A sauce of catsup, horse radish and peyote shreddings: The Sex Magicians Chapters Ten and Eleven

 

Alternate cover to Alan Moore's Providence #11: Abdul Alhazred vs. the Mama Vibe

Let's see if this one gets put behind a disclaimer: 

The Sex Magicians Chapter Ten: "Who is the Master who makes the grass green? (p. 72-75) 

Well, with one of Wilson's fondest chestnuts as the chapter title, we should be able to know that something is going to happen. And it does: herein we are introduced to the titular sex magicians, the Church of Scientific Illuminism, or, the Illuminati. (It could be argued that all of the various protagonists are sex magicians with varying degrees of awareness, but at some point we need  to abandon Kether and make distinctions.) Scientific Illuminism was one of Crowley's earliest names for his philosophy and appropriately the chapter begins with the church members saying Will before their meal. Will is a short acknowledgement for Thelemites to say before meals- in our house we only say it before more formal dinners- but I'll have to admit our menus are not as fun. Saying Will also appears in Crowley's fiction, notably in Diary of a Drug Fiend. 

Keeping with Hadit's commandment in Liber AL, "To worship me take wine and strange drugs," the food is laced with a variety of substances. In keeping with Wilson's contemporary perceptions, the Thelemites eat food that are almost comically rich- nothing but the best for our small cell of occultists. (Also keeping with Wilson's attitude at the time, which he would actually repudiate later, one of the members casually uses cocaine during the dinner. Maybe take a lesson from Crowley's biography and avoid white powdery substances.)

Since the Church is also called "the Illuminati," we should probably take a moment to consider any parellels with Wilson's (and Shea's) much more famous depictions of that illustrious organization. Here, the Illuminati engage in behavior that might appear outre to some readers but is entirely benign. In Illuminatus! the organization is certainly outre, but malicious. It is the influence of the Discordians and Hagbard Celine's orchestrations that render the Illuminati into something benevolent. Two of the members of the Church of Scientific Illuminism have names taken from real Discordians: "Mordecai," of course, is a shortened version of Wilson's own Discordian title "Mordecai the Foul." The other Discordian nom de guerre is that of "Fang the Unwashed." Fang denotes Roger Lovin, a New Orleans based Discordian initiated into the Society by Thornley. This is how Thornley described Lovin: "...a dashing, talented and handsome con artist who was too shallow to settle into one thing...for years and years he read the Principia, under his Discordian name of Fang the Unwashed, he consistently and with unswerving devotion to the task excommunicated every new person any of the rest of us initiated into the Discordian Society." A writer whose book of motorcycling is still a classic, an underground publisher and art gallery proprietor, Lovin does seem like an interesting character. (The Thornley quote and other information was all pulled from Adam Gorightly.) That seems to me to be the most crossover in this chapter between the two depictions, but I'm curious if other readers can find something that I've missed. 

While Brother Simeon and "Little" Sister Teresa are engaged in one of the more fun iterations of meditation Wilson states that "together they were in Kether, the topmost reach of the Astral World...[l]ooking down at Malkuth (our material world) from Kether...Simeon began to find the Mama Vibe." Alan and Steve Moore have some fascinating insights about the nature of Kether and Malkuth in The Bumper Book of Magic that is worth considering. (Strikingly, that interacting with Malkuth requires more than existence in the material world and that the experience of Kether might not have that much utility while one is physically extant.) While it doesn't involve chanting IAO, I'd say that a lot of inspiration for the rite comes from Crowley's "The Star Sapphire," an improved version of the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram. While the Star Sapphire is a very effective solo ritual (my personal favorite that always makes me feel more whole) it is also serves as an instruction for magical oral sex. (I should note that the Star Sapphire is often interpretated a meditative ritual to carry out during mutual oral sex. For more information please refer to Chapter 69 of Crowley's The Book of Lies.) Another effective sex magical ritual involves cycling one's energies, going from the personal Malkuth to Kether and back again, is found in Francis King's Tantra: The Way of Action. This ritual is an adaptation of the Stella Matutina's Middle Pillar exercise made famous by Israel Regardie. Finally, Will Parfitt gives instructions for a simplified but still effective sex magic ritual in The Living Qabalah that includes provisions for oral intercourse. I don't see where the inclusion of IAO could hurt these rituals. I truly wish that Uncle Al's Liber IAO wasn't missing (or archived) as it promised to be a magical-sexual counterpart to the advanced meditative techniques given in Liber HHH; it has been a personal side quest for me for about a decade to find out more about this book. Aside from hints that it does exist in some capacity, I've always come up short. 

Roger Lovin, author portrait for The Complete Motorcycle Nomad

The Sex Magicians Chapter Eleven: Where do these questions come from? (p. 76-80)

This chapter's title consists of three "historical" vignettes that show a progression of illumination. The chapter's title is easy enough to locate as the "punch line" of the first snapshot. The conversation with one of Wilson's constant background characters, Ped Xing, follows a model of pseudo-Buddhist parables that Wilson was fond of including in his work. I'm unsure of why Wilson dubs Ch'an Buddhism as the most radical sect of Buddhism. Ch'an Buddhism seems like a pretty standard version of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, although it is generally considered to be the progenitor of Japan's Zen Buddhism, which Wilson was fond of, like many thinkers of his day and age. In other places, Wilson refers to Shin Buddhism, which he calls Shinran Buddhism, as his favorite version of Buddhism for its radical compassion. (Wilson and Arlen Riley were married in a Shin Buddhist temple.) 

The second snapshot shows Wilson's fanciful condensation of the legend of Hasan i Sabbah. I've discussed the dubious nature of the tales that surround the Old Man of the Mountain extensively in a previous post (which also includes Chapter 69 of The Book of Lies). You can find that here. The only note that I'll add here is that it is completely and totally nonsensical that Sayyiduna would have had access to cocaine in 12th Century Arabia as it is famously a product of the New World. 

The final scene, consisting of Adam Weishaupt acting sinister and arch in his rooms, is extremely similar to another scene in Illuminatus!- this leads me to believe that the trilogy was truly more or less complete by this time that Wilson poached this scene. Perhaps out of dismay that the longer work would never be published or for another reason, but the similarities are remarkable. I am unable to translate the first part of the book title that Weishaupt is working on, but I believe it comes out something like this: About Strip-Snip-Snap: World Games and The Science of Fives. If someone actually knows German, I'd love your opinion about how it should be rendered into English. And one more "historical" nitpick for Mr. Wilson: Abdul Alhazred, author of Al Azif, is said in The History of the of the Necronomicon to have died, pulled into the air and shredded by invisible claws, in the 8th Century and there is no way he could have written about Hasan i Sabbah. (Well, then again, the Mad Arab could have possibly forseen Sabbah.) 

It's good to be back, everyone. I apologize for my tendency to wander away from the blog. I hope everyone is weathering the first days of 2025 with spirit and subtlety, when necessary. See you next week. 

- A.C.