinary conduct of the Thelemite. It would be a strange miracle if a man could not attain perfection. But it is so natural for imperfection to appear in the multitude.

Any one who aspires to a degree may will it to be so. It is horrible that the rules of an Order be good and that it be a kind of crime to desire to change them. Once desire to change was not sin; now it is sin to wish to change strict rules. If none be allowed any degree is it because none are worthy?
Why is it sin to complain of a custom which finds so many unworthy?

Men never violate their wills so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

They do not know their Angels and they seek fame; therefore they make the Orders corrupt, that they be saints.
It is in vain that an Order hunt anathemas and heresies, for they shall be used against it.
He who gives meaning to The Book of the Law is an enemy of the Book of the Law.

Thelemites are astonished to see another Thelemite respected.

To be favored in an Order is a great advantage. In eighteen years it places a man within a select circle which another may have gained in fifty years of work. It is a gain of thirty years without trouble.

Those who love the truth take as a pretext that it must be disputed, that at least One must deny it. Their virtue arises from this and it is their charitable gift to Thelema. They have no excuses.

Knowledge,love! Will and lust! Courage while looking into the face of god.
Fear flows from faith; false fear from superstition. The Slaves' Fear born of faith requires hope that the God described by their masters and in whom they believe, is real. False fear rides despair which tramples all knowledge once the superstition be naked and Will be crushed. Those who fear do not want to lose their God or find knowledge.

Do we tire of eating, sleeping, or fucking as quickly as we tire of the search for perfect knowledge?

The Thelemite must inspect his curiosity that it not be mere vanity. Is our Will to Know merely a vehicle that we may talk or write?

Do we inspect the face of our angel carefully so that we may describe eachgolden ray to delight and astonish others?

Reason is the deceitful part of man. Reason is deceptive BECAUSE reason masquerades as Truth. Reason displays a clean premise without flaw. Yet the premise is always incomplete. Reason once told us that flight is impossible, that the depths of the sea are forever beyond our ken, or that the speed of sound is an inviolable barrier. Reason counts and measures the vastness of space with a child's abacus and pronounces with certitude man's imprisonment in the vicinity of Sol. Imagination must brush the truth to come while reason sleeps; imagination tours the unknown which is vaster than the known. Imagination is joy. Reason scowls. Somewhere anything is true.

Yet pure imagination leaves behind an untidy temple. The scowl of reason clears the decks for battle.


Imagination is the fountain of magick power.

"I would have liked to try that." is the cry of the failed mage.

Does biological necessity impede our inner truth or does it force it out?

There is no veil or shroud concealing the Book of the Law for those who truly love themselves.

Our Law is here to enlighten all. Those whom it seems to blind are a cipher of its truth.
The blessings of this Law are small and mundane. The great and divine are its rewards for those Aspirants who attain. Our prophet was humbled by his Will. His book was his cross which he carried not for a morning but for forty-three years.

The mundane world and lies are necessary to fool the whole man: body, soul, and spirit.

If you desire to see a miracle, perform one yourself.

No oath can truly be broken, and none can be truly kept.


Religion: a projection of human frustration
Thelema: result of actualization
The Thelemite suffers his passions, which he inflicts upon himself; his Angel converts his suffering into joy. Thus he becomes a god to bear it.

A man seeks some moral support, compassion as it were, from his three Thelemite friends. They sleep. He prays that they bear with him. They are indifferent and have so little interest that they sleep on without rousing themselves even for a moment. The man's Angel is brutal to him.

The Thelemite is alone on the earth and has no suffering to share. All know of his joy. Someone approaches him and requests his secret.

The Thelemite is flung into an ancient garden over-grown with weeds. Here he tends to the garden and studies the weeds.

This Thelemite never complains: "My soul is joyful even unto death."

The Thelemite seeks companionship and comfort from others. He rejects compassion as one vomits poison.

The Thelemite reminds himself and his friends, "The flesh is willing, the spirit is weak."

A Thelemite inflames himself with prayer and fears no death. Yet he knows to sacrifice his life as an example to others is vanity.

The Thelemite demands the attention of the gods and is heard.

A man sees his Thelemite friends asleep and plans their doom, both in the fullness before their births and in the nothingness after their deaths.

The Thelemite flees his myrmidons to escape into ecstasy; this example is most instructive.

We invoke the gods that we may explore the truth of our vices and be diverted.

Rejoice! If you seek me, you have found me.... so said his Angel.

I thought of thee in my ecstasy. I have gushed the seed of life for this.

It is truly Magick sayeth the Angel, to aspire to such and such impossible thing that I act in thee when it occurs.

I am present in thee by thy Work in prayer, by thy Spirit in the Temple, by thy energy and power in love and by thy faithful inspiration...so said the Angel.

Physicians will not heal thee for thou wilt at last die. One who would heal thy body to make it immortal is the tool of a demon.

Know all thy sins that thou shalt gain thy heart.

