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The common defect of all mystical systems previous to that of the Aeon whose Law is Thelema is that there has been no place for Laughter. But the sadness of the mournful Mother and the melancholy of the dying Man are swept in the limbo of the past by the confident smile of the immortal Child.
And there is no Vision more critical in the career of the Adept of Horus than the Universal Joke.
Well thanks, I guess! "Honor"? "Prophet"? Yeehaw! I know that many people take religion and Magick seriously, but my family's perspective on Crowley, based on Lulu's 11 years around him, is that... Oh well, why go there. Suffice it to say, that Lulu is alive and well because she got as far as possible from the Prophet, a distance enhanced by Crowley's death in '47, a day of minor celebration for Lulu.
Music is my path to the infinite and eternal. It is my Will. It's my interpretation of the meaning of Magick. It has and continues to require a lifetime of intense practice and has a ritual element in that practice. I consider it a success when people give indication (applause - CD sales) that they have connected to the infinite and eternal through my medium. My earliest memories are of intense connection through the hearing of many types of music in my family home. That has only grown over a half-century of ecstatic involvement.
The most Thelemic Project of my life, however, has been the 19 year project of raising two daughters. Of course, I did a much better job of this than the Prophet did. It would be pretty much impossible to be much worse. The first step to a lifetime steeped in Reality, Infinity, and the Eternal is to eschew all religions, "sacred" traditions, and especially Magick! Only then is there an open door to observance and recoginition of Infinity and Eternity.
As a child I was perverted by Presbyterianism and at age eighteen, Magick. It has taken me the ensuing forty years to get rid of both (and all the other crap I was exposed to) and get to the clean state I raised my daughters in. They have a huge head start.
To all of you involved in the Thelemic pursuit, I would urge you all to imagine what the final degree of initiation might involve, and just go ahead and jump!
Joined: Oct 20, 2003
Posts: 95
Location: Alabama
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"As a child I was perverted by Presbyterianism and at age eighteen, Magick."
Isn't real magick simply the genius that man can achieve in art, music, and literature? For me, this is the definition of real magick, the production of value that is in excess of the ordinary.
At any rate I too share your antipathy for the prophet's personal shortcomings. It by no means detracts from my appreciation for that which inspired and motivated him. And my own personal celebration of that creative force in all of us takes artful forms. My religion is a life well-lived, a happy life and one that produces and relishes beauty.
themuhler
Post subject:Posted: Apr 22, 2008 - 06:39 PM
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 19
Status: Offline
Sounds like you made it, then. Welcome!
I have always felt that heroin, severely muddied and muddled what "inspired and motivated" the Prophet. And, yes, "real magick (is) simply the genius that man can achieve in art, music, and literature" As an artist I have always found Crowley to be a lesser poet, writer, and painter than a thousand others I find a much more direct path to Infinity and Eternity.
For me, Crowley found two profound truths.
1. Sex Is Good and
2. Humanity is Ready to Know and Do Their True Will.
Neither one of these is new or truly revolutionary as many many of the most common and ordinary people have known and practiced these truths since forever. However, to the extent that many more people have been blindered, limited, constrained, conscripted, ruined, killed, murdered, bored to death, and or any of the other tortures of "spirituality" and "religion," his message could be seen as a liberation of sorts. For many of us, this is merely a footnote on the path which we naturally fell into. And the ultimate irony, is that Crowley felt it necessary to write all these hooka ma jooka books about all this religious and spiritual crap and start yet another "religion" and write a bunch of boring, meaningless, rituals and practices, etc.! When I say I dislike Magick I'm talking about all those unreadable books about spells, incantations, IAO ranting, demons, skrying (SP?) and all that hooka ma jooka. You just wrote a beautiful succinct and clear definition of Magick that is far better than all that baloney Crowley and his followers put down to cloud the issue. Yick! Give me art and science any day! Oh yeah, and money! I love art, science, and MONEY!
Of course, if Crowley's scribblings, rituals, and practices have meaning for "you", (anybody) I don't intend to be insulting. More power to you! Forward ye Catholic Soldiers of Crowley!
Joined: Apr 23, 2004
Posts: 336
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
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93 Eric,
That Crowley did not make sufficient personal investment in his own children to have earned much of a return from them or their descendants should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his life.
In any event, you are to be commended for doing your True Will, which is all that need be asked of anyone.
93 93/93
Camlion
newneubergOuch
Post subject:Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 03:26 PM
Joined: Jul 19, 2007
Posts: 58
Status: Offline
yep, I should`ve added the sether666 quote to clarify where my original comment was aimed, .............anyway...Eric is legit, the real McCoy.
