Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail Message-ID: <399B1ECC.6A60@luckymojo.com> From: catherine yronwode Organization: Lucky Mojo Curio Company X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01-C-MACOS8 (Macintosh; I; 68K) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick Subject: Re: Non-Crowleyan Thelema References: <8ndfvb$bh3@bolt.sonic.net> <20000816145920.01724.00001416@ng-cd1.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 61 Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 23:01:45 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.204.137.242 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 966466905 209.204.137.242 (Wed, 16 Aug 2000 16:01:45 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 16:01:45 PDT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:24931 alt.magick:208001 Papaj418 wrote: > > tyagi sed: > > someone said: > > > > I haven't heard from a serious non-Crowley thelemite > > > (or it was not obvious to me if they have written). > > > > there are a handful of us. it depends on your > > criteria of course. > > And they span an interesting spectrum. > I usually end up defending AC for the part > of his writings that *do* either apply or > enlighten, though, oddly enough, not much > of his philosophy has any place in my life. > I honour women far more than he (AC), I > eschew cruelty, even to morons, and > embrace humility as AC never could have. > Nonetheless, magic(k, your choice) is the > guiding force in my life. Go figger! > Will > Love, > Papa John I was never a Crowleyite, nor studied him even as deeply as nagasiva has, but, being a wide=ranging reader, i of course am familiar with his life, his books, and the cult that has sprung up in his wake. What interests me most about Crowley is his emphasis on the HGA and on "will." Strangely (well, not so strangely, after all, Crowley was a wide-ranging reader, too :-) ) the latter concept is to be found forthrightly set out in the writings of the magician Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825 - 1875). For instance, Crowley's famous catch-phrase, "Love is the Law, Love under Will" seems to derive directly from Randolph's aphorism, "Will reigns Omnipotent; Love lieth at the Foundation" ("Mysteries of Eulis," 1874). Both men also wrote booklets on the values of hashish in mystico-magical practice and on sex-magick of the type that utilizes orgasm and the blending of bodily fluids as a focus for directed will. Both were also self-aggrandizing in stupid ways that could easily be detected and debunked by later biographers. So, anyway, i feel that with Randolph, i can have my thelema without the added ugly Crowley bits. Not that Randolph's life was ALL that much better than Crowley's ... but ... well, he was dealt a harsher hand of social and economic problems than Crowley n=ever faced, so his personal failures are not so monumental in my eyes as those of the pampered and spoiled British heir. cat yronwode Karezza and Sacred Sex ------ http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredsex.html No personal e-mail, please; just catch me in usenet; i read it daily. Lucky Mojo Curio Co. http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html Send e-mail with your street address to catalogue@luckymojo.com and receive our free 32 page catalogue of hoodoo supplies and amulets