From: "John B. Fleming" 
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 15:40:59 -0500 (EST)


                              HERALD-TEPAPHONE
                                       
A Quarterly Publication of IAO Camp, Ordo Templi Orientis
Vernal Equinox, 1995 e.v.
Volume One, Number One

   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   _Do what thou wilt shall be the Whole of the Law._
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   IAO Camp,
   Ordo Templi Orientis
   P.O. Box 5793
   Bloomington, Indiana 47407
   
      Personnel:
      
   The Non-existent Brother R. B., Camp Master
   Soror Shekinah, Minister of Protocol
   The Non-existent Sister R. H., Treasurer
   Frater In Profunda, Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda
   Frater W. B., Minister of Magical Formulae
   
   Outside Contributors:
   
   Frater Melekh ha-Zahab
   A. Quiller III
   Adam Weishaupt
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   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 $5.00 per issue or $16.00
   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.
   
   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...
     * From the Propaganda Ministry
     * King is Dead!
     * Notes on the History of Liber 365 or; The Bornless Ritual
     * Combining Orgone Accumulators and Ritual Magick: A Preliminary
       Report
     * Mysterium Coniunctionis: Ritual of the 0=2 Formula
     * Top Ten Rejected Newsletter Titles
     * Javacrucian Communique
     * Typhonian Tomes: Being a Guide to the Works of Kenneth Grant
     * Fax God
     * Reviews
          + Wicca: The Ancient Way, Janus-Mithras, Nuit-Hilaria, and
            Mer-Amun
          + Have You Been Cursed?, Keith Morgan
          + Cults That Kill: Probing the Underworld of Occult Crime,
            Larry Kahaner
          + High Magic's Aid, Scire (Gerald Gardner)
          + The Stone and the Elixir, Pensatia (Helen Merrick Bond)
          + Heeling Your Inner Dog: A Self-Whelp Book, Nicole Gregory and
            Judith Stone
     * IAO Camp Calendar of Events
       
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  From the Propaganda Ministry
  
   Hello and welcome to the first issue of the _Herald-Tepaphone_, the
   newsletter that brings a whole new meaning to the term _deadline_. We
   will be coming to you four times a year with news, articles, rituals,
   rants, reviews, and anything else our jaded and depraved minds can
   think of.
   
   This newsletter is, like it says up there under the title, primarily
   the vehicle of IAO Camp, however anyone interested is more than
   welcome to subscribe and/or submit material for publication (in fact,
   at least one such person has already done so). You do not have to be a
   member of the Camp, or even of O.T.O., to join in, so please feel
   free.
   
   For our first issue we have an interesting mix of practical and
   scholarly items to tempt your mental palate. Future issues will
   feature articles on classical Jewish Qabalah, Finnish Magick,
   Traditionalist philosophy, more studies of Liber 365, more reviews of
   Kenneth Grant books, etc., k.t.l., et al, ad nauseam...
   
   So climb on board and prepare to enjoy the ride.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  King is Dead!
  
   We have just received word that Francis Xavier (In-1903-Crowley
   Received-the-Book-of the-Law) King shuffled off this mortal coil in
   London last November. While there will doubtless always be superficial
   writers on occult history who subtly patronize and disparage their
   subjects while exemplifying sloppy scholarship and somehow become
   regarded as authorities in the process, at least now we have one less
   to deal with. If the Gods are kind, this may actually leave room for
   someone who really does know and respect the subject to get published.
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Notes on the History of Liber 365 or; The Bornless Ritual
  
   
   
    by the Non-existent Brother R. B.
    
   A well-known authority on modern ceremonial Magick recently made the
   astonishing claim that the _Preliminary Invocation_ which appears in
   the 1904 Crowley-Mathers edition of the _Goetia_ is based on the
   Golden Dawn paper _Bornless Ritual for the Invocation of the Higher
   Genius._ This is wildly inaccurate, since the _Bornless Ritual_
   published in _The Golden Dawn_ is not only not a G.`.D.`. paper, but
   is in fact based on the _Preliminary Invocation_, not vice versa. The
   _Bornless Ritual_ in _The Golden Dawn_ is one of Regardie's _purely
   personal productions_ and was composed sometime in the latter 1930s.
   
