Office of the Readings for 2024

Happy Thelemic New Year, everyone! It's that time again, for the Office of the Readings.

Like last year, the Office of the Readings will be presented at Leaping Laughter Lodge, the Minneapolis local body of Ordo Templi Orientis.

This post will remain the top article here for the duration of the Thelemic Holy Days, from March 19th to April 10th.

The Rite of the Office of the Readings is performed for all of the readings beginning on March 20th.

The Prologue of the Unborn on March 19th is presented on its own and followed by silent meditation.

The Invocation of Horus will be performed on the evening of March 20th prior to that day's Office of the Readings.

Rituals

The Invocation of Horus

The Rite of the Office of the Readings

Readings

March 19

Liber VII, Prologue of the Unborn.

March 20 - Saturn/Earth, The Universe

Liber LXV, Cap I.

Liber VII, Cap II.

March 21 - Fire/Spirit, The Aeon

Liber LXV, Cap IV.

From The Four Zoas by William Blake.

March 22 - Sol, The Sun

Liber VII, Cap IV.

From A Mithraic Ritual Translated by GRS Mead.

March 23 - Pisces, The Moon

Liber VII, Cap VI.

From Dark Night of the Soul, Book II, Cap 8 by San Juan de la Cruz.

March 24 - Aries, The Emperor

Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus.

From the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Cap 37 and 39.

March 25 - Mars, The Tower

Liber VII, Cap I.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 16th Æthyr.

March 26 - Capricornus, The Devil

Liber A'ash.

From Liber CXI, Cap 174-175.

March 27 - Sagittarius, Art

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap VII.

From The Vision of the Universal Mercury by G.H. Frater S.R.M.D.

March 28 - Scorpio, Death

From Liber Arcanorum.

From Liber CXI, Cap 192-194.

March 29 - Water, The Hanged Man

Liber LXV, Cap III.

I. N. R. I. by Frater Achad.

March 30 - Libra, Adjustment

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap I-V.

Liber Libræ.

March 31 - Jupiter, Fortune

Liber VII, Cap III.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 20th Æthyr.

April 1 - Virgo, The Hermit

Liber VII, Cap V.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes by Hermes Trismegistus.

April 2 - Leo, Lust

Liber Stellae Rubeæ.

From The Daughter of Fortitude Received by Sir Edward Kelley.

April 3 - Cancer, The Chariot

Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni.

Maha Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra (The Heart Sutra, Buddhist text. Translation by the Kuan Um School of Zen).

April 4 - Gemini, The Lovers

Liber LXV, Cap II.

From Liber DCCCXXXVII, The Law of Liberty.

April 5 - Taurus, The Hierophant

Liber LXV, Cap V.

From On Christ and Antichrist by Hippolytus, Cap 2.

April 6 - Aquarius, The Star

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap VI.

From The Thunder, Perfect Mind (Gnostic text).

April 7 - Venus, The Empress

Liber VII, Cap VII.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 7th Æthyr.

April 8 - Luna, The Priestess

Liber AL, Cap I.

April 9 - Mercury, The Magus

Liber AL, Cap II.

April 10 - Air, The Fool

Liber AL, Cap III.

If you would like to perform this series and have questions, feel free to e-mail me here. All Office of the Readings posts may be viewed here. Our Office of the Readings series is based on this ritual series by the Companions of Monsalvat.

Aleister Crowley Pendant Turned Me Evil

In news from the UK comes a sinister tale of a pendant allegedly once owned by occultist Aleister Crowley. As a student of Crowley's works myself, I don't recognize anything specific about the design, shown above. It looks like a brass rod with a chain on one end and a knob on the other running through bone that has skulls and bones carved into it. If I were trying to sort the symbolism, brass is Mercury and bones are related to death, so some sort of psychopomp energy? But even that's kind of a stretch.

The self-styled 'Great Beast' has been alleged to have owned the now derelict building in west Cornwall and it has been suggested he might have used it as a base for his occult practices after an unusual death took place there in the 1930s.

Now I know nothing about Crowley working in Cornwall, or anything about a suspicious death connected with him that took place there - and I've even read John Symods' The Great Beast, which is chock full of made-up evil that Crowley allegedly committed. Maybe one of the Crowley historians out there can correct me, but as far as I know none of that story is true.

