From tyagi@HouseofKaos.Abyss.com  Wed Jul 24 20:21:04 1996
From: nagasiva 
Subject: asatribe.txt
To: ceci@lysator.liu.se (Ceci Henningsson)
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 10:31:50 -0700 (PDT)
Orientation: House of Kaos, St. Joseph, Kali Fornika, US -- Kali Yuga
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"Is Asatru a Tribal Religion -- or is it Universalist?"
by Stubba -- Founder of the Odinic Rite

THE ADMIRABLE LETTERS SECTION of Vor Tru demonstrates trends in the
developing Asatru movement and differences that rise occasionally in
Asatru circles in Vinland as seen through the eyes of the readers.
(Incidentally, it seems that only in Vinland are Asatru and Odinism seen
as different belief systems:  Odinism is included in the Oxford
English Dictionary, but asatru is not.  I have always regarded them as
interchangeable terms used by those who today believe and practice the
indigenous religion of Northern Europe.)  It is important that such
matters as homosexuality, racism, Setianism and now PC should be
discussed openly and frankly, no holds barred, without malice to those
who hold opposing views.

Certain strange ideas being put about by some followers of the Asa-faith
seem so far to have caused little more stir than a storm in a teacup.
But I must confess to having been rather taken aback after reading some
of the statements that have recently been made in some Asatru quarters.
For instance, in the now sadly defunct Mountain Thunder (article on
Race, Inheritance and Asatru Today, Summer Solstice 1992) Kveldulf
Hagen Gundarsson makes some extraordinary claims that appear to saddle
Asatru with most of the basic attributes of Christianity or some other
global village cults.  His views are largely shared by Gamlinginn who,
in the introductory leaflet to his Asatru Folk Web [full text included
below -- JB], writes that anyone who wants to join Asatru can do so --
regardless of gender, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, language,
sexual orientation or other divisive criteria.  Asatru today is no more
European than Christianity is Jewish or Islam is Arabic.
(Neither Christianity nor Islam are heathen religions, of course, so
Gamlinginns comparisons are misleading.)  Both Kveldulf and Gamlinginn
are saying, in effect, that Asatru is a universalist, not a tribalist,
faith and Kveldulf in his article gives detailed, if sometimes
contradictory theology and it demands an answer.

Let me stick my head above the parapet and say, first of all, that every
heathen religion is tribal.  This is not my view; it is a fact.  C. G.
Jung says that for primitive man, his country is that territory which
contains his mythology, his country, his religion, all his thinking and
feeling.  Our culture is our religion; in it we find our roots, our
sense of belonging to a race, country or civilization.  A place without
culture is without these things.  In such a place, void of anything to
which memory is attached because it has no roots in the past, people
will feel insecure, abandoned.  (Culture comes from cultus, meaning
worship.)  Asatru is a tribal or communal religion or it is nothing:
In a kin-centered society such as that of the Anglo-Saxon and other
Germanic peoples, writes the American Professor William A. Chaney in
The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England (1973), common descent
bound the social group together and provided the basic unity.  In the
culture to which we of Asatru are the heirs the individual cannot exist
by himself:  The fir that stands alone decays, neither bark nor leaf
clothe it, says the Havamal.  In the Germanic terms the tribe or family
is a gathering of individuals so joined up into one unit that they
appear incapable of independent action.  (Wilhelm Grunbech, The Culture
of the Teutons, 1931).  In other words, the individual exists only as a
personification of the whole.

Asatru is the ethnic religion of the indigenous Northern European
peoples is one of the by-laws of the Asatru Alliance.  This is a clear
statement of fact which must apply to other branches of contemporary
Asatru and Odinism.  Membership of a nation, clan, tribe or family is
inherited and not simply chosen by the individual as one might choose to
join a club.  Being German, English, Rajput, or American Indian goes
with a love of the German, English, Rajput or American way of life.
Strangers may join, but only under certain strict conditions.
Kveldulfs assertion that a physical bloodline deriving from earlier
worshippers of our gods is not essential for todays followers of Asatru
is valid only when communal acceptance of the stranger has taken place.