   I thought it might be of benefit to the well-known authority mentioned
   above, and to less renowned scholars in this field, to write up some
   of my notes on the history of this important ritual. Please bear in
   mind that these are only notes, part of an ongoing study of the
   subject, and certainly not my final judgments.
   
   The story of our ritual begins sometime around the fourth century of
   the Vulgar Era, when a Hellenized Egyptian writes it down as part of a
   _cookbook_ of magical incantations, all of them well-seasoned with
   barbarous names. In fact, several of the barbarous names employed in
   our ritual appear in the other incantations. The ritual, in its
   original form, is an exorcism. This cookbook -- or at least part of it
   -- ends up in the British Museum and is now known as _Papyrus
   Londonensis 46_: this is the primary source from which the modern
   versions of this ceremony are ultimately descended.
   
   The story continues with Charles Wycliffe Goodwin's _Fragment of a
   Graeco-Egyptian Work upon Magic_, which appears in the _Publications
   of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society_, no 2, in 1852. Goodwin provides
   a transcription of the Greek text of P. Lond. 46, with a facing-page
   translation and notes: this secondary source, rather than the
   manuscript itself, is the basis for the modern redactions of the
   ritual.
   
   In 1899 E. A. W. Budge, the G.`.D.`.'s favorite Egyptologist,
   publishes his _Egyptian Magic_. Included in this book (a tertiary
   source, for those who are keeping score) is the opening passage of our
   ritual, quoted from Goodwin's translation. Some G.`.D.`. initiate -- I
   presume Mathers himself, though as yet I have no proof of this --
   reads Budge's book and is sufficiently impressed by the opening
   passage to look up the complete text in Goodwin's book: from the text
   in Goodwin he creates the redaction with which we are primarily
   concerned, the _Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia_.
   
   The earliest references (which I have found so far) to this ritual in
   its modern form are connected with Crowley's performance of it in the
   King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid, November 22, 1903. On this
   occasion he is obliged to read the text, which suggests he is not very
   familiar with the ritual at this date. Fuller's account of the event
   refers to the ceremony as _the ritual of the Bornless One_, but
   Crowley himself nearly always speaks of it as the _Preliminary
   Invocation of the Goetia_, suggesting that he has always considered
   the two as linked (and thus further suggesting that he received them
   together from Mathers?).
   
   In 1904, Crowley publishes _Goetia_, including as Preliminary
   Invocation our ritual, as redacted from Goodwin's text: this is, then,
   a tertiary source. The great difficulty with this edition is that the
   Preliminary Invocation is set in Caxton Blackletter, described justly
   by our well-known authority as _perhaps the most illegible typeface
   ever devised_; it is very difficult to read, and many letters look
   just like other letters except under careful scrutiny. The letter _x_,
   for example, is only distict from the letter _r_ by a tiny flourish at
   the bottom of the letter, so that if you don't know the intricacies of
   the typeface, the word _Abrasax_ looks like _Abrasar_.
   
   In 1916, the American pirate publisher L. W. DeLaurence produces his
   unauthorized edition of the _Goetia_. This is merely a reprint of the
   1904 edition, with some deletions and a number of errors: i.e., it is
   a quaternary source. This edition sets the Preliminary Invocation in
   an easy-to-read typeface, but the typesetter is, unfortunately, not
   initiated into the mysteries of Caxton Blackletter: where the word
   _Abrasax_ appears in the 1904 edition, it appears in the 1916 edition
   as _Abrasar_. There are several other errors, all apparently due to
   the illegibility of the type in the 1904 edition.
   
