Shoemaker Living Thelema

A Practical Guide to Attainment in Aleister Crowley's System of Magick
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9893844-0-7
Verlag: Anima Solis Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 251 Seiten

In this groundbreaking and popular book, renowned Thelemic teacher Dr. David Shoemaker sheds light on the dense and often misunderstood world of Aleister Crowley's teachings. Beginners and advanced practitioners alike will find much useful advice here, as Shoemaker brings his characteristic down-to-earth style to bear on topics such as ritual and meditation practices, sex magick, astral projection, psychotherapy for magicians, the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and that pinnacle of attainment known as the crossing of the Abyss.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shoemaker, David

Leseproben

INTRODUCTION Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Looking back over the past 20 years of my involvement with Thelema, I have often reflected on what exactly drew me to the Great Work. Life is simpler (at least superficially) without all the self-discipline required of initiates, and one can easily find a spiritual path with more cultural acceptance and societal support mechanisms. There’s a church, mosque, ashram, and new age guru on practically every block in today’s world, but I had a pretty tall order for any spiritual system: Give me wonder and mystery, but don’t make me check my brain at the door! This spiritual and intellectual dilemma was more-or-less foreordained for me. My father was an atheist philosophy professor, while my mother was a musician and theologian from a deeply religious upbringing. I had to make sense of this somehow—to find a way to reconcile these divergent worldviews and appreciate the positive contributions each perspective had brought to my life. Luckily, my parents were both open-minded enough to give me space to find my own answers. After graduating from college as a psychology major, I set off for graduate school to become a psychotherapist. I learned all about the mainstream cognitive-behavioral approaches to therapy, but the work of Carl Jung and other so-called ‘depth’ psychologists was always tugging at my sleeve. After a few years of exploration, I stumbled upon the work of Israel Regardie and, shortly thereafter, Aleister Crowley and Thelema. I had finally found the solution to my spiritual dilemma. Here was a path of passion, devotion, mystery and transcendence; yet it was to be executed with scientific rigor and a healthy dose of skepticism. “The Method of Science, The Aim of Religion.” Here I could unify the best parts of the divergent perspectives my parents had shown to me into a coherent whole, and forge a path uniquely my own. I immediately set about contacting all the Thelemic groups I could find in those preinternet days, and in the fall of 1993 my journey into initiation formally began. I joined Ordo Templi Orientis, and I committed myself to the student path of A?A?. Before long, I found myself in the position of assisting in the training of more junior initiates, reviewing their assignments, teaching and testing them on various magical techniques, and evaluating their diaries. I moved to California and began to work under the direct tutelage of Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral). Within a few months, I had advanced to various administrative positions in the orders with which I was working, and was spending about as much time with my magical pursuits as my day job. I have seen several generations of students succeed and fail, and entire magical orders come and go. I have consulted with students on the mechanics of ritual, as well as the triumphs and tragedies of their personal lives. In writing this book, it is my hope that I can communicate the insights I’ve gained over the past twenty years, as I’ve witnessed the day-to-day strivings of modern magical aspirants. I have learned from experience what works and what doesn’t, and the pitfalls that face seekers in our tradition. I have designed this book to be a useful reference at every stage of the path. Once you’ve read the source materials from Crowley and others, you should be able to pick up this book and get valuable advice on how best to execute those source materials, whatever your level of experience. Beginning students can learn how to get the most out of basic rituals like Liber Resh, and how to understand concepts like the True Will; while intermediate and advanced magicians can get helpful advice on pursuing the deeper work of A?A?, and discover ways to enrich their existing practice with new perspectives on the foundational materials. How to Use this Book This book is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of all the concepts and practices of the Thelemic path of attainment. Rather, I have chosen those topics where I felt there was the greatest need for practical commentary, and where I could offer a unique perspective on the material. I certainly have no illusions that my take on all these topics is the best or the only way to think about them. Accordingly, I encourage you to approach everything in this book with your critical thinking skills fully engaged, and with an attitude of balanced skepticism. I am assuming that the reader has a basic grounding in the fundamental principles and commonly used terms relevant to the Thelemic worldview. I am also assuming that you will have copies (printed or online) of the relevant source texts available. Rituals and other instructions will not usually be reprinted in full. Please refer to the multimedia resources available at livingthelema.com and the Living Thelema YouTube channel for demonstrations and additional instruction. I have included performance notes and other comments concerning a few of the basic rituals you are likely to encounter in your magical path. While some minimal ritual outlines are provided, I have elected to emphasize the various experiential aspects of ritual performance rather than focusing primarily on the mechanics of the ritual. As with much of the rest of this book, my aim is to help you deepen your practice of these rituals, to give a greater context for their use, and to enhance the inner energetic patterns that make them come to life in your daily work. Even where I delve into theory, I have tried to emphasize how the theory can inform your practice, and help you understand the experiences likely awaiting you on your path. There is no substitute for working with a competent personal teacher within a structured training system. A basic course of training within a well-run magical order will give you a solid, internally consistent foundation on which to build all your later work. The Temple of the Silver Star, Ordo Templi Orientis, and A?A? are designed to accomplish such goals, and I encourage you to explore the training offered by these organizations using the contact information given at the end of this book. If you belong to a magical order that teaches its own versions of the rituals and other practices discussed in this book, I suggest that you consult with your assigned teacher before incorporating any of this material into your daily practice. One of the benefits of being in such an order is the internal consistency of ritual practices, gestures, and symbol sets, and you shouldn’t complicate your progress with clashing systems and practices. Let’s take a look at the different sections of the book, so you’ll know what to expect. Each section approaches the Thelemic path of attainment from a slightly different vantage point. Part One In Part One, we will review some of the underlying principles of Thelemic attainment, and discuss an array of practical tools you can use as you progress in your path. Some of you may be relatively new to the concepts of Qabalah, so I have included an introductory essay on this topic as the first chapter. If you have a solid grounding in Qabalistic theory, you can safely skip this chapter and move on to the more advanced material beyond. Included in Part One are practical discussions concerning many of the foundational ritual and meditative practices of Thelemic magick and mysticism, as well as a review of associated tools such as astral projection, devotional practices, and sexual magick. If you are new to magical practice, these chapters will give you plenty of material for months or years of experimentation. Experienced practitioners will, I hope, find their work refreshed with new perspectives on these tools. In keeping with my aim for this book, I have avoided undue emphasis on historical or philosophical details in favor of practical and experientially useful guidance. Additional audio/visual materials, including demonstrations of some of the basic practices presented here as well as additional rituals, are available at livingthelema.com and the Living Thelema YouTube channel. Part Two In Part Two, we take a step back from the specific tools discussed in Part One, and focus on broader conceptualizations of the magical path itself. Here, we will discuss the path of attainment in light of the training methodologies of A?A?, the Trumps of the Tarot, the chakras, and a number of other symbolic templates that give unique perspectives on the path. This section of the book will give you an opportunity to ‘pull back the camera’ a bit, so that you may better understand the transformative processes taking place within you as you progress in the Great Work. Special emphasis is given to various ways of understanding the path toward the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and the later ordeal of ‘crossing the Abyss,’ as these are the critical events in the magical career of any seeker. Part Three In the final section of the book, we will bring our discussion to a close with a review of various techniques and tools for managing the challenges of everyday life. To a great extent, these tools reflect an integration of my experiences as a Jungian and cognitive-behavioral therapist with the principles of magick. After twenty years of treating patients and training magicians, I think I have a few useful tricks up my sleeve! Love is the law, love under will. Sacramento,...