1.
Equinox
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An equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earths equator passes through the center of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September. On an equinox, day and night are of equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the size of the sun. To avoid this ambiguity, the word equilux is sometimes used to mean a day in which the durations of light, see Length of equinoctial day and night for further discussion. The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, aequus and nox, the equinoxes are the only times when the solar terminator is perpendicular to the equator. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are equally illuminated, the word comes from Latin equi or equal and nox meaning night. In other words, the equinoxes are the times when the subsolar point is on the equator. The subsolar point crosses the equator moving northward at the March equinox, the equinoxes, along with solstices, are directly related to the seasons of the year. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs in September. When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year. By 1500 AD, it had drifted backwards to 11 March and this drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar. However, the leap year intervals in his calendar were not smooth and this causes the equinox to oscillate by about 53 hours around its mean position. This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, the astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on the 22nd. Vernal equinox and Autumnal equinox, these names are direct derivatives of Latin. The equivalent common language English terms spring equinox and autumn equinox are even more ambiguous, March equinox and September equinox, names referring to the months of the year they occur, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context. They are still not universal, however, as not all use a solar-based calendar where the equinoxes occur every year in the same month. Northward equinox and southward equinox, names referring to the apparent direction of motion of the Sun
2.
The Equinox (album)
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The Equinox is the third and final album by heralded Queens Hip Hop duo Organized Konfusion, released on September 23,1997, on Priority Records. The group branched out to work with a number of producers, including Diamond D, Showbiz, Buckwild. The effort is an album, with tracks linked together by storytelling skits. Included on the album are two very ambitious tracks, Invetro and Hate, Invetro follows in the same steps as Stray Bullet from the groups previous album, giving voices to things that can not speak
3.
Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney
4.
Ordo Templi Orientis
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Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. English author and occultist Aleister Crowley has become the member of the order. This Law—expressed as Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law and Love is the law, similar to many secret societies, O. T. O. Membership is based on a system with a series of degree ceremonies that use ritual drama to establish fraternal bonds. O. T. O. also includes the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica or Gnostic Catholic Church and its central rite, which is public, is called Liber XV, or the Gnostic Mass. The early history of O. T. O. is difficult to trace reliably and it originated in Germany or Austria between 1895 and 1906. Its apparent founder was Carl Kellner, a wealthy Austrian industrialist, theodor Reuss collaborated with Kellner in creating O. T. O. and succeeded him as head of O. T. O. after Kellners death. Under Reuss, charters were given to occult brotherhoods in France, Denmark, Switzerland, There were nine degrees, of which the first six were Masonic. Although these rites are considered to be irregular, they, along with the Swedenborg Rite formed the core of the newly established Order, Reuss met Aleister Crowley and in 1910 admitted him to the first three degrees of O. T. O. Only two years later, Crowley was placed in charge of Great Britain and Ireland, and was advanced to the X°, in 1913, Crowley composed the Gnostic Mass while in Moscow, which he described as being the Order’s central ceremony of its public and private celebration. In 1914, soon after World War I broke out, he moved to the United States and it was around this time that Crowley decided to integrate Thelema into the O. T. O. System, and in 1915 prepared revised rituals for use in the M∴M∴M∴, in 1917, Reuss wrote a Synopsis of Degrees of O. T. O. The same document shows that the degree of O. T. O. is also known as the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch. In 1919, Crowley attempted to work this Masonic-based O. T. O. in Detroit, the result was that he was rebuffed by the Council of the Scottish rite on the basis that O. T. O. Rituals were too similar to orthodox Masonry, Crowley subsequently rewrote the initiation rituals of the first three degrees, and in doing so removed most of those rituals ties to Masonry. He did not, however, rewrite the fourth degree ritual, Crowley wrote that Theodore Reuss suffered a stroke in the spring of 1920. In correspondence with one of Reuss officers, Crowley expressed doubts about Reuss competence to remain in office, relations between Reuss and Crowley began to deteriorate, and the two exchanged angry letters in November 1921. Crowley informed Reuss that he was availing himself of Reuss abdication from office, Reuss died on October 28,1923 without designating a successor, though Crowley claimed in later correspondence that Reuss had designated him
5.
Occult
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The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance
6.
Magick (Thelema)
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Crowley wrote that it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature. John Symonds and Kenneth Grant attach a deeper significance to this preference. Aleister Crowley chose the spelling to differentiate his practices and rituals from stage magic, Crowley defined Magick as the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. He goes on to elaborate on this, in one postulate and he goes on further to state, Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and ones conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action, again, at its most broad, it can be defined as any willed action leading to intended change. It can also be seen as the set of methods used to accomplish the Great Work of mystical attainment. The professed purpose of banishing rituals is to eliminate forces that might interfere with a magical operation, the area of effect can be a magick circle, a room, or the magician himself. The general theory of Magick proposes that there are forces which are represented by the classical elements, the planets, the signs of the Zodiac. Magick also proposes that various spirits and non-corporeal intelligences can be present, banishings are performed in order to clean out these forces and presences. There are many banishing rituals, but most are some variation on two of the most common—The Star Ruby and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and he goes on to say that purification no longer requires such activity, since the magician can purify the self via willed intention. The putting on of the robe is the side of the same operation. It is the assumption of the frame of mind suitable to that one thought, consecration is an equally important magical operation. It is essentially the dedication, usually of an instrument or space. In Magick, Book 4, Crowley writes, Invocation is the bringing in or identifying with a deity or spirit. Crowley wrote of two keys to success in this arena, to inflame thyself in praying and to invoke often, Crowley describes the experience of invocation, The mind must be exalted until it loses consciousness of self. The Magician must be carried forward blindly by a force which, though in him, just as the poet, the lover, the artist, is carried out of himself in a creative frenzy, so must it be for the Magician. Crowley discusses three main categories of invocation, although in the great essentials these three methods are one, in each case the magician identifies himself with the Deity invoked. Devotion—where identity with the God is attained by love and by surrender, calling forth—where identity is attained by paying special attention to the desired part of yourself
7.
Thelema
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Thelema is a religion based on a philosophical law of the same name, adopted as a central tenet by some religious organizations. The law of Thelema is Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Love is the law, love under will. The law of Thelema was developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley and he believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904. An adherent of Thelema is a Thelemite, the Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law, Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Crowley described these deities as a literary convenience, the religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. This statement indicates that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own path in life. The philosophy also emphasizes the practice of Magick. The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα will, from the verb θέλω to will, wish, want or purpose. As Crowley developed the religion, he wrote widely on the topic and he also included ideas from occultism, yoga and both Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah. The word θέλημα is rare in classical Greek, where it signifies the appetitive will, desire, sometimes even sexual, but it is frequent in the Septuagint. Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will, and even the will of Gods opponent, the Devil, one well-known example is in the Lords Prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ”It is used later in the gospel, He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it. In his 5th-century Sermon on 1 John 4, 4–12, Augustine of Hippo gave an instruction, Love. In the Renaissance, a character named Thelemia represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican monk Francesco Colonna, the protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica and Thelemia. When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic, the only rule of this Abbey was fay çe que vouldras. In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham, where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club. Rabelaiss Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema, françois Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532, there he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books
8.
