~ MARCH 17th - 31st 2009 ~

Tuesday March 31st 2009 – 7:47am Kath sent an email, part of which states - "wily critter - I resemble that!" .....  Reply:   :) 

7:00am Ricky in Georgia read yesterday's blog and writes – “Jerry 93! Hope all is well on your side of the country. Your blog today inspired some thought in regards to the male and female trees. The descending and ascending of energy is inherent in each of us correct? It must be, if it wasn't so, I would suspect that one would be lobotomized spiritually so to speak, or maybe completely. So is it that males just focus more on the descending side and the female on the ascending according to our respective natures? As you have said the formula of ON is wholly inherent in us all, so can a man break his nature or more correctly, expand his nature to encompass the whole of the formula actively? That seems almost like an oxymoron. I imagine this would be the mark of a Magister Templi in the full K&C of the HGA would it not? ... I think I'm confusing myself. Let me try again. The active side of the process is the descending energy of the left hand pillar and the passive is the ascending of the right. I can understand how males use the active formula because it is active and is easy to 'function' in. It mimics creation and as an artist I can relate to it and feel it working when I work, I can give in to it and let it work through me. However females work off of the right hand pillar. The passive in regards to the left. Does this, for females, have an active quality?...   Anyway back to the wholly internal formula. As may be obvious, the "N" side of the equation is eluding me. One word keeps coming to mind. GESTATION. 93 93/93 Ricky.” ......... Reply: You have some of the basics right but obviously you’re very, very confused. It would take me a tome to explain where. First, if you were in my A.’.A.’ I’d remind you to study the ways of the man of Earth; Malkuth and Yesod and stop worrying about how the Formula of ON actually functions in the Ruach. It’s impossible for someone who has not achieved a stable Foundation to understand these inner principles outside of intellectualizing them in the pit of Because. And why do you think the Left-Hand Pillar is ‘active’; is it because it contains the ‘masculine’ aspect of the Formula of ON?  Kinda chauvinistic, no?  Just because man is the 'active' on the mundane plane it does not give him an edge inward. Have you forgotten that All ‘Power’ comes through Babalon; and she works through the Right Hand Pillar? ...  Ah grasshopper; trying to understand the female is a noble quest but many a good sailor has lost his life as his boat [i.e. body] becomes shattered on the rocks of this wily critter ... and ON this subject, you are way off ... worry about ‘self’ first before sticking your hand in a cave filled with Scorpions.

5:00am I'd would like to send out a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Keith Richmond up in Maine! He was born on this day and he has mostly led the sheltered life of an antiquarian bookseller. He was the co-founder of The Basilisk Bookshop in Australia but has since moved on to bigger and better things here in America. For starters; he got married to a really neat Scorpio, Marilyn! Be that as it may, Keith is also the author of such classics as The Rites of Eleusis (Mandrake Press Ltd 1990), Three Macabre Stories by Rosaleen Norton, Edited with Introduction by Keith Richmond (Typographeum 1196), Progradior & The Beast (Neptune 2004) and The Magical Record of Frater Progradior (Neptune 2004). 

4:50am For the history buffs: John Dee’s Monas Hieroglyphica was published on this date in 1564. ……. Also, the ‘Fox Sisters’ mediumistic communication with the spirit world on this date in Hydesville, New York in 1848 began the birth of modern spiritualism. …… and I should point out that Frederick Leigh Gardner was born on this date in Upper Holoway, London in 1857. He was a Stock broker and antiquarian bookseller. According to Dr. Wynn Westcott, Gardner was the editor of Bibliotheca Rosicruciana for the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and was appointed Secretary-General of the S.R.I.A. on October 11, 1900, a position which he held until October 14, 1904. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on March 20, 1894 and became known as Frater Credo Experto. Aleister Crowley accused him of evoking Typon-Set against him. Gardner died on June 30, 1925. ……. And it was on March 31, 1940 the day before April Fools, the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia issued a press release stating that the world would end the next day. The story was picked up by radio station KYW which broadcast the following message - “Your worst fears that the world will end are confirmed by astronomers of Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. Scientists predict that the world will end at 3 P.M. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow. This is no April Fool joke. Confirmation can be obtained from Wagner Schlesinger, director of the Fels Planetarium of this city.” Predictably, local authorities in Philadelphia were flooded with frantic phone calls which only subsided after the Franklin Institute came forward and assured everyone that it had made no such prediction. However, as it turned out, the prankster responsible for the press release was William Castellini, the Institute's own press agent. His defense was that he had intended to use the fake release to publicize an April 1st lecture at the institute titled “How Will the World End?” The insitute was not amused, Castellini was fired.

Monday March 30th 2009 – 2:55pm Evelyn replied: “Your comments much appreciated and yes, I understand the differences you are talking about. I understand the aspect of intent but if it is only about intent, then why bother with sex magick when some other ritual will do?" ...... I replied : "Anyone can pick up a book on the Tantras and think they’re practicing sex magick but few individuals truly know how to see the Solar Phallic energy in everything so that their libido [Kundalini] is no longer functioning solely out of Yesod (Muladhara) but taken higher. That takes Intent; which is based in ‘simplicity’ and most likely the most misunderstood of all magickal affirmations. ... In sex magick we refer to the principle as ‘Chastity’ which is properly taught in VIIth Degree OTO; read Liber Aleph, the chapter “On Chastity”, or the chapter on Chastity in Little Essays Toward Truth. To understand; in Qabalah we are taught that in order to fully understand the subject we must bring the Tree of Life alive. To achieve this we’re taught the practice of seeing its symbols in everything that we do in our daily lives. If we see a yellow sign, think Tiphereth; if we see a specific number try to relate it to the Tree, etc and etc. The idea that everything in the Universe is part of this symbol must become so ingrained in our psyche that the macrocosm and microcosm merges. In other words; the topic can no longer be just a practice in intellect but the ‘Above and Below’ must come together as a Hexagram. That is what makes a magician different than others who are just read books; we learn how to ‘see.’ The same principle is true for the sex magician who is simply trying to understand their Kundalini; or in a modern sense, their libido. Remember, we have a body and we have a spirit, the binding factor which animates us and binds the two halves is the Kundalini, or a Jung calls it, the libido. It is rooted in sexuality. But how do we use this to our advantage?"

12:09pm Evelym from Belgium writes – “I notice the spectre of sex magick has been raised again. You've probably already covered this topic, but why is it that Sex Magick does seem to work (though with no more or less success than other types of operations or goals)? What is it about the energies raised during Sex Magick that give it a special or different force?” ...... Reply: Every magician knows that the number one quest is the Great Work; or Knowledge and Conversation of their Holy Guardian Angel. MacGregor Mathers in his Introduction to The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage notes that the idea of the employment of a child as clairvoyant in the invocation of the guardian angel is not unusual but what he fails to explain is that children, around the age of puberty, have unbridled sexual energy, or better put – the energy is not focused downward or ‘earthed-out’ by having actual sex with the opposite sex.  In childhood most sexual thoughts ‘remain’ within the mind. Anyone who has ever studied poltergeist experience will tell you that children are somehow always involved and remember, the poltergeist is an elemental, identical to the daimon. Carl Jung did extensive work on the daimon and recognized that it is also identical to the Kundalini. Trying to synchronize these diverse ideas became part of his life work and hence his theories on the libido. Try hunting down a copy of The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Notes of the Seminar Given in 1932 by C. G. Jung, Edited by Sonu Shamdasani; Princeton University Press, Bollingen Series XCIX 1996. ... You asked about what makes the “energies raised during Sex Magic” so special ... well, its not the energy but the intent; i.e. Chastity. If sex magick was so easy, everyone would be doing it rather than simply getting laid. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who claimed to be practicing sex magick who are ignorant of its foundation stones. Lets be honest; good sex is magickal but good sex is not sex magick despite how great you may feel or how many orgasms you have.

