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)
.jpg)
Thank you for posting this.
ReplyDeleteA brilliantly informative post. You hint at the malfeasance of the O.T.O. for not publishing and making available the remaining Crowley material it has like "Liber IAO" which I didn't know about until now. It also has about a third of Crowley's hag that Symonds and Grant edited out and there's the material Regardie took out of Magick Without Tears. Perhaps he felt it would make people cry so took it out to stay true to the title? The latter two have been rumored for years to be coming out.
ReplyDeleteI can remember when cocaine seemed exotic and cool, in the mid to late '70s for me. Then I saw it become seriously abused as the 1980s progressed when I moved to NY and became part of the music industry. Fortunately, I never got seriously hung up in that culture. I did partake occasionally, but never recreationally, only when offered by my engineer mentors at work. Crowley got into coke heavily for about 2 or 3 years around the time of Cefalu. Like Apuleius, I recommend avoiding powders especially given the prevalence of fentanyl.
I'm not sure if they do or not for sure Oz...the people I've heard from were previously involved in the British O.T.O. in the 70s and a gentleman from the Pyramid Lodge. The former seemed sure that it did exist and the latter couldn't say for sure but said it was possible. I knew about the hag material, but I had no idea about Magick W/o Tears. That really sucks that hasn't been made available. I'd love to see the other letters.
ReplyDeleteI once had a magician explain their theory that cocaine was not only unadvisable from a physical/mental health standpoint, but also from a karmic-health one. I remember him saying that every granule of coke is soaked in pain.
Chapter 10: 10 = the key number for the sephira Malkuth = the Kingdom = the material world = Earth. As pointed out, the chapter ends: "looking down at Malkuth." The opening zen question, if assigned to the Tree of Life, could only refer to Malkuth. As an aside, in The Logic of Sense Deleuze refers to the material world as the surface though later, towards the end, he talks of producing a metaphysical surface. He also brings up Zen in that book.
ReplyDelete"Little Sister Teresa" gets represented by that appellation 3 times and once as just "Sister Teresa." Teresa = 280 = "Archangel of Malkuth." Little Sister reminds me of the 4 Princess court cards in the Tarot . These correspond to Earth. LST sounds like something else Wilson seemed fondly familiar with. LST = 99 = "The Vault of Heaven; an inner chamber; wedlock, nupital." This seems a great description of what goes on at the end of this chapter.
Little Sister Teresa also recalls the second "He" (pronounced "hay") in the Hebrew fourfold name for God, Yod He Vau He = YHVH more commonly referred to as Jehovah. Crowley gives the correspondences: Yod = Father, first He = Mother, Vau = Son/Brother, second He = Daughter/Sister. This is also called Tetragrammaton. It corresponds to the four Tarot court cards and the four elements. Crowley gives the formula: the Son places the daughter on the throne of the Mother who awakens the eld of the all-Father, i.e. brings the Universe to life. Deleuze calls this the production of sense. This formula gets shown in the final section of the chapter: Simeon = the Son who then invokes the Father by chanting "the most powerful Name in all magick, IAO..." IAO = the gnostic name for God. Simeon places Teresa on the throne of the Mother: "Simeon Luna had retired to the sacristy to seek astral contact with the Mama Vibe. Little Sister Teresa assisted him." Two paragraphs later, the "Little" has been dropped and she's now "Sister Teresa" indicating her placement on the throne of the Mother. ST = 69 a number Apuleius mentioned in the opening post. There's more, always more.
I should have looked closer. I think your analysis of Teresa moving from Princess to Queen is spot on, Oz.
DeleteGreat to read from you again, Apuleius!
ReplyDeleteWhat with the chapter’s heading being a classic Zen koan, and the fact that real-life Fang the Unwashed wrote a book on motorcycling, I am being reminded of that other book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which in fact does not have much to do with Zen, although we learn a fair amount about motorcycle maintenance).
I am unsure of the effect Wilson was after when writing this dinner scene, but I certainly do not find it ‘cool’. The types of food being consumed makes me think of decadence rather than opulence. And the casual ingestion of various mind-altering substances really does not appear mindful to me. My feelings regarding cocaine would be similar to those of Apuleius and Oz. And I would strongly advise NOT mixing alcohol with psilocybin. As a rule, I’d say keep away from boozing if you’re on anything else, although I admit that weed and red wine make for a lovely combo, when in moderate quantity.
In fact, these Church of Illuminism people leave me with a weirdly unpleasant taste in the mouth, as if they had misunderstood ‘do what thou wilt’ for ‘do what you want’...but maybe it’s just the acid reflux from too much shrimps and cognac that’s making me barf.
