(Video) A Pathway to Adepthood: The Method of A.'.A.'. - Jim Eshelman

Temple of Thelema presents:
A Pathway To Adepthood—The Method of A∴A∴
by James A. Eshelman

July 19th, 2009 e.v.
The Producer’s Club, New York, NY

(Quote) The Temple of Solomon the King - Aleister Crowley

The affectation of knowledge and the piling on of symbols is only legitimate to the ignorant when the purpose is to bewilder by a flashing image and not to instruct. In the present case the seeker after Truth is called the Child of Earth and Darkness, and instead of being shown the beautiful garment of light he will one day be called upon to wear, is at once rolled in a heap of tinselled draperies, in mummy wrappings, outgrown togas and the discarded underwear of Olympus and Sinai, the result being that unless his understanding is as clear as these rituals are obscure, all he obtains is a theatrical impression of "make-up" and "make- believe," and a general detachment from the realities of Consciousness. The words obsess him; he cannot see that Typhon is as necessary in the Egyptian Scheme as Osiris; in the Christian, that Satan is but the twin of Christ. They fetter the freedom which they are supposed to unbind, producing not only a duality but a multiplicity of illusions; so that, in the end, the chances are, instead of conversing face to face with Adonai, he becomes a prig addressing a mass meeting in the Albert Hall, rationalising about irrational qualities.

(Article) Hexagram of Magick - David Cherubim

666

Each line of the Hexagram or Hexalpha indicates the number 111, since a single line of the Hexagram contains three equal parts, each of which may be represented by the number 1, so that the number 111 can symbolize every line. There are six lines in all, so that 111 x 6 = 666, the Most Holy Number of the Sun.

The Hexagram of Magick...[represents] the seven-lettered name ARARITA. ARARITA is a Notariqon. In other words, it is a word which is composed of seven letters formed from the initials of a Hebrew sentence meaning: "One is His Beginning: One is His Individuality: His Permutation is One."

Concerning the word ARARITA, Aleister Crowley wrote: "The use of this Name and Formula is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as "true" (and therefore binding); one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach [intellect]."

Click here to read the article.

(Quote) The Temple of Solomon the King - Aleister Crowley

Thus it came about that the greater the Master the less was he able to explain himself, and the more obscure his explanations the darker became the minds of his followers.

(Quote) The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order - Paul Foster Case

The personal man is never the thinker, the speaker, nor the actor. This truth, "...until its import is grasped, seems like fatalism. It appears to make man a mere puppet. Yet it is a truth reiterated by all wise men, who all insist, furthermore, that it is not in the least fatalistic. They tell us that the reason it seems to be so is that human beings do not really know what they mean when they say "I." When this ignorance is corrected by right knowledge, the center of consciousness is no longer located in personality. It is shifted to the Real Self, and that Self is perceived as being identical with the Originating Principle of the universe. The personal life is lost, but the Cosmic Life is found. An illusion is exchanged for a reality. A counterfeit freedom is renounced in order that real freedom may be enjoyed.

(Quote) The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order - Paul Foster Case

Inequality and injustice are apparent everywhere, but the esoteric doctrine states plainly that this appearance is untrue. It does not say, you will observe, that justice will prevail in some distant future. It declares emphatically that perfect balance is maintained continually.

(Article) On the Nature of Evil

Evil is the appearance presented to us by natural processes that we do not understand. It is the veil of terror hiding the beautiful countenance of
truth. - Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order



"The devil is God, as He is misunderstood by the wicked." - Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order



"I am the Lord, and there is nothing else; beside me there is no God: I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me: I am the Lord, and there is nothing else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord, that doeth all these things." (Isaiah 45:5,6,7).



Seers are always courageous. That is one reason for their careful observation of the rule of silence. Seeing things as they really are and knowing how mistaken are popular notions, they wisely veil their knowledge in glyph and symbol. Occasionally, like Boehme, Isaiah, and Amos, they speak straight out and boldly declare that not only the physical and natural evils-like pestilence, famine, or earthquakes-but also the various evils that we call "wickedness" are orderly phases of the cosmic manifestation of the One Life, or Lord. - Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order



That Life, being the source of all activity, is necessarily the cause of the phenomena we dislike, those that inspire us with terror, those we dread and misunderstand. Step by step, however, man's understanding ripens, and activities that in former times were supposed to be results of the malice of a personal adversary of mankind, personified as "the Devil," are now understood to be the workings of natural laws that are purely beneficent when their operation is understood. - Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order



And on the seventh day there went forth from the presence of God a mighty Angel, full of wrath and consuming fire, and God gave unto him the dominion of
the outermost sphere. Eternity brought forth Time; the Boundless gave birth to Limit; Being descended into Generation. As lightning I beheld Satan fall from heaven, splendid in strength and fury. Among the Gods is none like unto him, into whose hand are committed the kingdoms, the power and the glory of the worlds.. . . Blessed are they who shall withstand his subtlety: they shall be called the sons of God, and shall enter in at the beautiful gates. For Satan is the doorkeeper of the Temple of the King: he standeth in Solomon's porch; he holdeth the Keys of the Sanctuary; that no man may enter therein save the anointed, having the arcanum of Hermes.- Kingsford and Maitland, The Perfect Way



The power that brought about the Fall is identical with that which is to bring about the Redemption. - Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order

Also see the article - The Path of Ayin - The Devil

(Quote) Paul Foster Case - The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order

"True Rosicrucianism does not fall into the ancient error of setting the spiritual against the "material." It does not seek escape from the material into the spiritual. Rather it seeks to expose the lie that there is any "material" whatever apart from the substance of pure Spirit. At the same time, though it denies there is a reality (matter) opposed to another reality (spirit), Ageless Wisdom finds useful and accurate the distinction between the terms physical and metaphysical. The "physical" is that range of spiritual activity that man perceives through his ordinary senses. The "metaphysical" is that range of spiritual activity that lies beyond ordinary sensation. Moreover, "beyond" may mean either above or below, so there may be whole fields of metaphysical reality that are relatively interior to those we know by means of our senses."