The importance of tribal acceptance of the newcomer, whether child or
adult, cannot be over-emphasized.  Fostering was common amongst our
ancestors and there were ritual formulas for legitimizing the act.  In
Norway, for instance, this took place before a gathering of the whole of
the receiving family, including uncles, aunts, and even cousins.  There
is no reason to suppose the family witnesses were not also present at
such an important event in other Asatru countries.

The acceptance of the stranger into the tribe is aptly illustrated in
the most basic tribal system known in recent North European history.  I
refer to the clan system that operated in the Highlands of Scotland
until the middle of the 18th century.  Under this, anyone who lived on
the clan territory owed allegiance to the clan chief and took the
chiefs name.  Thus those under the rule of the MacKinzie were all named
MacKinzie (individuals may or may not have had a common ancestor of that
name).  But if a MacKinzie for any reason settled in Murray territory (I
hope Valgard will not object to my bringing his martial ancestors into
this; the Murrays were and, although widely dispersed, are still one of
the great Highland clans), then he was expected to conform to the
customs, traditions and religious beliefs of the Murrays, and that
included assumption of the Murray name.  Everything depended in the long
run on the newcomer being accepted by the members of his new clan, which
would also have taken account of his readiness to absorb totally the
spirit and culture of his new allegiance.  (A point of interest to
believers in racial purity:  not even the Highland clans were
exclusively Celtic; the chief of the Clan Murray, for instance, descends
from the Norman family of de Moravia, who were thus Northmen.)
Application of this principle to modern circumstances are obvious.  That
this aspect has in recent history been abused by political mavericks
should not be allowed to disguise the fact that the blood component is
an important part of anyones inheritance or lead us, through fear of
intimidation, to deny it.

Kveldulf wonders whether it is good for someone whose background is
wholly non-European to use Germanic names and forms in calling upon
their own ancestors.  Whether it is good or not is hard to judge; there
is not much that we could do about it even if we did object.  Asatru is
a religion of tolerance and a person is free to call his gods -- and
himself -- whatever he chooses and it should not really concern us.  But
to become a member of the Asa-faith must involve membership of the tribe
or clan, and that is a different matter.

Although it might be regarded as eccentric for, say, a Welshman who,
feeling the surge in his soul of a warrior spirit, thinks he would like
to worship his gods in the mode of the Ashanti, that would be his choice
- and who could say him nay, even if they wished to do so?  If he wished
to take it a step further and move in with the Ashanti then he may well
meet with a rebuff; he would then have to practice his assumed faith by
himself.  So it must be for the Afro-American or any other stranger who
wished to worship the gods of the North.  The renowned Jewish writer and
historian, Chaim Bermant, commenting on a hypothetical case of a gentile
who wanted to become a Jew, writes:  The (Jewish) authorities are
exclusive, for they tend to feel that any gentile who wants to convert
to Judaism is either insecure or a nut case -- and, as one rabbi put it
to me, we have enough meshugoyium of our own. (Jewish Chronicle,
London - 27 March 1992); these are sentiments that would probably be
echoed by many an Asatruar faced with a similar situation.

THE SUPPOSED POWERS OF BAPTISM

Kveldulfs most astonishing statement in support of his thesis is that
the Asa-faith lacks continuity because this was broken when Christianity
began the process of conversion by ritual baptism.  This action, he
believes, cut its subject off from the gods... Therefore it is needful
for those who can trace their ancestry back to the time when our heathen
troth still flourished to ritually take up the might of those early kin
and lay claim to the worship of our forebears gods... just as those who
do not share of their clans must.  Again he says:  The inheritance of
our gods... and our Tru ways has lain hidden in the waters of Wyrds
well for many years waiting not for those who were simply born to it,
but WHOEVER IS ABLE AND WILLING TO FIND AND TAKE IT.  (emphasis added).
So it would appear that Asatru is today literally up for grabs by anyone
who lays claim to it, irrespective of blood, ancestry or even culture.
I suspect that many followers of Asatru will find this view difficult to
accept.

