YI JING of Fu Xi, King Wen and the Duke of Zhou
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THE YI JING Of Fu Xi, King Wen and the Duke of Zhou Commented by Aleister Crowley Paraphrased From the James Legge translation As found in the “Chinese Equinox” with additional notes by Marcelo Motta Edited and appended with Crowley‟s Tarot attributions and added notes from the Book of Thoth, 777 and other sources including the writings of C.F. Russell by Paul Joseph Rovelli Also including two lessons on the Yi Jing drawn from lecture notes prepared by The Master Therion A.‟.A.‟. Publication in Class B Imprimatur N. Frater A.‟.A.‟. All comments in Class C EDITORIAL NOTE By Marcelo Motta Our acquaintance with the Yi Jing dates from first finding it mentioned in Book Four Part III, the section on Divination, where A.C. expresses a clear preference for it over other systems as being more flexible, therefore more complete. We bought the Richard Wilhelm translation, with its shallow Jung introduction, but never liked it much. Eventually, on a visit to Mr. Germer, he showed us his James Legge edition, to which he had lovingly attached typewritten reproductions of A.C.‟s commentaries to the Hexagrams. We requested his permission to copy the commentaries. Presently we obtained the Legge edition and found that, although not as flamboyant as Wilhelm‟s, it somehow spoke more clearly to us. We carefully glued A.C.‟s notes to it, in faithful copy of our Instructor‟s device. To this day we have the book, whence we have transcribed the notes for the benefit of our readers. Mr. Germer always cast the Yi before making what he considered an important decision. He told us that Crowley, from the time when he started using the Yi, always cast a Hexagram for the day, and continued doing so for the rest of his life. He showed us the tortoise shell plaque Crowley had used, which had been willed to him, and which he used as well. Upon his death he desired that they be given to us by his widow, but we were far away in Brasil at the time, and eventually, upon Mrs. Germer‟s death, the plaques were appropriated by Grady McMurtry with the slick help of James Wasserman, a Samuel Weiser editor whom we had been foolish enough to name our representative for the purposes of securing what remained of the Thelemic Library. But this is another story. For many years we imitated A.C., and cast a Hexagram for the day first thing in the morning. That we not longer do so is not because we have lost confidence in the Yi as an oracle; occasionally, when we think the situation warrants such a grave measure, we consult the Book of Changes yet. We do not claim to always follow its advice; but we do claim that its advice is always sober, sensible, and sound. Although A.C. mentioned several times that he was preparing a translation of the Yi, there is no record of a complete work of this kind similar to his Dao De Jing translation, reproduced in this number of the Equinox1. Besides the mnemonic stanzas and the commentaries now correctly published for the first time, however, he left a profusion of cross-references linking the Yi to the Qabalah, Alchemy and the Book of Thoth, which were reproduced by Mr. Germer in 777 Revised, now pirated by Samuel Weiser along with other Crowleyana. 1 PJR Note: The original material taken for this document, comes from Motta‟s “Chinese Equinox”, being Vol. V, No. 3. Since a full Crowley translation has not yet been found, and may never be found, we decided to paraphrase Legge‟s, which is a superb scholarly work, but has no great relation—nor could it have—with Thelemic nomenclature and thought. We have appended some notes of our own, as well as excerpts from the Chinese commentaries to the book which seemed to us of modern interest and still useful to Thelemites. To this we have added A.C.‟s notes and the entire body of cross-references published in 777 Revised. The Introduction that follows is our own, and we have done all in our power to differentiate the A.C. material included in the text itself from whatever has been done by us.2 Editor‟s note: The accusations against Weiser‟s Publishing seem unfounded even for the time in which this was written. They were and are publishers and published in a time when there was no attempt to account for Crowley‟s copyrights and they were thought to be non-existent. For a more detailed accounting of the events involving James Wasserman and Grady McMurtry, Cf. Oriflamme, Vol. VI, Nos. 3-5 by Marcelo Motta; Equinox, Vol. III, No. 10 by