   In 1921, Crowley writes his personal redaction of the Preliminary
   Invocation, which he titles _Liber Samekh_. Crowley's version is based
   on the 1904 _Goetia_, with a few changes which seem to be intentional.
   This is another quaternary source, and it is published in 1929/1930 as
   Appendix IV of _Magick in Theory and Practice_.
   
   Next, in 1932, Regardie publishes a version of the Preliminary
   Invocation titling it the _Bornless Invocation_ -- in his book _The
   Tree of Life_. His redaction is obviously based on the corrupt text of
   the 1916 _Goetia_, but it also includes a note that seems to echo
   Crowley's notes to _Samekh_. It is, therefore, a quinary source based
   on two quaternary sources, and it includes a few new errors of its
   own.
   
   Finally we come to the redaction of the ritual which our well-known
   authority supposes to be the original. Sometime in the late 1930's,
   while an Adeptus Minor of the Stella Matutina, Regardie writes a
   ritual for spiritual development which he calls _Bornless Ritual for
   the Invocation of the Higher Genius_, based on his own 1932 _Bornless
   Invocation_. This new version corrects most of the errors unique to
   the 1932 version, but retains two of them, which makes this a senary
   source; i.e., it is a text (1941) based on a text (1932) based on a
   text (1916) based on a text (1904) based on a text (1852) based on the
   original manuscript (4th century, more or less). Regardie includes
   this ritual in his 1937 - 40 _Golden Dawn_, as an example of how
   G.`.D.`. technique can be adapted to a variety of purposes.
   
   The attentive reader will already have noticed that I avoid the common
   name for this ceremony, _the Bornless Ritual_. The reason is that the
   only one of these many versions which is actually called _Bornless
   Ritual_ is Regardie's personal adaptation (1937), which is
   considerably more elaborate than the _Preliminary Invocation_ on which
   it is based. In other words, _Bornless Ritual_ should not be used as a
   generic term for all versions of this ceremony, because it is properly
   applied to only one version (which is, moreover, the least typical of
   all the modern versions). A more acceptable -- if less common -- name
   is _Liber 365_, the official classification of the _Preliminary
   Invocation of the Goetia_.
   
   These are, let me repeat, only rough notes. Further details, possible
   criticisms and my responses, evidence which might contradict my
   assumption that Mathers created our modern redaction of the ritual,
   comparisons of the various versions from 1852 - 1937, and comparisons
   of Goodwin's text with more recent scholarship, are all appropriate
   subjects for future articles.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Combining Orgone Accumulators and Ritual Magick: A Preliminary Report
  
   
   
    by Fr. In Profunda III`
    
   I have recently embarked on what promises to be a rather interesting
   series of Workings that combine traditional ceremonial technique with
   modern _techno-Magick_. My partner in thaumaturgy is the local
   Discordian mage, Tom Madai (or, to give his full title, His High
   Irreverence Pope John-Paul-George-and-Ringo XXIII). Tom's system
   involves direct manipulation of abstract energies in a manner not
   unlike Reiki, with a good dose of quantum theory thrown in. In the
   course of his research he recently built an orgone accumulator and the
   two of us are now using it in tandem with more-or-less traditional
   ceremonial Magick.
   
   For those readers not familiar with the subject, _orgone_ is a term
   coined by the late psychologist Wilhelm Reich to describe what others
   call _life-force_, _prana_, _psychic energy_, etc. The orgone
   accumulator, one of many gadgets he designed to use this energy, is
   simply a box with nested layers of organic and inorganic material that
   automatically _accumulates_ and stores this energy. Tom's accumulator
   is a simple two layer affair of wood and sheet metal about 2.5 feet
   square and 1 foot high. Before we began our joint project Tom had
   already satisfied himself that his machine worked as advertised, and
   that orgone is the same energy used in Magick. His next idea was to
   use it in ritual, which is where I came in.
   
