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HERALD-TEPAPHONE

From: "John B. Fleming" 
Subject: HERALD-TEPAPHONE
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 15:41:24 -0500 (EST)
                                      
A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF IAO CAMP, ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS

WINTER SOLSTICE, 1995-6 E.V.

VOLUME I, NUMBER IV
  
     _________________________________________________________________
  
   _Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law._
     _________________________________________________________________
  
   IAO Camp, Ordo Templi Orientis
   P.O. Box 5793
   Bloomington, Indiana 47407
   (URL) http://www.sephiroth.org/iao/
   (e-mail: rbowyer@intersource.com)
  
   _Personnel:_
  
   The Non-existent Brother R. B., Camp Master and Proofreader to His
   Majesty
   The Non-existent Sister R. H., Treasurer
   Fr. In Profunda, Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda
   Sr. Shekinah, Minister of Protocol and Appetizers
   Sr. Manibhadra, Minister of Caffeine
   Fr. Wayne (Formerly Known as the Magician Formerly Known as Wayne),
   Secretary and Minister of Magical Formula
   Fr. Appetitor Lucis, Chief of Cybernetics
   Fr. R. A., Distinguished Guest
  
   _Outside Contributors:_
  
   Soror Continuity
   Dr. Michael Melchizedeck, Ph.D.
   The Great God Critter
   A. Quiller III
   Adam Weishaupt
   Haon Dor
   Sapiens Dominibatur Astris
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   The _Herald-Tepaphone_ is the quarterly newsletter of IAO Camp, a duly
   chartered body of Ordo Templi Orientis. The _HT_ is published on the
   Equinoxes and Solstices. Subscriptions are $3.00 per issue or $10.00
   for one year (4 issues), make checks or money orders payable to
   Bowyer.
  
   Membership in IAO Camp and/or O.T.O. is not required to subscribe or
   to submit material. Text submissions may be sent on paper or on 3.5
   in. disk for WordPerfect or Microsoft Word (preferably on Macintosh),
   illustrations had better be on paper at present. All copyrights reside
   with the individual authors if they are willing to 'fess-up.
  
   The opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the
   individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of IAO Camp,
   the Ordo Templi Orientis, or of anyone else.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  In this issue...
     * IAO Goes On-Line!
     * New Members!
     * New Contributor!
     * Top Ten Reasons to Join O.T.O.
     * Just What is a Kabbalistic Cross?
     * The Dirtwitch Review
     * Yuletide Interlude
     * Words of Inspiration from Our Beloved Prophet
     * Book Search
     * Poet's Corner
     * Lovecraftian Qabalah
     * Announcement
     * In Memoriam
     * Typhonian Tomes: Being a Guide to the Works of Kenneth Grant
     * The Lady Freemason
     * Reviews
          + Secret Texts: The Literature of Secret Societies, edited by
            Marie Mulvey Roberts and Hugh Ormsby-Lennon
          + The Occult, Colin Wilson
          + Magical Hearth: Home for Modern Pagans, Janet Thompson
          + The 1996 Opus n' Bill No-Nonsense Astrology Calendar,
            Berkeley Breathed
          + Absinthe: the Green Goddess, Aleister Crowley
          + Tao Te Ching: Liber CLVII, translated, with an introduction
            and commentary by Aleister Crowley
          + Humanism in the Renaissance, Sem Dresden
          + The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the
            Renaissance, Joseph Leon Blau
          + Liber Kaos, Peter Carroll
          + The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton, Book I,
            translated by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, edited,
            annotated, introduced, and enlarged by Aleister Crowley
          + Art and Symbols of the Occult, James Wasserman
          + In a Graveyard at Midnight: Folk Magick and Wisdom from the
            Heart of Appalachia, Edain McCoy
          + Celtic Heritage, Alwyn and Brinley Rees
          + The Occult and the Third Reich: The Mystical Origins of
            Nazism and the Search for the Holy Grail, Jean-Michel
            Angebert
     * Correspondence
          + From Sr. Continuity
          + From Dr. Michael Melchizedeck, Ph.D.
     * IAO Camp Calendar, Winter 1996
     * Note from the Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda
     * DISCLAIMER
      
  
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  IAO GOES ON-LINE!
 
  
  
   Yes, the rumours are true! IAO Camp, home to some of the most eminent
   Luddites in the O.T.O., is now a presence on the World Wide Web. While
   we have been discussing the possibility of establishing a Homepage for
   some months, Fr. Appetitor Lucis (one of our two new Minervals)
   proceded to set one up on his own initiative. And a bang-up job he
   did, too!
  
   The IAO Camp Homepage includes our Calendar of Events, _Liber AL_,
   links to every other O.T.O. body on-line that we have discovered, as
   well as complete back issues of this very newsletter--the _Electric
   Tepaphone_, if you will. Shortly after this issue goes to press we
   expect to have capsule profiles of each Camp member available for your
   mystification, as well as other neat stuff. So log on to
   _http://www.sephiroth.org/iao/_ without delay--and be sure to sign
   our guestbook!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  New Members!
 
  
  
   We are proud to announce that the Camp now has two brand new
   Minervals; Frater Appetitor Lucis and Frater R.A., who were received
   as guests of the Order in November. Fr. A.L. has already distinguished
   himself by creating our Website, while Fr. R.A. has constructed some
   much needed new pillars for our Gnostic Mass Altar. Congratulations
   and good wishes to the both of them!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  New Contributor!
 
  
  
   We are always interested in hearing from outside authorities on
   matters relating to Magick. Now a friend of ours named Critter, who
   happens to be a Traditional Witch, Javacrucian, and Tepaphone
   aficionado to boot, joins us as Witchcraft columnist and reviewer.
   Welcome aboard!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Top Ten Reasons to Join O.T.O.
 
  
  
   10. You will no longer be a Trog.
   9. Learn to levitate.
   8. Everything always runs exactly on time.
   7. Great parties, dude!
   6. Will enable you to be more Christ-like.
   5. You can look down your nose at all those cheesy Golden Dawners.
   4. Holographic picture ID card.
   3. Your mother will be _so proud!_
   2. We have an extra Hebrew letter.
   1. You never have to spend Thanksgiving with your parents again.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Just What is a Kabbalistic Cross?
 
    by Soror Babel ha-Gedulah
   
  
  
   I came from a somewhat unusual background. My mother is Jewish but my
   father is Roman Catholic. When I first got into Magick I was very
   interested in the so-called Kabbalistic Cross, because it seemed like
   a way of reconciling my parents' differing beliefs while furthering my
   own (i. e., Magick). But the more I studied the Kabbalistic Cross, the
   more cans of worms it opened.
  
   As everybody knows, the Kabbalistic Cross is the beginning and ending
   part of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram taught in the
   Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (TM, ® + ©, pat. pend.,
   etc.). The Pentagram Ritual was written by Mathers, and he got the
   inspiration and the basic format from Eliphas L=E9vi's book
   _Transcendental Magic_. This is important because L=E9vi was Catholic
   (they say Mathers converted to Catholicism, too), and most
   non-Catholics don't understand the significance of the Sign of the
   Cross. Everybody knows how you make the Sign of the Cross, and that it
   confers spiritual protection (I once saw an old lady crossing herself
   when walking in front of a certain O.T.O. Temple!), but not everybody
   knows that it's used at the beginning and end of Catholic rituals
   ranging from private prayer all the way up to the Mass. So it's
   natural for a Catholic Magician like L=E9vi to open and close a very
   important ritual such as the _Conjuration of the Four_ (his prototype
   of the Pentagram Ritual) with the Sign of the Cross.
  
   But in the Kabbalistic Cross you don't follow the usual Catholic
   wording, 'In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
   Amen.' Instead you say 'For thine is the kingdom and the power and the
   glory forever. Amen.' L=E9vi can't seem to decide whether you should say
   those words in Greek, or in a mix of Latin and Hebrew (see pages 51
   and 234 of _Transcendental Magic_). Mathers wants you to say them in
   Hebrew, but he changes the meaning to 'Thou art the kingdom...,' etc.
   Nobody knows whether Mathers made this change for some esoteric
   purpose or just because he didn't really know Hebrew. Certainly his
   transliteration of the vau-conjunctives as '_ve-Geburah_' and '_ve
   Gedulah_,' when they should be pronounced '_u Gheburah_' and
   '_u-Ghedulah_,' argues that his knowledge of Hebrew was pretty
   minimal.
  
   But regardless what language you use to say these words while making
   the Kabbalistic Sign of the Cross, they open another can of worms.
   These words conclude the 'Lord's Prayer' in PROTESTANT Bibles. They
   are absent from Catholic Bibles because Catholic Biblical scholars
   consider them a late and inauthentic interpolation. And of course
   Protestants reject the Sign of the Cross as a superstitious ritual, so
   by combining them we're making Luther and the Pope shack up, against
   both their wishes (I can hear some Thelemites shouting 'Good!').
  
   L=E9vi is aware of what he's doing here. He calls the words an 'occult
   versicle of the Lord's Prayer, which the _Vulgate_ leaves
   untranslated,' and says that 'It has been retained by Protestants in
   their _New Testament_, but they have failed to discern its lofty and
   wonderful meaning...' He also tells us that the words 'for thine is
   the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen' are 'found in
   the Greek text of the _Gospel according to St. Matthew_, and in
   several Hebrew copies...' In fact, they do show up in some Greek
   manuscripts of _Matthew_. The earliest one dates from the fifth
   century, and the others are eighth century or later. Of course there
   are no ancient Hebrew copies of the _Gospels_ (L=E9vi liked to make up
   authorities to support his ideas).
  