cO.T.O.; O.T.O. Rituals and Sex Magick by I-H-O Publishing. In Motta‟s Oriflamme, there‟s a long diatribe on the battle for copyrights in which Motta alleges some egregious actions by the hands of those that would eventually form the Caliphate O.T.O. The rants are particularly striking as being a bit immature and resultantly hostile; even paranoid. Yet, note that Motta was under the most intense political scrutiny by his totalitarian government in Brasil as he was a relatively public figure that wrote television programs being produced in the media there. There was some valid justification for his paranoia. What is really striking is the use of the pronoun „we‟ in place of „I‟ in his editorial to the Yi Jing in his production of the Equinox, Vol. V, No. 3 (a.k.a. “The Chinese Equinox”). This seems to show the megalomania that would ruin Motta in the end, despite his enormously wonderful contribution to Thelemic philosophy. He adopted an Eastern approach to the traditional student/teacher relationship in the A.‟.A.‟., which I believe is impracticable and must lead to abuse. In the East, the Chela lives with the Master, at the Master‟s expense, working menial chores for the estate of the Master in order to show proper resolve. This situation can last several, even many years. The Master clothes, houses and feeds the Chela during and after this probationary period. 2 PJR Note: By this time in the history of the O.T.O., the prevailing word of mouth complaint by Wasserman in his „betrayal‟ of Motta is that in Motta‟s first number of this volume of the Equinox, he both dared to comment on Thelemic holy books, which forms the basis of a sophistic taboo created by the Caliphate, and one supposedly couldn‟t tell the difference between Motta‟s comments and Crowley‟s. This would amount to a general idea that Motta was committing some sort of heresy. The intelligent reader can plainly see the difference between Motta‟s and Crowley‟s commentaries in that edition, but the prevailing debate that still hails to this day is whether or not anyone besides Crowley should comment on Thelemic holy books. All of this of course, would amount to a propaganda campaign by the emergent Caliphate for lawsuits that are about to ensue. The West is a whole different mindset as well as locale; quite the opposite of the East on both counts. Here, one does not make a vocation out of being a spiritual master. The mutual interdependence between Master and Chela is not viable. Indeed, the student of the A.‟.A.‟. spends relatively little time in the physical presence of the teacher as both have to earn a living in a capitalist economy. Demanding autocracy by the Master and from the Student fits the very definition of cultic behavior by our cultural standards. This could be in part, what led Jim Wasserman to be convinced to betray his teacher. One important flaw in Motta‟s account is that he hailed himself as Wasserman‟s Master. Jim Wasserman was a Probationer at the time. And in the A.‟.A.‟. system, one does not become a „Disciple‟ until the Grade of Zelator. Officially, Jim was not even a member of Our Order. More to the point, Jim failed to properly carry out the trust placed in him by Motta as Motta‟s legal representative; having been given „Power of Attorney‟ to represent him in the evolving situation with Grady McMurtry and the California organization that was attempting to re-establish the Ordo Templi Orientis, in contradiction to the known wishes of Karl Germer as head of the A.‟.A.‟.; and later, Marcelo Motta as perhaps the arguable successor to Germer. It was Motta‟s mistake to place so much trust in someone so very far outside the pale of Our Order. If Motta had no one of sufficient grade to rely on, he should have taken care of things himself. Cf. Hexagram 7—Shi. As well, in their loyalty to Motta, it seems that several of Motta‟s students have adopted the same cultic and abusive principles that are a part of Motta‟s legacy. And there‟s even those who practice the same level of paranoia in the guise of some magickal impeccability. To me, this seems less than erudite and on the whole, quite dysfunctional, especially due to the fact that it does not serve to promote the Philosophy of Thelema in virtuous nor credible terms. Indeed, all the in-fighting that has plagued the Thelemic community from the original court battles between Motta and the Caliphate to the infighting amongst Motta‟s descendants; and from the general enmity and belligerence that belies even the new orders and lines that have sprung up.