The Book of the Law
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Crowley claimed it was dictated to him by a discarnate entity named Aiwass. However, the three chapters are written in the first person by the Thelemic deities Nuit, Hadit. Through the reception of the Book, Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the evolution of humanity. The primary precept of this new aeon is the charge to Do what thou wilt. The book contains three chapters, each of which was alleged to be written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on 8 April,9 April, and 10 April in Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1904. Crowley says that the author was an entity named Aiwass, whom he referred to as his personal Holy Guardian Angel. Crowley himself wrote Certain very serious questions have arisen with regard to the method by which this Book was obtained, although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, Theyre waiting for you. Since Rose had no interest in magic or mysticism, he took little interest, however, on the 18th, after invoking Thoth, she mentioned Horus by name as the one waiting for him. Crowley, still skeptical, asked her numerous questions about Horus, Knew my past relations with the God. Knew his lineal figure and its color, Knew his weapon Knew his planetary nature Knew his number Picked him out of Five, Three indifferent, i, e, arbitrary symbols. We cannot too strongly insist on the character of this identification. Crowley also gives a different chronology, in which an invocation of Horus preceded the questioning, lawrence Sutin says this ritual described Horus in detail, and could have given Rose the answers to her husbands questions. As part of his test for Rose, Crowley claimed they visited the Bulaq Museum, much to Crowleys initial amusement, she passed by several common images of the god, and went upstairs. From across the room Rose identified Horus on the stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, the stela would subsequently be known to Thelemites as the Stele of Revealing. On 20 March, Crowley invoked Horus, with great success, between 23 March and 8 April, Crowley had the hieroglyphs on the stele translated. Also, Rose revealed that her informant was not Horus himself, finally, on 7 April, Rose gave Crowley his instructions—for three days he was to enter the temple and write down what he heard between noon and 1,00 P. M. The apartment was on the floor, and the temple was the drawing room. This voice is described as passionate and hurried, and was of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, not bass—perhaps a rich tenor or baritone
9.
93 (Thelema)
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The number 93 is of great significance in Thelema, a religion founded by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1904 with the writing of The Book of the Law. The central philosophy of Thelema is in two phrases from Liber AL, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law and Love is the law, the two primary terms in these statements are Will and Love, respectively. In the Greek language, they are Thelema and Agape and this custom derives from Aleister Crowleys guideline that Thelemites should greet each other with the Law of Thelema by saying Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Since saying the entire Law can be cumbersome, using 93 has become a kind of shorthand, Crowley often used this form himself within his own letters. Aleister Crowley wrote thus on the matter, I am often asked why I begin my letters this way, no matter whether I am writing to my lady or to my butcher, always I begin with these eleven words. Why, how else should I begin, what other greeting could be so glad. Rejoice with me, sister, there is no law beyond Do what thou wilt, works of Aleister Crowley Libri of Aleister Crowley 666418 Thelemapedia. Magick Edited, annotated, and introduced by Hymenaeus Beta, thee Psychick Bible, The Apocryphal Scriptures ov Genesis P-Orridge & thee Third MIND ov Psychic TV. San Francisco, California, Alecto Enterprises,1994,93 Yall, a short explanation of 93 and a comparison with the Wiccan Rede
10.
Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass
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Aleister Crowley wrote The Gnostic Mass — technically called Liber XV or Book 15 — in 1913 while travelling in Moscow, Russia. The structure is similar to the Mass of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church and it is the central rite of Ordo Templi Orientis and its ecclesiastical arm, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica. The ceremony calls for five officers, a Priest, a Priestess, a Deacon, human nature demands the satisfaction of the religious instinct, and, to very many, this may best be done by ceremonial means. I wished therefore to construct a ritual through which people enter into ecstasy as they have always done under the influence of appropriate ritual. In recent years, there has been a failure to attain this object, because the established cults shock their intellectual convictions. I resolved that my Ritual should celebrate the sublimity of the operation of universal forces without introducing disputable metaphysical theories, I would neither make nor imply any statement about nature which would not be endorsed by the most materialistic man of science. Crowley published the text of the Gnostic Mass three times, in 1918 in a publication called The International, in 1919 in The Equinox, and in 1929 in Magick in Theory and Practice. There are four pieces of furniture in a Gnostic Mass temple, The High Altar. It is covered with a crimson cloth and it is situated in the East, or in the direction of Boleskine House—Crowleys former estate—on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland. The two-tiered super-altar sits on top of the High Altar and it all holds 22 candles, the Stele of Revealing, the Book of the Law, the Cup, and two bunches of roses. There is room for the Paten, and the Priestess to sit, the High Altar is contained within a great Veil, and sits on a dais with three steps. On either side of the High Altar are two pillars, countercharged in black and white, the Altar of Incense, to the West of the Dais is a black altar made of superimposed cubes. The Font, this is a small circular item which is able to contain or hold water, the Tomb, this is generally a small, enclosing space with an entrance that is covered by a veil. It should be big enough to hold the Priest, Deacon, There are six component ceremonies within the Gnostic Mass, The congregation enters the temple, the Deacon presents the Law of Thelema, and the Gnostic Creed is recited. The Priestess and the Children enter from a side room, the Priestess raises the Priest from his Tomb, then purifies, consecrates, robes and crowns him. The Priestess is enthroned at the High Altar and the veil is closed, the Priest circumambulates the temple and he ascends to the veil. The officers give their orations, including the Calendar by the Deacon, the Priest then opens the veil and kneels at the High Altar. Eleven prayers addressed to the Sun, Moon, Lord, Lady, Gnostic Saints, Earth, Principles, Birth, Marriage, Death, and The End
11.
Works of Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was a highly prolific writer, not only on the topic of Thelema and magick, but on philosophy, politics, and culture. He was also a poet and playwright and left behind a large number of personal letters. The following list contains works published and edited by other hands after Crowleys death, many of the important works of Aleister Crowley are in the form of Libri, which are usually short documents consisting of core teachings, methodologies, practices, or Thelemic scripture. Class consists of books or essays which are the result of ordinary scholarship, enlightened, class consists of matter which is to be regarded rather as suggestive than anything else. Class consists of the Official Rituals and Instructions, class consists of manifestos, broadsides, epistles and other public statements. Some publications are composite, and pertain to more than one class, the following list encompasses both Libri and other works, including those compiled or edited after Crowleys death by others. 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth, ISBN 1-56184-035-1 Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary. ISBN 1-57863-372-9 Amrita, Essays in Magical Rejuvenation, ISBN 0-87728-210-2 The Book of the Law. ISBN 0-87728-334-6 The Book of Lies, which is also falsely called Breaks, ISBN 0-87728-516-0 The Book of Thoth, A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians. ISBN 0-911662-50-2 Collected Works of Aleister Crowley 1905-1907, ISBN 0-87968-130-6 Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers. ISBN 0-87728-888-7 The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, An Autohagiography, london, Boston, Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-85207-131-0 Diary of a Drug Fiend, ISBN 0-87728-146-7 Eight Lectures on Yoga. ISBN 0-941404-36-6 Enochian World of Aleister Crowley, Enochian Sex Magick, ISBN 1-56184-029-7 The Equinox. York Beach, ME, Weiser Books. ISBN 0-87728-719-8 The Equinox of the Gods, ISBN 0-87728-210-2 Gems from the Equinox. Phoenix, AZ, Falcon Press. ISBN 0-941404-10-2 The General Principles of Astrology, ISBN 0-87728-908-5 The Goetia, The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. ISBN 0-87728-847-X The Heart of the Master, ISBN 0-919690-00-9 The Holy Books of Thelema. ISBN 0-87728-579-9 Khing Kang King, The Classic of Purity, Being Liber XXI, ISBN 0-913576-16-6 Konx Om Pax, Essays in Light. ISBN 0-933429-04-5 The Law is for All, The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX, ISBN 1-56184-090-4 Liber Aleph vel CXI, The Book of Wisdom or Folly
12.
