O.T.O. Italia is happy to announce that it will be hosting a two day program of lectures by J. Daniel Gunther (Author of Initiation in the Aeon of the Child, Ibis Press 2009). This event will be held in Florence, Italy, from May 30th through May 31st, 2013 ev.v

This event is open to non-initiates and initiates alike.

Tickets may be purchased through http://www.otoitalia.it/2013/index-eng.html

Seating is limited so book early to ensure a place.

Digital copies of Fortified Island, the journal of the Irish Order of Thelema are now available from: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/fortifiedisland1

Contents include:

• The Vernal Equinox, the Thelemic calendar, and the Atus of the Thoth Tarot
• Geomancy and the Ancient Provinces of Ireland (John Paul Patton)
• The Three Realms (Lora O Brien)
• A Suggested Irish Life Tree (Fr. Ildanach)
• The Chakras, the Nadis and the Cauldrons of Poesy (Brian Walsh)
• and plenty more including artwork, poetry, details of upcoming festivals and more!

We are proud to launch the Art Guild of Ordo Templi Orientis Australia under the name, Collective777. 

Among the central aims of Collective 777 is to raise awareness of esoteric and occult art in all its forms, to further the interests of its members, and to promulgate the Law of Thelema through the creation of artistic work and staging of creative public initiatives. The guild will accept members working across a range of creative practice including but not limited to painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital, sound, music, design, curation, poetry and performance. The practice of the collective will be both collaborative and individual, but always toward exhibiting together as a group in gallery exhibitions, pop-up showings and public spaces.

Collective 777 will maintain a central website at www.collective777.com, aimed at promoting members, the Ordo Templi Orientis and Thelema. Developing a more prominent group profile will benefit members by association, and will create a hub for curators, critics and enthusiasts to better understand and support the occult genre as a whole. 

The first public projects of the guild include a major public museum exhibition, two commercial gallery showings and the first annual guild publication.

Saddened at the passing of James Herbert, author of those books I read when I should have been reading Thomas Hardy, Shakespeare and A E Housman on my English Literature course all those years ago.

Only a tenuous link with Crowley:

For photo shoots, the king of horror often sports black leather jackets and poses in one of two sinister-looking chairs that belonged to Aleister Crowley, the Satanist and self-styled wickedest man in the world. --- Sussex Life

Unto him from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen may there be granted the accomplishment of his true Will; whether he will absorption in the Infinite, or to be united with his chosen and preferred, or to be in contemplation, or to be at peace, or to achieve the labour and heroism of incarnation on this planet or another, or in any Star, or aught else, unto him may there be granted the accomplishment of his will; yea, the accomplishment of his will.

Short of spending time with the great man himself, a new show at Sprüth Magers offers a chance to get to know one of the most fascinating of all Hollywood characters. Best known for controversial short films, paganism, gay cinema and scurrilous books of gossip, Kenneth Anger's reputation precedes him.

This exhibition is given over to neither the films nor the books, but rather Anger's taste for interior design as the West End gallery recreates two rooms from the filmmaker's LA home. But there is, of course, plenty to engage with and peruse, since the midnight blue and crimson red rooms are packed with archive material.

The gallery promises photographs, scrapbooks, letters and memorabilia. And given that Anger knew everyone from Shirley Temple through to singer Elliot Smith, their cumulative effect should bestow all the glamour of Tinseltown on the two room space near Green Park tube.

Filmmakers will find this of special interest, since Anger can claim a lasting influence on cinema via the work of admirers such as David Lynch, Martin Scorcese and George Lucas.

It is also said that the dawn of pop video owes much to the American, who used pop music in such typical films as Scorpio Rising. Such works are worth tracking down online if you plan to visit the show.

Speech in the Silence is the official podcast of Blazing Star Oasis, O.T.O.

Happy New Year! Speech in the Silence #40 is now available for download. In this special Thelemic New Year's program:

• "Aleister Crowley and Paul Gauguin" by Robert Buratti
• Musical Interlude: "Initiate" by Robot Chant
• "The Law of Liberty" by Aleister Crowley, read by Frater Sabazius X°
• "Collects and Sitars" by the Sitar Outreach Ministry featuring Br. Jay Lee
• 93 Energy by Fr. IAO131 and Sr. Fieri Facias
• Lon Milo DuQuette reads from his introduction to "Best of the Equinox Vol 2"
• Musical Interlude: "Horus Calling" by The Green Man
• "Living Thelema: Anima/Animus and the Magical Path" by David Shoemaker
• Announcements & News about the Thelemic Community

Helen Lederer and Georgina Sutcliffe feature in a new musical about Betty May (the so-called 'Tiger Woman') in London, according to a brief and amusing review in today's Evening Standard...

It seems even old pros can succumb to the jitters before curtain-up. Prior to appearing at Brasserie Zedel in new musical Betty May as Madame Strindberg, Helen Lederer was all of a flutter. "I'd kiss you but I'm afraid I'll be sick all over you," she told me. "I'm so nervous. I've not learned my part. Is it too late? "

She needn't have worried and remembered most of her lines commendably. Georgina Sutcliffe, ex-wife of actor Sean Bean, proved that she is a far finer singer than she gives herself credit for. Betty May tells the story of a cockney who found fame as Tiger Woman in Belle Epoque Paris, fought with occultist Aleister Crowley and enjoyed absinthe. As did a large section of last night's Soho audience.

--- Tales of Cockney Rhyme and Absinthe, Evening Standard, 19 March 2013