   I agree with the Catholic scholars who consider this 'occult versicle'
   an inauthentic inclusion, but it's not hard to see the logic of
   including it. It follows one of the major thematic agendas of the
   _Gospel of Matthew_, because it links Jesus with King David to
   underscore the idea that Jesus really is the 'branch Davidian,' the
   promised Messiah. The formula which is being put in Jesus' mouth in
   the Lord's Prayer ('Thine is the kingdom...,' etc.) comes from the
   Prayer of David, in _I Chronicles_, 29. This prayer is familiar to all
   students of Kabbalah, because the names of the Sefiroth from Gedulah
   (Chesed) down to Hod are found here, in order. For orthodox
   Kabbalists, this proves that David was a Kabbalist and knew all about
   the Tree of Life. For L=E9vi, the Protestant ending of the Lord's Prayer
   proves the same thing about Jesus.
  
   Ready to open another can of worms? L=E9vi's point in combining the Sign
   of the Cross and the ending of the Lord's Prayer is that the words
   correspond to the names of Sefiroth which form a cross. But they
   don't. First of all, David does not use the word Malkuth for
   'kingdom,' but a synonym, _Mamlakah_ (I have a Hebrew _New Testament_
   based on the _King James Bible_ (!), and it also uses _Mamlakah_ to
   translate 'kingdom.'). Second, the words in the occult versicle do not
   translate into Hebrew as Geburah and Chesed, as L=E9vi says, or even
   Geburah and Gedulah (another name for Chesed), as Mathers says. They
   translate as Geburah and Tiphareth, which means they do NOT form a
   cross!
  
   So if we want the occult versicle to form a cross, we have to change
   it to say 'the kingdom and the power and the mercy.' Or if we want to
   keep the words of Jesus/David intact, we have to change the Sign of
   the Cross to the Sign of the Funky Triangle with a Line Sticking Out
   from One Side. Either way it's a little awkward, and it ruins the
   perfection of L=E9vi's grand idea of the 'Kabbalistic Cross.'
  
   One more small can. L=E9vi was right about one thing that Mathers has
   wrong. In Kabbalah, Geburah is always on the left side of the body,
   not on the right side as Mathers and the Golden Dawn say. So, if the
   Kabbalistic Cross actually was a cross, you'd make it the way
   Catholics do instead of 'backwards,' the way Orthodox Christians and
   G.=B7.D.=B7. Magicians do.
  
   So what can we do with this kitchen full of worms? Maybe the easiest
   answer is to dump L=E9vi's Kabbalistic Cross and substitute something
   else. At IAO Camp, Soror Shekinah makes the Sign of the Cross while
   intoning the _Shema_ ('Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is
   One') in her personal Pentagram Ritual. Frater Oudeis' 'Ceremony of
   the Six Seals' (in the _Herald-Tepaphone_ vol. I no. 2) contains two
   different alternatives to the Kabbalistic Cross, both based on the
   _Sefer Yetzirah_. I should point out that Shekinah and Oudeis both
   wrote their alternative 'Kabbalistic Crosses' because they couldn't
   make sense of L=E9vi's Kabbalistic Cross. Another solution would be
   simply to use the words of King David from _I Chronicles_, 29 (maybe
   combined with some passage from _Proverbs_, such as 3:13-20 or 7:4 or
   9:10, etc.).
  
   But what if you really like the Kabbalistic Cross and you don't want
   to get rid of it? One member of IAO Camp who is very well aware of all
   these problems still does the Golden Dawn Pentagram Ritual just as
   he's always done it. His reasoning is that it's worked for G.=B7.D.=B7.
   Initiates for a hundred years, and even though we're not G.=B7.D.=B7.
   Initiates we probably know more now about the intricacies of the
   Kabbalistic Cross than Mathers himself did. Thus, we have a more
   complete command of the ritual than the G.=B7.D.=B7. guys, just because =
we
   know how messed up it is. This reminds me of Crowley's magical
   technique of persisting in something you know is absurd ('From
   Greenland's Icy Mountains,' etc.)
  
   Finally, there's the point that L=E9vi's intent is more important than
   the imperfection of his actual ritual. What he was trying to do was to
   achieve a synthesis of all religions into One Religion. This is
   exactly what Western Magicians have been trying to do since
   Hellenistic times. Hermetic and Gnostic Magicians treated Greek,
   Egyptian, Hebrew, and Sumerian gods as so many aspects of GOD,
   Renaissance Magicians tried to synthesize Hermetic ideas with
   Christianity and Kabbalah, and L=E9vi is following in their footsteps.
   His intent in the Kabbalistic Cross was to make a brief ritual that
   would synthesize Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and even Orthodox
   Christianity (see p. 234 of _T. M._, again), into a single expression
   of Christian faith. This faith was then synthesized with Judaism
   through the Kabbalah, and thus united with Hermeticism, etc. L=E9vi says
   that, 'True religion is universal religion,' and to attain to
   religious universality, the truly catholic religion, we must be 'more
   catholic than the Pope and more protestant than Luther.' (see pages
   197 and 211 of _T. M._) Even if the rituals we use in pursuing this
   goal are flawed, the goal remains lofty and wonderful. And so even if
   the Kabbalistic Cross is not technically correct, it still conveys a
   marvelous and magical idea, and synthesizes the quarreling sects of
   Judaism and Christianity into the great universal wisdom-religion of
   Magick. What more do you want?
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  The Dirtwitch Review
 
    by Stone Mudrunner
   
  
  
   Hi, I'm the Stone Mudrunner, and welcome to my column. I'm a
   traditional Witch and I guess I'd better make clear that I don't talk
   for all Traditions, or even all members of my tradition. (Hell, I
   won't talk _to_ a lot of 'em, let alone _for_ 'em!) I was going to
   write about the Wheel of the Year, but instead let's take a look at
   basic spellcraft from the view of a witch.
  
   First, it's an article of faith for us tree huggers that we can change
   the world by ritual action. I don't really think that something that
   is at its best is reasoned religious belief and at it's worst is Pagan
   fundamentalism is a good topic here. That's mostly because a spell is
   intended more to have an effect on the operator rather than the
   operand.
  
   I've reached the conclusion that a great many operations in ceremonial
   Magick are more similar to Wiccan spell work than one would think. The
   main point is to create a given 'space' in the mundane world, where
   the operator can, free from distraction, create a very specific frame
   of mind.
  
   In order to do this, one needs to construct a ritual conducive to the
   desired mind-set. Of course, any magickal practitioner will have a set
   or ritual action that they habitually use to open and close magickal
   space, so that much is taken care of. The meat of the ritual will be
   very specific to the work at hand.
  
   Several things will be needed. One will be a magickal link between the
   operator and the operand. The more direct this link is the better.
   (Remember all those nice Renaissance sex spells requiring pubic hair
   and spittle?) A symbolic link is better than none, but there will be a
   definite attenuation of the association.
  
   Every bit as important to the work at hand as the link is the pattern
   of ritual action. Humans function best magickally when they are
   completely attuned to what they're doing. Therefore, all the elements
   of the ritual should be selected to reinforce and REINTEGRATE the
   complete being of the operator. A good spell working should energize
   the 'Higher' (I hate that word) aspect of the Witch, either through
   visualization, invocation, or meditation. The ritual should also
   energize the emotions of the worker. If the emotions of the worker are
   not engaged the Magick will fail. There can be no effective Magick
   without this vital part of the person involved. If you are not an
   emotional time bomb that detonates at the moment of ritual climax, you
   lose. The mental aspect of the operator should also be involved--by
   use of appropriate symbols, ritual dialogue or 'dramatic' activity.
   One must have ones intellectual faculties firmly harnessed to the
   working. (This includes making use of the willful suspension of
   disbelief while performing ritual. If you can watch _Star Trek_ you
   can believe for a ritual.) Finally, one must have the physical body
   attuned to the working. The gestures and movements of the ritual must
   match it's aims. It's no good adopting the Osiris Posture or Rending
   the Veil if you're trying to get your neighbor naked!
  
   By integrating the link to the operand with the concentrated alignment
   of the four faculties one focuses one's will to the matter at hand.
   Rather like a proper sword thrust, everything will be in line to
   achieve the operator's end. When everything is properly prepared, and
   the climax has come, the final act should be a cathartic event, using
   emotion to power the Wheel to achieve and end.
  
   Maybe I'll talk about the Wheel later.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  A Yuletide Interlude
 
    by Frater 'Agidzomai
   
  
  
   Every Christmas carol contains profound magical secrets which are open
   to every one who has made a study of the correspondences of the Holy
   Qabalah. To illustrate this fact I have explicated one such antient
   arcanum, 'The Twelve Days Of Christmas'.
  
   We note immediately that the twelve days follow Christmas, the
   rebirth-of-the Sun/birth-of-the-Son at the Winter Solstice. The days
   are twelve in number and thus refer to the signs of the Zodiac.
  