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
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Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, or the Gnostic Catholic Church, is a Gnostic church organization. It is the arm of the Ordo Templi Orientis, an international fraternal initiatory organization devoted to promulgating the Law of Thelema. Thelema is a philosophical, mystical and religious system elaborated by Aleister Crowley, the word Catholic denotes the universality of doctrine and not a Christian or Roman Catholic belief set. The chief function of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica is the public and private performance of the Gnostic Mass, according to William Bernard Crow, Crowley wrote the Gnostic Mass under the influence of the Liturgy of St. Basil of the Russian Church. Its structure is influenced by the initiatory rituals of the Ordo Templi Orientis. Its most notable separation from similar rites of other churches is a Priestess officiating with a Priest, Deacon, in addition to the Eucharist, baptism, confirmation, marriage, and last rites are offered by E. G. C. Marriage is not limited to couples of opposite gender, about the Gnostic Mass, Crowley wrote in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. The Ritual of the Gnostic Catholic Church, I prepared for the use of the O. T. O. The central ceremony of its public and private celebration, corresponding to the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church and it is the single most commonly performed ritual at O. T. O. Bodies, with many locations celebrating the Mass monthly or more frequently, bodies make some or all of these celebrations open to interested members of the public, so the Mass is often an individuals first experience of the O. T. O. Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica has a structure of clergy, assisting officers. Before 1997, the two systems were more loosely correlated, but since there have been strict rules concerning minimum O. T. O. degrees required to serve in particular E. G. C. Membership in Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica is similar to the Roman Catholic Church, clergy must be initiate members of O. T. O. While laity may affiliate to E. G. C. through baptism, novice clergy are initiate members who participate in the administration of E. G. C. Sacraments, although they have not yet taken orders, the first ordination in E. G. C. is that of the diaconate. Second Degree initiates of O. T. O. who have confirmed in E. G. C. can be ordained as Deacons. The sacerdotal ordination admits members to the priesthood, sacerdotal ordinands must hold at least the K. E. W. degree of O. T. O. A degree only available by invitation, the Priesthood is responsible for administering the sacraments through the Gnostic Mass and other ceremonies as authorized by their supervising Bishops
13.
The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn
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The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn is an esoteric community of magical practitioners, many of whom come from pagan backgrounds. The OSOGD was founded by Sam Webster in 2002 and based on the principles of the open-source software movement, the organization grew out of a series of workshops on ceremonial magic held by Webster in 2001. According to Sam Webster, The Open Source Order is founded on the principle that true spirituality is omnipresent, sufficiently skilled practitioners can and do modify the practices to serve specific purposes or to take advantage of the century-plus development in the craft to improve their effect. In temple work, the OSOGD uses Egyptian, Enochian and Thelemic godforms in preference to the Judeo-Christian Archangels typical of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. According to the Manifesto, OSOGD teaches a progressively tiered system of spiritual development designed to invoke the Higher or Divine Genius latent in every human being. To actually join the Order, a person must have access to its Lodge. The Order does not conduct distance initiations, and requires that all initiates attend initiation rituals in person, the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn draws heavily from Eastern sources, Thelema, Paganism, and the works of Aleister Crowley. Interview with Sam Webster of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn on Thelema Coast to Coast #28, new-time religion in NewsForge, The Online Newspaper for Linux and Open Source. Open to Revisions Search Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 19, retrieved July 27,2009 Krengel, Eric. Open Source Religion Explored Again -- Beyond the Western Traditions, January 16,2007 OSOGD, the Manifesto of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn. Not In Kansas Anymore - A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America, ISBN 0-06-072678-4 Website of The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn
14.
Typhonian Order
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The Typhonian Order, previously known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis, is a self-initiatory magical order based in the United Kingdom that focuses on magickal and typhonian concepts. It was originally led by British occultist Kenneth Grant and his partner Steffi Grant, the original O. T. O. was founded by the wealthy German industrialist Carl Kellner. After Kellners death in 1905, Theodor Reuss became Outer Head of the Order, in 1920, Reuss suffered a stroke, leading Aleister Crowley to question his competence to continue as Outer Head of the Order. By 1921, Crowley and Reuss were exchanging letters, culminating in Reuss expulsion of Crowley from O. T. O. Crowley then informed Reuss that he was proclaiming himself Outer Head of the Order, Reuss died in 1923 without naming a successor, and Crowley was subsequently elected and ratified as Outer Head of the Order in a Conference of Grand Masters in 1925. World War II then intervened, destroying the European branches of O. T. O. karl Germer was incarcerated by the Nazis. By the end of the war, the sole surviving O. T. O, organization was Agapé Lodge in California, where Germer moved after he was released from internment in 1941. After Crowleys death, Germer was his successor for some time. Karl Germer disliked this new manifesto so much that he expelled Grant from the O. T. O. Grant responded by declaring himself the Outer Head of the Order, assuming the XII° degree, a document published in 1998 in Volume 2, Number 2 of Starfire purported to demonstrate that Crowley appointed Grant as Outer Head of the Order in 1947, before Crowleys demise. A statement published in March 2009 in Volume 2, Number 3 of Starfire, however, acknowledges that it has subsequently established the document was a fake. The Typhonian Order is among the most well-known Thelemic magical orders, in particular, it has influenced Dragon Rouge and was instrumental in the creation of Nemas Maat Magick movement. In Brazil the movement known as Shaitan-Aiwaz Lodge was based on the structure of Typhonian Order and is led by occultist Fernando Liguori. P. Crowleys depiction of Lam does indeed presage descriptions and representations of entities which have come to be known as the grey aliens in U. F. O. It must be emphasized that the Typhonian Order does not appear to interpret its alleged contacts with praeter-human intelligences in a literal fashion. Rather, Lam and entities from the Cthulhu Mythos are conventions of a sort which enable humans to interact with something non-human, organizationally, it is believed that the Typhonian Order has shifted from a formal hierarchy to a less hierarchical structure. Ordo Templi Orientis Left Hand Path Evans, Dave, Aleister Crowley and the 20th Century Synthesis of Magick
15.
Nuit
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Nuit is a goddess in Thelema, the speaker in the first Chapter of The Book of the Law, the sacred text written or received in 1904 by Aleister Crowley. Nut is an Egyptian sky goddess who leans over her husband/brother, Geb and she is usually depicted as a naked woman who is covered with stars. She represents the All, pure potentiality both as it flowers into the universe and as it resides beyond embodiment. Within this system, she is one-third of the cosmology, along with Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. She has several titles, including the Queen of Infinite Space, Our Lady of the Stars, Nuit represents the infinitely-expanded circle whose circumference is unmeasurable and whose center is everywhere. According to Thelemic doctrine, it is the interaction between these two principles that creates the manifested universe similar to the gnostic syzygy. Some quotes from the First Chapter of The Book of the Law, Every man, come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love. For I am divided for loves sake, for the chance of union, the word of the Law is Θελημα. Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look, for there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, for pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect. Love is the law, love under will, I give unimaginable joys on earth, certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death, peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy, nor do I demand aught in sacrifice. In The Equinox of the Gods, Crowley writes of Nuit in comparison to Christianity, Nuit cries, I love you, like a lover and she woos like a mistress, whispers To me. In every ear, Jesus, with verb, appeals vehemently to them that labour and are heavy laden. The following are quotes from Crowleys commentaries to The Book of the Law, note that Heaven is not a place where Gods Live, Nuit is Heaven, itself. Nuit is All that which exists, and the condition of that existence, Hadit is the Principle which causes modifications in this Being. This explains how one may call Nuit Matter, and Hadit Motion and it should be evident that Nuit obtains the satisfaction of Her Nature when the parts of Her Body fulfill their own Nature. The sacrament of life is not only so from the point of view of the celebrants, in Egyptian mythology, Nut was the sky goddess. She is the daughter of Shu and Tefnut, the sun god Ra entered her mouth after the sun set in the evening and was reborn from her vulva the next morning
16.