   Our first experiment took place in my living room. The device began to
   do its thing as soon as we set it up, generating a field about five
   feet across as verified by Tom's clairvoyance and my dowsing. This
   field expanded quickly to fill the whole room even before a formal
   Circle was cast. My Star Ruby solidified and intensified the field
   dramatically. Among other things, the accumulator was used to charge
   what was supposed to be a regular four-hour candle; when lit it lasted
   at least six hours (unfortunately, I fell asleep before it burnt out,
   so the exact figure eludes me). The burn-out was complete with,
   however, a good deal of melt-off.
   
   I deliberately refrained from taking down the Circle after the Working
   in order to study its evolution over time after the accumulator was
   removed. Within a few days my dowsing disclosed that not only was the
   Circle still there, but that it had assumed a complex vortex structure
   with concentric rings. This is similar to what some dowsers find in
   megalithic stone circles such as Stonehenge and Rollright in Britain.
   This did not especially surprise me as I am aware that many ancient
   earthworks have a structure not unlike an orgone accumulator, in this
   case using layers of turf or peat and clay or stone rather than wood
   and metal. These earthworks also seem to accumulate energy, possibly
   for weather-control, which was another of Reich's projects.
   
   Tom and I plan to continue our collaboration. Future projects include
   charging talismans and, eventually, the evocation of Deities to
   sensible manifestation. stay tuned.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Mysterium Coniunctionis: Ritual of the 0=2 Formula
  
   
   
    by Fr. Melekh ha-Zahab
    
   _Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law._
   
   This ritual is to be used whenever desired, in order to attune the
   Magician to the union of opposites in his or her nature.
   
      The Temple
      
   A large Circle is traced on the Temple floor, 13 feet in diameter. A
   white pillar is placed at the southern edge of the Circle, a black
   pillar at the northern edge. At the base of the white pillar, on its
   western side, is burning a single candle. At the base of the black
   pillar, on its western side, is a cup or basin of water. Incense of
   Abramelin, and none other, is burning outside the Circle.
   
      The Magician
      
   The Magician is attired in the robe of his degree, or otherwise in an
   unadorned black robe.
   
      The Ritual
      
   The Magician stands in the center of the Circle, facing East. Assuming
   the Sign of Mulier, he intones:
   
   _A ka dua
   Tuf ur biu
   Bi a'a chefu
   Dudu nur af an nuteru.
   
   _[He faces East to symbolize his aspiration to the Unity, in
   Nothingness, of Nuit.]
   
   He then performs the Lesser Banishing Pentagram Ritual of Earth,
   describing the Circle on the floor as he cicumambulates. He returns to
   the center of the Circle, facing East. He Says:
   
   _O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak
   not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all,
   since thou art continuous!
   
   None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two.
   
   For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union.
   
   This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as
   nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
   
   _He then turns clockwise and advances in a straight line to the white
   pillar, taking up the candle, making the triangle of Fire before him
   with the candle while facing West and saying:
   
   _I consecrate with Fire._
   
   He then turns clockwise and advances in a straight line to the black
   pillar, taking up the basin of water, making the triangle of Water
   before him (by sprinkling the water with thumb, index and medius)
   while facing West, and saying:
   
   _I purify by Water._
   
   He moves back to the center of the Circle, facing West.
   
   He begins reciting a series of opposites, given below. For the first
   of each pair, he raises his left hand to the South while speaking the
   word. For the second of each pair, he raises his right hand to the
   North while speaking the word. Thus, after both opposites are recited,
   he is standing again in the Sign of Mulier. [He should, as completely
   as possible, identify himself with the words as he speaks them, as if
   he is creating magnetic poles to his left and right (the pillars),
   with the force of his identification.]
   
   Then, concentrating and sending forth the energy of the unification of
   these opposites, he gives the Sign of the Enterer while intoning
   sharply:
   
   _Achad!_
   
   He visualizes the projection of the energy to the circumference of the
   Circle, where it begins to transform the Circle into a sphere of
   brilliant white light. He retires in the Sign of Silence, the right
   hand to the lips.
   