   The unknown author of this work tells us that on each of the twelve
   days he was given a marvelous present by his True Love, and this is
   the key which unlocks the enigma of the song. In modern times we
   identify the Holy Guardian Angel with the True Will, but during the
   Christian era the Word of the Law was not Thelema but Agape; hence the
   adepts of the Middle Ages identified the Holy Guardian Angel with the
   True Love. This is substantiated by innumerable works of mystical
   literature in which the Deity is represented as a divine lover or
   'heavenly bridegroom' (e.g., _Song of Songs_ and _Revelation_).
  
   The interpretation of the carol is now clear: an adept of the Osirian
   Age attained to the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian
   Angel, union with his True Love, here symbolized as the Advent of the
   Christ Child whose birth coincides with the glorious renewal of the
   Sun, and this True Love gave him twelve 'gifts'-- i.e. initiatory
   mystical experiences, or 'gifts of the Holy Spirit'-- related to the
   twelve signs. The song is an epithalamium celebrating his marriage to
   the Divine Lover, Adonai, and at the same time a record, in poetical
   language, of his attainment. The exact meaning which these visions had
   for the anonymous adept who received them must remain a matter of
   conjecture, but careful Qabalistic exegesis can reveal the bare bones
   of their meaning and provide solid evidence for my interpretation by
   clarifying the relationship between the twelve mystical gifts and the
   twelve zodiacal signs and Hebrew letters to which they correspond. The
   song progresses from a single 'gift' to the plenitude of divine grace
   on the twelfth day, so we will analyze this last and loftiest day.
  
   _'On the twelfth day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me Twelve
   ladies dancing'--Pisces_
  
   Even contemporary American slang and vulgarism testify to the identity
   of ladies and fish, and this equation is of the highest antiquity--cf.
   the _vesica piscis_ as symbol of the female principle. The ladies
   dance to indicate that the adept has overcome all the burdens, fears,
   and restrictions which characterize this dark sign. Veneration of the
   twelfth sign as the summit of Initiation may seem strange until we
   consider that the carol is a product of the Osirian or Piscean Age,
   during which the number twelve was seen as a glyph of perfection, the
   _ne plus ultra_ of human spiritual evolution, just as eleven is today
   venerated as 'the principal number of Magick' in the Aquarian Age: it
   is thus completely natural for the Piscean adept to regard Pisces as
   the greatest of his visions.
  
   _'Eleven lords a-leaping'--Aquarius_
  
   The lords leap into air, the element of which Aquarius is the Kerubic
   emblem. This is emphasized by the addition to 'leaping' of the letter
   'a', representing the Hebrew Aleph, the eleventh Path, attributed to
   elemental air (note how nothing in these old mystical texts occurs
   merely by chance!). The obvious parallel between leaping lords and
   dancing ladies assures the adept that the ancient Mysteries of
   Initiation will be preserved in the coming Age of Aquarius, and that
   mankind will indeed 'leap' to new spiritual heights. Observe the
   intricate intercrescence of the Old and New Aeons in these images of
   Pisces and Aquarius: by speaking of 'ladies' in the age of patriarchy,
   our adept has adumbrated (from knowledge acquired in his communion
   with the H.G.A.) that balance of the sexes which will typify the
   androgynous Age of Horus, while the presence of male 'lords' in the
   latter age stresses that the good works of the Osirian epoch will not
   be cast away as in the catastrophic upheavals of the previous Equinox
   of the Gods.
  
   _'Ten drummers drumming'--Capricorn_
  
   Continuing the account of his revelatory experience, the author passes
   from visions of cosmic and aeonic scope to matters of a more personal
   and material nature. The symbolism here is distinctly earthy:
   10=3DMalkuth=3Dearth, and the heavy throb of the drumming underscores th=
e
   earthiness of this vision. Since Capricorn is ruled by Saturn it is a
   very heavy and earthy sign, associated with monetary concerns and
   frequently with 'evil' (it corresponds to Trump XV, The Devil), but
   here the drummers beat a happy tempo to accompany the leaping dancers
   already discussed. Thus the adept is told to rejoice, because his
   material needs will be met.
  
   _'Nine pipers piping'--Sagittarius_
  
   Pipes symbolize divine inspiration and their presence in this vision
   assures the adept that his philosophical and religious pursuits
   (governed by Sagittarius) will hereafter be guided by his True Love or
   Angel. Note also that this commemorates his attainment, since 9=3DYesod
   and Sagittarius=3DSamekh, the path leading from Yesod, beyond the path
   of Mars (here represented by the alliteration of 'p'=3DPeh, the letter
   of Mars) to the dwelling of Christ and the Holy Guardian Angel in
   Tiphareth.
  
   _'Eight maids a-milking'--Scorpio_
  
   Scorpio is the Kerub of Water, and its watery nature is brought out by
   the alliteration of 'm' (m=3DHebrew Mem=3Delemental water). It is stress=
ed
   that this is no more the stagnant water of putrefaction and death
   (Mem=3DTrump XII, The Hanged Man, while Scorpio=3DXIII, Death), however,
   because now water is to the adept the milk (Mem=3D40=3Dchalab, 'milk') o=
f
   that Mother who resides on the distant shore of the Great Sea, Binah.
   It must be borne in mind that these remarks apply to the religious
   consciousness of an Osirian master: The Hanged Man, Mem, is the type
   of the Dying Solar God, and only through his death (Scorpio=3DXIII)
   could Initiation occur in that doleful age, yet all this
   suffering--the pain of his obligation--has now been transformed to joy
   by the coming of Adonai, the True Love, the newborn Christ. The
   puzzling extra 'a' in 'a-milking' affords an illustration of the
   astonishing subtlety of this song's symbolism, for the letters Nun
   (=3DScorpio), Mem (alliterated in the line), and the additional letter
   Aleph (otherwise inexplicably present), form in Hebrew the sacred word
   Amen, signifying the completion of the Great Work (its numeration, 91,
   is a Mystic Number of Kether as well as the numeration of Malka, the
   Virgin or Maid; thus it signifies the ultimate union of Kether and
   Malkuth). By the exegetical method of notariqon the phrase 'maids
   a-milking' becomes mam, an Indo-European root signifying 'breast' and
   accentuating the symbolism of the milk of the Great Mother (Mama). The
   idea of a 'milking maid'--i.e. a lactating virgin--could only refer,
   in this Christian context, to Mary the Virgin Mother, suckling her
   divine Son. The number eight verifies all this because 8=3Ddad, the
   Hebrew for 'breast', and also 8=3DHod=3DMercury the ruler of Virgo.
  
   _'Seven swans a-swimming'--Libra_
  
   The Venereal symbolism of this vision is unmistakable. Both 'seven'
   and 'swans' pertain to Venus, who rules the airy sign Libra. The
   birds, creatures of the air, are 'a swimming', i.e. causing airy
   forces (a=3DAleph=3Dair) to manifest on water; this shows that the age-o=
ld
   confusion of air and water (which so vexed the Golden Dawn, the last
   great Osirian Order) has been clearly reconciled in the mind of the
   adept; this newfound equanimity betokens the Balance, Libra. It is
   probable that the mystery is revealed by Love.
  
   _'Six geese a-laying'--Virgo_
  
   Geese are an ancient symbol of the Great Mother, known in Christian
   tradition as Mary, the Virgo Mater. Yet these geese are 'a laying',
   i.e. they have been fertilized like Mary by the Holy Spirit, the Ruach
   or breath, represented by the prefixed Aleph. This fertilizing force
   is also represented by the letter Yod, the secret fire concealed in
   the reed of Prometheus as well as in the Caduceus of Mercury who rules
   the sign of the Virgin. In this vision the mysteries of Creation and
   the true significance of parthenogenesis have been unveiled for the
   adept.
  
   _'Five gold rings'--Leo_
  
   This is without doubt the holiest and most profound of the twelve
   mystical experiences recounted in this carol, and to this day it is
   given a unique reverence whenever the song is sung, as if even the
   uninitiated carollers intuitively perceive its sanctity. There are in
   all six 'gifts' of birds and five 'gifts' of people, obviously
   denoting Macrocosm and Microcosm respectively. In the midst of these
   appears the gift of 'five gold rings' symbolizing the marriage-- the
   unio mystica--of Microprosopus and Macroprosopus at the attainment of
   the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, represented
   by the abbreviation 5=3D6. This is restated even more subtly in the
   'five gold rings' themselves: 5 is the Pentagram, Microcosm, while
   gold=3DSol=3DTiphareth=3D6, the Hexagram, Macrocosm.
  
   Both these adjectives, 'five' and 'gold', modify 'rings', the symbol
   of unity, the mythical serpent Ouroboros who bites his own tail. Note
   that 'serpent'=3DTeth, the letter of Leo (note also that Leo=3DTrump XI
   and 11=3D5+6). This vision is the rapture of union with the True Love,
   Adonai.
  
   But since the unknown Medieval adept who left this song to us was an
   initiate of a Christian esoteric tradition, this gift must contain
   some reference to the mysteries of the Crucifixion--another aspect of
   the symbolism of Tiphareth, where the marriage takes place. We need
   not search long to find it. The rings, as noted before, are serpents,
   and 'serpent' in Hebrew is Nechesh=3D358=3DMessiach, 'the Messiah';
   gold=3DSol=3DTiphareth=3D6=3DVau=3Dthe Son. Five in this sense is clearl=
y a
   reference to the five wounds of Christ, and of course 5=3DV=3DVau which
   means 'a nail' (Vau also corresponds to Trump V, The Pope). The
   mysteries of this revelation are infinite, so I will leave any further
   analysis to the ingenium of my readers.
  