Hadit
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Hadit refers to a Thelemic version of Chaos. Hadit is the speaker of the second chapter of The Book of the Law. He may refer to the serpent Apophis, Crowley also identified Chaos as the father of life and counterpart of Babalon. Hadit has been interpreted as the spirit of man, the Holy Ghost, the sperm and egg in which the DNA of man is carried. When juxtaposed with Nuit in The Book of the Law, Hadit represents each unique point-experience and these point-experiences in aggregate comprise the sum of all possible experience, Nuith. Hadit, the Great God, the lord of the sky, is depicted on the Stele of Revealing in the form of the disk of the Sun. However, while the ancient Egyptians treated the Sun and the stars as separate. Furthermore, The Book of the Law says, Every man, in The Book of the Law he says, I am alone, there is no god where I am. He is the flame burns in every heart of man. He is identified with kundalini, in The Book of the Law he says, I am the Secret Serpent coiled about to spring, if I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I, there is great danger in me. Hadit is the Fire of Desire at the Heart of Matter, the combination of the upward-pointing triangle of Hadit and the downward-pointing triangle of Nuit forms the Star of Spirit. The union of the infinitely small Hadit and the infinitely great Nuit causes an explosive rapture which leads to samādhi. His symbols are our Sun, the serpent, the Fire Snake, the star Sothis, the planet Pluto, sperm, the Will, the globe, the Hermit. He is Leo to Nuits Aquarius, the short form of his name, Had, forms the central syllable of the word of the Aeon, Abrahadabra. The earlier, Egyptian version, went by the name of Heru-Behdeti or Horus of Behdet, thoth let him take the form of the solar disk to help a younger version of Horus—Re-Horakhty, or Ra-Hoor-Khuit—in a battle with Set and his army. Around the time of its creation, Egyptian funerary teachings apparently included the new idea that the deceased could become one with the sun god, the Book of the Law Nu Nuit Heru-ra-ha Free Encyclopedia of Thelema. Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, Hadit and the Stele of Revealing
17.
Heru-ra-ha
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Heru is a composite deity within Thelema, a religion that began in 1904 with Aleister Crowley and his Book of the Law. Heru-ra-ha is composed of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-paar-kraat and he is associated with the other two major Thelemic deities found in The Book of the Law, Nuit and Hadit, who are also godforms related to ancient Egyptian mythology. Their images link Nuit and Hadit to the established Egyptian deities Nut, the Active Aspect of Heru-ra-ha is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, more commonly referred to by the Greek transliteration Ra-Herakhty, means Ra Horus on the Horizon. Ra-Hoor-Khuit or Ra-Hoor-Khut is the speaker in the Third Chapter of The Book of the Law, some quotes from his Chapter, Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance. Fear not at all, fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light, and I am the strength, force, vigour, I am the warrior Lord of the Forties, the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring you to victory & joy, I will be at arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof, courage is your armour, go on, go on, in my strength, there is no law beyond Do what thou wilt. Within Thelema, Ra-Hoor-Khuit is called the Lord of the Aeon, according to the instructions that Crowley claimed to have received from the 8th Enochian Aethyr, the five-pointed star of flame symbolizes Ra-Hoor-Khuit in certain contexts. An appellation of Ra, identifying him with Horus, this shows the two as manifestations of the singular Solar Force. Khuit also refers to a form of the goddess Hathor at Athribis. Khut refers to the goddess Isis as light giver of the new year and this last meaning serves as a title of Isis in one of the hymns to Isis-Hathor at the Temple of Philae. Hathor also has the titles Uraeus of Ra and Great Flame, hoor is represented as a young boy with a childs sidelock of hair, sucking his finger. The Greeks, Ovid and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn attributed silence to him, aiwass, the being who dictated The Book of the Law to Crowley, in the books first chapter introduces himself as the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat. Also known as The Babe in the Lotus, Hoor-paar-kraat is sometimes thought of as the baby Ra-Hoor-Khuit, in the second interpretation, the Golden Dawn placed Hoor-paar-kraat at the center of their Hall of Maat while the officers of the temple revolved around him. The Cry of the First Aethyr in Crowleys Liber 418 presents Horus and it is a little child covered with lilies and roses. He is supported by countless myriads of Archangels, the Archangels are all the same colourless brilliance, and every one of them is blind. Below the Archangels again are many, many other legions, and so on far below, and on his forehead, and on his heart, and in his hand, is the secret sigil of the Beast
18.
Babalon
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In her most abstract form, she represents the female sexual impulse and the liberated woman. In the creed of the Gnostic Mass she is identified with Mother Earth. He believed in his life the Lady of Babalon was personofied as Lady Leah Hirsig and her consort is Chaos, the Father of Life and the male form of the Creative Principle. Babalon is often described as being girt with a sword and riding the Beast and she is often referred to as a sacred whore, and her primary symbol is the Chalice or Graal. As Crowley wrote in his The Book of Thoth, she rides astride the Beast, in her hand she holds the reins. In her right she holds aloft the cup, the Holy Grail aflame with love, in this cup are mingled the elements of the sacrament of the Aeon. Choronzon is the dweller there, and its job is to trap the traveler in his meaningless world of illusion, however, Babalon is just on the other side, beckoning. From Crowleys book Magick Without Tears, he guardeth the Abyss, and in her is a perfect purity of that which is above, yet she is sent as the Redeemer to them that are below. She is considered to be a whore because she denies no one. And because she made her self the servant of each. Not as yet canst thou comprehend her glory, beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desirable, for thou hast given thyself to everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their strength. For in that thou didst understand. Therefore art thou called Understanding, O Babylon, Lady of the Night, the concept contained within this aspect of Babalon is that of the mystical ideal, the quest to become one with All through the annihilation of the earthly ego. The blood spilling into the graal of Babalon is then used by her to flood the world with Life and Beauty, in sex magic, the mixture of female sexual fluids and semen produced in the sexual act with the Scarlet Woman or Babalon is called the Elixir of Life. And this palace is nothing but the body of a woman, proud and delicate and she is like a child of twelve years old. She has very deep eyelids, and long lashes and her eyes are closed, or nearly closed. It is impossible to say anything about her and she is naked, her whole body is covered with fine gold hairs, that are the electric flames which are the spears of mighty and terrible Angels whose breastplates are the scales of her skin. And the hair of her head, that flows down to her feet, is the light of God himself
19.
Baphomet
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It appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century. The name first came into popular English usage in the 19th century, with debate, since 1856, the name Baphomet has been associated with a Sabbatic Goat image drawn by Eliphas Levi which contains binary elements representing the sum total of the universe. The name Baphomet appeared in July 1098 in a letter by the crusader Anselm of Ribemont, A chronicler of the First Crusade, Raymond of Aguilers, the name Bafometz later appeared around 1195 in the Occitan poems Senhors, per los nostres peccatz by the troubadour Gavaudan. Around 1250 a poem bewailing the defeat of the Seventh Crusade by Austorc dAorlhac refers to Bafomet. De Bafomet is also the title of one of four surviving chapters of an Occitan translation of Ramon Llulls earliest known work, over 100 different charges had been leveled against the Templars. Yet Malcolm Barber observes that historians find it difficult to accept that an affair of such enormity rests upon total fabrication, similarly Michael Haag suggests that the simulated worship of Baphomet did indeed form part of a Templar initiation ritual. The indictment published by the court of Rome set forth and that in all the provinces they had idols, that is to say, heads, some of which had three faces, others but one, sometimes, it was a human skull. The name Baphomet comes up in several of these confessions, Peter Partner states in his 1987 book The Knights Templar and their Myth, In the trial of the Templars one of their main charges was their supposed worship of a heathen idol-head known as a Baphomet. The description of the changed from confession to confession. Some Templars denied any knowledge of it, others, under torture, described it as being either a severed head, a cat, or a head with three faces. The Templars did possess several silver-gilt heads as reliquaries, including one marked capud lviiim, another said to be St. Euphemia, the claims of an idol named Baphomet were unique to the Inquisition of the Templars. Karen Ralls, author of the Knights Templar Encyclopedia, argues that it is significant that no specific evidence appears in either the Templar Rule or in medieval period Templar documents. A templar of Florence declared that, in the chapters of the order, one brother said to the other, showing the idol, Adore this head—this head is your god. Alain Demurger, however, rejects the idea that the Templars could have adopted the doctrines of their enemies, helen Nicholson writes that the charges were essentially manipulative—the Templars were accused of becoming fairy-tale Muslims. Medieval Christians believed that Muslims were idolatrous and worshipped Muhammad as a god, with mahomet becoming mammet in English and this idol-worship is attributed to Muslims in several chansons de geste. For example, one finds the gods Bafum e Travagan in a Provençal poem on the life of St. Honorat, in the Chanson de Simon Pouille, written before 1235, a Saracen idol is called Bafumetz. While modern scholars and the Oxford English Dictionary state that the origin of the name Baphomet was a probable Old French version of Mahomet, in the 18th century, speculative theories arose that sought to tie the Knights Templar with the origins of Freemasonry. I believe it to have been the Pythagorean pentagon of health and it is well known how holy this figure was considered, and that the Gnostics had much in common with the Pythagoreans
20.