10:40am While I was just typing I heard rumbling like a train coming and then a good size jolt hit. It shook my apartment; rattling pictures, windows and other things. Ah, we were just hit by an earthquake. I immediately turned on the News and I found that it’s all over the TV. We were hit by a 4:3 magnitude near eleven miles north of Morgan Hill. We felt it all the way up here! It’s a good reminder that I’m living in an earthquake fault area! Check out the local USGS Map for details http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/San_Francisco.htm

10:00am Here is an email that I sent out with info that might help others. I wrote - “Kath 93. Often, when you ladies attempt to rise up within some A.’.A.’. lineages in order to ‘Know Thyself’ you’ll find yourself simply fulfilling the teachings of the man; as the man feels your initiation should be. We in our lineage, however, are fully aware that men and women are very different; physically and mentally; where a man’s mind works very intellectually and analytically, the woman works emotionally. Initiations must be different and we adjust accordingly. Within our Lover grade the man naturally works off the Left-Hand Pillar [or the ‘O’ in the Formula of ON] in the sphere of HOD while the woman works of the Right Hand Pillar [or the ‘N’ in the Formula of ON] within the sphere of NETZACH. ... Her Pillar ‘ascends’ while the man’s pillar ‘descends’ ... hence the first problem of teaching sex magick according to Grady McMurtry. Try to talk about sex in a mixed group and the second some guys ‘think’ about a women, they get aroused and the descending influences of the Left-Hand Pillar drives their over-all ‘thoughts’ downward to the lowest possible denominator in Malkuth and toward inertia. Man becomes a dog. Sex magick is then reduced to getting laid. Now don’t get me wrong, to imply that sex magick is not in some ways physical would be a misnomer but Crowley warns the magician not to cross the planes. If you want to get laid, do it but don’t use the premise of learning or practicing sex magick as the excuse.  93 93/93 Jerry”

6:50am We have updated the old one page photo spread of Grady Louis McMurtry into a multi-page PHOTO ARCHIVE section. We have over twenty-pages of photos up-loaded so far with about another dozen to be added over the new few weeks. It is undisputedly the largest on-line collection of photos of Grady Louis McMurtry. Many of the photos in this Archive come from my own private collections but I also wish to thank other individuals like Bill Heidrick whose help has truly made this section possible, also I'd like to thank Robert Flores and Mark Krubsack who have assisted us in preserving images of Grady. And to the late-Phyllis Seckler who gave me some great old photos. I thank you all. ... If anyone else out there would like to offer photos of Grady McMurtry that we do no have you can send them to Cornelius93@aol.com. ... IMPORTANT NOTICE: Some of the photos in this section are private and copyrighted by owners; permission to use them must be granted. ... ... Luna saw these pages early and she writes - "93! They are wonderful. It is important to post these. Photos put everything into perspective, and candid group photos show, in a realistic way, how specific people, at specific times worked the Current together." ... Reply: I couldn’t agree more with you and I hope our readers enjoy the images as they really bring alive the memories of the old man.

6:40am a Big Hug goes out to Jerri!  May today bring smiles.

6:35am An old friend of mine, a hippie named Stu Cohen, whom I knew back in the early seventies surfaced last week into my life. He's still living in Connecticut but he found me via Facebook. Anyway, we’ve been emailing a lot about old times and friends. at one point he wrote “You saw and knew way more than me. I did’nt come on scene till the summer of 70.” ...... I think some people might find my reply to him amusing; it explains a bit about my past; which alot of people always seem to be curious about .... I replied how in June of 1967 I graduated from the 9th grade and I got my first job in New Haven. It was only a summer job; one of those state run CETA programs for the under privileged inner city children. I was assigned to work at the local gym at Conte Elementary School. I just sat around most of the time with this one armed man named John Koch, who was in charge of the place. It was here that I learned how to play chess. John played chess professionally and enjoyed teaching people the game. He also worked nights at a local hippie hangout called The Exit Coffee House where he was teaching chess and sponsoring the local Chess Club. The Exit itself was an odd little place located in the basement under one the churches in downtown New Haven on Elm Street. One night John dragged me down there claiming it was a great space to hear music, watch weekly ‘horror movies’, meet other people and party down. I would spend many nights down there in the months to come. I also enjoyed hanging around the New Haven Green across the from The Exit Coffee House with the hippies during these summer months; just listening to music, dancing and having a grand old time. History would officially proclaim this period as the Summer of Love. This was the peak of the hippy movement or those of us who seemingly abandoned most of the values of mainstream society in regards to God, traditional jobs, money, and all material goods. No matter what part of the country we hippies were living in, we were all dressing distinctively different from our parents; we were growing our hair long, and experimenting with drugs. On July 14th 1967 I turned sixteen and by the end of the summer my CETA job at Conte School officially ended. In September I entered the 10th Grade. It was also during the winter months of 67/68 that I began hanging around a restaurant on Wall Street called George & Harry’s which was around the corner from The Exit Coffee House. Lots of local hippies ate, drank coffee and had beer here. Often bands and musicians hung around too; like Randy Burns and The Sky Dog Band. I saw him and others jam a lot. It was a great period in my life. It should be noted that during this period most people didn’t hang around at a bar called Hungry Charley's, this was solely a 'Yale' bar. No one wanted to go there. It was only when George & Harry’s finally closed [70?] that the hippie hangout shift to Hungry Charley's. Ah, the fond memories that I have of years upon years of hanging around Hungry Charley's. It was a magickal place. A great Coffee House and bar. I should mention, I’m a Cancer sign, nostalgia and sentimental things way heavy on my heart. They say that a Cancer is a creature of habit. Everyone who has ever known me since the seventies knows that I have always used an old heavy white coffee mug with a green strip around the top and middle. Well folks, the reason is that this mug was one from Hungry Charley’s. When the restaurant finally closed its doors the manager let me take a few since I had used them for so many years at my favorite table by the window. Anyway, to this day, no lie, every cup of coffee that I make in my apartment, I still use one of these old Hungry Charley’s coffee mugs. Now you all know why ... it is because for me, habits seem hard to break. 

6:30am For the history buffs: Francisco de Goya, one of the greatest masters that Spain has ever produced and who is considered the ‘Father of Modern Art,’ was born on this date in 1746. …..…. And Sepharial was born Walter Gorn-Old on this date in Handsworth, England in 1864. He was a British journalist, writer of occult and astrological works, and a leader in astrological thought for over 30 years. He joined the Theosophical Movement in 1889 and he not only worked closely with the society but he lived with Madame Blavatsky until her death. He was a prolific writer. He died on December 23, 1929 in Hove, England. …...….. and finally, I should point out that Rudolf Steiner, the found of Anthroposophy, who had been bed ridden since September of 1924 simply folded his hands over his chest, closed his eyes and died on this date in 1925.

Sunday March 29th 2009 – 7:15am For the history buffs: it was on March 29, 1900 that the London Adepts of the Golden Dawn held a special meeting to decide whether or not to depose McGregor Mathers as ‘head’ of the Order after his dismal of Florence Farr on the 23rd. ……..... and Jane Wolfe, who had lived with Crowley at the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu, died at 12:20 pm on this date in Southern California “from sheer exhaustion” according to Karl Germer, the present head of the Ordo Templi Orientis in 1958. …....... and finally, on March 29, 1971 Charles Manson got the ‘death penalty’ for the Sharon Tate Murders along with three other defendants.