His Angel speaks:
"Lookest not for me in others but in thee.
Thou dost not find me in others. Therefore comparest not thy progress in aspiration with others. That is defamation of me. Thou art where thou needst be as long as thou goest.
Once thou hast found me, it is fit to reject those who seek me in thee for they defame themselves.
Tellest them they lack not for a better guide."

The Thelemite blasphemes what he does know. He worships what he does not know. That is his object of devotion. The Christians and others believe in one god: this is true and untrue. For the monotheist logician it is untrue; for the monotheist fool, it is true; for the monotheist rabble, it is neither.

Religion is at the periphery of the Thelemite's world. Therefore he can establish no explanations of man or the world.

The Christian believes there is a corruption in his nature which renders him unworthy of his god. The Thelemite suspects his corrupted aspects are precisely what makes him so beloved of God and the foundation of his existence. (Perfection yields an unvarying and absolute boredom in God's placid state. Hence God invokes the curse of because.) "God" seeks ignorance and craves surprise. The Thelemite suspects the perfected state will be quickly abandoned once attained. Yet he seeks this as he seeks the object of his physical lust.

What is the difference between the magickal and the rational mind?
The rational mind believes it can ultimately comprehend all it perceives, but it perceives only that which it can comprehend. The rational mind imposes its vision on the whole world, even though the whole world is anything but rational. Ironically, the magickal, intuitive mind is the
practical mind. The whole world tends to look through magickal eyes and does its business from that point of view. The typical human being rationalizes his magickal ways to the prevailing raional mind. The rational mind demands reproducible results. The magickal mind knows that nothing ever comes out the same way every time. The rational mind believes that the changes it can wreak in the universe must conform with established scientific fact. The magickal mind knows anything can happen in this world. The majority of minds are not rational, yet they do not trust to embrace the magickal in toto. They are weak and dull. The purely rational mind is only right in situations which are both simple and obvious. In situations which are complex and subtle, only the intuitive magickal mind may prevail at a rate beyond Fortuna's blessings.
The purely magickal mind tends to wax inconsistent in situations requiring concentration (bringing the scattered to the center) and logic. Hence the skills of the rational mind, despite their limitations, are of value to the magickal mind.

All great amusements enhance the Thelemites life. Theater (always a magickal ritual of sorts) which excites the passions may stimulate those which can grow dormant in the mundane world.

The Tree as Filing Cabinet
Those who force the square peg into the round hole commit errors of ignorance and errors of will. They are like those who glue stone veneer on a rickety house. Perhaps they are matching the color of the peg and ignoring the shape. Perhaps they match the length and not the shape. Many mages fall in love with their own first impressions and insights when contemplating a matter and refuse to let go of their error. One should not build a tree house in the high slender branches of the tree unless one knows the secret which subverts gravity. Yet one may put the peg in the hole if the peg is slender. Even though the peg rattles and may easily fall out, the mage brightly smiles and proclaims to the world: "See how it goes in!"

Thelemites have no standard of grace and beauty since their natures are strong. Yet a Thelemite's nature is yielding; like the Tao, he accepts a certain relation with all things even things he finds distasteful. Since there is no standard for the Thelemite, all things may be found pleasing and useful after his will: popes, poetry, best-selling novels, advertising, contaminated things, etc. .... Since there is no model which a Thelemite is required to follow he is the inheritor of a boon. All choices are available. Infinite originality is his unstoppable fount. Unpleasant things and pleasing things are all his tools. Unpleasant originality is more pleasing to him than the perfect realization of the formula of the good model.

We, as Thelemites, can be universal and have the capability to know all there is to know about the all. It is fitting that we prepare for our godhood by learning all there is to know and discovering what we are able about a few things. An intense and inclusive knowledge about a few things is excellent training for the mind and inexorably propels the mage on his journey towards universality. An inclusive knowledge of all the branches of learning is, of course, necessary. Yet such awareness, even in the best of us, barely pierces the rind of the melon and leaves us ignorant of the sweet taste of the meat. A mage must learn and experience the retrieval of knowledge in depth.

If a Thelemite writes only for the sake of himself his words are as gold.
If a Thelemite's words are cleverly placed to console the unfortunate or uncomfortable, they are worthless. Men speak ill of the fortunate and proud, yet they more often commit restriction against the unfortunate and weak. The ill words of men may therefore be considered signs of favor. Their words stimulate the mind. Suffering and restriction dulls the mind. If one finds oneself bound by men, it is necessary to grow strong and learn the mechanism of Fortuna's Wheel. It may be necessary to study subjects and live a life that seems distasteful. In that way one strengthens one's weaknesses; this is done in the manner of a body builder who exercises his weakest muscle groups even though the necessary exercises are not his most favorite. The Thelemite acts rightly to the fortunate and the unfortunate, to the weak and the strong, for one may only restrict oneself; and that is done in order to grow strong.

If a Thelemite be called a priest, it is pleasing to his enemy. The title of priest diminishes a king. The magickal formula of the priest is to cajole and sacrifice; that of the king is to command. The king more truly represents the actual***real***essential***inner***truth of humanity in this
age.