(Article) The Chalice of Ecstasy - Frater Achad

A MAGICAL AND QABALISTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE DRAMA OF PARZIVAL

The collective tradition of mankind is endowed with a relative infallability, and when rightly interpreted, must represent the largest truth, the most perfect beauty and the purest goodness known on earth. This transcendental truth and goodness and beauty representts the divine substratum of human nature, the ideal humanity which lies above and behind the abberations of individuals, races and periods. It is not subjected as are the latter, to Time and Circumstance or to the limitations from which the appearance of error, evil and deformity seem to spring. The legend of Parzival is not subject to Time or Circumstance; it represents a glimpse of the Eternal Reality, the Everpresent Here and Now. The circumstances of its enactment and the place wherein the festival is beheld, need not be sought outside the Human Heart that has learned to beat in time and tune with the soul of the World. All who are born of "Heart's Affliction" must eventually find their way to that spot where they "Scarcely move, yet swiftly seem to run" and having become one with "The Way, The Truth and The Life" they will discover that the shifting scenes of the world they had thought to be so real, will pass by them as a pageant until the Vision of the Grail Itself is presented to their pure Understanding. It is in the hope of awakening some spark of the smouldering fire of this inner consciousness in the hearts of those who may read these lines - not having previously understood the Legend - and from that spark enkindling a great fire that will burn up the veils which hide man from Himself - from God - that I have dared to add these fragments to the great mass of Grail Literature already given to the world. And to those who are slumbering contentedly, wrapped round with the delusion and dreams of this illusory like, I cry with Gurnemanz: Hey! Ho! Wood-keepers twain! Sleep-keepers I deem ye! At least be moving with the morning! Hear ye the call? Now thank the Lord that ye are called in time to hear it.

Click the title above to continue reading.

(Quote) Michael Laitman - A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah

When the time of complete attainment comes: all worlds – spiritual and material – will merge into a single whole. Man will then be able to live in all worlds at the same time.

(Quote) Michael Laitman - A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah

The Kabbalah does not deal with our physical body, but only with our spiritual component. The upper world is like one creature, one soul whose parts are projected to a lower world (the one we perceive) in which we feel ourselves as distinct from each other. To explain this more simply: Because we are limited within our egoism, we feel ourselves as separated from each other, despite the fact that we are all of us actually one spiritual body. Therefore, the separation exists only within our mistaken perception, for we are all in fact one.

(Article) Drugs and the Deathbed, by AC 2012

"Various myths about Aleister Crowley appear from time to time, which we will take a moment to briefly address. In this post we will discuss two myths surrounding Crowley’s use of drugs and his death." - AC 2012

Let this then be of great comfort to you all, that if I be so imperfect–and for very shame I have not emphasized that imperfection–if I, the chosen one, still fail, then how easy for yourselves to surpass me! Or, should you only equal me, then even so how great attainment should be yours!

Be of good cheer, therefore, since both my failure and my success are arguments of courage for yourselves. - AC

Click the title above to continue reading.

(Video Clip) The Sixth Sense - Dr. Michael Laitman

Dr. Michael Laitman talks about perceiving reality through the sixth sense; that through an additional sense, we can perceive the complete, true reality that exists, and not the limited picture we receive through the five senses. From the film "The Seed of Life." 

(Audio Video) Manly P. Hall - Why I Believe in Rebirth

Manly Palmer Hall, The Great Author, Mystic and Philosopher of our time, talks us through a very important and ever growing question. What happens to "Us" when we die? Although no definite answer can ever be achieved via the use of any such pattern of words or actions, never the less, Hall's words inspire Reason, Morality and Hope for the future and insights the inquisitive and sincere listener to rethink religious dogma's and prejudices...

(Quote) Israel Regardie - The Art and Meaning of Magick

"In common with all schools and sects of Buddhism, the Mahayana is directly antagonistic to the ego idea. The whole of its philosophy and ethical code is directly concerned with the elimination of the "I" thinking. It holds that this is purely a fantasy bred of childish ignorance, very much as the mediaeval notion that the sun circumambulated the earth was the result of imperfect knowledge. Therefore the whole of its religious and philosophic scheme is directed towards uprooting this fantasy from the thinking of its disciples. This is the Anatta doctrine, and its importance to Buddhism is grounded in the belief that from this fantasy spring all sorrow and unhappiness.

European Magic, on the other hand, owes its fundamental doctrines to the Qabalah. Whilst having much in common with the broad outlines of Buddhism, the metaphysics of the Qabalah are essentially egocentric in a typically European way. Nevertheless, the terms of its philosophy are so general that they may be interpreted freely from a variety of angles. Whilst decrying the ills and limitations that accompany the false ego sense, it emphasises not so much the destruction of the ego as, with true Western practicality, its purification and integration."

