Thanks to Frater AISh MLChMH…
This course provides the student a thorough introduction to the spiritual system of Thelema, a Greek word meaning “will”, with an emphasis on the works of British author, prophet and magus Aleister Crowley (1875-1947).
This hour-long monthly class will be occurring at Eye of Horus (www.eyeofhorus.biz) every 2nd Sunday of the month beginning November 11th. $8.00 per class. For additional information, please contact T.C. Thelemic Practice Group at 612-275-4287 or http://groups.google.com/group/tcthelema?hl=en
Read on for full details…
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Introduction to Thelema
This course provides the student a thorough introduction to the spiritual system of Thelema, a Greek word meaning “will”, with an emphasis on the works of British author, prophet and magus Aleister Crowley (1875-1947).
Aleister Crowley was initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1898 and rapidly progressed through its Grades. In 1900, while in Mexico, he was also initiated into the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite and was further initiated around 1904 into Craft Freemasonry (Grand Loge de France). Additionally, in present day Sri Lanka, Crowley received instruction in yoga and was one of yoga’s earliest western proponents. Raised a Plymouth Brethren, he was educated at Malvern and Trinity College, Cambridge, wrote and published a substantial amount of lyric and dramatic poetry, studied and immersed himself in the principal religions and philosophies of the world, and was a renowned mountaineer and chess player.
A self-proclaimed Buddhist, at the age of 28, he received from a “praeter human intelligence” The Book of the Law (Liber AL) – a text that would inform all of his subsequent thinking. Following this, a number of additional texts were received which would form the basis of the system of Thelema (the Greek word for “will”), summarized as “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” From Liber AL, Crowley based his authority as head of the Golden Dawn and designated this Order by its Third Order Name, or A.·.A.·. (from which Thelema emanates). The A.·.A.·. publication, The Equinox, provided substantial ritual and yoga instruction by Crowley for aspirants whether or not they chose to join that august body or no. Additionally, Crowley was initiated into the Order of Oriental Templars or O.T.O. and came to compose the majority of the texts composing that system.
The philosophical and religious underpinnings from which Thelema emerged will also be explored. This teaching includes hands-on instruction in ceremonial magick and yoga. The main text for the course is Book IV by the Master Therion (Aleister Crowley).
Frater AISh MLChMH has been a member of O.T.O. for over 17 years and is the current Secretary of the U.S. O.T.O. Grand Tribunal. He is a chartered Initiator and Trainer, an Ordained Priest and Deacon of E.G.C. (the ecclesiastical arm of O.T.O.), the former assistant Secretary of the G.T., and former body master of Leaping Laughter Lodge. He has participated in and orchestrated numerous rituals for several O.T.O. bodies including rituals celebrating the Feasts specified in Liber AL and The Rites of Eleusis. He has written a number of articles concerning O.T.O. and Thelema for local body publications and is a regular contributor to the U.S. Grand Lodge publication, Agapé. He has also taught classes specifically analyzing The Gnostic Mass and the Man of Earth (M.O.E.) degrees, as well as general theoretical and practical instruction on the ritual and yoga taught by Aleister Crowley. He occasionally writes about these subjects on his Livejournal (aish_mlchmh).
This hour-long monthly class will be occurring at Eye of Horus (www.eyeofhorus.biz) every 2nd Sunday of the month beginning November 11th. $8.00 per class. For additional information, please contact T.C. Thelemic Practice Group at 612-275-4287 or http://groups.google.com/group/tcthelema?hl=en