   _'Four calling birds'--Cancer_
  
   These birds are presumably perched upon Cheth, a fence, and they sing
   because Cheth=3D418=3Dthe Great Work complete. These four birds are none
   other than the Tetragrammaton--the Father, the Mother, the Son, the
   Daughter--and we immediately recall that Cancer governs families. The
   birds call out to the adept to remind him that even in the patriarchal
   Age of Osiris the Great Work entails the recognition of both male and
   female aspects of divinity: the Daughter is the necessary completion
   of the formula. In Christian symbolism, moreover, birds represent the
   souls of the faithful, so that these four birds singing on the fence
   418 are also the souls of four adepts who have attained before and who
   call to the adept to join them in the ranks of the heavenly host
   (heavenly because birds are creatures of the heavens).
  
   _'Three French hens'--Gemini_
  
   The hens are from France because Europeans have traditionally
   associated that country with all aspects of love, and Gemini rules
   Trump VI, The Lovers (corresponding to the six letters in the word
   'French'), which traditionally depicted not two but three figures
   (three hens). Further, the sequence of hens, turtledoves, and a
   partridge calls to mind (does it not?) the words of Odo of Tusculum.
   This great Christian teacher once compared the faithful to a variety
   of birds. Some flee from the hand like hens, he said; some are cunning
   like partridges, and some love solitude like turtledoves. Now these
   French hens 'flee from the hand': flight is a Mercurial action, and
   'hand'=3DYod=3DVirgo, ruled by Mercury. This vision is clearly intended =
to
   differentiate between the passive, earthy manifestation of Mercury in
   Virgo and his active, airy manifestation in Gemini. The vision is a
   vivid illustration of the importance of not mixing the planes.
  
   _'Two turtledoves'--Taurus_
  
   The alliteration of 't' refers to the earthy nature of the sign
   (t=3DTau=3Delemental earth), but the Venereal aspects are not to be
   neglected. The dove is the bird of Venus, ruler of Taurus, and the
   number two reminds us that doves mate for life. Odo of Tusculum said
   that turtledoves like solitude and that doves are guileless; we may
   assume that both are connoted here. The solitary birds come together
   and their union is firmly established through the force of Earth. The
   vision teaches that the essence of love is the innocence of the dove.
  
   _'And a partridge in a pear tree'--Aries_
  
   Again the alliteration is significant, as 'p'=3DPeh=3DMars the ruler of
   Aries. The partridge is cunning, but here we see that this cunning is
   unnecessary: the bird perches in a tree, safe from all predators
   below, and surrounded by an abundance of delicious fruits. Surely this
   wonderful tree can be no other than the Tree of Life! The partridge is
   the adept himself (Aries governs personality and self), resting as we
   all desire to do among the branches of that Holy Tree.
  
   Traditionally the carol is sung in a peculiar pattern, beginning with
   a single 'gift' for the first day and progressing with each new day to
   new pinnacles of inspiration, but always repeating the full list of
   'gifts' from previous days. This, of course, is a widely-used
   technique of invocation, well attested in the literature of Merkabah
   mysticism. Its purpose is to induce a trance state through the
   constant repetitions, and at the same time to overwhelm the rational
   faculties through the enormous numbers of 'gifts' bestowed. On the
   twelfth day alone the adept receives 78 separate items from his
   Beloved (the number of cards in the Tarot, hence another symbol--like
   12--of completion and perfection), and in the full course of the
   twelve days he receives no less than 364 (this plus the One Supreme
   Gift--the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian
   Angel--equals 365, another number of perfection, being the complete
   Solar Cycle). Contemplation of this profusion of divine gifts exalts
   the consciousness of the caroller beyond the limits of rationality
   into the celestial realms, so that by continually singing this song
   anyone might attain to the same ecstatic states as the unknown adept
   who composed it. Thus 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' is far more than
   a record of one man's attainment: it is an actual invocation, a
   ceremony in song by which aspirants may achieve their own union with
   the True Love.
  
   Finally, there is a possibility of interpreting this Christmas carol
   as the outline of a twelve-degree system of Initiation employed by
   some medieval Order now otherwise forgotten by history. In the first
   degree, corresponding to Aries, the candidate is given a Tree, i.e.
   the correspondences of the Holy Qabalah which form the basis for the
   Western Esoteric Tradition, and successive initiations lead the
   candidate toward union with the True Love--the Bridal of the Rosy
   Cross--in the Fifth Degree. But further explanation of this
   alternative interpretation is superfluous, as it is obvious to even
   the most casual observer.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Words of Inspiration from Our Beloved Prophet
 
  
  
   'Members of the Order are to regard those without its pale as
   possessing no rights of any kind, since they have not accepted the
   Law, and are therefore, as it were, troglodytes, survivals of a past
   civilization, and to be treated accordingly. Kindness should be shown
   towards them, as towards any other animal, and every effort should be
   made to bring them into Freedom.'
  
   --Fr. Baphomet X=B0
   (in Liber CI)
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  BOOK SEARCH
 
  
  
   This is a new column that, hopefully, will appear in each issue. We
   are always contacting each other looking for this or that publication
   so we will print a list of desired, needed, would kill for books,
   articles, etc... that we are searching for. Any help would be greatly
   rewarded. Also we welcome any requests!
  
   Soror Shekinah: (can be reached at rbowyer@intersource.com, or camp
   mail box)
  
   I am looking for material on Florence Farr of Golden Dawn, G. B. Shaw
   fame. Specifically the following:
     * _An Introduction to Alchemy and Notes_ by S.S.D.D., in _A Short
       Enquiry Concerning the Hermetic Art_ by a Lover of Philalethes,
       London, 1714. _Collectanea Hermetica_, vol 3, edited by W. W.
       Westcott. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1894.
     * _Modern Woman: Her Intentions_. London:Frank Palmer, 1910.
     * _The Music of Speech_. London:Elkin Mathews, 1909
     * Florence Farr and Olivia Shakespeare, _The Beloved of Hathor_, and
       _The Shrine of the Golden Hawk_. Croyden, England: Gordon Craig,
       1901[sic,1904]. (Two plays possibly together, written at the same
       time as the Cairo Working).
     * John Todhunter, _A Sicilian Idyll_. London:Elkin Mathews, 1890.
     * Various editions of a publication called _The Occult Review_: 7,
       no's 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, 1908; 8, no's 1 and 2, 1908
     * A publication called _The New Age_, published in London from May
       1907 to December 1908. I do not have the specific citations, but I
       do know the names of the articles if I can locate the publication.
      
  
  
   I realize that these are not your run of the mill occult books,
   although I believe they should be. Thank again for any help.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Poet's Corner
 
  
  
   _Additional Verses for Frosty the Snowman_
  
   Mithras the Sun-God
   Was a jolly happy soul,
   And he slew a bull
   On solstice day
   So the world would not get cold.
  
   Mithras the Sun-God
   Is a solar myth they say,
   But the Gnostics know
   He obeyed the crow
   And he killed that bull one day.
  
   The Sun required a sacrifice
   To keep from getting dim,
   And when Mithras slew the bull, old Sol
   Came down to feast with him.
  
   Mithras the Sun-God
   He saved the world from Night,
   And his immolation
   Also brought salvation
   To the men who sought the Light.
  
   _Pater accipe, Sancte accipe
   Thuricremos leones,
   Per quos thuradamus,
   Per quos consumimur
   Ipsi, O Meithra!_
  
   Mithras the Sun-God
   Asia Minor was his home,
   But his chosen priest
   Travelled from the East
   And established his cult at Rome.
  
   Mithras the Sun-God
   Had an initiatory cult,
   Through seven degrees
   They sought Light and Peace
   In a subterranean vault.
  
   There must have been some magic
   In that Phrygian cap he wore,
   For when they placed it on their heads
   His initiates were reborn.
  
   Jesus the Sun-God
   Made Mithras go away,
   But he waved goodbye
   Saying 'Don't you cry,
   I'll be back again some day!'
  
   [The middle section, corresponding to 'Thumpety-thump-thump...' in the
   original, is adapted from an invocation inscribed on the wall of the
   Mithraeum under Santa Prisca.]
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Lovecraftian Qabalah
 
    by Haon-Dor
   
  
  
   _Ph'nglui mglw'nath Cthulhu
   R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn._
  
   Kenneth Grant is to blame for this.
  
   It was some years ago when I obtained a copy of _The Magical Revival_
   and, while I found a good deal of the book informative, the section in
   Chapter Six comparing Lovecraftian and Thelemic concepts just about
   made me gag. Even allowing that he was writing in the early Seventies
   when Lovecraft studies was still labouring under August Derleth's
   Manich=E6nism, Grant's table was still pretty shallow1.
  
   The natural result of this was that I determined to produce my own
   table of correspondences. To be sure this was a daunting task even for
   someone who's a long-time Lovecraft fan as well as a practicing
   Magician, but I went ahead with it anyhow, and you may now shudder
   before the results. For the most part, I have tried to restrict myself
   to the 'objective' portrayal of the Mythos, however some personal
   touches were unavoidable, and are identified as such. In particular,
   much of Table 2, the Elemental correspondences, is of my own devising.
   I have utilised the best editions of the primary sources at my
   disposal so as not to be unduly influenced by other 'occult'
   interpretations of the Mythos2. One of the many strange things I
   discovered was that, despite their supposed alienness, the entities of
   the Cthulhu Mythos actually fit very comfortably into the _777_
   tables. This, among other things, makes me wonder just who the _real_
   aliens are.
  
