|
The Scarlet Letter
Volume II, Number 3 | Feburary 1995 From the Horse's Arse by Fr. Soreass, Editor
* * * * * Being the editor of a thelemic newsletter certainly comes with its privileges, mainly the freedom to say whatever I think needs to get said to the Thelemic community at large. I try not to abuse this particular privilege, but there are a few items that have come up that bear discussion. The first of these is the superstition that "one should never whistle while pissing." I would like everyone to know that I have done it, both alone and with witnesses, and have not as yet experienced any adverse effects from this practice. I also sing in the shower with no, I repeat, no noticeable abnormal effects. Next item is that if you don't have the new Book Four–Liber ABA [Revised & Enlarged], © 1994 Ordo Templi Orientis, published by Samuel Weiser, Inc., it's your loss. It is the best thing to occur in the Thelemic community since the advent of the pickle. I may go blind by the time I finish reading it, but that too has been said about masturbation, and I'm not even seeing double. Speaking of the new Book Four, there is therein a point of discussion which I wish to address. It is the directive in The Comment of The Book of the Law that those who discuss it should be shunned and avoided as "centres of pestilence" (pg. 386). Then again, one might argue that we already have the desolation of abomination as the visible icon of "worship." The other point is that one probably should not argue about it at all. Hymeneaus Beta, in his introduction to Book Four, shows impressive data that The Comment accompanying The Book of the Law is in fact The Comment that was intended by the text [Cap. III, v. 40]; and as such, is a Class A document. Currently, it is the O.T.O.'s position to not publish any personal commentary on the Book of the Law. If this isn't observed, we may experience a snowball effect of everyone printing a commentary. Pretty quickly it would be Liber AL hell for the rest of us. With a number of people still unfamiliar with Liber AL, the prospective reader of a commentary would probably take any given individual's commentary as the be-all-end-all of the Order's position. I hope this is not the case since The Comment also clearly states that "All questions of the Law are to be decided by appeal to my writings," [Ankh-f-na-khonsu, a.k.a. To Mega Therion, a.k.a., Aleister Crowley], "each for himself." I, however, am unfit to interpret what this admonition may or may not mean, it being a Class A document and I not having risen to any such degree of attainment. All I can do is meditate on it, whistle a while, eat my pickle, and move on. In our last issue, I ran an article by Center 0' Pestilence appropriately called "Korn on the Khabs," which consisted of a short essay on the Khabs/Khu line in The Book of the Law, [I:8]. Not yet having read the impressive data in Book Four concerning The Comment insured that I would print the article and not think overmuch about it. Since the printing of the article, I have learned that the Order will not tolerate any printing of any commentary of Liber AL in any O.T.O. literature, excepting Ankh-f-na-khonsu's (a.k.a. To Mega Therion, a.k.a. Aleister Crowley.) This policy is intended to prevent anyone inadvertently misconstruing said commentary to be the Order's position. This I agree with and heartily stick my foot firmly, if not in my mouth, into Vol. II, Issue #2 of The Scarlet Letter, where this particular offending article resides. I don't even have to bother with my pickle this time. Next item on my list of Hoo-hahs is the O.T.O.'s E.G.C. getting regularized. I think this is absolutely needed in the Thelemic community. An amazing amount of work has been done in this area by Tau Apiryon. It has all been extremely useful to us here at Scarlet Woman Camp where we have been doing a ton of ecclesia. The last communiqué we received from His Excellency was several Thelemic ecclesiastical rites. We are currently in the process of experimenting with these rituals. The conclusions of these adventures will happily be printed within these scarlet pages over the next several issues barring any edict not to. This is what I believe Crowley was trying to do with the E.G.C. in the first place. The E.G.C., he thought, was a way to fulfill the "religious instinct." If he was here now, he'd probably be surprised at how far we've taken it. (I wish Crowley was here to hear me say that.) This concludes my rant, From the Horses Arse. I sincerely hope Sr. Continuity will be back next issue to rescue you from being bombarded with my particular brand of horse shit, if not for my sake, for your own. After reading this article, I'm sure she will! Enjoy the issue! |
|