Aleisterion
Post subject:Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 05:31 PM
Joined: Oct 20, 2003
Posts: 95
Location: Alabama
Status: Offline
Eric Muhler wrote: "Neither one of these is new or truly revolutionary as many many of the most common and ordinary people have known and practiced these truths since forever. However, to the extent that many more people have been blindered, limited, constrained, conscripted, ruined, killed, murdered, bored to death, and or any of the other tortures of "spirituality" and "religion," his message could be seen as a liberation of sorts. For many of us, this is merely a footnote on the path which we naturally fell into. And the ultimate irony, is that Crowley felt it necessary to write all these hooka ma jooka books about all this religious and spiritual crap and start yet another "religion" and write a bunch of boring, meaningless, rituals and practices, etc.! When I say I dislike Magick I'm talking about all those unreadable books about spells, incantations, IAO ranting, demons, skrying (SP?) and all that hooka ma jooka. You just wrote a beautiful succinct and clear definition of Magick that is far better than all that baloney Crowley and his followers put down to cloud the issue. Yick! Give me art and science any day! Oh yeah, and money! I love art, science, and MONEY!"
Thanks for the compliment! Unfortunately Crowley had one foot in the Old Aeon and that left him with considerable superstition and archaic notions, but he occasionally had a wonderful way with words (I love the Holy Books). As for money, absolutely (and Crowley thought so too, though his magical rites to get it never worked - short term anyway, today his scribblings attract tons of it!). Without money, it can be damned hard to appreciate anything...I learned that the hard way, when I was homeless years back.
Eric: "Of course, if Crowley's scribblings, rituals, and practices have meaning for "you", (anybody) I don't intend to be insulting. More power to you! Forward ye Catholic Soldiers of Crowley!"
You're not insulting at all. There was a lot of show to Crowley. He was an entertainer, and a pretty good one. He'd make a fortune today in the age of television. But there was in my estimation a genuinely extraordinary intelligence that guided him and some of those around him. I think he paid it little enough attention and let down alot of those people. Anyway I don't worship Crowley, though I do worship the beautiful universe that inspired him so. And myself!! Self-fulfillment is everything.
Post subject: Re: RE: Edward Crowley Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 06:44 PM
Joined: Mar 22, 2004
Posts: 240
Location: Somerset, UK
Status: Offline
Hi Eric,
themuhler wrote: › I prefer spiritual practices to be self-determined, self-apparent, un-regulated, indeterminate, unwritten, unstudied, unprecedented, devoid of content, without ritual, silent, personal, and only to be shared on special request.
How refreshing! Might this just be the most original and Thelemic thinking ever uttered in this forum?
And that phrase 'Hooka ma jooka' is fabulous... hope you will do a CD with that title!!
bazelek
themuhler
Post subject: Re: RE: Edward Crowley Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 06:49 PM
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 19
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Well, of course, I'd like to think so, but I'm capable of self-doubt. (You know, when the Hooka ma Jooka strikes a clandestine blow and clouds the normal clarity.
Post subject: Re: RE: Edward Crowley Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 06:50 PM
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 19
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Well, of course, I'd like to think so, but I'm capable of self-doubt. (You know, when the Hooka ma Jooka strikes a clandestine blow and clouds the normal clarity.
I've several Brothers who met Mr. Muhler at NOTOCON, and all speak very highly of him.
Welcome, Mr. Muhler! Glad to see you among the participants here!
themuhler
Post subject:Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 09:29 PM
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 19
Status: Offline
Thanks! By the way, you can call me Eric. I've noticed that nobody on this lashtal thing seems to use their names. Is there a reason for that? It's sort of discombobulating to be talking to people and one has no concept of who one is talking to. I'm very new to this web site chatting thing or blogging or whatever people call it. Is one supposed to be anonymous?
Joined: Oct 20, 2003
Posts: 95
Location: Alabama
Status: Offline
Hey we could start a thread on "Why did you choose your screen name?" or "What does it mean" I for one would be interested in hearing the rationale by many of these names.
Welcome to this site and thanks for the link to your site. I love the piano, I love your music. Hopefully you some day play it here in Germany...
Love=Law
Lutz (my real name. I chose my login name, because just Simon_Iff was already taken. But I enjoy how many people PM me calling me Simon... I also thought about sueing the_spurious_simon_iff...)
_________________ "The Resistance to Change is intellectual Death, Insanity [...] the first clause in the Oath of the Black Brothers. The Law of Thelema is the Essence of Life, because of its perfect elasticity."
bazelek
Post subject:Posted: Apr 23, 2008 - 10:30 PM
Joined: Mar 22, 2004
Posts: 240
Location: Somerset, UK
Status: Offline
themuhler wrote: › Thanks! By the way, you can call me Eric. I've noticed that nobody on this lashtal thing seems to use their names. Is there a reason for that? It's sort of discombobulating to be talking to people and one has no concept of who one is talking to. I'm very new to this web site chatting thing or blogging or whatever people call it. Is one supposed to be anonymous?
We are following in the footsteps of the great master, who had more names and identities than pairs of socks...
In truth, aside from a few eternal mysteries, those who post here regularly know the identity of most contributors...
themuhler wrote: › Thanks! By the way, you can call me Eric. I've noticed that nobody on this lashtal thing seems to use their names. Is there a reason for that? It's sort of discombobulating to be talking to people and one has no concept of who one is talking to. I'm very new to this web site chatting thing or blogging or whatever people call it. Is one supposed to be anonymous?