   With some reservations, I have accepted August Derleth's idea that at
   least some of the Great Old Ones were linked to the four Elements. I
   have also accepted, for convenience as much as anything else,
   Chaosium's distinction between the Great Old Ones and the more
   'cosmic' Outer Gods. It is wise to bear in mind that Lovecraft was
   often deliberately haphazard with his terminology, and that he used
   the label 'Old Ones' to refer to several different classes of
   entities. It is best if the reader does _not_ take these tables as a
   rigid classification system in any sense.
  
   I have used the regular _777_ format as revised for the new edition of
   _Magick_. I have decided not to number these new columns so as to
   avoid possible confusion with 'official' additions which may
   eventually be published.
  
   Most of the entries are taken from Lovecraft's own works, which I am
   treating as 'Canonical' for our purposes; these are printed in CAPITAL
   LETTERS on the tables. Those entities developed by others3 but used by
   Lovecraft himself form a nebulous intermediate class and are printed
   in small caps {_Bold_ in this WWW edition}. Entries taken solely from
   HPL's associates and later imitators4 may be thought of as
   'Apocryphal', and are printed in regular type. Lastly, my own
   contributions are given in _italics._
  
   1The Tree of Life diagram in _Hecate's Fountain_ is better, but still
   a little idiosyncratic in my opinion.
  
   2My opinion of Grant's work has already been mentioned, and I have
   similar reservations about 'Simon', Colin Wilson, Robert Turner _et
   al_. I consider the work of the modern 'Esoteric Order of Dagon' to be
   of a higher calibre, however.
  
   3Principally Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, August Derleth, Ambrose
   Bierce, Robert Chambers, Arthur Machen, Frank Belknap Long, and Clark
   Ashton Smith.
  
   4Such as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.
  
      TABLE I
     
   _KEY SCALE_ _OUTER GODS_ _GREAT OLD ONES_ _ALIEN AND MONSTROUS RACES_
   0 YOG-SOTHOTH 1 AZATHOTH MI-GO, Insects from Shaggai 2 NYARLATHOTEP
   THE MILLION FAVOURED ONES 3 SHUB-NIGGURATH, Quachil Uttaus, OUTER GODS
   generally CATS FROM SATURN, GHASTS Abyss YOG-SOTHOTH (as UMR
   AT-TAWIL), Daoloth Atlach-Nacha NIGHTGAUNTS, DIMENSIONAL SHAMBLERS,
   _Hounds of Tindalos_ 4 Ubbo-Sathla Chaugnar-Faugn GREAT RACE OF YITH,
   GNOPH-KEH 5 Cthugha, YIG SERPENT MEN 6 'OLD ONES' OF ANTARCTICA 7
   SHUB-NIGGURATH Abhoth 8 NYARLATHOTEP _Hastur_, Ithaqua FLYING POLYPS,
   TCHO-TCHO PEOPLES 9 CTHULHU, DAGON & HYDRA, OLD ONES generally SPAWN
   OF CTHULHU, EARTHLY CATS, DREAMLAND CREATURES generally 10
   SHUB-NIGGURATH Shudde M'ell, _Tsathoggua_ GHOULS, Cthonians, Voormis
   11 _Hastur_ Byakhee 12 NYARLATHOTEP Eihort Hunting Horrors 13 CTHULHU,
   Glaaki ZOOGS 14 SHUB-NIGGURATH Abhoth Spawn of Abhoth 15 Ithaqua
   Wendigos 16 NYARLATHOTEP (as DARK PHARAOH) GHATANOTHOA, _Tsathoggua_
   SHANTAKS 17 DAGON & HYDRA, Zhar 18 Ubbo-Sathla Star Vampires 19
   NYARLATHOTEP (as FACELESS SPHINX) SHOGGOTHS 20 Ithaqua GNOPH-GEH 21
   Yibb-Tsill Chaugnar-Faugn 'Brothers' of Chaugnar-Faugn 22 Y'golonac 23
   CTHULHU DEEP ONES 24 YIG SERPENT MEN, Servants of Glaaki 25 COLOURS
   OUT OF SPACE 26 NYARLATHOTEP (as BLACK MAN), SHUB-NIGGURATH Dark
   Young, MEN OF LENG 27 Cthugha 28 AZATHOTH (as DAEMON-SULTAN) 29 DAGON
   & HYDRA DEEP ONES, MOON BEASTS 30 AZATHOTH (with OUTER GODS DANCING
   AROUND) IDIOT FLUTE-PLAYERS 31 Cthugha Fire Vampires 32
   Hziulquoigmzhah, _Tsathoggua_ FORMLESS SPAWN, GHOULS, DHOLES, BHOLES
   32 bis Shudde M'ell Cthonians 31 bis AZATHOTH The OUTER GODS
  
      TABLE II
     
   _KEY SCALE_ _ELEMENTS_ _OUTER GODS_ _GREAT OLD ONES_ _ELEMENTAL RACES_
   _LOCI_ _CULTS_ _ELEMENTAL WEAPONS_ 11 Air NYARLATHOTEP _Hastur_
   Byakhee _Carcosa_ _Cult of the Yellow Sign_ _Obsidian Dagger_ 23 Water
   YOG-SOTHOTH CTHULHU DEEP ONES R'LYEH CTHULHU CULT _Chalice_ 31 Fire
   AZATHOTH Cthugha Fire Vampires Fomalhaut _Bone Wand_ 32 bis Earth
   SHUB-NIGGURATH Shudde M'ell Cthonians G'harne WITCH CULT Star-Stone of
   Mnar 31 bis Spirit AZATHOTH The OUTER GODS CENTRE of the UNIVERSE
   CHURCH of STARRY WISDOM SHINING TRAPEZOHEDRON
  
      TABLE IV
     
   _KEY SCALE_ _NOTABLE SORCERERS_ _PRINCIPLE GRIMOIRES_ 0 1 EICH-PI-EL,
   KURANES AL AZIF 2 ABDUL ALHAZRED NECRONOMICON 3 _Eibon_ _Book of Eibon_
   Abyss KEZIAH MASON, The WHATELEYS NECRONOMICON 4 KURANES, NEPHREN-KA,
   _Von Junzt_ _Unausprechlichen Kulten_, _Cultes des Goules_ 5 Haon-Dor,
   _Ludvigg Prinn_ _De Vermiis Mysteriis_ 6 RANDOLPH CARTER PNAKOTIC
   MANUSCRIPTS 7 AZENATH WAITE SEVEN CRYPTICAL BOOKS of HSAN 8 JOSEPH
   CURWEN The King in Yellow, Celaeno Fragments 9 OBED MARSH R'LYEH TEXT,
   PONAPE SCRIPTURE, Revelations of Glaaki 10 RICHARD UPTON PICKMAN
   G'harne Fragments, _Cultes des Goules_
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Announcement
 
  
  
   Some people who don't wish to be named would like to announce the
   birth of Shadowmind and Dreamdancer, 185 lbs. and ??? lbs.
   respectively. They sprang full-grown from the womb of the Goddess,
   full-grown members of the Priesthood!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  In Memoriam
 
  
  
   The members of IAO Camp wish to congratulate Frater Wayne (Formerly
   Known as The Magician Formerly Known as Wayne) on the occasion of his
   Third Degree Initiation.
  
   Happy deathday to you!
   Happy deathday to you!
   You look like a corpse,
   And smell like one too!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Typhonian Tomes: Being a Guide to the Works of Kenneth Grant
 
    By Frater In Profunda III=B0
   
  
  
   _Part Six: Outside the Circles of Time_ (Muller 1980)
  
   In some of his earlier books Grant touched on the later work of Frater
   Achad; namely his proclamation of the '=C6on of Maat' to supercede the
   =C6on of Horus. Now he devotes an entire book to the subject, bringing
   in the related work of Nema (then known as Andahadna) and others in
   Cincinnati's Bate Cabal.
  
   From the opening chapters, it would seem that Grant has accepted
   Achad's assertion that Crowley 'failed to utter a Word for the =C6on of
   Horus'. 'Thelema' _cannot_ be the Word because it is the 'word of the
   _Law_,' not of the _=C6on_! This is most charitably described as
   excessive hair-splitting, and I really can't imagine why in the
   Macroprosopus Grant would want to undermine his own work and
   authority--supposedly _based on Crowley's_--in this way. Evidently our
   author thinks better of this, for most of the book is devoted to
   demonstrating that Maat is a future =C6on after all, but that certain
   adepts have been able to intercept this Current-to-be _now_--hence the
   book's title.
  
   We spend a good deal of time sipping Grant's usual, and increasingly
   _outr=E9_, Qabalistic _soup du jour_. I would describe it, but it really
   must be experienced: the numbing sensation is unique. He sort of ties
   this book in with _Nightside of Eden_ by refering to some transmitted
   writing called the _Qabalas of Besqul_ which he declines to quote or
   describe in any detail.
  