Do you desire people to know you truly? Then speak! Speak for the sake of yourself.


Here are more invocations of the curse of because and exercises in the obvious:

Faith, to the practitioner of magick, is nothing less than an ability to muster courage. Courage is required to venture into the unknown worlds.

Faith enables courage. Courage fuels faith. Superstition enables fear.
Fear fuels superstition.

Joy induces love.
Pride induces knowledge.
The Angel reveals to the Thelemite the extent of his joy by showing the slightness of the remedy for his ills.

The knowledge of god in the absence of joy is a banner of the black brother.
In the light of the sun in the hearts we find both our Source and our Joy.

Faith allows the mage to become the god.
Superstition brings one near the god and the mage fails for he must suffer in comparison. Superstition only approaches the target.
Faith hits it.

Belief is a lie which indicates a general shut down of perception.

There are only two kinds of men:
Those who are on the journey and those who would block them.

Thelema is natural to us. It bids man recognize he is god. Once achieved, this dignity makes him virtuous, amiable, and reasonable.

There are no metaphysical proofs of god. All such proofs are ultimately illusion. This is necessary. It would be impossible to dwell in Malkuth in constant realization of the truth.

Thelema teaches that a man or a woman loves nothing, that they are slaves, sick and wretched unless they desire and love in a directed way which each, alone, must discover.

The Thelemite is alone on earth with no one to feel and share his joy. No one is even aware that it exists. He and his Angel are alone in that knowledge until the End.

The Thelemite has rediscovered the garden of delight. She has taken the flaming sword and turned it on the enemies of man.

Compare thyself with all others.
Compare thyself with one who thou doth find abominable.
Do not seek and study only that which is admirable and lovable in such a one. Seek that which thou dost hate 'though it be like tacking into the euroclydon. And compare and findest that abomination which matches him in thee. It is thine. It is the most secret self in thee. In faith embrace and devour that foul self.

In all times men have spoken of false gods; or, false gods have spoken to man.

Love allows the Thelemite to perform miracles. Fear conducts men to the cell of believing in them.

A Thelemite who would do a certain working requires his Scarlet Woman. She is as the pot which holds a bouquet of splendid flowers. She serves best in simplicity and sturdiness and subtlety and silence.

It is the greatest joy to be in doubt. One is not inclined to seek unless one is in such a state. Easy and complacent belief is restriction on the self. Settled acceptance is the lot of the slave. I am a Thelemite in a mostly unknown universe. I have only the torch of my Will to light my way. I may set off in any direction and find revealed to me an infinity of undreamed of things.

The true scientist, restlessly engaged in the profound unending pursuit of the knowledge of the nature of existence deserves the protection and favor of the Thelemite.

The Christian is not offended by the cripple. The cripple reminds the Christian of the magnificence of God and the abnegation of man. The cripple knows he is physically defective and so does every one else. The fool offends the Christian. The fool declares the Christian to be silly.
Christians do not mind being falsely accused of crime. They relish being put in the role of their mythical Saviour. Christians can not stomach being told they have chosen wrongly. So certain of the impossibility of their religion being in error, the only Explanation of another seeing an opposite or even slightly different point of view is the Influence of the force of Evil. The Christian is therefore self-sentenced to a macabre world in which most of the joy is bait for sin held by an enemy more powerful than himself. In contrast, the Thelemite expects others to hold different truths and to experience varied realities and to course in a different time continuum. He gleefully synthesizes information from others to piece together his puzzle. When he encounters another who is in total agreement with him, he observes suspiciously and is watchful for the lie of compassion. He understands that such a one is only useful as a slave.

It is natural for the Mind to question and for the Will, lacking love, to fall into the pit of belief. Will, ruling the heart, endlessly seeks truth.
Will, ignoring the heart, takes comfort in the oblivion of the first available lie.

Each plunge into the void cleanses.
With each emergence into the World one acquires an accretion of grime.
Those who are Clean yearn for filth.
The Filthy desire to be washed.
God must be Godly.
Man can be Anything.

Christians have little faith and strong belief. Hence their endless need to prove scientifically the veracity of their Holy Book. Faith needs no evidence. Faith rises from within. Belief is forced from without. The mage in ritual who believes must fail. The faithful mage is not troubled by the need to believe. All the pomposity and beauty of Magick exists apart from proof, evidence, or
belief. Proof, evidence, and belief can be faked and are the accoutrements of religion.

What Magick bursts from representations of great Art!
Those assume Life which impels us to reconsider those things we no longer See.

Like often seeks like: Peruse the marriage photographs in your newspaper.

The Thelemite gets pleasure pondering the nature of Self.
Most prefer diversion to avoid this ultimate battle.

The Thelemite seeks his true self joyfully. So the football fan avidly immerses himself in the Game.

Depth of Desire constitutes the greatness of the Thelemite.

The Thelemite knows that all who are not at his level of attainment are equally stars.

It is a sign of religious weakness to try to prove the existence of God.
The first deposit in the vault.