   The opposites are as follows:
   
   Fire -- Water
   Positive -- Negative
   Light -- Night
   Father -- Mother
   Force -- Form
   Therion -- Babalon
   Osiris -- Isis
   Ra-Hoor-Khuit -- Hoor-Paar-Kraat
   Concious -- Unconcious
   Sun -- Moon
   Red Lion -- White Eagle
   Cross -- Circle
   God -- Man
   
   With each pair, the intensity of the sphere's light has increased,
   corresponding with the Will of the Magician's divided self to unite,
   with Love, into a circle of Naught. [He is finally allowing the
   magnetized poles to slam together, having increased their attraction
   to each other, and the tension between these opposites, through the
   previous words.] He assumes the Sign of Mulier, this time facing West
   to symbolize his attainment of Union, as if identifying with Nuit. At
   the moment of climax, he slowly brings his arms down to cross his
   breast, right over left, forming the Sign of Osiris Risen, while he
   intones:
   
   _IAO._
   
   The opposite energies are brought down with the arms, and are
   concentrated in the heart of the Magician, which is imagined to be the
   center of the sphere, where the arms are crossed. When this Union is
   fully experienced, the Magician says:
   
   _Love is the Law, love under will._
   
   Then, turning clockwise to the East, again in the Sign of Mulier, he
   intones:
   
   _A ka dua
   Tuf ur biu
   Bi a'a chefu
   Dudu nur af an nuteru.
   
   _The ritual is ended.
   
      Notes
     * The Sign of Mulier can also be considered as a representation of
       Baphomet, as a symbol of the union of opposites.
     * The technique used in the litany of opposites is not unlike parts
       of _Liber Pyramidos_, where the Magician identifies, in rapid
       succession, with _opposite_ energies, or states of conciousness.
       Interestingly, this technique is sometimes used in hypnosis to
       deepen trance. It seems to work because the person in trance is
       shifted so quickly between one state and another that he or she
       _slingshots_ past them into a deeper state altogether. This is
       exactly the object of this ritual, so one can readily see that the
       key to its proper performance is the effectiveness of the
       Magician's indentification with the opposites recited.
     * Although pillars are used, they are not to be considered as
       strictly representative of the familiar Qabalistic/Masonic
       pillars. Some of the opposites recited fall readily into the
       Qabalistic attributions to the pillars. Others, such as God and
       Man, do not. The point to be made is simply that the pairs can be
       considered opposite for the purpose of the ritual. They may not be
       opposites along the same continuum, and they may not always be
       opposites!
     * While the concept of opposites is clearly expressed in the litany
       and by the presence of the pillars, the concept of Unity (as Ain)
       is addressed in other aspects of the ritual. The Circle/Sphere is
       the most prominent of these. The Circle is 13 feet in diameter,
       and since 13 is the number of AChaD (Unity), the circle is
       reaffirmed by the vibration of AChaD with each pair, and by the
       fact that there are 13 pairs. Multiplying 13 pairs by 2 words per
       pair (Unity through duality), we get 26. This connects the supreme
       goal of the ritual to the Formula of Tragrammaton [YHVH], although
       this ritual is more explicitly based on one interpretation of the
       IAO formula, where _I and O are the opposites which form the field
       for the operation of A_ (see _Magick in Theory and Practice_ under
       _The Formula of IAO_). Furthermore, by the end of the ritual the
       Magician has built the sphere and has identified a point at his
       heart as the sphere's center. This is one final affirmation of
       union through love under will, as it represents the union of the
       point and the circle, Hadit and Nuit.
       