Saturday March 28th 2009 – 7:15am Every now and then something happens which makes me sit back in my chair, smile and simply go wow. Late last night I received a request on Facebook from someone wanting to be my 'Friend' ... initially I thought, not another one but I was shocked to discover that it was my old friend Stu Cohen whom I used to hang around with at the now notorious, if now infamous, (hippie) bar named 'Hungry Charlies' in New Haven, Connecticut back in the early 1970s. I guess Facebook is good for something; if only for making connections. Damn, the drunks and adventures Stu and I got into from driving his old Volkswagen on the sidewalk in front of Hungry Charlies to him being arrested for arson after our friend Don [Delong] Maggio lit a paper airplane on fire, threw it at Stu who ducked and let it sail out the upper floor of the room he had rented at a downtown hotel. Those were the old days! Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll!

7:00am For the history buffs: on this date is considered the ‘birth day’ of the Prophet Zarathushtra is observed on this date. His religious studies were crowned at the age of thirty by a series of revelations about a new religion. It inevitably became known after him, Zoroastrianism, which was first established over 700 years before the birth of Christ. It was the dominant world religion during the Persian empires (559 BC to 651 AC), and was thus the most powerful world religion at the time of Jesus. Zoroastrianism is very tolerant of other religions, supportive of the arts and education and places very little pressure on recruiting people outside the movement. The circumstances of Zoroaster’s death are not known. …........ and speaking of births; the OTO initiate Vere Chappell was born on this date in Chicago, Illinois in 1967. …....... and finally, on March 28, 1993 the witch and noted author, Scott Cunningham, died at the age of 37 of Lymphoma, a form of cancer, along with Cryptococcal Meningitis, complication from AIDS. He had written more than fifteen of his books on Wicca and related subjects.

Friday March 27th 2009 – 7:30am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley arrived in Cefalu on this date in 1920 with plans to establish the now infamous Abbey of Thelema. …….... And the noted author Arnold Bennett, who died on this date in 1931, once wrote in his private journal in 1905, “I dined at Chat Blanc. Aleister Crowley was there with dirty hands, immense rings, presumably dyed hair, a fancy waistcoat, a fur coat, and tennis shoes.” …..... On this date in 2004 I, or J. Edward Cornelius, took his young son Faustus to see the movie Scooby Doo II.  Before being made into a movie, Scooby Doo was a comically nervous Great Dane of a long-running Saturday-morning cartoon of the 1970s and ‘80s. He was teamed up with four teenagers which included the always-hungry Shaggy, the brainy Velma, the buff Fred and the beautiful Daphne, who drove around in a van called the Mystery Machine hunting ghosts, monsters and others creatures. The one part of the Scooby Doo II movie which I especially enjoyed was when the Scooby Doo crew was rummaging around an old library in a haunted house and Freddy commented on the fact that this guy had a huge magickal library including everyone from ancient authors “to Aleister Crowley.” ... So the question is; if Freddy knows about Aleister Crowley, what has he read and did he every practice anything? I could only chuckle and wonder, “Now that would be a cartoon; Freddy invoking Choronzon and the Monster Inc crew having to deal with it!”

Thursday March 26th 2009 – 8:55pm Bill Heidrick has seen our website with all the Grady McMurtry stuff and he sent me an email and said "I'm glad you're doing that." He's offered a lot of info, great pictures and scans; adding "You've got quite a lot there. Aside from more pictures, which will eventually be forthcoming, I'd say keep up the good work." ... Reply: Thank you Bill, your kind words are much appreciated. ... Of note: Bill Heidrick joined the OTO in April of 1977, or about seven months before me.

5:15pm I just uploaded a page called - "CAN YOU SPOT GRADY IN THE PHOTO IN THIS OLD NEWSPAPER?" ... This is a scan of a newspaper article about  'draftees' during World War Two which shows a group of men .... and, if you look close, there is Grady! ... I wish to thank William E. Heidrick for making this page possible. Click HERE to view the article. ... Let me know what you think.

4:45pm I have uploaded actual scans of Grady Louis McMurtry's army identification cards during World War II which contain rare army photos of young Grady. I wish to thank William E. Heidrick for making this page possible. Click HERE to view the documents. ... Let me know what you think.

5:45am For the history buffs: It was on March 26, 1582 that the Enochian language of the Angels first appears to John Dee and Edward Kelly …..….  Also, Phillip Stauff, the German occultist, was born on this date in  1876. He was the publisher of the Pan-German and antisemitic books like Das deutsche Wehrbuch (German Defense Book) and Semi-Gotha and Semi-Alliancen, which were genealogical handbooks which purported to identify Jews amongst the German aristocracy. …...…. And it was on this date in 1946 Aleister Crowley wrote to his old friend Augustus John, the leading British portrait painter and etcher, asking him if he’d make a sketch of himself (i.e. Crowley) for his new book titled OLLA. …...…. And it was on March 26, 1997 that the bodies of 21 women and 18 men, ranging in age from 26-72, were found dead in a large house in Rancho Santa Fe, a wealthy community in San Diego. All were in various stages of decomposition. It appeared that several days before, they had ingested applesauce or pudding laced with barbiturates along with a shot of vodka. They also submitted to being suffocation with plastic bags placed over their heads. All were identically dressed in unisex black shirts, pants, and Nikes sneakers, and had purple shrouds placed across their faces. Many of the men had been castrated. What prompted all these people to commit mass suicide and leave their “earthly containers” was a belief spawned by the leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, Marshall Herff Applewhite. He believed that this was the proper method of transportation by extraterrestrials in a huge UFO that was traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet. According to the groups teachings; some two thousand years ago extraterrestrials from the Kingdom of Heaven passed this way to survey their garden Earth and concluded that perhaps it had evolved to a point where it would be useful to send down one being from the ‘level above.’ Earthlings, it turned out, were not ready to enter the “Kingdom Level Above Human,” they killed the emissary and from that moment on Luciferian influences dominated the Earth. The group believed that the extraterrestrials had now come back, offering yet another chance for humans to move to a higher evolutionary level, if only you committed suicide.

Wednesday March 25th 2009 – 11:25am I have just up-loaded and added the next or sixteenth installment of a series which Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 (Grady Louis McMurtry) wrote on magick and philosophy. The series is titled FROM THE CALIPH. The first installment appeared in The Magickal Link in October of 1981. I wish to thank Frater Orpheus for making this page and the other pages possible in this series. The latest installment was originally published in The Magickal Link, Volume III No.1 January 1983e.v. and is titled ON THE KNIGHTS ANDROGONY EFFECT. This installment has a great Grady story of World War II  [kinda funny], of Crowley and magickal theory, and drug thoughts. Click HERE to read it.

8:20am I have added few end notes at the bottom of the page on our Robert Anton Wilson's The Cosmic Trigger to identify some of the people.

7:00am For the history buffs: Aleister Crowley received a letter on this date in 1900 from Soror Deo Date, Mrs. E. A. Hunter stating that the London Second Order of the Golden Dawn does not recognize his 5=6 initiation that was performed in Paris by MacGregor Mathers.

Tuesday March 24th 2009 – 9:20pm If anybody would like to check out my brother Gary's son, Christian George's blog [http://greateststoryofall.blogspot.com/]  you might find it rather amusing. I did. I'm still laughing! My Aquarian nephew has a good healthy sense of humor.  :)   His Barack Obama impression is scary! 