(Podcast) Jung, The Mystic by Gary Lachman

Ian Punnett of Coast to Coast Am in Conversation With Gary Lachman.

Gary Delved in the occult and mystical dimensions of psychiatrist Carl Jung's life and work.

For more info:
http://www.cgjungpage.org

http://garylachman.co.uk

http://www.coasttocoastam.com

(Video) Sexual Alchemy and The Thoth Tarot - Lon Duquette

For nearly 40 years the Thoth Tarot has hidden the Secret of Sexual Alchemy.

The Thoth Tarot has
been one of the best selling and
most popular Tarot decks in the world.
Designed by Aleister Crowley, and
painted by Lady Frieda Harris, it is
considered by many to be the most
important magical object d'art of the
20th century - it is also one of the most
feared and misunderstood.

Join Crowley expert and Certified
Tarot Grand Master, Lon Milo DuQuette,
for an in-depth and entertaining look
at the magical mysteries and the
secrets of sexual alchemy hidden in
stunning imagery of the 78 cards of
the Thoth Tarot.

(Video) The Cube of Space and the 22 Paths of Initiation by Makalesi

Makalesi explains how initiation is a process of different doors and paths. You must master the 12 parts of the zodiac to gain immortality. The form known as the tesseract is an important tool to understanding this largely internal journey.

(Video Clip) Gopi Krishna: Our Super Conscious Brain - Kundalini Awakening

Gopi Krishn started on a discipline of meditation to discover who he was. After having been engaged in this formany years, he had his first Kundalini experience at the age of 34, which he describes in this segment. 

(Article) What is Spiritual Enlightenment

"When Buddha awakened to enlightenment, he awakened to the emptiness of the ego and phenomenon, the emptiness of interdependent origination, and saw through to the root source of the material and spiritual spheres. But what does that entail ... and how can you describe it?"

"What I'm about to transmit is rather deep in terms of vocabulary and content, but it tells you exactly what it means to become enlightened."

Click here to read the article. 

(Article) The Three Schools of Magick -- from Magick Without Tears by Aleister Crowley

The central idea of the White School is that, admitted that "everything is sorrow" for the profane, the Initiate has the means of transforming it to "Everything is joy." - A.C.

There have always been, at least in nucleus, three main Schools of Philosophical practice. ...
It is customary to describe these three Schools as Yellow, Black, and White. ...
These Schools represent three perfectly distinct and contrary theories of the Universe, and, therefore, practices of spiritual science.  The magical formula of each is as precise as a theorem of trigonometry.  Each assumes as fundamental a certain law of Nature, and the subject is complicated by the fact that each School, in a certain sense, admits the formulæ of the other two.  It merely regards them as in some way incomplete, secondary, or illusory.

Read: The Three Schools of Magick

PART I        PART II        PART III

(Video) Gopi Krishna Interviews

"For the first time in history, science is in the position to accurately describe the next step in human evolution and the biological mechanism behind the evolution of the brain. The world will be radically different in the New Age of Super-Consciousness, when nuclear weapons will no longer exist. Super-Conscious men and women will point the way to a healthier environment with living conditions and lifestyles in harmony with the demands of accelerated evolution. This is the realistic vision witnessed through the eyes of Pandit Gopi Krishna in a state of Cosmic Consciousness."

Click here to watch the interview series. 

(Article) Burn Like a Fire in Cairo - Thelema in the Light of Anthroposophy

Click here to read the full article. 

(Video Clip) The Hidden Mysteries of Christmas Unveiled

An enlightening video for the holiday season!!

The Hidden Mysteries of Christmas Unveiled 

The holiday excerpt from The Pharmacratic Inquisition DVD by Jan Irvin & Andrew Rutajit

(Website) My Big TOE by Thomas Campbell

"If you have a logical, open, and inquisitive mind, an attitude of scientific pragmatism that appreciates the elegance of fundamental truth and the thrill of breakthrough, you will enjoy this journey of personal and scientific discovery."

https://www.my-big-toe.com/

(Video) Stepping Into the Fire - Ayahuasca Documentary

"What if the life you lived, the wealth you earned, the possessions you attained, were a deception? What if the answers to all of life's questions were planted deep within the Amazons of Peru? This story takes you on a journey towards the discovery of life's purpose. Step into the fire and you may just find what you've been searching for all along. The feature documentary is about various people who need closure and strength in some aspect in their life and the different experiences and reflextions of various crew members when taking Ayahuasca and San Pedro in the rainforests of PERU. While under the guide of Chaman Mancoluto, the film also reflects on the current events such as humanities ways of thinking and living, global crisis, the importance of the rainforest to the world, among other."

Click here to buy the movie on Amazon. 

(Video Clip) Ken Wilber on the Pre-Trans Fallacy

Does pre-rational, pre-linguistic, animal consciousness represent the freedom, and therefore the good, that we need to get back to, or are we really looking for something on the other side of rational? - within the unitive realm of the trans-rational?

Society commonly views rational states of consciousness as the only state of consciousness with any real value. The pre-rational states were seen by psychologists as infantile states that we developed out of. Trans-rational states were not understood and were therefore not differentiated from pre-rational states. This resulted in the baby being thrown out with the bath water. However, Ken Wilber hopes to bring a new understanding into the mainstream.  You have to be somebody before you can be nobody.