Thanks Eric! Some people prefer their anonymity. I have a professional career and demeanor that requires me to separate my magickal and religious activities with my job to a certain degree. I refer to my "Lodge" and my "Fraternity" and my "Ministerial duties" at work, but they don't have a clue what hides behind those phrases, and that's the way I like it.
Actually, I'm quite well known as Walter Five throughout the Pagan and Magickal Communities of Texas and New England, and have been for 20 years, and (in all humility) the subject of many a tall tale and several (often comical) bardic songs. My birth name *is* Walter, the "five" part came when there was an abundance of Walters in Boston's Earthspirit community in 1988, Walter the cook, Walter the lifeguard, Big Walter and his son, and I.
Uni_Verse
Post subject:Posted: Apr 24, 2008 - 04:14 PM
Joined: Apr 16, 2007
Posts: 319
Status: Offline
themuhler wrote: ›
I've noticed that nobody on this lashtal thing seems to use their names. Is there a reason for that?
From my perspective, the reasoning is that who is speaking is not as important as what is being spoken (or posted in this situation).
Except, perhaps, in situations like this, where the conversation centers around a particular person (you).
I could reveil my name for you, but I do not think that would add anything to the conversation. A rose is but a rose and all that.
_________________ You are missing the point
There is only one verse, sung in infinite ways.
themuhler
Post subject:Posted: Apr 24, 2008 - 06:26 PM
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 19
Status: Offline
Then why have any ID at all? Especially when others report that they all know each other by these funny pseudonyms anyhow? I understand the guy who doesn't want people from the "professional world" to know he has anything to do with this stuff, of course. I don't have a professional world so it doesn't matter. I too have many nicknames, pseudonymns, and many, many many pairs of socks. Herewith:
John (Birth name)
Eric (Birth name and common identifier)
Mule (Stubborn as a)
Ricky Mule-ears (Children's taunt based in mispronouncing my last name, which, by the way, is pronounced M-uh-ler, NOT Mule-er)
Mule-ears (In music: "How does he hear that shit?" "Ears as big as a Mule!"
El Mule-o (Much Hispanic influence here in California)
Pappy (Children)
R Jak (Jack nickname for John, R for Ricky)
Chinese eyes (Neighbor child's reference to my almost constant smile)
Jak (See above, common variant)
Ricky (childhood family name)
Rick (Pubescent stab at dignity)
Riki-Jak (Full reversal of nicknames for John Eric)
Riki-Jak Jonxon (Threw in a last name - Pronounced like Johnson)
RJ Hammerfingers (Loud piano passages)
The Mule (Official title of World's Stubbornest Man)
Mule-inari (Italianate for the World's Stubbornest Man)
Mule-oski (Russian for the World's Stubbornest Man)
Shangledorf (To Shangle: Invoking Shango to work the angles - the name refers to the Master Shangler)
Von Mule-endorf (German for the World's Stubbornest Man)
BeastBoy (Obvious)
Brainzola (My mother thinks I'm smart)
Prince (Recently assigned at NOTOCON)
Many more...
However a lot of strangers seem to call me Fucking Asshole! a lot. It usually comes out something like "Hey, you, Fucking Asshole!" They are usually glaring right at me so I'm pretty sure that's the name they're assigning me.
Enjoying this blogging or whatever it is.
YT 93 Love & Ecstasee, Babee!
Eric
Warning in reference to a comment above: ALL MY conversations center around a certain person (me) While I remain firmly lodged in Eternity, I am also firmly lodged in the nexus of my conscious awareness, a thing that will disappear when my body ceases functioning, so all references stemming from this organism are necessarily, by definition, "All About Me." The nature of "me", of course, is a subject for vast discussion and can be better understood by reading some of the works of Daniel Dennett.
You are going to have to direct that question to the moderator.
themuhler wrote: ›
Warning in reference to a comment above: ALL MY conversations center around a certain person (me) While I remain firmly lodged in Eternity, I am also firmly lodged in the nexus of my conscious awareness, a thing that will disappear when my body ceases functioning, so all references stemming from this organism are necessarily, by definition, "All About Me." The nature of "me", of course, is a subject for vast discussion and can be better understood by reading some of the works of Daniel Dennett.
I would say, it is more your awareness of the conversation that centers around you, as opposed to the actual conversation.
You say tomato, I say "No thanks, I do not like ketchup."
_________________ You are missing the point
There is only one verse, sung in infinite ways.
themuhler
Post subject:Posted: Apr 25, 2008 - 03:43 PM
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 19
Status: Offline
[/quote]
I would say, it is more your awareness of the conversation that centers around you, as opposed to the actual conversation.[/quote]
Of course, conversations can "center" around any possible subject, but the unique nature of every individual's "awareness" (nexus of life's inputs((and much more, of course))) will turn that conversation into an "all about me" interpretation, reflection, etc. of the discussion. Everything one brings to the conversation is "all about me" in the end. Which tells you a lot about "me"! A lot, but not a trillionth...
in 27° 
: 
in 7° 
: Anno IVxvi 
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