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   [obtained from http://www.visi.com/~invoke/camp/library/ ]
   
   [Originally printed in The OTO Newsletter Vol 2, No 1. Copyright
                                O.T.O.]
                                   
Subject: Of Stars
                                   
                       by Brother Bill Heidrick
                                   
                "Every man and every woman is a star."
                            Liber AL, I: 4.
                                   
   These words and others from LIBER AL have often sent people in
   quest of the meaning of the STAR. Most of the theories are based
   on AL, I:57, and deal with the Tzaddi - Hay interchange. Other
   passages of Liber AL also mention stars and the star. I propose
   to take up this matter in the light of the several stars of our
   Order and of the ancients of Egypt. I personally do not look
   toward a single star blazing in the sky as the One Star of Liber
   AL. There are many stars in the heavens, and some may be
   intimately entwined with the inner star at one time or another.
   This not withstanding, the inner star is another thing than any
   of the outer ones. If Sirius & Sothis is indeed the Star of the
   Tarot Atu, Sirius cannot be Tzaddi. In Qabalah, the single letter
   Tzaddi stands for Tzaddikim, the Righteous Ones, also known as
   the Lamed-Vavnicks of the Chesedics. These Tzaddikim are said to
   be 36 perfect beings who travel the world in the guise of
   ordinary persons. They are the Watchers who have attained the
   Great Work and found that for them it lays in the husbandry of
   the world. A:A: leads to this in the highest. These are the
   "Secret Chiefs." To these verse 50 of Chapter I of Liber AL
   alludes. I will write now concerning one of the stars of our
   Order, Frater Saturnus.
   
   Saturn is Set. Frater Saturnus destroyed O.T.O. in the Outer
   through his conservative manipulations. This is Saturn devouring
   his children, and Set eating the eye of Horus. While he lived,
   Frater Saturnus was Horus-Set - he had devoured the essence of
   Horus and placed it together with his own power. This resulted in
   the rule of the Order by an ancient usurper, and an incarnated
   deity. Even though Fr. Saturnus ruled truly by his power, he
   ruled as Set in the Outer - all was restriction. He set his Shibu
   beings against the Brothers and Sisters. The Order suffered decay
   and died in consequence. Thus the pattern of the mis-rule of
   Set-Saturn was made manifest. Frater Saturnus died through the
   loss of his genitals - as did Set of old. In this death, seen at
   the time as a battle with Horus (the Order at large), the Eye of
   Horus was taken from the body of Set and placed again in the face
   of Horus. This is the new lease on life that is now the lot of
   O.T.O.
   
   It behooves us to do as did King Unas (as recounted in the
   Pyramid texts). We who are brethren of O.T.O. must return the
   glance of Horus and bind up the wound of Set. Thus we restore
   both deities to their ancient places. In the Outer, this means
   that the aid of the brethren must be given to the restoration of
   knowledge and works with the end in sight of a formal election of
   the O.H.O. by Xth Degree members of the Order. Breaches have been
   made by the enmity raised by Set-Saturn in the past. These must
   be repaired. It must not be forgotten that a god is a god, and a
   Thelemite is a Thelemite. Frater Saturnus may have acted unwisely
   in our eyes, but he acted by the light of his star. He was a Man
   and a Brother of the Order. His deeds and his power are those of
   the noble great among us. There is a further mystery here in the
   line often proclaimed by Brother Grant. Set may even be likened
   to the expiration of air that has lost its prana - this is a
   necessary destruction to permit the entrance of fresh air and
   prana. To dwell exclusively on these things is no worse than to
   invoke Anubis - the profession of mortician is honorable. {30}
   
   History lessons of the Order, whether they are personal accounts
   or records of Magical workings, are often of most value if they
   are seen in the light of mythical reenactment. This was the way
   of the ancient Egyptians with their tales and mysteries. Learn to
   read in these accounts the doings of gods and goddesses. You will
   not miss the mark by that method. Through learning how to
   recognize the stars of these persons, you gain the art that will
   serve to learn the course of your own star.
   
   When we are born, we are Horus-Sothis (Horus who has come from
   the womb of Isis). Throughout our lives, our star may pass within
   many gates of gods and goddesses, upon many fields of reeds in
   the world of the West, and within many stars and constellations
   known by mythological and astrological names. In time we come to
   Orion (Sah), to dwell near the star now known as the Trapezium
   (Theta Orionis, middle star of the Sword of Orion is this star;
   but MGC1976 is the place of importance.). Beyond our life on the
   Earth, we may assay the passage of the Abyss. While we yet live,
   the method is known by many names: Passage of the Abyss,
   Attainment of the Merkabah, Achievement of the Power to Ride in
   the Boat of the Sun... After we have died to the Earth, the way
   is through the Dark Rite of Osiris. Then we must have Nephthys
   intercede for us with her tears until the Boat of Millions of
   Years is brought to a halt by the Ancient God. Then from Orion we
   may journey back into the womb of Sothis - Osiris born again by
   Osiris, as Horus. (Note by the Caliph: How Horus could be born of
   Osiris, the Father, is a mystery of the initiate path.). There
   are those who come directly from Orion to Earth without the
   intervention of normal birth out of Sirius, but these are like
   Brother W. Smith, 132, whom Crowley dubbed "the Hidden God." In
   all of this, be careful in taking the words that name physical
   stars for the wrong thing. One is a map, another is the place the
   map describes. It is perhaps enough to say that, when gods and
   goddesses walk the Earth, their souls do not enter the world as
   do the souls of the less-than-gods. The physical birth may be
   unusual in some way, but it is the attachment of the soul that is
   important here. On that note, it is said that a divine soul
   becomes fully attached later and leaves earlier than a normal
   soul. Unusual sickness in infancy and a sudden end to later life
   are also often regarded as signs of the uniqueness of the star.
   None of these physical signs need be present.
   
   Some of the above observations will be made more open to
   understanding through study of the Pyramid Texts from the VIth
   Dynasty of Egypt. To put these observations to practical use,
   adopt the method of invocation and devotion to particular deities
   described in Magick in Theory and Practice. Through full and
   personal knowledge of the myths of the deities, it becomes
   possible to unite with particular deities in the mind, heart and
   emotions. From such work insight grows as to the meaning of life
   moment by moment. It is nothing of value to come to feel that you
   are united with a particular deity - unless you gain the power to
   act in life and after life with a human personality inherent in
   that deity. To invoke Set is to act, think and feel like Set. It
   may even be to die like Set. Yet Set is a god. The life of Horus
   is happier, though filled with more danger. The life of Thoth is
   safer, but more quiet. That of Isis is filled with Sadness and
   labor, but it is a life of honor and love. Bast, Tum, Konshu,
   fiery Sekmet and watery Nephthys - all are divine. Learn to see
   and be the immortal through the eye of Horus.
   
   Ah, yes. There is the question of hidden Masters from the Star
   Sirius, masters who have guided the human race for thousands of
   years. That, good report and $30.00 will get them initiated as
   Minervals of O.T.O. provided that they have the ability to show
   up for initiation.