 "Equipped with a new evolutionary understanding of the human psyche as it unfolds through multiple structures of development, Ken noticed a core confusion that made it very difficult to discern between the lower stages and the higher stages."

Click on the title, above, to watch the video clip.

(Video Clip) Jim Eshelman on Thelema

Jim Eshelman discusses some of the basic concepts of Thelema.

(Quote) Mark Stavish - Between the Gates

"Meditation, lucid dreaming, and astral projection practices are to indirectly prepare us for our ultimate initiation - the death experience."

"There are several paths open to us at the time of death. Through esoteric practices we are able to consciously chose which path we will take."

(Quote) Mark Stavish - Between the Gates

"Often it is believed that we are in need of only our Higher Self and that because our Higher Self is perfect, it has no need of "us," or the ego, the individualized life. But it is only through the individualized life, through the developed ego, that the totality of consciousness can be experienced or have a reference point. Unity is known because of separation; good is known because of evil; death is known because of life."

(Quote) Mark Stavish - Between the Gates

"It is the purpose of each being (Adam) to go from blissful ignorance (Paradise) into ignorance (the Fall), and, through the experiences found in material existence, return to his or her primordial state (New Jerusalem), but with total knowledge, wisdom, and power. It is the story of the Prodigal Son as told in the New Testament."

(Quote) Mark Stavish - Between the Gates

"The Lower Self is sometimes referred to in Jungian terms as the shadow because of the dark, powerful, potentially violent energies that reside there. It is important to point out that the Middle Self [The Middle Self is what we experience in day-to-day, moment-to-moment life.] is primarily ideas, thoughts, and organized processes that have very little energy in their own right, whereas the Lower Self is mainly emotions, energy, and actions that have little intelligence behind them and no rational capacity. The Middle Self thinks and plans, but the Lower Self simply acts on what it is told. It is synthetic in function. However, without the energy of the Lower Self all the good ideas of the Middle Self are worthless. Plans collect dust, and dreams fade into the darkness of death. Only with the skilled direction and cultivation of the raw emotions of the Lower Self is anything accomplished in the material or psychic domains. Through proper training, suggestion, and specific practices, the Lower Self will accept the directions of the Middle Self, thereby opening up awareness of the world of miracles."

"Bringing the energies of the Lower Self into full cooperation and direction of the Middle Self, so that an effective channel to the Higher Self can be opened, is the work of various schools of ritual magic, Tantra, and alchemy."

"Tantra uses the energies of the body, particularly stimulation of the physical sensations to stimulate emotions that in turn are directed by the ego to open a pathway for the superconsciousness of the Higher Self to pour through."

(Video) Thelema: Public Movement, Private Paths - Edward Mason

Edward Mason, Warden of the Temple of Our Lady of the Stars, discusses Thelema in terms of being a personal path of spiritual evolution, and in terms of being a public social movement.

(Podcast) Thelema Now! - Tobias Churton on John the Baptist

Thelema Now welcomes back Tobias Churton! Tobias discusses is new book The Mysteries of John the Baptist. He reveals why John the Baptist is so crucially important to the Freemasons, who were originally known as “St. John’s Men” and how  John and Jesus were equal partners and shared a common spiritual vision to rebuild Israel and overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem. Great stuff!

Click on the title above to listen to the podcast. 

(Article) An Examination of the Creed of the Thelemic (EGC) Gnostic Catholic Church

The text of the Creed of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica is as follows:

"I believe in one secret and ineffable LORD; and in one Star in the company of Stars of whose fire we are created, and to which we shall return; and in one Father of Life, Mystery of Mystery, in His name CHAOS, the sole viceregent of the Sun upon Earth; and in one Air the nourisher of all that breaths.
And I believe in one Earth, the Mother of us all, and in one Womb wherein all men are begotten, and wherein they shall rest, Mystery of Mystery, in Her name BABALON.
And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mystery, in His name BAPHOMET.
And I believe in one Gnostic and Catholic Church of Light, Life, Love and Liberty, the Word of whose Law is THELEMA.
And I believe in the communion of Saints.
And, forasmuch as meat and drink are transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance, I believe in the Miracle of the Mass.
And I confess one Baptism of Wisdom whereby we accomplish the Miracle of Incarnation.
And I confess my life one, individual, and eternal that was, and is, and is to come.
AUMGN, AUMGN, AUMGN."


Click the title above to read the full article. 

(Video) Carl Jung - The Wisdom of the Dream - A Life of Dreams

A three-part series of films produced by PBS, on the life and works of the great thinker and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. 

(Video) Rebels: A Journey Underground

Rebels: A Journey Underground is an excellent Canadian documentary history of “the counterculture” produced for television in the late 1990s and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. It’s the work of writer/director Kevin Alexander, who did a great job with it. More people should see it. I’m happy to see that the series has been posted in full on YouTube.

The six-part series covers a wide swath of historical countercultures moving from William Blake and 1830s Parisian bohemians to mostly 20th century movements like hippie, Jazz, Beatniks, punk, and what was at the time the series was produced, the brave new world of cyberspace.

(Quote) Aleister Crowley - Magick Without Tears

"The central idea of the White School is that, admitted that "everything is sorrow" for the profane, the Initiate has the means of transforming it to "Everything is joy."" 