Choronzon
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Choronzon /ˌkoʊˌroʊnˈzoʊn/ is a demon or devil that originated in writing with the 16th-century occultists Edward Kelley and John Dee within the latters occult system of Enochian magic. Thelemites believe that if he is met with proper preparation, then his function is to destroy the ego, including Crowleys spelling of the name, Choronzon, there appear to be three alternatives. Meric Casaubon states that the name is Coronzon in his ‘True, however, this is at variance with the spelling that appears in Dr. John Dees own journals. Laycocks Enochian Dictionary gives the spelling as Coronzom, citing an original manuscript as the source for the variant. A. D. Mercers Liber Coronzom discusses the question of spelling in some detail and includes images taken from Dees original diaries and from Casaubons True and Faithful Relation. Showing the differences Otherwise known as the demon of dispersion, Choronzon is described by Crowley as a personification of the raving. In this system, Choronzon is given form in evocation only so it may be mastered, Crowley states that he and Victor Benjamin Neuburg evoked Choronzon in the Sahara Desert in December 1909. Nearly all writers except Lawrence Sutin take him to mean the latter, in the account, Choronzon is described as changing shape, which is read variably as an account of an actual metamorphosis, a subjective impression of Neuburgs, or fabrication on Crowleys part. The account describes the demon throwing sand over the triangle to breach it, following which it attacked Neuburg in the form of a naked savage, Crowleys account has been criticized as unreliable, as the relevant original pages are torn from the notebook in which the account was written. This, along with other inconsistencies in the manuscript, has led to speculation that Crowley embroidered the event to support his own belief system.472. The conversation begins when two British students ask Neuburg about a version of the story in which Crowley turned him into a zebra, Neuburgs response in this book contradicts both the words attributed to him in Liber 418 and the statement of Crowley biographer Lawrence Sutin. Choronzon is deemed to be held in check by the power of the goddess Babalon, inhabitant of binah, both Choronzon and the abyss are discussed in Crowleys Confessions, The name of the Dweller in the Abyss is Choronzon, but he is not really an individual. These forms swirl senselessly into haphazard heaps like dust devils, and each such chance aggregation asserts itself to be an individual and shrieks, peter Carrolls Mass of Choronzon is a ritual with the purpose of casting the energy of ones ego into the universe to effectuate an unknown desire. This, in part, has served as an inspiration for modernized ritual effectuation based on the 333 current, when the internet made each project aware of the other, they fused these into one project. As of 2012, they operate the domains for the name Choronzon under. org. net, and. info, and have released several albums on CD as well as publishing a printed book, Panic Pandemic. Claiming that what they do is not merely music, but also actual magick acts fused into it, an invocation of Choronzon forms the basis for an episode of Hammer House of Horror entitled Guardian of the Abyss. The episode was also the inspiration for the album Choronzon by British blackened death metal band Akercocke, thrash/metal band Megadeth mentions Choronzon in their song Looking Down the Cross from their 1985 album, Killing Is My Business. A minor demon named Choronzon appears several times in Neil Gaimans The Sandman, Choronzon is one of the collectible demons in the Shin Megami Tensei series of games
21.
Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i
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Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i, also known as Ankh-af-na-khonsu, was a priest of the Egyptian god Mentu who lived in Thebes during the 25th and 26th dynasty. He was the son of Bes-en-Mut I and Ta-neshet. Sr. Lutea, writing in The Scarlet Letter, explains some of the words in his name, A translation of the name might be close to the following, the hyphen af is always part of another word that lends exclamatory force. The word, na is generally used as a preposition, such as to, for, belonging to, through, Khonsu was the adopted son of Amun and Mut from the Theban triad. His name comes from a meaning, to cross over or wanderer or he who traverses. So, his name may be translated as the truth that has crossed over. Luteas interpretation is a one that Egyptologists would tend to reject. A modern Egyptological approach would translate the name Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu as He lives for Khonsu, the Stela of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu is a painted, wooden offering stele, discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Bahri by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. According to one translation of the stela done in the Thelemic perspective, kenneth Grant wrote that Crowley claimed to have been a re-embodiment of the magical current represented by the priesthood to which Ankh-af-na-Khonsu belonged. The Book of the Law/Liber AL vel Legis
22.
Aiwass
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Aiwass is the name given to a voice that English occultist Aleister Crowley claimed to have heard on April 8,9, and 10 in 1904. Crowley claimed that voice, which he considered originated with a non-corporeal intelligence. According to Crowley, the first appearance of Aiwass was during the Three Days of the writing of Liber al vel Legis and his first and only identification as such is in Chapter I, Behold. It is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat, Hoor-paar-kraat is more commonly referred to by the Greek transliteration Harpocrates, meaning Horus the Child, whom Crowley considered to be the central deity within the Thelemic cosmology. However, Harpocrates also represents the Higher Self, the Holy Guardian Angel, Crowley described the encounter in detail in The Equinox of the Gods, saying, The Voice of Aiwass came apparently from over my left shoulder, from the furthest corner of the room. It seemed to echo itself in my heart in a very strange manner. I have noticed a similar phenomenon when I have been waiting for a message fraught with great hope or dread, the voice was passionately poured, as if Aiwass were alert about the time-limit. The voice was of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, not bass – perhaps a rich tenor or baritone. The English was free of native or foreign accent, perfectly pure of local or caste mannerisms, thus startling. I had an impression that the speaker was actually in the corner where he seemed to be, in a body of fine matter, transparent as a veil of gauze. He seemed to be a tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, the dress was not Arab, it suggested Assyria or Persia, but very vaguely. I took little note of it, for to me at that time Aiwass was a such as I had often seen in visions. Crowley says this later manifestation took the form of a pyramid of light, Crowley went to great pains to argue that Aiwass was an objectively separate being from himself, possessing far more knowledge than he or any other human could possibly have. He wrote no forger could have prepared so complex a set of numerical and literal puzzles, finally, this excerpt, The existence of true religion presupposes that of some discarnate intelligence, whether we call him God or anything else. And this is exactly what no religion had ever proved scientifically, and this is what The Book of the Law does prove by internal evidence, altogether independent of any statement of mine. This proof is evidently the most important step in science that could possibly be made, and, further, having provided the proof required. However, Crowley also spoke of Aiwass in symbolic terms, in The Law is for All, he goes on at length in comparison to various other deities and spiritual concepts, but most especially to The Fool. Thus we see him as the Great Fool of Celtic legend, the Pure Fool of Act I of Parsifal, and, generally speaking, perhaps more importantly, Crowley later identified Aiwass as his own personal Holy Guardian Angel and more
23.
Maat
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Maat or Maat was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, cuneiform texts indicate that the word mˤ3t was pronounced /múʕʔa/ during the New Kingdom period, having lost the feminine ending t. Sound shifts from u to e later produced the cognate Coptic word ⲙⲉⲉ/ⲙⲉ truth, later, as a goddess in other traditions of the Egyptian pantheon, where most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth, as their attributes are similar. In other accounts, Thoth was paired off with Seshat, goddess of writing and measure and her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. Pharaohs are often depicted with the emblems of Maat to emphasise their role in upholding the laws of the Creator, Maat represents the ethical and moral principle that every Egyptian citizen was expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in manners that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law, from an early period the King would describe himself as the Lord of Maat who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart. The ancient Egyptians had a conviction of an underlying holiness. Cosmic harmony was achieved by public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state, an impious King could bring about famine or blasphemy blindness to an individual. In opposition to the order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of Isfet, chaos, lies. In one Middle Kingdom text the Creator declares I made every man like his fellow, a passage in the Instruction of Ptahhotep presents Maat as follows, Maat is good and its worth is lasting. It has not been disturbed since the day of its creator and it lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing has never yet brought its venture to port and it is true that evil may gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts, a man can say, It was the property of my father. There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law, Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules. Maat represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the 5th dynasty onwards the Vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat, later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the wisdom literature, or Sebayt. These spiritual texts dealt with social or professional situations and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Maat
24.
Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu
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The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i is a painted, wooden offering stele, discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Bahri by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. It was originally made for the Montu-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i, and was discovered near his coffin ensemble of two sarcophagi and two anthropomorphic inner coffins and it dates to circa 680/70 BCE, the period of the late Dynasty 25/early Dynasty 26. Originally located in the former Bulaq Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian Museum of Cairo, the stele is made of wood and covered with a plaster gesso, which has been painted. It measures 51.5 centimeters high and 31 centimeters wide, the symbol of the west, the place of the Dead, is seen behind Re-Harakhty. Above the figures is a depiction of Nuit, the sky goddess who stretches from horizon to horizon, directly beneath her is the Winged Solar Disk, Horus of Behdet. The stele is known as the Stele of Revealing and is a central element of the religious philosophy Thelema founded by Aleister Crowley. The stele is a typical example of a late Third Intermediate Period Theban offering stele dating to the late Dynasty 25/early Dynasty 26. It was discovered in 1854 as part of a burial of priests of Montu at Dayr al-Bahri. The stele is painted on both faces with Egyptian texts, some of which are Chapter 91 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, make for me the path to the place in which Re, Atum, Khepri, and Hathor are therein. The Osiris, Gods Servant of Montu, Lord of Waset, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, <True of> Voice, son of the like titled Ba-sa-en-Mut, borne of the Chantress of Amun-Re, Lady of the House, Ta-nesh<et>. Although I have united to the land to the western side of Heaven. The designation of this object as the Stele of Revealing was given in April 1904 by the occultist Aleister Crowley, according to Aleister Crowley, his wife Rose had already reported a revelation from the god Horus, through his messenger Aiwass. The couple went to the newly opened Egyptian Museum, to see if she could recognize Horus on Monday, Rose recognized an image of the god on this painted stele, which at the time bore the catalogue number 666, a number holding religious significance in Thelema. According to Crowley, the stela depicts the three deities of Thelema, Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Crowley states that he dined with the Egyptologist Émile Charles Albert Brugsch bey, Curator of the Bulaq Museum to discuss the stele in his charge, according to Crowley, Brugschs French assistant curator translated the hieroglyphic text on the stele. In 1912 a second translation was made for Crowley by Alan Gardiner
25.
Abrahadabra
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Abrahadabra is a word that first publicly appeared in The Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. Its author, Aleister Crowley, described it as the Word of the Aeon and this is in reference to his belief that the writing of Liber Legis heralded a new Aeon for mankind that was ruled by the god Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Abrahadabra is, therefore, the formula of this new age. It is not to be confused with the Word of the Law of the Aeon, Crowley replaced the C in Abracadabra with an H, which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in their Neophyte ritual linked with Breath and Life as well as with the god Horus. He appears to say that this happened before his January 1901 meeting with Oscar Eckenstein, at this meeting, Eckenstein ordered Crowley to put aside magick for the moment, and to practice meditation or concentration. In Gematria, Crowley says he took great interest in Abrahadabra, and its qabalistic number 418, at the time someone ordered him to abandon the study of magic, in the Book of Thoth, Crowley refers to Abrahadabra as a cypher of the Great Work. The word Abrahadabra appears repeatedly in the 1904 invocation of Horus that preceded the writing of Liber Legis and it also appears in a May 1901 diary that Crowley published in The Equinox. The essay Gematria gives Hindu, Christian, and Unsectarian versions of the problem that Crowley intended this magick word to answer and he also gives a qabalistic equivalent for each phrasing, and a brief symbolic answer for each. The unsectarian version reads, I am the finite square, I wish to be one with the infinite circle and its equivalent refers to the Cross of Extension and the infinite Rose. Crowleys numerological explanation of ABRAHADABRA focuses mainly on this last formulation, Abrahadabra is also referred to as the Word of Double Power. In Commentaries, Crowley says that the word is a symbol of the establishment of the pillar or phallus of the Macrocosm. in the void of the Microcosm. Abrahadabra is from Abrasax, Father Sun, which =365418 =22 x 19 Manifestation In Aramaic this word roughly translates into I will create as I speak, had is the keyword of Abrahadabra. Had is another name for Hadit, the second Speaker in Liber Legis, ABRAHADABRA is The key of the rituals because it expresses the Magical Formulae of uniting various complementary ideas, especially the Five of the Microcosm with the Six of the Macrocosm. Abrahadabra is the glyph of the blending of the 5 and the 6, the Rose, Abrahadabra, the reward of Ra Hoor Khut. Let him not seek to try, but one cometh after him, whence I say not, then this line drawn is a key, then this circle squared in its failure is a key also. It shall be his child & that strangely, let him not seek after this, for thereby alone can he fall from it. The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabra, Crowley, Aleister, Liber Samekh, Magick, Book 4, York Beach, ME, Weiser Crowley, Aleister, The Law is for All, Tempe, AZ, New Falcon Publications Thelemapedia. Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers, the Equinox, the original account of the teachings, rites and ceremonies of The Golden Dawn
26.
Unicursal hexagram
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The unicursal hexagram is a hexagram or six-pointed star that can be traced or drawn unicursally, in one continuous line rather than by two overlaid triangles. The hexagram can also be depicted inside a circle with the points touching it and it is often depicted in an interlaced form with the lines of the hexagram passing over and under one another to form a knot. It is the shape as depicted in Blaise Pascals 1639 Hexagrammum Mysticum Theorem. In Aleister Crowleys Thelema, the hexagram is usually depicted with a flower in the centre which symbolises a pentacle. The symbol itself is the equivalent of the ancient Egyptian Ankh, or the Rosicrucians Rosy Cross, the unicursal hexagram was part of the symbol called The Seal of Orichalcos that was prominent in the Waking the Dragons arc of Yu-Gi-Oh. A unicursal hexagram appears several times in the television series Supernatural as a symbol to ward off evil entities and it was also featured prominently in the season 8 episode As Time Goes By as the symbol signifying membership of the Men of Letters. Its mentioned that it stands above the gates to Atlantis, a modified version of the symbol appears on the cover of Mindless Self Indulgences fifth studio album How I Learned to Stop Giving a Shit and Love Mindless Self Indulgence. Serves as a symbol of Inferno fraction in the Heroes of Might, commonly used by the UK band Bring Me The Horizon since their release of Sempiternal in 2013. The unicursal hexagram has been used by the band Behemoth as a part of the props for their lives performances. 7₄ knot Wigner–Seitz cell As Above, So Below
27.
Eight Lectures on Yoga
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Eight Lectures on Yoga is a book by English occultist and teacher Aleister Crowley about the practice of Yoga. The book is number 4 of volume 3 of The Equinox, the work is largely a demystified look at yoga, using little to no jargon or satirical humor. It is divided two sections into eight parts, which are transcripts of eight one-hour lectures on the subject given by Crowley. The book was published in 1939. Eight Lectures on Yoga is divided into two chapters, Yoga for Yahoos and Yoga for Yellowbellies, in the book, Crowley instructs students on the steps needed to approach mysticism through Yoga, and details the complications that arise along the path. One intent Crowley had in writing the book was to dispel the myths surrounding Yoga in Europe at the time — most thought it to be an exotic. Lecture 1, Dissects the word Yoga, as well as its various implications on the human mind, lecture 2, Lists the eight limbs of Yoga, and explains the first, Yama, which is defined as control. Lecture 3, Details Niyama, the limb of Yoga. Lecture 4, Concerning Asana and Pranayama, the third and fourth limbs of Yoga, in this section, Crowley covers, in detail, the philosophical, mathematical, and scientific aspects of Yoga. These are divided into the four chapters. Full text of Eight Lectures on Yoga
28.
