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Liber Aleph
''Liber Aleph vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly'' is the title of ''The Equinox'', volume III, number VI, by Aleister Crowley. The book is written in the form of an epistle to his magical son, Charles Stansfeld Jones, Frater Achad, whom Crowley later doubted as being his true magical son, asserting that Achad had in fact gone insane, citing as evidence Achad's "upending the tree of life" in his ''Q.B.L., or The Bride's Reception'', the first of Achad's major qabalistic works. The book consists of 208 short epistles on the philosophy of Thelema, Crowley's own ethical system of occult magic. Though the book was not published until some time after its writing in 1918, it is considered one of the forefront commentaries on Crowley's teachings. The arcane style was probably either inspired by the short epistolary style of Heinrich Agrippa's ''De Occulta Philosophia'' or the introduction to '' The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage'' which sees the author, Abraham the Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Equinox
''The Equinox'' (subtitle: ''The Review of Scientific Illuminism'') was a periodical that served as the official organ of the A∴A∴, a magical order founded by Aleister Crowley (although material is often of import to its sister organization, Ordo Templi Orientis). Begun in 1909, it mainly featured articles about occultism and magick, while several issues also contained poetry, fiction, plays, artwork, and biographies. The last issue was published in 1998. Publication history ''The Equinox'' appeared semiannually from the years 1909 through 1913. Volume II was never published, and vol. III:1 was the last in the regular serialized publications. After that, editions of the ''Equinox'' were published irregularly by various organizations and are best known by their book titles. All issues after III:5 were edited and released after Crowley's death in 1947. * Vol. I, #1: Spring 1909. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd. * Vol. I, #2: Autumn 1909. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Crowley rejected his parents' fundamentalist Christian Plymouth Brethren faith to pursue an interest in Western esotericism. He was educated at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, further suggesting that he remained a spy throughout his life. In 1898, he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was train ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epistle
An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles. Those traditionally attributed to Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as catholic (i.e., "general") epistles. Ancient Argon epistles The ancient Egyptians wrote epistles, most often for pedagogical reasons. Egyptologist Edward Wente (1990) speculates that the Fifth-dynasty Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi—in his many letters sent to his viziers—was a pioneer in the epistolary genre. Its existence is firmly attested during the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, and is prominently featured in the educational guide ''The Book of Kemit'' written during the Eleventh Dynasty. A standardized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Stansfeld Jones
Charles Robert Stansfeld Jones (; 1886–1950), aka Frater Achad, was an occultist and ceremonial magician. An early aspirant to the A∴A∴ (the 20th to be admitted as a Probationer, in December 1909) who "claimed" the grade of Magister Templi as a Neophyte. He also became an O.T.O. initiate, serving as the principal organizer for that order in British Columbia, Canada. He worked under a variety of mottos and acronymic titles, including V.I.O. (Unus in Omnibus, "One in All," as an A∴A∴ Probationer), O.I.V.V.I.O., V.I.O.O.I.V., Parzival (as an Adeptus Minor and O.T.O. Ninth Degree), and Tantalus Leucocephalus (as Tenth Degree O.T.O.), but he is best known under his Neophyte motto "Achad" ( he, אחד, "unity"), which he used as a byline in his various published writings. Early life Jones was born in London on 2 April 1886. He became an accountant. Prior to joining the A∴A∴, he investigated Spiritualism, as recounted in the notes of his magical progress, "A Master of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thelema
Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word ''thelema'' is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun (), "will", from the verb (): "to will, wish, want or purpose." Adherents to Thelema are called '' Thelemites'', and phenomena within the scope of Thelema are termed ''Thelemic''. Crowley wrote that, in 1904, he had received a text or scripture called '' The Book of the Law'', dictated to him by a potentially non-corporeal entity named Aiwass. This text was to serve as the foundation of the religious and philosophical system he called Thelema. Crowley identified himself as the prophet of a new era in humanity's spiritual development, a novel age he termed the Æon of Horus. According to Crowley, the facticity of his prophethood was mainly predicated upon his reception ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 drew heavily upon Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and neo-Platonism. His book was widely influential among occultists of the early modern period, and was condemned as heretical by the inquisitor of Cologne. Life Agrippa was born in Nettersheim, near Cologne on 14 September 1486 to a family of middle nobility.Valente, Michaela "Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius". In: ''Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism'' (Wouter J. Hanegraaff, ed.), pp. 4–8. Brill, 2006. . Many members of his family had been in the service of the House of Habsburg. Agrippa studied at the University of Cologne from 1499 to 1502, (age 13–16) when he received the degree of ''magister artium''. The University of Cologne was one of the centers of Thomism, and the faculty of ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Book Of The Sacred Magic Of Abramelin The Mage