In order to reinforce his belief that the oneness of soul of our clans
was broken by the Christian rite of baptism Kveldulf quotes the sagas
and concludes that baptism was thought to cut its subject not only off
from the gods and goddesses, but from the ancestral kin-fetch and the
personal fetch as well.  If we were to accept this as being only partly
true, we would be placing the same credence on the efficacy of the
spiritual usurpation of the Church and the magical validity of its
rituals as its own bishops did.  Consider this for a moment:  Ten
thousand Asatruar were baptized at Canterbury, in Kent, on a single day
in the year 598 CE.  Does Kveldulf expect us to believe that they were
all heathens one moment, and good Christians the next, merely because
some ritual words were muttered over them by a pretend priest using a
foreign tongue that none of them understood?

The Canterbury Ten Thousand would have noticed little change in their
everyday mode of worship, apart from a few outward signs; even the dress
of the monks, based as it was on the garb of an Italian peasant, would
not have seemed outlandish.  Because the Church calendar was tailored to
fit in with heathen practice, the people would have continued to give
regard to the seasons (their new spiritual masters even neglected to
rename the heathen Easter) and even to worship their traditional gods,
albeit under strange new names.  For Asatru is not merely using ritual
words at our acts of worship.  It is the way we live in our everyday
lives.  As Valgard has said, Asatru ... is the very essence of what we
are; its present in everything that we are and what we do... The living
community that embodies our heritage, our values, our hopes and
dreams...

This magical and divine presence did not suddenly depart as soon as our
people were baptized.  Many great achievements, feats of conquest and
discovery and invention and the creative arts, took place during the
brief (in terms of Earths history) period of the Christian hegemony.
Many of these were made in the face of the great personal danger, not by
men and women on their knees praying to some god way up there, but in
the ongoing exercise of the heathen virtues.

We cannot just airbrush such facts out of the family album because the
actors were nominally Christian, or because some of their activities
were, by todays standards, politically incorrect.  Kveldulfs assertion
that the gods and goddesses deserted our ancestors and their descendants
is plain wrong.  For we know, by personal experience, that our gods
could never have deserted us, that they are with us always, within us
and about us.

It is a fact, well attested, that for many years after the conversions
people were accustomed to calling upon their gods and goddesses, using
their familiar names.  Long years after they were supposed to have been
converted, the popes were still accusing the English of continuing the
nefarious rites of the heathen.  (e.g. Gregory in 601, Adrian in 789,
and Formosus in c. 890 CE).  Statements in the sagas should never be
accepted uncritically; apart from their valuable contributions to our
knowledge of events and customs they are, after all, no more than the
views of individuals.  But one can certainly credit the evidence of one
reluctant convert expressing his thoughts through a skald in the
Hallfreds Saga:

        Every kindred has made songs
        To win the love of Odin;
        I remember the songs
        Of the men of our time.
        But because I serve Christ
        I must hate against my will
        The first husband of Frigga [Odin],
        For his power I liked well.

If baptism was intended to break the oneness of the soul of such folk
then the Church made a poor job of it, as subsequent history proves.
The survival of our faith is well summarized by the American Asatruman
and scholar Rasmus Bjorn Anderson, writing nearly a century ago:

Thanks be to the Norns that the Christian monks, whose most zealous
work it was to root out the memories of the past and reduce the gods of
our fathers to commonplace demons, did not succeed in their devastating
mission.  Thanks be to Shakespeare that he did not forget the stern,
majestic, impartial and beautiful Norns, even though he did change them
into the wrinkled witches that figure in MacBeth!  That our ancient
religion, in spite of the wintry blasts that have swept over it, in
spite of the piercing cold to which it has been exposed at the hand of
those who thought they came with healing for the nations, in spite of
all the persecution it has suffered from monks and bishops, professors
and kings; that in spite of all these has been able to bud and blossom
in our Northern folklore, our may Queens and popular life, is proof of
the strong vital force it contains and of the vigorous through of our
forefathers who preserved it.  Entering the solemn halls and palaces of
the gods, where all is cordiality and purity, you will find there
perfectly reflected the wild and tumultuous conflict of the elements,
strong and rustic pictures, full of earnest and deep thought, awe-
inspiring and wonderful.  You will find that the simple and martial
religion which gave the Norseman that restless unconquerable spirit apt
to take fire at the very mention of the subjection of restraint; that
religion which forged the instruments that broke the fetters
manufactured by the Roman emperors, destroyed tyrants and slaves and
taught men that nature having made all free, no other reason but their
mutual happiness could be assigned for making them dependent.
(Northern Mythology, 1898)