(Video) Sri Bhagavan's Teachings and Neuroscience

We all have heard this teaching of Sri bhagwan..
"Experience Reality as it is..." But what makes out "REALITY"???
Why the SHIFT IN PERCEPTION is required???
What makes our Perception?? what makes us to PERCEIVE??
Find it all..in this clip...
Thanks to National Geographic HD for this amazing clips on PERCEPTIONS,
I have just mixed those clips with teachings of sri bhagwan for better and easy understanding...

(Article) The Nature of The Beast by G. M. Kelly

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 

"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:  and the dragon gave him power, and his seat, and great authority."  
                         -Revelation, 13.1 and 2, King James. 

"Here is wisdom.  Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:  for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six Hundred Threescore and Six."  
                         -Ibid. 13.18 

Thus and further is the Beast described in the Apocalypse or Revelation of John the Divine.  Since then the nature of the Beast 666 has been ill-perceived, His image perverted by the politics of the early Christian Church, and today there seems to be few who truly comprehend the nature of the Beast, also called the Antichrist.  Hollywood has also promoted the misconceptions obscuring the true nature of the Beast with such films as the OMEN trilogy - a very enjoyable and well produced fantasy, but far from an accurate interpretation of this last book of the Judeo-Christian Bible. 

Click here to read the full article.

(Video) The Magick of Solomon: Lemegeton Secrets Revealed - The Truth about Angels and Demons!

Buy Reality Films DVDs here:
http://www.reality-entertainment.com/...
Anthropologist and Ceremonial Magician, Poke Runyon explains and demonstrates the authentic techniques of ancient Ritual Magick. Learn how to invoke Angels and evoke Spirits to visible appearance. Stand in the Magick Circle with Masters of the Art as they conjure the Spirits of Bael and Astaroth (Baal and Astarte) to visible appearance in the Dark Mirror upon Solomon's Triangle. Discover the scientific truth and psychological validity behind our own culture's unique and powerful form of Shamanism. Experience the Mystery and Transformative Power of Solomon's Magick!

(Video) Aleister Crowley and the Path to True Happiness: Examining the Role of Occult Orders Today

Edward Mason, Warden of the Temple of Our Lady of the Stars, discusses Aleister Crowley and the Path to True Happiness in the Temple's inaugural presentation.

Click here to watch the video in playlist format. 

(Article) Looking at the Other Side, Edward Mason

"The subject, or name, of Satan has dogged Crowley and Thelema for a century. As a criticism, this is to be expected from Christians, or sort-of-Christians, (or people of no identifiable faith except for the God of the Mean Mind) who prefer fearing and resenting different belief systems to studying them. There is also a community of Thelemites who self-identify as Satanists or Luciferians, finding these deities offer a concept of the divine that meets a particular need or ideal, or offer a means of positively rejecting values that have caused them pain and difficulty in the past.

Crowley’s own fascination with the Adversary is no secret."

Click the title above to read the full article. 

(Book) Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century, Edward Kelly

"Current mainstream opinion in psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind holds that all aspects of human mind and consciousness are generated by physical processes occurring in brains. Views of this sort have dominated recent scholarly publication. The present volume, however, demonstrates_empirically_that this reductive materialism is not only incomplete but false."

"Thoroughly scientific, systematically reasoned and courageous... as exciting and enjoyable as it is provocative and profound!" (David J. Hufford )

"Irreducible Mind is an enormous and daring enterprise. Its scholarship is impressive... and made me think long and hard about many issues." (Etzel Cardeña Psyccritiques )

"a must-read for anyone working in consciousness studies, psychology and the history of science." (Jonathan Edelman )

"a monumental work...Only a very resistant observer will remain unpersuaded that a proportion, as least, of all this carefully evaluated data presents a significant challenge to conventional views" (Marshall, Paul Journal Of Consciousness Studies )

Click here to go to the listing for this book on Amazon.

(Video) Technological Change linked to Evolution, Danny Hillis

Danny Hillis outlines an intriguing theory of how and why technological change seems to be accelerating, by linking it to the very evolution of life itself.

(Podcast) Proof Of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into The Afterlife, Dr. Eben Alexander III

An Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander III, author of "Proof Of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into The Afterlife"

"Proof Of Heaven is Dr. Eben Alexander III's #1 New York Times Bestselling book about his near-death experience. A Harvard and Duke associated academic neurosurgeon, Dr. Eben Alexander's brain was suddenly attacked by a rare illness. In fact, it was the part of the brain that essentially makes us human, thereby making his near-death experience much more compelling to scientists and skeptics because his brain was incapable of imagination or hallucination. For seven days he lay in a coma while journeying into the afterlife. Guided by a spiritual being yet having no memory of his physical (human) existence, Eben learned about life after death, our purpose for being here, the power of prayer, insights about why evil is allowed to exist in our world, and so much more. I'm honored to share this in-depth interview with one of the most likable and eloquent scientists of our time." ~ Bob Olson, Afterlife TV

(Podcast) Living Thelema - Holy Guardian Angel

In this episode, Dr. David Shoemaker discusses the Holy Guardian Angel.

(Podcast) Living Thelema - Alchemy and The Great Work

This track from episode 35 is from the Living Thelema series by Dr. David Shoemaker. This particular segment is about Alchemy and the Great Work.

(Video) Direct Understanding and Attainment of Buddhahood, Pierre Grimes

Want to be inquisitive? This is an exploration into thought. Thoughts play themselves out as a drama. They each have images with their own attitude, manner and style. Your mind is trying to remind you of what you most need to understand.