   _Love is the Law. love under will._
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Top Ten Rejected Newsletter Titles
  
   10. The Aleister Crowley Fanclub Newsletter
   9. Everything Worth Knowing
   8. Old Farts in Turbans
   7. Slobber
   6. Blood of the Moon Monthly
   5. Hoosier Thelemite Quarterly
   4. Gack
   3. We Don't Care how They do it in New York
   2. Samekh Final
   1. Brain-Rotting Bak-Bak
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Javacrucian Communique
  
   In the year 1592 of the Vulgar Era, His Holiness, Pope Clement VIII
   officially declared Coffee to be a Christian beverage. Originally
   introduced by Arab merchants, the Holy Bean had been regarded by many
   as the wine of infidels.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Typhonian Tomes: Being a Guide to the Works of Kenneth Grant
  
   
   
    by Frater In Profunda III`
    
   Part Three: _Cults of the Shadow_ (Muller 1975, Weiser 1976, Skoob
   1994)
   
   If this were a comedy segment on _The Late Show with David Letterman,_
   Paul Shaffer would come up with some campy Vegas-esque theme-music for
   the occasion, something like this:
   
   _Oh, those Cults!
   Yeah, those crazy Cults,
   Those crazy, crazy, crazy
   Cults of the Shadow-w-w-w!
   
   _So if the Reader will supply the music we may proceed.
   
   With its predecessors, _The Magical Revival_ and _Aleister Crowley and
   the Hidden God_, _Cults of the Shadow_ forms Kenneth Grant's
   _Typhonian Trilogy_ dealing with various schools of sexual Magick.
   This time he presents his interpretation of several such "Cults"
   (Grant has a perverse affection for lurid terminology) and attempts to
   show them as parts of one primordial Current.
   
   Grant first discusses a number of West African/Voudon deities, linking
   them to appropriate Paths on the Tree of Life. This part is quite
   interesting and well done, but Grant spoils it by insisting that these
   are the prototypes of the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. There is just not
   enough resemblance; and if there were, would it not make more sense if
   the ancient Egyptian Gods were the ancestors of the modern African
   dieties? After all, just because Africans are supposedly _primitive_
   does not mean their religions have remained unchanged for 6,000-plus
   years.
   
   Grant then gives a rather peculiar history of Egyptian religion (one
   can't help thinking it would have helped to consult even one book on
   Egyptology published since 1907), and moves on to Tantra. He maintains
   that Hindu Tantra was imported from Egypt, citing some implausable
   bits of etymology to prove it: Egyptian _Bast_ and _Sekhmet_ to
   Sanskrit _Pashu_ and _Shakti_ for example. While this may look good in
   print at first glance, Ancient Egyptian and Sanskrit are very
   different languages from very different families, and the actual
   pronunciation of Egyptian is far from certain anyway. So it will take
   more than a few lucky similarities to convince me.
   
   Grant still focuses on one Tantric Tradition to the exclusion of all
   others. He also performs some rather odd feats of logical gymnastics.
   He joins orthodox Tantrics in denouncing _Prayoga_, whereby
   intercourse is had with Succubi, yet he later advocates his personal
   method of _dream-control_ which involves exactly that!
   
   Finally he comes to more contemporary sects with two chapters on
   Crowley and Thelema (which he insists on calling _The Cult of the
   Beast._) Much of this is devoted to legitimising Grant's _Typhonian_
   O.T.O. He denounces formal Initiations as _mere copies of masonic
   rituals having little magical value,_ eliminates Lodges in favour of
   _power-zones_ and generally scuttles all of Crowley's ideas for the
   reform of society. Grant states that the O.T.O. devotes itself to
   Kundalini Yoga and _establishing a gate in space through which the
   extraterrestrial or cosmic energies may enter in and manifest on
   earth._ Trans-Plutonic planets and the star Sirius figure largely in
   Grant's personal-mythology-presented-as-objective-fact.
   