ASATRU IS A TRIBAL RELIGION

The concept of religion was unknown to our ancestors, for religion was
their everyday life-style, their culture.  Asatru has no founder.  Just
as many modern Hindus have never even heard the word Hindu, so early
Asatruar or Odinist or anything else.  A follower of Asatru can best be
described as one who bases his beliefs and way of life on the system of
faith and practice which has grown up organically among the peoples of
North Europe over a period of several millennia (and not just the time
of the Vikings, which we may regard as the Golden Age of our religion)
and, like Hinduism, it is the faith of a single cultural unit.

Many facets of what we now call heathenism which we list among the
Asatru virtues such as honor and loyalty, hospitality and courage, self-
reliance and self-discipline, regard for the family and the clan and
respect for nature and the environment, derive directly from this
culture.  They go to make up a peoples religion, leading to how they
see themselves, what they believe, trust and love, and ultimately, what
they will die for.  They represent inherited values that have survived
right through the Christian Era and which pre-date such purely literary
authorities as the Eddas and the sagas, which Kveldulf quotes as a
Christian fundamentalist would quote the Bible.

Heathenism is indeed a tribal religion.  It is also a universal (as
distinct from universalist) religion, the followers of which worship the
same gods, but under different names and keeping with their different
tribal traditions, history and culture.  (Shinto, probably the least
diluted of heathen religions, with a continuous history, is a good
example of how Asatru might have developed without the Christian
interregnum.)  Christianity, a universalist religion, refuses to
identify itself with specific tribal or national destinies, but claims
to transcend all the ethnic and linguistic barriers.  Asatru exists,
therefore, as one communion of the worldwide religion of heathenism,
having extraction, as other branches of heathenism have also developed
along geographical and ethnic lines.

Traditional Asatru tolerance may lead us to listen to divergent, even
revisionist views within our community, but as the privileged agents of
restoration of our holy faith, we should not hesitate to strike down any
that might seem to hinder the understanding and welfare of Asatru.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
[The following caption appeared in the above Vor Tru article. -- JB]

One of the offending documents:  A flyer by Ring of Troths Gamlinginn
defining Asatru.

WHAT IS ASATRU?

by Gamlinginn

Asatru is a living religion, currently practiced by a growing number of
people in the United States, Canada and elsewhere.  Asatru is separate
from and not connected to, any other religious faith (although it may be
superficially similar in some respects).

The word Asatru means Faith in the Aesir and Vanir, who are best known
to most people as the Gods and Goddesses of the Old Norse legends,
although these same Deities were once worshipped by most of the peoples
of pre-Christian Europe and others as far east as India (they are the
Deities of the Rig Veda).  However, because the Old Norse legends
provided the best knowledge of them, we usually refer to them by their
old Norse names -- Frigg and Odinn, Tyr and Zisa, Sif and Thorr, Freyja
and Freyr, and so on.  Traces remain in modern English, Tuesday means
Tyrs day.  Wednesday means Odins day, Thursday means Thorss day and
Friday means Friggs day or Freyjas day (scholars debate which).

Asatru is open to everyone, and there are many different sorts of
Asatruers (members of the Asatru Religion).  Anyone who wants to join
Asatru can do so -- regardless of gender, race, color, ethnicity,
national origin, language, sexual orientation, or other divisive
criteria.  Asatru today is no more European than Christianity is
Jewish or Islam is Arabic, etc.