7:45am This Friday night 'Open House' gathering has been cancelled; sorry if it creates an inconvenience.  I have conflicting schedules. Again, sorry. The next Open House that is scheduled will be on Friday April 3rd and it should be noted also that there is no Open Houses on April 10th. .... The rest of the dates will be posted on my blog as they are determined.

6:10am For the history buffs: On this date in 1661 Florence Newton, known as ‘the Witch of Youghal,’ was arrested. She was accused of bewitching people and causing them to have fits, which may or may not have caused their deaths. Her trial, unlike most trials, involved absolutely no torture. She was convicted because one of her bewitched accusers went into fits of vomiting whenever Newton was left unhandcuffed. As soon as the handcuffed were put on, the girl seemingly became normal. Newton was one of the few people ever burned as a Witch in Ireland. …....... and Ehrich Weiss, more commonly know as Harry Houdini, “escaped from his mother’s womb” and was born on this day in Budapest, Hungary in 1874. He was the world’s most celebrated escape artist. His first performance before an audience occurred on October 28, 1883 as a contortionist and trapeze performer. He was billed as “Ehrich, The Prince of the Air.” Sadly, in late October of 1926, Houdini was sitting in his dressing room in Montreal, ready to give a lecture on spiritualism, when a student from McGill University asked if he could actually withstand a blow to the stomach thrown by any man. Houdini replied yes but before he could prepare himself by tightening his stomach muscles, the student hit him three times. Although Houdini seemed to recover, even performing shortly afterwards, he soon fell ill and the pain never really subsided. He would not see a doctor for several days. By the time he was diagnosed, with a 104-degree temperature, it was too late. He had just finished his show and just as the curtain fell, he collapsed. Houdini was rushed to the nearby Grace Hospital, and diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. An operation was performed, but peritonitis had already set in. He had one more operation, but again failed to respond. His last words were, “I am weaker. I guess I have lost the fight.” On Sunday October 31st, Halloween day, at 1:26pm, Houdini died in room 401, Corridor D, in the old John R. Wing of Grace Hospital. He was 52 years old. …...…. And speaking of births, I should mention that Wihelm Reich was born in Austria on this date in the Austrian province of Galicia in 1897. He was a notorious physician-scientist whose investigation of energy functions in human emotions led to the discovery of an unknown energy which exists in all living matter and in the cosmos. He called this energy “orgone.” …....... but with birth comes death and I should mention that the author Jules Verne, the father of modern science fiction, died in his home at 44 boulevard Longueville in the tiny city of Amines in northern France on this date in 1905. ……... And it was on  March 24, 1919 that Arthur Edward Waite consecrated the newly founded Temple of The Fellowship of The Rosy Cross. Earlier, after Florence Farr had severed all ties to what was left of the Golden Dawn, those initiates who were oriented toward mysticism kept control of Isis-Urania under Arthur Edward Waite. Crowley  would later angrily comment that Waite “has substituted a pompous, turgid rigmarole of bombastic platitudes for the neophyte ritual, so that the last spark of interest is extinct for ever.” History has shown that this same mystical ineptness would spill over into The Fellowship of The Rosy Cross.

Monday March 23rd 2009 – 5:55pm Ed Grey commented to my 9:05am posting early this morning where I asked "what wine goes good with chloroformed?" He wrote, "A good sweet port?"

Penny Baxley replied, "Naw, Sauvignon blanc." .

But Ed quickly fired back – "Well yeah, if you want to *taste* the

chloroform..."

I smiled and added – “I guess Chianti is out of the question? ... Maybe we

should ask Jerri? Hey Jerri, what wine do you like with your chloroform?”

... and then the thread only got worse!

Jerri - "Hmm...I do like reds. None of that pussy white wine business  :) If

I am going to get knocked out, I think we should make it count. Pinot Noir.

That's what should be paired with the chloroform."

Penny - "White wines have their place. My gosh woman, who the heck

pairs a merlot with talapia? ew." .

Jerri - “"Uh...merlot? Haven't you seen Sideways??? I second Paul

Giamati's sentiment... and white fish or chicken could easily be paired with

any number of clear liquors :)-  Mojitos or vodka tonics would be excellent

with tilapia. See?? White wine need not apply."

I had to throw in my two-cents because personal, if I chloroform anyone it

won’t be in a liquid, so she won’t be drinking ....  it’ll be me and I like beer

and thus Jerri replied – “Beer for you. Mojito's for me. Do you even like

Tilapia?? It sounds too healthy for you :)"

I replied, tongue in cheek – “I love eating fishy things and always with red

wine. And later, when she gets dressed, we’ll go out for supper!”

Jerri - “"Uh huh...my imagination has replaced a couple of the words in

here...namely ‘fishy’ and ‘wine.’ A damned fine thought, Jer...I'm smiling

indeed."

Penny – “Since when have you started drinking hard liquor? You always

always turn me and Brook down when we try to front load you. Thats it,

you are so drinking vodka with me next time. Yes, and as you know ...

because I told you three nights ago, I hate that stupid movie!!!  Kung Fu

Hustle, much better movie. :D ... HA! *huggies* And JerrYi, ....fishy

women...doesn't that mean they are dirty? ewwwww.”

I replied -   :/  

This has been a long day; why did I get back on Facebook? Are you

confused yet? I wrote -"I loved the Kung Fu Hustle ... the landlady still

makes me smile!... Have you seen Shaolin Soccer yet?"

Jerri replied to Penny's previous comment - “Oh, my little Virgo

pickle...you would take it there!!! Health conscious and virginal :) Vanilla

has never been my favorite ice cream. I might eat it when desperate for

something sweet...but, really I don't crave it. I'd rather have something

interesting...nutty and flavorful...that will make me all dirty and satisfied,

leaving dribble stains all down my front :O.” ... and to me Jerri wrote,

"Yes, I enjoyed Shaolin Soccer as well. Hilarious and charming."

I then posted  “Somehow I lost the idea behind this thread ... what's it

about? ... You guys got me hungry, thirsty, hot and horny and looking for

Asian comedies to watch? I am utterly confused. Is this a women thing?”

........ I then added, “What type of wine goes with this?”

-----------------------------------------

9:05am On my Facebook book page I simply added a quote by Aleister Crowley - "Practically all women ought to be chloroformed at 35" with no rhyme or reason as to what it implies. Heather quickly asked - "Where? What's the context?? Intriguing..." ... To which I added that in Crowley's 1931 diaries on January 3rd he wrote this and that there "is nothing else entered on this date so its anyone's guess as to what prompted this comment. ... this comment merely reflects an unknown suspended moment in time and not the overall laws by which Crowley lived (hopefully)." .. and then Jerri added in - "Well...it was just my 35th birthday!" .... I knew her birthday was March 3rd but jokingly I quickly replied - "I have your birthday down as the 28th!!!!!! You were born on the 23rd? Well, talk about an Oppps. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and then, smiling, I added "OK OK OK I know its the 3rd ... :) but the 28th we can celebrate, no?" ... since we're getting together on the 28th ... Jerri replied back - "Indeed!!! Salads, wine and chloroform...sounds like quite a party!!" ....... Reply: [Big smile here] Ok readers, do we chloroformed her or not? .... Better yet, what wine goes good with chloroformed?