(Video Clip) TedxTalks - The Science Delusion, Rupert Sheldrake

The science delusion is the belief that science already understands the nature of reality, in principle. The fundamental questions are answered, leaving only the details to be filled in. The impressive achievements of science seemed to support this confident attitude. But recent research has revealed unexpected problems at the heart of physics, cosmology, biology, medicine and psychology. Dr Rupert Sheldrake shows how the sciences are being constricted by assumptions that have hardened into dogmas.

(Video) In The Center of The Fire: A Modern History of the O.T.O.

James Wasserman shares his experience in the development of the modern Thelemic movement and his enthusiasm for the spiritual teachings of Aleister Crowley.

This is the video record of a talk given on December 16, 2012 at Swirling Star Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis. It includes numerous photos of influential figures in the development of Thelema as well as the early years of TAHUTI Lodge in New York City.

Click the title above to watch the video.

(Writing by me) Considerations of Right Hand Path vs Left Hand Path in the Western Esoteric Tradition

It's interesting to note that Crowley equates the Left Hand Path with Black Brotherhood; a Black Brother being, in his words, one who has reached the level of Adeptus Exemptus 7=4 (or an equivalent level of spiritual development by any other name) yet stops short when confronted with the ordeal of crossing the Abyss and completely relinquishing the ego, which, in Thelemic terms, is the pouring out of every last drop of ones own blood into the cup of Babalon who is considered to be a sacred whore because she denies no one, and yet she extracts a great price — the very blood of the adept and his ego-identity as an earthly individual. See the following information on this topic:


From: Magick Without Tears by Crowley -  http://hermetic.com/crowley/magick-without-tears/mwt_12.html

"It really is a little bewildering; the signpost "Right-hand Path", "Left-hand Path", seems rather indecipherable; and then, for such a long way, they look exactly alike.  At what point do they diverge?
Actually, the answers are fairly simple.
As far as the achievement or attainment is concerned, the two Paths are in fact identical.  In fact, one almost feels obliged to postulate some inmost falsity, completely impossible to detect, inherent at the very earliest stages.
For the decision which determines the catastrophe confronts only the Adeptus Exemptus 7○ = 4□. Until that grade is reached, and that very fully indeed, with all the buttons properly sewed on, one is not capable of understanding what is meant by the Abyss.  Unless "all you have and all you are" is identical with the Universe, its annihilation would leave a surplus."

"The about-to-be-Black Brother constantly restricts himself; he is satisfied with a very limited ideal; he is afraid of losing his individuality — reminds one of the "Nordic" twaddle about "race-pollution."

"In such cases [of becoming a Black Brother] the man's policy is of course to break off all relations with the Supernal Triad, and to replace it by inventing a false crown, Daäth.  To them Knowledge will be everything, and what is Knowledge but the very soul of Illusion?

Refusing thus the true nourishment of all his faculties, they lose their structural unity, and must be fortified by continuous doses of dope in anguished self-preservation.  Thus all its chemical equations become endothermic."

From: Wikipedia/Thelema -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema 

"The chief task for one who has achieved this [Knowledge and Conversation of Their Holy Guardian Angel] goes by the name of "crossing the abyss";completely relinquishing the ego. If the aspirant is unprepared, he will cling to the ego instead, becoming a Black Brother. Rather than becoming one with God, the Black Brother considers his ego to be god. According to Crowley, the Black Brother slowly disintegrates, while preying on others for his own self-aggrandisement."

From: Heruraha.net / James Eshelman / Black Brothers -  http://www.heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=396&p=2400&hilit=+black+brother+death#p2400

"Aside from all the characteristics that can be used to describe it [being a Black Brother], the definition is really straightforward and simple: A Black Brother is an Adeptus Exemptus 7=4 who resists and pulls back from the Ordeal of the Abyss when it is presented.

The main psychological characteristic is a fear of death. Now, a fear of death is quite reasonable and appropriate at a much earlier stage of development when one still believes that one's existence is finite and tied to one's physical body. It isn't appropriate, though, for a 7=4."

While it's clear that *some* of those who identify themselves with the Left Hand Path *do*, in fact, seek to preserve the ego as Crowley described and indicate that, for them, this is one of the major distinctions between the Left Hand Path and the Right Hand Path (see the following quotation), it's not clear that *all* of those who identify themselves with the Left Hand Path would agree that this is a defining characteristic of their belief system. This is something to look into further and understand better.

From: Glimpses of The Left Hand Path, by Lodge Megan -  http://www.scribd.com/doc/112014973/Glimpses-of-the-Left-Hand-Path

"The final union with God - the ultimate goal of the Right Hand Path - represents the melting of an individual in the collective consciousness, in the ocean of forces that constitute the universe. The Left Hand Path adept undergoes a conscious process of integrating his Self, and thus, he is able to preserve the unity and resist the force of the collective consciousness."

"To monotheistic religions, this experience [the dissolving of the boundaries which define the self] is the union with God. To the Left Hand Path adept, it means to be "devoured by the Devil and he seeks deliberately to avoid it."

"In the Right Hand Path philosophy, man cannot oppose God, the higher force. The Left Hand Path traditions do not share this conviction."