Asatruers often form local groups for the same reasons that people of
other religions band together.  These Asatru groups are sometimes called
Hearths, or Kindreds, or other names.  However many Asatru believers
live too far away from any other coreligionists to be able to join such
a group.

The Asatru Way of Life esteems courage, honor, hospitality, independence
(and liberty), individuality (with self-reliance and self-
responsibility), industriousness (and perseverance), justice (including
an innate sense of fairness and respect for others), loyalty (to family,
friends, and the society of which one is a part), truthfulness, and a
willingness to stand up for what is right.

An Asatru religious ceremony is called a Blot.  (Note:  Linguistically,
the Old Norse word Blot means blessing, and has nothing to do with
blood.)  Eight major Blots are celebrated by Asatruers each year.  These
are listed below, with the modern English name of each given first,
followed by its Old Norse name in parenthesis, and a date -- although
the usual practice is to hold the Blot on the nearest weekend.

Disfest (Disablot) 31 January           Ostara (Ostara) 21 March
May Eve (Valpurgis) 30 April            Midsummer (Midsumarsblot) 21 June
Freysfest (Freysblot) 31 July           Fallfest (Haustblot) 23 September
Winter Night (Vetmaetr) 31 October      Yule (Jol) 21 December

Other Blots are held for special events, such as weddings, or on
occasions such as the Feast of the Vali (14 February).  Besides the
Blot, there is another Asatru ceremony, called the Sumbel, which is a
kind of formalized religious toasting.  Sumbels are held whenever people
want to hold them.  There are also numerous social and cultural
activities.

For more information, write --
The Asatru Folk Web, PO Box 113, Rollinsville, Colorado 80474

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vor Tru is published by and for the Asatru Alliance of Independent
Kindreds.  Subscriptions are $12 per year first class postage inside
North America, $16 per year surface postage overseas, $25 per year by
airmail overseas.  Please make all payments in US funds to Vor Tru in
cash, by check or by money order to:

Vor Tru
PO Box 961
Payson, AZ 85547
U.S.A. (Vinland)

--
The promotion of politics exterminates apolitical genes in the population.
  The promotion of frontiers gives apolitical genes a route to survival.
                 Change the tools and you change the rules.


From tyagi@HouseofKaos.Abyss.com  Wed Jul 24 19:37:49 1996
From: nagasiva 
Subject: otothelema.txt
To: ceci@lysator.liu.se (Ceci Henningsson)
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 10:35:41 -0700 (PDT)
Orientation: House of Kaos, St. Joseph, Kali Fornika, US -- Kali Yuga
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24]
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From: http://otohq.org/oto/thelema.html (cberry@cinenet.net)
------------------------------------------------------------

Ordo Templi Orientis

                            INTRODUCTION TO THELEMA



   The religion known as Thelema was founded in 1904 by the English poet
   and mystic Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947), who is regarded as its
   prophet. Those who follow the path of Thelema are called Thelemites.

Thelemic Religious Texts

   The book The Holy Books of Thelema (reference 8, below), includes most
   of the books which Thelemites consider to be Crowley's "inspired"
   texts, and which form the canon of Thelemic Holy Scripture. The chief
   of these is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, commonly called The
   Book of the Law. The contents of this book are rather cryptic, and
   Crowley has prepared a number of commentaries thereto for
   clarification (most of these are included in reference 3, below).
   Thelemites are expected to interpret the book for themselves, based on
   Crowley's commentaries and other writings; but are enjoined from
   promoting their personal interpretations to others. Another book which
   forms an important part of the Thelemic canon, but which is not
   included in The Holy Books of Thelema for technical reasons, is Liber
   XXX Aerum vel Saeculi, sub figura CDXVIII, commonly called The Vision
   and the Voice (included in reference 11 below). The I Ching and the
   Tarot (considered as a book of mystic illustrations rather than as a
   fortune-telling device), though of Pre-Thelemic origin, are also
   considered to be part of the informal Thelemic canon.