At any rate, the pendant was purchased at auction by Candice Collins, a collector of occult and paranormal memorabilia, who jumped at the chance to add an item owned by Crowley to her collection. She hoped to open an occult museum in the future, and such a piece would be a great addition. But once the piece was in her possession, she felt it calling her to wear it all the time and never be away from it.

Not put off by this though, mum-of-three Candice said she is delighted to have acquired the "once in a lifetime piece" but having it around her house has not been without its challenges. "When I received it we'd had a couple glasses of wine and I thought I'd get it out, have a look at it and hold it and it turned me quite bizarre," she said. "My curiosity gets the better of me sometimes and I just picked it up and was holding it for ages and felt like I didn't want to let it go. I just wanted to wear it all the time." She claims this spurred her on to say "weird things" about worshipping the devil and says despite now having taken it off and put it away that she feels it "calling her" and feels drawn to put it back on.

"My partner said I started saying some really weird things that I don't even remember like 'it would be really cool to worship the devil' and some other really dark things and I wouldn't give it back. "After he'd taken it off me for four or five days I was feeling depressed and suppressed and just very dark from it all," she added. "The objects draws you to want to hold it and I think that's the energy attached it." Her partner Nick Pearse, 54, said he was confused about what was going on describing how Candice started kissing and stroking the pendant. Consequently it has had to be put away out of the house, and out of her reach.

So a couple of points here. "Evil" is not a metaphysical force, and neither is "Good." Magick is a technology, and it makes about as much sense to talk about black and white electricity as it does to talk about black and white magick. It all has to do with how it's used. A correllary to that would be that objects don't become "evil" by being around someone "evil." Just the fact that something was owned by Crowley doesn't mean it is necessarily empowered to do anything but sit there.

And Crowley did not "worship the devil." Thelemites don't do that. We work towards the accomplishment of our True Wills, which represent our innermost spiritual truths. If it's really true that the pendant wasn't just owned by Crowley, but specifically enchanted by him, it probably would do something along those lines. Anything that resonates with your True Will is going to feel welcoming and harmonious. But all it does beyond that is bring out your true self. So maybe Collins' True Will is to worship the devil?

That's about the best I can do if we assume this is a real paranormal incident connected with Crowley. If you dispense with that, a lot of other possibilities emerge. It could have been owned by a different magician, and maybe the strange death attributed to Crowley was actually the work of whoever that magician was. It's completely unclear what a random occultist might have enchanted the pendant to do. Or maybe, just maybe, this is nothing more than a highly effective operation undertaken with the goal of getting Collins' name in the news. Succes is your proof, and it clearly has worked.

Via Solis Pisces Elixir Rite - Year Seven

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Pisces Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, March 12th at the Tuesday Ritual Workshop starting around 8 PM CST at the lodge.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, banishing dagger, and invoking wand are placed on the altar. In the center of the altar is placed a cup of wine for creating the elixir, within the Table of Art corresponding to Pisces.

The sign Pisces is attributed to the powers of "Bewitchment" and "Casting Illusions." So this is the power that you would call upon to cast classic magical operations such as "glamours" and the like. Spells that act directly on your own mind or those of others would also qualify. And, since magical powers are descriptive, not prescriptive, this can be scaled up to include all sorts of contemporary issues in our society. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.

I. Opening

Officiant inhales fully, placing the banishing dagger at his or her lips. The air is then expelled as the dagger is swept backwards.

Officiant: Bahlasti! Ompehda!

Officiant then performs the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

Officiant: We take refuge in Nuit, the blue-lidded daughter of sunset, the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night sky, as we issue the call to the awakened nature of all beings, for every man and every woman is a star.

All: MAKAShANaH

Officiant: We take refuge in Hadit, the secret flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star, as we issue the call to our own awakened natures, arousing the coiled serpent about to spring.

All: ABRAHADABRA

Officiant: We take refuge in Heru-Ra-Ha, who wields the wand of double power, the wand of the force of Coph Nia, but whose left hand is empty for he has crushed an universe and naught remains, as we unite our awakened natures with those of all beings everywhere and everywhen, dissolving all obstacles and healing all suffering.

All: AUMGN

Officiant: For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

All: All is pure and present are and has always been so, for existence is pure joy; all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass and done; but there is that which remains. To this realization we commit ourselves – pure and total presence. So mote it be.

Bell chime.