''The Book of Abramelin'' tells the story of an Egyptian mage named Abraham, or Abra-Melin, who taught a system of magic to Abraham of Worms, a Jew in Worms, Germany, presumed to have lived from –. The system of magic from this book regained popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries partly due to Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers' translation, ''The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage''. The work was translated into English by Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers and more recently by Georg Dehn and Steven Guth. Dehn attributed authorship of ''The Book of Abramelin'' to Rabbi Yaakov Moelin (Hebrew ; ), a German Jewish Talmudist. This identification has since been disputed. Structure The grimoire is framed as a sort of epistolary novel or autobiography in which Abraham of Worms describes his journey from Germany to Egypt and reveals Abramelin's magical and Kabbalistic secrets to his son Lamech. Internally the text dates itself to the year 1458. The story involves Abraham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Book Of The Law
''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. Aleister Crowley said that it was dictated to him by a beyond-human being who called himself ' Aiwass'. Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley's wife, wrote two phrases in the manuscript. The three chapters of the book are spoken by the deities Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Through the reception of the ''Book'', Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity, to be known as the " Æon of Horus". The primary precept of this new aeon is the charge, " Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." The book contains three chapters, each of which was alleged to be written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on 8 April, 9 April, and 10 April in Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1904. Crowley says that the author was an entity named Aiwass, whom he later referred to as his personal Holy Guardian Angel. Biographer Lawrence Sutin quotes private diar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeon (Thelema)
In the religion of Thelema, it is believed that the history of humanity can be divided into a series of aeons (also written æons), each of which was accompanied by its own forms of "magical and religious expression". The first of these was the Aeon of Isis, which Thelemites believed occurred during prehistory and which saw mankind worshipping a Great Goddess, symbolised by the ancient Egyptian deity Isis. In Thelemite beliefs, this was followed by the Aeon of Osiris, a period that took place in the classical and mediaeval centuries, when humanity worshipped a singular male god, symbolised by the Egyptian god Osiris, and was therefore dominated by patriarchal values. The third aeon is the Aeon of Horus, controlled by the child god, symbolised by Horus. In the New Aeon, prophesied by Aleister Crowley during his lifetime throughout his esoteric and occult writings, Thelemites believe that humanity shall leave behind the tyranny of Abrahamic religions and enter a time of greater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleph
Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez . These letters are believed to have derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting an ox's head to describe the initial sound of ''*ʾalp'', the West Semitic word for ox (compare Biblical Hebrew ''ʾelef'', "ox"). The Phoenician variant gave rise to the Greek alpha (), being re-interpreted to express not the glottal consonant but the accompanying vowel, and hence the Latin A and Cyrillic А. Phonetically, ''aleph'' originally represented the onset of a vowel at the glottis. In Semitic languages, this functions as a prosthetic weak consonant, allowing roots with only two true consonants to be conjugated in the manner of a standard three consonant Semitic root. In most Hebrew dialects as well as Syriac, the ''aleph'' is an absence of a true co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermeticism
Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are contained in the various writings attributed to Hermes (the ''Hermetica''), which were produced over a period spanning many centuries (), and may be very different in content and scope. One of the most common uses of the label is to refer to the religio-philosophical system propounded by a specific subgroup of Hermetic writings known as the 'philosophical' ''Hermetica'', the most famous of which is the ''Corpus Hermeticum'' (a collection of seventeen Greek Hermetic treatises written between c. 100 and c. 300 CE). This specific, historical form of Hermetic philosophy is sometimes more restrictively called Hermetism, to distinguish it from the philosophies inspired by the many Hermetic writings of a completely different period and nature. A more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarot
The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot playing cards spread to most of Europe evolving into a family of games that includes German Grosstarok and more recent games such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen which are still played today. In the late 18th century, French occultists began to make elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. Thus there are two distinct types of tarot pack: those used for playing games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille, originally intended for playing card games, have also been used for cartomancy. Like the common playing cards, tarot has four su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