Theology and Essential Tenets of Thelema

     The following notes on Thelemic theology are based primarily on the
     writings of Aleister Crowley. These notes are not intended as
     interpretation or commentary on The Book of the Law outside the
     bounds of the Prophet's writings, nor do they represent a
     definitive statement of Thelemic belief.



   The theology of Thelema postulates all manifested existence arising
   from the interaction of two cosmic principles: the infinitely
   extended, all-pervading Space-Time Continuum; and the atomic,
   individually expressed Principle of Life and Wisdom. The interplay of
   these Principles gives rise to the Principle of Consciousness which
   governs existence. In the Book of the Law, the divine Principles are
   personified by a trinity of ancient Egyptian Divinities: Nuit, the
   Goddess of Infinite Space; Hadit, the Winged Serpent of Light; and
   Ra-Hoor-Khuit (Horus), the Solar, Hawk-Headed Lord of the Cosmos.

   The Thelemic theological system utilizes the divinities of various
   cultures and religions as personifications of specific divine,
   archetypal and cosmic forces. Thelemic doctrine holds that all the
   diverse religions of Humanity are grounded in universal truths; and
   the study of comparative religion is an important discipline for many
   Thelemites.

   With respect to concepts of the individual soul, Thelema follows
   traditional Hermeticism in the doctrine that each person possesses a
   soul or "Body of Light" which is arranged in "layers" or "sheaths"
   surrounding the physical body. Each individual is also considered to
   have his or her own personal "Augoeides" or "Holy Guardian Angel";
   which can be considered both as the "higher self" and as a separate,
   sentient, divine being. With respect to concepts of the afterlife,
   life itself is considered as a continuum, with death an integral part
   of the whole. Mortal life dies in order that mortal life may continue.
   The Augoeides, however, is immortal and not subject to life or death.

   Parallel to Buddhist doctrine, the Body of Light is considered to be
   subject to metempsychosis, or reincarnation, after the death of the
   body. The Body of Light is generally considered to evolve in wisdom,
   consciousness and spiritual power through cycles of metempsychosis for
   those individuals who dedicate their lives to spiritual advancement;
   to the point that its fate after death may ultimately be determined by
   the Will of the individual.

   Thelema incorporates the idea of the cyclic evolution of Cultural
   Consciousness as well as of Personal Consciousness. History is
   considered to be divided into a series of "Aeons", each with its own
   dominant concept of divinity and its own "formula" of redemption and
   advancement. The current Aeon is termed the Aeon of Horus. The
   previous Aeon was that of Osiris, and previous to that was the Aeon of
   Isis. The neolithic Aeon of Isis is considered to have been dominated
   by the Maternal idea of divinity, and its formula involved devotion to
   Mother Earth in return for the nourishment and shelter She provided.
   The Classical/Medieval Aeon of Osiris is considered to have been
   dominated by the Paternal Principle, and its formula was that of
   self-sacrifice and submission to the Father God. The modern Aeon of
   Horus is considered to be dominated by the Principle of the Child, the
   sovereign individual; and its formula is that of growth, in
   consciousness and love, toward self-realization.

   According to Thelemic doctrine, the expression of Divine Law in the
   Aeon of Horus is "Do what thou wilt". This "Law of Thelema", as it is
   called, is not to be interpreted as a license to indulge every passing
   whim, but rather as the divine mandate to discover one's True Will or
   true purpose in life, and to accomplish it; leaving others to do the
   same in their own unique ways. The "acceptance" of the Law of Thelema
   is what defines a Thelemite; and the discovery and accomplishment of
   the True Will is the fundamental concern of all Thelemites. Achieving
   the "Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel" is
   considered an integral part of this process. The methods and practices
   to be employed in this process are numerous and varied; and are
   grouped together under the generalized term "Magick".