See also, my post on the Speech in The Silence podcast segment with Dr. David Shoemaker as he discusses the ego, The Great Work and the concept that it is not the Self which we seek to give up, but rather it's the limited perspective of self identification *solely* with the ego.  - http://unusmundus-melie.blogspot.com/2011/11/podcast-speech-in-silence-episode-24.html

(Quote) Aleister Crowley - Magick Without Tears, Ch 17

"I certainly have no intention of 'holding you down' to 'a narrow path of work' or any path. All I can do is to help you to understand clearly the laws of your own nature, so that you may go ahead without extraneous influence. It does not follow that a plan that I have found successful in my own case will be any use to you. That is another cardinal mistake of most teachers. One must have become a Master of the Temple to annihilate one's ego. Most teachers, consciously or unconsciously, try to get others to follow in their steps. I might as well dress you up in my castoff clothing!"

(Video Clip) Ken Wilber on The Aloneness of the Spiritual Path

Ken WIlber talks about the lonely journey that is the Spiritual Path at his 2 day talk with Traleg Rinpoche called "Spirituality in the Modern World" in 2006 in New York.

(Video) Platonism and Alchemy by Pierre Grimes

Pierre Grimes discusses Carl Jung's work, Alchemy, the Republic, Carl Jung's book Psychology and Alchemy as well as the Platonic roots of Christianity and the role that early universities played in stripping Platonism down to dead intellectualism. Pierre reveals Platonic metaphysics to be an Intellectual Yoga, a spiritual tradition which is magnificent, structured, aggressive, descriptive and psychologically profound. Enjoy the Lost treasure of Plato.

1hr 15min

Click on the title above to watch the video.

(Quote) Carl Jung

‎"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

(Article) The Two Truths Doctrine

An important concept:

The Buddhist doctrine of the two truths (Tibetan: bden-pa gnyis) differentiates between two levels of truth (Sanskrit: satya) in Buddhist discourse: relative or commonsensical truth, and absolute or ultimate truth.

Click here to read the full article. 

(Video Clip) James Eshelman - A Pathway to Adepthood

From a lecture given by Jim Eshelman, entitled "A Pathway To Adepthood: The Method of A.'.A.'.

Core Premises:

* The goals of religious aspiration - actual spiritual experience - are attainable in this life, on earth, now.

* While the nature of the Supreme Experience (or TRUTH) is necessarily unique for each individual, it can be recognized universally by all.

* These wonderful results are producible by known methods that (in one or another variation) have been employed throughout history.

* The METHOD is that of empirical science. The AIM is that of impassioned religion.

(Quote) Gareth Knight - A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Volume II

"...it is the refusal to comedown to Earth, literally, that is the cause of the bulk of spiritual pathology - the root of sin, disease, ignorance. It is the real blasphemy, a rejection of the work of the Father in Heaven, a rejection of the Universe. (The Universe, let it he noted, is the Tarot Trump of this Path.) Until physical existence in the Universe is willingly accepted by the Spirit the Initiation of the Nadir cannot take place. Malkuth is the Gate, the door to evolution and the work of destiny. Evolution cannot take place until Involution is complete."

(Video) First Light: An Introduction to Meru Foundation Research by Stan Tenen

The Hebrew Alphabet, Genesis, and Kabbalah: What is The Meru Project? Using the objective tools of science, Stan Tenen has studied the mathematical structure underlying the sequence of letters in the Hebrew text of Genesis. 

His research has shown that the geometric patterns fundamental to modern physics were available to us long before physics per se was considered an independent science. These patterns are intrinsic to the Hebrew letter-text of Genesis, and were known to traditional Kabbalists and sages.

(Video Clip) The Missing Piece Meets The Big O - Shel Silverstein

A depiction of growth and change revealing wholeness.

(Video Clip) Enochian Vision Magick by Lon Duquette

AUTHOR READS EXCERPTS FROM ENOCHIAN VISION MAGICK INTRODUCTION AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE MAGICK OF DR. JOHN DEE AND EDWARD KELLEY By Lon Milo DuQuette Published 2008 by Red Wheel/Weiser All rights reserved

http://lonmiloduquette.com/_books.html

(Quote) Gareth Knight - A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Pt 1

"Esoteric psychology teaches that when an entity such as man comes into incarnation the relatively immortal part of himself variously called the Higher Self, Evolutionary Self, the Soul etc. ~ projects a rod or thread-like process into the lower levels which forms the basis of personality, and this develops a life of its own and is kept alive by means of this life thread which has been described a 'silver cord' not only in the Bible but also in recorded experiences of etheric projection, the details of which are available in many books on psychical research. As the personality develops towards maturity the Higher Self begins to take over to a greater or usually lesser extent and this is by means of opening up the thread of consciousness between the two levels of being.
The aim of esoteric training is to make this dual consciousness a single reality. The consciousness of the Lower Self is raised by means of meditation, contemplation, and prayer and the Higher Self is brought down by attention, intention and, in the West, ritual methods."

(Video Clip) Scientists Confirm that Reality is an Illusion - Our 3D Universe is a Hologram

(Tools and Toys) Tree of Life - Online Interactive Learning Game

This is a set of online learning tools that I created. It includes hundreds of flashcards! - nearly everything from the tables in 777, and allows you to switch into several different learning and game modes. In the process, you will learn the Tree of Life correspondences, Hebrew alphabet, numeric value of the Hebrew letters and much more.

Click here to go to the flashcard sets on Quizlet. 