The Holy Books of Thelema
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Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema, designated his works as belonging to one of several classes. Not all of his work was placed in a class by him, Class A consists of works that are not to be changed, even to the letter. The Holy Books fall in this category, Class B consists of works of scholarship and enlightenment. Class C consists of material that suggests things other than the obvious, Class D consists of official rituals and instructions. Class E consists of manifestos, broadsides, epistles and other public statements, Liber AL vel Legis, also known as The Book of the Law, is the foundational text for Thelema. It is the only Holy Book that Aleister Crowley claimed to have had no part in the authorship of, the remaining texts were written between the years 1907 and 1911. According to Crowley, they were not so much written by him as through him, some of these works were originally published by Crowley in 1909 under the title ΘΕΛΗΜΑ. In 1983 these original texts, together with a number of texts, were published under the new title The Holy Books of Thelema by Ordo Templi Orientis under the direction of Hymenaeus Alpha. Volume I Liber LXI vel Causæ—Explains the actual history and origin of the present movement and this text, being in Class D, is not technically a Holy Book, but was included in ΘΕΛΗΜΑ as an Introduction, and is thus listed here. Liber LXV, Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente—An account of the relations of the aspirant, volume II Liber VII, Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli—These are the Birth Words of a Master of the Temple. Its 7 Chapters are referred to the 7 Planets in the order, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Sol, Mercury, Luna. Volume III Liber XXVII, Liber Trigrammaton sub Figura XXVII—Being a book of Trigrams of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin, an account of the Cosmic process. Liber CCXX, Liber AL vel Legis sub Figura CCXX, The Book of the Law—Among the Holy Books of Thelema, every Thelemite is expected to interpret the book, each for himself. Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita—An account of the Hexagram and the method of reducing it to the Unity and this book describes in magical language a very secret process of Initiation. Liber I, Liber B vel Magi—An account of the Grade of Magus, Liber X, Liber Porta Lucis—An account of the sending forth of the Master Therion by the A∴A∴ and an explanation of his mission. Liber LXVI, Liber Stellae Rubeae—Sexual Magick veiled in symbolism, Liber XC, Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus—An account of Initiation, and an indication as to those who are suitable for the same. Liber CLVI, Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni—Sexual Magick veiled in symbolism, Liber CCXXXI, Liber Arcanorum—An account of the cosmic process so far as it is indicated by the Tarot Trumps. The sequence of the 22 Trumps is explained as a formula of Initiation, Liber CD, Liber Tau vel Kabbalae Trium Literarum—A graphic interpretation of the Tarot on the plane of Initiation
29.
Frank Harris
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Frank Harris was a British editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to America early in life and he was to eventually become a citizen there. After graduation, he tired of his legal career and returned to Europe in 1882. He traveled on continental Europe before settling in London to pursue a career in journalism, Harris was born James Thomas Harris in 1855, in Galway, Ireland, to Welsh parents. His father, Thomas Vernon Harris, was an officer from Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. While living with his brother he was, for a year or more. At the age of 12 he was sent to Wales to continue his education as a boarder at the Ruabon Grammar School in Denbighshire, Harris was unhappy at the school and ran away within a year. He later invented a game he called Dirty Banshee. The art on the cards showed satyrs and goddesses coupling variously, Harris ran away to the United States in late 1869, arriving in New York City virtually penniless. The 13-year-old took a series of odd jobs to support himself, working first as a black, a porter, a general laborer. Harris would later turn these early occupational experiences into art, incorporating tales from them into his book The Bomb. From New York Harris moved to the American Midwest, settling in the second largest city, Chicago. Owing to Chicagos central place in the packing industry, Harris made the acquaintance of various cattlemen. Harris eventually grew tired of life in the industry and enrolled at the University of Kansas. In 1878, he married Florence Ruth Adams, who died the following year, Harris was not cut out to be a lawyer and soon decided to turn his attention to literature. He returned to England in 1882, later traveling to cities in Germany, Austria, France. He worked briefly as an American newspaper correspondent before settling down in England to seriously pursue the vocation of journalism, G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw as regular contributors. From 1908 to 1914 Harris concentrated on working as a novelist, authoring a series of books such as The Bomb, The Man Shakespeare
30.
Hashish
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Hash is an extracted cannabis product composed of compressed or purified preparations of stalked resin glands, called trichomes, from the plant. This all depends on the process and amount of solvent left over, the name comes from the Arabic word which means grass. It is believed that massive hashish production for international trade originated in Morocco during the 1960s, before the coming of the first hippies from the Hippie Hashish Trail, only small pieces of Lebanese hashish were found in Morocco. In 1596, Dutchman Jan Huyghen van Linschoten spent three pages on Bangue in his work documenting his journeys in the East. He particularly mentioned the Egyptian Hashish and he said, Bangue is likewise much used in Turkie and Egypt, and is made in three sorts, having also three names. In the 1800s, hashish was embraced in some European literary circles, baudelaire later wrote the 1860 book Les paradis artificiels, about the state of being under the influence of opium and hashish. At around the time, American author Fitz Hugh Ludlow wrote the 1857 book The Hasheesh Eater about his youthful experiences. Hashish can be consumed by oral ingestion or smoking, typically in a pipe, vaporizer or joints, Hashish is made from cannabinoid-rich glandular hairs known as trichomes, as well as varying amounts of cannabis flower and leaf fragments. The flowers of a female plant contain the most trichomes. Certain strains of cannabis are cultivated specifically for their ability to produce amounts of trichomes. The resin reservoirs of the trichomes, sometimes erroneously called pollen, are separated from the plant through various methods, mechanical separation methods use physical action to remove the trichomes from the plant, such as sieving through a screen by hand or in motorized tumblers. This technique is known as drysifting, the resulting powder, referred to as kief or drysift, is compressed with the aid of heat into blocks of hashish, if pure, the kief will become gooey and pliable. When a high level of pure THC is present, the end product will be almost transparent, ice-water separation is another mechanical method of isolating trichomes. Newer techniques have developed such as heat and pressure separations. Trichomes may break away from supporting stalks and leaves when plant material becomes brittle at low temperatures, the ice-water method requires ice, water, agitation, filtration bags with various-sized screens and plant material. With the ice-water extraction method the resin becomes hard and brittle and this allows large quantities of pure resins to be extracted in a very clean process without the use of solvents, making for a more purified hashish. Chemical separation methods use a solvent such as ethanol, butane or hexane to dissolve the lipophilic desirable resin. Remaining plant materials are filtered out of the solution and sent to the compost, the solvent is then evaporated, or boiled off leaving behind the desirable resins, called honey oil, hash oil, or just oil
31.
