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To: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org
From: tyagi@HOUSEOFKAOS.ABYSS.COM (xiwang mu)
Subject: Re: Stele of Revealing.
Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 18:04:50 -0700 (PDT)

49960509 (possibly Xposted to Usenet)

E6, welcoming the overthrow of the Order for the benefit of the individual

|From: Marianne Sarkis 
|Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 02:47:41 -0400 (EDT)

|> "on some day before march 23rd[1904], Ouarda [AC's wife] identified the
|> particular god with whom she was in communication from a stele in the
|> Boulak Museum, which we had never visited. It is not the ordinary form of
|> Horus but Ra-Hoor-Khuit. I was no doubt struck by the coincidence that the
|> exhibit, _a quite obscure and undistinguished stele_, bore the catalog
|> number 666"

|> "March 23rd and April 7th. I made inquiries about the stele and had the
|> inscriptions translated into French by the assistant curator at Boulak. I
|> made poetic paraphrases of them."

  _The Confessions of Aleister Crowley_, pg 394-5; ed. Symonds/Grant, 1979.
  (verified; pages changed to reflect what I found - mu)

|This is enough to make me very skeptical. However, I still don't 
|understand why it's so significant for Thelemites to have a picture or 
|representation of this Stele. 

religion:

	stele - pictures Egyptian gods whom Aleister Crowley identified
	        as Nuit (over-arching), Hadit (right), and Ra-Hoor-Khuit
	        (seated), adorn the front of the stele

	mentu - Crowley identified *as* Ankh-f-n-Khonsu (prince-priest)

	tablet - religion likes tablets and plates; pictorials and connections
		 to the past of archaic and mystical origin (cf. Mormons)

	666    - the finding of the stele in the means by which Crowley is
	         supposed to have done this (haphazardly, directed by his 
		 wife Rose Kelly (Ouarda the Seer/W.)) is thematically 
		 significant (and, to some, ontologic evidence) as it 
		 indicates the activities of 'outside forces' upon the
		 Beast and his Scarlet Woman (offices of cosmic purportion).
		 the association of 666 with this implies Aiwas/Satan and
		 the Beast simultaneously.  yet whether there were witnesses
		 to these events beyond Fra. P and W is not clear.  in the
		 main it can only be significant to the faithful and to P/W.
	
	origin - Egypt is the land of Khem, the source of the magick of
		 Mosheh and various other mythical and powerful mages.
		 hieroglyphics speak of arcaneness, agedness, and power

	evul bk - there is a direct relationship between the Book of the
		  Law and the Stele of Revealing, in time, pictorally, and
		  in text.  the former two being dealt with above, text
		  directly related to the New Aeon and the proper worship 
		  of Ra-Hoor-Khuit [with mu's spicy and adverarial notes!]:

		III:9-10 Lurk!  Withdraw!  Upon them!  [yoicks!  tally ho!]
			 this is the Law of the Battle of Conquest : thus
			 shall my worship be about my secret house [cf Islam]

		         Get the stele of revealing itself; set it
			 in thy secret temple - and that temple
			 is already aright disposed - & it shall be your
			 Kiblah [again, cf Islam] for ever.  It shall not 
			 fade, but miraculous colour shall come back to it
			 day after day.  Close it in locked glass for a
			 proof to the world. [of what?]

	new aeon - "THE NEW AEON
		   The third chapter of the Book [of Revealing] is difficult
		   to understand, and may be very repugnant to many people
		   born before the date of the Book (April, 1904).

		   It tells us the characteristics of the Period on
		   which we are now entered.  Superficially, they
		   appear appalling.  We see some of them already with
		   terrifying clarity.  But fear not! [note: 'we are in
		   deep shit!  fear not, our god resolves our problems!]

		   It explains that certain vast 'stars' (or aggregates
		   of experience) may be described as Gods.  One of these
		   is in charge of the destinies of this planet for
		   periods of 2,000 years.*  In the history of the world,
		   as far back as we know accurately, are three such Gods:
		   Isis, the mother, when the Universe was conceived as
		   simple nourishment drawn directly from her; this period
		   [Nu(it)-Isis :>] is marked by matriarchal government.

		   Next, beginning in 500 B.C., Osiris, the father, when
		   the Universe was imagined as catastrophic, love, death,
		   resurrection, as the method by which experience was
		   built up; this [Had(it)-Osiris-Jesus] corresponds to
		   patriarchal systems.

		   [note the similarity of mythic conclusion as the
		    modern feminist neopagans-> matriarchy]

		   Now, Horus, the child, in which we come to perceive
		   events as a continual growth partaking in its elements
		   of both these methods, and not to be overcome by
		   circumstance.  This present period [Ra-Horus-666]
		   involves the recognition of the individual as the unit
		   of society.  [cf Satanism; 49960606 the Aeon of the 
		   Adversary!]