Here is a brief demo on how Quizlet works (58sec):

(Quote) Aleister Crowley - Magick

"On the higher planes, the diversity of form, due to grossness, tends to disappear. Thus the Astral Vision of "Isis" is utterly unlike that of "Kali". The one is of Motherhood and wisdom, ineffably candid, clear, and loving; the other of Murder and madness, blood-intoxicated, lust-befogged, and cruel. The sole link is the Woman-symbol. But whoso makes Samadhi [...a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which, in deep meditation, the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object.] on Kali obtains the self-same Illumination as if it had been Isis; for in both cases he attains identity with the Quintessence of the Woman-Idea, untrammeled by the qualities with which the dwellers by the Nile and the Ganges respectively disguised it.
Thus, in low grades of initiation, dogmatic quarrels are inflamed by astral experience; as when Saint John distinguishes between the Whore BABALON and the Woman clothed with the Sun, between the Lamb that was slain and the Beast 666 whose deadly wound was healed; nor understands that Satan, the Old Serpent, in the Abyss, the Lake of Fire and Sulphur, is the Sun-Father, the vibration of Life, Lord of Infinite Space that flames with His Consuming Energy, and it is also that throned Light whose Spirit is suffused throughout the City of Jewels." - Aleister Crowley, Magick

(Quote) Israel Regardie - The Eye in The Triangle

"His devotion to the Great Work did not modify or eliminate his powerful sexual drives, any more than it changed his gourmet inclinations. If he cared for oysters and chateaubriand before his Samadhi, the same liking persisted afterwards." (Regardie 346)

"In one chapter of his book, Symonds comments - again with the intent to deride - that Crowley appeared to regard all sexual acts - be they hetero-, homo-, or auto-erotic - as religious acts, as magical acts, as equally divine." (Regardie 346)

"I put it to you to decide which is the more noble, and which the more corrupt. The view that sex is a dirty business, pleasurable certainly, but somehow not quite proper or clean; that it is to be indulged in secretly and passionately, but to be hurried through and gotten over quickly. Any reference thereafter to it is either in cold, highly intellectual terms as in a pseudo-scientific study, or pornographically with jokes and snickers. Compare this with the utter simplicity of the attitude that Crowley believed. Sexual ecstasy, thought Crowley, is akin to divine ecstasy. Both are there for us to take as we will.
Crowley accepted the one simple fact that sex - sex in any shape or form, the emergence of instinctual, that is, divine tendencies - is not to be thwarted or warped. So long as no one is hurt or injured, it is a private matter between any two people as to what form or practice of sexuality they wish to indulge in.
His interpretation of sex is then clear. You have the right, the divine right in his opinion, to express sexuality in your own particular way. "Take thy fill of love where, when, and with whom thou wilt - but always in the love of Me! [the divine]" (Regardie 347)

(Quote) Israel Regardia - The Eye in The Triangle

"Crowley once said that if a man wanted to begin the study of Magic because he wished to evoke a demon to kill his enemy, that would be all right too. For the student would soon discover the hierarchical structure of the world of magic. That is to say, the demon in question could not be controlled or ordered until the student had made contact with the entity immediately superior. And this entity would only be beseeched to function in terms of his superior - and so on. Very shortly, then, the student would be constrained to invoke, in a direct line, the God or spiritual force ruling over all such operations. In that case he would have to unite his consciousness with that of the God. By that time, so many transformations in consciousness would have taken place, that the original malefic intent would have disappeared and been replaced by other more worthy and higher aspirations."

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

"...all the symbols are interchangeable for each containeth in itself its own opposite. And this is the great Mystery of the Supernals that are beyond the Abyss. For below the Abyss contradiction is division. But above the Abyss contradiction is Unity. And there could be nothing true except by virtue of the contradiction that is contained in itself..."

(Quote) Gopi Krishna - The Purpose of Yoga

"The vast gulf between the mind of man and that of the higher animals is an open book to everyone. What man has achieved with his exceptional intellectual gifts and the capacity for linguistic expression is nothing short of magic when compared to the highest potential present in animals.It is an enigma to me why the learned should stop dead at the present frontier and stubbornly refuse to believe that the human brain, but a more elaborate form of the animal organ, can take a leap into an even more extended state of consciousness with still more amazing gifts and properties that appear incredible or magical to the normal mind. If this position has been admitted and confirmed in hundreds of authentic documents, coming from the remotest antiquity, is it not time that open-minded seekers after knowledge should refrain from resorting to sensational explanations for the exceptional and the paranormal and turn their attention to a fresh study of the still mysterious human encephalon?"

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

"We become that which obsesseth us, either through extreme Hate or Extreme Love. Knowest thou not how the one is a Symbol of the other? For this Reason, since Love is the Formula of Life, we are under Bond to assimilate (in the End) that which we fear or hate. So then we shall be wise to mould all Things within ourselves in Quietness and Modulation. But above all must we use all to our own End, adapting with Adroitness even our Weakness to the Work. Therefore, watch heedfully the Fault of another, that thou mayst correct it in thyself. For if it were not in thee, thou couldst not perceive it or understand it."

(Quote) Gopi Krishna - What is Cosmic Consciousness

"I am always conscious of a luminous glow, not only in my interior but pervading the whole field of my vision during the hours of my wakefulness. I literally live in a world of light. It is as if a light were burning in my interior, filling me with a luster so beautiful and so ravishing that my attention is again and again drawn towards it. In fact, it is the normal state of my perception now. Light, both within and without, and a distinct music in my ears, are the two prominent features of my transformed being. It is as if, in my interior, I live in a charming, radiant and melodious world."