   He then deals with the career of Charles Stansfield Jones, better
   known as Crowley's _Magical son_ Frater Achad, who had such a
   promising start -- he discovered the secret key to Liber AL -- and
   then went off the deep end. By 1926 Achad decided that Crowley was
   _unable_ to utter the Word for the aeon of Horus because, having
   identified himself with the Beast, he became _inarticulate._ So Achad
   came up with a Word of his own, which appearently didn't work because
   in 1948 he announced a whole new aeon, that of Maat or Ma-Ion! Achad
   is an excellent example of _ego-abcess_ and paranoid obsession,
   besides being the first Thelemic _heretic._ The major problem in this
   chapter is that Grant's commentary is so unclear it's hard to tell if
   he is simply reporting Achad's theories or actually supporting them.
   
   The book ends with a short piece on Austin Spare's Zos-Kia Cultus, but
   before that we get two chapters on something new: Michael Bertiaux's
   La Couleuvre Noire (the Black Snake Cult.) This is a (theoretically)
   Voudon-oriented group centred in Chicago. I say _theoretically_
   because there is little recognisable Voudon in it - Bertiaux is
   incredibly eclectic and has a fetish for pseudo-technical jargon that
   must be seen to be believed. The curious reader may consult the
   _Voudon Gnostic Workbook_, a collection of Bertiaux's correspondence
   courses that is about the size of a large city's phonebook -- and has
   about the same literary and Magical value, if that. Grant quotes
   mostly Lovecraft-oriented material in this section.
   
   Grant's style remains consistent in terms of scholarship (damn little)
   and peculiar expressions (lots.) For those keeping score here are the
   new ones: _efflorescence_, _Uranography_, _co-types_, _infra-liminal
   vibration_, _audile_, _comports_, and the truly amazing
   _sexo-somniferous magnetization._ All I can say is that this book is
   better than Bob Larson's Guide to Cults, but I won't put it on any
   _recommended reading_ lists anytime soon.
   
   (The previous two installments of this series appeared in Volume IV of
   the _Midwest OTO Tribal Diary_, interested parties may write the _H-T_
   for copies. The next installment will cover _Images and Oracles of
   Austin Osman Spare_.)
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Fax God
  
   It has long been a custom to tuck written prayers to God into the
   crevices of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Now Bezeq
   Telecommunications Corporation in Israel has set up a special fax line
   for those who can't make the trip in person. The faxes come from all
   over the world and are taxen to the Wall by a special messenger once
   each day. So far, the longest fax ran to 40 pages.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  Reviews
  
   _Treat 'em rough._
   
   Wicca: The Ancient Way by Janus-Mithras, Nuit-Hilaria, and Mer-Amun.
   Illuminet Press, 1994, (63 pp., $5.95).
   
   These folks represent the Isis-Urania Covens, a Canadian group of
   Egyptian Qabalistic Witches who tend the flame of Traditional Wicca.
   Their system, needless to say, is incalculably older than the
   innovations of Bro. Gardner, and of course is _the very old and
   unbroken traditional European lineage_, etc., etc., -- you've heard
   all this before.
   
   Their ancient Book of Shadows sounds strikingly similar to Doreen
   Valiente's versification of Bro. Gardner's work, and some of their
   traditional aphorisms could be mistaken for paraphrases of Dion
   Fortune. They study Qabalah because it's astonishingly similar to
   their own system, and sketch a hilarious picture of Medieval Witches
   and Qabalistic Jews fleeing persecution together and then casually
   comparing their secret doctrines while hiding out in the forest: _this
   was clearly the re-establishment of a long-forgotten alliance._ Yeah,
   right.
   
   -- A. Quiller III
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   Have You Been Cursed? by Keith Morgan. Pentacle Press, 1994, (23 pp.,
   $5.95).
   
   Trees died so that this could be printed. Let us mourn.
   
   -- A. Quiller III
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   Cults That Kill: Probing the Underworld of Occult Crime by Larry
   Kahaner. Warner Books, 1988, (280 pp., $5.95 new).
   
   An especially dull and pointless collection of the same old rumours
   and innuendo.
   