6:20am For the history buffs: Dane Rudhyar, considered by many to be the greatest astrologer of our time, was born as Daniel Chennevière on this date in Paris, France in 1895. His final book, The Astrology of Transformation (1980), was his pièce de résistance, which he called “my astrological testament, in the sense that it brings to a conclusion my attempt to reformulate and give a new direction to modern astrology.” He died at the age of 90 on Thursday night of September 12, 1985. ……. Also, Dr. Gerard Encausse, better known by his pseudonym ‘Papus,’ joined the Golden Dawn on this date in 1895, but soon thereafter ‘resigned.’ He was a Spanish-born French physician, hypnotist, and author who popularized occultism. ……. It was on March 23, 1904 that Aleister Crowley’s wife, Rose Kelly, aka Ouarda the seer, identified the ‘god’ whom she saw in her visions as waiting to be evoked by the Beast, as that which is found upon the stele No.666 at the Boulak museum. ……. And Gary Martin was born on this date in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1951. He was raised on his grandparents’ farm in Mount Nebo. He later took the name Kelly in honor of his Irish heritage, amongst other reasons and became known as ‘G. M. Kelly.’ He published the caustic The Newaeon Newsletter which has been extremely critical of everyone, every group and every fraternity, which might be associated with or have connections going back to Aleister Crowley, seemingly leaving himself the only true authority on Crowleyanity. In some ways he is a very funny satirical writer and in his ‘Sword of Horus’ column in The Newaeon Newsletter he directs his pointed wit at everyone. Some people think “his anger is misplaced from his childhood.”

Sunday March 22nd 2009 – 4:45pm Luna writes - "93! Aside from "Zombie Strippers" being the best film I have seen all year....I think (though I could be just imagining things) that there are inside jokes about Thelema in the film.  One actor wears a T-Shirt with the word "messenger" written across the chest, and the "g" is turned upside down making you read "93"...and actor yells of "Love is Dead", and in a later scene an actor is wearing a "Dianetics" T-Shirt. Whether I am reading "93 Current/Agape Lodge" jokes into the film or not, "Zombie Strippers" is a great film....and possibly should be seen as a double feature with the film titled "Crowley". 93s )O(." ............. Reply: I'm going to have to hunt this movie down!

4:30pm Luna sent an email with a link [http://www.hudson.nu/blog/2008/12/dr-grady-mcmurtry-what-are-his.html] which she thought I might find interesting. It is an article from December 2008 which details the fact that the crazed evangelist Dr. Grady Shannon McMurtry who travels the world teaching Christian and secular audiences about the scientific evidence which supports and proves the biblical view of creationism ... and the possibility that it might, in fact, actually be Grady Louis McMurtry’s son. This fact has long been known but not openly publicized. ... In truth; in Volume I of Grady Louis McMurtry’s biography ‘IN THE NAME OF THE BEAST’ I mentioned how Shannon was born on November 13th 1946 and in Volume II, I point out that “Shannon began attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville” and later he attended “Syracuse University as a graduate student majoring in forestry.” ...... So, is the evangelist Grady Shannon McMurtry really Grady Louis McMurtry’s son? We don’t like to admit it but yes, he is ... in fact, on Shannon’s own website [http://www.creationworldview.org/aboutus.asp] he admits to getting his B S at the University of Tennessee, Institute of Agriculture and that he later attended State University of New York at Syracuse to get his M.S.. ... as did Grady's son. Coincidence? How many Grady Shannon McMurtrys could have been attending these two school at the same time and studying the same thing? So, if people wondered why Grady Louis McMurtry disowned his son I guess it could be said that father and son couldn’t be farthest apart!                                            

7:00am For the history buffs:  The German dramatist, philosopher and poet, Goethe, often ranked with Shakespeare and Dante as one of the three most important poets in history, died at Weimer on this date in 1832 at the age of 82. His most famous work, Faust, presents the tragic story of its title character, who makes a pact with the devil and sells his soul. …...… and it would be wrong if I did not mention that Laylah gave Aleister Crowley ‘shit’ before she went away on this date in 1912. This being a Gnostic Talisman of the Sacrament.  It is ‘blasphemed’ to the wise, 87 to the profane and LIES to others. A mystery oh man! …...… and speaking of Crowley, he and Ninette Shumway left Cefalu with the ‘brats’ for a visit to Marseilles on this date in 1920 while Leah Hirsig went off to London. …...… and it was on March 22, 1931 that William Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec. Ironically, his character on Star Trek named Captain James T. Kirk was also born on the same date of March 22nd but in the year 2228CE. …...… And to continue on; Jack Parsons took the Oath of a Probationer in the A\A\ under Wilfred T. Smith on this date in 1941. He took the magickal motto of ‘Thelema Obtentum Procedero Amoris Nuptiae’, which Crowley later commented was “couched in a language beyond my powers of understanding.” …….... Also, in regards to the old Agape Lodge I’d like to mention Frederick Mellinger. He was an actor and dramatist who had immigrated to London from Berlin with his wife and his two sons in 1933. Three years later he moved to Los Angeles and in late 1939 he contacted Wilfred T. Smith. He took Minerval and First Degree on this date in 1841, joining the Ordo Templi Orientis at Agape Lodge. He was also a member of the AA. His motto was Frater A.U.M.G. (Arte Unionem Manifestabo Gnosticam). …....… And finally, I’d like to point out that 29 years to the date after Jack Parsons swore the Oath of a Probationer, or on March 22, 1970, Grady Louis McMurtry took the Oath of a Probationer 0=0 in Aleister Crowley’s AA. His immediate superior in the Order was none other than his wife, Phyllis Seckler, much to his later regret.

Saturday March 21st 2009 – 3:00pm HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEIGH! I'll have to drink an extra beer (or two) tonight in your honor. 

6:00am For the history buffs: Marie-Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès was born in Marseille, France on this date in 1854. He spent the early part of his life in one financial scheme after another until his ‘frauds’ were discovered and he was forced to flee from France to Geneva. Here he changed his name to Léo Taxil but, caught in another fraud, he was expelled from Switzerland. He returned to France in 1879 during a period of strong anti-Catholic Church sentiment and Léo, ever looking for his next victim, decided there was a ready market for anticlerical publications. In hopes of gathering anti-Church material, he joined the Masonic lodge Le Temple de L’Honneur Français in Paris in 1881 but he was exposed and expelled before going beyond the first degree. Unable to make any serious money from his anti-Catholic writing he decided to look in other directions and soon he began attacking Freemasonry with such titles as; The Three-point Brothers, The Anti-Christ and the Origin of Masonry, The Cult of the Great Architect, Pius IX; Freeman? and The Masonic Assassins. He also took the simple phrase attributed it to the Masonic scholar Albert Pike; being “Lucifer is God” and he honed it into proof of the organization’s evil intent. He was also not above ‘fabricating’ information to incite the masses to buy his books. In the end the incorrigible opportunist moved away from Paris to a stately home in the country, where he enjoyed a comfortable life until his death at the age of fifty-three, in 1907. …...…. Also born on this date was Jane Wolfe in Petersburg, Pennsylvania in 1875. She was a silent film star who had appeared in well over fifty Hollywood movies but is probably most famous for playing Mary Picford’s mother in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917). In June of 1920 she left New York destined for Cefalu to join Aleister Crowley’s commune known as the Abbey of Thelema. She arrived there the following month. She was hoping that Aleister Crowley might cure her sickness. William Seabrook, a very close friend of Wolfe’s states that she was suffering from “... an unrequited passion for some homme fatale of the speakeasy epoch, from too much bathroom gin, despondency, and a couple of other depressants which ... included veronal.” On June 11, 1921 She was admitted as an A.'.A.'. Probationer. Her admitting Superior was Aleister Crowley. On March 29, 1958 at 12:20pm Jane Wolfe died in Southern California “from sheer exhaustion” according to Karl Germer, the present head of the Ordo Templi Orientis. …..…. It was also on March 21, 1904 that Aleister Crowley took the Oath of a Probationer in the A.'.A.'., keeping his Golden Dawn magical motto Perdurabo, which means ‘I shall endure to the end’ and the very next year, on the same date, he took the Oath of a Neophyte in the AA, taking the magical motto of ‘OY MH’ which means ‘The Not.’ …….... And it was on March 21, 1919 in Detroit, after a ‘Five year Period of Silence’ wherein no Vol.II of The Equinox appeared, Aleister Crowley finally released No.1 of Volume III, which is often called the ‘Blue Equinox’ …...... And on March 21, 1943 Aleister Crowley’s published his pamphlet titled The City of God and the very next year, on the same date, he released The Book of Thoth.

