Darkly Splendid Abodes

In December of 2024 e.v. I gave the first of a series of talks on the Thelemic philosophy. I focused on some of the core concepts and practices I feel are worth having in the forefront of the mind while engaging with Thelemic materials, including Crowley’s thoughts on channeling ‘genius,’ the skeptical approach, and discipline in mystical and Magical Practices.

The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster as collated by W. Wynn Westcott are a highly influential, and yet fairly obscure, set of pithy phrases. Gathered from the texts of numerous ancient writers, these ‘oracles’ seem to hint at an entire schema for the cosmos. We’ll dip our wings into the darkly-splendid waters of these ‘oracles,’ perchance to glimpse the light of the fire therein.

The study of the Occult, the Qabalah, Meditation and Magick can occasionally lead one to get caught up in intangibles, or maybe too much ‘in their head.’ But the Physical Body is no less a part of the equation of our continuing Initiation. Edward Mason and I will take a look at Groundedness, and appreciation for the physical body, as correctives.

Liber Aleph, the Book of Wisdom or Folly, is addressed by Crowley to his Magical Son, Charles Stansfeld Jones — better known as Frater Achad. It covers the gamut of the Thelemic perspective on pretty much everything, and as such is an indispensable guide and reference. We’ll take a look at a set of chapters therein on the subject of the Will, and Sin.

In ‘The Book of the Heart Girt with a Serpent,’ more commonly known as Liber LXV, many parables abound which are instructive of Thelemic spirituality. But in chapter V we encounter a parricidal pomp of atheists. I’ll look at Crowley’s commentary and see how this passage exemplifies Thelemic thought, in the first of our episodes highlighting and delving into the Holy Books of Thelema.

Crowley calls the Pistis Sophia ‘an admirable introduction to the study of Gnosticism’, and includes it in the Curriculum of A∴A∴. But how does Gnosticism relate to Thelema? We’ll delve into the first half of this early-Christian text to see if we can find connections, and contextualize magical ideas about Gnosticism before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library.

Last time, Edward Mason and I discussed the subject of Kenneth Grant and the so-called ‘false Sephirah’ of Da’ath. Rather than coming to a strict end, our conversation flowered out into a fractal proliferation of further knowledge on the subject.

Liber O is a short, quick entry-point to doing Thelemic practices. As concise as it is, we’ll see what we can mine out of it by dipping deeper, and we’ll also share some of our own experiences, employing its methods for Astral travel.

The so-called false Sephirah on the Tree of Life, called Da’ath, and the Magician and author Kenneth Grant, share something in common: beginners are often warned against pursuing interest in either of them, by those who feel such interest will prove unhealthy or dangerous. But Edward Mason and I will discuss Da’ath, with reference to Kenneth Grant, to see what comes through for us.

Crowley’s short paper, ‘Notes for an Astral Atlas,’ argues for the possibility of contact with non-human intelligences, by way of the Astral Plane. It also urges the need for both an open mind, and a persistent skepticism. We’ll dip into this essay that reads like Magick’s answer to David Hume.