   -- Adam Weishaupt
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   High Magic's Aid by Scire (Gerald Gardner). Weiser, 1975, (352 pp.,
   $3.95 new, but about $10 these days).
   
   This is a fun little story of sorcery in the Middle Ages. The fact
   that it often reads like advance-promo for Bro. Gardner's later books
   on Wicca merely adds to its charm and interest for the student of
   occultism. The plot involves a fairly unlikely alliance between a
   Pagan Witch and a Christian Mage (yeah, right again), and just maybe a
   few too many sneers at the Church (or maybe not), but it's still fun.
   Although it is. married throughout by, erros of punctuation and of
   orthografy; typical of Bro. Gardner. Or perhaps a pour jab ov edithing
   on teh pert of Samael Wiser.
   
   Then again, since we are dealing not with an ordinary novelist but
   with an Initiate, we must not rule out the possibility that these are
   _Qabalistic Mistakes_ which secretly point to mighty arcana. For
   example, on p. 268 a spirit is conjured _through HIM who half created
   all things_. The casual reader will giggle at the obvious misprint of
   _half_ for _hath_, but the Qabalist will ponder deeply: if HIM
   half-created all things, then who created the other half? Perhaps HER?
   The Torah tells us that ELOHIM is the author of Creation, so we can
   conclude that if HIM created half, ELO created the rest. This
   interpretation is supported by the Scripture, for we read that the
   Creation is two-fold -- _In the beginning ELOHIM created the Heavens
   and the Earth_.
   
   And ELOHIM perfectly expresses this two-in-one idea of Deity, as it
   consists of the feminine Eloah with the masculine plural ending -im.
   But I digress...
   
   -- A. Quiller III
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   The Stone and the Elixir by Pensatia (Helen Merrick Bond). Euclid,
   1970, (54 pp., $5 new).
   
   Self-flattering goo about self-transcendence.
   
   -- A. Quiller III
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   Heeling Your Inner Dog: A Self-Whelp Book by Nicole Gregory and Judith
   Stone. Times Books, 1993, (99 pp., $12).
   
   Is God to live in a dog? Evidently.
   
   -- Adam Weishaupt
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  IAO Camp Calendar of Events
  
   
   
    Spring, 1995 E.V.
    
      April
      
   Fri. 7: Camp business meeting, 8pm.
   Sat. 8: Day of Nuit. Gnostic Mass (open), 9pm.
   Sun. 9: Day of Hadit.
   Mon. 10: Day of Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
   Thr. 20: CUUPs Class on Tantra, 7pm, facilitated by Sister R. H.
   Thr. 27: CUUPs Class on the Magick of A. O. Spare, 7pm, facilitated by
   Fr. I. P.
   Fri. 28: _Book Four_ study group, 8pm.
   
      May
      
   Fri. 5: Camp business meeting, 8pm.
   Sat. 13: Gnostic Mass (open), 9pm.
   Thr. 18: CUUPs Class on Tantra, 7pm, facilitated by Sister R. H.
   Sat. 20: Open discussion - 'Being a Thelemite', 7pm.
   Sun. 21: Sister R. H.'s birthday.
   Thr. 25: _Book Four_ study group, 7pm.
   
      June
      
   Fri. 2: Camp business meeting, 8pm.
   Fri. 9: Gnostic Mass (open), 9pm.
   Thr. 15: CUUPs Class on Tantra, 7pm, facilitated by Sister R. H.
   Sat. 17: Open discussion - _Liber Reguli_ (pot-luck dinner
   afterwards), 7pm.
   Wed. 21: Summer Solstice.
   Thr. 22: _Book Four_ study group, 7pm.
   
   Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPs) Magick Classes meet
   at the U. U. Church on North Fee Lane. All other events, unless
   otherwise specified, meet at the IAO Camp temple.
   
   All times and events are subject to change, so please call ahead to
   confirm.
   
   
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   _Love is the law, love under will._

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