Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary - Softcover

Aleister Crowley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578633729 ISBN 13: 9781578633722

Publisher: Weiser Books, 2006

Synopsis

This important collection includes Aleister Crowley's two most important instructional writings on the design and purpose of the magical diary, John St. John and A Master of the Temple. These were the only two works regarding the magical diary published in Crowley's lifetime. Both were first published in Crowley's immense collection of magical instruction, The Equinox. John St. John chronicles Crowley's momentbymoment progress during a 13day magical working. Crowley referred to it as "a perfect model of what a magical record should be." A Master of the Temple is taken from the magical diary of Frater Achad at a time when he was Crowley's most valued and successful student. It provides an invaluable example of a student's record, plus direct commentary and instruction added by Crowley.

With commentary and introductory material by editor James Wasserman, Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary is the most important and accessible instruction available to students of the occult regarding the practice of keeping a magical diary.

This revised edition includes a new introduction by Wasserman, a foreword by noted occult scholar J. Daniel Gunther, revisions throughout the text, a revised reading list for further study, plus Crowley's instructions on banishing from Liber O.

About this title

About the Author

James Wasserman has been a member of Ordo Templi Orientis since 1976. He has been described as a "founding father" of the modern O.T.O. and has played a key role in numerous seminal publications of Aleister Crowley's literary corpus. He is responsible for the widely celebrated Chronicle edition of The Book of Going Forth by Day, The Egyptian Book of the Dead. His numerous writings and editorial efforts maintain a focus on spirituality, creative mythology, secret societies, history, religion, and politics. He is a passionate advocate of individual liberty.
He has appeared in numerous documentaries on The History Channel, National Geographic,  and The Discovery Channel, addressed the National Press Club on esoteric symbolism, and is a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM, Thelema Now!, and many other radio broadcasts and podcasts.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary

By James Wasserman

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

Copyright © 2006 James Wasserman
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-372-2

Contents

Foreword J. Daniel Gunther
Preface to the Second Edition James Wasserman
Introduction James Wasserman
John St. John Aleister Crowley
A Master of the Temple Frater Achad and Aleister Crowley
Appendix Aleister Crowley
1 The 28 Theorems of Magick
2 Liber E vel Exercitiorum
3 Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae
4 The Book
5 The Method of Training
6 On the Magical Diary
Culinary Glossary of John St. John
Selected Bibliography

CHAPTER 1

Liber CLXVA Master of the Temple

Section I.April 2, 1886 To December 24, 1909

Charles Stansfeld Jones, whom I usually mention by the motto V.I.O., which hetook on becoming a Probationer of the AA, made his entry into this World by theusual and approved method, on April 2nd, 1886 E.V., having only escaped becomingan April Fool by delaying a day to summon up enough courage to turn out oncemore into this cold and uninviting World. Having been oiled, smacked and allowedto live, we shall trouble no further about the details of his career until 1906,when, having reached the age of 20 years, he began to turn his attention towardthe Mysteries, and to investigate Spiritualism, chiefly with the idea ofdisproving it. From this year his interest in the Occult seems to date, and itwas about this time that he first consciously aspired to find, and get intotouch with, a True Occult Order. This aspiration was, as we shall see, fulfilledthree years later, when he had an opportunity to become a Probationer of the AA,and immediately grasped it; but during those three years his researches led himinto varied paths: — Spiritualism, Faithism and other Isms on the one hand, and'The Europe,' 'The Leicester,' and 'The Cosy Corner' on the other: last, but notleast, into Marriage, a difficult thing to put on one side and perhaps best lefton the other. Having then plunged wholeheartedly into this final experiment,becoming as it were 'Omnia in Uno' for a time, he emerged in a frame of mindwell suited to the study of Scientific Illuminism, of which he was much in need,and, having signed the Probationer's Pledge Form on December 24th, 1909 E.V., hetook — after careful thought — the Motto 'Unus in Omnibus' and has been ridingvery comfortably ever since.

From this time onward, according to the Rules of the Order, he began keeping awritten record of his Work, and this makes our task easier; but since he himselfbecame more serious from that moment, we must to a certain extent follow hisexample and treat what is recorded as the attempt of a struggling soul to obtainLight for himself and others. Whatever his mistakes, however poor his results,or laughable his failures, there is this much to be said for him, that he neverturned back.