   Grant proceeds on a lengthy account of the writing of Nema's _Liber
   Penn=E6 Pr=E6numbra_, which is supposedly the Holy Book of Maat, in the
   early Seventies. Here I must say that I am operating with Inside
   Information, as I personally know someone who was involved in those
   Workings. My informant tells me that Grant's account of the events is
   _seriously_ inaccurate, and that when pressed for an explanation, he
   proclaimed himself to be more interested in the mythology of the
   events and put pressure on Nema to resign from the 'Typhonian O.T.O.'
   Incedentally, _none_ of those involved had been in his order at the
   time of the Workings, something Grant just manages to _not quite_ make
   clear. In fact some people saw this entire book as an attempt by him
   to acquire some of the credit for Bate Cabal's work.
  
   To be brief, Nema's writings1 often seem more like bad New-Agey
   science-fiction than Magick. Indeed, with her 'intergalactic
   transmissions', time-travel, planetary gestalt race-consciousnesses
   and the 'Comity of Stars'2, she often sounds like a UFO channeler who
   took a wrong turn on the way to Sedona. Grant ties this in with his
   fixation on Lam, whose portrait he was given by Crowley (and which, I
   am told, overlooks Grant's writing desk to this day). This picture,
   which Crowley called 'The Soul of a Tibetan Lama', does bear a strong
   resemblance to some descriptions of UFO aliens, and Grant stretches
   this for a lot more than it is worth.
  
   It gets worse as Grant covers her other major channeling, the _Books
   of the Forgotten Ones_, where we are treated to ninety-third-rate
   Lovecraft _pastiche_. The 'Forgotten Ones' are apparently primal
   atavisms in the human racial unconsciousness that were sealed away at
   some point and are now returning because modern nuclear explosions
   have re-opened the gateway. We are treated to such revelations as
   this: 'On the ground that they have misinterpreted the magical
   allegories and types, we discount the theories of Dickhoff and others
   who exalt the Elder Gods as Martians, and abhor the Great Old Ones as
   the snake-like and invading spawn from Venus. The Elder Gods are the
   Maatians (not Martians!) who, when manifesting as the Ophidian Current
   are known as the Great Old Ones.'
  
   Grant's style remains consistent, though marked by increasing shifts
   between first and third person. Certainly there are more than enough
   new strange words to satisfy anyone. We get 'undistortedly',
   'id-entifier', 'sub cthonian', 'imbibition', 'kalography',
   'astronomical plenilune', '_oneiric perichoresis_', 'Voodic', 'blent',
   'lucubration', and the rather puzzling 'co-sexual'.
  
   All things considered, I don't think it is too remarkable that it took
   Grant over a decade to get another book in print.
  
   1The original material in question may be studied in the early numbers
   of the Cincinnati Journal of Ceremonial Magick, and in the recently
   released Maat Magick by Nema.
  
   2Maat herself is apparently a sentient neutron star out in space
   somewhere.
  
   Next issue: get your scuba gear kids, we're plunging into _Hecate's
   Fountain_.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  The Lady Freemason
 
    (from The Pearl, 1969)
   
  
  
   As a Brother of old, from his Lodge was returning,
   He called on his sweetheart, with love he was burning,
   He wanted some _favours_, says she, 'not so free,
   Unless you reveal your _famed secrets_ to me.'
  
   'Agreed--'tis a bargain--you must be prepared,
   Your legs well exposed, your bosom all bared,
   Then hoodwinked and silent, says she, 'I'll be mum,
   In spite of the poker you'll clap on my bum.'
  
   To a chamber convenient his fair charge he bore,
   Placed her in _due form_, having _close tyled_ the door,
   Then presented the points of his sharp _Instrumentis_,
   And the Lady was soon made an 'Entered Apprentice'.
  
   His working tools next to her gave he presented,
   To improve by them seriously she then consented,
   And handled his _jewels_, his _gavel_ and _shaft_,
   That she in a jiffy was passed 'Fellow Craft'.
  
   She next wanted _raising_, says he, 'there's no urgency,'
   She pleaded that his was a _case of emergency_,
   His _column_ looked to her in no way particular,
   But she very soon made it assume perpendicular.
  
   He used all his efforts to raise the young elf,
   But found he required much raising himself;
   The task was beyond him, Oh! Shame and disaster,
   He broke down his charge, and she became _Master_.
  
   Exhausted and faint, still no rest could betide him,
   For she like a glutton soon mounted astride him,
   'From _refreshment_ to _labour_,' says she, 'let us march.'
   Says he, 'you're exalted--you are now _Royal Arch_.'
  
   In her zeal for true knowledge, no labour, no shirking,
   His _jewels_ and _furniture_ constantly working,
   By night and by day, in the light or the dark,
   With pleasure her lover she guides to the _Mark_.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Reviews
 
    'Treat 'em Rough.'
   
  
  
   _Secret Texts: The Literature of Secret Societies_, edited by Marie
   Mulvey Roberts and Hugh Ormsby-Lennon. AMS Press, 1995 (349 pp.).
  
   Looking at the title, one would expect this to be a collection of
   manifestos, instructions, rituals and other primary source documents
   relating to Masonry, Rosicrucianism, Illuminism, the Golden Dawn and
   other Western esoteric bodies. Naturally, in the great tradition of
   'blinds to deceive the profane', this is nothing of the sort. What we
   have here is a collection of essays dealing mostly with history and
   literary criticism of authors who were somehow involved in esoteric
   movements--usually in the most tenuous fashion. As such the book is
   mostly an exercise in the academic practice of pontification by
   'authorities' who have no connection whatever to their subjects, and
   only the vaguest inkling of the complexities involved, mostly because
   they read each others' flawed commentaries rather than the primary
   sources. Certainly they would never _stoop_ to actually asking the
   advice of any modern secret societies.
  
   That said, I must report that there are a few good things waiting here
   for the diligent reader. Ingeborg Kohn's article on Jos=E9phin [S=E2r
   Merodack] P=E9ladan is an excellent introduction to this important
   figure in Nineteenth Century art and occultism, and Paul Rich's study
   of Kipling's interest in Freemasonry and its effect on his work
   (especially in _Kim_) is a real gem. These are balanced however, by
   such effluvia as R. A. Gilbert, who really must have a commission from
   the United Grand Lodge of England to make Freemasonry seem as dull and
   pointless as humanly possible. His piece on 'The Golden Dawn in
   Popular Fiction' is a monument to the Art and Science of Missing the
   Point.
  
   Sacramentally, dilucid, in fine, then, we must consider these texts to
   be, on the whole, extremely un-secret.
  
   -- Br. H. A. 98.6=B0 F., 37=B0 C.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _The Occult_, by Colin Wilson. Random House, 1971 (603 pp.).
  
   His assertion that airborne bacteria contaminating cheese gives rise
   to maggots is on a par with the rest of it. Recycle now.
  
   -- Critter
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Magical Hearth: Home for Modern Pagans_, by Janet Thompson. Samuel
   Weiser [alleged], 1995 (133 pp., $9.95).
  
   Don't be fooled by that Ankh on the spine: _Magical Hearth_ is
   actually a Llewellyn book in disguise. It combines two popular
   Llewellyn genres, the witchier-homes and-gardens genre (_The Magical
   Household_, etc.) and the Wiccan-family values genre (_The Pagan
   Family_, etc.), with a pronounced emphasis on herbal tea. The author
   displays the erudition characteristic of some Llewellyn authors, too:
   she writes 'who's' when she means 'whose', 'imbibe' when she means
   'imbue', and--my personal favorite--'Cabala' when she means
   'Sephirah'. It's all so sad that I cried in my tea.
  
   -- A. Quiller III
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _The 1996 Opus n' Bill No-Nonsense Astrology Calendar_, by Berkeley
   Breathed. Day Dream Publishing, 1995 (16 months, $12.99).
  
   Opus and Bill the Cat are certainly the Marsyas and Olympas of our
   times. Here they at last reveal the _inner truths_ of astrology. Far
   more useful than any number of Llewellyn calendars.
  
   -- Sapiens Dominibatur Astris
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Absinthe: the Green Goddess_, by Aleister Crowley. Contra/Thought
   (alias Holmes Publishing), n. d. (19 pp., $5.95).
  
   It's really shameful that outfits like this continue to crank out
   these little booklets at extortionate prices; even more shameful is
   the fact that book-nerds like me continue to buy them. Holmes doesn't
   bother to tell you, but the text is reprinted from _The
   International_.
  
   Crowley's essay is preeminently a charming description of The Old
   Absinthe House of New Orleans, ca. 1918. It has some fine AC prose and
   a few insightful passages--but hell, for the price of the booklet you
   could buy enough wormwood to snocker you and all your friends and then
   write your own essays!
  
   -- Edmond d'Haraucourt
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Tao Te Ching: Liber CLVII_, Translated, with an Introduction and
   Commentary, by Aleister Crowley. Samuel Weiser, 1995 (112 pp.,
   $12.95).
  
   This book constitutes _The Equinox_ vol. III no. VIII, so all loyal
   followers of the Beast 666 (bunch of pathetic book-hoarding dweebs
   that we are!) must get a copy to make our collections more complete;
   besides, the truly alarming photo of Crowley is worth $13 all by
   itself. Of course Crowley didn't know Chinese, so this 'translation'
   is just his personal interpretation of the rather clunky translation
   by Legge. It is certainly of interest to Thelemites, but probably not
   to Sinologists.
  
   Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it seems to have been
   proofread more carefully than any O.T.O. publication in years; it
   contains only a handful of errata.
  