   Not every Thelemite utilizes all the practices available, there is
   considerable room for each individual practitioner to choose practices
   which are suitable to his or her individual needs. Some of these
   practices are the same as, or similar to, the practices advocated by
   many of the great religions of the past and present; such as prayer,
   meditation, study of religious texts (those of Thelema and of other
   religions as well), chanting, symbolic and initiatory ritual,
   devotional exercises, self-discipline, etc. However, some of our
   practices have been traditionally associated with what has generally
   been known as "occultism"; i.e., astrology, divination, numerology,
   yoga, tantric alchemy, and discourse with "angels" or "spirits" are
   all taken by Thelemites as potentially effective means for obtaining
   spiritual insights into the nature of one's being and one's place in
   the universe; and for the fulfillment of such insights through
   harmonious, evolutionary works.

   Thelema considers any action which is not directed toward the
   discovery and accomplishment of the True Will to be "black magic".
   This includes acts of interference with any other individual's lawful
   exercise of their right to discover and accomplish their own True
   Will. Thelemic doctrine holds that the disharmony and imbalance
   created by such actions results in a compensatory, equilibrating
   response from the universe; a doctrine similar to that of the Eastern
   conception of "Karma". Thelema has no direct parallel to the
   Judaeo-Christian concept of the devil or Satan; however, a
   pseudo-personification of confusion, distraction, illusion and
   egotistical ignorance is referred to by the name "Choronzon".

The Thelemic Calendar

   The Thelemic calendar counts years from 1904 e.v. (the year Liber AL
   was received). Each year starts on March 20th of the civil calendar,
   at (approximately) the northern-hemisphere Vernal Equinox.

   Rather than simply giving the year count from 1904, the Thelemic
   calendar uses a two-tiered system. The "upper" level gives a count of
   twenty-two year periods since 1904; the "lower" level gives the years
   since the start of the current twenty-two year period. Both are
   zero-based, with nonzero numbers being represented as upper and lower
   case Roman numerals, respectively. So, for example, the civil year
   1996 is (after March 20) Thelemic year IViv (because 1904 + (4 * 22) +
   4 equals 1996).

   Some Thelemites assign the twenty-two years of each cycle to the
   twenty-two trumps of the Tarot, and also to the 22-year period numbers
   themselves. Hence, 1996 is doubly linked to Trump IV of the Tarot, the
   Emperor.

   Within each year, dates and times are often expressed by the positions
   of Sun and Moon in the Tropical zodiac. For example, May 12, 1996 e.v.
   at 6pm PST would be expressed as "IViv, Sol 22 Taurus, Luna 29
   Pisces." This specifies the precise date and time to within about two
   hours.

   When giving dates in the civil calendar, Thelemites will often append
   "e.v." This is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "era vulgaris," or
   "common era."

  THELEMIC OBSERVED HOLY DAYS

   The official holy days of Thelema are set forth in The Book of the
   Law, Ch. II, v. 36-41. The specific dates attributed to them are
   given in Crowley's commentaries, and are summarized below:
     * The Rituals of the Elements and Feasts of the Times are observed
       at the Equinoxes and Solstices.
     * The Feast for the First Night of the Prophet and His Bride is
       observed on August 12.
     * The Feast for the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law
       is observed on April 8, 9 and 10, beginning at noon on each day.
     * The Feast for the Supreme Ritual (the Invocation of Horus) is
       observed on March 20, and represents the opening of the Thelemic
       new year.
     * The Feast for the Equinox of the Gods is held on the Vernal
       Equinox of each year to commemorate the founding of Thelema in
       1904.

   Three points of passage in the life of each Thelemite are observed.
   Birth is celebrated in a Feast for Life; puberty is celebrated in a
   Feast for Fire (for a boy), or a Feast for Water (for a girl); and
   the death of the individual is commemorated in a Greater Feast for
   Death.

   Various anniversaries commemorating major events and figures in the
   history of Thelema and O.T.O. are also celebrated informally by some
   Thelemic groups.

Characteristic Customs

   Nearly all Thelemites keep a record of their personal practices, and
   their progress therein, in a "Magical Diary". Most Thelemites also
   practice a particular form of prayer four times per day, which is
   specified in a book called Liber Resh vel Helios (included in
   reference 11, below). Thelemites often take mystic names or "magical
   mottoes" for themselves as a sign of commitment; and customarily greet
   each other with the phrase, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of
   the Law"; to which the customary response is, "Love is the law, love
   under will". Sometimes these phrases are abbreviated by the simple
   statement of the number "ninety-three", which number signifies both
   "Will" and "Love" through a particular form of numerology of
   significance within Thelema.