Section II.December 24, 1909, to May 14, 1910

Frater V.I.O. started off bravely enough. As soon as he had read the firstnumber of The Equinox, and before he got into touch with any Member of the AA hemade an attempt at Asana. The earliest record I can find reads as follows:

Thursday, Nov. 4th, 1909.11.20 p.m. to 11.41 p.m.

Asana. Position 1. The God.

Inclination for back to bend, just above hips, had to straighten up severaltimes.

Opened eyes once and moved head, after about five minutes.

Breathed fairly regularly after the first few minutes, counting 9 in, holding 4,9 out, holding 4.

Saw various colours in clouds, and uncertain figures, during the latter part ofthe time.

On December 19th his practice lasted 46 minutes. He hoped to do 60 minutes nexttime. But he does not appear to have done so, for after signing hisProbationer's Oath on December 24th I find no record till January 11th 1910.E.V. the day he received his first written instructions from his Neophyte,Frater P.A. As those instructions represent the basis upon which he worked fora considerable period, I shall include them here, in spite of the fact that itmay have been out of order for him to work on definite instructions at all,since the Probationer is supposed to choose for himself those practices whichplease him best, and to experiment therewith for himself. Since however he didnot know this at the time, he cannot be blamed for doing his best along thelines laid down by his Neophyte. In any case he might have done far worse thanto strive to carry out these few simple rules which are as follows:

The Rules

1. Ever be moderate and follow the middle path; rather be the tortoise than thehare; do not rush wildly into anything; but do not abandon what you have takenup, without much forethought.

2. Always keep your body and mind in a healthy and fit condition; and never carryout an exercise, whether mental or physical, when you are fatigued.

3. In an ideal country the hours in which to practice are: at sunrise, sunset, noonand midnight (and always before a meal, never immediately after one).

4. As this cannot be done with comfort in this country (England), let your chiefpractice take place an hour or half an hour before your breakfast hour.

5. If possible set apart a room wherein to carry out your exercises; keep it clean,and only keep in it objects which please you; burn a little incense in the roombefore beginning an exercise; keep the room holy to yourself, and do not allowyourself or another to do anything unbalanced in thought or action in it. Inwill and deed make this room a temple and a symbol of that greater Temple whichis your HIGHER SELF.

The Exercises

The First Exercise.

Rise to time, and without undue haste, wash and dress, robe yourself and enterthe room you have set apart; burn a little incense and turning to the Eastrepeat some simple orison such as: "May the light of Adonai arise within me, mayit guide me through this day and be as a lamp to lighten my darkness." Then makea general confession, as shortly as possible, of your last day's work and enterit in your diary, after which sit down in a comfortable position and do thefollowing.

With your hands upon your knees and your head straight, take in a breath inmeasured time inwards and concentrate the whole of your thought on that breathas it flows into your lungs, cutting away all other thoughts that may arise atthe time; then exhale the breath, still keeping your thought fixed on it. Dothis for some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, and mark down in your diarythe number of 'breaks,' or any result. The whole of this practice must beperformed rhythmically and harmoniously.

The Second Exercise

As the rush of daily work tends to undo what the morning exercise has done, tryyour utmost to turn every item of your professional work into a magicalexercise. Do all, even the smallest work, in honour and glory of Adonai: excelin your special duties in life, because He is of you, and you of Him; do notthink of Him as Adonai, but think of Adonai as the work; and of your daily workcreate a symbol of the Symbol of "The Great Work which is TO BE."

The Third Exercise

As the rush of your daily work tends to unbalance you, so do the pleasures youindulge in. Cultivate joyfulness in all your amusements; and, when joyful, breakout into silent and inward praise of the joy within you. Do not make a prudishexercise of it, work silently and joyously, and do not discuss your results withcasual friends. And above all do everything for the honour and glory of Adonai,so that of your daily pleasures you may construct a symbol of that UnchangingJoy that IS.

These instructions were accompanied by a letter from which I quote thefollowing:

"The enclosed exercises perform regularly, say to yourself: 'I will do these forthree months; even if I get no benefit from them, yet I am determined to dothem.' Write to me whenever you like, but don't consider any result that you mayget as worth much; for these little exercises are only to produce an equilibriumwhich is essential before really setting out. If you add any exercise of yourown then do it at a definite hour daily and do it continuously; to take up anexercise and then drop it is worse than useless, for it is unbalancing."

