Ovid Incunabulus by Criss Piss

Scarlet Woman Lodge has just finished another successful year of performances of the Rites of Eleusis. The Rites are always a very magical experience for those who participate in them. Just a few of some of the strangely magical synchronicities that have occurred during the Rites follow: the temple carpet was burned by a kamikazi charcoal briquet during a Mars rehearsal, an unhinged door fell over and knocked a plaque of the sun off of a wall during Sol, women have become pregnant right after Jupiter, members have had encounters with the law right after Mars, the temple owners secured a contract to host a lucrative S&M party at the temple during Saturn. (n.b. restriction and bondage are very Saturnian), and just this year a lunatic from another Thelemic organization started harassing me over the internet right after Luna. Everyone has their own strange tales to tell, but certainly the most momentous of these synchronicities was felt by the entire community a year ago on the Rite of Saturn. It was on this evening that an esteemed member of the community celebrated his Greater Feast. This was Brother Chris Piss.

Just before the Rites began this year, Soror Ariadne, Chris' widow, came upon a last will and testament among Chris' belongings. It was Chris' will that his vast library be donated to the Scarlet Woman Lodge. So on the anniversary of Chris' Greater Feast the Scarlet Woman Lodge became the proud owner of a wonderful library of many occult and rare books. The library is housed in Soror Ariadne's home and she has spent many long hours indexing all of the books and creating a check out system. The library is open to members twice per month. People from all over have started donating books so the library is growing!

Chris Piss embraced death as an integral part of life. It was appropriate then that he should die on the evening of the Rite of Saturn since Saturn is the planet of Binah, karma and reincarnation and other salient associations. Chris' exploration of death while he was alive took many forms, one of which was a stunning art series depicting skulls, titled Ego Death #1, Ego Death #2, etc. In memory of Chris' Greater Feast and in celebration of the opening of the library, The Scarlet Letter will begin featuring some of Chris' fine art beginning with this issue.

Thanks is due to Soror Ariadne, both for her time and dedication in administering the new library and for her permission to print this artwork.

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