Friday March 20th 2009 – 7:15am Frater Shiva, the author of the classic work INSIDE SOLAR LODGE, OUTSIDE THE LAW (The Teitan Press 2007) sent me an email yesterday. He was once a member of The Solar Lodge. It was regarding a posting on the Lashatal.com forum topic: Where are they now? The original question posted asked “...  I am very curious as to where A.C.’s personal Stele of Revealing may be. I would greatly appreciate any help.” ... Frater Shiva replied – “... let us assume that AC somehow reclaimed his "stolen" stele or had another copy made. The stele was "stolen" from his pack while Crowley was on one of his expeditions. This event was reported by him in The Confessions or in one of his diaries. Perhaps someone can remember where or when - I certainly can't. And let us accept the Grant remembrance that "Crowley’s Stele was on AC’s chest of drawers at Netherwood on Feb. 21st 1945 and was described as 'copy on wood'."  And let us simply return to the original question: "…as to where A.C.’s personal Stele of Revealing may be," and take a look at some FACTS: Solar Lodge had a stele that was liberated from the Germer collection. The Germer collection was mainly Crowley's collection that was forwarded to him (Germer) by Gerald Yorke after AC's death. Now this stele was painted on wood. It was about 12-14" wide, about 18-24" high, and about 1" thick. It had an identifying mark - There was a lighter "patch" of paint in front of Ankh-f-n-Khonsu. I have seen this described as a "white patch" or "white spot" somewhere here on the forums, but the Lashtal search engine doesn't seem to help me to find the quote. In any case, this "patch" is mentioned as being seen in "some" pictures/reproductions in "some" Crowley book(s), but it (the "patch") is missing in other pictures/reproductions. This "white patch" is not white. It is a light-yellow that was obviously used to patch-up or repair a portion of the slightly-darker-yellow background of the stele scene. I assume this was AC's stele as it came with other AC items, including some of  Crowley's diaries and (of course) the Book of Abramelin Talismans [mentioned above]. But then it could simply have been somebody else's painted wood stele from Agape Lodge, although I doubt it - but one never knows. One thing for sure: This stele possessed a very strong magickal energy. Many people sat for hours, sometimes under the influence of "wine and [or] strange drugs," as they attempted to perceive the wonders of the icon. (2) This stele was kept in the Solar Lodge Temple in Los Angeles, and therefore (as far as I know) it survived the firestorm at Solar Ranch that destroyed virtually all of the other Crowley material. After the firestorm, and after our cops-and-robbers episodes with the local Keystone cops and the FBI (during which we escaped to Mexico), almost everything that survived was put up for sale at one of the biggest occult garage sales in modern times. Lo and behold, just as the sale was getting under way (at both the burned-out Solar Ranch and The Eye of Horus bookstore in Blythe), along came Grady McMurtry - conducting his investigation into Solar Lodge. He purchased a stele at this fantastic flea market, and a photo of him holding this stele along with a copy of Liber Al that he bought appears in my book "Inside Solar Lodge - Outside the Law," mentioned above (this photo, and others, were provided courtesy of the OTO from its archives). Grady thought he had fulfilled something major and quoted from Liber AL, Chapter 3: "21. Set up my image in the East: thou shalt buy thee an image which I will show thee, especial, not unlike the one thou knowest. And it shall be suddenly easy for thee to do this." ... Now the question is: Was this the same painted wood stele that I have described above? Or was it one of many copies? The photo in my book is not clear enough to see whether the identifying "light patch" is present, and it must be remembered that Solar Lodge photographed a stele (in one of the books I believe) and printed full size [the size of the painted wood version] reproductions (in sepia tone), one of which was given to every one of the 75 [or so] members. Each member was expected to glue their (front and back) photos to a pre-cut, 1" board, and then to fill in the appropriate colors with paint or colored pencils. In addition, some artistic members (maybe only one or two) decided to paint their own stele directly on wood without benefit of the photographs. So you can see why I ask: "Was this the same painted wood stele that I have described above?" ... This exciting episode has been described in greater detail in my book, mentioned above, and also in Jerry Cornelius's Red Flame No.13 - IN THE NAME OF THE BEAST - Vol. Two: 1962-1985, A biography of Grady Louis McMurtry, Dec. 2005. ... (3) So if Grady bought the stele, then he would have (probably) have set it up [in the east] in a temple somewhere. And if it was the original (supposedly) Crowley stele, then anyone who saw it would certainly have noticed the "light patch" that was rather visible and sensitive to a "texture-change" if one ran their finger across the patch. And if it really was that stele, then (presumably) it is now in the possession of OTO - but one never knows - Things disappear and reappear in mysterious manners and in unusual places. If Grady had this stele in a temple, then perhaps Jerry Cornelius might have seen it, because he was a close associate of Grady. I will send him a copy of this post.” ... Shiva did send me an email and he asks “Jerry- Did you ever see Grady's stele that he bought at the Solar Lodge firesale? And if so, was it painted directly on wood, and did it have a light yellow paint repair patch in front of Mr. Khonsu?” ... Reply: No, I don't remember seeing it. Grady use to bring a smaller Stele with him when he traveled in the early years because some branches of the OTO, that he was traveling to back in 1977/78, did not have a copy of the Stele for the altar during initiations. It's been many years now but from what I remember, because I had held it, the Stele he traveled with was not painted but was decoupaged which is an art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it. It had a color rendition of the stele glued upon it. Sorry, I wish that I could be of more help ... but by the time I moved to California in 1989 Grady's possessions and even part of the OTO had already suffered another major theft; this time shortly after his death and at the hands of its own local membership who stole everything they could on the pretenses of keeping it from Bill Breeze.  So much has now been lost.

7:10am Paul Hohlt pointed out that in the series From The Caliph Vol. II No.2 and Vol. II N0.9 the term tanmatras has been changed to tanmantras. Paul continues: “Here is a definition that may make things clearer than the charts I gave you: Tanmatras Tanmatras (Sanskrit) The subtle essences of the five elements, popularly given as earth, water, fire, air, and ether; and in one sense they are referred to as sabda (sound), sparsa (touch), rupa (sight), rasa (taste), and gandha (smell). They are equivalent to the five mahabhutas (foundation-substances of the world). The tanmatras are the abstract sources or originants, devoid of properties and qualities from our point of view, but when the tanmatras emanate what becomes the pertinent qualities and properties of nature, then they become the mahabhutas. In the order of cosmic emanation, each of the seven logoi produces its vehicular expression which is the tanmatra, from which again is emanated the respective propertied and qualified mahabhuta or cosmic element.” ... Reply: Wow, much thanks! Sadly, at this point in time, its almost impossible to determine whether or not Grady made an opps typo or if this was another classic example of Bill Heidrick editing. Bill edited EVERYTHING that was published. That is why one of the old OTO Magickal Link parodies has the opening line of "Do what thou wilt" etc substituted with "Accept what I edited as don't submit anything at all." Anyway, Paul goes on to add "Love all the Grady stuff!" ... Glad you have been enjoying the stuff and again, thanks for the info!

