THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE U.S. GRAND LODGE OF ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS VOLUME XII A IN k UMBER B IN g N 4 ANNO IV:XIX WINTER, 2012 EV AGAPÉ VOL. XII • No. 4 AGAPÉ VOL. XII • No. 4 PROCEEDINGS OF NOTOCON If who were unable to grab a copy at its NOTOCON launch in August, Unity Uttermost Showed! is now The Official Organ of the available from Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com. United States Grand Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis UNITY UTTERMOST SHOWED! PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH BIENNIAL CONTENTS NATIONAL ORDO Proceedings of NOTOCON 2 TEMPLI ORIENTIS From the Grand Master: A Brief Examination of The Comment 3 CONFERENCE: Man of Earth Delegates 5 SEATTLE, From the Electoral College 6 WASHINGTON, The Altar, the Chalice, and the Wand 7 AUGUST 7-9, 2009 EV Speech in the Silence 11 Book Review 12 United States Grand Advanced Initiator Training 13 Lodge, O.T.O., Publication Announcements 14 2011 EV U.S. Grand Lodge Officers Directory 15 Unity Uttermost Showed! offers a selection of papers from the seventh biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference (NOTOCON) of the United States Grand Executive Editor: Sabazius X° Lodge of O.T.O., held in the Valley of Seattle, Washing- Editor: Frater Julianus ton, in 2009 EV. The papers cover diverse topics includ- Editorial Assitant: Terry Murdock ing Enochian magick, sacrifice in Aztec mythology, the sacred geometry of an astral cathedral, producing ritual Proofreading: Heather Lantz, Joseph Thiebes theater, personal responsibility in Magick, promulgation Production & Distribution: Soror Marlene of the Law of Thelema, textual analysis of The Book of the Law, and more. Other highlights include the original Editorial Address: P.O. Box 4123 ritual, the “Feast of Babalon,” and the address given by Pittsburgh, PA 15202 U.S. National Grand Master Sabazius. [email protected] On the Cover: Temple of Alombrados Oasis, Valley of New Orleans, Louisiana. STILL AVAILABLE: Photo by Brother Joshua Sharp BEAUTY AND STRENGTH: (Also see pages 7, 9, and 10) PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTH BIENNIAL Agapé is published quarterly by Ordo Templi Orientis, U.S.A., a California not-for-profit religious corporation with business NATIONAL ORDO TEMPLI offices at P.O. Box 32, Riverside, CA 92502-0032. • O.T.O. ORIENTIS CONFERENCE: U.S.A. is a duly recognized Grand Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis, an international religious organization with business SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, offices at JAF Box 7666, New York, NY 10116, and corporate AUGUST 10-12, 2007 EV headquarters at 24881 Alicia Parkway E-529, Laguna Hills, CA 92653. • Donations, legacies and bequests made to Ordo Templi United States Grand Lodge, Orientis U.S.A. are tax-deductable to the extent permitted O.T.O., 2009 EV by law. • Agapé is distributed to all O.T.O. members in good standing in the U.S.A., and is available for download in PDF Includes addresses and ar- format at the U.S. Grand Lodge website: www.oto-usa.org/ ticles by Sabazius Xº, Richard Kaczynski, Lon Milo agape.html • Copyright © 2012 EV Ordo Templi Orientis U.S.A. DuQuette, James and Nancy Wasserman, Dionysius Rog- All rights reserved and assigned to the respective authors. The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility ers, Frater Hrumachis, and many Others of equal Merit, of the contributing authors. if less Fame. WINTER • 2012 EV 2 WINTER • 2012 EV 3 A IN k • IV:XIX A IN k • IV:XIX AGAPÉ VOL. XII • No. 4 AGAPÉ VOL. XII • No. 4 FROM THE GRAND MASTER Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE COMMENT The short statement solved only by reproduced here was achieving the task. received by Crowley in THE COMMENT In [Tunis],2 in a November, 1925 EV in mood of blank de- Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Tunis. It is occasionally spair about it all, out referred to as “The Short The study of this Book is forbidden. It is wise to destroy this came the Comment Comment,” “The Tunis copy after the first reading. Easy, yes; inspired, Comment,” “The 1925 yes; it is, as printed, Comment.” or “The Class Whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril. the exact wording A Comment.” Crowley These are most dire. required. No further referred to it simply cavilling and quib- as “The Comment,” as Those who discuss the contents of this Book are to be shunned bling, and contro- distinct from the “Com- by all, as centres of pestilence. versy and casuistry. mentaries.” It