Now, as any Probationer knows, as soon as one sets out to do the simplest taskregularly and with magical intent, that task becomes not only difficult, butwell nigh impossible of performance. This is just what V.I.O. found, and nosooner had his task been set than all kinds of difficulties presentedthemselves, like the dog-faces demons mentioned by Zoroaster, to prevent itsfulfilment. He tried, but at the end of January he writes: "I cannot get onunder these conditions. Had plenty of time to do exercises this morning, but wascontinually interrupted. Did not robe myself as I have no place fit to call atemple." How little did he know at that time how well off he really was in thelatter respect! He was living in comfort in a Kensington Flat with everyconvenience of civilization; a few years later he was glad to do Asana andperform his meditations out in the rain, clad in pyjamas, because his tiny tentin British Columbia was too small to allow of work inside. But we digress. Atthis point his record breaks off abruptly. He remained in London until May of1910, when circumstances arose which made it possible for him to visit BritishColumbia.

Armed then with his instruction paper, THE EQUINOX, and a few Occult books, hesailed for Canada, alone, to start again in new and unploughed fields.

Section III.July 25, 1910, To April 30, 1911

The next entry in his diary is dated July 25th, 1910. It is a general confessionof the previous six months. Half of his year of Probation had passed away, andhe has not reported to, or received any communication from, the Order. Helaments his negligence in this respect, but writes: "Yet know I well that Ialone have suffered and shall suffer from this negligence, and I must humblytake any results that may arise out of my failure. Still, even though I may haveneglected the advice given me when I first became a Probationer, I feel that Ihave progressed, be it never so slightly, along the Path which from the first Iset out to tread. May it not be, O Adonai, that even now the second six monthsmay be made to balance the first six, and that what is passed may yet be for thebest?"

At that time he had not found out that things always turn out for the best; ittook him a long while to realize this, but it is evident that soon afterwardshis efforts produced some result; for we find an entry on Sunday, August 7th,1910. "I have found (for a few moments) the Peace which passeth allunderstanding. Amen." This was evidently the foreshadowing of his first reallynotable result, the first Dawning of L.V.X. which he experienced on August 29th.There is an entry on September 2nd, full of joy and gladness and wonder at hisfirst Illumination; and then, three days later, he had evidently recognised thatthis alone was not enough, and this was evidently the reason for the nextsomewhat curious entry of September 5th, 7.53 p.m., which I shall quotepractically in full:

I am calm now, as I commence to write what may be the last entry in this diary.All that I can remember of my life on this planet has, as I look back upon it,been guided by an unseen hand. For so short a life (24 years and six months) ithas been filled with an unusual number of incidents, some painful, some joyfuland some of a purely spiritual nature. I regret nothing. Again three days havepassed since I made entry in this book. I cannot talk of what has happenedduring those three days, it seems useless to try and do so, in fact it seemsuseless to make this entry at all except that I know not what is before me, andI feel that had I (or if I) lived longer upon this planet it would have been mylife work, indeed it must have been, to help others to the Path. Therefore tothose who follow after are these lines written in the hope that they may besaved one drop of the anguish I now suffer. Whatever may have happened in thislast three days, the results of my thoughts amount to this. I who have found theheart of the shining triangle, who have indeed become one with the Great WhiteBrotherhood, who have heard the Voice of God in all Its sweetness, who have madethat message a part (nay all) of my being, who have held my Beloved in my arms,who have Become my Beloved and lost myself therein, who have for ever given upmy lower self, who have conquered Death, who have felt the Pain of the wholeWorld, who have found Wisdom, Love and Power, who have given up All to becomeNothing, I who have seen the need of the World, have found that books (hithertomy dearest companions) have no longer any word to say to me — have found thatknowledge (relative) or what I thought was knowledge, is of no avail to supplythe need of all that other part of my Being that my great God-love would giveit. I who have conquered Fear and Death, am now confronted with the fact thatwithout Absolute Knowledge all is vain. I am going to ask the One Last Question.WHY? I have written it. An awful stillness falls. I am alone in my lodgings, Ihave no money, and I cannot use my Will to demand it from others if I can givenothing in return to help them to find what they really seek. I have cried withChrist "Eli, Eli, Lama Sabacthani." I have suffered the Bloody Sweat with Him onthe Cross, and now I say with Him, "It is finished." Amen. One last note occursto me before I wrap up this book and seal it and address it to F ... in whose handsit will be safe. I looked into the eyes of a little child this evening. Does theanswer lie there?