7:00am Yesterday I heard a knock at my door. It was the cute little Asian girl from the first floor in quest of the Building Manager – i.e. which is me! She said water was coming out of the ceiling in her bathroom. I called my boss to get maintenance over here and I then went downstairs  to check out the damage. No, I didn’t find a drip or two but instead there was literally gallons pouring out of every crack by the minute; even part of her ceiling had opened up. Her floor was flooded. The damage was unbelievable. I immediately went upstairs and knocked on the girl’s apartment above but no one was home. You could hear the water running and running, and even splashing, so I went in and discovered her place was totally flooded but the water wasn’t coming from her bathroom but from above on the third floor. Her bathroom ceiling had caved in and literally hundreds of gallons of water were pouring down and also out of other cracks, the door jams and ceiling fixtures. I stood there for a second and I could believe what I was seeing. So, off I went to the third floor. They too weren’t home but to make matters worse, although I could hear the water pouring out from somewhere; none of my master keys worked the lock. I couldn’t get it. I again called my boss to let her know the extent of the water damage and why I could no nothing. I then went downstairs just as the cute Asian girl was, by now, distraught because her whole ceiling in her bathroom had now collapsed but in truth she was taking it well. Within minutes the maintenance guy showed up and luckily he had a master key that worked, so we headed up to the third floor apartment and upon opening the door we discovered, no lie, two inches plus of standing water rising by the second. Their toilet had utterly melted down and was spewing gallons upon gallons out like a Yellowstone geyser. It was rather impressive. Even worse, their toilet had no shut off value but luckily with a wrench we were finally able to shut the water off. What a disaster; the water was by now pouring out of the ceilings below, out of every door jam, light fixtures and even through ceiling cracks in the hallways. One could only smile and watch as hundreds upon hundreds of gallons of water was cascading down through three floors like a waterfall. Ah, so much for a quiet afternoon and if you all are wondering why I didn't answer your emails its because I was busy ...

6:50am The Sun enters Aries today with a Moon is in Capricorn. It’s the VERNAL EQUINOX. Yea!!!! 

6:45am For the history buffs: Daniel Dunglas Home, pronounced hume, was born an illegitimate child on this date in 1833 in Currie, a village near Edinburgh, Scotland. He was adopted by his aunt when he was but an infant, and taken to Connecticut. He has been described as “the most celebrated medium of all time, judging by the number and impressiveness of the séances of which we have records and by the caliber of the observers whom he attracted in the many countries he visited.” He conducted over 1500 séances and physic demonstrations which were always conducted in broad daylight, and in settings other than his own home. Sir William Crookes conducted tightly controlled experiments with Home in 1871. Crookes claimed that he saw no proof that Home was anything less than the ‘real thing.’ Two years later, in 1873, Home moved to the Mediterranean due to a recurring bout of tuberculosis.  He he died on June 12, 1886 at the age of 40.  He was buried at St Germain-en-Laye. After his death, his wife Julie, published two books about Home.  The first was titled D. D. Home: His Life and Mission (1888) and The Gift of D. D. Home (1890). Other earlier books by Home himself included My Life and Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism. …..…. Also, the Stock broker and antiquarian bookseller Frederick Leigh Gardner joined the Golden Dawn on this date in 1894. He is known as Frater Credo Experto. He is often confused with witch Gerald Gardner. …..…. Also of interest, on March 20, 1903 Charles Godfrey Leland, the author of Aradia: Gospel of the Witches (1889), died. ..……. And it was on March 20, 1904, the Equinox of the Gods of the Element of Fire, that Aleister Crowley performed a ritual to Horus in Cairo, Egypt. He received a psychic message that Christianity was dead, an idea that obviously appealed immensely to him, the Great Beast 666. In the following month, over three successive days in April, Crowley ‘received’ The Book of the Law, eventually titled Liber AL vel Legis. This new ‘bible’ was dictated to him by Aiwass, an invisible entity who claimed to be the minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat and a messenger from the forces ruling the planet during the Aeon of Aquarius. The new decree given to mankind was “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” …....... Also, John Yarker, Freemasonic scholar, died on this date in 1913. His Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry can be traced to the Oriental Rite of Memphis established in France in 1814, and the Rite of Mizraim, established in France in 1813. …..... and it was on March 20, 1979 that the Articles of Incorporation of the O.T.O. were established and signed in California. …..... Still, for the psychology minded, I should have pointed out that Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in the small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna. Besides Sigmund Freud, B. F. Skinner is probably the next most celebrated psychologist. He developed a theory based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Reinforcement is the key element to his theory. And on that note:  Why did the chicken cross the road?  According to Skinner its “because the external influences, which had pervaded its sensorium from birth, had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own freewill.”   Skinner died on August 18th in 1990.

Thursday March 19th 2009 – 9:15am I wish to announce that Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalog # 54, Used and Rare Books on the Religions of the East, may now be viewed at: www.weiserantiquarian.com. Check it out! There is alot of interesting stuff being offered.

5:00am For the history buffs: it was on March 19, 1563 that the Criminal witchcraft statute was enacted by Queen Elizabeth I. It would take effect in June of this year.  It was England’s most notorious Witchcraft Act which stated that anyone who should “use, practice, or exercise any Witchcraft, Enchantment, Charm, or Sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed,” was guilty of a felony without benefit of clergy, and should be put to death. This law was broadened further by Elizabeth’s successor James I, a king who wrote a treatise on Dæmonologie. In 1604, the first year of his reign, the Elizabethan act was broadened to bring the penalty of death to anyone who invoked evil spirits or communed with familiar spirits. It was this statute that was enforced by Matthew Hopkins, the notorious ‘Witch-Finder General’. …....... and to keep with ‘legal findings’, it was on March 19, 1954 that an injunction was issued ‘against’ all of Wilhelm Reich’s inventions by the U.S. District Judge of Maine. …........ but on a lighter note; it was on this date in 1933 that Aleister Crowley’s Gnostic Mass was first publicly performed in California at the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis. …........ and finally, the classic cult movie titled Eraserhead opened on this date in 1977. Often a visual difficulty for sane people, the plot centers around a person named Jack Spencer who lives in an industrial town and who discovers that he’s the father to a hideously mutated infant. When I first saw this movie, it brought tears to my eyes.