is typically All heresiarchs are included at the end of all All questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to smelt in advance printed editions of The my writings, each for himself. for the rats they are; Book of the Law. they are seen brew- These days, The There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt. ing (their very vile Comment is sometimes small beer) in the air Love is the law, love under will. regarded as a bit of irony, (the realm of Intel- or an anachronism, or an The priest of the princes, lect—Swords) and example of “reverse psy- they are accordingly chology,” or even a joke. nipped in the bud. But Crowley took this All Parliamentary statement quite seriously, requirements thus even if not perfectly liter- fulfilled according to ally. the famous formula Crowley recounts his reception of The Comment in Chap- of the Irish M.P., we can get on to your other ques- ter 50 of Magick Without Tears (1939 EV). tions untroubled by doubt. As to Part IV [of Book 4], The Book of the Law sec- One Textus Receptus, photographically guaranteed. tion, the idea was that the volume should comply One High Court of Interpretation, each for himself with the instructions given in AL III:39: “All this alone. No Patristic logomachies!3 No disputed read- and a book to say how thou didst come hither and ings! No civil wars and persecutions. Anyone who a reproduction of this ink and paper for ever—for in wants to say anything, off with his head, and On with it is the word secret & not only in the English—and the Dance; let Joy be unconfined, You at the prow thy comment upon this the Book of the Law shall be and Therion at the helm! Off we go. printed beautifully in red ink and black upon beauti- ful paper made by hand; and to each man and woman The “famous formula of the Irish M.P.” probably refers that thou meetest, were it but to dine or to drink at to the formula of “boycotting” an individual, first developed them, it is the Law to give. Then they shall chance to by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891 EV), Member of Par- abide in this bliss or no; it is no odds. Do this quick- liament, founder and leader of the Irish Parlimentary Party, ly!” I mistook “Comment” for “Commentary”—a and agitator for land reform. In a speech at Ennis on Septem- word-by-word exposition of every verse (and much Continued on next page e of it I loathed with all my heart!) including the Qaba- 2 listic interpretation, a task obviously endless. “Paris” appears in the text of MWT. Historical records indicate that the 1 document was received in Tunis. What then about AL III:40? This problem was 3 “Patristic” refers to the fathers of the Christian Church, or their historical period. A “logomachy” is a dispute over words. Crowley was probably al- 1 AL III:40: “But the work of the comment? That is easy; and Hadit burning luding to the sort of schismatic dispute typified by the Arian Controversy, in thy heart shall make swift and secure thy pen.” q.v. WINTER • 2012 EV 2 WINTER • 2012 EV 3 A IN k • IV:XIX A IN k • IV:XIX AGAPÉ VOL. XII • No. 4 AGAPÉ VOL. XII • No. 4 ber 19, 1880 EV, Parnell declared: I lay claim to be the sole authority competent to de- When a man takes a farm from which another had cide disputed points with regard to The Book of the been evicted you must shun him on the roadside Law, seeing as its author, Aiwaz, is none other than when you meet him, you must shun him in the streets mine own Holy Guardian Angel, to whose knowl- of the town, you must shun him in the shop, you must edge and Conversation I have attained, so that I have shun him in the fairgreen and in the marketplace, and exclusive access to him. I have duly referred every even in the place of worship, by leaving him alone, difficulty to him directly, and recieved his answer; by putting him in a moral Coventry, by isolating him my award is therefore absolute without appeal. from the rest of his country as if he were the leper of old, you must show your detestation of the crime he As each of us is our own high court of interpretation on has committed. Liber AL itself, we are free to agree or disagree with Crowley; but we are, by the principles being discussed here, to remain Parnell and his associates used this formula of social mostly silent as to our own insights as they pertain to the Book ostracism effectively against Captain Charles C. Boycott (a itself. County Mayo land agent for an absentee landlord) during the Beyond simply confirming Crowley’s interpretive au- thority, and thus, as Crowley believed, safeguarding against Irish “Land War” of 1880 EV.