Geomancy
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Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. Geomancy was practiced by people from all social classes and it was one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Africa and Europe, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In Renaissance magic, geomancy was classified as one of the seven forbidden arts, along with necromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy, Geomancy is dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being superstition. Geomancy, from Ancient Greek geōmanteía translates literally to foresight by earth, it is a translation of the Arabic term ‛ilm al-raml, earlier Greek renditions of this word borrowed the word raml directly, rendering it as rhamplion or rabolion. Other Arabic names for geomancy include khatt al-raml and darb al-raml, the original names of the figures in Middle Eastern geomancy were traditionally given in Arabic, excluding a Persian origin. The reference in Hermetic texts to the mythical Ṭumṭum al-Hindi potentially points to an Indian origin, having an Islamic or Arabic origin is most likely, since the expansive trade routes of Arabian merchants would facilitate the exchange of culture and knowledge. It is theorized that related systems of divination in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ifá and sikidy, European scholars and universities began to translate Arabic texts and treatises in the early Middle Ages, including those on geomancy. The poem Experimentarius attributed to Bernardus Silvestris, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century, was a translation of a work on astrological geomancy. Other translators, such as Gerard of Cremona, also produced new translations of geomancy that incorporated astrological elements and techniques that were, up until this point, from this point on, more European scholars studied and applied geomancy, writing many treatises in the process. Geomancy made a revival in the 19th century, when renewed interest in the occult arose due to the works of Robert Thomas Cross, franz Hartmann published his text, The Principles of Astrological Geomancy, which spurred new interest in the divination system. In effect, they had reduced geomancy from an art of interpretation. Like other systems of divination, geomancy has a mythological origin, according to one Arabic Hermetic text, Idris witnessed the angel Jibril in a dream. Idris asked for enlightenment, and Jibril proceeded to draw a figure, upon being asked what he was doing. Keeping this secret, he sought out Ṭumṭum al-Hindi, an Indian king and this book was passed down through clandestine circles into the hands of Khalaf al-Barbarĩ, who traveled to Medina and converted to Islam by the prophet Muhammad himself. Confessing to knowing a divinatory art, he explained that pre-Islamic prophets knew geomancy, another mythological story for the origin of geomancy also involves Idris. After praying to God that He give Idris easily a means to earn his living, Idris rested one day, bored and without work, as he did so, a stranger appeared before him and questioned what he was doing. Idris replied that he was entertaining himself, but the stranger replied that he was doing a very serious act. Idris became incredulous and tried to deny this, but the stranger explained the significance of the meaning of the figure Idris drew and he then commanded Idris to draw another figure, and upon doing so the stranger explained the meaning and significance of that figure
32.
Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany
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Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes many hundreds of published stories, as well as successful plays, novels. He is best known for his 1924 fantasy novel The King of Elflands Daughter and he achieved great fame and success with his early short stories and plays, and during the 1910s was considered one of the greatest living writers of the English-speaking world. Born and raised in London, to the second-oldest title in the Irish peerage, Dunsany lived much of his life at what may be Irelands longest-inhabited house, Dunsany Castle near Tara, worked with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, received a doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin, was chess and pistol-shooting champion of Ireland. He died in Dublin after an attack of appendicitis, from a historically wealthy and famous family, Dunsany was related to many well-known Irish figures. He was a kinsman of the Catholic Saint Oliver Plunkett, the martyred Archbishop of Armagh and he was also related to the prominent Anglo-Irish unionist and later nationalist, Home Rule politician the Hon. Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett PC, KCVO, FRS, DL, JP and George Noble Plunkett, Papal Count and Republican politician, father of Joseph Mary Plunkett and his mother was a cousin of Sir Richard Burton, and he inherited from her considerable height, being 64. Plunketts only sibling, a brother, from whom he was later estranged, was the noted British naval officer. Edward Plunkett grew up at the properties, most notably Dunstall Priory in Shoreham, Kent and Dunsany Castle in County Meath. His schooling was at Cheam, Eton College and finally the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, the title passed to him at his fathers death at a fairly young age, in 1899, and Dunsany returned to Dunsany Castle after war duty, in 1901. In 1903, he met Lady Beatrice Child Villiers, youngest daughter of the 7th Earl of Jersey, living at Osterley Park and their only child, Randal, was born in 1906. The Dunsanys were socially active in both Dublin and London, and travelled between their homes in Meath, London and Kent, other than during World Wars I and II, and the Irish War of Independence. He was friendly with, for example, George William Russell, Oliver St. John Gogarty and, for a time, Dunsany was a keen hunter and sportsman, and was at one time the pistol-shooting champion of Ireland. He enjoyed cricket, provided the local cricket ground situated near Dunsany Crossroads and he was president of both the Irish Chess Union and the Kent County Chess Association for some years, and of Sevenoaks Chess Club for 54 years. Dunsany campaigned for animal rights, being known especially for his opposition to the docking of dogs tails and he was a supporter of Scouting over many years, serving as President of the Sevenoaks district Boy Scouts Association. He also supported the drama group, the Shoreham Players. Dunsany provided support for the British Legion in both Ireland and Kent, including grounds in Trim and poetry for the Irish branchs annual memorial service on a number of occasions, Dunsanys fame arose chiefly from his prolific writings, and he was involved with the Irish Literary Revival
33.
Charles Baudelaire
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Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal, expresses the nature of beauty in modern. Baudelaires highly original style of prose-poetry influenced a generation of poets including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud. He is credited with coining the term modernity to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in a metropolis. This obsessive idea is all a child of giant cities. Baudelaire is one of the innovators in French literature. He made Paris the subject of modern poetry and he would bring the citys details to life in the eyes and hearts of his readers. Baudelaire was born in Paris, France, on April 9,1821 and his father, François Baudelaire, a senior civil servant and amateur artist, was 34 years older than Baudelaires mother, Caroline. François died during Baudelaires childhood, in 1827, the following year, Caroline married Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Aupick, who later became a French ambassador to various noble courts. He stated in a letter to her that, There was in my childhood a period of passionate love for you, Baudelaire regularly begged his mother for money throughout his career, often promising that a lucrative publishing contract or journalistic commission was just around the corner. Baudelaire was educated in Lyon, where he boarded, Baudelaire was erratic in his studies, at times diligent, at other times prone to idleness. Later, he attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, studying law and he began to frequent prostitutes and may have contracted gonorrhea and syphilis during this period. He also began to run up debts, mostly for clothes, upon gaining his degree in 1839, he told his brother I dont feel I have a vocation for anything. His stepfather had in mind a career in law or diplomacy and his mother later recalled, Oh, what grief. If Charles had let himself be guided by his stepfather, his career would have very different. He would not have left a name in literature, it is true and his stepfather sent him on a voyage to Calcutta, India, in 1841 in the hope of ending his dissolute habits. The trip provided strong impressions of the sea, sailing, and exotic ports, on returning to the taverns of Paris, he began to compose some of the poems of Les Fleurs du Mal. At 21, he received an inheritance but squandered much of it within a few years
34.
W. B. Yeats
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William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and others. He was born in Sandymount, Ireland and educated there and in London and he spent childhood holidays in County Sligo and studied poetry from an early age when he became fascinated by Irish legends and the occult. These topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the 20th century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and its slow-paced and lyrical poems display Yeatss debts to Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, from 1900, his poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, in 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Of Anglo-Irish descent, William Butler Yeats was born at Sandymount in County Dublin and his father, John Butler Yeats, was a descendant of Jervis Yeats, a Williamite soldier, linen merchant, and well-known painter who died in 1712. Benjamin Yeats, Jerviss grandson and Williams great-great-grandfather, had in 1773 married Mary Butler of a family in County Kildare. Following their marriage, they kept the name Butler in the family name, Mary was a descendant of the Butler of Ormond family from the Neigham Gowran branch of the family. They were descendants of the first Earls of Ormond, by his marriage, Williams father John Yeats was studying law but abandoned his studies to study art at Heatherleys Art School in London. His mother, Susan Mary Pollexfen, came from a merchant family in Sligo. Yeats was raised a member of the Protestant Ascendancy, which was at the time undergoing a crisis of identity. In 1997, his biographer R. F. Foster observed that Napoleons dictum that to understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty is manifestly true of W. B. Y. Yeatss childhood and young adulthood were shadowed by the power-shift away from the minority Protestant Ascendancy, the 1880s saw the rise of Charles Stewart Parnell and the home rule movement, the 1890s saw the momentum of nationalism, while the Catholics became prominent around the turn of the century. These developments had an effect on his poetry, and his subsequent explorations of Irish identity had a significant influence on the creation of his countrys biography. In 1867, the moved to England to aid their father, John. At first the Yeats children were educated at home and their mother entertained them with stories and Irish folktales. John provided an education in geography and chemistry, and took William on natural history explorations of the nearby Slough countryside