Wednesday March 18th 2009 – 7:30am For the history buffs:  Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templars, after a painful imprisonment of six and a half years, was publicly burnt at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris on this date in 1314. …..…. And Edgar Cayce, the ‘Sleeping Prophet,’ was born on this date in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1877. He was considered by many to be the greatest psychic of the 20th Century. Most of his adult life Cayce demonstrated the uncanny ability to put himself into self-induced sleep by lying down on a couch, closing his eyes, and folding his hands over his stomach. This state enabled him to place his mind in contact with all time and space and, while in this state, he could respond to questions as diverse as, “What are the secrets of the universe?” During his life he had openly preached vegetarianism as a system of health and diet although he was known to break his own rules by eating his favorite meat, pork. When asked about this violation he simply replied, “I wouldn’t be worth much if I couldn’t raise the vibration level of that poor little hunk of meat.” He also believed that one of his past incarnations was ‘Lucius’, or Luke, the companion of Jesus Christ. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest psychics of the 20th Century. However, one of his strangest visions centered on the death ray used in ancient Atlantis. This Great Crystal was called the Tuaoi Stone and Cayce claimed that it was a huge cylindrical prism in which the Atlanteans could gather and focus “energy.” Unfortunately the Atlanteans got very greedy with their power and they fired up their Crystal to such a high frequency that it set off volcanic disturbances that inevitably led to the destruction of that ancient world. Cayce died on January 3, 1945 in his bed in Virginia Beach, Virginia. …...... also, Manly Palmer Hall, one of the metaphysical giants of the Twentieth Century, was born in Peterborough, Ontario on this date in 1901. He spent decades researching eastern philosophy, occult studies, astrology, and a wide variety of related topics at a time when such subjects were still unknown territory in the western world. He authored of over seventy-five published works and although historians acknowledge that he was indeed a Mason, most will also claim that it could hardly be said that he was representative of all Masons. In other words, Manly P. Hall was often “different.” In 1934 he founded the Philosophical Research Society. He died on August 29, 1990, in his long-time residence of Hollywood, California, at the age of 89. ……..... And I should point out that Ian Fleming finished his first novel about James Bond the British Secret Agent 007 entitled Casino Royale on this date in 1952, basing its evil villain Le Chiffre on his old friend Aleister Crowley. …..…. And finally, George Sylvester Viereck was a noted writer, poet and propagandist who died on this date in 1962. He was editor of such German language publications known as The International and The Fatherland which defended Germany at the outbreak of World War I. He was questioned by the US government in 1918 for receiving money from a former German minister but was not prosecuted, despite public outrage. He was known for his interviews of international figures such as Adolf Hitler (1923). It was no secret that he was a Nazi apologist and he was charged with such a criminal offense in 1941 under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He served four years in prison between 1943-47. He was, for awhile, a close friend of Aleister Crowley who submitted numerous articles to his publication. In Crowley’s 1936 diaries there is a brief entry on Thursday July 30th, “George Sylvester Viereck to lunch. Saturnus, Rudy, & girl Pat. Viereck will sign affidavit that I had no trouble with authorities in U.S.A. He said also that after [the] war he made friends with our N.I. chiefs, who told him that I had been working for them during the War.” Saturnus is Karl Germer.

Tuesday March 17th 2009 – 9:30am Its been awhile since I gave you all an update on my health: on March 2nd Luis Alvarado made a call to Highland’s Record Dept to see ‘how’ we can get a full copy of my medical records between Jan-March 2007. We need these for medical and legal purposes. We figured we'd have to jump through hoops to get them but they said, no problem, just come in, fill out a form. What! It’s that easy. Even Luis was shocked! So, off we went Highland, filled out the forms and they said we’ll get them within a week! Anyway, my medical records have arrived and now I can see what the doctor's actually have said about me. ..... For those that don't know; I suffered a heart attack back in late 2006. On January 12th 2007 I was scheduled for tests at the Cardiology Lab at Highland Hospital to see just how bad the damage was. They had me take my shirt off and they attached numerous wires to my upper torso for one test after another, one where gel was squeezed on my chest and a device that looked exactly like the one put on Marlene’s stomach to review Faustus in the womb was used to take images of my chest. It was kinda cool actually looking at a sound image of my heart beating. It seems it is, as the doctor put it, “riding high in my chest” ??? After this I had to do the hamster on the treadmill thing but after abit when it got faster and faster where it brought me to my stage of “fatigue” they ended it. The doctor told me, after reviewing all the data and images etc that I must have had a ‘Heart attack’ recently, most likely in late October or early November but they weren’t 100% sure. When I asked, why I didn’t notice it the doctor replied that I probably did but “you probably just didn’t want to lie down.” Implying, I was too busy. He also said people react differently to heart attacks, or where it actually occurred in the heart or how bad it was, or that it could have been gradual damage over a period of days, weeks etc. Anyway, the images of my heart clearly shows a white area toward the top, or “wall (muscle) damage” where the heart is not working or even moving. Reading the paperwork they gave me; or computer readout of the results; it plainly states under “Conclusion” that with the damage done I’m at a “high” risk with a 25% possibility that I won’t survive more than five years. What? 1 in 4 chance? I’m not sure I like those odds. ... Anyway, here I am two years later and still kicking. ... and now I finally have the doctor's files and notes which we requested earlier this month. The important thing is that the heart specialist clearly wrote back in January 2007 that I have a ‘moderate decrease’ of heart capacity which they refer to, and I quote "20% to 30%" loss. Thats all? Somewhere between a quarter and a third of my heart isn't working and that’s considered ‘moderate’ ? ... I consider it "ouch!" ... Sadly, I can only wonder how much more of my heart has deteriorated over these last few years because I do know I've been slowing down. 

8:30am Well, for many years some of you have tried to get me on LiveJournal, Facebook or some kinda of instant message website and finally I gave in and decided to see what all the fuss was about. However, after only a week I decided last night to delete most of the previous incoming/outgoing messages on Facebook. I did this simply because I've been inundated with hundreds of odd emails every day commenting on new or previous thoughts; or simply from new people dropping me a lengthy email and asking to be my ‘Friend.’ On the one hand I'm of the old generation where it’s impolite not to answer someone but, having done this all week, I now feel guilty. But on the other hand, admittedly, it was fun at times throwing out random psychobabble but what a total distraction. My productivity dropped off almost in half as I felt the need to stop what I was doing every time I heard "You've got Mail" and see who was writing ... sadly, I can’t turn off the volume because some of the emails coming in are important pertaining to other matters. ... Well, I'm not saying I'm giving up on my Facebook page but I am saying that I extremely going to distance myself from this constant chatter of "You've got mail" only to find incoming psychobabble. How can any magician accomplish anything? 

7:50am For the history buffs: Eileen  J. Garrett, medium, psychic, author and founder of the Parapsychology Foundation, was born on this date in Beauparc, County Meath, Ireland in 1893. Both her parents committed suicide shortly after her birth. Her aunt and uncle adopted her and raised her. Psychic experiences always seemed to be part of her life. When she was very young she saw her favorite aunt, who lived about twenty miles away, walking up the path carrying a baby. As the aunt approached, she said to young Eileen, “I am going away now and I must take the baby with me.” Eileen quickly ran into the house to relate this to her adoptive aunt, who immediately punished her for making up a lie. The following day she learned that her aunt had died in childbirth, along with the baby. This strange introduction to death had a serious impact upon young Eileen. She asked many questions but received no answers,  least of all from her aunt. Distraught and in reaction to what she felt was an undeserved punishment, she drowned some ducklings which her aunt loved. She recalls, “The little dead bodies were quiet, but a strange movement was occurring all about them. A gray, smoke-like substance rose up from each small form. This nebulous, fluid stuff wove and curled as it rose in winding spiral curves, and I saw it take new shape as it moved out and away from the quiet forms.” Thus, at a young age, she became aware that there was more to life than the physical form, and that this ‘more’ separated itself from the body, at the time of death. In time Eileen Garrett left England and moved to America. During her life she gained much notoriety as a famous medium. She originally developed her PSI abilities under the spiritual guidance of James Hewat McKenzie while attending the British College of Psychic Science (1924-1928). She also participated in the experiments conducted by Dr. J. B. Rhine at Duke University (1932-1938) and has worked with such psychic researchers as Dr. Herewood Carrington and Nandor Fodor, to name only a few. She died on September 15th 1970 after a long bout of bone cancer. …...... also, of interest, on March 17, 1948 the author William Gibson was born in Conway, South Carolina. He wrote the classic book titled Neuromancer which has defined the cyberpunk genre as well as spawning a computer subculture. It is no secret that Gibson's conception of cyberspace and the global electronic matrix linking the world's databases was a powerful influence on researchers working on the development of 3D computer environments. His short story titled Johnny Mnemonic was made into a movie in 1995 staring Keanu Reeves.

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