Sep. 5th 12.26 P.M. It is over. I have unsealed the package and once more openedthe book. This time it will be but a short entry. Very quietly I knelt; I didnot robe or burn incense. I just took with me the memory of the little child whohad looked into my eyes as I kissed its forehead. Very quietly I asked myquestion. I rose and lay upon the bed, and soon the answer came. It came quitesilently, and at first I thought I must be mistaken, I had (it seemed) heard itso many times before. No other answer came, so I went out into the streets andalong my way. Gradually the fuller meaning has dawned on me, and I have returnedto make this entry. I need not add much more. I do not put the answer down. Itwas given in silence and must remain in Silence. Still there seemed to be justone little ripple of joy in the Great Silent Sea as another soul gently sank toits rest, and the silent voices whispered, "Welcome brother." Then all was calmand Peace as before. The little ripple flowed on to let the whole world know,then, having delivered its message, all was still. Amen.

Whatever the nature of this Illumination, probably a state of Dhyana, it left avery marked result on the consciousness of Frater V.I.O., and gave him thenecessary energy to continue his Work through many a dark and dismal period. Hehimself could not gauge its value at all at the time. He was alone in Vancouverand out of touch with the Order, having received no further word from hisNeophyte since he left England. In fact he heard nothing till January of thefollowing year. He however sent a post-card to say that he had obtained someresult.

About this same time I find an entry called "The Philosophy of V.I.O." whichseems of interest on account of some similarities to the Law of Thelema, ofwhich he had heard nothing at that time. It reads as follows:

Man is bound by but One Law

If he breaks a part of it, he hurts no one but himself.

While he lives in unity with It, he is God.

While he does not live in unity with It he is Man.

While he lives in unity with it he becomes the Law.

To realise the Law and live it is the Great Work.

To break the Law after he has realized it is Sin.

To endeavour to bring all to the knowledge of the Law, is to keep the Law.

Seek ye the Law that ye may be Free.

Wisdom, Love and Power, these three are One. That these should be One is theLaw.

By finding the Point from which these three become equal, and there remaining,by this means only, can the Law be Known.

If ye know this, ye know All.

If ye know not this, ye know less than All

Seek ever for the Absolute, and be content with Nothing less.

* * *

By the end of September the immediate results of this first Illumination seem tohave worn off, and we find Frater V.I.O. striving desperately to estimate thevalue of what had happened to him. He was certainly in a mental muddle, as thefollowing entry shows, yet at the same time his one thought seems to have beento find a means of helping others to find that Light which had so transformedhis whole being.

Sep. 24th, 1910.

Driad Hotel. Victoria, B.C.

I sit here with the idea of attempting to classify the results lately obtained.(Since L.V.X. entry.)

I may mention that during the interval I have carefully read and studiedCrowley's Tannhäuser, Sword of Song, Excluded Middle, Time, Berashith, Scienceand Buddhism, Three Characteristics, etc. In the Light of Understanding, allthese works have taken on a very different aspect to when I read thempreviously. Also the Purpose of Liber LXV is clear. The result of all this givesme a feeling that I have arrived at the End and also at the Beginning at thesame time.

This (by the way) seems the usual experience of the beginner; no sooner does heget a result, any result, than he immediately thinks he is at the end. ButV.I.O. is evidently not to be deceived in that way, for he goes on:

Now, had I really arrived at the End, it seems reasonable to suppose I shouldnot be here writing this. My body and mind are at any rate still in existence asa body and mind. But, as these are admittedly impermanent, does it matter muchthat they continue to exist in this form or no? What has that to do with theConsciousness of the Existence of That which transcends both? Now, had not somepart of my present State of Existence realized the possibility of another andhigher state of Consciousness, should I not still be in that state ofuncertainty in which I lived before this realization came? This realizationhaving come about has at any rate remained as a glimpse of Being, different fromthe previous not-being.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary by James Wasserman. Copyright © 2006 James Wasserman. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Weiser Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1578633729
• ISBN 13: 9781578633722
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: James Wasserman