		   We realize ourselves as explained in the first paragraphs
		   of this essay.  Every event, includiung death, is only
		   more accretion to our experience, freely willed by
		   ourselves [take responsibility for your life] from the
		   beginning and therefore also predestined. [bet you didn't
		   that Thelemites believed in Predestination too! ;>]

		   This "God," Horus, has a technial title: Heru-Ra-Ha, a
		   combination of twin gods, Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-Paar-Kraat.
		   The meaning of this doctrine must be studied in 'Magick.'
		   (He is symbolized as a Hawk-Headed God enthroned.) [is this
		   such a big change from Yahweh?  The Battle-God sitting on 
		   a throne (of judgement?), supposedly bi- or non-sexual, 
		   and yet always called 'He'?; one wonders if Crowley wasn't
		   revisiting the Aeon of the Had-Hoor-Jeshua]

		   He rules the present period of 2,000 years [sound 
		   familiar?], beginning in 1904.  [round about the time
		   the Angel of the Abyss was supposed to 'get out' ;>] 
		   Everywhere his government is taking root. [manifest destiny?]
		   Observe for yourselves the decay of the sense of sin,
		   the growth of innocence and irresponsibility, the strange
		   modifications of the reproductive instinct with a tendency
		   to become bi-sexual and epicene [then why does the author
		   use the pronoun 'He' to refer to the God?], the childlike
		   confidence in progress combined with nightmare fear of
		   catastrophe, against which we are yet half unwilling to
		   take precautions. [note how willing the author is to
		   accept the values of the previous aeons -- growth and
		   catastrophe, the combination of Nu-Isis and Had-Osiris,
		   yet is this something *new*, or just a revisitation to
		   aspects of the past, combined?]

		   Consider the outcrop of dictatorships, only possible when
		   moral growth is in its earliest stages, and the prevalence
		   of infantile cults [!] like Communism, Fascism, Pacifism,
		   Health Crazes, Occultism in nearly all its forms, religions
		   sentimentalized to the point of practical extinction [true
		   also of the religion of Thelema? kinda cult-like if you 
		   ask me].

		   Consider the popularity of the cinema, the wireless, the
		   football pools and guessing competitions, all devices for
		   for soothing fractious infants, no seed of purpose in them.
		   [one could make a case that modern obsessions spell more
		   plainly the change of the aeons (by our author, noted:
		   * The moment of change from one period to another is
		   technically called The Equinox of the Gods); is this then
		   a proof that the prince-priest's Dictation was only that
		   of Herald, announcing a later change, as other *Thelemites*
		   have claimed? (esp. Achad, Grant, Nema, likely Motta, 
		   other people who may want also to enslave us in a cult
		   in order to support them financially and emotionally,
		   as the Prophet attempted)]

		   Consider sport, the babyish enthusiasms and rages which
		   it excites, whole nations disturbed by disputes between
		   boys.  [this was new?  olympics?  football/rugby?]

		   Consider war, the atrocities which occur daily and leave
		   us unmoved and hardly worried.

		   We are children.  [and we treat our children like animals]

		   How this new Aeon of Horus will develop, how the Child
		   will grow up, these are for us to determine, growing
		   up ourselves in the way of the Law of Thelema under
		   the enlightened guidance of the Master Therion.  [more
		   adoration for the Master emphasizes the scripture and
		   the stele and the religion]
		   _______________________________________________________

		   Excised from an introductory essay to the Book of the
		   Law found within a copy given to the Abyss by another
		   member of the OTO (US) (fourth chapter of five, which
		   I intend also to key in below or in another post; if
		   you know of where this originates, please email me and/or
		   make this plainly known, thanks).


|> Coincidentally, i was commissioned to carve an authentic-looking Egyptian
|> stele last week and did a fair amount of study of actual carvings. I have
|> photos of the Stele of Revealing and notice that it was not carved, simply
|> painted and the painting is not as elaborate or precise as many of the
|> examples i was working from. This suggests that it was not a particularly
|> important piece in its day. At least not important to any wealthy person.

|Is it important now, other than for thelemites, that is.

The usage of the term 'thelemites' here is ambiguous.  It may refer to any
number of identities (of social caste, of individual timber, of magical art).

Crowley says much about 'Thelemites' (I'm not aware he ever identified himself
as one, though I'd love to hear claims of this :>), and should be quoted 
occasionally about this in relation to the subject (I may take this up later).

I think it more conservative to say that the stele is important to some people 
who identify themselves *as* Thelemites.  Much like the badge of 'Christian' 
or 'Buddhist', this is used to prop up egos, oppress others at the expense of
the Law of the Thelema (ignorant of its meaning), to form a shell (qliphot) 
around a community which is at odds with the surrounding culture (being 
tantric and, esp. early on, largely anti-Christian in tone but not substance), 
and to inspire converts to the new and more exciting 'progress', at times at
the expense of their individuality and/or the biosphere.

More:

	cult - born into a splintering social system wherein the paradigm
	       of old no longer functions (destroyed by Science in a wash
	       of arid materialism and cynicism), citizens of nation states
	       reach for some Solution to the horror they see around them
	       as the villages and cities become engulfed in globalization
	       through war and terrorism.

	       apocalyptic religions and other warmongering gods have long
	       inspired their worshippers to ever more fervent devotion,
	       often ignoring and sometimes blatantly reframing historical
	       evidence into self-supporting rivalry among personality-cults.  

	       this is exemplified in the (US) OTO's opposition to Satanism
	       and the bulk of the Order's rejection of Crowley's obvious
	       counter-cultural lifestyle in favor of the status quo.  the
	       RELIGION of Thelema began with the sacrifice of the Law from 
	       which it stole its name (even with the nod of the Master).  

	       now worn like a badge of progress and advancement within
	       post-Darwinian evolutionary heyday, excellently manifested
	       in the various organized pursuits: modern OTOs, latter-day 
	       Rosicrucians, the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set 
	       (among numerous offshoots/splinters), the movement called 
	       'Thelema' has taken on all the characteristics of most 
	       'Old Aeon' religions, complete with inane fanaticism about 
	       their Prophet(s) (almost always male), support of a 
	       mythology as if it were history (resembling Neopagans in 
	       dimmer moments), and various unchangeable icons of odd 
	       assortment which do not always consistently represent the 
	       histories and philosophies promoted by its cultists 
	       (stele: note the 666, which is of obvious Satanic bent).

E6/6/6 - stay tuned

tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
mu