That being said, it all fits pretty well with the cartoonish tone of the whole book, so as long as it’s not taken too seriously, I can go with it.
Regarding your historical nitpick for Abdul Alhazred on Hassan I Sabbah, that part in the novel is being written by Weishaupt, who then starts laughing maniacally like a mad scientist in an old Hollywood movie. So it could be argued that maybe RAW wanted Weishaupt to be the one who’s putting his readership on by deliberately inserting fake information in an 18th century attempt at guerrilla ontology.
I wonder if there’s anything behind the cat being named Robin. He sure is a good runner, as the distance between Ingolstadt and Munich is 49 miles, or 79 kilometers.
I can not see your YT video, would you care to say what it is? I will then see if I can find it somehow.
-Spookah
Hey Spookah!
DeleteGood catch with the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance connection. I read the book when I was in undergrad, and don't remember being too struck by it. I do remember he does go on about motorcycles and I'm definitely like the couple who prefers not to think about how mechanical things work.
I think Wilson had a more "red-blooded American" attitude towards meat than a lot of modern readers. (I guess the pun is intended.) This could partially be due to having lived in the aftermath of the Depression when meat was seen as an utmost commodity for many people. My grandfather hammered the idea that even if you can't finish the rest of a meal, you should finish the meat, into his children. And that value has been passed down to me as well.
As a vegetarian, and someone who keeps sex/drugs and gustatory pleasures distinctly separate in my mind, the scene was pretty repulsive to me as well. I also guess my belief that people who order meat should try to finish it is also influenced by my vegetarian leanings as well.
I have to admit enjoying a couple of beers and some weed but I agree overall that it is best practice to keep your eye on one substance at a time. I have drank wine ritually during a mushroom ceremony before, but that was under pretty prescribed-circumstances.
I think that if we take too much out of the cartoonish aspect of the book, it could become quite gross indeed.
I am very curious about Robin and I really feel like I should have an idea about the reference there. The "racing cat" brings to mind the story of Tom Tildrum, the King of the Cats.
The video is of the band Blood Ceremony performing "The Great God Pan." Blood Ceremony is pretty influenced by the 60s/70s revival of, sometimes shallow, occult influence.
Spookah, I suspect the effect Wilson went after intended to create a paradox around taking drugs through mentioning drugs in an unappealing way or at least a questioning way. Rather than coming out unambiguously pro-drugs for spiritual work, the seeker needs to get past the resistance, the unappealing mood regarding them that Wilson set up. In other words, the seeker needs to decide for themself rather than blindly following the words of an "authority." I think you're right about 18th Century O.M.
ReplyDeleteThe music in the video posted here reminds me of old Black Sabbath. I dig it.
The two capitalized words in ch. 10's opening zen question, Who & Master = W + M = 46 shares the same value with Mama Vibe, M + V = 46. I connect that with Simeon laying in the Hanged Man posture as well as Deleuze's concept of becoming-woman from A Thousand Plateaus. I connect 46 with chapter 46 in The Book of Lies in particular the paragraph that starts: "Hunger thou, O man, for the infinite..."
I didn't know Wilson had ever endorsed cocaine. I'm glad he repudiated that opinion.
ReplyDeleteI thought Chan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism were actually different names (Chinese vs. Japanese) for the same thing, and that both were considered one of the branches of Mahayana Buddhism. But the Wikipedia article on Chan does say it's a little more complicated than that. I would also have to admit I know Theravada Buddhism than the other schools.
I was referencing what Spookah brought up from the revised Sex, Drugs & Magick. He does seem to have casual cocaine usage in his earlier works, but I don't think he was ever Grandmaster Flash.
DeleteThe variations of Buddhism are hard enough to understand for me beyond Mahayana/Theravada, so that's understandable to be confused about Chan/Zen.
Tom Jackson, I took a quick peek at the Sex, Drugs & Magick chapter on white powders, and Wilson already spends more time talking about the adverse effects of cocaine than its positive ones. But then in his Preface to the 1987 Edition, he writes: “the most important comment I wish to add to this new edition is that, since cocaine has become a great deal more popular than it was when I wrote the book, I wish I had been even more unfavorable in my references to this nefarious compound. Having seen a lot of coke-heads in recent years, I am convinced that you can get exactly the same results over a period of a few months by repeatedly shoving talcum powder up your nose, rubbing it in with sandpaper and then burning everything you own in a backyard bonfire.” (p. 13-14 of the Hilaritas Press ed.)
ReplyDeleteOz Fritz, so I take it that you agree that this dinner scene appear unappealing, rather than something that a reader would find attractive.