   -- R. B.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Humanism in the Renaissance_, by Sem Dresden. World University
   Library (McGraw Hill), 1968 (255 pp.).
  
   The scholarship of this book has probably been deconstructed and post
   modernized out of vogue by now, but it is still a good introduction to
   the epoch of European history out of which arose so much of modern
   occultism. Well before it was academically cool to discuss magic,
   Dresden was writing about the importance of astrology, Qabalah, and
   the Hermetic corpus to Renaissance thinking. He devotes sections to
   Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, and Rabelais, and mentions
   occult writers ranging from Agrippa to Postel to Kircher. The book has
   its drawbacks--Dresden constantly pauses to remind the reader that
   scholars really don't know a hill of beans about Renaissance thought,
   and spends a lot of time arguing against popular misconceptions I've
   never even heard of--but on the whole it should serve nicely to
   acquaint aspiring occultists with an important part of their heritage.
   There are lots of pictures, too.
  
   -- Fra. O.T.M.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance_, by
   Joseph Leon Blau. Columbia U. P., 1944 (167 pp.).
  
   50 years after its publication, this survey of the Christian Qabalah
   remains the most important book of its type--mostly because it remains
   the only book of its type. Blau's erudition is extensive, and his book
   really is indispensible for students of qabalistic magic. I just wish
   somebody would bring his research up to date, and check out his
   speculations. For example, I noticed that Blau interprets a passage in
   Paul Ricci's _Isagoge_ as a reference to the Lurianic qabalists. I
   doubt that this is correct: not only was the _Isagoge_ written well
   before Isaac Luria was born, but (according to Blau's own dates) it
   had already reached a second edition 7 years before the birth of
   Luria's initiator! He may not be 100% reliable in details like this,
   but for a broad overview of the Christian Qabalah, Blau is still the
   best. Here's hoping that his work will soon be made obsolete.
  
   -- Oudeis
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Liber Kaos_, by Peter J. Carroll. Weiser, 1992 (218 pp., $14.95).
  
   This edition of Peter Carroll's wisdom is conveniently divided into
   two sections: _Liber Kaos_ and the _Psychonomicon_. _Liber Kaos_ gives
   us a rundown of Mr. Carroll's theories, including 'Principia Magica,'
   'Aeonics,' and 'Principia Chaotica.' Principia Magica teaches us the
   'Chaos Magic Theory' which includes some muddled quantum theory,
   explanations of 'pseudo-time' and 'shadow-time' and Pete's 'Equations
   of Magic' (with graphs and tables, of course). The 'psychohistory'
   model of Aeonics that he presents is of mild interest, though he
   naturally assumes that the present or coming age is that of the
   Chaoist.
  
   The _Psychonomicon_, however, is far more useful. Especial attention
   should be paid to 'Liber Boomerang' as it contains several bits of
   eloquently expressed wisdom. The section on 'Eight Magics' is, again,
   of mild interest and contains dubious color attributions (Carroll's
   contrived creation, undoubtedly... _ooo, he's CHAOTIC_!). Carroll
   continues to contradict himself and make offensive statements
   ('...homosexuality is unsatisfactory, if the frenetic merry-go-round
   of partner exchanges in that discipline is anything to go by.')
   throughout. Sublime.
  
   The reader will be remiss not to carefully perform the two rituals at
   the end of this section. The Thanateros Ritual, utilizing bad poetry,
   weird paraphrases of _Liber AL_, orgasmic moans, and screams of
   'death-terror,' is sure to annihilate your silly dualistic thought
   patterns. And after bleeding all over the Azathoth pentacle while
   sinking into a 'susurrating glossolalia' only to find the Blind, Mad
   Egregore himself angry at you for calling him needlessly, you'll
   doubtless be enlightened.
  
   This volume is, once again, riddled with stupid anecdotes from
   Carroll's life, though unfortunately not quite so many as are
   contained in_ Liber Null & Psychonaut_. However, we do learn how it is
   'easy to teleport small objects at will' and how Carroll was given an
   'octarine' gem by a 'Wizard' in India. These stories are presented in
   an offhanded way that makes them sound entirely incredulous and
   ridiculous--though it seems Carroll is purposely presenting them this
   way so that we will believe him, yet somehow we still don't. _Hmmm_.
   They are, however, valuable for entertainment. Be sure to be on the
   lookout for Carroll's latest book, _Psybermagick_. Surely it, too,
   will be a gem.
  
   -- A. L.
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton, Book I_, translated
   by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, edited annotated, introduced and
   enlarged by Aleister Crowley (illustrated second edition with new
   annotations by Aleister Crowley, edited by Hymenaeus Beta). Weiser,
   1995 (134 pp., $16.00).
  
   First of all, I must reassure you that the illustrations are not those
   D&D-style drawings that mar the New Falcon edition of the _Goetia_,
   but rather the adorable little engravings by Louis Breton that you've
   seen in all those coffee-table books; they are supplemented by a few
   of Crowley's crude sketches, which have the advantage of having been
   drawn from life.
  
   The new edition irons out some errors which were present in the first
   edition, greatly increases the usefulness of the Enochian
   conjurations, and generally makes the book more convenient for
   reference; it even fixes the pile of mistakes in the Greek text of 365
   from the 1994 edition of _Magick_. It is not, however, without its
   flaws. First, the book is printed on cheap, see-through paper. Second,
   the new edition introduces more than fifty new errors. Most of these
   occur in the Editor's Foreword, and most are very minor problems like
   the incorrect accenting of several Greek words; others, though, are
   more substantive errors of fact.
  
   For all these blunders we can thank the _Tepaphone_'s own 'R. B.',who
   had a hand in the translating and proofreading work for this new
   edition. Despite his arrogance and the occasional shallowness of his
   research, I really expected more of this intelligent amateur. R. B.
   tells me that a corrected reprint on real paper is already in the
   works, and will appear under the imprint of 93 Publishing: perhaps
   serious students should wait for this improved version. Meanwhile, the
   new edition is still better than the first edition.
  
   -- A. Quiller III
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Art and Symbols of the Occult_, by James Wasserman. Tiger books, 1993
   (128 pp., $14.99).
  
   It's an attractive occult coffee-table book, with slightly cooler
   pictures than most other occult coffee-table books. The text of course
   is Really Basic, in the way of such books. The author is obviously
   enthusiastic about Crowley (something rare in this genre), but still
   misquotes him just like King or Cavendish or Maple or those other
   guys. The dust jacket promises an 'extensive bibliography of classical
   occult works,' which has perfidiously been replaced by a one-page
   reading-list. Oh well, it still looks nice on my coffee-table.
  
   -- Dennis Wheatley
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _In a Graveyard at Midnight: Folk Magick and Wisdom from the Heart of
   Appalachia_, by Edain McCoy. Llewellyn Publications, 1995 (212 pp.,
   $14.95).
  
   Ms. McCoy seems to have a knack for writing books that I wish I could
   like but just can't. Her grasp of Appalachian economic history
   contains insights that I just can't reconcile with personal
   experience. (For instance, she maintains that the 'Celtic' settlers of
   Appalachia built frame houses in techniques learned from the Cherokee
   and didn't use log cabins.) That may be this book's worst
   failing--it's compiled from secondary and tertiary sources. Amazingly
   enough, she even complains that there is a dearth of folklore
   available from the region.
  
   Just as strange is her insistence that the Scotch settlers maintained
   their Celtic calendar, and then stipulates that Christmas was a
   traditional pagan time for annual divinations. (Funny, as a Celtic
   Witch I've always used Samhain.)
  
   Her section on magickal ethics is laughably New-Agey, and her attempts
   to turn what is essentially Christian magickal practices into some
   pseudo-Wiccan tradition suck.
  
   Basically this is a book that's the result of a little light reading,
   some wishful thinking and a Llewellyn contract.
  
   -- Critter
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Celtic Heritage_, by Alwyn and Brinley Rees. Thames And Hudson, 1961,
   rpt 1991.
  
   This one's really good. Marked by solid scholarship and intelligent
   correlations, the Rees compare Celtic and Hindu mythologies, working
   on the assumption that both India and the surviving Celtic countries
   are on the geographic periphery of the Indo European cultural area,
   and are both likely to more clearly exhibit root concepts of the
   heroic age of Indo-European culture. By drawing parallels between the
   _Vedas_ and the four Cycles of British Celtic myth they illustrate
   some of the imbedded values of Celtic culture.
  
   The book has proven immensely informative, except for the part where I
   got lost in the complicated numerical symbolism common to both
   cultures.
  
   -- Critter
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _The Occult and the Third Reich: The Mystical Origins of Nazism and
   the Search for the Holy Grail_, by Jean-Michel Angebert, translated by
   Lewis A. M. Sunberg. Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974 (306 pp.)
  
   This is based upon the researches of a fellow named Otto Rahn
   (1904-1939), whose book, _Crusade Against the Grail_, earned him a job
   in the 'Ancestral Heritage' bureau of the S.S. Rahn's thesis was that
   the Cathars were the keepers of the Holy Grail, which was a stone
   tablet inscribed with secret knowledge. This was kept at the Cathar
   fortress of Monts=E9gur and later smuggled out and hidden before the
   place was taken by the forces of the Albegensian Crusade.
  