Thelemic Organizations

   Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) is incorporated in the U.S.A. and in the
   State of California as a not-for-profit religious organization under
   Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. O.T.O. currently
   operates in 17 countries around the world and has approximately 2300
   active members. Within the broad context of Thelema, O.T.O. functions
   as a fraternal, initiatory, social, and educational organization of a
   religious nature.

   O.T.O. includes a specifically liturgical arm which is called Ecclesia
   Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), the Gnostic Catholic Church, which was
   originally brought into relations with O.T.O. by Dr. Gerard Encausse
   (Papus) in 1908. The principal ritual of E.G.C. is called the Gnostic
   Mass (included in references 6, 9 and 11 below). Membership in E.G.C.
   is available through baptism and confirmation. Members of O.T.O. in
   good standing are eligible for clerical ordination in E.G.C. Members
   of II and higher (or even I, in some situations) are eligible for
   ordination as Deacon, and those who have reached K.E.W. are eligible
   for ordination as Priest or Priestess. E.G.C. also celebrates seasonal
   festivals, commemorations of life passage events and other religious
   functions. Many O.T.O. local bodies celebrate the Gnostic Mass on a
   regular basis, and in most locations, no formal affiliation is
   required to attend the Mass.

   O.T.O. has long worked in close alliance with the A :. A :. , which
   first proclaimed the Law of Thelema to the world. The A :. A :. is a
   teaching and initiatory structure dedicated to the personal spiritual
   advancement of its individual members. Within A :. A :. all services
   are rendered free of charge, and no social activities are held. O.T.O.
   and A :. A :. have jointly issued the journal The Equinox since 1912
   e.v., now entering its fourth volume. Although they are distinctly
   separate organizations, O.T.O. has historically assisted A :. A :.
   with practical matters that lie outside its primary mission, which is
   purely spiritual in nature. Aspirants to the A :. A :. may write to:

     The Cancellarius of A :. A :.
     c/o The Equinox
     JAF Box 7666
     New York, NY 10116


     _________________________________________________________________

References

   1. Crowley, Aleister; Eight Lectures on Yoga [1939], New Falcon
   Publications, Scottsdale, Arizona 1991

   2. Crowley, Aleister; The Heart of the Master [1938], New Falcon
   Publications, Scottsdale, Arizona 1992

   3. Crowley, Aleister, edited by Israel Regardie; The Law is for All,
   Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minnesota 1975

   4. Crowley, Aleister; Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly
   [1962], Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine, 1991

   5. Crowley, Aleister; Little Essays Toward Truth [1938], New Falcon
   Publications, Scottsdale, Arizona 1991

   6. Crowley, Aleister; Magick in Theory and Practice [1929], in Magick:
   Book IV, Parts I-IV, edited, annotated and introduced by Hymenaeus
   Beta, Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine 1994

   7. Crowley, Aleister; Magick Without Tears [1954], Falcon Press,
   Phoenix, Arizona 1982

   8. Hymenaeus Alpha (ed.); The Holy Books of Thelema, Samuel Weiser,
   York Beach, Maine, 1983

   9. Hymenaeus Beta (ed.); The Equinox, Vol. III, No. 10, Thelema
   Publications, NY 1986

   10. Melton, J. Gordon; Encyclopedia of American Religions, 4th
   Edition, Gale Research Publishing, Detroit, Michigan 1993. O.T.O. is
   discussed specifically under entry no. 1310.

   11. Regardie, Israel (ed.); Gems from the Equinox, Falcon Press,
   Phoenix, Arizona 1982
     _________________________________________________________________

   URL: http://otohq.org/oto/thelema.html
   Last modified: Tuesday, 21-May-96 22:46:04 PDT
   All material copyright 1996 by Ordo Templi Orientis

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