The chapter Powders White & Deadly from SD&M also quotes Crowley at its very beginning: “soak me in cognac, cunt and cocaine”. Cognac is present in this dinner scene.
Just like Illuminatus! and the Sex Magicians are historically concomitant, so are they with SD&M, so it might be interesting to compare those in order to have an idea of RAW views on sex and drugs at the time.
The commentary to Chapter 46 of the Book of Lies says “the fact remains that in vice, as in everything else, some things satiate, others refresh.” And later “the lesson of the chapter is thus always to rise hungry from a meal, always to violate one’s own nature. Keep on acquiring a taste for what is naturally repugnant.”
Satiety is also the name of the Ten of Cups in the Thoth tarot, about which Crowley says “the work proper to water is complete: and disturbance is due.” As you noted already, this is chapter 10.
The whole Church of Illuminism dinner also has a rabelaisian feel to it, at least in my mind. I wonder if you’d have any comment on that, Oz.
-Spookah
Spookah, yes, I find the dinner unappealing. The absurd satire combined with intoxication could make it feel like Rabelais – who ever heard of a punch bowl of cognac? Or a sauce with catsup, horse radish and peyote shreddings? That sounds terrible. Eating peyote usually makes one nauseous. RAW makes Scientific Illuminism into a Church like no one else did. Crowley later did form a church, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, but that's an entirely different beast, so to speak. Kteis as in Sister Kteis represents the female reproductive organ to round out the cognac and cocaine line. I don't recall which of Crowley's poems that came from, but that line was painted on the wall at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu. Of course, the Abbey of Thelema comes from Rabelais.
ReplyDeleteThe line is from "Leah Sublime," one of Crowley's deliberately shocking-as-possible poems. I always wish I could get my hands on one of the "scratch-and-sniff" editions. Leah Hirsig was a big part of, and arguably Crowley's equal partner in, the Abbey of Thelema.
DeleteBoL Chapter 46 seems a good one to ponder and absorb. When 46 comes up somewhere randomly, as part of your lexicon, it may key you in to that technique of working. It seems very life affirming while in so doing prepares you for death: "thus at The End shalt thou devour the finite, and become the infinite."
ReplyDeleteThe Thoth 10 of cups, Satiety, I've often thought of as the lower emotions fader too high in the mix because of the suit of cups. The Rider/Waite 10 of cups indicates pretty much the opposite - joy, or inner happiness. I use both decks.
p. 79 shows Weishaupt commending the "grandmotherly kindness" of Hassan i Sabbah. This recalls the Master and Mama Vibe connection; it also connects with the Hanged Man: (HIS) becoming a grand mother to show kindness; also, Deleuze's becoming-woman concept.
Hello all, I was given the gift of influenza starting over the weekend and am just beginning to recover. I'll hopefully have a new post up tomorrow or Saturday! Gods willing and the creek don't rise.
ReplyDeleteBlood Ceremony sounds pretty good, they indeed could totally pass for an early 70s band. Somehow I was reminded of the band Witchcraft, another contemporary formation whose sound harks back to heavy metal's early days.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgBZSKXpphg
As someone with a mostly vegetarian diet, if meat is on the table, I also would rather eat some than let it end up in the trashbin (unless it has been heavily processed and barely contain any actual meat).
Out of respect for that animal, my genetic distant cousin and co-passenger on Spaceship Earth, I'd rather let its flesh 'fortify my body thereby' than to have it had died in vain.
I also find that satisfying a craving for meat that I may feel once or twice a year helps me maintain an overall vegetarian diet. Besides, by not having vegetarianism as a rule set in stone, I avoid becoming dogmatic about it. I guess one could say that being vegetarian is more of a catma to me.
Apuleius, I seem unable to sign in to comment, although it works just fine over at rawillumination. I tried to do so on two different web browsers. I feel like this might have happened before, but cannot recall if you did some tweaking back then, or if Blogger just stopped acting stoopid on its own after a while.
-Spookah
I try my best to never let anyone be under the impression that my vegetarianism extends beyond myself. I never really liked meat to begin with and the kind I really did savor wasn't something that was consumed with any regularity. As I grew older, and this is the best way I've been able to explain it, it felt more and more cannabilistic. So really, the main reason I don't eat meat is it seems gross to me. No one in my family is a vegetarian and while my wife and daughter often eat the food I make, I'm willing to prepare dishes with meat in them if either desire it. So I guess my vegetarianism is a catma of my own as well.
DeleteLove the Witchcraft vid! I'll be checking out more of their stuff.
I will look into it as best I can Spookah, I never know with this site. Still have no idea why the one post was deemed as something to be put behind a warning.