   So far so good, but Rahn evidently linked this to Nazi-style 'Aryan'
   racial theories, and Angebert (apparently a pseudonym for at least two
   people) uses this to derive a whole 'system' of Nazified occultism
   that makes Hitler the heir of the Cathars, Manich=E6ans and Gnostics.
   All this is accomplished with a grasp of religious and occult history
   that makes Kenneth Grant look good! In fact if you snip out the
   occasional moralising on the horrors of World War II, this book could
   be a 'primer' of Aryan-supremacist mysticism. Now, even assuming that
   Adolph and company were really hard-core Black Magicians (which is

   more than a little doubtful), it is obvious on the face of it that
   they must have been blithering incompetents, (think about it: they
   sacrifice tens of millions of innocent human beings and they can't
   even win a lousy war!)
  
   The main problem with this book is that Angebert (whoever they are)
   has _effectively accepted a Nazi racial interpretation of all occult
   lore as unquestionable fact_. That there might be a non-racist
   interpretation of anything does not even occur to our author(s), who
   seem ready to assume that any referrence to an 'elite' or 'elect'
   group in any tradition in all of history must pertain to some sort of
   Nazi-style 'master race' doctrine. Never mind that this is clearly not
   the case, or that even the concept of a 'biological salvation' (if we
   may so call it) is virtually inconcievable before the Nineteenth
   Century and thus is more a product of the scientific revolution than
   any 'occult tradition'.
  
   -- Adam Weishaupt
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Correspondence
 
  
  
   Cari Sorores et Fratres,
  
   Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
  
   Thanks for the _Herald-Tepaphone_ Vol. I, Issue II. I would love if
   you could send issue I. Yours is a memorable newsletter and I'll be
   saving it in a binder I suspect; it would be nice to have the complete
   volume. (What is a 'tepaphone' anyway?)
  
   Your newsletter has a bold, iconoclastic feel that I personally
   appreciate, (I grow weary of young newsletters with a 'what is a
   Thelemite, how do we behave, what do other people think?' tone to
   them). I particularly enjoyed the multitudinous, sharp-as-a-tack book
   reviews. A couple of notes though: do you really call people 'trogs'?
   To their faces? And if you think they are 'trogs', do you actually
   date them? [...] (It is my personal experience that calling people who
   you don't know to be accepting of the New =C6on 'trogs' has never been a
   really good way to ever even introduce the subject; much like calling
   'Malkuth Magicians'--you know, they can cause change by Earth
   law--'mundane'. Of course, if they are JoHo's, and they just woke
   you--before noon!--with their bull and phony smiles--then they are
   indeed 'trogs'. Nice limerick about 'J. E.'...
  
   Love is the law, love under will.
   Fraternally, XXOO,
   Sr. Continuity,
   Scarlet Woman Oasis, O.T.O.
  
   (If you think I have a big stick up my butt, You're welcome to come
   remove it if you can...)
  
   P.S. I hear cheese goes real good spread between the pages of library
   books...
  
  
  
   _Cara Soror,_
  
   _Thank you for your kind words. You may not realise it, but yours is
   our very first fan letter! It does our hearts good to know that
   someone appreciates us._
  
   _The stuff about Trogs is (mostly) a joke, and is not intended to
   bother anyone._
  
   _We fear that our stick-removal equipment is not portable, but thanks
   for the invitation nonetheless._
  
   _For reasons which are obvious we cannot discuss the arcana of the
   Tepaphone in such a public forum as this--we daren't even hint at this
   Supreme Mystery, as we are sure you will appreciate._
  
   _-- the Propaganda Minister_
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   To the Propaganda Minister:
  
   Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
  
   We write in response to the absurd 'Unclassifiable Ad' in your last
   issue which purported to make every reader the 'real Head of the
   Golden Dawn'. This _travesty_ is wholly unacceptable in your otherwise
   fine publication!
  
   We know whereof we speak inasmuch as we, of the _New Reformed Orthodox
   Gnostic-Rosicrucian Traditional Thelemic Temple of the Hermetic Order
   of the Golden Dawn_TM (which also incorporates the _Chivalric Order of
   the Sangre=E1l_® and the _Ecclesia Gnostica Perennis et
   Universalis_©), hold the _only existing authentic Initiatory
   succession_ and right to represent the _Great White Brotherhood_ (Pat.
   pending) in the Outer. In obedience to the astral directives of the
   Secret Chiefs (who include among Their number such luminaries as S. L.
   MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, A. O. Spare, Mme. Blavatsky, Ren=E9
   Gu=E9non, Dr. Rudolph Steiner, Gerald Gardner, Anna Sprengel, Dr. Israel
   Regardie, J. Krishnamurti, and many Others of equal merit, if less
   fame) we have undertaken the _immense_ labour of reconstituting the
   G.=B7.D.=B7. Tradition in this =C6on. We emphasize that we, and our
   representatives, are the _only authorised agents_ of this Tradition
   and that all others must be regarded as spurious.
  
   As the facts in the case are so obvious and compelling, we regard
   debate on this matter as superfluous, and hereby extend an open
   invitation to all those sincere seekers of the Light to join with us
   in the Great Work.
  
   Love is the law, love under will.
  
   --Dr. Michael Melchizedeck, Ph. D.
   Chevalier du Graal,
   Grand Hierophant,
   Supreme Imperator,
   and Archbishop
  
  
  
   _Dear Dr.Phd,_
  
   _Please take a number._
  
   _-- the Propaganda Minister_
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  IAO Camp, O.T.O. Calendar of Events
 
    Winter, 1996 e.v.
   
      January
     
   5 Regular Meeting, 8pm. 6 Gnostic Mass, 8pm. 18 CUUPS Class: History
   of the Golden Dawn, UU Church, 7pm. 26 Study Group: Banishing Rituals,
   8pm.
  
      February
     
   2 _Groundhogmass_, Regular Meeting, 8pm. 10 Gnostic Mass, 8pm. 15
   CUUPS Class: Rituals of the Golden Dawn, UU Church, 7pm. 16 Study
   Group: The Star Ruby, 8pm. 24 Initiations, Black Sun Oasis.
  
      March
     
   1 Regular Meeting, 8pm. 20 _Feast of the Supreme Ritual_ 21 _Equinox
   of the Gods_, CUUPS Class: G.=B7.D.=B7. Equinox Ritual, 7pm. 23 New Year=
s
   Party/Ritual, 8pm. 24 Gnostic Mass, 8pm.
  
      April
     
   8, 9, & 10 _Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the
   Law._
  
   _Note:_ Unless otherwise specified, all events take place at the IAO
   Camp temple. Schedule is subject to change without notice, so please
   call ahead to confirm
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   The Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda wishes to thank
   everyone for their support over the last year; whether you contributed
   material or subscribed, or just thought this rag was worth reading,
   it's been a great year and we hope the next one will be even better!
   93/93!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  Disclaimer
 
  
  
   The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the O.T.O.,
   the M.=B7. M.=B7.M.=B7., the I.O.I., any Camp, Oasis, Lodge, Temple, Gro=
ve,
   Circle, Coven, Chapter, Council, Commandery, Consistory, Web, Pact,
   Compact, Subcompact or Luxury Sedan, Vortex, Nexus, or Power-Zone, the
   A.=B7.A.=B7., any person or group purporting to represent the A.=B7.A.=
=B7.,
   any person or group purporting to be the A.=B7.A.=B7., any Outer School =
or
   College supporting any group purporting to be the A.=B7.A.=B7., any Oute=
r
   Order attached to any Outer School or College supporting any group
   purporting to be the A.=B7.A.=B7., any pseud-O.T.O., O.T.O. rip-offs,
   O.T.O. imitators, O.T.O. rejects, O.T.O. parodies, O.T.O. wannabees,
   or any group whose name coincidentally resembles that of O.T.O.
   (including but certainly not limited to O.T.A., O.T.B., O.T.D.,
   O.T.S., O.T.O.A., S.O.T.O., C.U.O.T.O., T.O.T.O., T.O.T., T.O.T.G.D.
   or the other T.O.T.), the United Grand Lodge of England or his Devoted
   Wife Sasha, any Masonic or Co-Masonic or Sort-of Masonic Grand
   Anything (regular, irregular, or totally constipated), any group that
   has anything to do with Atlantis or Space-Aliens or Rosicrucians, any
   or all of the 333 One True Orders of the Golden Dawn (TM, ® +
   ©, etc.), the R.R. et A.C. (TM, ® + ©, etc.), the Great
   White Brotherhood (pat. pending), the A.O., the S.M., the G.S., the
   SWBiF into light BD, MTV, T.O.P.Y., A.M.O.R.C., the G.=B7.B.=B7.G.=B7., =
the
   Heebie-Geebies or the Bee-Gees, Aleister Crowley, any and all people
   who think they're the reincarnation of Aleister Crowley, Matilda Jane
   Rayle, anybody named MacGregor, Samuel Weiser, le Comte de
   Saint-Germain or his evil twin Skippy, Sir Roger Bloxam, Pope Pius IX,
   Mr. Frank Parker, Hymenaeus Beta, Hudson Tuttle, Bill
   Heidrick@well.com, the individual authors, or anybody at all. In fact,
   let us clearly state that nobody holds ANY of these opinions.
   Furthermore, everything is purely fictional and any alleged
   resemblance to anyone living, dead, undead, unborn, ascended, or
   descended, or indeed to anything at all is entirely due to your own
   paranoia, you pantophobic little twit!
     _________________________________________________________________
  
  
  
   _Love is the Law, love under will._

EOF

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